Monday, 25 February 2013

Evaluation Question 3


It was very important for my group and I, after completing our 3 products, to get audience feedback regarding the products. This is because we had created the products for our audience therefore in order to evaluate how successful our products were we needed to gather opinions from our audience to identify what was successful and what was unsuccessful.

Firstly when choosing our target audience during the planning stages of our products my group and i had decided that it should be teenagers and young adults between the ages of 14 – 25 as this is the age group that has the most disposable money and time, therefore they are the most likely group of people to watch music videos, look and buy digipak’s and visit artist websites, We had also chosen this age group as they were the largest age group that listened to and were influence by our chosen genre (Hip Hop) therefore it was important to direct and create our products for the right people. As this chosen audience had been decided when getting feedback it was important to get it from our target audience as the products were made for them so therefore their opinions on the product were of the most value and what we would take into consideration. Even though we had selected our audience carefully we had ensured that they did not particularly favour a particular genre of music as we were very aware that all different audiences would be viewing our products therefore it still had to appeal to everyone.  When gathering our audience feedback we did mainly aim to get feedback from males as they do take more of an interest in the hip hop genre therefore they are most likely to recognise stereotypical aspects of the genre and identify what works for the genre and what does not. This stage was very crucial as we didn’t want the results of feedback to bias and dishonest, however we did feel as though it was very important that the audience did have genre knowledge in order to base their feedback on. I don’t think that we have chosen a niche market to get our feedback from as the hip hop genre is so large and widespread. There is also such a variety of styles of hip hop and we have not selected a particular type which makes our audience very open and the different responses are likely to be based on the style of hip hop they like best which could enable our products to essentially be more diverse and appeal to all the different styles within the genre. Essentially I think the audience we did receive our feedback from were the most appropriate as they were able to give us honest opinions and thoughts on the 3 products as well as well as giving knowledgeable feedback making it even more valued as there is genre knowledge behind the response which could enable our products to be more successful within the genre.

When getting our audience feedback we did and online survey via survey monkey and videoed interviews asking what was liked about the product and what could be improved on regarding the product. Even though these questions were very basic, I think that they were the most suitable questions as these questions were very open. They allowed us as creators to hear or see what the audience liked about the products, so we could establish the successful aspects of the products. However I do personally think that the improvement question was the most important as this would allow us to identify what we would change/alter if we had the opportunity to create the products again. Also this questions means that we can establish what was unsuccessful to whom and potentially identify whether our products appealed to a more specific audience that we had originally decided.  The use of the video allowed us to visually see honest answers being given after they had been seen viewing the products and this was very important to us as if the answers were truthful we were more able to get an accurate reflection as to whether our products were actually as successful as we believed it to be.  The online survey was also very good as it allowed our audiences to see our products and answer some basic questions regarding our product which was a less time consuming method and the audience were able to do this in their own time at their leisure, feeling no pressure therefore the answers as also likely to be truthful. Also by using this survey the audiences could respond anonymously therefore they may not have been part of our selected target audience which meant that we were still able to get a wide range of responses from the audiences which would allows us to see how receptive it was by all audiences and also how we could be it appeal to a wide audience if we had the opportunity to create the products again.

When getting audience feedback regarding the music video I was able to watch the audiences view the video and see their initial reactions to the music video which I personally liked as I was able to visualise for myself what parts of the music video got the audiences to respond enthusiastically and what aspects of the music video were not so exciting to the audience. I found that from the feedback the most successful aspect of the music video was the use of the technical edits, this was regarding the fast motion, slow motion and the green screened background that featured travelling smoke. In particular the green screened background appeared to be very popular for a variety of different reasons. For example one of our audience members stated “I liked the green screened background as the use of technology was very evident and also the smoke theme is very current and relates back to the song, the digipak and the website”. I personally believe that this aspects of the music video was very successful as it looked very professional and something that would be commonly seen within real music videos, I also think the fact that it can be linked back and related to the other products and the song is very successful as this creates a recognisable synergy between the three products which was one of the main aims. From this I am able to learn and understand that a prominent use of technology throughout the music video is a popular aspect as it adds character to a scene and shows use of modern day technology which appears to be popular today. If we had the opportunity to create the music video again I would definitely include a wider variety of green screened shots featuring different background and more slow motion as these aspects of the music video add altered scenes the video which essentially appears to be attractive and popular to our target audience.  The aspect of the music video that appeared to be the least successful was the fact that there were no other characters within the music video and there were a lot of repeated locations. The fact that our artist was our only character within our music video was not a part of our original idea however due to the inability to get actors/actresses that were able to film when we needed to meant that we had to cut that aspect out of our music video as we had time restrictions in order to get all of our footage filmed. Due to this we decided that it was very common for artist to have green screened scenes of themselves within their music videos as the main scenes within the video so we had decided to adopt this idea for our music video. Also our artist was able to lip sync so well in these shots and we were able to get such a large amount of footage that it was best to use these shots hence why they are so heavily featured within our music video. If we had the opportunity I think that when filming we would use more locations within our music video that were similar to the south bank scenes as these added colour and modern youth to our music video making it more current and essentially making it more popular among our target audience.

