What have you learned from audience feedback?

Audience feedback when doing something like this is very important in order to complete the production effectively to meet the expectations and needs of the target audience to make it a successful product that relates and conforms to different theories as well as such as the uses and gratification of the audience. The audience are the demographics for the product which they would be expecting the stereotypes of the genre (Indie rock) and along with the ancillary texts we would have to make sure what we are producing would be effective to the audience.

The audience feedback allowed us to improve our music video into satisfying the target audience and we used other different forms of media that we quick and effective to get further feedback and responses, these include: Twitter, Whatsapp

These are quick and effective methods to use to get feedback and with the increasing use of technology and social media from people it is probably the best form of getting feedback from the audience as it has such a strong influence on people in general in the modern society. With it being at the initial stages of the production as well, the audience feedback is essential to us and it could improve our video a massive amount.

When we did our rough cut for the music video that we were intending to produce from this we got valuable knowledge from the audience feedback which helped us make further improvements to our project. For this we used the Sony HD Camcorder to get the best quality footage and it give the audience the best possible rough cut to judge. From the audience feedback they said that our storyline was a good storyline to choose as it is different and subverts the typical storyline used in indie rock bands and the flow of the storyline applies well to the Todorov theory as there was a flow.

The results from our questionnaire that we carried gave us the valuable knowledge of what we needed to add, improve or adapt to our music video in order to make sure that we would be meeting and gratifying the expectations of the target audience. In this we found that our target audience is mostly aged between the ages of 17-21 this was very helpful as we could then change up the video to make it effective and convey to that age bracket and make it stereotypical, but it also helped us with things like the muse en scene and the setting of the video as well as the all important clothing and appearance of the band which would have to get right so that we could try and apply our video to the theory of Maslow (Uses and gratification) so the target audience could have a sense of belonging etc and very importantly aspiration. We also found that the target audience see the narrative part to a music video as vital to it and a massive part in the flow of the music video, this showed us that we would have to focus heavily on our narrative part to the video and make sure that we found appropriate but stereotypical settings to the genre and that would link in to the storyline of the song. We intererstly found that in our questionnaire the majority of the people enjoyed to watch mostly rock videos and then secondly hip hop videos and then indie videos, but since the band that we are is indie rock and the song we picked is indie rock we made sure that in our video we have a strong blend of the two relevant genres of rock and indie to make sure that we gratify the audiences expectations.

 

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Music video

For our performance video the video is basically telling a story throughout in which that they are against the Government and the corruption that they bring and from this in the video we have portrayed the band in a manner in which that they are rebelling against them and breaking out against them. The story is also told through the lyrics and the characters in the video are portraying their angry rebellious and uncaring manner against them as they think that this should change. The way that we have presented the video is in a conventional manner through the way that the narrative and story was shown and was cut to the band members playing their instruments which would be aspirational to the target audience. The video makes use of the stereotypes of the Indie rock genre as such as the uses and gratification of the audience in terms of aspiration to the target audience and also belonging. The storyline of the song rather subverts to the genre as it is focused on the government and corruption which generally is not the usual storyline for the Indie rock genre it follows the conventional stereotypes in the video with it relating to theories from Maslow with things such as uses and gratification and Dyers Star theory and Utopia theory. In our video we alos decided that we would go against typical music video conventions in having denouement and instead finish the video on a cliffhanger to engage the audience further and intentionally use this as part of the branding to put teh music videos they release into sections and create a story.

So the purpose of the forms in terms of Dyers Star Theory is the band in the music video should be portrayed and presented as modern stars and that they will be basically showed and sold as a product and cultural phantasies, so for not only our music but also the ancillary texts we wanted this effect so it gratifies the audience and makes them aspire to the ‘stars’.

The music chosen for our music video was ‘Sleeping pills' an indie rock song about the band and their point of view on how corruption is and how it affects us and their rebellioun against the government themselves. The reason why the song was chosen was due to the topic of the song which I found interesting and subvertive for most indie rock bands although we chose a song of a topic such as this as we could get creative with the filming and what we could do for the music video and could have the contrast of the narrative and then the objectification of the artists and them playing their instruments which would be conventional to the genre as well as aspirational for the audience. We also want to focus on the concept of a 'star' and the stereotyoe type of bands being rebellious and idealized. Conforming to the dominant media ideologies that indie rock bands should be rebellious as well as uncaring and chose to do things their way which relates to the male gaze theory that suggests mass media images such as those in music videos are filmed from and for the male perspective objectifying women.

