What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I sought feedback on my work frequently throughout the course of the project, so as to gain advice from both my target audience, consisting of peers and classmates, whose opinions were mainly positive, and from teachers who were more constructive in their criticism. I received feedback through word of mouth, social networking sites such as Twitter, comments on blog posts and written pieces. This was vital in both the research and planning and the production stages of the coursework, as it enabled me to build on my ideas early on and improve each of my media products as I developed my ideas further. To first gain feedback on the initial concept of my video, I pitched my ideas to my classmates via Animoto. I received positive comments regarding surrealism and abstract shots, as well as my idea of shaky camerawork and disorientated framing. My song choice also received praised and I was complimented on the links made between the general aesthetic I wanted to create and the context of the lyrics, as well as the use of black and white shots to differentiate from the fish footage. I was also praised for having "interesting ideas" which were "different from a lot of people's work", which consequently boosted my confidence and encouraged me to push boundaries further. I was asked, also at this stage, whether I would continue the psychedelic element onto my digipak and magazine advert, in which I replied that I would be, as this element had been discussed with great enthusiasm by my peers. Although I insinuated that I might be including a narrative element within my video, I quickly established that I simply wanted to draw upon the lyrics of the song, and so decided to incorporate both illustration and amplification instead. Having created an "audience profile" using UK Tribes, concerning my target market, I established that "Young Alts", "Indie Scenesters" and "Leading Edge" tribes were most fitting regarding genre, which reinforced the previous feedback I had been given, as my classmates could be placed into at least one, if not all, of these categories. The process of receiving and interpreting audience feedback at this stage helped to cement my ideas and gave me the "go-ahead" to put them into action. I created a moodboard, a band biography and several posts concerning possible camera styles, as well as filming test shots containing the fish element and deciding on my location. Although I did not receive written feedback on these developments, I was complimented orally by my teacher and my peers, and so began work on my storyboard which combined all of this. Having submitted a draft music video, I received initial feedback from my teacher, who complimented me on the fish shots and suggested that they feature earlier on in the video too, as well as establishing which features of my video worked well. From a more critical perspective, he noted that the performance element was too weak and the mise-en-scene was "awful" but after watching the video several times it became "strangely appealing". Taking this on board, I organised a re-shoot and instructed my actors of the changes that needed to be made. Although the comments regarding setting were not ultimately negative, I felt that it was best to choose a different location when re-filming. I decided to shoot in another of the rehearsal rooms at Stayfree Music, but one which had plain white walls, as the mise-en-scene in the orange room, due to the obscure wallpaper, was distracting and took away from the band's performance. This decision also improved the quality of the lighting and made the shots clearer. My teacher's comments were important as they discussed the accuracy and professionalism of my work, but the feedback I received from my peers was ultimately more influential in my decisions as

they represented my target audience. The black and white shots were heavily praised, as the camcorder effect "tied in" with this element nicely. Several of my classmates commented on the inadequacy of the location and the clarity of the footage in the orange room, which I then took onboard during the re-shoot. There were two contrasting points of view regarding the fish shots; the first was that they were sometimes "not easy to make out" and "a bit blurry", whilst the other expressed that "the fish floating around looks really good". I examined this for myself, focusing on the shots which blended both the fish footage and the black and white shots, rather than the fish footage in its entirety. I concluded that the section which marked the chorus ("where is my mind" x3) did in fact make the fish look slightly faint, in contrast to the bold, abstract colours projected in other shots, and altered the state of the black and white effect; I couldn't retain the colourfulness of the fish whilst keeping the shot black and white, as I had to place both shots over one another and turn down the opacity in order to blend the two together, and so I decided to remove the fish from the shot altogether. Having made several improvements, I posted a second draft video and asked for further feedback. I received positive responses, which confirmed that the improvements I made to my first draft were beneficial and consequently that the decisions I made were the right ones. My actors were complimented in their appearance and performance, and the "static" transitions that I added were also as being "effective". The fish footage was now only talked about in a positive light, and the way the camcorder effect "contrasts" with the abstract shots was once again reinstated as being "interesting" and attention-grabbing. Overall, the changes I made to my video were appreciated by many of my target audience. With regards to my ancillary texts, having created a first draft of both a digipak and a magazine advert, I was presented with more feedback from my teacher. He'd annotated my hand-outs and suggested just a few tweaks were made, as I was awarded 8/10 for both pieces. I altered the layout of my digipak's back cover and placed the text accordingly, as well as replacing the barcode with one which better suited the style, and added further tracking information to the inside left, also changing the font used on the spine, so as to keep a sense a continuity running throughout. I made a few minor alterations to my magazine advert, mainly regarding the layout and positioning of text. The feedback I then received from my peers on my final products suggested that the changes I had made were constructive, and many commented on the effective "branding" I had created in linking my main product with the ancillary texts. The psychedelic colour palette was also well received and I was told that they "complimented each other" well. My chosen layout and fonts were praised, insinuating that the improvements I made to my first drafts were commendatory.