EVALUATION - Question 4

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

When the music videos were all finished, the college booked a cinema screening of all music videos in the Screen on the Green cinema. The reaction of the audience after the screening of my music video was quite exciting as most people seemed please by the music video. After the cinema I was able to hear some feedback from a few classmates about my music video. Overall I got some very positive comments about my music video, although I could not record everyone's comments since the battery of Mahbuba's phone died and we didn't have any other equipment to record.

The feedback above was given by Rochelle, she is a big Ed Sheeran's fan. It is difficult to hear but she talks about how she thought the shots of our artist walking and performing (the chorus shots) was very effective, and how she really liked the blur effect around him.  She also adds that she wouldn't change anything and that even though some of the base tracks were repeated often she didn't feel it was annoying or repetitive. From her feedback I have learned that the effects and the types of shot in a music video could really catch the audience's attention and make them create a positive response to it. I am glad that she enjoyed our music video since she is part of our core target audience, which means we attended our audience's expectations. This is very important in the music industry, since the function of a music video is to promote the artist and if we appealed effectively to our target audience, it means we promoted our artist effectively. 

The feedback above is from a girl who didn't know our chosen song 'The City' yet. She says that she found the music video interesting and she liked the performance of Nimar. She also adds that she cannot think of many changes she would make, and that she liked the location and thinks the location suits the genre. She suggested that maybe we could have used some studio shots, which is also popular in Ed Sheeran's videos. From her feedback I have learned that the location of a music video is also something very important to the audience as it can make a music video more interesting. It is good that she mentions she didn't know the song and she didn't have any expectations about it, because if she enjoyed watching the music video, it means that the music video could effectively appeal to someone who is not so much attracted to this kind of music, broadening our audience. 

My music video was identified by many people as "the one with the guy playing the guitar". This tells me that the guitar was a noticeable prop in the music video and that it was something of high significance for my audience. It also tells me that the audience understood the message I was trying to communicate, that by having the artist playing a guitar in the music video I am promoting him as an artist who can play instruments and create his own music, selling for the quality of his songs rather than for impressive appearances. Most people in the cinema also thought that the music video suited very well the song. I believe this is because we used all the conventions of the genre and musical style, making a simple music video that can relate to ordinary people. From that I learned that keeping the conventions of the genre can make the music video feel more appealing to the audience, since music videos are meant to give visual pleasure and it might be confusing and unpleasant for some people to watch a music video that doesn't suit the song.

Later I asked some friends on Facebook who I know listen to Ed Sheeran. From these friends I was able to get more critical feedback. However, putting altogether the feedback that I received from different people, what some people seemed to dislike, other people seemed to like. From that I learned that there is a variety in taste within my audience, that it might need to be considered.