Question 3: What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

Evaluation Question 3

What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

Gaining audience feedback was vital when creating this production. Initially, it was important to establish who the audience was for the Neo-Soul/Jazz genre; I did this mainly from secondary research into existing videos. From this, I then had to carry out my own research activity to find out what they wanted in particular from my use of conventions, and video as a whole. In order to do this, I carried out my own questionnaire which gave me valuable feedback to learn and make choices from. Finally, once the production had been made, I carried out further research by holding a focus group in order to learn what my audience felt about my overall product.

From my secondary research, I established that the following demographic were the audience for the Neo-Soul/Jazz genre:

Target Audience:

Genre - Neo-Soul/Jazz
Age/s - 12 - 40
Gender - Unisex 
Ethnicity - Interracial (All)
Occupation - C1, C2, D, E 
Hobbies and Interests - Going out, partying, social smoking, music, having fun with friends at various locations of interest

Once I established the audience, I then carried out my own questionnaire. I gathered my 20 participants together in a room and played them the song so they had an idea of what questions/video idea they would be answering.  I did this for the following reasons:
-reliable data
-specific/targeted audience
-gather quick feedback
-could manipulate questions to find out areas of interest
-easy to create results from
-easy to make decisions from

Below is an image of my questionnaire:

1. Questionnaire 

"other sheet could not be attached"

 

"Which setting would you most like to see a Jazz music video set in?"

 

-A run-down street  |   |

-A bar |   |

-Casino |   |

-Performance Hall |   |

-Studio |   |

 

 *majority of people said a casino and a bar = therefore my location choice were of these two*

 

"What types of iconography would you expect to see within a Jazz music video?"

 

-Alcohol |   |

-Cigars |   |

-Playing Cards |   |

-Instruments |   |

-Microphones |   |

-Stages |   |

 

*majority vote suggested that the iconography I should use be alcohol, cigars and playing cards = this was my choice of iconography*

 

 

"If you could suggest a typical costume for a Jazz artist, what would it include?"

 

-Long trench coats/jackets |   |

-Black and White Suits |   |

- Top hats |   |

 

*majority suggested that the outfits the artist and other characters should wear should be trench coats and suits = I included this for my costume representation*

 

"In a typical music video such as "Follow" would you expect the interaction between characters to be relaxed and joyful or serious and dominant?

 

________________________________________________________________

 

*this answer brought me to the conclusion that the connection between characters should be very enjoyable and relaxed. This would appeal to the audience most = this was how I got my characters to interact *

 

"What would you suggest the essential lighting for a Jazz music video to be set in?

 

-High Key |   |

-Low Key |   |

-Natural Key |   |

 

*the essential lighting for my music video has been chosen to be natural to high key = I therefore include this to represent the mood of my video*

 

 

"Should we introduce other characters into the music video or keep it to the one friend?"

 

-Other characters? |   |

-Just the one friend? |   |

 

*this question allowed me to know that I should keep the characters to minimal and just use the one friend = some shots it was just the friend, but I did include some others for some variety*

 

"Should we increase the sex appeal within the star's persona or keep it moderately clean and collected?"

 

-Increase sex appeal |   |

-Keep it clean and collected |   |

 

*Due to the answer for this question I included some sex appeal in my music video, this helped to appeal thus attracting a female audience*

 

"Should the visuals compliment the lyrics or should we keep a simple concept to the video?"

 

-Compliment each other |   |

-Keep it to concept standard |   | 

 

*from this question I came to the conclusion to use visuals creatively in a way that complimented the lyrics of the music video well*



 

 

 

I handed the questionnaire to 20 people who I know liked and knew about the Neo-Soul/Jazz genre in order to gather valuable and reliable feedback on my use of conventions. Below is the findings of what I learnt from my audience feedback. 

This graph told me that I should upload my work onto YouTube as it was the most watched online site for music videos once the product was created so I could gather audience feedback to measure the success of my product.

This graph told me that I should make the style of my music video Concept Based and make it original for the audience. This feedback allowed me to decided that I would incorporate this idea in my music video, however I was still keen to also include performance, which I did.

 

 From this graph I have gathered that there is in fact a target market for my music video. This is due to the results given displaying that there is a lot of people watching music videos within a 7 day week

 

 From this graph it allowed me to know that the best iconography for my music video would be alcohol, cigars and playing cards

 

From this graph it allowed me to chose the outfit for my music video to be long trench coats/jackets with a black and white suits

 

From this graph I was able to suggest that the essential lighting for my jazz music video should be set in natural to low key lighting

This graph told me that there was valuable feedback coming as a result of my questionnaire which is due to a majority of the participants watching "10 or more" videos in a 7 day week. This allowed me to learn that I should take their feedback seriously and use it to make key decisions from.

Other ideas that I learned/gathered from the questionnaire as a result of majority choices:

-That I should style my artist with a conventional black and white suit.

-The artists clothing representation should be cool and urban as well as classic. The biggest choice was to dress him in a hat and unbutton his shirt. This is something I used within my production.

