Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For our A2 Media Coursework, we created promotional material for an album release, which included a music video, and ancillary tasks including a CD digipak and a website. For the project, we chose an unsigned band - Chasing Tigers - and their latest song release ‘Idols & Upsets’ for our music video.

 

Music videos are very important in the promotion of a band’s latest release, and this has been shown throughout history, starting with The Beatles’ release of Yesterday, which is one of the first ever music videos created, and can be seen above. They provide a visual identity for the song, and have become increasingly important in modern times, with new media, including distribution on the internet, changing the way videos are consumed, as they can now be shared on internet services such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and also on TV Music Channels such as MTV. Music videos often ‘make or break’ the success of a single or album, with bands constantly striving to make their video different and unique so that it stands out from the crowd.

In modern times, websites have also become increasingly important within the promotion of the package. The image above shows The Beatles website, and their success in modern times can partly be attributed to the way that they have kept up to date with the use of modern technology. With bands that attract younger audiences, an internet presence is absolutely vital in attracting fans, as they will often refer to the website as a place for information, to purchase songs via online services such as iTunes, and also to purchase band memorabilia. Even older bands such as ‘The Beatles’ now have a website.

Digipaks are also important for band promotion, as people often feel as though they are being given something extra when they buy these products. Frequently released as limited editions, they are often seen as a ‘luxury’ collector’s item, which adds to the value of the product. Digipaks are often made for special releases of the product, helping to increase sales. Producers often like digipaks, as they are reasonably cheap to produce, yet can add lots of value to the package. Differing from traditional CD’s, a digipak is often produced as a cardboard product, and features four or six fold-out panels, which feature additional information about the band.

The genre of music has the ability to affect the conventions in a music video, as we found out when undertaking research and planning before beginning the project. In indie-rock music videos, audiences often expect to see fast paced editing, which is often cut with the beat to the music. In addition, a mixture of performance shots, which display the talent of the band, and show the band/artist performing their song, and narrative shots, showing a story which relates to the theme of the song are expected, and in our audience research, people expected a 50/50 split between performance and narrative. By using fast paced editing, the opportunity for a wide variety of camera shots and angles arises, as is shown in the shot from the Mumford & Sons video ‘I Will Wait’ above. People expect to see the artist making an appearance at some point, whether they are performing, or involved in the narrative, and often, they will appear in both. Furthermore, backing dancers and singers often feature in the video, and crowd shots can sometimes be included, to display to the audience the type of people interested in the band (often drawing on typical aspirations and stereotypes), and to show the band’s popularity. Indie-rock videos are often set in a performance-based environment, typically a stage/gig setting or in a rehearsal environment, and the nature of the genre encourages performers to advertise their skills in performing instruments, hence why this technique is chosen.

 
The music video by Mumford & Sons which can be seen above were both highly influential for our project. Below, comparisons can be seen between our music video and the video above:

 

The comparison above shows the similarity between the shots of the vocalist that were used in both productions. The use of a side-angle gives a more observational view of the video, and from looking at this in the Mumford & Sons video, we felt that this would be effective to use in our production. 

We can see above how the shots of the whole and are similar in both videos. We felt that it was effective to give a wide angle shot, as this gives more of an audience perspective, and the use of the low angle also reinforces the feeling of the performers being on the stage whilst the audience are lower down. 

 

 Shots of the guitarists are also very similar in both videos. Whilst our video, shown on the right, uses more of a low angle, they both have the effect of showing the down-lighting, reinforcing the live performance feel.

 

 

 

 

Before undertaking our project, we conducted a significant amount of research into the conventions of the indie-rock genre. The director's commentary below shows how conventions we identified influenced our video:

By looking at professionally-produced videos from the genre, including ‘I Will Wait’ by Mumford & Sons and Wonderwall by Oasis, we discovered that videos from this genre used lots of mid shots, allowing us to get a feeling for the environment and the scale of the performance that was happening, along with close ups of the musician’s hands playing the instruments, which displayed the talent of the artists. The videos also included some wide angle shots showing the crowd, again, displaying the popularity of the band. We also noticed the use of soft-focus shots, which make use of the depth of field technique, which gave the impression that the video was spontaneous, and that it had not been fixed.

