Evaluation Question 3

For my products to be the best they possibly could be, I had to get audience feedback. This allowed me to understand exactly what the audience thought of my products, what they liked and what they disliked. From this, I was able to make any changes that they thought was necessary but I was also able to keep what the audience liked and maybe make those parts more consistent in the rest of my products. I wanted to use different ways of receiving audience feedback, as it would potentially allow me to get different opinions and possibly get more reliable feedback. To get audience feedback, I used questionnaires and focus groups. There are a few advantages and disadvantages of these methods. To get more feedback, I could have used more ways of receiving audience feedback, such as semi-structured interviews. As people are less likely to lie to your face, this may have been more reliable and I could have changed the questions depending on the previous responses, this would allow me to get all of the information I need.

After filming, I looked at some of the footage I had so far and asked a few people on what they thought of it.  When we first started filming, we only used one location and therefore, I didn’t use a variety of shots. This was brought up when I was given feedback so I decided to add extra days of filming so I could use different shots in a different location to add variety. Because of this feedback, I also decided to film extra shots in case they didn’t turn out as planned. An example of this would be, when I filmed the shot of the sun over Bella’s shoulders. A few people commented on how they liked this shot, and if I hadn’t of had the previous feedback then I wouldn’t have had that shot in my music video. This shows the importance of being given feedback during the process of creating media products.

I used a questionnaire before making my music video so I would be able to establish what the target audience expected from my music video. I used the website SurveyMonkey to send out my questionnaire as I was able to send it to my target audience, it would be quicker and easier for them to answer it as they wouldn’t have to fill in any papers and then send it back. I felt this was a good choice as I good quite a lot of responses and they helped influence the construction of my music video. One of the questions I asked was “Do you prefer performance or narrative based music video, or both?” The majority of people said that they prefer performance based music videos, so we took this into consideration. However, there were a few people who said that they like narrative music videos or both. From this, we decided to include a slight narrative in our video to keep our target audience happy and this will also attract a wider audience.

I decided to use questionnaires as they are quick and easy and I can get a wider sample, which will allow me to get the views and opinions of a lot more people. However, there are some drawbacks of using questionnaires that I took into consideration. These drawbacks include reliability; questionnaires are not the most reliable source of information as not everyone takes them seriously and could be making up their answers. Also, it is very unlikely to get detailed answers from questionnaires so I am more likely to get quantitative data rather than qualitative data.

I also used focus groups for a more detailed response. Having a focus group allowed me to get more detailed responses which I could analyse and it also allowed to question my specific target audience, which is helpful as I need the opinions of my target group to assess how effective my products have been. However, there are still some drawbacks from using focus groups. These weaknesses include the wording of questions; using leading questions may corrupt my data as they may say the answers that I am looking for rather than what they actually think, but they are less likely to lie to my face which is an advantage. They may, however be camera shy and therefore not go into as much detail in their answers.

When showing my ancillary texts, a few people commented the colour of the font on the magazine advert and the back cover of my digipak. Because the colour was black, the audience couldn’t see it that well which would potentially make my ancillary texts ineffective. I therefore, changed the colour of the font to a natural colour, which not only allows the audience to see the writing more clearly, it also matches the background. Changing the colour will make my ancillary texts stand out more which will draw more attention, giving the artist recognition.

Also when showing my ancillary texts, a few people said that I should include the acoustic guitar that was in my music video. I decided not to do this as I wanted to challenge the codes and conventions to test how successful this would be. Perhaps it wasn’t best to challenge this with a new artist as she is still establishing herself. It would have been better to do this with an already established artist.

In conclusion, audience feedback is crucial as it allows you to get a second opinion on your work. It also allows you to find out what your target audiences think of it before it is finished so you can make changes if necessary. From the feedback I received, I was able to make changes to make my products more effective. The feedback I received suggests that my products have been successful; however there are ways to improve it.