What have I learnt from my audience feedback?

Pre-production audience research:I used a program called “Sogo Survey”

to create my

questionnaire. I had previous experience with this site for various other questionnaires or surveys I have made and so I was familiar with the format of it. The site was useful as it enabled me to ask both quantitative and qualitative questions.

This was an advantage as I was going to receive a large amount of data that by analysing effectively and in detail will provide me with all the answers I required. It was essential to me that I could design a custom questionnaire so that it was personalised and recognisable as being associated with the single and artist brand. Qualitative questions are open ended which means people answering the questionnaire feel like they are being personally addressed and are more likely to expand and elaborate on their answers as they believe they are a significant asset to the production.

2. I then advertised and distributed my questionnaire through various social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter. In addition I asked the twitter account for Sogo survey to advertise my questionnaire on twitter which they did.

3. As the

questionnaire was posted online and was advertised by cast members and other free promotional sites such as Sogosuvey, I had no control over who was taking my questionnaire; it was purely an opportunity volunteering sample. This is therefore an unreliable sample of participants, however it may be valid as a large

number of people ranging in ages and gender responded to the questionnaire.

Debatably, I should have asked a target audience specifically that were interested in pop indie music to respond to the questionnaire. I had already chosen my song and so possibly should

have considered this prior to releasing the questionnaire for public responding. Moreover, they can be considered a ‘more knowledgeable’ audience group and may provide worthy opinions and be slightly more representative of my target population.

4. This confirmed by decision to focus on colour and lighting, specifically setting the camera to the exact correct white balance in order to achieve a realistic effect. It also surprised me as I did not think that my audience would have a particular interest in instrumentation. Gladly I was mistaken as my track has a 0.27 second guitar instrumental section.

5. The feedback I received informed me that they would prefer the narrative to be illustrative. This means a literal representation of what the lyrics are saying is matched by the videography. This was vital information as I had originally wanted to tell the story but in an amplified way so as to appear more abstract and ambiguous. I decided to take this feedback in to consideration and re-designed my storyboard to accommodate this demand. I executed this by focusing more on telling the story of the lyrics through the characters.

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Which features of a music video make you want to watch it?

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6. I found it to be extremely insightful when I asked my audience to listen to the track for the song I was using and write down all the thoughts they had. For example:I also gathered general advice such as to ensure that the storyline stays meaningful and intriguing to keep the audience attentive.

A story that matches or is very associated with the lyrics

A story that picks out elements of the lyrics and exaggerates them

A completely unrelated/ random storyline

No storyline - I just like to see the artist perform

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

What kind of narrative do you like to see in a music video?

7. As I had hoped for, over 35% of responders felt that a field or forest location was best suited to the song and genre. This was important and useful as I was working on a zero budget production, filming on free or public property was essential. Though I did essay to hire a recording studio for an hour of filming, I did not manage to do so. Despite this, I believed that by filming in the primary chosen location that was most wanted by the audience, I had achieved in satisfying the majority’s desires.

“I think it definitely needs an autumny video, with of shots of trees, forests, natural scenes etc. Shoot partly in a studio setting, but stick to the same brown/green tones, and make sure that was she's wearing fits in with the autumn theme. I think a mix of performance and storyline would work” – anonymous.

9. I decided to collate further information by carrying out an unstructured interview. This means that I will ask a starting question and allow the interviewee to respond, after which I will ask another question leading entirely from the answer they have given. I executed this form of receiving feedback by using a sample of my friends and family.

Which locations do you think would be ideal for shoot-ing this music video?

Forest/ Field

Recording Studio

A House

Graveyard

Beach

Party

Other

I setup the interviewing room to match one of a 1 on 1 interview. I found a significant positive correlation between the age of the interviewee and the thoughtful analysis they provided. Older family members resonated with the artist who was experiencing loss and grief. Through this type of audience feedback I learned that audience need more open questions where the content of their answers is valued and evaluated. This is primarily because they are not restricted to specific answers which may not even represent their true ideas.

10. Effect of audience feedback on digipak outcomeWith more than a quarter of the responders to the questionnaire stating that they are concerned with the narrative being portrayed

and the vitality of having a storyline, I decided to use screenshots for my digipak. I did this in order to adhere to what was preferred amongst my target market, but also to accurately relate the digipak to my music video, which my friends also mentioned was crucial.

11. I also challenged their suggestions of not putting the girl on the digipak as it would not promote the artist entirely. Additionally, it may indicate that they are a duet and not a sole artist. For this reason I doubted I could achieve my primary intention. Despite this, my actual aim was to create a digipak which would promote the single as well as the artist. I considered that 90% of the music video shots included both of the girls and so I felt it would be appropriate to use an image with both of them, whilst still promoting the singer as a solo artist.

I did this by designing the front cover with just a symbol of Amy, alas it was a silhouette and not a facially recognisable image, and I used an image of both the artist and the girl on the back cover. Post my final design for the digipak, I sent the images to my friends and family who now agreed that the image was a sound and effective choice. Furthermore, 10 out of 12 friends that I asked if they think the digipak looked sellable said yes. The remaining two said no because it did not appeal to their music taste and they could tell that the genre of the single was indie or pop by the images used. This was in a way good feedback as it affirmed my objectives had been met in producing a digipak that also conformed to the genre of the single.12. Effectiveness of audience feedback on website page.

When creating my website homepage I reminded myself that it was important for the website to be representative of the single and the digipak so that fans can make a mental link between all three products. After evaluating my friends and family’s common opinion, that the mirror was the

most iconic symbol of the entire video, that I should use this as my website homepage background image. I carried this out by using the same style of texts, fonts and imagery whilst attempting to show variety and extensive range of ability I have in editing images.

Besides this, I was also recommended to research and analyse other pop artists website homepages and how they advertise their latest single. This proved extremely effective audience advice as I was able to take inspiration from several websites of famous artists and apply their concepts concerning style, colour scheme and other pages included on their site to the website.