Across all videos of the genre, fast-paced editing shots have been used, showing cuts in time to the music, and reflecting the fast tempo of the song. Whilst allowing the video to build up pace and momentum in appropriate parts of the video, the editing slows down in other parts, suggesting a slower editing pace, and that the narrative has slowed down somewhat.

Many of the videos that we studied showed performance shots and performance settings a high proportion of the time, which is very appropriate for the genre. However, in some videos, including the video by Oasis, this convention was subverted, by showing shots in more day-to-day environments and locations, and this can be done to make the video stand out from others within the industry. Furthermore, it was apparent to us that amplification of the song’s lyrics is used often in this genre, although again, the Oasis video broke this convention and instead used disjuncture, which was equally as effective for the band. This indicates that by its very nature, indie-rock often avoids the use of convention

When planning our video, we took inspiration from a variety of media texts. The Sabbapath cups inspired us for the opening of our video, where we wrote the name of the song onto some cups in black pen, and drained away some black ink to reveal the writing. We felt that this was an effective technique as it would help our video to stand out from other videos, and would make people want to watch the video more than once, whilst also allowing the use of appropriate visual effects.

We also took inspiration from the shot shown on the left, which is from the Oasis video ‘Wonderwall’. Although we challenged the convention by filming it in a different setting, the way the character is looking past the camera appealed to us, as it suggests that they are continuing with their everyday tasks without intentionally being filmed, adding to the realism of the video.

Inspiration for many of our shots was taken from Mumford & Son’s video ‘I Will Wait’, which we hoped would be similar to ours in many ways. To the left, you can see how we have tried to recreate one of their performance shots, which features a close up of the vocalist with the microphone. The constraints of our project meant that we could not gather a large enough audience to enable viewers to think that the performance was happening to a real audience, and so showing a shot from behind the vocalist would not work. Instead, we chose to use a slight upward angle on the shot, to give the impression that it is taken from a fan’s perspective. It was also necessary to frame our shots very carefully, so that it appeared as though the performance was being given to a large audience, even though this was not the case.

Their video features a mixture of fast paced and slower editing, which we hoped to be able to integrate into our video, to effectively represent the pace of the narrative at the time. In addition, we very much liked the close up shots that the band used, along with the variety of shot angles portrayed, which we attempted to recreate in our video.

 

The video by Passenger was also a source of inspiration to us. This showed us how subverting the conventions of the genre, and by producing the whole video in one shot, can be very effective, and that small, subtle changes in the video can create a captivating video for the audience. Although we felt that this was perhaps not appropriate for our genre, we tried to take inspiration from this video, which shows how effective going against convention. The screenshot above shows that whilst the performer stays in the centre of the shot, the background changes around him, creating a very interesting video. In addition, the cartoon piano picture in the background is also animated, which engages the audience further.

Following on from our research into conventions, we were keen to ensure that our music video conformed to these conventions as much as possible. For this reason, we chose our school’s stage as the environment to film the performance part of our video. This provided the ideal setting, and, by using our knowledge of stage lighting, we were able to transform the stage into a credible setting for our performance (see shots above). Because of this, we felt that it would be the ideal environment to film our music video. We therefore used the black curtains, lighting systems and amplifiers to ensure that the environment appeared as credible as possible.

Another key place for our music video was Peterborough train station, which was where we filmed a small part of our narrative. We chose to use a time lapse video effect to capture this as effectively as possible. In addition, our shots in the city centre were effective, as this is a location often used in music videos, and is where people may stereotypically associate a character who is leaving a bad life to come from.

The final key location used within our video was at the beach. Within music videos, beaches often represent freedom and happiness, whilst also using the water as a platform for reflection by the character. Given that our character was to move from the city to the coast to start a new life, we felt that this location would be appropriate for our video. In addition, we carried out research from people who had visited Skegness previously to find the best location along the beach, as we wanted an area which did not appear too overcrowded, as this would give the impression of isolation. The location they suggested was perfect for our requirements, as it was away from the main tourist area of the beach, and was reasonably empty when we visited.

