Draft Evaluation Question 3 - Max

Question 3: What have you learned from audience feedback?

During the process of creating a magazine advert, digipak, and music video audience feedback has played a pivotal role in how I have designed my pieces of work. After posting a draft of a piece of work I would then get comments on parts that the audience liked and disliked.

Pitch: Feedback was first given on the pitch we as a group created to explain what style we were going to follow throughout the process. By getting feedback on this part of the course it allowed us to then edit parts that out target audience may not like, for example: 

Feedback such as the one above helped us a lot as we could get an understanding of what worked well and things that needed improvement. We also presented the pitches in class so that if anybody had any questions regarding the contents we could answer them. A benefit of getting feedback from people in our class is that due to them being in our target audience’s age this gave us more of an insight into what their likes and dislikes were.

Digipak: The next piece of work we had our classmates give feedback on was our first draft of the digipak and in-slip. These were the first pieces of work that we had done individually therefore feedback was very important. I got comments on a blog post from the people in my class this helped as it meant that I could look upon these regularly to remember what they had said, also I got feedback from my media studies teacher on a printed out version of my digipak. This was very helpful as it also meant that I could look at this if I am stuck. My media teacher, however he does not fit into the target market of this project, due to his knowledge of the subject I took his feedback the most seriously.

This comment from Millie was one of the most helpful as she told me what she liked for example the colour scheme, also she has told me that could do with improving such as the inside left panel explaining that it could do with something on it. As well as doing that Millie has also suggested to me what she would do if it were her work. This helped a lot as being in my target market Millie’s opinion was valuable. All of the comments I got on my digipak helped as they each influenced my decision of what to create. All other comments can be found on my blog with the heading of ‘Feedback on Digipak’.

Advert: The same as my digipak I got feedback from classmates who commented on my blog post as well as the feedback from my media teacher. This comment from a person in my class stood out to me as the most helpful, this was mainly due to the clear things he liked and what could do with improving. Comments like Nathan’s were very useful as it meant that the changes I could make will make my work more professional. All other comments can be found on a previous blog post named 'Feedback on Advert'.

Music Video: This was the final piece of this project. For this piece of work my group was given personal feedback from our teacher along the process of filming and editing our music video, this was very helpful as it meant that if we had shot a scene poorly we had time to rethink and re-film parts of it. We did not receive any feedback from people in our class however I feel that the comments made by our teacher had enough influence on us.

Draft Evaluation Question 3 // Sachin Mistry

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Pitch: The pitch that we created was the first time that we actually received audience feedback from our peers. This was important because ours peers also fell into our target audience which our products are aimed at. We received feedback successfully as well as some areas which need to be address as questions were raised at some of our decision made by ourselves.

 We received a lot of praise for the way we wanted to film the music video as we aimed for a more ‘cinematic’ style video which looks good as well as tells a story. This is because in our pitch we mentioned the type of shot we want to include which will help to achieve  produce the cinematic video we want. People liked our song choice as well because they thought that it fits the genre of music we wanted to fit into, and the video we wanted to create for it. One question which was raised was that how will we accommodate for both genders as we aimed our product at both.

With regards to making the product appealing to both genders we took this into consideration and the ‘needs’ of the female audience, we believe that the romantic element of the song will also help to attract a mixed gender audience, without alienating any of them. Another question which was raised was the where we planned to film the main parts of the video; this is because on our pitch we didn’t mention any of location. As for the location we had to investigate the target audience more to make sure that the setting we chose is realistic and our video is a narrative .We then decided on having an open nature setting for half of the video, and an urban environment for the other half of the video. This is because we are trying to show how the character in the video we created, has happy moments portrayed in the day time, and depressing dark times in the dark/evening. Near the end of the video we have a flashback of all the good times that he has had with friends as music comes to its peak.

I feel that receiving feedback on our pitch was important because we could get real feedback from our target audience as they were our target market. It was important that they liked that idea as we would then know that our product which we wanted to create was going to be successful.