The main artist in our video was the singer Joe who takes on similar roles in his music video, we noticed that establishing the bands character is a key convention of these music videos and especially for a new band so we tried to get shots that identified them to the target audience to help build their image and connection with the audience. At the start of our music video we set an equilibrium focused soley on the protaginist using close up and extreme close ups, which are used start narrative, but we didn’t us edirect mode of address in this to convert to the stereotypes of being uncaring, rather antisocial and rebellious and also to create a sense of enigma. This is used in the industry to bridge the gap between star and audience and establish a fanbase; the demographic that we aimed our production at were young people between the ages of 15-30 and for this we tried to create a sense of aspiration with the members having the most sought after cool guitars as well as keeping to the traditional simple look  and also filmed in a studio playing their instruments conforms to the stereotypes and would be something that the audience would relate to.  In the video we use some special effects of where to image distorts and then goes into the next part of the video and the next band member playing this is similar to the jay z and Kanye West video with their usage of special effects which in our video creates enigma whihc for our topic of running away from the government is appropraite.

We subverted the main narrative structure of conventional indie rock music videos, as usually the topics are usually tend to be more positive and focus on things more such as women and love stories or different trials and tribulations that people may face rather than serious topics such as the government developing an example of an Indie rock band is ‘The Killers’ ‘Human’. For the video we decided to put in special effects to create a sense of enigma and mystery due to the concept of running away from the government. In other shots though we concentrate on the bands instruments to convey to the typical image of indie rock bands that the audience would relate to and would be seen in many other indie rock products and videos.

After researching other similar productions mostly focusing on the Killers we noticed that these videos had a strong focus on the narrative and then would switch baack to the artists and focus on their performance closely and would show off their instruments and the way that they acted so we decided to use our camera shots to portray this and concentrate on the things such as instruments but still keep that cinematic feel when it was switched back to the narrative to keep the audience engaged and with a sense of enigma, to further this we then decied to put it into black and white to also convey to the genre more. Although we did challange the genre as for our video with the topic that it was about it differed strong to the convetional storyline so our narrative was very subvertive to this

Website

For the website we lookedat the website for the actual band of the silient film to get some direction about how to deisgh the website to make effective to our target audience and also tried to use features to have it apply to Dyers Star theory so the band is presented almost like a product. This showed us the conventions of the website of a real indie rock band and how to make it effective, I realized that the main design feature of the sites pages is the artists brand name in large lettering to make it clear and establish it to audience. The font is a bold font and is made to be a striking feature through the use of black, blue and greycolours which both complement each other and allow for the text to stand of from the background easily. The visitor to the website will also then have to option of connecting with them through several different forms of social media ranging from instagram, twitter etc which is all ways of creating aspiration and presenting them as stars and giving the audience belonging by sighing up.Teh audience also has images and videos of the stars and they becomes the centre of the page in which this sells the artist well and would gratify audiences who have come to the site especially as a fan of the artist and also creates aspiration and escapism for the fans.

The website home page has been kept simple in terms of features but has the important page bar with tabs that allow users to select other pages on the website such as 'Home, News, Videos, Photos, Music, Store,  the different pages are regular on artist websites because they provide interactive services that allow audiences to interact and connect and feel like they can relate with the star by being apart of his music etc and having the different galleries to look at their different pictures and then also different and new information about them which keeps them interested and hopefully bring them back by having that persistant attraction and interaction which comes after the intial interest gained from the music and the music videos. Once we went over the bands professional website we followed the conveyed stereotypes to them by using bold serif font to grab the users attention and put the brand name in the forefront along with a small image of the band members to make it clear to the target audience to identify them.

The colour scheme matches the house style we have established across our three media texts using the funky purple as a symbol of our genre and music culture; by including a biography, picture gallery, contact information and links to social networking sites we followed the   conventions and allowed users a level of interaction different from our main product.



The Digi Pack


The design of  the digi pack I found that by researching the conventions of other similar media texts with other bands such as coldplay to find inspiration and also have a guide into making the most effective digi pack for our project. Looking at several different covers from the genre such as coldplay it beceame clear that there was a massive focus on the memebrs and they followed several media conventions such as direct mode of address with the target audience

 The band for our cover are put simply the focus of the album cover and with the background beign kept simple and also with the rugged indie rock effect to convey to the stereotypes and also have to audience feel that sense of belonging and instantly when a person looks at it then they can know the type of genre and what the band could possibly be about and it was without any complicated designs or colours and font as it was kept simple and in black and white to keep to our branding and image of the band to keep it consistent to the target audience, the design that our group did has similarities to the album cover of Coldplay with the rugged background , simple clothing and the way they present and portray themselves with their aggressive and uncaring faces.

Since we are a new and for the project an unknown band this the creates the effect that the people the would focus on the band more closely and intensely and then there would have to be more consideration for what the different band members are wearing and the way that they are presented as well as many other issues, so due to the fact that the target audience will not know them it will force them to focus on them more closely to find out whether they can relate to them or aspire to them etc.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

 

Audience feedback when doing something like this is very important in order to complete the production effectively to meet the expectations and needs of the target audience to make  it a successful product that relates and conforms to different theories as well as such as the uses and gratification of the audience. The audience are the demographics for the product which they would be expecting the stereotypes of the genre (Indie rock) and along with the ancillary texts we would have to make sure what we are producing would be effective to the audience.