-I should include locations like a casino setting

-My video should be black and white

-friendship and having fun should be a key theme to portray

-iconography like cigars and alcohol should be used.

 

This questionnaire gave me audience feedback and intelligence on what would be conventional for my specific genre. With this feedback, I was able to tailor my media product to suit the target audiences expectations as well as being specific to the genre. This allowed me to include these themes and help make my media product visually appealing plus effective, achieving success.

I also asked numerous open ended questions in my questionnaire to get more detailed answers from my audience.

 

Feedback Given

1) Name 5 artists (old artists or modern artists) that you know represent/or have represented the Jazz genre well?


Crystal Vega, aged 16 said; "Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown and Michael Buble'. 


I learned from this as it was a good combination of older and more modern artist so I could base a deeper analysis of this artists to help with artist representation and convention choices.  

2) What feelings do you expect to feel when you watch a video of the Jazz genre?

Ken Lee, aged 18 said; "I like to feel chilled. I like to see the artist leading an entertaining lifestyle and singing and performing with confidence to I can sit back and relax whist watching it. As they are 'cool men' I want to almost envy their lifestyle".

I learned from this because it helped me to decide that I should create a very relaxed and settled tone within my music video which would allow my audience to feel absorbed within the video contents. The second bit to his answer allowed me to make the choice of including performance in the video too where he sings and dances in a laid-back manner to the camera.


3) Do you agree that modern day music videos portray males in a 'sexual gaze' as well as women? Please comment on why.


Khaled Jaffer, aged 17 said; "Yes I definitely agree, especially modern day music videos where you see men topless and stuff. It is important to sell through sex appeal because sex sells!"


I learned from this feedback as it was common feedback that I received from the question on other forms that modern day music videos do try and make their artist appeal to the opposite/same sex. This helped me decide that I would make my artist have charisma by doing things like flirting with the camera, unbuttoning his shirt etc.

 

POST-PRODUCTION AUDIENCE FEEDBACK:

As a group we decided that we would share our work on popular media platforms in order to receive audience feedback after the production was created. This allowed us to measure the success of our production and identify any areas of improvement.

Follow - Sean Dela Rose - Mos Wanted Productions:
(YOUTUBE)

-Why did you put your work on YouTube?

I put our work on YouTube due to it being a worldwide source for video streaming. YouTube has been deemed the world's largest online site to watch and listen to  music videos. It is a clear and unrestricted site.
 

2 positive comments:

2 critiques:

"The ending seemed very unfinished, perhaps it could have been more of an established finish next time"

"I felt that there should of been more shots of the artist alone, than with the partner, a bigger star appeal could of been formed from this.

What did you learn from this audience feedback in terms of whether you created a conventional and successful music video?

From this audience feedback I learnt that I did create a conventional and successful music video based on my ability to make the concept understandable and not lose the audiences attention and expectations. I was also successful in portraying the relationship between music and visuals which was one of the main conventions to follow. On the whole, the feedback was positive which makes me learn from my audience feedback that I created a successful product.
 

Focus group pictures and feedback:

 

I have learnt from this feedback that I could have explored more with my locations and maybe the casino idea was used too often. We did have lots of other shots we could have picked from so this is something I have to consider in the future to ensure there is enough variety in my product.






What I learnt from this feedback is that the friendship portrayed in the video is very effective and believable, and if there was one thing to improve, it was the star at the end who did one thing with his drink that didn't look believable. Something like this is easily fixed so I am happy with this feedback.
 

Although the feedback was positive in regards to the themes portrayed and the friendship/interaction portrayed within the video, again, the variety of locations has come up as an area to improve. This is important to know because although I think they were good, more settings should have been added.




Benji really liked our use of locations, in particular the piano and casino as it reflected the genre well. Jordan liked the engagement with the characters and the costumes worn by them which is good as this was a decision from audience feedback. Saffy liked the style and tone that was lazy as it is expected from the genre.  





What did you learn from this audience feedback in terms of whether you created a conventional and successful music video? 

From this audience feedback I learnt that I created a music video that portrayed the genre and its conventions in an effective way. The artist representation along with my choices of iconography and setting were big hits amongst the audience and I believe this is because we made them believable and realistic to expectations. The one area that needs the most improvement is using more locations for even more variety.

Conclusion 

For my music video 'Follow', I ensured that we promoted the video over various media platforms. This was so that the feedback we would eventually gain on our product would be liable enough for us to determine whether it was conventional or not. It was also so that we could meet the expectations of the audience. 

The feedback on my music video was overall very positive, however there is always room for improvement. As the director and producer of this music video I found this feedback to be beneficial to myself as I would able to clearly identify the audiences likes and dislikes. After reading all the feedback I went back and watched the music video again, and to be honest, I could clearly see where a majority of viewers were coming with their comments. Perhaps a more focused ending would have been more satisfying for the audience.


Overall, I am very pleased with my music video and the feedback; should I ever create another music video, will be taken into consideration and put into action. I would take my time in perfecting the elements needed to create a professional music video for my audience to enjoy.