EVALUATION

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

Methods of gaining target audience feedback:

TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH – often consisted off focus groups and of detailed questionnaires.

The questionnaires were very beneficial as we were able to gain great detail, e.g. on how our audience consume music videos and on their opinions and attitudes towards music video’s.

Focus groups were equally as informative, however one thing to bare in mind is that our focus groups often consisted of our media class so they had much more advanced knowledge therefore were able to give greater input into manipulating conventions etc.

Social media/ private message was also a useful way of gaining target audience research feedback as people were able to elaborate on their thoughts and feelings towards our product.

FOCUS GROUPS

My partner and I conducted a focus group, in which we told our target audience our initial ideas whilst playing the track, e.g. locations we had imagined, certain shots we felt matched the lyrics, and emotions we wanted the audience to feel. These were the questions we asked.

As seen in the picture it was very casual and had 6 peers, 4 females and 2 males. Each individual gave a good input, however upon reflection I wish I had stood in order to be in more charge of the focus group and perhaps it may have been more useful to get more males input.

Questions asked in the FOCUS GROUP

1. What did you imagine for each verse? - bubbles, piano, close ups

2. What ideas do you have for the second verse? - parks, SRS, handheld camera

3. Do you like the use of handheld camera?

4. We're not sure on the next part, what do you guys think? - shrek intertextuality, nostalgia VCR, links to visual tea.

5. What do you think the song means?

6. How do you imagine their relationship?

7. Do you like the use of computer games- social comment- capitalism- chucking money away?

8. Do you like the use of flashbacks?

9. Do you all prefer narrative music video for this music video?

10. Are you all hearing it negatively?

11. Do you like being an active audience and spotting social comment?

12. What representations would you like to see of female and male in music video?

13. Do you imagine black and white, colour or both?

14. Equal shots of the female and the male or more of a certain one?

15. What outfits do you imagine them wearing?

FEEDBACK

Our focus group was very informative as they had oppositional readings and some stated “he is clearly more into her than she is into him” which came to a shock to my partner and I and we therefore had to incorporate a change of narrative in order for our music video to be appealing to the target market.

Due to being face to face with our audience we were able to ask open question in order to gin more information form their previous response, which aloud us to get further knowledge on their preferences.

If we had not done this and has used a questionnaire instead we would never had gained the knowledge we had, for example we would never have asked the question ”how do you imagine their relationship” however we did due to their previous responses.

This feedback worked extremely well as it gave us the right guidance in order to appeal to the right target market.

Evaluating questions

In total 15 questions were asked, and it tended to have each answer led on to the next question we asked in order to gain the most information. However most questions asked tended to be about the reading of the track and less ideas were given for the actual music video.

Some further questions I wish I had asked upon reflection would be:• Are you sure that as an upcoming artist in the industry we want to display him as sad and

emotional in his first ever music video?

• If the artist is emotional and weak over a girl do you think the audience will start want to purchase his merchandise?

• Do you find too many links to visuals cheesy at times?

• Do you think it would be confusing for the viewer if we have frequent changes from female with each male?

Evaluating Focus Group

It is one of my biggest regrets that upon reflection we did not conduct another focus group, after we had begin to construct our music video. However, we did have regular informal visits from our peers to watch the music video in order to observe our progress. However, no real feedback was given as it was too informal. But I do feel if one had been conducted it would have been very beneficial.

In hindsight when reflecting on some of the questions we asked, several were very leading as we were letting our current creative ideas at the time shine through in the questions, in which I feel some of the focus group may have simply agreed with it just because they didn’t want to put our ideas down.

Another regret is not having more equal amounts of gender and a wide age range, because despite the ta being teenagers I think a wide of people opinions would be useful.

TA research through QUESTIONNAIRES

This is the questionnaire we gave to our peers to fill in.

Upon reflection it would have been less time consuming If we had done this process digitally e.g. through poll daddy and analysed the data that was as it would have been simpler and more efficient in this digital age, and our TA audience would probably be more likely and happier to fill it in online rather than having to find a pen and then find my partner and I to give the slip back.

