Audience Evaluation

 

The concept of audience feedback is paramount within the media as it has the power to determine how successful a pieces of work can be as well as highlight the potential it has throughout the production stages. The aim of the editor is to create a product that will catch the attention of their target audience as well as please, complying with all four points of the Uses and Gratifications theory. In my opinion, audience feedback must be consistently collected throughout the project to create the best understanding of what stage the product is at and how popular it is. Audience feedback can be collected in many ways which allow a wider understanding plus, a variety of responses to improve the product in which is being constructed. Without collecting the necessary information from a primary target audience the product can be deemed as pointless and not confirmed whether it fulfils its purpose. The feedback I collected for my advert, video and digpak gave me clarification of the ideas I had on top of highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of my work throughout the process and enabled me to have a detailed understanding of what the audience was looking for in the product.

My main priority for the music video and ancillary tasks I wanted to created was who would be the target audience and how would I make my work appeal to them. I decided to profile my target audience as males between the ages of 16 and 25 due to these ages being the responsible ages to go to the bands gigs as well as have the disposable income to purchase the bands tickets or music through disposable income. Furthermore, the profile I gave my typical audience would be the demographics and psychographics of individualists that are outgoing and mostly from the classes ABC1. This is due to although the audience being young students which may not have all the money to purchase gig tickets their parents elevate their social status.  The Plain White T’s are similar to Ed Sheeran in the sense that both artists follow the genres conventions in order to be successful with their music videos and portray the themes and messages they want the audiences to be able to relate to.  Both artist's are part of the same genre and consist of a live performance narrative, with potentially a small narrative within.

To allow the audience to get the best understanding of the music video I wanted to place some of the artists well known traits into the narrative as well as personal experiences. This enabled me to stick to a clear image of the band within their chosen genre and positively put forward the themes as the majority of audiences that enjoy soft rock music would expect to see these conventions. To give an example within my work the  official music video for their song “Hey There Delilah” is heavily performance based emotions and themes of a young love with close ups and saturated colour editing of the artist and his surroundings. The idea of this editing subconsciously gives the audience emotions of sadness due to the draining of colour and use of greys  This I felt was successful and so used this for inspiration when creating my work with the themes of love and nostalgia which I wanted to portray. I think this is an extremely effective style of editing the video to drain the colour as it conveyed the necessary emotions to the audiences, due to the fact they were focused on substance rather than style. Hence, using the idea of little colour in my live performance; using black and white. Black and White connoting the simplistic ideas and themes and the idea that the emotions are so strong and obvious to the audiences that anyone can relate because it is "black and white in meaning" and so I wanted to use this convention in my own work.

When studying the primary audience I chose to relate my work to their personal experiences and how I  was going to highlight specific mise en scene. Therefore I decided to research into theories in which would give me ideas and understanding to do this excellently. I focused on the uses and gratifications theory as I felt if my work consisted of the factors then the audiences could make a relationship with the artist as well as relate to the music video themes and be entertaining. The linear narrative of my music video highlights the male’s memories of his visit to London as well as his memories of the female he met there. The live performance is intertwined with iconic London scenes which represent the City admirably due to many people knowing the city due to these locations of the fact they have personally been there. The extreme close up shots of the female’s eyes and lips can be said to inform the audience the love the artist had for this girl as the lips and eyes can be sexualised to draw individuals in; especially because my primary audience is male and so following the hegnomic norm.

Furthermore another theorist I considered was Andrew Goodwin’s and his theory of the six elements observed within music videos; element one being the visuals are illustrations of the lyrics. An example within my own work with arguably uses Laura Mulvey's male gaze as well, the lyrics “close your eyes” was enhanced through the visuals of the female closing her eyes. The simple idea not only illustrated Andrew Goodwin's idea but due to using the females eyes and lips together from the males perspective enforces the way in which females are seen in the media by audiences. I furthered this with the idea that when the lyrics “walking to you” I captured the females shoes walking round the halls of her school, which later linked to the ending lyrics “two more years and you’ll be done with school” which gives the music video constant linking and repetition throughout. A final example which is a strong link to Goodwin’s theory is the constant reference to the artists iconic guitar, close ups appear capturing the detail and visually showing the audiences his guitar I which arguably made him famous.

