3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the course of creating my media product I have done numerous things in order to get audience feedback and have took feedback on board to ensure my products can be the best they can be.

At each stage of creating my ancillary texts I have asked peers on their opinions, in particular males. This is because the target audience for my product is males. I found this after sending out a questionnaire and looking at some demographics for the genre I am following. However, it was difficult to understand what males would like to see in a music video of my genre, this is because after sending out a questionnaire to the whole college I got more female responses than males. This is normal as a female is much more likely to take a few minutes out of her time to answer a survey than a male. Due to this problem, I had to go through with more secondary research to find out what my target audience would like to see.

When I asked my audience what they would like to see in a music video for the 'alternate rock' genre, the answer I received mostly was performance; I took this advice and included a lot of performance elements within my video. Other elements people expected to see which I included were the use of black and white, abstract effects and lip syncing. Overall, although ignoring some feedback, I would argue that I have taken most advise given to me through audience feedback i have listened to; this is so that my audience can enjoy watching the final product more than they may have done if I ignored their advice.

To further enhance my audience feedback, I produced video footage of me asking them some questions about my final product. These questions are:

1. How old are you?

2. How effective is the combination of my main product and my ancillary texts?

3. Is there anything you would change and why?

4. Do you think my product uses or challenges techniques of real music videos?

My peers gave me some feedback on my music video which helped me understand what I did well and what could be improved if I were to recreate my music video.  This was answered in question 3, which unsurprisingly my audience picked out the same criticisms I had of myself. For example, seeing the Wyke college logo in the background of one of my shots; this was the only shot I thought looked amateur. If I did my music video again, I would have filmed this shot in old town, which would have been a much more suitable environment given the messages and values of my video. My original idea, however due to a number of issues with cast members it was difficult to get everyone needed for the shot to location. Therefore, I decided to sacrifice the location in order to prioritise the cast. However, looking back at my video this may have been a mistake.

Another piece of constructive criticism was the lack of lighting in the shots of the different coloured lips singing “she’ll carry on through it all, she’s a waterfall”. When told this I reviewed the shots and perhaps that was an issue I should have resolved. In the end I decided to leave the lighting as I felt that the darkness of the shots implied a stronger message. Furthermore, I was told that my artist did not sing enough in the video, which is criticism I decided to politely not act upon. This is because I believe that there is already enough performance elements in the video and thought that the video would perhaps become boring and that my audience would lose interest, should it have become more repetitive with performance.

In my questionnaire, I asked my audience how effective they believed the combination of my main product and ancillary texts were. All of which suggested that the combination was effective for a variety of reasons. My audience liked the fact that I made it clear who the artist was with him being shown in each of the products. Furthermore, one also suggested that the poster was conventional due to the tour dates shown on it; they felt that this worked effectively for the product. From the audience feedback videos, I learnt that the messages I tried to put across in them was successful within each of the products. I was pleased with this when Daniel said “they all (products) have the same style and theme”.

My audience feedback throughout creating my product was certainly reliable as it was coming from my target audience. However, when doing focus groups and questionnaires, I believe that I should have asked a wider range of people during feedback, for example older people and more females. Then I would have received a variety of different opinions and maybe been able to create a better product.

Additionally, when creating my product, I applied Richard Dyer's star theory. This theory has three key concepts, which are star as a construction, star as a commodity and star as an ideology. This links with audience feedback as right from the very start of creation, I was applying this by constructing my star to suit the needs of my audience.

My star was constructed conventionally through the use of my music video, magazine poster and digipack; I did this to suit the needs of my audience which allowed my product to be successful. An example of how my star was constructed was the clothing I put on him, such as his leather jacket, blue jeans and polo shirt; these are all conventional items of clothing for an artist from this genre. An extremely popular real life example of this would be Miley Cyrus, as she has been moulded into doing things which she wouldn't have usually done like twerking whilst being scantily clad; following that she used to be viewed as an innocent Disney sweetheart. This is how record labels mould stars based on successful starts before them; in this case I would argue Miley was moulded on Lady Gaga and Madonna.

Similarly, the idea of the star as a commodity is also to do with following conventions of clothing; as if it has been successful and made money before, than it will do so again. An example of this in the real world would be that stars are used to make a profit, and record labels will continue to construct bands and artists exactly like ones who have been successful and made them money prior to their selves; this is why so many boy bands are around who make the same kind of music and dress the same. I have used this in my product by making my band much like The Stone Roses, which ensured my product would be successful as they were based on a band successful before them.

Lastly, the star as an ideology says that stars will represent certain social groups and views and will therefore create certain ideologies. Usually, as a result of this, the band/artist's fans will copy their style and share the same views as them. In my products case, the fans will share the ideology that The Stone Roses are anti establishment and are more for the music and message than making money. Furthermore, a real life situation of this would be Beyonce's specific ideology and view that women are independent and shouldn't be controlled by men; which is a view that her fan's share with her.

Overall, from my audience feedback during my creation of the product, I feel like I learnt what my own personal audience wanted from my product in order for them to be satisfied. I achieved this by asking of their opinions at each stage of the creation, for example which font looks best for my ancillary text and which colour schemes suit the theme better etc. Furthermore, the feedback after my products creation taught me what not to do if I created a music video again and hopefully their constructive criticism is something that will help me in later life.