Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Feedback has played a vital part in the success of my products and it has
been important that Ive received it throughout the project so that I can
review and refine my ideas to generate the best possible outcome. It was
also important that generated feedback came from the right source, this
being our target audience of indie scenesters, trendies and young alts
primarily females in their late teens early twenties but also boys of this
age range as well. This is why throughout my project I have focused on
getting feedback from friends and peers as they provided me with a fitting
spectrum of different age responses as well as from different gender
perspectives.
I received feedback early on in the research and planning of this project
when pitching our ideas and findings to the other students in our media
class. Early feedback is crucial in the media industry as well as in the
school environment as it enabled you to discover whether your ideas will
prove successful with the target audience before pressing onwards with
project research. Comparably in industry and school if the idea isnt
tested with the right target market then feedback would become unreliable
and misleading with perhaps the devastating outcome of the end product
being unsuccessful. This therefore influenced whose feedback I took on
board. On the whole feedback was positive with our target audience liking
our overall idea. This gave us confidence in our research especially as the
audience was understanding the reasons behind our decisions when it came to
the style and mise en scene matching the music genre. It was important that
they were able to pick up on this as it confirmed to us that they are
interested in the genre and familiar with existing products therefore
suggesting that they are fans of indie pop music genre and fitting as our
target market.
Positive feedback on our pitch included how our target audience felt the
chosen band name fit the music genre extremely well in that it sounds like
a real indie pop group. Additionally, they also thought the band name went
with the Haim song choice well this assured us that the two would work well
together in bringing across the music genre. Feedback like this proposed to
us that our research leading towards creating are products was exactly what
the audience was expecting to receive from the music genre. Response to the
pitch showed that our target audience was eager to find out who was going
to be in our music videos therefore from this feedback we instantly started
scouting for band members in order to being promoting our chosen actresses
as constellations. The question as to where we were going to set the
music video was raised in feedback as we hadnt at the time chosen a final
location to film the music video. Bearing in mind that originally we were
going to set our video outside we hadnt decided on the exact location yet
therefore this stimulated us to look for suitable areas in local parks and
walkways to narrow down to the final choice. The most re occurring feedback
was what type of music video we were going to create. We had already
decided we were going to relate our footage to the song in an amplification
style however as to what type of music video hadnt been decided. Research
into this different types of music videos in the indie pop genre was then
done through watching existing indie music music videos which we then found
to follow a performance type video this either including instruments or
just with the artist singing during the music video. This then finalised
our decision to create a performance video that flowed an amplified style
of the 3 girls having fun and messing around outside. Receiving feedback
from my peers helped me to find out what my audience liked or didnt like
in order to finalise or tweak ideas.

When it came to make my Digipak I based my draft on the research I had

undertaken on existing products in the industry to create the design.
Although I had done this there was still a need to receive feedback from my
target audience this is why I uploaded my draft design onto blogger to
allow for comments to be under my post. I received a lot of mixed comments
on my Digipak with the main reoccurrence being that the fonts used were
hard to read as they were too thin and not bold enough after blending into
the background. This therefore became my primary concern which need to be
changed to improve the design. I significantly changed the font going from
a swirly joined up font to a type writer style in uppercase. I now believe
this was very good advise from my class mates as the band and album name is
now much clearer to read making the most important piece of information
stand out better for recognition. This is vital for the band as seems as it
is their first album release they need people to recognise and remember
their band and album name for promotion.
Taking on board all of the feedback I received on my Digipak I decided to
completely change the design to meet all the requirements of my target
audience feedback as well as indie pop conventions discovered in my
research. I believe this was the best approach as although I received
confirmation on my draft Digipak looked authentic by my peers I felt it
could be made to look even more professional by making it follow a more
simplistic design. This was also a comment I had received by Josh Anderton
who stated that the Digipak looked uneasy on the eyes due having to much
going on. The steps I took in order to over come this was to first of all
change my Digipak photography to something with less colours involved. It
was essential however to keep the natural theme of the Digipak as this was
something my target audience liked and through matched the indie genre
well. I also made the layout much simpler with only essential information
included so that the Digipak didnt have too much going on.
Rhia Assi fits into my target market and commented on my draft Digipak I
feel like this Digipak is strong due to the direct link throughout the
different sides. I kept this in my final Digipak through using the same
background across the majority of the panels in order to keep the
continuity and theme flowing across the Digipak as like on the draft
Digipak she felt this allows the Digipak to look authentic. This was also
done in response to her finding the back cover panel stood out the more in
comparison to the other sides of the Digipak. Out of all the panels I
wanted the front panel to stand out the most as this was the one that
included all the important information and the first thing to brag the
viewers eye therefore this also influenced my decision to use a subtler
block colour background for the other panels on my Digipak. Finally, Rhia
also liked how I had carried the fame font onto the back of the Digipak
therefore to keep my final design satisfying I used the same font across
the entire Digipak only changing the size scale to dominate the text
importance.
As the expectations of the exam board was also a major element to this
project I took on board my teachers feedback even though he doesnt fit
into my target audience in all aspects. He suggested I make my track
listing include more songs due to the product being an album and not an EP.
I therefore undertook some additional research to discover that there was
also a convention of an album usually having 11 or more tracks as a result
I included 15 to be on the same side with an additional LA. live version of
Run.
Overall by taking on the audience feedback I ended up making a more
professional looking Digipak that flowed and matched genre conventions.

