Question Three - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout this project audience feedback has been vital in keeping our products focussed at the target audience as well as providing creative idea's. We received feedback in several different ways at each stage of this task.


Once our group decided on a clear initial concept and audience we presented a pitch to media peers so that they could assess our ideas. They told us wether they thought our audience profile was specific and clear, wether our idea matched that group and any concerns they had with the creation of our video. It was good to get opinions from other media students as they understood the timescale, constraints and technology available for this project. The feedback we got was overall very positive. They said that our audience was well chosen and that the idea suited them. They did say that parts of our concept were ambitious, in particular the clown performance scenes, and asked about actors, locations and costumes we planned to use so that it looked authentic an professional. 


We then took our idea to the audience. We planned a focus group consisting of people we considered a part of our target audience. We played them our song and then outlined our concept. Again the response was very good. They commented that our idea was very interesting, taking an original spin on a traditional narrative. They all though it sounded like an appealing music video and were excited to eventually see our finished product. Their concerns were again that we would have to make it look realistic, though they thought the theatre we chose was a perfect set. They also raised the issue that our main character was a man though the song was mainly performed by a woman. Our group discussed this and decided that this should not be an problem, though we needed to make it clear who viewers should empathise with.

One of the main things we needed to address was how we would ensure our video did not end up looking amateurish or silly. We finalised our plan to film in the theatre and organised an actor who we were confident would give a good performance. We also discussed costume, deciding to base it on pictures we found of the 'tramp clown' as this was a costume we could create.


We then storyboarded and filmed our video and started editing. When we got to the editing stage and had pieced together a good portion of the video we started to feel that the video was not working as well as it could. We didn't know if the video was working as a whole and we were going in circles. To get some fresh eyes on the material and generate some idea's we held two focus groups, showing them a rough cut of our work and asking what they though of the video, what was missing and if they had any suggestions.

These groups both thought that although what we had shot was good there were some problems. They said the footage of the clown looked grainy and low quality. We didn't have the time to re-shoot but viewers suggested trying adding a colour filter. They also said that the lack of performance in the video was a problem as it wasn't clearly a music video. Adding a performance aspect was necessary.


We made these changes to the video, using a sepia effect on the problematic footage and filming an artist performance. These changes made all the difference. Our video came together really well and we finished editing.

Whilst creating my print products I got feedback as I was designing. I created a Facebook group so that I could get almost instant feedback on what I was doing and the choices I was making. I posted colour palettes, fonts and design ideas then got comments on them from members of my audience. These comments meant that I had to make very few changes to my digipak and advert as I had been getting feedback as I went along.


When we had a final cut of our video I got feedback to asses how well I had created it. I used a site called 'Survey Monkey' and created a series of questions. The program allowed people to leave text answers discussing the questions rather than simply quantitative yes or no feedback. Qualitative feedback is far more useful for this project as it gives understanding of thoughts and emotions rather than generating statistics. I asked a range of questions trying to find out how viewers responded to the video and wether it worked as we had planned it to. The feedback I got suggests that our video was well made and viewers took the preferred reading. When asked about their understanding of the narrative and who they empathised with all participants said that it was clear the clown had been betrayed and therefore they felt sad for him. This was the way we wanted the narrative to be viewed and the female vocalist obviously didn't hinder this. Viewers said that the video was entertaining and though some had seen similar narrative ours had very original ideas. They also said they would definitely share the video with friends. This passing on of videos online is a kind of free marketing.


An important aspect of the video is how the artist is viewed. We want people to find them aspirational and approachable, someone that they could be friends with. This view creates a bond with the artist and means people will support them by buying the album. 


The only negative comments received were about the performance of the band, the comments were split as some people said it was "very realistic" and some thought it "could be improved". The quality of the video was something we worried about, but it seems to not be a problem as all those asked thought it looked professional.


If we could make alter our video after this feedback I would make two changes. I would re-shoot the footage that was poor quality. Although this didn't seem a problem on the final cut I think it would make the video more professional looking. As we had little time to organise the band performance filming we had to use non-musicians. This meant that there is room for improvement as some of this could be made more exciting and realistic.