Once I had focused on the idea of audience relationship with the video and artist I also needed to consider how to portray the themes which needed to be consistent and run through the song successfully. In order to make the theme of nostalgia and love for the city apparent I needed to refer to Saussure’s theory of signs and signifiers and represent them clearly within my video. An important factor for my music video I felt would make the work seem professional and realistic was the focus in the planning and research stage when deciding on the mise en scene; lighting and props in particular. This was due to the choice in lighting of 800W hotheads and a soft box with the guitar as a prop enabled me to ensure I was demonstrating my intentions to the audiences that the genre was soft rock and live performance. The audience would subconsciously understand this as they would have typically been to gigs in the past and so would understand the lighting choices as well as an acoustic guitar being an iconic signifier for the soft rock genre. I was aware that the focus for soft rock music was more about the substance rather than the styling and so I felt I needed to understand this element with in more detail hence I created mood boards and researched the genre to come to terms with the importance of the lyrical focus and how I would want artist to be styled. Hence when it came to the mise en scene and styling I decided to dress my artist in casual, high street clothing such as jeans, simple trains/shoes and a casual jumper which could be replicated by fans to allow them to common traits.

In addition to the lighting I wanted to portray a dream light state which would leave the viewers in awe and be overwhelmed; I was able to create this with the lighting and the editing tools within the program Premiere. I researched lighting which would be the most successful when it came to editing and would help me to create the spot light effect to enhance the detailing of his face. Furthermore I used hard light facing outwards to the camera to create such a drastic contrast when it came to editing in black and white. On top of this, I decided to use a soft box which enabled me to enhance the dream like state as it soften the overall shots I was taking and gave a softer appearance when watched back. The lighting was an important factor of my music video as it was heavily performance based, meaning I had to keep the audience’s attention with the interesting lights and constant change in camera shots and angles. The lighting I chose follows the conventions of typical soft rock music videos due to the fact I used a Redhead which is typically used for stage lighting. The majority of soft rock music videos are performance based and so use Redhead which are a typical convention, again seen in Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking out loud” as well as The Plain White T’s music videos. This is because the term “spot lights” connotes live performances and gigs which is what my chosen band is known for and so successfully fitting the music video into the small, exclusive image they have portrayed.

Throughout the editing process of my music video, I decided to use the use of colour and contrast in my work to make it interesting and convey the difference between performance and narrative. For example I increased the brightness to 4 as well as slightly blurred the London scenes at a scale of 2 so that the bright lighting was not in focus. This would be apparent to the audience instantly as it contrasts the black and white performance narrative. Moreover, being a signifier to the audience that these are the artists dream which are unclear and flashbacks, hence not being as long at the performance shots, subliminally suggesting to the audience we are going back to past trips which are significant to the artist. In addition many people connect the idea of photographs with past memories and so this was delivered throughout all three pieces of my work using the polaroid editing effect and the line and pegs to suggest the images had been taken of personal past events.

When considering how I would improve my work, I feel that if I had more time to create my work and observe it in more detail I would have been able to take more time in editing and understand more editing techniques which would enable me to create a more sophisticated piece of work. Finally when looking back I feel that some mistakes I made along the way could have been altered if given more time as well as consider my choices in a lot more detail and research to make sure the audience feel my work is successful. Overall, my audience feedback was positive given an average of 7 out of 10 for the success and look of the video and digipak. When considering audience feedback as the task went on I began to comprehend that in order to get the best feedback to improve I needed to have detailed questions which would receive open answers. This way I was able to have the best chance at improving my work as I would have a greater understanding of what my audience were looking for. Moreover, leaving comment boxes on my surveys as well as holding focus groups to collect the best feedback and a variety to collaborate my findings as well as find the best technique for me and my work. Personally the idea of focus groups enables me to have conversations with the individuals as well as ask more detailed question and answers as well as being able to point out specific parts.