The audience feedback allowed us to improve our music video into satisfying the target audience and we used other different forms of media that we quick and effective to get further feedback and responses, these include: Twitter, Whatsapp

These are quick and effective methods to use to get feedback and with the increasing use of technology and social media from people it is probably the best form of getting feedback from the audience as it has such a strong influence on people in general in the modern society. With it being at the initial stages of the production as well, the audience feedback is essential to us and it could improve our video a massive amount.

When we did our rough cut for the music video that we were intending to produce from this we got valuable knowledge from the audience feedback which helped us make further improvements to our project. For this we used the Sony HD Camcorder to get the best quality footage and it give the audience the best possible rough cut to judge. From the audience feedback they said that our storyline was a good storyline to choose as it is different and subverts the typical storyline used in indie rock bands and the flow of the storyline applies well to the Todorov theory as there was a flow.

The mains things that we were told to improve was that our characters needed to be shown and convey in a more indie rock manner such as more focus on the instruments and also to improve our choice of muse en scene such as the clothing to keep it more simple and make the acting seem more uncaring and rebellious to convert to the genre.

We also got feedback from the audience about our digi pack and they stated thta our digi pack was effective to the genre that it was and therefore effective to the target audience furthermore they stated that our colour scheme was mathiching in terms of it being in black and white and matched to our main product and other ancillary texts, this meant that we were building a solid foundation for the branding of our band and image of them.

The results from our questionnaire that we carried gave us the valuable knowledge of what we needed to add, improve or adapt to our music video in order to make sure that we would be meeting and gratifying the expectations of the target audience. In this we found that our target audience is mostly aged between the ages of 17-21 this was very helpful as we could then change up the video to make it effective and convey to that age bracket and make it stereotypical, but it also helped us with things like the muse en scene and the setting of the video as well as the all important clothing and appearance of the band which would have to get right so that we could try and apply our video to the theory of Maslow (Uses and gratification) so the target audience could have a sense of belonging etc and very importantly aspiration. We also found that the target audience see the narrative part to a music video as vital to it and a massive part in the flow of the music video, this showed us that we would have to focus heavily on our narrative part to the video and make sure that we found appropriate but stereotypical settings to the genre and that would link in to the storyline of the song. We intererstly found that in our questionnaire the majority of the people enjoyed to watch mostly rock videos and then secondly hip hop videos and then indie videos, but since the band that we are is indie rock and the song we picked is indie rock we made sure that in our video we have a strong blend of the two relevant genres of rock and indie to make sure that we gratify the audiences expectations.

 

For the start of the project we had to do a large amount of research and planning so for this stage of the product my mine tool for research was Google as well as also YouTube and blogger so that we could get the necessary knowledge as a group in order to create the best music video and also website and digi pack. In terms of the usage of YouTube we used this in order to look at other videos in the same genre to get a general idea on the typical conventions and stereotypes of the indie rock genre as well as other aspects such as muse en scene etc,  so YouTube was basically used to gain further knowledge of codes and conventions of the genre itself and with it having such a large amount of resources it was very helpful in the pre production tasks, we also used it so we could have an idea of the different camera shots that we could use for our own video. This was very helpful as it gave us ether necessary knowledge to help make our video as effective as possibly to the target audience and create things such as aspiration etc. In term of the usage of Google this was used for the research and planning of our project to help find different site to help post the evaluation questions to make it more interesting, but it was mostly used for the research and planning so that I could have to knowledge of different things such as theories and other aspects to the project such as the history of the indie rock genre so that it could help make our video better. The blogger was the one that was used the majority of the  time as it was used for the posting of the different tasks as well as making sure the group tasks were up so that we could know what was complete and also for the blogger I would need to have things up so that I could complete the evaluation questions more effectively. We also used it for the uploading of the pictures for the digi pack etc so that we could use photo bucket as it is a more effective tool to use. During the planning stages we also decided to use whatsapp to collect further audience feedback this is a quick and easy way to communicate and we could collect a large amount of information plus we could also plan our days out with our own group to do filming etc. Without a doubt the biggest tool that we used to research fro our product was the 'web 2.0' using this it allowed us to do a massive scale of research about the different types of conventions for the genre and also using for information and to find out how similar bands branded things such as their website etc.

