Thursday, 1 May 2014
Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Throughout the process of creating my media product as well as my ancillary tasks, I have maintained a consistent flow of communication between myself and various local teenagers who would belong within my target demographic, as well as psychographic, audience.
Communication with my target audience was vital after my initial profiling of the target audiences of the various indie bands I had analysed within my initial planning, including Swim Deep and Peace.
Within my initial planning stage, I accumulated an understanding of what members of my target audience believed belonged in a music video which would gratify them, as well as asking members of my target audience what they do not like to find in music videos in order to ensure that every aspect of my media product would appeal directly to them. These initial target audience interviews consisted of conversations with six local teenagers, three female and three male in order to amalgamate a gender balanced view of what requirements I had to meet. Within these interviews I began to understand what I would have to do within my media product in order to ensure their satisfaction. One notable feature which all three females cited as prominent issue within music videos is the sexualisation of women.
Furthermore my target audience also played a key role in identifying various locations to film. Within my initial target audience interviews, members of the audience made it clear that they are interested in videos which use a variety of interesting yet realistic locations in order to present an element of realism whilst maintaining their interest in the video. This feedback from my audience operates in conjunction with the common conventions of British indie videos as liminal, working class locations have been used in order to maintain this element of realism and pseudo DIY indie within the video therefore has been a convention I have replicated within my music video. throughout my interviews, it became apparent that fans of British indie possess the need to be satisfied by their music videos through relatable locations. I believe this is due to the working class ideologies of indie bands and the notion that any musician can form an indie band therefore relatable locations reinforce this idea. Due to my feedback, I approached the preproduction process with the intention to acquire working class, post industrial locations such as Barrow Gurney Hospital which has been used for the wide band shots which are mainly found within the songs chorus.
I felt that these questions would give me a clear-cut insight into what indie fans require from the design of a digipak.
After the construction of the first draft of Pink Lemonade, I presented the draft to two male members of my target audience, one of which was involved in the initial target audience interviews. From these two interviews I obtained information about what they enjoyed about the music video, as well as learning what to improve before I publish my finished media product.
Initial Feedback from Audience
Sexualisation
Within my initial planning stage, I accumulated an understanding of what members of my target audience believed belonged in a music video which would gratify them, as well as asking members of my target audience what they do not like to find in music videos in order to ensure that every aspect of my media product would appeal directly to them. These initial target audience interviews consisted of conversations with six local teenagers, three female and three male in order to amalgamate a gender balanced view of what requirements I had to meet. Within these interviews I began to understand what I would have to do within my media product in order to ensure their satisfaction. One notable feature which all three females cited as prominent issue within music videos is the sexualisation of women.
Ellen Ireland - "Avoid over-sexualising women and seeing women through male gaze only"
Sydnie Kemp - "Don't show women as a sex object even if the songs about a girl"
This has been a widely discussed, prominent issue within the music industry over the last twelve months with Robin Thicke's video for "Blurred Lines" and various controversial videos from Miley Cyrus including "Wrecking Ball" acting as focal points for debates.
From target audience feedback, I have found that the presentation of women in a sexualised manner through Laura Maulvey's male gaze in not a key convention of an indie music video and would in fact inhibit my media product's chances of success. Due to this I have shot the only female actress within the video in gender neutral shots as well as gender ambiguous attire as her clothing reflects the clothing of the band members. She is presented within the video as the band member's equal as she is shown to enjoy the presence of the band members. Furthermore the lyrics of the song also suggest that within the video she carries a greater status than the male band as it is indicated that she has dumped the lead singer, often to dominant member of a band.
Locations
Furthermore my target audience also played a key role in identifying various locations to film. Within my initial target audience interviews, members of the audience made it clear that they are interested in videos which use a variety of interesting yet realistic locations in order to present an element of realism whilst maintaining their interest in the video. This feedback from my audience operates in conjunction with the common conventions of British indie videos as liminal, working class locations have been used in order to maintain this element of realism and pseudo DIY indie within the video therefore has been a convention I have replicated within my music video. throughout my interviews, it became apparent that fans of British indie possess the need to be satisfied by their music videos through relatable locations. I believe this is due to the working class ideologies of indie bands and the notion that any musician can form an indie band therefore relatable locations reinforce this idea. Due to my feedback, I approached the preproduction process with the intention to acquire working class, post industrial locations such as Barrow Gurney Hospital which has been used for the wide band shots which are mainly found within the songs chorus.
Feedback on Digipak
From the outset of the production of my digipak, I conducted an interview with a member of my target audience who was involved in the initial target audience interviews for the preproduction of the music video. In order to understand what fans of British indie require from a digipak I asked him three simple questions:
1. What do you think makes a good album art?
2. What do you think makes a bad album art?
3. What are your favourite album arts?
I felt that these questions would give me a clear-cut insight into what indie fans require from the design of a digipak.