DIGIPAK & MAGAZINE ADVERT

When considering my digipak and advert I felt it was my most successful pieces of work in respect of being able to relate to the audience. This was due to my colour scheme of blue and gold which as connotations of calm and exclusive due to the band only playing exclusive gigs and so although their styling isn't expensive the limited tickets are, hence the audiences being ABC1 class. Moreover, the genre itself is known to be more lyrical and focused on the on the relationship with the fans they had, hence including a personal message to the readers which would buy the digipak to allow them to feel a relationship with the artist. Furthermore, to make sure my work linked and was recognisable to the audiences I used the same typography in all my work to make sure they could be easily spotted. Finally, I felt that the simplistic and spacey layout kept the focus on the meaning behind the song and kept away from the styling aspect.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The Plain White T’s are similar to Ed Sheeran in the sense that both bands follow the genres conventions in order to be successful with their music videos and portray the themes and messages they want the audiences to be able to relate to. For both these artists within the genre of soft rock their music videos would typically be live performances, with potentially a narrative of some sort running through it. When making my music video I made sure that in order to stick with the bands image within the genre I would follow this convention and highlight the themes through a linear narrative. For example The Plain White T’s official music video for their song “Hey There Delilah” is heavily performance based capturing the artist’s emotions and themes running through the song with close ups and saturated colour editing. This I felt was successful and so used this for inspiration when creating my work with the themes of love and nostalgia which I wanted to portray. I think this is an extremely effective style of video and therefore wanted to use conventions of The Plain White T’s videos within my own.

When deciding on a narrative for my music video I felt it needed to follow the uses and gratifications theory for the audiences to make a relationship with the artist as well as relate to the music video themes and be entertaining. The linear narrative of my music video highlights the male’s memories of his visit to London as well as his memories of the female he met there. The live performance is intertwined with iconic London scenes which represent the City admirably due to many people knowing the city due to these locations of the fact they have personally been there. The extreme close up shots of the female’s eyes and lips can be said to inform the audience the love the artist had for this girl as the lips and eyes can be sexualised to draw individuals in. This relates to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of the six elements in music videos; the one explained here highlighting the visuals are illustrations of the lyrics: “close your eyes”. I furthered this with the idea that when the lyrics “walking to you” I captured the females shoes walking round the halls of her school, which later linked to the ending lyrics “2 more years and you’ll be done with school” which gives the music video constant linking and repetition throughout. A final example which is a strong link to Goodwin’s theory is the constant reference to the artists iconic guitar, close ups appear capturing the detail and visually showing the audiences his guitar I which arguably made him famous. 

An important element when creating a music video is the chosen theme which needs to be consistent and run through the song successfully. In order to make the theme of nostalgia apparent I needed to refer to Saussure’s theory of signs and signifiers and represent them clearly within my visuals. My main focus of the music videos planning stage was the mise en scene; lighting and props especially to ensure I was demonstrating my intentions to the audiences.  To begin I created mood boards and researched the genre to come to terms with the importance of the lyrical focus rather than the styling. Hence when it came to the mise en scene and styling I decided to dress my artist is casual, high street clothing such as jeans, simple trains/shoes and a casual jumper which could be replicated by fans to allow them to common traits. 

When considering the chosen lighting I needed to create a dream like state which would leave the viewers in awe and overwhelmed. I researched lighting and decided to use the 800W Redheads to create the spot light effect to enhance the detailing of his face and give a hard light facing outwards to the camera to create such a drastic contrast when it came to editing in black and white. On top of this, I decided to use a soft box which enabled me to enhance the dream like state as it soften the overall shots I was taking and gave a softer appearance when watched back. The lighting was an important factor of my music video as it was heavily performance based, meaning I had to keep the audience’s attention with the interesting lights and constant change in camera shots and angles. The lighting I chose follows the conventions of typical soft rock music videos due to the fact I used a Redhead which is typically used for stage lighting. The majority of soft rock music videos are performance based and so use Redhead which are a typical convention, again seen in Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking out loud” as well as The Plain White T’s music videos. This is because the term “spot lights” connotes live performances and gigs which is what my chosen band is known for and so successfully fitting the music video into the small, exclusive image they have portrayed. 

