Monday, 17 March 2014
Friday, 14 February 2014
Audience Feedback
Audience feedback is vital in a group of media producers
As a group of Media producers creating a product for audiences to consume, receiving these comments on our final music video made us feel as though we had met the initial brief successfully and satisfied our consumers. Although we received a combination of positive comments praising our products, we also received some constructive and critical comments. We were not disheartened by the negative comments however, because if we were working within the industry of music, it would allow us to reflect on which elements we could improve upon to determine success from a mass audience and of course, approval from the artist we were working with. The positive comments however reinforced the fact that we have created conventional products which appeal to our young female target audience. By having people who had never seen our products before (with fresh eyes) commenting on them, it allowed us to reflect upon our creations critically and realise what we could possibly adapt and improve upon if we were provided with the opportunity to do so. Therefore, audience feedback is crucially imperative to a production of any kind.
Audience feedback is vitally important to a production as it allows the media producers to analyze their own work and see where or not the media product has successfully reached the target audience and been a success. This is seen via the feedback an audience give the video or film and can influence future productions as the producers are able to see what has worked well and what can be improved. My own audience feedback was was seen through the screening of production via the rough cut, focus groups which looked at the target demographic and insured we had included elements that would appeal to a certain audience and also the questionnaires which allowed us to see first hand reactions about our own ideas and possible narrative ideas we could include that would be a success.
This feedback would benefit my production as well as the industry as it would allow myself and my group to have a clear idea regarding who we are aiming our product at whether or not the audience would find our product eye catching. This would determine whether or not our overall product would be a successful as positive feedback means our product was, and constructive criticisms giving myself some scope for improvement .
3 positive comments.
Ami Mathews 19 said, Drew, this is really flippin good!!! I love the narrative, so clever.
This comment appears complimentary to our media product, and is reassuring to me as it proves that our video is being positively received by our target audience. The comment on the narrative again shows that our research into what people wanted to see has been a success, as the narrative has been made successful and easy to understand by the target audience.
Rowan Jones 23, Georgia's hair looks amazing, so hip cx I love her style as well! wish i had a jacket like that.
A humerous comment from Rowan again is positive as it compliments the use of style throughout the video, the fact she used the word ' hip ' also indicates that the style of our artist was successful as she is appearing iconic and conventional to the indie genre.
Daniel Shoesmith 16, Nice one mate, love the colors proper professional! the colours are so vibrant and really adds to the effect of the video
This comment is positive feedback on the cinematography and the element of lighting within our video. It is good to see that this person enjoys the diverse lighting and effect choices and that our lighting structure has been successful and diverse.
3 Constructive comments,
Amy Palmer 19, I love it, what happens next!! I want to see more of the arist, didnt really get why she was in the forst tbh.
Although this comment to me appears unjust, we could have had a greater explanation of the narrative towards the end of the video, and some form of clarification as to why Georgia was in the forest. This would have been possible if the video was longer however knowing that we only had 3 minutes to fill, I think our final product could not be anymore explanatory.
David Watson 40, Why does there have to be smoking? bit of a bad influence on kids that might be watching this.
David poses an interesting comment, however the use of smoking although maybe controversial just highlights the reckless nature of the teenagers that we were trying to accurately portray. The research conducted shows that many people within our target audience wanted to see a reckless style, and the fact we chose smoking was a further convention to indie music. I would also argue that although David comment is valid and we will take his opinion on board, his age falls outside the target audience age group therefore out video isn't aimed towards him meaning he may not understand or want to view our video making our targeting of a younger audience still successful.
Paul Marks 28, This is great, seems professional yet if im being picky at times the camera appears a bit shakey? dont know if you wanna sort that out or not.
Paul's comment is a valid one, and we did substantially limit the amount of hand held camera work in order to appear more professional. I think we could have maybe spent more time filming in order to obtain a higher quality of footage. This would make our video more successful and on a more professional level.
Overall I have followed the aims of my brief which was to 'create a music video that appeals to a chosen music genre and target audience' The use of narrative and performance combines the genres of pop and indie well and the result is an on trend teenage relationship with a young girl appearing iconic and talented during the performance of the indie song. The song itself built strong lyrical and visual links within our video, and our two ancillary products also followed the conventions of indie music and had strong themes that meant our overall product was sold to our target audience successfully.
The cinematography and locations were diverse and typical of the indie genre as we focused on naturalistic settings that contrasted with urban locations. We also used conventional iconography such as the guitar which conformed with the indie genre and also drinking and smoking which portrayed the rebellious nature of the teens which was wanted by our target audience after we put together our vox pops and research. The style of our video was also successful as we wore on trend clothing that made the artist appear iconic and in keeping with the indie genre. All in all we kept closely to the brief and made a series of successful products that promote the artist and bring the genre of indie to a mainstream audience in a successful and diverse way.
