However, after our video was complete, I issued 10 questionnaires to people between the age range of 17-22, my target audience, and sent it out to both men and women. This was because we identified our target audience to be mixed to see if my music video achieved the desired effect, and if not, how I could change this in the future, as well as if I had correctly identified and target my target audience.
I used the method of a questionnaire because they are not only one of the less time consuming methods, but also provide insightful valuable data, as my questions were mainly open ended meaning all feedback received varied from each person.
Both my question 1 and 2 were however simple tick box question to simply and quickly identify the age and gender of the person filling in the questionnaire. I divided the age boxes into categories of 15-18, 19-22, 23-27, 27+. I divided the sections into these categories as I had estimated the age of my target audience as between the ages of 16-22, but by dividing them up into smaller categories, I was able to see if my video appealed to the younger, or older target audience, or indeed if it appealed to a wider range of people than I initially targeted and identified in my audience profile.
For my question 3, I simply asked 'In your opinion, does the video reflect the genre and the music?'
I deemed this one of the most important questions, as the importance of genre is often stressed by theorists such as Christine Gledhill who states that 'Genres permit the creating and maintenance of a loyal audience which becomes used (to recognizing the conventions of a genre.) Essentially, by mainly conforming to the genre expectations, it both guarantees and pleases an audience. It was therefore in my interest to create a music video which mainly conformed to my genre conventions, and this question asks the recipient if I had successfully done this.
For question 4, I asked the respondent On a rating of 1-5 (5 being the highest) How well did it capture your attention?
I asked this simple question to give me an overall idea on how well I managed to engage my audience.
Question 5 How did it hold your attention?
This asks the audience for more detail on how it engaged their attention, to identify if it was by the aspects I had deliberately chosen to include, such as by the unexpected realist narrative, or by the concealing of faces, or if in fact it was other aspects which I did not expect which captured and held my audiences attention.
For Question 6, I asked Was the music video:
I simply asked my audience to tick the relevant box in relation to whether it was too long, short, or correct in its length.This is likely to link to the previous 2 questions which asked how well it held their attention, as if they gave it a low rating on how well it held their attention, and also decided that the music video was too long, then this would be a way in which I could change my music video to make it more appealing to my audience. It would also tell me if I should have perhaps chosen a different song if my audience identified it as too short in length, as our song length was only 2 minutes 33 seconds long.
Question 7, Aspects of the narrative you enjoyed?
I deliberately made this question ambiguous, as it meant that each individual was likely to interpret the question differently, as the audience could tell me both their overall general thoughts on the narrative, which was the key element to our video, or specific scenes or shots within the music video that my audience enjoyed.
Question 8, Ways in which you think the music video appeals to its audience?
This question asks the respondent to personally reflect upon parts that appealed to them within the music video, as well general themes and techniques that we used to again see if it was aspects which I anticipated as being the most appealing to my target audience, or if it was in fact again other aspects which I had not expected. This question not only tells me about my most successful themes and concepts within my video, but it also allows me to better understand my target audience.
Question 9, Are there any aspects of the music video that you would change/is there any way you think I could improve my music video?
I asked this question to see if the audience thought I could improve my video, and to see if there were concepts which I myself had not considered when constructing my video that may increase audience appeal. However it could show my audience to be passive, which confirms 'Hypodermic needle theory' as they may simply be content with the media in which I am exposing them to, or alternatively it could prove my audience to be an 'active audience'.
A few of my completed questionnaires
What I learnt from my responses
100 % of respondents for question 3 stated that they thought that the music video reflected the genre, which I was pleased to hear, as it was my aim to stick largely to genre conventions.
90% of my respondents also rated the music video a '5' for how well it held their attention, which indicated that we successfully engaged our audience. All of the respondents that answered our questionnaire said that the main ways it did this was by focusing on the enigmatic element of choosing to focus on the feet as apposed to revealing faces, as well as by the narrative structure of events. These were the two main ways in which we tried to engage our audience, and so I am glad to see that these methods and approaches were successful in engaging our audience. As our audience ranked their interest in our video highly, they all responded that it was the correct length, which re-affirmed our track and editing choices.
When answering Question 7, all of my respondents said that they either enjoyed the narrative because of the unexpected ending, or that they enjoyed watching the relationship progress and develop and slowly deteriorate as they were able to relate to such events. This relates to Bulmer and Katz's extension of Laswell's Uses and Gratifications Theory that suggests the reason audiences view media texts relates to the audiences need for personal emotional relationships which can be 'lived through' by media texts. By making a video in relation to what I think my audience want, I am recognising them as an 'active audience' as they have ultimately decided what media products are successful.
When asked what aspects they thought would appeal to my audience in the video, all respondents said they thought the same aspects that they themselves enjoyed would appeal to my target audience, except some respondents expanded on the uniqueness in its 'ambiguity of the characters' due to not being able to seeing their faces, and the focus of unique feet shots as a concept within the video which they thought would appeal to my niche indie audience.
