Hannah Barnett A2 Media Coursework

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To gather my audience feedback I made a video of a group of people who fitted the target audience and also used a Facebook group. Using Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook meant I could gather feedback more easily outside of lessons. I made sure that the majority of the feedback was structured to set questions that were open ended to ensure both quantitative and qualitative responses. I also made sure to ask a variety of people so that I could gather more varied responses.

The first feedback I collected was from the pitch for the music video which was presented to an audience of my peers. A benefit of getting feedback from others doing media was that they were also doing their own pitches and knew that helpful feedback was important to improve our projects. I asked about the theme and genre of the video and how it could be improved. It was useful because I received positive feedback and some suggestions I hadn't thought of, such as changing the setting of the performance aspect because it may appear too romantic for an Indie Pop genre.

The next feedback gathered was from the rough cut of the music video. This was vital because it meant that we could improve our project to suit our target audience and ensure that it conformed with the common features of the Indie Pop genre. It also helped us to work out what extra footage was needed, as the general consensus was that the video didn't contain enough of the performance element. This lead to us being able to schedule more filming time and add more performance for the final cut of the video.

Below is a couple of examples of the feedback collected for the music video and the print work.

My feedback showed that my target audience generally shared a preffered reading of the texts. They understood the basic narrative of the video and the general concepts of it well, suggesting ways to improve locations. They were critical of the printwork which was helpful because it allowed me to tailor it to my target audience and helped me to make important decisions on elements such as colour, font and choice of images. It was important to design it for the audience because they are the ones that would have to be drawn in and encouraged to buy the song if I was creating a real promotional package.

The final audience feedback I collected was largey positive. One point they made, which I would improve on if I were to do the project again, was that it was a little tricky to understand the narrative of the music video. It would be improved if it was more structured, rather than jumping and cutting between scenes. I would also improve on the image quality of some of the shots, which was a result of using two different cameras for filming. The target audience were aware of a clear brand identity and house style from the video to the print work, which means my work is coherent in being part of a collection. This was very important for the project because it needed to feel like a real promotional package that the target audience would recognise, so I am glad it was done well.