A2 Media: March 2017

Defining my Audience

Audience feedback is one of the most important factors in evaluation of any project. By obtaining audience feedback as part of my evaluation, I have gained knowledge about my target audience, their interests and how this affects their opinion on my media product. The target audience for my media text is people who listen to alternative rock and other rock genres such as psychedelic and dance rock. The ideology of this target audience is involved in fashion and attending live music events, like gigs and festivals. The costume design of my artist was particularly important when planning and constructing my media product because of this, as the target audience should see the artist as being fashionable and idolize their fashion and ideology, in order to create greater appreciation of my artist and develop a brand. The audience for my media text would generally come under the C1 and C2 categories of the demographics table.

This means that although my audience aren't exactly at the lower bracket of demographic, they aren't at the highest bracket either. So the merchandise for my artist should come at a reasonable price, but at the same time there is certainly opportunity for my artist to make money from the sales of merchandise, as fans of music artists generally will pay the money for merchandise, particularly at live events. Purchasing merchandise during live events often part of the live experience for people attending these events, especially as a part of the ideology of my target audience. I think that my music video and ancillary texts will appeal to my target audience as the subject represents my target audience well, and as does the overall style and iconography fitted into my media texts.

Audience Feedback

I collected my audience feedback by taking screenshots of messages to individuals that I personally know, who I thought best fitted my target audience. I treated the process of collecting audience feedback formally, basically as an interview but on a more informal basis as I used messenger.

This first respondent was relating to my ancillary texts and was overall quite positive towards them. I first of all simply asked them 'What do you think of my ancillary texts for media?' and their response was as read in the first message of this screenshot. The second question that I asked this respondent was to do with how well the two ancillary texts synergies together. There response was great as it related to the colour scheme of my product, which was obviously an aspect of my media text which I deemed to be most important, particularly as this is the case with the original music video for 'Music is My Radar' by Blur. The next question I asked was relating to whether he thought my media text represented my target audience, which they themselves where a part of. This answer was also particularly helpful to myself, as he said that yes it was because of the costume design that I used, which as I have already mentioned, was an important factor whenever we filmed or shot the media text. The final question that I asked this particular respondent was regarding any constructive criticism they could give me regarding my ancillary texts, which I thought would be helpful to my evaluation, especially as this respondent does study media as well. His criticism was that there are some elements of my ancillary texts which are tailored to my target audience, whereas some elements aren't so much. It isn't 100% clear what exactly he means by this. However, my interpretation of this response is that due to the fact that my target audience is those who listen to alternative rock and sub-genres like psychedelic rock, some elements of my media text are purposely unconventionally, though some aren't as much. Indie and alternative genres are often a case of style over conventions, for example the style I have chosen on my two discs is much more unconventional then say the back cover of the digipak which consists of a much more conventional layout.

This next response is also to my ancillary texts and like with my last respondent, the first question which I asked them was simply 'What do you think of my ancillary texts for media?' The first comment is their response is great, as he clearly understands the audience that my media product represents. I assume by indicating that my media product captures the 'indi spirit' they themselves understand the ideology indie and alternative rock music fans, which relates to the fact that I had chosen this person as I know that they themselves listen to this genre of music. However, unlike the last respondent, his response wasn't 100% positive which is great from an evaluation perspective. They commented that some of the tone in the media text is unclear, particularly in regards to the image of a dartboard inside the digipak. When I was constructing this part of my digipak, I was thinking of the more working class members of my target audience, and the pub ideology of both this social class and the genre of my media product. It is for this reason that I am not so concerned about this criticism, though perhaps this style strays away from my overall idea a little. This respondent also commented saying that they did enjoy the colour scheme, titles and social media tags. These are three elements of my digipak and magazine advert that are especially conventional, though adapted to the overall style of my media product.

This next respondent is the last of the three key responses that I selected to give feedback on my ancillary texts, to which I asked the same initial question as the other two respondents. There's nothing much to say about their response to their first response, except that it is clearly a positive initial reaction to my media products, which is great as like the other two respondents, this individual would also represent my target audience. This respondent is also female, whereas the other two were male, which is important as my artist's audience would obviously consist of both male and female listeners, both under the same social class demographic. In their response to their second question they have stated that they do indeed think that the media texts would be appropriate to my target audience, and that this is because of the iconography and 'unconventional features' used. I think that by unconventional features they mean that their are elements that are unlike more conventional similar media texts, like the handwritten style on the two discs in my digipak. I think that in a way their response to my last question somewhat contradicts this statement as they have stated that some elements of the media texts are too conventional for the music genre, like the more conventional studio lighting and background on my magazine advert and back cover of the digipak. The aim that I had when constructing my media text was to keep some elements of my ancillary texts more simple and keeping other elements like the discs more stylised.