As a group of Media producers creating a product for audiences to consume, receiving these comments on our final music video made us feel as though we had met the initial brief successfully and satisfied our consumers. Although we received a combination of positive comments praising our products, we also received some constructive and critical comments. We were not disheartened by the negative comments however, because if we were working within the industry of music, it would allow us to reflect on which elements we could improve upon to determine success from a mass audience and of course, approval from the artist we were working with. The positive comments however reinforced the fact that we have created conventional products which appeal to our young female target audience. By having people who had never seen our products before (with fresh eyes) commenting on them, it allowed us to reflect upon our creations critically and realise what we could possibly adapt and improve upon if we were provided with the opportunity to do so. Therefore, audience feedback is crucially imperative to a production of any kind.
Audience feedback is vitally important to a production as it allows the media producers to analyze their own work and see where or not the media product has successfully reached the target audience and been a success. This is seen via the feedback an audience give the video or film and can influence future productions as the producers are able to see what has worked well and what can be improved. My own audience feedback was was seen through the screening of production via the rough cut, focus groups which looked at the target demographic and insured we had included elements that would appeal to a certain audience and also the questionnaires which allowed us to see first hand reactions about our own ideas and possible narrative ideas we could include that would be a success.
This feedback would benefit my production as well as the industry as it would allow myself and my group to have a clear idea regarding who we are aiming our product at whether or not the audience would find our product eye catching. This would determine whether or not our overall product would be a successful as positive feedback means our product was, and constructive criticisms giving myself some scope for improvement .
3 positive comments.
Ami Mathews 19 said, Drew, this is really flippin good!!! I love the narrative, so clever.
This comment appears complimentary to our media product, and is reassuring to me as it proves that our video is being positively received by our target audience. The comment on the narrative again shows that our research into what people wanted to see has been a success, as the narrative has been made successful and easy to understand by the target audience.
Rowan Jones 23, Georgia's hair looks amazing, so hip cx I love her style as well! wish i had a jacket like that.
A humerous comment from Rowan again is positive as it compliments the use of style throughout the video, the fact she used the word ' hip ' also indicates that the style of our artist was successful as she is appearing iconic and conventional to the indie genre.
Daniel Shoesmith 16, Nice one mate, love the colors proper professional! the colours are so vibrant and really adds to the effect of the video
This comment is positive feedback on the cinematography and the element of lighting within our video. It is good to see that this person enjoys the diverse lighting and effect choices and that our lighting structure has been successful and diverse.
3 Constructive comments,
Amy Palmer 19, I love it, what happens next!! I want to see more of the arist, didnt really get why she was in the forst tbh.
Although this comment to me appears unjust, we could have had a greater explanation of the narrative towards the end of the video, and some form of clarification as to why Georgia was in the forest. This would have been possible if the video was longer however knowing that we only had 3 minutes to fill, I think our final product could not be anymore explanatory.
David Watson 40, Why does there have to be smoking? bit of a bad influence on kids that might be watching this.
David poses an interesting comment, however the use of smoking although maybe controversial just highlights the reckless nature of the teenagers that we were trying to accurately portray. The research conducted shows that many people within our target audience wanted to see a reckless style, and the fact we chose smoking was a further convention to indie music. I would also argue that although David comment is valid and we will take his opinion on board, his age falls outside the target audience age group therefore out video isn't aimed towards him meaning he may not understand or want to view our video making our targeting of a younger audience still successful.
Paul Marks 28, This is great, seems professional yet if im being picky at times the camera appears a bit shakey? dont know if you wanna sort that out or not.
Paul's comment is a valid one, and we did substantially limit the amount of hand held camera work in order to appear more professional. I think we could have maybe spent more time filming in order to obtain a higher quality of footage. This would make our video more successful and on a more professional level.
Overall I have followed the aims of my brief which was to 'create a music video that appeals to a chosen music genre and target audience' The use of narrative and performance combines the genres of pop and indie well and the result is an on trend teenage relationship with a young girl appearing iconic and talented during the performance of the indie song. The song itself built strong lyrical and visual links within our video, and our two ancillary products also followed the conventions of indie music and had strong themes that meant our overall product was sold to our target audience successfully.
The cinematography and locations were diverse and typical of the indie genre as we focused on naturalistic settings that contrasted with urban locations. We also used conventional iconography such as the guitar which conformed with the indie genre and also drinking and smoking which portrayed the rebellious nature of the teens which was wanted by our target audience after we put together our vox pops and research. The style of our video was also successful as we wore on trend clothing that made the artist appear iconic and in keeping with the indie genre. All in all we kept closely to the brief and made a series of successful products that promote the artist and bring the genre of indie to a mainstream audience in a successful and diverse way.
