Question 3
- 1. EVALUATION – QUESTION 3 WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?
- 2. LAYOUT AND STYLE OF QUESTIONS I asked 15 people to watch and analyse my media productions in order to carry out a survey in respect of both texts. I attempted to ask a relatively even number of girls to boys in order to accurately and more effectively infer from my data. I used a mix of qualitative and quantitative questions to receive a likewise response. My quantitative questions follow the lines of Age, Gender, etc… with ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers. A valuable question in this category is ‘Do you tend to look deeper into the meanings of Films, Music Videos, etc…?’ This question in itself offered closed answer which would instantly inform me is the interviewee has a more engaged interest in my productions, which would therefore give reason to their more open responses later in the questionnaire. Therefore, I put this question 3rd. A main factor of my music video and ancillary texts is their link in terms of narrative. I asked ‘How does my print production recognise my Music Video in terms of Narrative?’ as an open question, followed by ‘What story can you infer from the Music Video and ancillary texts?’ again, as an open question. This combination of questions are open and included in order to see if my narrative was portrayed in the way that was desired. With the data being useful in terms of development and improvement, as well as gratification. Another relatively quantitative question is ‘Would watching my Music Video and seeing my Print Productions encourage you to buy the album?’ designed to identify a consistency/correlation. In terms of how I can analyse if the effectiveness in the texts altogether has any effect on the audiences interest in buying the productions as a whole. I then, in the latter part of the questionnaire, requested straight forward audience feedback regarding the ‘Strengths’ and ‘Weaknesses’ of my productions. These questions, similar to the previous qualitative question, would provide straight answers in regards to what I did well and what can be improved in the future. Lastly, I included a tick-box question regarding genre, in order to analyse the audiences interest in genre, if it coincides with that of my texts, and if this has any impact on their overall response/s. As well as a final rating out of 10 to, again, analyse correlation and consistency.
- 3. GENDER AND AGE From the initial two questions of my survey, I can interoperate the main Gender and Age average of my audience. Above 60% of the people that I surveyed are female, and the rest are male. Alongside this, the average age is 16-18 years old. Unfortunately, I asked people who I am friends with which means that this age range is expected. However, the data surrounding that age complies with that of my target audience which therefore shows good correlation and appeal. In terms of gender, I expected a more male audience through my audience construction, however I got a rather opposite response. This although doesn’t make too much difference as I was mainly hoping to appeal to minority groups in society rather than gender based groups. However, I can identify the reasons as to why my productions appealed to the female gender and what I can do in order to appeal to more males next time. (I will analyse the more open data in future slides). AGE GENDER
- 4. AUDIENCE INTERESTS I also discovered the interests of my actual audience. Looking at the question in respect to Genre, the most popular choices are Indie and Pop. With the genre of my video being Alternative Indie, this is beneficial as I can compare the genre preference to the productions alone. Therefore, analysing if I was successful in terms of portraying this in my work. (I will again compare this data to my open feedback in the next slide, giving a more in depth look into the correlation). As well as this, considering how other genres are listed, some completely being opposite to that of my genre, I will be able to identify if my production appealed to wider audiences who wouldn’t usually take interest in this style of sound. Therefore, being greatly beneficial to me and my future productions as I would be able to structure and design them in a way to be more universally appealing – gaining a wider audience. Secondly, I included a question asking is my audience typically tends to engage with texts. I found out that around 80%-90% said ‘Yes’. In aim to appeal to those who tend to engage with texts and are more negotiated when reading texts. In regards to Stuart Hall’s interpretation of audience positioning. In how they tend to put themselves in the shoes of the protagonist and apply the themes and narratives to themselves due to their connection to the texts and real life experiences. Alternatively, providing a sense of escapism. Again, I included this question to identify a connection between the audiences positioning and their response to the texts. GENRE LOOKING DEEPER INTO TEXTS
- 5. OVERALL REACTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS I included multiple open questions in search of qualitative responses. These questions typically fell into opposing pairs to get more concise answers. IDENTIFICATION OF NARRATIVE From my data I can see that the narrative of my productions was evident. With responses being ‘A broken relationship’ and ‘A couple experiencing relationship difficulties’. Again, providing clarification that my narrative was clear amongst my more engaged audience. However, I spotted an interesting result coming from the respondent who admits to not looking deeper into texts. The response given was ‘Broken relationship, male character is letting the female character know he will always be there for her, even though she may have moved on or be happier after the relationship and he remains in a dark place’. Comparing these sets of data, I can see how my video is extremely clear in terms of narrative portrayal. However, the response is that which would come from a more negotiated audience. In that the female character in the video doesn’t have a set narrative/view on the theme, and the response given offers a set interpretation. This proves how my texts follow the idea of polysemy. In terms of the association between the Music Video and Print Productions, my data shows that I have done this well. It is evident however, that the main aspect of how this was achieved is through the lighting and use of the same characters in both texts. This tells me how the visual links are effective. However, there is no identification of other elements that caused links, therefore, I could use this information to create more evident links to make the connection stronger. STRENGTHS The strengths of my productions vary through the responses to my questionnaire. I received comments such as ‘they both follow careful colour schemes maintaining synergy and familiarity’ and ‘I like the print production how half of each character's face is shown on the inside, as if we open up to see them closer, in more detail, to learn about them through the music. I like the video's use of the newton's cradle at both the beginning and end, I also like how it shows both characters separately walking through similar places, as though both were thinking about their past together and remembering the good and bad times they had.’. These responses are very analytical of my productions, again, inferring that my actual audience conforms to that of which I constructed. I can see that the strengths of my video are in terms of narrative mainly, but greatly complimented by the majority of other aspects. WEAKNESSES In terms of weaknesses, I gathered a very mixed response. The majority of responses see little fault in the overall productions, predominantly being from the Females that I surveyed. This also is mainly from those who tend to engage more with texts, which could mean that my overall set of texts was near perfect in terms of matching conventions and appealing to my target audience. However, I revived more detailed and intricate responses such as ‘Instead of having just three photos to look through, maybe a wider selection would've been good, as it shows all of their memories together, and then the three photos don't become as repetitive.’ This response is in respect of the backstory's detail and narrative, which is a feature that I wanted to be the most evident. Although there is no criticism of the narrative in general, I could have made it more realistic by adding , like mentioned, more images to reflect on. Alongside this, the response is again from someone who selected ‘No’ when answering if they engage deeply with texts which shows me that I successfully appealed to a wider audience.
- 6. OVERALL REACTIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS CONCLUSION From analysing all of my data, it is fair to say that I have been successful in appealing to my target audience. In terms of producing a Video and Print Production complying with the genre and appealing to a wider audience. Alongside this, I have gained ideas on what I can do to improve my productions next time. In terms of adding more to the narrative and representations. In respect of my target audience, as said, I have greatly appealed to them, with the more negotiated audience members seeing little to no fault with any of my work. However, it is clear that I appealed to a wider audience and that my narrative and ideas are extremely clear as the member f the questioned audience who said that they don’t look further into texts when they watch it. This shows again how I have successfully achieved an engaging production. In terms of buying my album, I revived no definitive negative responses, which, in itself, shows greatly how I have appealed to the wide variety of people who I questioned. Overall, judging by my final question, asking the audience to rate the productions out of 10, I can see how my productions were, although majorly criticised, greatly compliant to the audience and genre which I applied to my constructed audience pre-production. RATING THE PRODUCTIONS OUT OF 10 LIKELIHOOD TO BUY THE ALBUM