For the next stage which was the actual production of the music video we used many four different types of software. For the editing stage of the project we used final cut to edit the video to get the best looking video so we could use the different aspects that it offers such as tools etc to make it look more attractive and better and also for ours we changed it to black and white to make it look more effective to the branding that we were looking to create and it also easily assceible on the macs. Adobe Photoshop was used for the digi pack so we would use the software to help editing the pictures in the best way possible and take out anything’s that didn’t help the branding and image of the band and also touch up anything in order to make it look as perfect as possible and the main thing we used it for was to use the black and white effective to keep the image consistent and the image being built for recognition. WIX was the software used for the website as it was the best website for the production of the website as it was free to sigh in and relatively easy to use and was very helpful with the many tools that it offered into making the best looking website for the band that portrayed it in the best manner and also allowed us to promote our band. Lastly for the footage that we shot we used a Sony HD camcorder, this was effective equipment as it gave us a high quality shot and along with the tripod gave us a stable shot that also picked up sound well which helped greatly in the filming process and made it much easier for us and was also easy to import onto the computer. We also used a flip cam for small things such as lip sching etc and just to film any small things that we may have need to of done for the production as it was easy to upload as well onto the system.

For the final stage of the evaluation I used mostly the blogger once again as well as mostly slide share and prezzi as it was attractive and effective ways to present the work but in a different manner with different resources of media. The main tool used though was the use of the blogger as it contained all my work on it, with all the evaluation questions being posted on it and through other different media software and the blogger made it an effective way to present it and also a way into having it easily imported onto it. I then used Slideshare and prezi to present my other two evaluation questions as this is easily importable and furthermore makes it presented much more attractive and creative rather then just leaving it with just the writing. Slideshare is a tool that allows me to presetn and import the work as a powerpoint and prezi is similar put just presents it in several different manners depending upon your own personal choice. I the also decided to use voki for my audience feedback question so that it was presented as if I was explaining it, this makes it more interest and puts it into a vocal format.

I believe that our main product and ancillary texts are very effective to the targeted target audience as we have conformed to the typical stereotypes and expectations of the target audience (Indie Rock), so for things such as muse en scene we have kept to the basic stereotype of basic shirts and jeans etc which on the album cover was kept consistent as from our research we learned that Bands and artists develop an image and brand that they stick to with things such as clothing and another things on things such as websites and digi packs font etc are kept similar. So for our website we used the theme of black and white so therefore we then kept the digi pack also in black and white with a similar font to provide recognition and consistent throughout, this was done intentionally for the image and branding of the band so that it matched at all times as also our main video was also filmed in black and white.

For the colours and the lighting once again we decided to stick to the theme of black and white so the it is kept constant at all times and establishes the branding of the band and also conforms to the style of the band e.g.  Rebellious and against the government. The use of black and white was also used to create a sense of enigma around the band as they are a band focused on being against corruption and the government so this gives them an edge. SO for fans of the silent film this would provide a sense of recognition as this would be the expectation built from the band over time. So for the whole project we kept to this theme.

For the images that we took we tried to keep to the stereotypes of the indie rock genre so in the pictures they have a rebellious and uncaring manner, this would be familiar to the indie rock genre target audience which would remain effective and provide a sense of belonging as well as recognition for the audience and band. For the location we picked a rugged graffiti type of area as this is the conventional settings for indie rock bands to be associated with and would help with the overall branding of the band through the digi pack especially as it would give the first impression of the band and also portrays them in the rebellious manner. For  the video we also tried to keep to the conventions of the usage of instruments being emphasised to create a sense of aspiration which is very important. For the used of camera angles after looking at other media texts we gathered that in the indie rock genre we should focus on camera angles that emphasis the usage of the instruments thath they owuld be playing as well as others that focuesed on their facial experessions and the overall lip sching to show it more clearly, this would be doen through different shots such as close ups for the facial experessions and the usages of midshots  to emphasis the instruments use and stereotype to the genre.

For the font usage we chose one font (Onyx)  and kept it consistent throughout the website and digi pack to create a sense of recognition and continuation and we also tried to find a font that reflected the band itself and what they were about. This was kept similar throughout for the branding of the image of The Silent Film

on the whole our combination of the digi pack, website and video I believe that we have a very effective package to build on creating a branding for the band and establishing a target audience so this has been done through the things such as fonts used and also the images used which play a massive part in creating things such as aspiration, recognition and branding, this is to create the image of the silent film to the target audience. Things such as the website would allows fans to keep in touch with the artist and be able to sigh up and join fan groups which creates a sense of belonging and also allows them to keep informed about what the band will be doing and what they will be getting up to. The digi pack we created has then an insert which shows the band members individually establishing them to the target audience and was kept to the theme of black and white and the digi pack can create a sense of aspiration of wanting to be like thme and lead their lifestyle. The video was shot in black and white and contained things such as similar shots used to the images in the digi pack to establish the band and also keep it consistant and conventional with their poses and the way they act etc. These three things would allow us to build a potencial target audience and fan base to market the band to and would relate to the Maslow theory of uses and gratification as well as Richard dyers stars theory as the band would have to be sold effectively and their brand and image.