Digipak: When I handed in my draft version of my digipak, I received feedback from which I thought was important because I could improve on something which could help me when creating my final version. The feedback I received was mainly positive as people liked my idea and thought that it fits the genre of music we chose. However, I was given some small improvements which would make to make my final product they best it could be. One of these improvements was to include the songs of the back of the digipak. I felt as this was a fair comment as I thought that it looked good without the songs on the back and it was challenging convention. But then I realised that if I placed the song titles in a booklet which I also made for the digipak then the audience would find it hard to find them. Also normally when you are looking at a CD or digipak in stores you would normally look at the back to see the songs and to see if they are interesting. This is why I chose to act on the feedback and include them.

I was also advised to add the regulatory information which I did not include on my draft. This is because it is something that is found on most digipaks, and I would be challenging conventions of I didn’t include it. I could have kept the regulatory information off, as this would foreshadow the genre of then music as being simple and slightly mysterious as it wasn’t following the ‘norm’ which is an element of the music genre. I do believe that the changes that I made vastly improved the look of my digipak as it looks more realistic and could potentially be sold in stores. I enjoyed this process as I could see whether people liked my ideas or not, and it gave me confidence that my product would be well received by my audience if it was a real product.

Advert: As my advert was similar to my digipak as it contained the same images found on the album cover, it was also well received by my target audience as it received mainly positive feedback.

One comment which peers asked is about the white boarder being uneven on one side; this was an improvement because I was advised to make this the same all the way around. The reason that I did this is because I imagined this to be in a magazine which has a thick spin this means that they need a thicker… so that the text can still be read when opened. However, I did make this change because my peers said that it looked better without it and also if where to be published then they would be able to adjust the advert not me.

This was the only constructive criticism that I received; I liked this process because as my peers fit into my target market so it was a relief that they liked my product and there wasn’t too much to change. The feedback that I received helped me to improve my product and therefore crating the best product possible for my target market. As I have made these changes I know that it will be accepted by my target group.

Music Video: Looking back at our draft music video we did not receive any feedback, instead we received feedback on our final video. This meant that we weren’t able to make changes according to the comments as we had already completed out music video. But the comments we received on our final music video were mainly positive which means that it was quite successful amongst the target audience.

If there was any constructive criticism we cannot make any changes as it is too late but I think that it is still important to receive it because it determines whether they liked our final product or not. Some comments mentioned that the ending to our video was unclear. We have taken this on board and I think that the reason that the ending is slightly unclear is because there is a lot of fast pace action due to the flash blacks and then the music dies down and it is left with the lead character on his own in the dark. What we aimed to do originally is to make the character see as if he was going take his own life as it is quite a sad song and this explains the jump from happy to alone scenes and also the flash backs near the end, but then we decided that we wanted to make a little bit of a mystery. By doing this we would let the audience decide whether, the character walks away/tries to leave home or takes his own life.

The good feedback we received was really a helpful and made us feel that our product was successful amongst the target audience. This is because people said ‘very effective’, ‘visually impressive’, ‘visual masterpiece’ and ‘stands out and appears very professional’. This was very helpful because they enjoyed our product which we made and we feel that if this product was to be presented to a larger group of people in our target market they would also like it and would be greatly accepted by the audience.

Although we didn’t receive feedback on our draft music video I think that it would have helpful because it could have made our video better and we could have made a definite ending to the video instead of leaving it at a cliff hanger. But I think that the decision we took was the right one as I think that it is interesting to see other people’s interpretations of the ending of the video. We did change a section of the draft music video mainly because we didn’t like how it was edited but also because of the feedback we received from our teacher.  

The feedback we received from our teacher was the source of the improvements which we used to make changes to our music video. For us this was important as it helps us to make sure that we were on track and on the right tracks for producing a high quality video product. For example some of the scenes which we used in the draft music video sir did not like because mise en scene didn’t fit the surrounding clips. We then acted on this and rearrange some of the scenes and moved to a move suitable area where it made more sense and fits in better. This helped our music video as we were able to make a more coherent story for our music video. Also another scene which we shot has wired lighting and made the subject which was in focus, the main character, a greeny yellow ting which he didn’t like. We agreed with this and re-filmed this scene with better lighting in a different room.