Adam Canning -
"It's got to be another representation of the music"
"It's got to create a group image between the album and music video"
"It has to reinforce the idea in order to create some sort of brand"
From this feedback from a member of my target audience, I garnered a greater appreciation of how much indie fans value the ideologies of their favourite bands and how they feel gratified through shared ideas between the audience and band. Due to this I wanted to reinforce the idea that anyone could from a band such as Bliss through not featuring a shot of the band on the front cover of the digipak in order to maintain a sense of ambiguity to the album. In order to find out what they band look like, the digipak must be opened. Furthermore I utilised my new-found understanding of what indie fans desire in order to reinforce to prominence of vintage culture within the British indie fashion scene through making the CD itself aesthetically resemble acid wash jeans through a close up of my own jeans.
Through not presenting the band on the digipak cover, I have also maintained the bands apathetic ideologies as they do not care for a sense of stardom and would rather their audience focussed on the music they are playing rather than them, hence the lines "listen to the lyrics, don't read them" within the digipak booklet. Additionally this member of my target audience expresses an interest in photographs being incorporated into the digipak design therefore shots from the video as well as various photo shoots leading up to the final digipak design have been included within the design in order to cater to the needs of British indie fans.
Through not presenting the band on the digipak cover, I have also maintained the bands apathetic ideologies as they do not care for a sense of stardom and would rather their audience focussed on the music they are playing rather than them, hence the lines "listen to the lyrics, don't read them" within the digipak booklet. Additionally this member of my target audience expresses an interest in photographs being incorporated into the digipak design therefore shots from the video as well as various photo shoots leading up to the final digipak design have been included within the design in order to cater to the needs of British indie fans.
Feedback on Magazine Advert
Below features a video of my target audience's responses to my initial magazine advert design and the changes I have since made due to their feedback. Within this video I have clearly improved my work on the comments made by members of my target audience as I build upon my first draft due to their criticisms.
Feedback on First Draft
After the construction of the first draft of Pink Lemonade, I presented the draft to two male members of my target audience, one of which was involved in the initial target audience interviews. From these two interviews I obtained information about what they enjoyed about the music video, as well as learning what to improve before I publish my finished media product.
Colour Correction
Jake Kardasz- "The one problem with the video was that it could do with some colour correction."
Although this was an issue I was aware of prior to the feedback, this comment highlighted the importance of shot quality from my audience's perspective in order to maintain a professional atmosphere to the video. According to my audience the lighting issues make it look as if it "jumps around" therefore connoting that the editing of the video appears jolted due to the vast change in colour. Due to this feedback I promptly altered the first draft of the video and spent copious hours altering the shots, mainly of the lead singer, in order to garner more vibrant colours from the shot in order to maintain a cohesive colour scheme throughout the song and eliminate this jolted feeling, despite the minor sacrifice on the quality of some of the shots however these shots are often brief due to the fast nature of the videos cuts. The first image presents the original shots in the first draft prior to colour correction, followed by the colour corrected shot for the final draft of Pink Lemonade.
Long Shots
Dan Comley - "Some of the shots during the guitar solo are too long."
From my audience feedback I received criticism of the shot lengths towards the conclusion of the song as it was noted that the long shots "took away from the impact of this nice mellow sort of lullaby feel". Within the final minute of the video is when the pace of the song reaches its peak therefore the length of the cuts should be parallel to the increasing pace of the song otherwise the visual may slow down the audio in the audience's perception, hindering their interest in the media product and may feel like it has ruined the entire video. In order to combat this highlighted issue; I focused on the final ninety seconds of the song and found that many of the long shots were of the lead singer therefore these were divided using the scalp tool on Final Cut Pro X and quick cuts from the two production days were placed within the video, often lasting no longer than one second in order to increase the videos pace even further in an attempt restore this "lullaby feel" to the song and the video, therefore complying with the demands of my target audience.
Evidence of Product Success
Dan Comley - "A sense of freedom was connoted quite well"
Jake Kardasz - "I could tell it was an indie video because of the mise en scene"
Jake Kardasz - "It conformed to the genre conventions"
Dan Comley - "I felt myself that I was a member of the target audience"
Jake Kardasz - "I could tell it was an indie video because of the mise en scene"
Jake Kardasz - "It conformed to the genre conventions"
Dan Comley - "I felt myself that I was a member of the target audience"
Despite the criticisms of the first draft of "Pink Lemonade", there are numerous examples of the two target audience members praising the video as they clearly feel gratified by the video and feel that they are members of the videos target audience. Due to the praise the video has received I believe that I have successfully listened to the feedback from my target audience throughout this entire process and I have constructed a media product which has been shaped around them and what they desire from similar existing products. I feel that my target audience are clearly identified through the video for "Pink Lemonade" as I have listened to comments upon the costume, representation of women, shot length, colour correction and locations amongst other aspects of the video which would not exist in the form it is in if it was not for my interviews of my target audience and translating their words into my own media product.
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