When getting feedback from our target audience regarding the digipak I had found that the most popular aspects were the smoky background image and the graffiti art background image. From the feedback the smoky background was as popular as it had related back to the music video and the website which unexpectedly audiences really liked. I believe this was as popular as there was a continuous theme that could be related to young people for a variety of reasons. Also the image is very simple yet it still manages to capture the element of enigma as there is no source of the smoke evident in the image therefore the audience are unaware of where exactly the smoke is coming from.  The graffiti was very popular as it is adds verisimilitude to the digipak and it’s a hip hop style of artwork therefore it fits in well with the genre. “The graffiti art image is what I like about the digipak the best because it’s a reflection of hip hop culture in an art way, which is something I really, like to see” was a response from one of the audience members regarding the digipak. I think that this response is very useful as it is evident that the audience member has based there response on knowledge of the genre and this response also shows that art work is an aspect of the digipak that people will notice if they were to buy the products therefore it is important to be creative, attractive and fit the genre with the artwork which this image is able to do. If we had the opportunity to create this image again then I personally think that we would include more graffiti artwork that were of different styles showcasing different art formats (e.g. writing, pictures) as this is colourful and appealing to our target audience.  An aspect of the digipak that was not so popular was the fact that the smoke image had been used repeatedly within the digipak, and the audience thought that we could of used another image replace the repeated smoky images. I agree with this response; however we did repeatedly use the smoky image in order to reinforce the theme throughout the three products. Also there was risk that if other images were used the smoky image could potentially appear to be very random and audiences may not have understood the use of the image. However if we were to improve this is we had the chance to do so I think that the repeated images would defiantly be replaced and if not replaced they would be altered so they were all slightly different as the use of the same picture can be tedious for audiences to look at and potentially dissuade them from looking or even buying the products.

The website was very popular among our audiences as it was so professional looking which automatically and potentially unconsciously made the website appeal to the audience as they feel as though this is a real product. The most successful aspect of the video is the fact the use of colours and the navigation was so easy to use and access for the audience. The colours of the website were black and white which were very simple however this had linked to the music video which had made the connection between the products. Also the black and white made the website very clear as even though it was simple there was nothing to confuse the audience’s view of the website which makes it easier for the audience to view the website. One of the most important aspects of the website is navigation which we had discovered in our research of websites as if a website is difficult to navigate it is likely to put audiences off from viewing the website again and encourage them to come of the website altogether therefore it was important that our website did not do this. Fortunately for us it was one of the most popular aspects of the website. The first page of the website is an enter page playing our artist song and showing the title of our artist name, once this page had been viewed it linked to the homepage of the website which also featured many other pages such as new, tour dates and merchandise. This easy access around the website for the audience meant that they were able to get around the website easily and if they went on the website for a particular reason they were able to locate the part of the website they had wished to easily. One aspect of the website that was fairly unpopular was the fact that there was no blogger page, which meant that the fans were unable to interact with one another and comment on the artist website. If we had the opportunity to create the website again this is definitely something that we would include within our website as it is very important for the fans to be able to interact with one another and have discussions regarding the artist. Also this is a very common feature of professional websites currently therefore it is important that our page is also very current and contains the features of a professional website.
Overall from the audience feedback I do believe that our products have been successful and are very popular among are target audience which was very important as they are the people that our products were created for, however I do think that the unpopular aspects of our products would be things we would improve on in the future or if we had the opportunity to do so again as not only would this enable us to create better products but it would also make it more suitable to the genre and the audiences who have to watch and view these products.


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