The costumes & props used within our video also helped to reinforce conventions of the genre. From the research that we had carried out previously, we identified that in indie-rock videos, the characters usually wear plain tops and jeans, which reflects their ‘middle class’ real life background, which is why we asked all of our performers to wear these items of clothings. Unfortunately, James, who was singing vocals, did not have, and could not go and purchase, a white top, and so chose to wear a blue striped shirt, which somewhat ruined the appearance of the band as a whole, although as he was the main vocal singer and the main member of the band, he justified his decision by saying that his different appearance from the rest of the band would help him stand out.

We used effective props & equipment within our video to help it appear as realistic as possible. For example, we sourced a professional looking drum kit, as can be seen in the image above, which is not dissimilar to one that would be played in a real staging environment. Also, the guitar and amplifier that Matthew Jones, our guitarist provided helped to again made the video appear more realistic. Having learnt from A2 Music Videos produced in previous years that we have watched, we noted that paying attention to detail within the production environment was absolutely key, which is why all of the microphones were wired in with XLR leads and on stands, and why all electronic equipment, including the guitar and the amplifier was powered up, again adding to the sense of realism.

When choosing costumes for our narrative, we knew from the research we had carried out that the character needed to be dressed in ‘normal’ clothing, wearing nothing too extravagant or out of the ordinary. Therefore, we thought that the clothing pictured above was appropriate, as it is representative of something a person who was going on a long journey would wear. In addition, a person of this age-group would be likely to be listening to headphones on such a journey, which is why we decided that the character should have these hanging out of his hoodie. However, when he is going on a reflective journey, he may perhaps not be listening to music in order to absorb the silence and give him time to reflect. In addition, the character is carrying a rucksack in all shots, as we decided that it would be unlikely for someone going on a journey to go without having any form of bag. Furthermore, the character is seen holding the photo album in all shots - a prop which is absolutely key to the narrative of the story, and the character’s relationship with the photo album and its importance becomes more obvious throughout the narrative of the video.

When undertaking our research, we discovered that many videos of this genre used creative transitions and editing effects as a way of attracting the attention of their audience. In most videos of the genre, the straight-cut is the predominant transition used between shots, and so we were aware that the transitions used needed to be subtle so that it did not detract from the rest of the production. Also, some transitions can occasionally look quite unprofessional, so it was important that we chose the most appropriate transitions for our production. Straight cuts were used mainly although in some situations, we did use a fade to suggest a change in the time period within the narrative. Also, whilst we were experimenting with ideas when editing, we included a flashback of the journey at the end of the video, and although this did not make it to the final cut, we used a quick flash to white to signify the presence of a flashback. At the end of the video, a flash to white is also used, as this is often done within the genre, to signify the end of the video.

For the flashback photos that were used in our video, we chose to use a Black & white effect, as this creates the impression that the video is going back in time, and that this scenes occurred in the past in relation to the rest of the video. In addition, the black & white effect is typically associated with romance, and so this is appropriate for this point within our video. In addition, some videos, including the Oasis video ‘The Importance of Being Idle’, also use the black and white effect, and so by using this in our video, it helped to conform to the conventions of the genre.

 

We felt that it was important to include a mixture of both narrative and performance in our music video, as an appropriate mixture of both gives more for the audience to look at, adding to the amount of times they are likely to view the video. When we conducted audience research at the beginning of our project, our audience said that they prefer videos with a mixture of both narrative and performance, and so we were keen to take this information on board when creating our video. For this reason, we chose an equally even mix of performance and narrative within our video, to try and attract as wide an audience as possible.

In general, people expect to see some elements of performance, in order to show off the performer’s talents and abilities, which is why a video with no performance is extremely rare within our genre. Although videos with just performance do exist, these are often extremely rare, as indie-rock songs often have a message and meaning behind them, which artists are keen to portray within their video. This is why we felt the mixture of performance and narrative we created was appropriate for our project.

