Evaluation - Question 3.

Question 3 - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

After finishing my music video, digipak and advert, I decided to evaluate my product by gathering some audience feedback. The first thing I did to get audience feedback was post my finished music video onto the social networking site 'Facebook', I also tagged certain people onto the music video who I thought were the right target audience to watch and evaluate the finished music video. Most of the feedback that I received was helpful to my evaluation, the feedback had a good range of opinions and showed difference of taste within the target audience.

I created a specific group on Facebook called 'Media Studies Focus Group' to which I added who fitted into the target audience (some people who were added weren't even close friends of mine, but they fitted into the target audience.) People who were added into this focus group were mainly aged between 17-21, which is the stereotypical age for an audience who would be 'into' this genre of music. Within this focus group, I decided to post and share my finished music video, the planning for my music video (shot list, ect), the first plans for my digipak and my advert and then the finished versions of my digipak and advert. When I first started uploaded stuff onto this group, I hardly got any response or comments, even when I specifically asked people to comment, which was quite disappointing. As I uploaded more onto this group and more people started joining, then a lot more people started to comment on my work, which allowed me to use their feedback to my advantage. When working on my digipak and my advert, I was able to ask my audience questions and ask for their opinions on different styles and editing techniques, which allowed me to see what they wanted.

When gathering audience feedback on my music video however, I decided to ask people in person to get a better response, as I was able to watch them watch my music video, also getting their physical response to the video. I asked 5 people to watch and give me feedback on my music video in person, as I felt this was enough to show a wide range of opinions. The people I asked to view my video in person were all close friends of mine, which made it easier on me to ask the questions. It also got a better response from them, as they felt more comfortable and relaxed around me. The questions I asked my target audience were the following:-

• Does the performance look convincing?
• Does the music video remind you of any other texts?
• Is the narrative clear from the video?
• What genre of music do you think the music video is suitable for?
• If you could change one thing about the video, what would it be and why?

The responses I got from my audience were all very different but at the same time, they answered as a group rather than individually. Here are some of my responses:-

• "The narrative wasn't clear from the start of the video, but got more and more clear as they video went on. All in all, you've done a great job!"
• "The music video reminds me a lot of Skins!"
• "The music video is very convincing in terms of the way the main role acts and reacts to whats going on, very convincing."
• "Not very convincing towards the end of the video, but the part of the video where the main role is getting ready for her night out, its very convincing."
• "If I could change one thing about your video, it'd be to create more of a party sequence and include more people. Apart from that, it's great!" 

I also got some online feedback as I had posted my digipak and my advert designs onto Facebook into the group for some audience feedback, here are some of the comments I received:-

Once again, I had a good mixture of positive and negative comments, even the negative comments were constructive towards my work. Facebook was a great online site to gather information and feedback from my target audience, especially as a group.

Summary of my audience feedback:-

How have my audience been affected by the text?
I'd say that overall my audience enjoyed the music video and were positively effected, as they all reacted in an enthusiastic manner. I was very nervous about showing my audience my work as I didn't them to like the music video as much as they did, but some of the comments I received were very positive. The target audience showed great interest in the narrative structure and the change within the narrative, which was exactly what I wanted.

How did my audience read my text?
I feel like my target audience read the text in the way that I intended for them to read it, the preferred reading. I wanted to show what today's society was like and how they are stereotypically viewed by other age groups, I also wanted to create a party, young vibe throughout my video. I feel that none of my audience were offended by my video, as it was very similar to other mainstream texts, such as 'Skins'. I feel that if I had asked an older, more sophisticated age group to watch my video, they would have maybe been offended and would have had an oppositional reading.

What sort of pleasures are being offered by my texts?
I would say that my three texts offered a range of different pleasures. Firstly, as the people within my music video and print work were in the same age group as my target audience, the audience could then relate to not only the characters themselves, but also the things they were doing within the texts and they way they acted. Another pleasure that could be taken from my texts would be the costume, as again the target audience would dress in the same way as the people within my texts dressed, as it was all very casual wear. Many of the audience enjoy the dressing up and getting ready sequence within the music video, as they could relate to it, especially females. 

Evaluation - Question 2.

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? 

My products needed to have a house style which ran all the way through them to establish a particular brand image. I defiantly feel like I achieved this, the house style was supposed to be an entropic representation of today's generation and society as a whole, targeting a teenage audience of both genres. I feel that the music video, digipak and advert created a coherant package.




Why is marketing the house style so important?

The quality and detail of the house style and brand image is important as it shows the all round quality of your product. A house style reflects the morals of your brand and what your brand stands for as a whole, for example, if you are marketing a music product, you will firstly base the 'morals' on the genre of music it is eg: R&B, pop, ect. A hip-hop music product for example would be based around having some fun and the objectification of woman and going out partying.

Below are some examples:

'The XX - Intro' is a perfect example of why a house style and brand image are important to selling a product, as their digipak and video reflects a very chilled, indie style of music, which itself has a very urban sound and style. The very distinct use of low bass, sepia tones and the very prominent use of a city atmos along with the unique adverts reflects the brand.  

How this relates to my own products:

                                     

I used the same kind of style as the XX in my own products as I found their entropic house style quite interesting, in terms of  attracting their target audience. The target audience for the XX would be the same audience as mine, all teenagers who would be a mixed gender group. Again I used low lighting throughout my music video, apart from a few flashes of bright lights and high key lighting which appeared when the female character went out, a lot like the XX used high key lighting at random points during their music video.