The following feedback is regarding the main product of my media portfolio, an original music video for the song 'Music is My Radar' by Blur. The feedback that I have gotten for my music video has been a great asset in allowing me to reflect on the work that I have constructed.

I asked this first respondent their general thoughts on my music video which I sent them the YouTube link to. In his response he noted that he thought my music video was unique, which is really want I was trying to accomplish when constructing the music video. I wanted my ideas to be represent a media text that was in some way unique, like a lot of music videos of the same or similar genres to my music video. Many music videos that represent alternative music have stylised ideas that create a representation that is unique and therefore can be enjoyed by their target audience, that being people from a middle/upper working class demographic can enjoy. A great example of this is the music video for the MGMT track Time to Pretend, which was an influence to certain aspects of my music video, as I have stated in my blog.

The term creativity can be defined as 'the use of imagination or original ideas to create something'. This first response indicated that I had used a great level of creativity when planning and constructing my music video, to which they used the creative use of editing to create backgrounds using the green screen and ultra key tool on adobe premiere pro. Any media text must influenced by creativity in order to be successful and attract its target audience, which is why it was important to myself that my final product did show some level of creativity. However, in self-reflection I would say that creativity was one aspect of my portfolio to be most difficult, especially when it came to the recording stage of production. However, to have someone's genuine response to be that my product shows creativity proves that I did succeed to some extent in this front. This respondent then went on to comment about how the creativity within the editing reflects the genre of my song and that this reflects my target audience. Before my A2 portfolio, I had no experience in video editing, so this certainly shows that I have developed skills during this past year, and for someone who does them self represent my target audience to say that my creativity and editing reflects my genre and target audience, I think is an accomplishment in itself. I followed up the conversation to ask them how they thought my media text conformed and/or challenged the conventions of a music video representing my chosen genre. Their response was rather generic in a way, though they stated that this was represented in the cinematography, editing and mise-en-scene is fantastic, as they are of course three of the four core elements that impact any media production, the other being sound.

I chose this next response as it contains an element of criticism unlike other responses which I received, and the criticism does contradict the last respondents praise on the music video. This respondent claims that the editing in the music video is quite choppy, which perhaps is a fair claim as I haven't had any experience editing before I started my portfolio. I think that the difference of opinions between each of the last two respondents proves that feedback isn't always 100% certain, as it is based on opinion and every individual has their own thoughts and feelings on a media text. However, the rest of this response is very positive, as they did say that they found the music video to be creative and entertaining to watch, which is basically the objective of all media texts, to provide entertainment and creative thought, which I believe my main product indeed does.

For the next question I asked about whether my music video would attract my target audience. This respondent does indeed represent my target audience, which is why there response is so great as feedback to my main product. They state that yes they do think that my main product reflects my target audience as they themselves enjoyed the music video, and they watch many music videos of my chosen genre. They also gave the example of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by the dance rock duo Eurythmics.

The brief for my A2 portfolio states that I am to create a music video and two ancillary texts that would promote the release of the music video. The two ancillary texts that I chose to promote my music video were a digipak and magazine advertisement. During the planning and research stage of my portfolio, I researched already existing music videos, digipaks and magazine advertisements. With the research that I had conducted I then planned how I would create each of the three products and achieve an effective combination of the three media texts which would attract my target audience. The more successful the combination between these three media products is, the greater level of synergy that I would have created. By researching already existing products and planning each of the three media products that I have now created, I ensured a greater understanding of how to create synergy between the media texts. This made my overall finished product containing the three media texts to appear as a brand, each one recognisable to the other, including the same style and conventions as each other. By developing my product in this way, I have gained a greater understanding of the ideologies of my target audience and improved the representation and synergy of my combined product.

The following powerpoint presentation develops on the effectiveness of my combined products and demonstrates how continuity has been adapted throughout.