When creating a music video, it is important to consider elements of illustration, amplification and disjuncture, and which form the narrative of the video will take. Our video mainly used illustration, by portraying the key message of the song, which surrounded the theme of a relationship falling apart. From the research that we carried out, we discovered that illustration was the main narrative form that was used within videos from this genre, including the Oasis video ‘Why’d you Only Call Me When You’re High?

We also carried out work to research some media theory relating to narrative construction. In some ways, it can be considered that our video relates to Claude Levi-Strauss’ narrative theory, which focuses on the structure of binary oppositions - a set of opposite values revealing the structure of the text. Therefore, it could be agreed that our video reflects both happy & sad times, especially with the use of the still photographs showing the characters in a happy relationship, and then in an argument. There is also a stark contrast in the different settings used in our video - from the busy hustle and bustle of the city centre, in comparison to the calmness of the countryside and beach location. We felt that it was important for our video to have good structure to it, and by conforming to a narrative theory, this ensures that the audience will be able to relate to the narrative.

Below are some deconstructed stills from our music video, which show the links made to the conventions of our chosen genre:

 

 

We also carried out similar research when creating our digipak and website for our ancillary tasks, which form a vital part of any music package.

 

We began by looking for influential websites that would help us to develop our product, to get a feel of the conventions of the genre, and to give us some inspiration. To start with, we looked at The Beatles website, which can be seen above, and this was particularly effective, as it uses a cover flow arrangement to show the latest news from the band. In addition, the website features a search bar, allowing visitors to search for Beatles music, and this is a good feature, as it would encourage fans to visit the website for information. Also, the website features an online store, which we felt would be good to incorporate into our site, as it is an effective way of raising revenue, whilst also creating brand recognition through the use of logos and house colours on these items. The website itself features pictures of the band and its members, which is a good technique to use, as it enables the audience to link the website to photos of the band members that they may have seen from other sources.

 

We also took inspiration from the Coldplay website, which portrays many conventions of websites from the indie-rock genre. The branding, including the background colour, font colour and fonts used, are similar to those used in other products by the brand, and this is a convention that we identified is used across many websites of the genre. Therefore, we were keen to try and incorporate this into our website. In addition, many websites from this genre have a latest news section, which allows fans to stay up to date with the latest news from the band, which is again something that we felt should be developed into our site. Furthermore, we identified that the majority of websites use their music promo as a way of displaying the skills and attributes possessed by the band, and the use of video is often really effective, as it is an engaging way for the audience to digest information.

After this, we went on to researching some of the conventions of a digipak, again, looking for inspiration. We began by looking at the Oasis digipak (shown left), which portrays many of the conventions of a digipak from this genre. In a similar way to the website, the designers have ensured that branding from other products is carried across into this one, in order to create familiarity for the audience. Furthermore, this digipak features a rather simplistic approach, and the focus on the image is rather effective helping it to stand out from competitive products, and would attract the attention of the audience, as because only the lower part of the guitar is shown, the audience’s imaginative minds may ask them to wonder what else is going on outside of the shot that cannot be seen. However, we felt that this digipak presented a somewhat older image, and that for a modern digipak, inspiration should not be taken from this.

The Coldplay digipak, which is shown to the right, also displays some of the conventions of a modern digipak more clearly. The front and rear cover feature a grey background, inkeeping with other products, and some simple yellow text, and the minimalistic feel is consistent with other products from the genre, and we will consider using this in our product. The images used on the inside section of the digipak are also particularly effective, and are used to portray the talent of the artists performing. We felt that lots of inspiration for our digipak could be taken from the product produced by coldplay, as this was a particularly effective version of a professionally produced product.

We used many of the conventions that we had identified whilst carrying out our research in the final version of our website. When developing the site, we were keen to ensure that the brand image remained consistent across all products, which is why the black background is used in conjunction with the band’s logo. Furthermore, the fonts that we used have remained the same in both our website and digipak, which helps to create brand familiarity for the audience. When carrying out our research, we noticed that many of the sites we looked at featured latest news, which enables visitors to keep up to date with band information, which is why we chose to include this feature in our site.

On the ‘Idols & Upsets’ page of our site, we also chose to include our music video. This is one of the typical conventions of a indie-rock website, as it helps to display the talent of the band, whilst enabling website visitors to engage with the site in a unique and user-friendly way.

