WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Survey Monkey Audience ResearchPrior to production we conducted research via survey monkey in order to understand what viewers from the target audience like in a music video,with the view to take this information on board and create a successful product. The questionnaire comprised of 10 closed questions and gavequantitative data which we were then able to analyse and find trends/patterns within the answers given.

The main points taken from this research include;

• The target audience for the promotional package is 17-30

• Comical videos are popular

• Narrative structure is popular

• Reference to lyrics is also popular

• Dance routines should be avoided for the rock/pop genre

I learnt from conducting this research that it’s very much remote research which provides quantitative data. Although this is good in someways- quick and easy to send to large quantities of participants, and easy to analyse- it means a lack of expansion in answers. This meant thatI needed clarification or expansion on some of the answers, such as where people said they liked a connection between the lyrics and visuals.Almost all participants said yes, but I didn’t know whether this depended on the genre of the song or not, or whether there could be toomuch or too little of a relationship.

InterviewsI order to over come the slight problem with the remote research we conducted a few face to face interviews, which were more informal and allowed those interviewed to expand on their answers. The same questions were used in the face to face interviews as on Survey Monkey, giving qualitative data.

We also included questions surrounding the ancillary texts to understand what potential consumers think of these synergistic products and how best we could utilise them.

From these interviews we found that platforms such as YouTube are the most popular for viewing music videos, and technologicalconvergence, such as using mobile phones to view music videos and download music from iTunes, is very popular. It was also brought toour attention that digipak perhaps aren’t that widely purchased anymore, and more commonly people are downloading music straight tomp3 devices, or streaming through applications such as Spotify.

How was research incorporated into texts?

Research into digipak’s was incorporated in that we made sure to make the album coverbright and colourful, in order to grab the attention of potential consumers. We also noted thatdigital purchase was common, ensuring that the album cover alone explicitly showed whatthe album is, who the artist is, and that it linked to the band’s iconic style.

We also took on board feedback that suggested a narrative structure would go down well with viewers, aswell as an element of comedy. For example, the choice of costume (3 piece suit), and the fact he loses out onthe girl to another guy, because this mocks that idea of voyeurism and creates a fun rivalry.

We also incorporated a lyric visual relationship. This was something that interviewee's suggested should be subtle but apparent, so we used occasional lyric to visual links such as here where George pays for some flowers in change, while the song reads ‘change for gas’. There is also a relationship between the overall message of the song and the fast edits, mimicking the upbeat positive attitude within the song.

Post production feedback

In terms of post production feedback, we received comments and messages via Facebook from friends and family, and have two video responses- one from a friend

and one from York College students. We found that most said the same sort of things such as ‘It’s funny’ or ‘I enjoyed it’. These types of comments are nice to hear but not very constructive, although I suppose people understanding the humour is a positive response as it shows our use of codes and conventions to be successful,

as comedy was one of our intended readings.

The students did give us slightly more constructive feedback, suggesting that we did well to follow genre conventions and our camera work was steady, producing

some visually interesting shots.

How useful was audience feedback in general?

Audience feedback was useful in that it helped to cement ideas we already had, but weren’t confident with, such as the narrative structure, interpretive use of lyric to visual relationship and

inclusion of humour. The information gathered from interviews also matched up to that in the Survey Monkey questionnaires which was a positive reinforcement, meaning the research is

accurate and reliable.

But more importantly, the research, especially the interviews, alerted us to the influence of technology- something we were aware of but weren’t actively thinking about. For example, the

younger of those questioned said they don’t tend to buy CD’s anymore, and instead prefer to download them from iTunes or just listen to playlists through Spotify or YouTube.

If I was to re-do this portfolio, I would perhaps try to increase the sample size of those questioned and interviewed, as well as interview those who are more towards the higher end of the target

audience age. I think his would give a wider scope to the research and a more useful set of data to work with.