Question 3

There were two main ways in which I conducted audience research. For my music video I used the social network Facebook firstly posting a link to the video publicly for anyone of my teenage friends so comment on and watch, then I did more a specific enquiry and sent a message round to some of my contacts who mostly fitted the target audience.

I used hardcopy evaluation questionnaires to gather feedback concerning my digipak and magazine advert.

Music Video Feedback:

To get feedback for my edit of the music video, I first put the video on youtube. One girl commented on it saying despite the music not being her type, she really liked the video. She also complimented the rhythm of the editing.

After this I up a post on my Facebook wall to get answers from my general public of friends, which includes a quite diverse and international base of teenagers and young adults mostly, who do not necessarily fit the target audience requirement.

 Here are some responses:

(transl. Cool video! I like the fun energy in it (do you understand?) and the short parts that are a bit clipped. but sometimes the lip movement doesn't match precisely with the sound. Good job though!)

I  then sent a mass-message going around Facebook to some of my friends (6 girls and 11 boys) who I thought fit the target audience requirements the most and would be willing to give constructive feedback.

Here are some of their responses:

So all in all, the feedback was rather positive. The main negative response was that in some parts the synchronisation wasn't quite right and the sound didn't match the lip movement 100%. This is very possible. Even though I did put a lot of time and precision into getting the timing right, it is easily done wrong. 

Other negative criticism includes the close up shot on the Pearl speaker 28 seconds into the video. One boy (aged 17, british middle class, white ethnicity)  commented saying that this puts him off big artists since in professional music videos this could count as product placement and this made him think the band are selling out for money, which he disapproves of. 

Another 17 year old boy commented on the super cutting outside the location "Playhouse" in Norwich, for example between 1 minutes 14 seconds in and 1 min 26 secs in saying he enjoyed it but wasn't sure if it fitted the song or if it was relevant. 

Positive feedback included the use of lighting adding excitement to the performance shots and making them more interesting. Also the use of close ups, partly in reference to an extreme close up high angle shot of the microphone and the lead singer Solay singing towards it (40-43 seconds in).

An 18 year old girl commented that the "combination of on location shots and 'studio performance' shots are well in proportion" and that she thought the personality of the band showed through the video, which was one of my main intentions. One girl (18) and a boy (17) both complimented my choice of track and the band. 

For the second part of my audience feedback I used hardcopy questionnaires to get a feel of the audience's response.

I asked 10 contacts of mine, 5 boys and 5 girls between the ages of 17-20, who cover most of the target audience specifics (middle class, white british late teenagers/young adults who listen to rock/alternative rock) to fill out a questionnaire.

The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions, of which 6 are asking to be rated out of 5, 1 being the least true to the question and 5 being the most. 

The first question was "Does the package successfully reflect the genre of music?".

Two questionees, having then not yet seen the music video or heard the track, asked me which was the genre of the track. This made me realise that what was to me obviously a rock/alternative cover (due to the dark lighting, urban locations and leather jackets/ripped jeans) was not necessarily obvious to the audience.

However, as the 8 others did not ask me and anticipated immediately what genre the music was, I was relieved to find that most had the same perception of the cover as I had intended.

The questionnaire offered my chosen audience to rate the answer to this question from 1 out of 5. 

Girls: 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Boys: 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Question 2:

Does the package successfully promote the band/artist?

Girls:  5, 5, 5, 4, 4

Boys: 5, 4, 4, 3, 3 

Question 3: 

How do you rate the standard of graphics, text, finish of digipack?

Girls:  5, 5, 4, 4, 4 

Boys: 5, 5, 5, 4, 4

Question 4: 

How do you rate the standard of graphics, print finish of advert?

Girls: 4, 4, 4, 3, 3 

Boys: 5, 4, 4, 3, 3

Question 5: 

How successfully is the Britishness of the package established?

Girls: 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Boys:  5, 5, 4, 4, 3

Question 6: 

Would the covers encourage you to buy the digipack?

Girls: Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes. Yes

Boys: Yes, Yes, No, No, Undecided

Question 7: 

Would the advert encourage you to go to an event by this artist?

Girls: Yes, Yes, Undecided, Undecided, Undecided

Boys: Yes, No, No, Undecided, Undecided

Question 8:

Were there any aspects that you find offensive? i.e. representation of gender, age, british culture

Everyone: No.

Question 9: 

What are the three strongest features of the ancillary task?

Boys:

- bold colouring, images, design

- Layout, logo, photography

-The case photos

- portraits of artists, band logo, use of blue in the black and white (faded saturation)

- pics of the band members, logo, front cover is cool and edgy

Girls: 

- photos, fold out case, black and white theme

- the look of the boys, charisma has nicely been portrayed

- style of images represents music well, font of the band logo, construction/layout of CD case

- structure of the case

- colour/lighting, logo, layout

    

Question 10:

Rate the package overall

Girls: 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

Boys: 4, 4, 4, 4, 4.5

Any further comments: 

Girls: 

- Suggestion to possibly add an album name. Overall the package works well.

- Very nice.

Boys: 

- Awesome!

- I like the logo, it's simple yet effective.