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Wednesday, 5 February 2014
Media Evaluation Question 1
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My brief within Media Studies was to create a music video on an artist of my choice, alongside two ancillary products whilst following all genre conventions, to create a successful piece of work. The ancillary posts consisted of creating a digipak, as well as a magazine advert which as a result would promote my commodity, Georgia. All in all, my group and I needed to link all 3 ancillary products, so that they all connected one another, producing a continual flow. Whilst discussing the products with my group, we decided that we were to follow most typical and traditional genre conventions, however also including a little diversity in order to stand out against opponents. For myself and the group to have a greater understanding of the conventions that are typically used within our genre type, we carried out primary and secondary research. To gain our own personal primary research we carried out various interviews and questionnaires asking random members of West Hatch High School, as well as the general public genre and music video related questions. From gaining this information, it enabled us to collect all our results and materialise them into visually appealing pie charts, as well as creating vox pops videos. The vox pops portrayed members of our group interviewing individuals, gaining relevant primary information. Collaborating all the new information, the group and I came to realisation of roughly who our target audience was, meaning that we were able to plan all our ancillary products around what they wanted and had requested. This was all taken into consideration to make our music video as successful as we possibly could.
My brief within Media Studies was to create a music video on an artist of my choice, alongside two ancillary products whilst following all genre conventions, to create a successful piece of work. The ancillary posts consisted of creating a digipak, as well as a magazine advert which as a result would promote my commodity, Georgia. All in all, my group and I needed to link all 3 ancillary products, so that they all connected one another, producing a continual flow. Whilst discussing the products with my group, we decided that we were to follow most typical and traditional genre conventions, however also including a little diversity in order to stand out against opponents. For myself and the group to have a greater understanding of the conventions that are typically used within our genre type, we carried out primary and secondary research. To gain our own personal primary research we carried out various interviews and questionnaires asking random members of West Hatch High School, as well as the general public genre and music video related questions. From gaining this information, it enabled us to collect all our results and materialise them into visually appealing pie charts, as well as creating vox pops videos. The vox pops portrayed members of our group interviewing individuals, gaining relevant primary information. Collaborating all the new information, the group and I came to realisation of roughly who our target audience was, meaning that we were able to plan all our ancillary products around what they wanted and had requested. This was all taken into consideration to make our music video as successful as we possibly could.
My group consists of 4 members; myself, Georgia Crandon, Rhianna Macleay and Drew Wyllie. Together we formed this group as we felt as individuals, we could push each other to the best of our abilities. I felt that each of us is stronger in contrasting areas, therefore together worked so well, however even so, we all pushed each other to better the outcome by sharing opinions and inputting at all stages of development. As a group we found it easy to allocate roles and everyone seemed to agree on them; we had Georgia that was incredible at performing and editing, Drew at editing on Adobe Photoshop and coming up with ideas, alongside myself, as well as featuring in the majority of the music video as the male in the relationship, whereas I was in charge of filming and directing, with input from Rhianna. I also assisted in small areas of editing our footage for the music video. Together we discovered individual strengths and weaknesses, however helping each other along wherever help was needed. From my experience from last year’s AS media group task, I have felt that my current group really came together and it had been so much more enjoyable to work with my new group members. Playing the role I have played has taught me how to focus on specific areas, trusting my other team members to focus on others individually and having success in doing so, therefore all in all having a better outcome With our group having such good time management we were able to test new shots and experiment in many ways, some in which that have made our music video 10x better. Yes we had allocated roles within the production, but when planning it all, there was no split in the group; we all came together and carried out tasks such as collecting primary research and putting the newly found information in charts as well as filming the vox pops and so on.
In my opinion,
I feel that as a group we have created a successful music video on the song 'The Apple Tree' by Nina Nesbitt alongside strong ancillary
texts to go with, however the music video being the best of the 3. Obviously there are
elements in which I would like to improve on, however it is very time dependent, something that we didn't have endless amounts of.
A music
video in a crucial element within the music industry; it is a marketing tool to
promote a commodity and their song. They consist of a short
narrative/representation of an artist depending on the genre in which they
feature in in order for an artist to attract a specific target audience, which
are often carried out purely for artistic and promotional purposes. For an
audience, it allows them to buy into their lifestyle and make connections in
forms of for example emotions, clothing, style and so on. The video creates a
greater understanding for an audience on what the song is about and the underlying emotions and meanings the song
holds. A music video can be categorised in 3 ways being performance, narrative
and concept. All songs and music video have to follow genre specific codes and
conventions, however a lot of artists choose to rebel against these in order to
be diverse and stand out against opponents, especially is they feature within
the same genre.