I think that overall though the audience feedback which we received was accepted and some we too action on which all in all helped to make our music video product that we could make. I was also able identify our strengths and weakness of the music video and act accordingly. I believe that feedback is important because if I didn’t receive any then I wouldn’t have been able to product the best product that I could make.  

Evaluation Question 3 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout this project, audience feedback has played an important part in the creation and final product of both our music video and my personal ancillary products. By receiving and taking in feedback from a whole range of different audiences I was able to adapt my final piece to ensure it was as good a media product as it could be.

Pitch: I first received feedback when, as a group, we pitched our first ideas for our music video. We created a 25 word pitch to express our original ideas to our peers. By receiving feedback on this we were able to adapt our ideas to suit that of an age group in our target audience. Comments such as:

      
were able to help us build on our original ideas. We answered questions that we were asked via feedback, and used these questions to slightly altar our planning. During the early stages of our planning this feedback was welcomed and became very helpful, as it meant we were able to learn about our target audience (as our media products were aimed at students the similar age to ourselves). Comments on our pitch, such as Phoebe's, that asked questions, such as, where we would be filming, allowed us to ask ourselves these questions and think about these for the first time ourselves. This was extremely helpful and meant we were able to start planning locations and other queries much earlier in the project than we may have done otherwise.

Digipak: More personally, I started to receive comments on my ancillary texts, when I published my draft digipak on the group blogger. With this piece I was able to ask for feedback from my subject teacher, as well as peers and other media students. Although my media studies teacher would not fit into the same target audience as was desired for our music video and final media products, I respected and was grateful for their personal feedback. As this teacher had seen many examples of student work in the past, and as I knew they had an interest in the genre we were using, I was encouraged by their positive feedback and took in their advice to make changes to certain aspects of my draft digipak. 

I also showed this piece to my family and friends. I favored my friends opinions over that of my family. I chose and made the decision to not listen to feedback or advice from my parents and other family members, as I believed they had no previous interest in the genre and did not fit into the target audience we had aimed to hit. If I were to listen to feedback from this group, my work may of ended up in a different style or may have been aimed at a different target audience. It was crucial I filtered the feedback I received and only listen to comments that came from members of my target audience, or someone with prior knowledge and understanding of the genre. This was why I valued the opinion of my friends and peers. After publishing my draft digipak, I asked peers and other members of my class to comment on this post so that I could receive as much suitable and relevant feedback as possible. 

I found the feedback I received from peers on this product just as helpful. The whole point of creating a draft was so that I could get feedback and improve on mistakes and see if anyone had any suggestions. Comments such as 'Charlotte's', which advised me to look at the individual panels and make them connect fluently had a great impact on my overall product. I listened to her feedback and completely changed one of the inside panels which hugely increased the professional appearance of my original draft. 

Advert: Similarly to my digipak I was able to get my magazine advert draft assessed by many different audiences. My family, my teachers and my peers all gave me feedback for this piece which massively aided me in my success of making this a successful and professional appearing  media product. In the same way that i did when publishing my draft digipak, I received feedback via comments from peers, from which I assessed my own work and made changes that were recommended to me by both my teacher and other media students. 

Video: The last part of my project that I was able to receive feedback on was the main media product, the video. Once we had taken all our shots and edited the video together we uploaded a draft version onto our blog. Similarly to my personal ancillary products, this post was commented on by our teacher. He advised us on certain aspects of our video and we learnt how to make it even better. this constructive criticism was helpful as it aided us in making the best music media video we possibly could. Although unfortunately we did not receive any feedback from peers or friends for this draft, we found the assessment from our tutor was sufficient and that because of this we were able to make a more professional and real life appearing media product. 

Overall I believe we greatly relied on the feedback we were given in order to reassess our work and make decisions to make changes to separate products which were greatly beneficial to us in the long run.