What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I have a friend who lives in the Netherlands who is currently taking Media Studies at what would be University level here in England. We met on holiday a few years ago in Spain and have stayed in touch ever since. He asked me to talk a little bit about my work as a part of his University project on worldwide feedback and because we are taking similar studies, I thought it would be useful for him to watch my video and give me some of his own thoughts. In return, he asked me to talk about the main themes of my music video. This was useful in gathering a good cross-section of information from across the globe.

His response is as follows:

I was able to use my contacts to gain an oversea perspective about my product, thus ensuring if my product did become successful in the UK, people elsewhere across the globe would still understand the interpretative theme. This breaks continuity with my initial feedback from Facebook (who were all UK residents). He noted that how the main character was looking back at her youth which thus proves that a wide cross-section of my audience feel that the main theme of the music video is what I initially envisioned.

Even though this is a case of minimal feedback, it enables me to experience pat responses (just like I did with my video group feedback) making sure initial thoughts are presented so I know what they were thinking instantly without it being edited (typed up). If I were to improve on my audience feedback, I would have given Rogier a set of questions to answer consecutively as he seems to want to express how he feels but maybe he stumbled slightly on the language barrier and how to express exactly how he felt..

As a thank you, I answered a few questions about my work and what I had to do as part of my A2 Advanced portfolio and he created this short film for his own project back in the Netherlands:

This also highlighted the difference in courses we were actually taking, whereas he edits already-made footage, my course made the whole film from scratch. This is good for evaluating my Music video because if I were to create it again, I could take advice from Rogier's 4-years experience of editing/creating film and incorporate it into my work (maybe by using old footage to create video montage - just as he did). 

I also filmed myself talking about my music video for him which was also helpful for my own self-evaluation:

**CRINGE**

The instant pat-responses that I give are simply off the top of my head and thus prove that the main conventions of my music video have been upheld and my intentions have stayed similar to my initial thoughts. the flashback aspects representing her life and the abstract aspects representing the interpretive responses people could have whilst watching my moving footage. I think I articulate well that one of the main drives for my music video as maybe my own self-loathing at things happening in my life at the moment. From applying to University, to loss and to many other things that I may be struggling with, Therefore, putting it within a music video according the Uses and Gratifications theory it can be used to trigger a visceral response for the audience as my problems are very self-explanatory and happen to everyone (both at home and worldwide.)

After getting this response from someone who lives abroad, I decided to get some feedback from people more close to home: from the social networking site 'Facebook'.

             
For my Facebook responses, it was noted that the rhythm of my song was kept in continuity and the flashbacks from Erin to her as a younger girl has been highlighted so therefore proving that my music video is understandable. The simplistic colour scheme has worked well and therefore proves you don't need vast amounts of mise-en-scene to create a professional-looking product. The tree again has been mentioned as a successful part of the video as it represents life (almost like a family tree) - it also reinforces the nature of growing up and conforming to everyday normal adult ideals.

If I were to create my music video again, I think that using the feedback I gathered about the tree and it representing life, I maybe would have researched more into the form of nature. Also, as trees lives for a long time, it could have represented the main protagonist's wish for a more prosperous life (like a tree). Or, it could mean the opposite, that although trees live long lives, they watch it pass them by, never moving, just ageing. I think that although this is a said aspect to consider, my audience feedback helped create lots of different alternative images.

The video-response feedback didn't go exactly how I wanted it to, it still showed the success of my product when discussing things such as the colour choices and input of cinemascope. It has also been stated that the video can be interpreted in all different ways and as Jack said in the video, it is like Erin was 'suffocating in life' - his opinion, but someone else could think the same or different depending on what the visuals mean to them as a person.

Before I carried out creating my ancillary texts, I had to create a Google mock-up. this enabled me to create my final products via using pictures and text from the internet. Once I had gathered a selection of photos and images from Google, I assembled them on Photoshop in the same format that I created my final Digipak with. However, to make sure that my Google mock-up was appealing for my audience, I conducted a Facebook messenger investigation to gather feedback on what they liked/ didn't like and I uploaded these onto my blog:

These screenshots are taken from my BLOG.

It was therefore clear that my audience feedback stated they liked the minimalistic simplistic ordeal I portrayed through my Google mock-up in which I would later use as support when creating my final Ancillary texts. You can clearly see the similarities between both my real Digipak and my Google mock-up.

By using social media to gather information, it meant I could ask numerous amount of people at once and thus improving efficiency when creating products for a specific target audience. (All of my audience feedback was taken from a sample of people within my audience from the ages of 16-21) as this is the age when people are most likely to experiment with different types of niche or alternative music.

FEEDBACK (ANALYSIS) FOR MY DIGIPAK

             
This feedback includes some constructive feedback in which I have taken on board. If I were to re-do my first music magazine poster, I think Nick was right, that the 'Virgin' label should have been slightly smaller. This means that audience feedback is very important when creating products. That is why I have asked everyone I know across the board if they would review my work for me.

From looking at these responses I can gather also that my Digipak has been a success and the use of Polaroid pictures really worked when capturing the contrast between the young girl in my video and the main artist. Many have commented on how professional it looks and the use of simple colour that I interjected. The use of the tree on the CD has also been mentioned as 'sinister' and mysterious, which was the kind of response I was looking for. Therefore proves my point that everyone will have different interpretations of what the music video means to them.

The artist was also easy to identify on the front cover and as Joe stated, the photos are all 'of similar style to your music video' meaning that continuity has been upheld throughout all of my products. It has also been noted that the polaroid pictures give the CD album a personal feel which I think is a nice response and also follows the conventions of a Indie/Independent artist's product - that it isn't stylised like a mainstream product and doesn't look fake.

This is my final Digipak creation. As you can see, I have taken the polaroid idea from my Google mock-up and created my own version. I think this works well because it shows the past and present aspects of the film as Polaroids normally represent an event from the past. I have not however, chosen to put the picture of Lottie in Black and White like it is in the music video, primarily because it wouldn't look right and the black and white colour balance with the CD and DVD would be unbalanced. I have taken samples of colour from the front cover like I did with my mock-up to create the background for my Polaroids and the back cover. This worked well as it created continuity and the colours didn't look odd. I used Erin's real name for the front cover instead of Marika Hackman because I have been referring to the artist in my music video as Erin and the person on the front cover is my actress. Therefore, making sure the visuals link with my actress' profile. It has the conventions of the record label, bar-code, DVD logo, CD disc logo and copyrights to make it look as professional as it possibly can. 

As you can see, there are clear comparison between both my Google mock-up Digipak spine and my final finished Digipak Back cover:

By gathering all of this information, I decided to create a Prezi Powerpoint to show the exact process in which I congregated all of my feedback:

                    

This shows how my Music Video, Digipak and Magazine Poster were all created through the process of audience feedback. By creating a Google mock-up of my Digipak and shown here >DIGIPAK RESEARCH<. Also, by researching forms and conventions of different magazine posters shown here >MAGAZINE ADVERT RESEARCH< I was able to keep conventions with real media products. As shown in the two links above, you can see how I have developed my skills from looking at existing products and applying different aspects in my own work.

Even though I created a Indie/Alternative product, I had to look at mainstream products aswell. By researching Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, I was able to understand the high standard of production and apply it to my low-budget income when creating my own products.