The feedback from question 9 with regards to any changes that could be made to improve the video vastly varied. Some audiences did not give any criticisms or ways in which they thought I could improve the video. This conforms to the 'Hypodermic needle theory', that the audience are passive receivers of media texts. However, some respondents did not make suggestions, with the majority adding their own different ways in which they thought I could improve the video. This was to be expected with such a varied 'indie' audience. One audience member commented that the lighting towards the latter part of the music video was too dark. However, this was an effect which we had deliberately tried to achieve which perhaps suggests that it did not have the desired effect, and although we had attempt to make the change more subtle due to comments we received back from our rough cut, it now seems as if we should have kept the colour tone the same or made it yet more subtle.
Gender differences found within responses
Although both male and female responses ranked highly for the way in which it conformed to the genre, would appeal to my audience, and that the video was correct in length, my audience feedback slightly altered the demographic of my target audience. Upon collecting my data, I found that the video was ranked consistently higher in the way that it held their attention with girls, than it was with boys. This is likely due to the traditionally more female themes which are prominent throughout, such as love and romance, although they still ranked the video a 4 or a 5. However, I was not expecting this particular result, as we had changed the cliche love story into a more representative image of real life romances, which we thought would appeal to both men and women.The reasons that most females gave for why they enjoyed the narrative, was because they said they could relate to the scenario, which confirms the 'Uses and Gratification theory' that a reason why an audience may consume a media text is to identify with a character. However, men typically responded with comments such as they enjoyed the alternative ending. However, a couple of the respondents, both of which were men recommended putting equal focus on the man and the woman to show their alternative perspectives, which would appeal more to a male audience. However, I wanted the focus to be on the strong independent striking female character which we had created, and by doing so, my audience feedback has revealed that I appeal stronger to a female audience.
Audience findings in relation to Age
My findings showed that I had highest positive responses between the age groups of 15-18 and 19-22, which would indicate that I have correctly identified the age group of my target audience.
Audience feedback from my CD panels
To receive feedback about my digi-pak, I decided I would use a different method to receive feedback, and instead held a small focus group of 7 young adults of 3 females and 4 males between the ages of 19 and 21, my target audience, all of which were either ex media students, or had a good knowledge of the music industry. I felt that this would be a more suitable and valid way to receive feedback, as I had carefully chosen the participants and chose those who I knew would be honest in their responses, as well as the method allowed my audience to provide a more in-depth response and clarify any points that they made, which is more difficult than with other methods such as Questionnaires. Although I planned a few basic open-ended questions, I deliberately left the focus group fairly unstructured so that I could progress and explore any more relevant questions or issues that they raised.
To begin with, I showed all of the participants my music video, and then showed them my 6 finished CD panels and magazine poster so that they could understand more about what my digi-pak was supposed to be promoting.
I began with asking generic open ended questions which I felt I needed to ask, to understand how successful and appropriate my final images were. I therefore asked whether they thought that all of my images represented a final coherent promotional package, which I felt was the most important aim of the design brief, as all aspects were supposed to represent the genre, the artist, and the music video. All respondents said that all panels thematically linked in some way to both the other panels and the music video. I was enormously pleased with the positive response, as I had previously debated as to whether the front and the back panels contrasted too much. I therefore decided to ask my participants directly if they thought that perhaps the two sides were too contrasting. However, they were all in firm agreement that they both linked, but many stated different reasons as to why they thought so. The male respondents mainly said the reasons they thought it represented a coherent package were due to the overall aesthetic look of each of the panels and the magazine advert even if they did varying images. Some referred to the colour tones which were purposely edited similar across all of the images to create a similar feel, whereas all three female participants thought it appeared coherent because of its similar mise-en-scene.
I then asked what each member of the focus group thought on the focus on the umbrella within the mise-en-scene on both the front and the back panel as a general concept. Again the responses seemed to differ between both genders, with males stating and agreeing that it conformed to conventions of the wider music industry, by having a 'random image' on the front of their CD cover to attract their audience's attention, whilst 2 females agreed that they had identified the connotations of the image which they linked to the music video. However when I asked what those had interpreted the image to represent, one person said that they thought it represented the entrapment within our industrial society. This perfectly demonstrates Stuart Hall's reception theory that although an image may be encoded by the producer, it can be decoded by the audience differently, and different meanings of the same image are created, as this was not exactly how I interpreted the image, as I linked it more directly to Holly within the music video as a symbol to represent 'lost love.'
