Evaluation Question 3 Final
Music Video Pitch Evaluation Question 3 from Steph2000
This graph represents the amount of positive and encouraging comments that we received regarding our artist, clothing, theme and lighting choice for our music video. This gave Ceri and and I more confidence within our work and ideas.
Our next key piece of audience feedback was regarding our draft video. After Ceri and I had submitted our draft music video we received both feedback from our peers and from our teachers. While our teachers did not fully fit our target audience, their expertise and knowledge aided us significantly. The points raised by our teachers were that: we needed a title shot, we needed to include more close up shots, to include more movement within our shots and to integrate the presence of the singer with the dancer’s together better. In particular from this audience feedback Ceri and I took on-board the need for closer shots which involve more movement and to re-plan the sections where both our artist and dancers are present. After comparing this feedback to professional videos, both Ceri and I realised how static our own video was and how this was dull and un-interesting to watch.
Below are Instagram accounts I have created for the purpose of audience feedback, all quoting and following the advice given to us by our audience. The caption of the post, which is our video, is the audience feedback we received and different accounts show each individual person.
Aided massively by our audience feedback Ceri and I were able to realise how important it was to include more close up shots, to convey the emotion of the performers to our audience, and how this would help improve our video. This point of needing to include more shots that demonstrated the emotion, particularly of the dancers, was also represented in feedback from our target audience demographic. In our draft, we only had a few shots of each dancer separately; our target audience feedback and teacher feedback highly encouraged that we should include more shots like this as it was one of the, if not the most, effective and best shot in the video. Ceri and I greatly learnt from this and as shown in our final product there are far more solo shots and empathise of each dancer. Ceri and I re-planned our video, deciding which shots we needed to change and improved and then worked hard to assure these shots were improved, using a dolly to help with smooth movement in the shots and scheduling for three more filming days. Due to this key audience feedback Ceri and I were able to make improvements our video, creating the best version for our final product. Adding a title scene was a shot Ceri and I completely overlooked adding and with this feedback we were able to add this shot, helping our music video to look as professional as possible.
In conclusion, without audience feedback I would have been unable to adequately create my products. Particularly for the music video Ceri and I have found the audience feedback to be a massive help and guidance, of which our final product would have not benefitted from had we not gained audience feedback. Both feedback from teachers and our target audience, verbal and written, formal and informal has been a vital part of our process. Ceri and I have chosen to not follow some audience feedback, however this has happened rarely and we have used further feedback in these cases, allowing us to make decisions in confidence. For all of my products my audience feedback has highlighted positives and assured me of my choices and plans going forward. I am able to credit a lot of improvements to my products as due to audience feedback and audience feedback has been a highly important part of this process.
As shown in the pie chart above, only 1 person out of the 15 feedback sheets we received did not mention any issues we may have had filming in a Church. With this strong evidence and advice Ceri and I were able to carefully consider our idea.
Our next key piece of audience feedback was regarding our draft video. After Ceri and I had submitted our draft music video we received both feedback from our peers and from our teachers. While our teachers did not fully fit our target audience, their expertise and knowledge aided us significantly. The points raised by our teachers were that: we needed a title shot, we needed to include more close up shots, to include more movement within our shots and to integrate the presence of the singer with the dancer’s together better. In particular from this audience feedback Ceri and I took on-board the need for closer shots which involve more movement and to re-plan the sections where both our artist and dancers are present. After comparing this feedback to professional videos, both Ceri and I realised how static our own video was and how this was dull and un-interesting to watch.
Below are Instagram accounts I have created for the purpose of audience feedback, all quoting and following the advice given to us by our audience. The caption of the post, which is our video, is the audience feedback we received and different accounts show each individual person.
Aided massively by our audience feedback Ceri and I were able to realise how important it was to include more close up shots, to convey the emotion of the performers to our audience, and how this would help improve our video. This point of needing to include more shots that demonstrated the emotion, particularly of the dancers, was also represented in feedback from our target audience demographic. In our draft, we only had a few shots of each dancer separately; our target audience feedback and teacher feedback highly encouraged that we should include more shots like this as it was one of the, if not the most, effective and best shot in the video. Ceri and I greatly learnt from this and as shown in our final product there are far more solo shots and empathise of each dancer. Ceri and I re-planned our video, deciding which shots we needed to change and improved and then worked hard to assure these shots were improved, using a dolly to help with smooth movement in the shots and scheduling for three more filming days. Due to this key audience feedback Ceri and I were able to make improvements our video, creating the best version for our final product. Adding a title scene was a shot Ceri and I completely overlooked adding and with this feedback we were able to add this shot, helping our music video to look as professional as possible.