Throughout the editing process of my music video, I decided to use the use of colour and contrast in my work to make it interesting and convey the difference between performance and narrative. For example I increased the brightness to 4 as well as slightly blurred the London scenes at a scale of 2 so that the bright lighting was not in focus. This would be apparent to the audience instantly as it contrasts the black and white performance narrative. Moreover, being a signifier to the audience that these are the artists dream which are unclear and flashbacks, hence not being as long at the performance shots, subliminally suggesting to the audience we are going back to past trips which are significant to the artist. In addition many people connect the idea of photographs with past memories and so this was delivered throughout all three pieces of my work. 

Goodwin stated that within a music video, the music and visuals must intertwine with one another. Hence I decided to use an acoustic song as it portrays harmony and the voice are much slower and create a calming, soft atmosphere with audiences being able to focus on the lyrics.  In order for the visuals to fit with the music i needed to ensure I cut the shots on beat as well as use slow minimal movements when filming the live performance. This was able to be created with a steady cam and tripod to ensure the camera did not have harsh movements and was steady. For example when changing shots during the chorus I editing the quick cut on each start to a new line as well as changed between a long shot and close up to keep the audience interested as well use a variety of shots. This way, all of the shots aren’t static but still do not act as a distraction from the visuals but keep the chorus interesting. For each time the chorus was played within the song I repeated these shot sequences to create a consistent pattern and allow the audience to become familiar with the video. This is similarly to other soft rock music videos that are acoustic as they use slow moving shots, however the majority of upbeat songs which are seen within the genre use harsh, static movements to portray the 'buzz' at gigs and so my music video challenges this convention. This is because my music video is slow and also has another narrative intertwined with the performance. 

Another element of Goodwin’s theory I choose to utilise is the idea that due to the high demands of the music industry, there is often a strong need or demand for lots of close ups. This meant when researching and planning my work I understood that the video needed to be informing and entertaining and so to do this I needed a range of close ups. Yet when researching the idea further I began to notice these shots were mostly used to sexualise females within the industry for example Taylor Swift and Rihanna. Therefore I needed to use this idea of what the audiences wanted to make my music video successful but I needed to fit it to my original ideas. This lead me to use many close ups but challenge the idea of using them to sexualise the actors and instead, work as a way of highlighting certain signs. An example of this is the constant close ups of the guitar as well as as microphone and London scenes to have emphasis the importance and sentimental value it has for the artist. The close ups also will allow audience’s to identify with the artist (uses and gratifications theory) which will create a greater emotional response when the narrative becomes clear. Audience would be able to feel like they have a gained a personal relationship with the artist as stated within the Uses and Gratifications theory and be able to relate to the raw emotions which are apparent within his facial expressions and direct look into the camera lens. This mirrors the effect Ed Sheeran used when creating his music video "all our stars" when after each flashback he looks directly into the camera as if looking directly at the audience to make a personal connection.

Moreover, a final point is that the music video I created follows the hegemonic norm of heterosexual relationships. I decided to use a male and female relationship along with a iconic city for the reason than many individuals will be able to relate the themes portrayed; directly or indirectly. I highlighted this through the constant close ups of the females defining features such as her eyes followed by the males close ups whilst singing. Many music videos currently see fit to define the conventions of their genre and have little boundaries yet when creating ideas. However I felt that due to the renowned song I chose I felt in order to do the song justice and have a successful music video I needed to follow the conventions. This in a sense gave me a unique advantage as well as able to relate to many generations as my secondary audience.