I tried to use the same house style throughout all of my products, so in my digipak, I made it quite dark, yet, still quite vibrant with the use of a teenage model. Like the XX's advert, I decided to use white text in front of a dark background, which made it stand out. My house style was based around my products standing out and being quite entropic and a bit different, yet still attracting the right target audience for this genre. 

The same concepts apply to my advert as I tried to keep the same house style running throughout all of my products, keeping the same styles and ideology running throughout. The use of dark colours within my advert again allows the audience to see what genre it belongs within, although again, there are some hints of colour throughout, which would attract the audiences eye. Again, I used white font on top of a dark background, which in itself is quite redundant within this genre of music, but having the whole advert and digipak in nearly black and white would come across as entropic. The redundant use of advertising brands such as 'HMV' on my advert shows where the product is advertised and distributed, which again is redundant for most genres within the music industry. 

Evaluation - Question 1.

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

When deciding on what genre I wanted to work in for my media project, I researched artists into the ‘pop/punk’ genre of music and noticed a lot of similarities in their music videos.  Bands like ‘Deftones’ and ‘Letlive.’ were helpful for me to research into, as their music videos were a lot like something I wanted to create for my own media project. Their music videos were very narrative based rather than performance based, which is the direction I wanted to head in.

I've used jump cuts and close ups within my own music video, as again, using these created the effect throughout the music video which I wanted to create.The use of outside settings, which were all shot at night, were inspired by the other music videos I had researched into beforehand of the same music genre.

Here are a few examples of some conventions which I incorporated within my music video from other music videos from within the music genre I am working within.

Above shows the music video for 'Example - Shot Yourself In The Foot Again', which like many of the other music videos within this genre, include a lot of conventions which I wanted within my own music video. I decided to take the idea of starting my music video in the same way as this one, opening the video in very low lighting, almost complete darkness, yet the light from a lighter/cigarette being the only visible light showing. This introduces the audience into the kind of music video they are about to watch and how it may display society and youth, as the cigarettes lit up in both videos are lit by teenagers. This then goes into a sequence of a girl preparing her make up for a night out, which shows levels of different social classes and stereotypical conventions of today's generation. 

I also applied theorists and theory into my music video and into my print work, first starting off with Andrew Goodwin and his theory. He says that music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals and the song plus the artist. Relationships are built between these in the video, and the close-ups of the artists gives them the representation and publicity they require. Throughout my music video I shows a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. For example, when the artist would sing the lyrics "away I go", I showed the main female character walking away from the camera. I also used the male gaze and voyeurism throughout my music video, as my actors within my music video are all female, which attracted an audience, particularly males.

Settings and lighting were key to my music video, as they are key to most music videos within the 'pop/punk' genre of music, especially to music videos with a narrative based structure. As a good percent of my music video was set at night, lighting was an important aspect of my video. I decided to use high key lighting to highlight the main character ad the main aspects of my music video (like pubs cars, buildings, ect), I also decided to use low key lighting when I filmed inside, as it gave it a more relaxed feel to that specific part of the video, which was what I was intending. Most of my video was inspired by many artists/bands, this is because I wanted my music video to be as close to real music videos what were the 'pop/punk' genre as possible, as this would attract my target audience.

The use of lighting and outside settings were inspired by the bands 'Deftones' and 'Letlive.', as a lot of their music videos are shot at night, using the same types of lighting and settings as I have done. Throughout the whole of music video, I decided to use the use of flashbacks and jump cuts, as it made the narrative a lot more layered, making the audience active when watching the music video itself. Like most generic 'pop/punk'music videos, I also decided to include lip sync into my music video, which allowed the audience to relate with the music video more, as it visible to see the artist or band connecting with the lyrics they were singing.

However, following typical forms and conventions of 'pop/punk'music videos could be risky as audiences who listen to that style of music could find it very predictable  which may result in them losing interest quickly. This is the same case for my design of my digipak and my advert, if it looked to predictable or too generic, audiences wouldn't be interested, which is why I had to make it stand out and look somewhat different to the usual style of print work that you see in today's music industry. Yet, on the other hand, if I made it to different, audiences who listen to that genre of music wouldn't be interested, so in this case, I had to have a balance of both challenging and following forms and conventions.

My music video has elements of entropy and redundancy throughout, it isn't entirely one or the other. I would say my print work was very redundant in a way as I used photos of the main band themselves as my digipak cover, which straight away would attract fan of that music and of that band, just by looking at the digipak. The use o black and white photos was quite entropic, though, as not many artists/bands use that style within their print work, which in a way, would make my work stand out a lot more, as it's not seen that often. My music video itself is quite redundant, as it follows the conventions of this specific genre. The video follows a heavy narrative based style, with a multi-layered narrative, forcing the audience to become active viewers, which is what many other music videos do within this genre.

Audience feedback was very important when it came to deciding on final ideas and changing certain ideas to what the target audience wanted, as I was trying to reach a specific audience with my music video. The following shows some of the feedback I received from my audience when I posted my first initial ideas on Facebook:

As you can see from above, some of my comments didn't like what I created, yet they gave me positive critism, which again, helped me develop my ideas more to what my target audience wanted. 

Finished music video.