EVALUATION QUESTION 3

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

To first gain audience feedback I used methods that would reach the target audience I attempted to target. For my music video, I posted it on YouTube to see how many people viewed/liked/commented on the video itself. I then posted it on Facebook to receive likes and comments, I did the same by promoting the link to the music video on Twitter. By using social media websites, it means you can contact a large amount of people very quickly. Also a majority of my target audience would have an account on these sites. So far, approximately 420 people have viewed my music video due to me putting it out onto these sites, I have also gained insightful feedback. To receive audience feedback on my promotional package, this would mean directly contacting people face to face to give them a form to fill out, I also asked my peers to give me constructive feedback. 

During the editing of my music video, one of my ideas was to create a montage, however I found myself cutting the shots to short, not giving the audience enough time to establish what was going on in each shot. My feedback was to make sure the short scene could still be established as a montage but making the clips long enough to get an idea of what is going on. From this I made each short clip in the montage 2 seconds each, this meant it was consistent and the audience had enough time to understand that the scene was a montage. 

After I had edited the first half of the music video, I showed it to a wide range of people, aged between 16-50 on an open evening. About 70% of the people I showed it to found the plot unclear and struggled to establish the storyline. As disheartening as this was, it set me a new challenge to slightly alter the shots and what order they appeared in. I had to make the storyline more understandable, as the plot is twisted slightly at the end, so by making the main body of the video as clear as could be was very important. 

Feedback from my print productions part way through was easier to amend. I started my CD cover with the 3rd panel of a picture of the necklace (featured picture) the character Ava wears all the way through the video. However my feedback was suggesting that it looked like I was trying to sell the necklace rather than sell a CD. From this, I chose an image that did not feature in my final cut of the video, however it was one taken on the location of a shoot. It is one of Nile in a red jumper strolling along the coast. I felt this was overall more fitting than one of the necklace, the red also signifies that there will be conflict as red is the colour of anger and love, which is predominantly what the video and the song are about.

First Design

Second improved design

On my CD cover, it was also suggested to me that I changed the colour and position of the writing on the front of my CD cover. Feedback said it did not stand out enough from the image of the rocks and the girl, imposed against the grey overcast sky. So I changed the text to be over the rock at the bottom of the cover and changing the colour to white. I was sceptical at first and thought my design was much better, but after trying it realised you have to 'kill your babies'. Something you've worked with and you like can often not be the best you can do. 

First design

The response to my magazine advert was critical, this could have been because it didn't reflect the rest of my digi-pack and ultimately my music video. Looking back now, I can see that it was not targeting my target audience and was something I was not 100% happy with. There were also some suggestions to move the text around and alter font size. Instead of altering them all individually, I completely scrapped the design and devised something completely new with the guidance of 3 people in my target audience. I chose three images i liked that I would be happy with using on my magazine advert and let them justify which one they though was best and why. 

Second design

After using black font on the previous advert I designed, I decided that it didn't look very strong against the bright colours. So from the image they chose which was predominantly dark, with a layered image of waves over the top, it has the best of both worlds, including dark and bright areas. I thought it would be best to use white font which stands out from the dark and bright image and contrasts it. 

When I had finished devising the new design, I spoke to the same three people and they said that it reaches out to my target audience more and that it is more eye catching and unique than the last design. 

In my Target Audience analysis for the song and band, the style and influence of the indie genre is very unisex, it is also a genre that doesn't care what sex you are, but that they can find common ground with you. From my audience feedback, I wanted to find out whether there really is a minimal difference in opinions between genders.

In his work, Kress references an 'ideal audience', in the indie/electro/rock genre, the fans are the artists' ideal audience, there is also an element of narcissism in this view but surely you'd want people alike yourself to hear and give feedback on your material. The fans of Kankouran may also enjoy bands such as The Cads, Coldplay, Oasis and Oberhofer - some of these are Kankouran's influences.

The questions I posted to my audience once I had completed the final designs were as follows...

1 - "Does the package successfully reflect the genre of music?"

The digi-pack is effective if it reflects the genre, so trying to find similar images or texts, titles, fonts, or performers is important to include. If the music video represents the genre well and you have linked the promotional package and the video together, then it should successfully reflect the genre of music. 

2 - "Does the package successfully promote the band/artist?"

The Cads album artwork

Using performers who represent the band is important when making the link to the band itself. It is quite common for bands within the realms of Indie genre to not put themselves on their cover art. For example a similar band called The Cads, represent themselves through a picture of the album artwork and one of their thumbs, the image as a whole is the cover of their artwork. 

3- "How do you rate the graphics, text, finish of digi-pack?"

Some of the images I used are screen shots of the video, which is always a risk because of the camera quality. However I shot on my own camera which meant the image was High Definition. I had not trouble with stretched shots etc. This question also meant that I had to be continuous with colour themes, using the same font and the same style on each panel. 

4 - "How did you rate the standard of graphics, print finish of advert?"

Similarly to the previous question, keeping the advert and the album artwork in sync with each other was important. The audience must be able to make the association that they are linked with each other, also that they are within the same promotional package with a similar looking video to accompany them. 

5 - "How successful is the British-ness of the package established?"

By using iconic British location such as Durdle Door, The Cobb and Chesil beach, this gives indicators that it is filmed on British soil, with British actors, inspired by a British written song. 

6 - "Would the covers encourage you to buy the digi-pack?"

This entails the covers being mysterious enough to want to find out what they sounds like, they also have to be a reflective representation representation of what the band sound like, so suggesting the genre trough the image is very important, linking back to the first question. 

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

By not using the band themselves to feature physically in the video and promotional package, it means there is an element of anonymity about the band, this may encourage people to go and find out who they are, and possibly meet them. 