Going against convention somewhat, we have chosen to make a contact form a prominent part of the website. In most of the websites that we have looked at of established bands, they do not actively encourage people to contact them, with the link sometimes being hidden in the footer, but we felt that an unsigned band should welcome contact and feedback from their audience, which is why we chose to make this a key feature of the site.

Our final digipak also displays many of the conventions of a digipak. We chose to ensure that the background and font are the same as on our website, so that the brands link together well. In addition, we took inspiration from the Oasis digipak to use a cover photo that stood out, and for this, we edited a photo of an eye to include the stripes of a tiger within the eyeball, which takes reference from the name of the band and also the name of the album.

The rear cover of our digipak was also particularly effective, using a picture of our guitarist, and then adjusting the contrast and brightness to show just a white outline of the character. Again, this continues a black & white theme, helping the album to stand out in comparison to other competitive products produced.

When producing our digipak, we tried hard to ensure an appropriate text and image balance was found. We knew that it was important to include some text so that some information is conveyed, but also a minimalist feel, such as that from the Coldplay digipak, should be maintained. It was also important to integrate our product fully with social media services and our website, so that fans could go online to find out more information, and extend their experience and enjoyment of the brand. One of the conventions that we identified when carrying out our research was that the use of a photo focus on the front cover is often very effective, which is why we chose to use this on our front cover, again linking our product to competitive products from the genre.

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilst producing our products, we worked hard to ensure that a consistent house style and theme was carried across our music video, website and digipak to create a strong brand image. All three products clearly advertise our band, and without digesting the text, this can be easily identified by the audience, because the fonts, background & text colours and key images, especially the main shots of the band, have remained the same in all of our products. Whilst planning our products, we identified key conventions from the genre we had chosen, and tried to ensure that these were appropriately represented across all of our products, using inspirations that we picked up from professionally produced works, as have been explained previously. In addition, we have used editing techniques to ensure that our works appear as professional as possible, which means only positive publicity will be gained from these products.

Below is a deconstruction of both of our ancillary tasks, showing how they compliment each other:

We tried to ensure that our three products worked synergistically together, so that each product benefits and promotes the other. By ensuring the house style & design is consistent across each product, once someone has interacted with one product, they will immediately identify and relate the other products. However, it is important to ensure that each product offers something unique and different in relation to the others, and so new information and features are offered by each product, including exclusive information, pictures and videos.

Our digipak features our band’s website address, which would encourage people to go online and visit the site, to find out more about the band. Furthermore, the digipak features pictures and stills taken during our music video shoot, which again encourages people to watch the music video.

Our website uses our music video as a powerful promotional tool for the new album release, which is why we chose to include it on the ‘Idols & Upsets’ page, which is specifically designed to promote the new release. The use of our music video not only helps the website, but its inclusion also boosts visibility of the music video.

It was important during the planning stages of this project to consider where each product would be exhibited and made available to the public, and the variety of mediums that we may use to do this. The Prezi below explains why we considered the use of different media forms for each product:



Question 3:What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Whilst planning and undertaking this project, we constantly consulted our audience for advice and feedback, to ensure that our product would meet the expectations of the people who will be consuming them.

Whilst carrying out our planning, we created a questionnaire, to understand the expectations of our audience. We asked them about their expectations of the genre, the methods they use to consume the texts we would be creating, along with information about their age and gender, to allow us to gauge the typical demographic group that our product will be aimed at. By gathering this information, we were able to plan our music video so that it included many of the features our audience typically expect from the genre, which was absolutely vital to ensure success of the project.

After carrying out our research, we knew that it was vital we acted on the feedback we had received effectively. Our research showed us that our audience expected to see fast editing, shots of the instruments and artificial lighting, and having assessed this information, we tried to incorporate this into our work.  Our survey also showed us that 22% of the sample expected music videos to be set outside, 12% of which agreeing in an urban environment, and from this data, we decided to shoot footage for our narrative in an urban location.

