What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Interviews - audience feedback

I carried out interviews with three members of my target audience in order to find out if the music video was successful. They are all students, either 17 or 18 years and all have an interest in the pop punk or metalcore genre of music.

Do you think that the video conforms to the conventions of the pop punk metalcore genre and why?

Mainly the overall response to this question was that the aggressive scenes in the video such as, the boxing scene and the opening argument scene helped reflect the genre. However, it was pointed out that I had chosen to portray quite a different story than the majority of pop punk narratives, therefore it could be argued that I am developing the conventions of this mixed genre as I have focused on a 'domestic' issue rather than something that is humorous or boosts the audience's self esteem. It was also commented that I have 'made it my own' and 'different' whilst still reflecting the genre. Perhaps, if I was to shoot another music video of this genre, I could focus more on an aggressive story or a narrative which focuses on revenge to successfully reflect this genre.

What parts of the video do you like in particular and why?

The use of the faded mid and close up shots of the male character overlayed on the main narrative scenes were particular popular, it was stated that it looks very 'effective' and fits to the genre 'perfectly'.  The scene which was most popular was where the couple are having an argument, it was stated that it was 'original' since you don't often see that in music videos and the 'drama' of the video made it particularly interesting.

What would you rate this video out of 10 and why?

The average response to this question was an 8, owing to the fact that some improvements could be made. For example, one member of the audience stated that the actions of the male character throughout the duration of the performance scenes were 'odd' in comparison to the expectations of the genre. I would have liked to improve this scene, as I added the scene at a later date which meant I didn't have time to carry out a test shoot. Lack of availability from Jordan, the male actor, also meant that I wasn't able to rehearse with him what he was going to do, this meant that on the day of filming a lot of the performance was quite spontaneous. Therefore, if I had more time I would have done another performance shoot. However, my video has benefited from this added scene as it isn't often that there is a music video without this particular element.

Would you watch it again?

All of the interviewees answered yes to this question. The narrative was commented as 'enticing' and the interviewees said that they 'enjoyed the song' and 'watching the music video'.

What would you improve if you could do it again?

Three areas were pointed out in response to this question. Firstly, it was commented on that I could re-shoot the parts of the video which were shot when I first started, this is because my ability to use a video camera and film has progressed over the duration of the project, therefore if I was able to show this higher quality consistently throughout the video this could improve it as a whole.

Secondly, it was said that the male performance scenes could be improved by working on his 'actions'. This could be done by rehearsing the scene first, verse by verse, so it isn't as obviously spontaneous. Finally, it was stated that the timing could be improved. For example, if I had time to improve the video, I could do this by editing the clips to cut to the beat.

 This is the current view count of my music video on YoutTube. Already, many people have watched my video, which shows that there is an interest from my target audience. When I interviewed a member of my target audience she commented that she had watched the video multiple times as she enjoyed it. Therefore, this tells me that the video has already been positively received since I only uploaded it last week.

Questionnaires which I carried out after I had completed a second draft.

Previously in the project I carried out questionnaires which identified some areas for improvement which helped me make changes for a third and final draft. From the responses to these questionnaires I drew a series of bar graphs which created a succesful visual representation of stronger and weaker parts of the music video. Therefore, when it came to creating a final draft I was able to make several changes which suited the target audiences requests and needs. For example, it was commented that the voice-over at the beginning of the video was confusing, however, it was also stated that it made the video more effective and emotional whilst making it easier for the audience to understand. The lack of appropriate mise-en-scene was also pointed out. However, in order to improve this area of the video it would have involved re-shooting a lot of the parts of the video which I didn't have time to do. The grayscale scenes and the aggressive atmosphere of the video was quite popular amongst my target audience and it was stated that this helped reflect the genre successfully.

The area for improvement at this stage which was made apparent by the results of these questionnaires was that the diagnosis scene wasn't clear enough. Many confused her diagnosis with pregnancy and this was reinforced by the fact that the female character was seen to be vomiting over the toilet which was confused with morning sickness. Therefore, by the time it became apparent that the female character had died this came as a shock to many of the audience and changed the interpretation of the music video entirely. This led to the decision to re-shoot this scene in a different location, the hospital, as there was a clear sign there which said 'Oncology' which would make the narrative more obvious.

This was the new location which I chose to shoot the scene where she finds out her diagnosis. It is made clearer by the mise-en-scene within the location. For example, the blue and white colour is associated with the NHS, which the entire population recognise. The text on the sign 'The Queens Centre for Oncology and Haematology' is clearly associated with a hospital and immediately suggests to the audience that something is wrong.

These were the bar graphs which represented the results to the question 'Are there any parts of the video that could be improved?' (top) and 'Did you understamd that the female character receives a cancer diagnosis?' (bottom). This clearly shows that the majority of respondents thought that the diagnosis scene needed to be clearer, therefore I listened which has made the narrative more succesful.

At that particular stage 12 respondents answered yes to the question 'Would you watch the music video again?' and 14 answered no. This was due to the fact that many of the respondents didn't share the same music taste even though they were in the age group of my target audience, they commented that it was a good video but they didn't like the song. However, I was able to be more specific in my choice of people to gain audience feedback from at the final, concluding stages of production. I asked the same question to three particular members of my target audience who liked the genre of music and listened to it on a regular basis, after I had completed my final draft. They all answered that they would watch the music video again which indicates that the music video is successful at meeting their needs.

At each stage in the production process I posted a link to the video on my Facebook profile, I asked for my Facebook friends to let me know what they thought and if they had any suggestions on how to improve it. Even at the early stages of production, the video was well received, and the majority of the people that commented liked the narrative as a whole. However, at this point it wasn't as clear as it could be as to what was wrong with the female character. Here are the screenshots of the audience feedback which I received after the first and second draft of the music video. 

Final draft audience feedback - Facebook