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.
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