FEEDBACK 16-17 FEMALES

This section of feedback represents the younger age of my demographic, my overall demographic ranges between 16-25 years old. I was pleased with the positive feedback I received from them. Before they filled out the forms, I first showed them my music video followed by a preview of my digi-pack and magazine advert.

It starts by strongly agreeing that my "promotional package reflects the genre of music" (I played the music video as the promotional package). A circled number 4 for question 2 could possibly be justified because I did not use an image of the band Kankouran, I used performers acting in the video, however this is what links the two together.
The participant seemed to like they style of graphics and texts throughout my promotional package, it was continuous and simple.
Promoting the British-ness through the packaging was also circled as 5. This could have been because of the link to British history, in terms of Thomas Hardy basing his novels in the part of the U.K. that we filmed in, using some iconic British locations, where he did live. Also the tone of the package is portrayed through the colour grading, using a grey scale wash a de-saturating the colour reflects the British weather, from the pictures you'd automatically know it wasn't captured in Spain.

Circling 'yes' - "encourage you to buy digi-pack" means I have achieved what promotional package's aims are, to get people to buy the product you are promoting, also enticing them to see the band live.
The highlights of the overall packing for this subject were the front cover of the digi-pack, the sea wall with the waves crashing over it (image) and the continuous themes throughout, meaning the same tone of image. This encourages me as I wanted it to reflect and connect with the music video in the sense that you'd think of both when seeing 1 media product. An overall rating of 5 tells me I have targeted her demographic category directly and with effective results.

The second feedback form says that the best parts were the front cover, the back cover and the magazine advert. After having to completely redesign my magazine advert, it made me positive towards it, re-enforcing my decision that I had made the correct choice in the image and colours I decided to use.
The final comments were that is was "eye catching... flows together as a package" which again was one of my aims; to make it continuous.

The message I took from the females' responses was that they understood the message that Kankouran have within their song, also that I had portrayed it through image and moving image. Stuart Hall explains that the producer (in this case myself) created the code, or 'encodes' the medium with a message, and the audience, if they understand it, will be able to decode the message, which in this case I've strongly been led to believe. 

FEEDBACK 19-23 MALES

This demographic is represented as older males within my target audience. The form on the left and right are very different, I will start by describing the form on the left. 

The Cads album artwork (above)
The Cads music video (below)

The participant thought that the "package successfully promotes the genre of music", keeping well within the realms of the indie/electro/rock genre. Disagreeing with the statement that is promotes the band, this could have been because I did not include images of Kankouran in any of my media products, however this is often featured by bands similar to Kankouran like The Cads, they use graphically constructed images for their digi-packs and stop motion for a majority of their media. 

The "standard of graphics and text" is similar to the females' response of the digi-pack, both circled 5 for that answer. Once more for the simplicity and style of the text that it doesn't detract attention from the images on the digi-pack but settles in with them. 
The "standard print and finish of the product" was rated 4, this could be because they felt like I had repeated the images from the music video to the digi-pack, having used some screen shots of my music video, instead of individual pictures.
The "British-ness" question is circled as 3. This could be because of two possible reasons - the participant didn't make the link between the music video and the promotional package. Another could be because they hadn't experience different places a (possibly cultures) within the U.K. and had not been exposed to it - the British heritage side influences/intertextual references.

Despite this, the participant said it would encourage them to buy the CD, possibly because of their favourite parts of the promotional package - front cover, magazine advert and the continuous imagery. However he is undecided on whether the promotional package would encourage him to go to see the band live.

The form on the right is slightly different, however he is at the later age in my demographic and therefore 4 years older than then person who completed the form on the left. 
He strongly agrees that is "promotes the genre of music", also that it "promotes the band", this could be because similar bands don't use themselves in their promotional work, enticing their audience to come and meet them, to see them live - it creates more of mystery about the band. 
The "standard graphics and text" was circled as 5, leading me to believe that my choice for images, texts and colours were entirely right for the demographic he is representing. 
However the "standard of texts and graphics on the advert" dropped a score down to 4. This could be because it is not as continuous as it is white on the advert and black on the divi-pack (mostly). 
The "British-ness" question was circles as 4. Possibly because I didn't feature iconic images of British culture, the aspects that define Britain, for example, I involved Britain's beaches (the sea) but not a pan of a coastline, which could have been the moment where the participant recognises the coast-line. He also says the images were "accurately portrayed in package & mag ad" once again meaning I linked the two promotional items together well. In final comments he said "you can understand much about the artist through this" - from this he means the calm images, indicating the calm sounding song etc. 

In terms of concluding the males' responses to my productions, it didn't seem to affect the male demographic as much as it did to the female demographic. 
To generalise I could say that 'it didn't affect the male participants in my questionnaires'. However, I can't use these two people as a representation for the entire male audience of my productions. So to say the effect it has on the male demographic, I could reference the 'Two-Step-Flow', thought up by theorists - Lazerfeld, Berelson and Gaudet. They explain that the message or the information from something sinks into the few. However these few pass on the message to the easily manipulated, hence the name 'Two-Step-Flow' - it flows through the masses in two steps.  

Overall the response from my audience have been constructive and positive. After taking into account the wide range of audience feedback I have received, I've deduced that females tend to favour my work more than males. This could be elements of narcissism that I have sub-consciously injected into the package and video, it could also be what the individuals are generally interested in, my work may not be their cup of tea. I was advised to change the layout to give it a more professional finish, using tools like 'the rule of thirds' making the composition of images look impressive.This is also typical of the indie/electro/rock genre audience, looking for ways to improve with a positive attitude.