MAGAZINE ADVERT

When considering my magazine advert within detail I would argue like my video it conforms to the conventions and links to the video. Firstly, I felt the images were the most important factor of my advert and so they had to be center focus, having the detailing and other factors as simplistic as possible. I decided the house style of Polaroid images would be best suited giving a blue tint to the images and linking to the video of black and white edit for the performance. I decided to enhance the Polaroid effect with an outline of a washing line and pegs which hold up the main image of the artist and two other images which enforce the music video. I decided to use this effect to allow the piece to feel personal to each individual as if they have taken the images and held them up themselves. At the top of both the landscape and portrait version I have used a main masthead with the bands name in a Broadway font. This is due to the Broadway writing being well known and iconic within new York which is a running theme through the lyrics.

Furthermore, the band is known for performing at small gigs and building up to large events occasionally. Moreover their music being used within other pieces of media work. I chose the colour scheme of blue, white and gold to be appealing to both males and females as well as connote a calming but expensive feel the single due to the band performing at gigs which have expensive ticket prices for high end students. Finally, I followed the conventions when looking at the basic needs of a magazine advert with the release date and other informative pieces which are typically seen in adverts. This meant my magazine as well stuck to the uses and gratifications theory of being informative. The images I chose had a blue tint which linked to the blue grey background and complemented it greatly. The advert I have created would typically be seen within magazines such as NME and Q reaching out to my primary audiences of males between 16 and 25 as well as secondary audiences of females and males between 13 and 30. 

DIGIPAK

Similarly, my digipak must be personal to the target audience as well as link to the advert in order for it to be noticed on a shop shelf or music downloading website such as iTunes. In order to do this I stuck to the same housing style of Polaroid images to make sure the main images were used throughout the ancillary tasks. This meant when identifying my work it was quick and easy as well as stuck to the themes. When considering the conventions of a digipak I decided to keep it simplistic with a four page piece with the typically seen size 6 Arial font for the production information on the back page. Furthermore, I used the logo of the record company as well as a bar code in order to make the medium seem as realistic and professional as possible. I continued the colour scheme of blue, white and gold to keep consistency throughout my work. The tracks at the back of the digipak were placed in a white Arial font with the main song the digipak is centered around in gold. This allowed the single to stand out and been as a main focus. My inspiration for the back page of my digipak was from Ed Sheeran's "X" album with a cut out of him. Due to Ed being within the same genre I felt it was appropriate and could make my own take on this idea with a white and gold silhouette of the artist placed on top of each other. The idea conveyed a sense of unknown and simpleness to the audience and to highlight with no detail the artist can still be identified. 

In conclusion, it is apparent that my music video follows the conventions of soft rock music videos with the discoloration or black and white themes running throughout with the contrast of bright colours. Furthermore the idea of a performance and narrative running along side it within thew music video. When considering all these factors and the typical conventions expected of a basic magazine advert, digipak and music video my music video hits the criteria successfully.  

Final Music Video

When looking at my magazine posters and digipak I have created I have changed my ideals dramatically from colour schemes to layout out due to the fact that when i flet i had completed the work it was not giving me the personal feel i wanted audiences to feel.

Hence i decided to use the time i had left wisely to change the style and uses a polariod edit on photoshop to make the images feel like they have been hung up to dry and so relate more to the uses and gratifications theory.

I have completed my music video and other products such as the digipak and magazine adverts and have began to upload them to my blog. When looking at all my work I have dramatically changed some ideas such as my digipak to make it seem unique and enhance the genre I chose. It also makes the work seem more personal to the audiences as well as making the themes behind the music video stand out in the print work.

Magazine Final Landscape 2

Magazine Final Landscape

Magazine Final Portrait

FINAL DIGIPAK

When looking at my magazine adverts, I felt that the music video was not portrayed well within the adverts. Furthermore, the advert did not hold much of a unique touch. Hence, I decided to change the colour scheme as well as use a poloriod effect on my main cover photo in which I have decided to use.

Magazine Advert

Evaluation Questions to Consider

Magazine Advert

 

These are my magazine adverts which I have created and constructed myself. In order to make sure I got a feel of what the advert would look like I composed a landscape and portrait version of my work which enforces that what I have created is versatile and could be placed in many locations.

Evaluation Plan

This is my plan for an evaluation question I need to answer with key ideas and theories in which I could mention in relation to my work