Evaluation3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Target Audience

•Age – The age of the target audience would be 16-21 years old. This is because the music video concentrates on youth and young adolescences and this audience could identify with the leading performers (Joel and Jill) as they are 17 years old and 18 years old.

•Gender – Female and Male. The performers in my music video are both male and female, therefore both genders could relate with them and the way they act. However, from my audience feedback which I will explain in a further slide, it may appeal more to females.

•Ethnicity – White – this because the actors are white.

•Nationality – British – this is because the actors are British and the music video was actually film in a British City.

Uses and Gratification• Laswell’s theory can be applied to my productions in relation to the themes of entertainment and cultural

transmission.

• For example, the music video is fun, energetic and active – there is constantly something happening, so there is always something to watch. The actions and events that take place are exciting to watch - this is developed by the use of montage narrative and the fast paced editing synchronising with the beat of the music. Also, the location used is in a British City (Norwich). These means people from Britain or people from Norwich could relate to the productions and British norms and values and the cultural aspects of the city, such as Norwich Cathedral.

• Blumler and Katz theory: individuals might choose and use a text for the following purposes: Diversion - escape from everyday problems and routine, Personal Relationships - using the media for emotional and other interaction, eg: substituting soap operas for family life ; identifying with artists, fans feeling as though they belong to a special group, fans of “Friends” may substitute the characters for any gaps in their own lives and Personal Identity - finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts.

• This theory can relate to my productions in relation to the concepts of diversion and personal identity.

• For example, they focus on having fun whilst being young and not wanting to be an adult, thus escaping from the responsibility of becoming an adult. Also, the productions relate to both genders of similar ages, therefore they could relate to experiences that this target audience have had, such as looking back at old memories, losing friends and experiencing the same feeling of not wanting to grow up. Therefore the behaviour and actions of Jill and Joel may reflect some of the potential target audience. Additionally, the audience could perhaps identify with wanting to be outdoors most of the time rather than stuck at home.

Blumler and Katz theory continued..

• Diversion – aspects of my music video that may act as a diversion for the strains and stresses of everyday life are: going out to explore the city – in my music video, the performers walk around the city/adventure around Mousehold and also drive round the city. Additionally, going to a gig may act as an escape as the music may make an individual lose contact with reality.

• Personal relationships - audiences may use the text in order to feel part of a relationship or friendship group for interaction and emotional support. The end of my music video is ambiguous but some viewers may create their own ending, and that however bleak life may seem there is a possibility of reinventing a relationship. Alternatively, if a relationship is over and the hedonistic days of youth are gone, then you are not alone, for the characters in the music video are also experiencing what the viewer is experiencing.

Music Video• To receive feedback of my music video, I used questionnaires.

• The questions were:

1) How much did you enjoy the music video?

2) Did it hold your attention?

3) How do you rate the camera work and editing?

4) How did you rate the aspects of mise-en-scene?

5) Was the music video the correct length/too short/too long/don’t know?

6) Would you watch the music video again?

7) Can you suggest anything to improve the appeal?

8) Were there any aspects that you found offensive?

9) Was there any part you found confusing or hard to understand?

10) What is the best part of the production?

11) Does the video reflect the style of music?

12) Does the music video successfully promote the band/artist?

13) On a scale of 1-5 how do you rank the music video, with 5 being the highest?

• This questionnaire was filled in by a male student, I am happy with the ratings given. This shows that the male gender can engage with my music video, probably because they can identify with Joel.

• The only criticisms I received in this feedback is that the narrative became weaker in the middle and it felt like I was editing by effects. I took this on board and during the editing process, I edited the shots in the middle to a fast pacer - I feel this was what the problem was, as the track is quite upbeat, therefore the shots needed to fit with the sound of the track.

• Additionally, it felt like I was editing by effects as I used the same effect 'cross dissolve' over every shot, I did this to indicate it was a montage; however, as it appeared boring and repetitive I took out some of the effects across each shot or I replaced the cross dissolve with 'dip to black' or 'dip to white' to make the music video more interesting.

• This feedback was from a female. I am happy that they believed the best part of the production to be the filming/footage as I was the cinematographer during this production and this is an important part of a production and evidently it is appealing and engaging. • From the criticism of this feedback, I did

add a fade on the overlap of footage 1 minute in and rendered my music video in order for it to play the whole way through without buffering or the music cutting out. This meant an audience would be able to watch it without any difficulties.

• This questionnaire was also completed by a female. This one states that the best part of the production is 'the amount of footage included and the fast pace goes well with the song. I am happy with this feedback as Jill, Joel and I put a lot of time and effort into getting a variety of different shots in different locations, in order to produce an efficient montage.

• Additionally, I am glad that the fast pace edit goes well with the song as this has met my intentions from when I firs started planning. The criticism I got in this feedback is that I cut some of my footage to early when Jill says 'Sorry', therefore I made this longer so an audience could understand what she said.

• Also, this feedback suggested that I did not need a transition, but I used a transition to imply the narrative was moving into a different time of the friendship between Jill and Joel.

• Although, as someone else suggested I was editing by effects, I thought it was unnecessary to have them from shot to shot, so I removed some of them and only used them when I believed them to be the most effective.

Print Productions

• To receive feedback for my print productions I also used questionnaires. These were filled out by media students in another class.