Linking to my promotional package conforming to wider industry conventions, I then decided to ask in what way my promotional package links to wider industry genre conventions. Again, the fact that I had chosen such an 'random' image of an abandoned umbrella as the focus of my album cover was deemed the most conventional as they recognised it as a common convention within the music industry to grasp the audiences attention. The general consensus was that the heavy focus on the location promoted both the exciting 'city feel' that is associated with the electro genre, and both the isolated reflective element which is often associated with the indie genre. This was one of the main aspects which I focused on and believed was significantly important to include within both my print production and music video, and their responses confirmed that including such locations were successful in portraying the genre and the tone of the music video. Those involved also said that the type face and simplistic layout was similar to other indie designs which they had seen as it was modern and simple in its approach which is a widely acknowledged and used convention both within the genre and the wider music industry.
I wanted to know which theme and side of the CD cover my audience preferred, the front and back panel with the images of an abandoned and floating umbrella, or the inside long image of Holly walking down a street across the three panels. Some expressed that they preferred the stretching inside image as opposed to the outside covers. I then promoted them to explain why they preferred the inside image as opposed to the outside cover, and they explained that it was more visually interesting, with more contents to engage and hold the audiences attention. They then further went on to add that they liked the variety and tone of the colours, which were able to be captured with such a wide shot, and the composition of the shot as it acknowledges the use of 'rule of thirds' . However they agreed that it worked best as an interesting unfolding 3 piece design rather than a front cover, as it would not have the same effect if it was compressed and split onto the front and back panel. However the majority agreed that the exterior was their favourite side to the album cover, as it was the most ambiguous and therefore engaging image which they said captured their attention, an important aspect of design to consider when trying to promote an album.
I asked them what their least favourite of the six panels were, and they were all unanimous in stating that the plain inside folding panel of the river was their least favouirte. I did anticipate that this would be their response, as it was the plainest of all the images. However, they said it was not due to the simplicity of the image, but because the colour tone of the image was not inline with the other panels. This was because this image was more difficult to match to the others due to the variety of lighting levels within the image which meant that I could not simply manipulate the colours to create the same 'milky' effect. However, after hearing this feedback, if I was going to construct the promotional package, I would spend longer adjusting the image to make it more coherent with the rest of the panels, or I would alternatively use a different, but similar image. This was the only aspect of the CD panels that they would recommend changing.
I then asked them to discuss what their overall impression of the magazine advert was, and whether they felt it was a suitable image. All people said they felt the image was suitable as an album poster as it was both visually appealing as one person described it as a 'stylish image with a stylish female in a stylish location.' I was again pleased with this as it had taken a considerable amount of planning to capture the desired mise-en-scene which would add to the desirability and therefore empowerment of the female character. However another member said that it was the enigmatic element that made it suitable for album artwork, saying that "It looks as if she is on a journey, and she is encouraging the audience to follow her as they are intrigued by her lack of clear identity, and want to find out more by either watching the video or buying the music etc." As I have stressed throughout the creation of all of my finished products, the enigmatic element was something which I wanted to focus on as a method of engaging my audience, and my audience feedback has proved that it was successful as a way to engage the audience.
I wanted to know what they thought of my font on my magazine advert which when I asked them, they gave mixed responses. All were in agreement that they liked the lack of "hard hitting promotion, as it's more subtle, like the nature of the indie genre" and therefore the basic information displayed on the track, and the 3 reviews were enough to make it useful in its aims of promoting the band and telling the audience when it was out, and where they could find the album or discover more about the band. However a minority of the group said that they did not like the white box which displayed the bands name and album cover, arguably the focus of the album poster. When asked why, they said that it was not in keeping with the subtle tone of the rest of the promotional products, and the font colour was black instead of white which again differs from the rest of the promotional package. However this was a deliberate design choice, to make the bands name stand out from the mixed colour image of the background, as when I experimented without it, I felt the bands name and album title was lost amongst the image, and it was afterall a poster to promote the bands name and album. When discussing this matter, the majority of the group argued that I had not completely gone against the subtly which is presented in the rest of the promotional package, as I had still kept the font and the white box small and the rest of the page "de-cluttered and simple".
Finally, given my responses from my questionnaire being more positive among females than males, I wanted to ask my focus group whether they thought both the video and digi-pak would appeal to a male, female, or mixed audience. Both genders within the control group thought that it could appeal to both, but that it had a stronger appeal to women due to both the occurring female character used,the soft and reflective images used throughout the digi-pak. The men also generally seemed in agreement that as men are represented as weak and 'needy' within the music video, it appeals more to an empowering female audience.
Summary
The feedback from my audience has been extremely important throughout the process of constructing my final products, as well as in assessing their effectiveness in portraying the meaning which I had encoded into my products and how well they have been received. The responses seemed overall very positive and effective in engaging my target audience. However, it has also taught me on how if I was going to produce and market my finished products how I could make alterations to improve them and improve the appeal to my target audience. I think one of the most important aspects I have learnt from this audience feedback though is that my target demographic is not who I initially expected, as I have learnt that I have targeted a mainly female audience through both the strong representation and consistent use of a female character across all of my finished products.
No comments:
Post a Comment