Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback? 

Whilst creating our music video, we believed that audience feedback was paramount in creating an enjoyable and technically proficient production. We approached audience feedback in a variety of ways varying from a focus group evaluating our first draft to a survey discussing genre conventions of music videos.

Firstly, we received feedback on our initial ideas which was a fantasy battle. We included our entire media studies class in the survey leading to, roughly, eight completed surveys. The feedback we received, both written and verbal, concluded that a fantasy battle will be difficult to produce when factors of cost were considered. Also, a fantasy battle would take too long to create due to the use of CGI and green-screen. Consequently, as we have no knowledge in the field of green screen effects and CGI we decided we were better off perfecting a simpler idea which was easier to create. From audience feedback, we were able to manage our time in a more productive manner. Furthermore, it allowed us to explore other aspects of the fantasy genre such as a dystopia similar to that of the hunger games which is what we ended up creating.

Secondly, after we completed our first draft, we requested verbal feedback from a few people in our class. The first draft consisted of a 50 second clip, the introduction of our video, we decided it would be wise to receive feedback on this section alone due to the fact that it would set the mood and pacing of our entire video. The general consensus was that we were on the right lines with the mood and tone of the video being quite gritty and depressive which was what we were aiming for, however the fact that we were trying to convey a dream-like atmosphere, as our genre is dream pop, didn't translate to our audience which was one aspect to improve. Another aspect our audience suggested we improve was the timing of shots in relation to the music. They believed that most shots should be in time with the drum beat which we completely agreed with and rectified this in our second draft - including all other concerns they raised with us making audience feedback paramount to the improvement of our music video.

 

Finally, after improving our first draft we decided to show a different group. Our second draft, consisted of the recommended improvements from our first group, yet, also included various additions such as filters, new transitions and new shots. The general consensus was positive, however the shots were still out of sync to the music which was our main concern with our final draft. We decided to redraft our entire video, because of this. making our audience feedback crucial to this process.

In conclusion, audience feedback was by far one of the most important aspects of the improvement of our production. Not only did it allow us to view our video from others perspectives and gain information that way, but it became clear that there were issue with timing and our videos in relation to the dream pop genre as a whole. Furthermore, the improvements to the music videos have been invaluable to this process.