• The questions were:

1) Does the package successfully reflect the genre of music?

2) Does the package successfully promote the band/artist?

3) How do you rate the standard graphics, text, finish of the digipak?

4) How do you rate the standard graphics, print finish of advert?

5) How successfully is the Britishness of the package established?

6) Would the covers encourage you to buy the digipak?

7) Would the advert encourage you to go to an event by this artist?

8) Were there any aspects that you found offensive?

9) What are the three strongest features of the ancillary tasks?

10) Rate the package overall (1 =low 5=high)

• This questionnaire was filled in by an 18 year old male. I am pleased that he agrees the package successfully reflects the genre of the music and does promote the artist.

• However, he has scored a ‘3’ for the digipak but a ‘4’ for the advert, this suggests that the advert appeals to males more than the digipak appeals to males. This is perhaps because they prefer the image used on the advert rather than the digipak or maybe because the advert boosts the promotion of the artist.

• Additionally, he has chose ‘Undecided’ as to whether he would buy the digipak and whether he would go to an event buy the artist.

• Despite this, he believes that that the productions are positive. He says ‘I find representation of age to be progressive – shows youth a good light. Very attractive for a young audience’ Also, he stated: ‘The images that have been chosen I think very well link to the music video and the track itself directly. They strongly promote the artist, particularly with the images of Norwich Skyline which would make it strongly appealing to me, being a city resident. Furthermore, the representation of youth is heavily appealing to a young audience.

• This implies that my productions strongly appeal to young people – this was the aim, and also suggests that people from the British city, Norwich would enjoy the music video and would be encouraged to buy the digipak and perhaps go to an event by this artist.

• This questionnaire was filled out by an 18 year old female. I am happy that she suggests the package successfully promotes the band/artist by giving a score of ‘4’ for this question.

• This questionnaire highlights that the advert was the most appealing aspect of my print productions as it has been given the highest score ‘5’. Alternatively, the graphics of the digipak was scored a ‘3’ this also shows that the advert appeals to females more than the digipak.

• However, this female has stated that she would be encouraged to buy the digipak and go to an event by the artist.

• According to this questionnaire, the strongest 3 features of the ancillary tasks are: the positioning of text, lighting of images and the tone the images create. This shows that the productions I have created are interesting.

• This was completed by a 17 year old female. It is evident that she also agrees with the other respondents that the package successfully promotes the artist.

• She has rated the graphics of the finished digipak and advert at a ‘4’ ;this implies that the productions I have produced are engaging for a female audience.

• This is supported by her answering ‘Yes’ to the questions ‘would the covers encourage you to buy the digipak? And ‘would the advert encourage you to go to an event by this artist?’ in contrast to a male who said ‘undecided’ for both.

• Furthermore, according to this questionnaire, the three strongest features of the ancillary tasks are: The photograph reflects the song title effectively, the text is subtle but effective as to not distract from the photograph and the characters of the music video are established. This allows the audience to identify with the artist, track and performers if they also watched the music video and were to go to an event by AnxiousAlibi.

• This was completed by an 18 year old male. This person also agrees with the other male, previously mentioned, that the package successfully reflects the genre and successfully promotes the artist.

• However, he has rated the graphics of the digipak and the poster at a ‘3’ which suggests it is less appealing to males than it is to females. As the female mentioned in a previous slide rated the advert at a ‘5’.

• Additionally, he has selected ‘undecided’ to both of these questions: ‘would the covers encourage you to buy the digipak?’ and ‘would the advert encourage you to go to an event by this artist? This is exactly the same as what the other male put, whereas the female said ‘yes to both of these questions’. This indicates that there is a gender difference in the appeal of the print productions.

• However, the imagery and fonts used on panel 1 and panel 4 interested this male as he mentioned these were the strongest features of the ancillary tasks.

Gender Difference• The feedback from my questionnaires illustrates a gender difference in the appeal of

my productions. Females are more likely to engage with them rather than males.• This could refer to Stuart Hall’s reception theory regarding agreement between the

encoder (producer/author) and decoder (audience)• Perhaps as a female cinematographer/producer, the productions I created were more

attracting for a female audience. The females may have focused more on the imagery and viewed it as ‘beautiful’ whereas the boys may have only focused on how Joel is presented because he is what they can identify with. Whereas girls could also identify with Jill.• Additionally, the male gaze refers to the act of looking upon women as objects, of

adopting the role of spectator; but metaphorically, it refers to a way of thinking about and acting within society (Mulvey). The female audience decoded my music video more positively perhaps because they could identify with the realistic and authentic representation of girl in the music video as I have not represented the female as hyper sexualised/objectified, this adds to the appeal.

Other Interests• The target audience may enjoy sitcoms such as the Tv

show ‘Friends’. This programme revolves round a circle of friends who live in Manhattan. It shows this group of friends messing around with each other and always going out with each other; they always seem to have a laugh.

• The genre focuses on every day situations and problems audiences can relate to.

• The audience might enjoy other sitcoms, when searching for sitcoms, imdb gave a list of the most popular ones, these are other Tv shows that the target audience for my productions may engage with.

• These shows include humour, pranks and pathos. These aspects are featured in my productions.

• If audiences begin to create their own endings to a story this gives my production legs. Possible fans may discuss their desired ending on social network sites, thus increasing publicity through word of mouth. This would add to the appeal of the music video.