Questionnaires

These are some of the pie charts my partner and I constructed after we gained our target audience research.

From our pie charts, we actually did not use the gender of each person that had filled in the questionnaire to find anymore information or to give us a better insight into our TA, so it was not necessary for us to have asked them to name their gender at the top of the poll.

This question didn’t provide a very useful insight as th only thing it really informed was that 40 -50 % was the most popular.

However, it is difficult to measure how much of a music video is actually the artist unless we actually counted the seconds of the shots which include the artist.

However, again there is the question of if we only count the seconds in which the star image is singing into camera or if we include the shots in which the star image is acting.

Therefore this question was slightly irrelevant and not very imformative.

These questions did not enhance our creativity or inform our planning, however did support my partner and I thoughts that our generation does not buy CD’s and the digipak ancillary task needs to be updated to stay current in this developing age and subject.

The answers to this question was not very informative was not very useful as the most common response was “good music” which for a made up artist was not really down to my partner and I to develop.

Perhaps this question was not as useful due to the wording of the question:

“When a new artist is coming into the industry, what do you think is crucial they have to do?”

Perhaps if the question was worded, ”what is the best way for a new artist to reach you?” it may have been more informative.

However if we has asked the question “what is the best way for an artist to reach you?” it may have over lapped with this question and the answers would have been similar to this with just “radio” as an answer too.

This answer was not very useful however just supported our confidence that youtube is a useful platform to promote a new artist.

Stereoptypically the colours and mood associated with pop acoustic are more dull and appeal older people so we wanted this to be a change and appeal to a modern younger audience and out TA research helped to do this.

I think one of the problems with this question is that examples are given after the question and upon reflection “dull” was not a good example to give.

Evaluating Questionnaires

As it was easier for us to print a large amount of the questionnaires off and hand it to our media class as well as other peers around and in the common room, we was able to get a large amount of responses.

However, when It came to the actual feedback gained, some were not as useful due to some peers who do not take media A level not having the basic media knowledge we require in order to have an effective input.

Therefore elements of questionnaires were not as useful, despite me and my partner trying to put the questions into a simple format for non media students to understand.

Why use target audience feedback?

We used target audience feedback so that our music video and ancillaries would successfully target the correct audience and wanted to ensure our music video would appeal to both genders, therefore our music video has many oppositional readings and there is no clear “villain” therefore is not bias to any particular gender.

Also with our genre being pop acoustic our color scheme and house style is already neutral however with the audience feedback made sure to incorporate bold neutral colours such as dark blue so it is eye catching yet appealing to all.

In general, upon reflection our TA research was useful and gave us some good ideas into how to create the music video and how to display the artsist on ancillary tasks.

Things we would change…

If we were to conduct TA research again or if I was to inform future students on what to do I would give these tips.

Focus groups are brilliant ways of getting insights of TA research and conduct as many as you can, e.g when..1. you’re first gathering ideas on the track you’ve chosen 2. second one when you’ve created your story boards and before you start shooting3. third after your rough cut to gain an insight on any editing techniques they

recommend4. your final version of the video is on youtube.As at all these stages this is where it is most necessary and most informative and will truly enhance your creativity. However, as mentioned earlier it is important that the focus group has a good insight of media knowledge to provide you with the best ideas, so it is best you stick with your media class.

Things we would change…

Another thing I would change is ensuring I got more males to participate in our focus groups and to fill in our questionnaires, since our new artist is a male too.

Another thing would to make the most of social media, and ask for responses and opinions from family and friends on social media to give you a good insight as this would be very useful and quick. This would be a useful method when for example choosing a brand logo.

Handing an receiving filled in questionnaires was a very time consuming process so in hindsight I would definitely recommend using poll daddy or some sort of online version to send to peers instead.

Another final thing I would change is to take more time in choosing the wording of the questions as some can be very misleading and confuse the TA and lead to irrelevant uninformative responses.