During our questionnaire, people were also asked where, if given £10, they would spend their money. A large proportion (40%) of respondents said that they would choose to spend their money in the clothing sector, which is why we felt that t-shirts and tops would be good products to sell on the online store on our website, again showing how our audience research influenced our products. A further 20% would spend their money on electronic goods, again showing how effective the digipak could be for the brand as a whole, and emphasising how important it was that all products linked synergistically.

Our questionnaire was circulated on paper. We identified that this technique was not very effective, as due to the time constraints of the project, it could only be circulated to a small number of people of broadly the same age. For this reason, we chose to use the Microsoft SkyDrive platform to create an online survey, which could be circulated to a much larger group of people, and allows the anonymous collection of results. By combining the two sample methods together, this allowed us to generate a much larger sample size from a broader age range, increasing the accuracy and validity of our results.

During the project, we created multiple draft copies of the product, allowing us to get feedback as we developed the product. As we were editing, we arranged for focus groups to come and view our work, and to give us feedback, and advice as to how we can improve. We ensured that our focus groups comprised of a mixture of industry specialists, fellow media students and members of our target audience, which enabled us to receive good quality, valued feedback from all involved. They commented on suggested extra footage that should be incorporated, how to editing pace should be increased, and specifically how we should consider restructuring certain parts of our video, such as the sections where the character is walking through the countryside, so that our audience did not lose interest.  Our consultations with focus groups gave us inspiration as to how to move forward with all three products, which ultimately saw us create a very strong final product. However, one of the problems we came across when using this method of feedback was that many members of the focus group gave conflicting advice and suggestions of changes we should make. Therefore, we often had to make our own decisions as to which changes we implemented in our video.

In addition, we felt that it was important to utilise social media as a platform for collecting feedback. For this reason, one of our drafts was uploaded to YouTube and Facebook, to get feedback from our peers, many of whom are also members of our target audience. We found that these people gave us extremely strong feedback, including suggestions as to what they would be wishing to see in a music video, which we were able to act upon in the development of the project.

We also felt that it was important to gather audience feedback after our products had been produced, so that we can evaluate how they have been received by the audience.

Our questionnaire can be seen below:

So that we could make the most of the results created, I began by tabulating my results, and then created some graphs and charts to help me evaluate the outcome more thoroughly:

We began our questionnaire by asking people’s age, so that we could see the extent to which our questionnaire sample reflects the demographic status of our target audience. The results show that although the majority of our sample is aged between 11-20, we have a wide mixture of people in our sample, up to the age of 65+. This is an appropriate representation of our target audience, as identified in our audience research carried out at the beginning of our project.

Question 2 enabled us to assess the gender status of the people who we surveyed. We managed to achieved an equal balance of males and females in our samples, which means that our results effectively and accurately represent the views of the people who will be digesting our product.

100% of our target sample felt that our music video meets or exceeds their expectations of an indie-rock music video. This is very good, as it indicates that our music video could potentially be considered as a professional production, whilst also showing that we have considered the expectations of our audience when questioned at the beginning of the project.

All of our sample responded to question 4 by giving a rating between 4 & 9, which is reasonably good, as it indicates that in general, there is little difference between our product and their professionally produced alternatives. This is reassuring, especially as 78% voted with a 7 and 8, showing that our product compares well to professionally produced ‘real’ products on the market today.

Question 5 relates specifically to the  music video that we have created, with question 5a asking participators if they understood the narrative of the video. Pleasingly, all respondents said  that they did understand the narrative, and this is good, as we were concerned that the audience may struggle to understand the plot. In addition, one person commented that the plot becomes more obvious throughout the video, which was exactly the effect we were trying to achieve.

All people responded to question 5b positively, saying that they liked the performance shots in the video, when referring to the composition, shot angle and type. We carried out lots of research into the conventional shot types used in an indie-rock music video, and tried to adhere to these as much as possible, so it is good to know that these conventions were identified correctly by our audience.

100% of people who responded to our video also said that they liked the pace the video had. It was good to see that our video portrayed the appropriate pace for the video, and that this fitted in with the conventions of a typical indie-rock video.