My advert was significantly similar to my Digipak in the colours, imagery,

fonts and use of the album cover. This was something feedback suggests was
successful as they combine to clearly link the two products. Again the
magazine advert was something I greatly changed as I felt the draft wasnt
as authentic as it could be. I did however transfer successful features
from my draft Digipak in to my final one. The continuity across my Digipak
and advert was one of them as well as using the Digipak cover on the advert
for easy recognition.
Just like my draft Digipak people found my font hard to read and didnt
like how there was two contrasting styles on my same product. For that
reason, on my final advert I used two similar fonts only changing the size
and colour to highlight the importance of the text. A raised point as to
who the ratings were from was a feature on the advert which I needed to
address in order for my product to seem authentic. This is why on my final
advert I included relevant music magazine ratings and a short statement
from the critic. Conventions of album adverts also include this feature in
order to help sales. Other tweaks to the design were also made in order to
match that of my new Digipak design and create continuity across the
ancillary texts for branding and recognition purposes.
From receiving feedback across my ancillary text I have learnt that
personal preference isnt always fitting for the music genre and that you
have to make compromises with design features. It was important that I
recognized this when designing my Digipak and advert as in order for them
to be successful they had to create the appearance of an indie pop
supporting product and also be a design that the target audience would
like. Receiving feedback from the suitable target market therefore helped
to shape the outcome of my products. I mainly took on board female feedback
as this was the prominent target market this is why when it came to the
Digipak photography kept the floral focus and the natural feminine colours
of the flower pinks and cream.
When it came to filming the music video to our original idea it was proving
to be almost impossible to film in the outdoor location due to winter
causing little daylight hours, with it being completely dark within an hour
of us finishing school therefore not allowing us enough time to reach the
location and film a substantial amount of footage. As a result, changing
our idea had left us with no feedback from a draft video to influence the
final video and instead I only received feedback once I had completed my
final video. Despite not being able to make changes from the feedback I
reasoned it was necessary to discover whether my target audience liked the
music video or not as this would therefore reflect on my research as to if
it had been substantial enough to produce a successful music video on.
With much relief all of the gathered feedback on my final music video was
tremendously positive restoring my confidence in the completion and success
of my video. Statements such as it was very good, I loved, I really liked
it and it can pass as a professional video suggests that the over all video
was a triumph with the target audience. The only hint at negativity was
among one comment I found the group shots extremely successful. The
variation in angles used intensify the overall effect of the video. I found
some of the dance scenes did weaken the video yet by using a variety of
shots of different members it kept me gripped to the video. Even though
this response to my video included a negative side it was then over ruled
by the fact that it kept the individual gripped as this was an essential
element that was needed to be achieved in making a good music video.
Furthermore seems as we didnt want the video to include a dance routine
and alternatively wanted the band members to just have fun and dance in
their own style I dont see this comment as a major problem as when looked
at from a directors perspective this type of dancing fits with the music

video genre and the idea of the girls just being themselves and having fun
messing around to the music while performing, having a dance routine is
also fitting for a pop video therefore not matching the conventions of our
indie genre.
From receiving feedback on my finished video I have learnt that some
comments are not always substantial enough to generate an influence in
changes to the product as without the viewers knowing the entire reasoning
behind out decisions they are not fully aware on what is best for the style
of video.
It was very reassuring when I received comments on my video matching the
indie genre (artists have an indie appearance, fashion and styling
matches genre) as this expresses that the viewers could tell which genre
the music video fit into. Therefore, suggesting that my research into
styling was accurate and was successfully transferred into my music video
with a great outcome.
To conclude I feel that feedback has played a vital part in all aspects of
my media coursework to help develop my ideas into creating successful final
products that are fitting for the target audience. Being able to identify
where I can improve features of my creations from a consumers perspective
allowed me to fix the weaknesses through acknowledging their comments and
acting on them.