Evaluation Question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction, research and planning, and evaluation?

Evaluation Question 3

I apologise for the sound quality.



Transcript:

What have you learned from audience feedback?

Throughout my project I have received audience feedback and acted upon it. For all of my pieces of work I have sought out criticism on how to improve my pieces and this is documented on my blog. Audience feedback is important because it tells the creator what is working and what isn't for the audience, if the product is not liked by the audience especially the target audience then the creator needs to change it drastically because if the audience does not like the product then the artist will not be promoted and viewed highly.

In total my music video product has received the most feedback from my audience mainly because I have been working on it for longer. This feedback has helped me alter footage and create a better story narrative so that the audience can follow it easier. Some of the comments I received were that the audience wasn't sure about the lighting of the flash forward arguments, they said that I could edit them to be darker so it shows the dark point of their relationship. These comments have helped me improve because from it I changed the lighting so it was darker however it was a big jump from some of the warmer shots so instead of making the shots extremely dark I turned the brightness down and then turned the saturation and warmness down. Through this I made the footage colder and slightly darker this caused the transition between shots less jumpy and forced. They really liked the silliness of Isaac (the fontman) because it created a fun atmosphere for the scenes and also the editing on the beat because it caused the video to flow better. I deemed the video complete when I couldn't see anything else I needed to change and the audience couldn't either. I feel that this was a good stopping point because otherwise I may have overworked the product and create something which didn't link or make sense.

My promotional poster received lots of feedback from my target audience which helped because their opinions caused me to change my piece and the end result looks a lot better than it did before. The comments I received for my poster centred around the balloon, the layout and the colours of the photograph. The feedback wanted me to change the positioning of the balloon because it was difficult to read the text and wanted me to re-edit the photo because the colours weren't punchy enough however they did really enjoy the balloon itself and the idea of it overlaying the text. Because of this feedback I edited my poster and changed what they suggested, I re-edited the photo and used a warmer colour scheme so that the colours were vibrant and interesting; I also edited the balloon by moving the text up. One of the comments suggested for me to edit the font which I disagreed with because the audience thought it did not match the photo, I decided not to change the font because when I asked wider audience members they thought the text fit the genre and looked professional. Overall I feel like my poster has improved greatly and conveys the correct message to the audience.

My digipak has received the least amount of feedback mainly because I worked on it very quickly and forgot to show it to my audience to gain feedback. However I did present it several times to them and they stated that they liked the simplistic nature of it, They stated that the logo of the record company and the band name were too close to the edge of the spine and the font for the album name should be different than the band name font because it didn't look right. After these suggestions I edited my digipak to fit the feedback, through doing this I feel that the digipak looks better than it did before.

Overall through listening to my audience feedback I feel that I have created better products that both me and the market like, I learned that target audience feedback is very important and can help the producer change aspects of the piece to create a universally liked piece which most likely will promote more interest and revenue. However I have learnt to not listen sometimes to their feedback because if I did change an aspect of the piece to fit their liking then I will be eliminating other audiences.

Evaluation Question 2

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

All real life products in the world aim to interest and satisfy their audiences, so with the music industry and it's products it's not much different. The music industry wants to attract audiences through their products and promote themselves through it, to do this they need products that will not confuse or bore their target audiences whilst being easily recognisable. One way to do this is to link the artist's products together; by linking the products the audience can associate an object, logo or a face to the artist. This means that when an audience member sees a product of the artist they easily recognise the branding and then buy the product. By not branding the artist the companies may lose out on revenue because the public are constantly questioning whether it is the artist's product or just miss it all together.

'Hey Violet' Music Video Screenshots

'Hey Violet' Album Cover

We see these links between artists' products constantly, for the band 'Hey Violet' and their album 'Guys My Age' they also use this tactic. In their music video a key element is the purple and pink lighting is constant as well as the singer, who herself has pink hair, being steadily shown throughout. 

The colour and the band are the focus of their video and it was the audience remembers most about it. For their album cover, they highlighted this fact by having a pink and purple colour scheme and having the singer, she has her back turned to the camera however her signature pink hair is falling over shoulders onto a jacket which states the name of the album and the band. By doing this, the products of the band are linked and when the audience views them they instantly know that the products are theirs. Therefore the can easily buy and promote the album themselves without becoming confused.

In my own products I want a similar effect on the audience, I need a group of products to capture the audience's attention and keep them interested - so to do this I needed to link my products together. I didn’t want to go down the same route as ‘Hey Violet’ by only using the frontman and the lighting scheme because although our music video had a warm colour scheme it wasn’t recognisable enough for the audience to realise instantly. I decided that instead I was going to have a repeated feature in my products as well as the frontman of the band being shown throughout.

I decided through editing to have the heart balloon as the main feature. So in all of my products I have the balloon and the frontman as obvious features, this causes the audience to easily recognise the products as the bands and then buy them. Also a heart balloon is a popular feature so when the audience sees one after seeing my products they will think of the band and may cause them to buy it again or other potential merch because I have linked my products think they are very effective.

Evaluation Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Promotional Music Poster Edit

After reviewing my promotional poster an audience member pointed out the spelling mistake for "electric". This was a lucky save because I had it before as "electic" and having spelling mistakes in products is unprofessional.

This is the edited version:

Comparing My Products

When creating media products that represent a band or singer it is important to make sure the products link together well so that you create an aesthetically pleasing products that the viewer knows are from a certain source.

In my products I used the balloon as the connector, in the music video it is a key part of the narrative and symbolizes the couples love, because of this I decided to use an image of the couple and the balloon as my poster image. The digipak also uses images of the band as well, this is more typical of an album which features the band more than a specific music video, however I do reference the video with the balloon and the bath bomb background. Within the digipak I also referenced the promotional poster by using the same image but I edited it slightly differently than the other image.

By referencing other products in my work it causes a link within them and helps the audience identify the band quicker and it should not confuse them.

Final Music Video

Here is our final music video product:

We have been working on it for over 6 months now, from the beginning where we were figuring out our plot and discussing the inspirations for the video - to now where we have finished the video and I couldn't be more prouder of Imogen and myself.

Music Video - Audience Feedback

On the 19th April 2017 I gathered our target audience and they watched our music video product so that I could collect some more feedback on how to improve. However when asked they couldn't think of anything to improve on but they liked the warmth of the colours and the editing on the beat. One of the audience members said that they understood the narrative of the video now due to me editing the gaussian blur onto the flashback clips whereas before it confused them.

Comparing the Posters

Here are my two posters compared next to each other, you can see the different in the colour and the text clearly however when closer looked at I also added more detail.

I've also added "Debut Album" to show the viewer that it is clearly a music poster and not a short film one since that was some of the feedback I was getting. Some viewers thought that the original was a short film poster and not a music poster, which I obviously do not want.

As well as adding "Debut Album", I have also changed the colours to a warmer tone - since my audience feedback asked for "punchier colours" and with the warmer tone the red in the balloon and the blues in the costumes are more prominent. 

I also received feedback suggesting that I either changed the font or created shadows so that it is easier to read, I chose to add shadows to the font so that the title is more prominent and noticeable. I also added shadows to the other texts because the light in the background caused them to be difficult to read. I decided to keep the font because after looking through the other options this font was the best looking and suited the genre best. 

I also moved the title upwards and made it slightly smaller because I received multiple comments saying that the balloon covered the title too much, so by altering it the title can be seen easier. Because I had to move it upwards I made "The 1975" smaller as well as the media icons so it all fit well.