Audience Feedback

Today I presented my music video to my classmates after which they answered a few questions about the music video; they noted the aspects that were good and identified areas for improvement. This is a good opportunity for people to tell us how they feel about our music video, but more importantly it is a vital part of the production process as their feedback enables us to better our product. Having completing this exercise means we are equipped with the knowledge on how to improve our music video so that it meets our target audiences expectations.

These are the completed feedback forms:

This showed me that while the music video was good and was definitely appealing, there are improvements to be made. Everyone agreed the editing was good, and they liked the use of special effects but felt the some of the shots became too repetitive and so made the video a bit boring. One group also mentioned how they did not like one of the outfits as the colours looked really dull. During the colourising stage we will tone the grey down and pull the colours in the jumper and buildings to make the shot look less dull. As for the repetitive shots we will go back through all our footage and see if we can replace current shots with anything good we find. A further positive was everyone enjoyed the performance, they thought it was fun and entertaining to watch; and it definitely engages the audience.

Audience Feedback - Rough Cut

In today's lesson we had a rough cut viewing of our music video and our classmates gave us feedback; they identified the parts they liked and noted any areas for improvement.

What I learnt from the feedback:

• People liked the use of locations.
• They also thought the performance was good as it was interesting and attention grabbing. 
• They also liked the editing, especially the quick montage at the beginning and end.

Thing to be improved:

• There are still a lot of gaps in the video that need footage added to. 
• There was this one location that people didn't like the costume for as they felt it was too casual compared to the rest of her costumes where she looks more glamorous.
• Some of the shots were out of sync.

This shows that we need to start moving a bit quicker and start adding more footage into the video. And we need to either re-shoot Gabi on the bridge in another costume or fix those clips when we come to do colourisation.

Audience Research Findings

After conducting the audience research I found that:

• People expected music videos to stick to their typical conventions. For example, if their favourite genre of music was pop they'd expect to see a lot of dancing and a wide use of colours in pop music videos. 
• In a dance music video they would expect to see a lot of dancing. Either a contemporary dance, a dance that tells a story, a coordinated dance or just people dancing and having fun. 
• They all liked our idea for the music video. They liked the use of different locations and how we've incorporated dance and urban ideas into one video e.g. through the use of graffiti and the Leake Street tunnel.
• They agreed it would make the video fun and exciting to watch. They also liked our ideas for special effects such as a 'rewind' It's unique and would make the video more interesting to watch. 
• The group thought it would appeal to our target audience of 15-25 year olds so long as we got the tone of the video right. This would be achieved through the use of costumes, colours and our star's persona. 
• The use of locations such as the stake park would appeal to an audience of that age as it is perceived as a young person's activity the audience would be able to identify with the video.
• It also pointed out how we should use the idea of the 'male gaze' to attract a male audience.
• Ideas that were suggested to improve our music video is to use a mixture of boys and girls so that the video can appeal to both sexes. 
• Another suggestion was to include something other than just singing; such as a narrative. And if we were to use skaters, we should use real skaters and get them doing tricks as it would look better.

Audience Research

Before we started the filming of our music video we decided it would be beneficial to pitch the idea for our music video to people who fall under our target audience. We asked them a few simple questions on their music listening habits and then asked for their opinion on our ideas.

These are the questions we asked them:

Target Audience

In order for a product to be successful it must be aimed at a specific audience, know as the target audience. This specific group of people are responsible for generating profit; and the success of a product is based on how it attracts these audiences.

The target audience for my music video is 15-25 year olds. The sexual nature of the song makes it inappropriate for younger audiences and immature for people over 25. Besides the fact the song is incredibly sexual; at its core it is still a dance song which makes it very appealing for this age group, as the ages 15-25 are considered as the time have fun and dance and be free; which is the message given from any dance anthem. This song will also be appropriate for people in their late teens as they'll most likely be at university and dancing and clubbing will very much become a huge part of their lives. 

Furthermore, while this song may be sexual I aim to approach it from a different angle. Because there is a chance that we may appeal to a younger audience, the video will not promote drugs or alcohol like other dance music videos do. The visuals will be toned down so that they are not over sexual and any innuendos or suggestions will be presented in a way that only older audiences will be able to pick up on.

While my chosen song 'Gecko' is of the Deep House genre which has a specific audience; it's popularity in the mainstream chart suggests that our target audience is from a more younger but slightly sophisticated demography. The psychographic of our audience will be explorers, because they want to have fun and seek discovery. But the explicit nature of dance songs in general suggest that the psychographic of our typical audience will be struggler's who seek escape but find it in drugs and alcohol.

Below is an image which illustrates what our target audience may look like.