Audience feedback that we received from our peers, that fit
our target audience demographic more as they were in the 16-24 age bracket, both
male and female and interested in the indie genre, also greatly helped us in
creating our final music video. There were many similarities across the feedback
from our target audience and from teachers, which heightened these points to
us, demonstrating the need for improvement. Both professional advice and
suggestions from our target audience suggested that in the draft video, the
shots with our artist and the dancers did not work. Our artist looked awkwardly
placed, as if she didn’t fit to the scene and this meant our music video didn’t
flow well. Using our audience feedback to solve this Ceri and I cut the section
where our artist walks onto the stage through the dancers and instead, used shots
moving from left to right and half circular shots to film the sections of both
performers together. Upon asking our target audience for feedback on how this
looked in our final video, we received far more positive feedback as they much
preferred this way of filming these sections and felt the music video looked
more professional. Another area where suggestions were made from both parties
was regarding adding movement/more of a variation of shots as in our draft video
was very static and stationary look which was not enjoyable to watch. Our
target audience suggested adding more angles to solve this and this was advice
that Ceri and I took onboard.
Editing was also an issue raised by our target audience;
they felt that the cut edits, which we used throughout the entirety of the draft
video, were too harsh and stopped the video from feeling continuous and
professional. We improved this by choosing to use the Cross Dissolve transition
instead of just harsh cut edits; again this change was very positively received
by our target audience as they found this editing technique to be far more
effective. Slightly shaky shots were also picked up on from our target audience
feedback; Ceri and I were also able to identify this and make amendments to
change this. Originally we has used a steady-cam to film sections of the video
however both of us had struggled to operate this so had also used simple hand
held shots. This created a shaky effect that we did not want in the video, nor
did it please our target audience, so for the final video we broadened our use
of different equipment and tried using a dolly. As essentially a tripod on
wheels, Ceri and I were wary and careful of using this however using the dolly
resulted in being one of the most influentially helpful decisions we made.
Mixed in with the fair bit of trial and error with the dolly, we were able to
achieve the shots we and our target audience wanted. Without our audience
feedback highlighting the shakiness we would have not attempted to use the
dolly, showing the great influence our audience feedback had on creating our
final product.
We also carried positives from our teacher and target market
feedback from our draft video into our final video; both liked the few shots that
did have movement in such as the full and half circular shots. By identifying
what our target audience liked and enjoy watching Ceri and I were able to
develop an greater understanding of what we should continue to include in the
final video and what we needed to change, which helped us massively in planning
our final video. Similarly, both performances of our dancers and our artist
were always fed-back positively, with no complaints or changes needed. The
dance routine and singing were seen as genuine and authentic to professional
level. The costume choice for the dancers, the stained glass window motif, the
lighting and the general theme/concept of the video were elements that were all
praised and effective as noted in our audience feedback. This gave Ceri and me
the assurance to carry on with these ideas into our final product with more
confidence and passion.
There was some feedback from our audience that Ceri and I
chose to regard with less prominence. A piece of feedback that we received from
two males aged 16 and 17, however neither overly interest in the indie genre,
suggested having a different background in parts of the video and to use
different lighting. Ceri and I chose to overrule these suggestions as we
personally felt this would cause disjunction within our video and that our
video would no longer flow or look effective. Our decision to not follow this
advice is further supported by a larger proportion of the audience feedback we received
thoroughly liked the placement and duration of the stained glass window motif and
lighting and believed this was a definite element that needed to remain into
our final video. Furthermore, this feedback came from people who are not
interested or knowledgeable within the indie genre, meaning it may be merely be
their personal dislike/preference to other genres that lead to them to having
this view. This means their feedback is less valuable, as it is less specific
to our genre.
Another piece of feedback we only partially acted upon was
feedback regarding our artist’s costume/outfit choices. While we did accept
advice on no longer including the statement cardigan within the final video,
due to reasoning that the cardigan did not work and clashed with the costumes
of dancers (a point that Ceri and I understood and followed), we did not go on
to include the outfit changes as suggested. We received feedback from outside
our target audience that we should consider changing our artists outfit at
points throughout the video. Ceri and I were discouraged from this view as we
felt, as during video as we do not change our location at any point there was
no obvious need to change outfit and similar to suggestions of background and
lighting changes, we did not want to create discontinuity. Ceri and I followed
up this view by asking more audiences, both within our target audience and
outside, for more opinions and received responses that supported our view. Our
audience feedback agreed that due to no change in location, there was not an
overwhelming reason to change costume. Some felt that a change in costume would
neither enhance nor degrade our video, merely remaining the same standard as no
costume change, and others felt that a change in costume would make less sense
and advised against this. After carefully considering this audience feedback,
as Ceri and I found all feedback important and wanted to understand our
audience feedback fully, Ceri and I chose to not change costume during the
video. We were able to feel assured in our choice due to our personal
preference and the further feedback we had received from other audiences. This
is key example of how helpful and influential our audience feedback was in this
process; by researching and questioning further to audiences Ceri and I were
able to make informed and assured decisions for our final music video.
In conclusion, without audience feedback I would have been unable to adequately create my products. Particularly for the music video Ceri and I have found the audience feedback to be a massive help and guidance, of which our final product would have not benefitted from had we not gained audience feedback. Both feedback from teachers and our target audience, verbal and written, formal and informal has been a vital part of our process. Ceri and I have chosen to not follow some audience feedback, however this has happened rarely and we have used further feedback in these cases, allowing us to make decisions in confidence. For all of my products my audience feedback has highlighted positives and assured me of my choices and plans going forward. I am able to credit a lot of improvements to my products as due to audience feedback and audience feedback has been a highly important part of this process.
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