According to my research Indie is the genre that is defined as a short form of independence, as it has been used to describe artists on independent labels. Indie pop originated in mid 1980’s in the UK, with artists like Orange Juicy and the Smiths. Indie pop is melodic and less abrasive in comparison to indie rock. The artists within the genre now very often include an instrument, most likely being an acoustic guitar to highlight their musical talent even further. Other instruments are also used such as a keyboard, ukulele and so on, however I still feel the guitar is still most dominant which is today used by artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bastille and so on. The genre began to thrive as a label and generated a big club and gig circuit which continued to grow, especially in recent years with artists such as again Ed Sheeran, the Artic Monkeys, The Kooks, Lana Del Ray, Florence and the Machine and so on. The genre typically attracts a niche audience, an audience that enjoys the strong, emotional lyrics in which they can connect to. The audience likes to keep the genre niche and artists that aren't too mainstream, as typically the mainstream artists tend to lose their true selves to money and fame eg. Miley Cyrus. Whereas with indie artists they give off this sense of originality, something that is seen by a niche audience as golden and relatable, something that should not be lost, to therefore maintain that mass market appeal.
According to my research Indie is the genre that is defined as a short form of independence, as it has been used to describe artists on independent labels. Indie pop originated in mid 1980’s in the UK, with artists like Orange Juicy and the Smiths. Indie pop is melodic and less abrasive in comparison to indie rock. The artists within the genre now very often include an instrument, most likely being an acoustic guitar to highlight their musical talent even further. Other instruments are also used such as a keyboard, ukulele and so on, however I still feel the guitar is still most dominant which is today used by artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bastille and so on. The genre began to thrive as a label and generated a big club and gig circuit which continued to grow, especially in recent years with artists such as again Ed Sheeran, the Artic Monkeys, The Kooks, Lana Del Ray, Florence and the Machine and so on. The genre typically attracts a niche audience, an audience that enjoys the strong, emotional lyrics in which they can connect to. The audience likes to keep the genre niche and artists that aren't too mainstream, as typically the mainstream artists tend to lose their true selves to money and fame eg. Miley Cyrus. Whereas with indie artists they give off this sense of originality, something that is seen by a niche audience as golden and relatable, something that should not be lost, to therefore maintain that mass market appeal.
Nina Nesbitt was introduced to me by group members Georgia and Drew,
an artist that features within the Indie genre. Originally, I personally had
never heard of her before, however instantly understood why she features within
the indie genre, purely through her emotional and meaningful lyrics that gave
the impression they’d come straight from the heart, leaving me truly touched; an example being Nina's song 'The Hardest Part'. I
felt that within the indie genre she would be particularly popular for these
same reasons, and was ideal for the audience we aim to target. Within a music
video within the indie genre, it would typically include: a narrative, an
instrument; for example the acoustic guitar, location being either a live
performance or in a rural area with little distraction in the surroundings,
tartan, vintage or bright coloured clothing. Typical camera angles being close and long shots of the artist, their clothes and surroundings, with
editing styles like colour tints to create the effect of the scene being in the
past, as well as fast and slow cuts to reflect on the pace and so on. Nina's music videos typically include most of these conventions, for example in 'Thinkin' Bout You' and 'Selfies' particularly through clothing.
I feel that my music video, alongside the 2 other ancillary
products being the digipak and magazine advert reflect my chosen music genre,
in the way we have followed many of the typical indie codes and conventions; a few examples being through tartan clothing and the narrative. My group and I promoted Georgia as a down to earth, talented musician that plays her guitar
singing from the heart in the forest, portraying her true colours behind the
scene of her relationship. The narrative is very strong and we have chosen to
include diverse elements such as a rebellious teenage behaviour throughout like
a mainstream artist would, such as Rihanna. By doing so, we hopefully attract a greater audience, as they are drawn in by the behaviour and want to continue watching to see the ending, however the majority still remaining niche as we follow most conventions. These elements of rebellion are shown in Drew’s
behaviour, for example when smoking, and in both characters clothing with the large majority of it being black. Certain locations as well like in an Estate are unconventional, but again brings something new to the indie genre; that not all indie artists come from the best backgrounds but they are still able to express themselves and their true emotions about growing up.
Even so, we made sure the outfits chosen still fell under the ‘indie’ style,
with some clothing being denim or tartan. As a group we felt making it too diverse
would become a risk of losing our commodity to a mainstream genre, something
that would shatter what we’ve worked for. We gave Georgia an indie style (eg. Tartan clothing, blonde scruffy hair, red lipstick and bandanna) that
would make her a relatable figure for an audience, a style icon that is
affordable to follow; someone to look up to. I strongly believe that through
cinematography (close ups and long shots) and editing (colour tints, rounded
edges, fast and slow cuts) we followed most conventions, especially when it
came to presenting the narrative with justice. The group and I only wanted
small components to be diverse, in order to add originality to stand out
against genre opponents, overall following as well as challenging indie conventions to produce a successful end product.
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