Question 6 asked people to give more feedback about our music video. Many people gave positive feedback, which often referred to the pace, the use of interesting and unique shots, and how professional the product appeared. Someone also commented that they like the way the narrative takes the audience on a journey, which was exactly the effect we were trying to achieve, although one person did suggest that the video could have done with some more shots, and so if we repeated this project again, we could perhaps look at filming some more, creative shots when shooting our video.

Question 7 referred specifically to our digipak, and question 7a asked if people felt it fitted in with the genre. Although 93% of respondents felt that our digipak was appropriate for the genre, one person felt that it looked too much like a product from the pop genre, which is disappointing, considering we tried extremely hard to adhere to the conventions we identified in our genre.

86% of the people who answered our questionnaire felt that the text/image balance was appropriate for our digipak, whilst the remaining 14% felt that there was too much text. Reflecting critically on our work, I can see that the digipak we created does perhaps feature too much text, and could be reduced somewhat to create a more professional feel, if we were to undertake this project again.

Question 7c asked people if they would purchase our product in a shop, and whilst 79% said they would, the remaining 21% felt that the digipak would not encourage them to purchase our album. Again, this is disappointing, but perhaps the front of our cover is not unique enough to stand out when on a shelf with competitive products. To improve this, we could look to reduce the amount of content on the front cover, so that it appears more professional, and helps it to stand out.  

Question 8 asked people to give any more feedback about our digipak. The majority of comments were positive, with people saying that the colour scheme is good, and that there is a strong text-image balance throughout the product.  However, a number of negative comments were identified, including that the photo of the guitarist looks strange, which is something that I had considered, as it does not really link in with the rest of the brand and the products created. In addition, multiple people said that there was too much text on the product, and also that the font size needed to be increased to make it more readable, which is something that we could consider improving. Furthermore, one person added that the eye is scary, and may confuse some people about the genre, which is something we had not previously considered, although we could consider using another image more appropriate for the genre, and perhaps one that we have used on the website, to increase the brand recognition that is present.

Question 9 relates to our website, with question 9a asking if people felt that our website fits in with the genre. 100% of people who responded felt it did fit in with the genre, which is reassuring, as we tried hard to ensure that our website was similar to those which we had assessed in our research. This is also a more positive response than that which was given for the similar question about the digipak, and so we should perhaps have tried to include more themes from our website within that product.

Question 9b asks the audience if our website provided them with relevant information. Pleasingly, 100% of people responded positively to this as well, which is good, as we tried hard to ensure that enough information was given on our website to ensure that the website remains a useful point of information for fans.

Again, all of the people who responded to our website said that it was easy to navigate. This is good, as lots of care and attention was taken into ensuring the website remained as accessible as possible for lots of people, and so I am pleased that the website works as intended.

Question 10 asked for any extra feedback about our website.  The majority of comments were positive, as people commented that the style relates strongly to the band’s image, that the website looks very professional, and that it is well designed, being accessible and with the relevant information. However, one person commented that there was a lack of general knowledge, although this response is confusing, as all people said in question 9b that the website provided them with the relevant information.

Overall, I feel that the questionnaire was a very good method to use for gathering feedback about our product. We were able to get the questionnaire completed by lots of people who are members of our target audience, and by also circulating a similar questionnaire online, the sample size achieved was large enough to produce good results.

We were also keen to use other methods to gather feedback for our project. This is why we chose to upload our video onto Facebook and YouTube, and to also circulate it on Twitter, enabling us to get more informal feedback on our video. The use of social media as a way of getting feedback is highly effective, as it reaches out to many people who are members of our target audience. It also invites more informal feedback, and people are more  likely to give honest feedback via social media, as they often feel more relaxed, and less pressured than when completing a questionnaire, for example. This sort of feedback is often left anonymously as well, encouraging people to give more truthful opinions. This method worked effectively, as it enabled the products to reach many members of the target audience for this genre, whilst also increasing the potential reach of our video. However, when we used this method to get feedback for our final video, we did not receive as much response as we did for the draft of our video, although this could perhaps be down to the fact that people felt not many changes had been made, and so didn’t see it worthwhile to comment again.