The document discusses feedback received on promotional materials created for an indie folk artist. Feedback was obtained through exercises like hot desking with media students and a focus group. Feedback indicated that the setting, mood, and representation of the genre in the music video were effective. Suggestions to include more footage of people together in the video were noted. Getting feedback on ancillary products like a digipak and advert also helped ensure a cohesive promotional package. Both positive and constructive feedback helped improve the work and confirm it would appeal to the target demographic of 16-25 year olds as well as a wider audience.
2. TARGET AUDIENCE
• When it came to deciding the demographic I decided to aim my product at 16-25 year olds. My reasoning to
this was because I am also in this age range. This is to my advantage as I'm surrounded my society everyday
for an 18 year old. Meaning I know what catches my attention and what is appealing. Another advantage I
have is I know lots of people in this age range, this becomes useful for feedback and personal preference.
What also makes this a good demographic is that they are prosumers. Furthermore this active audience do not
only consume products, yet produce their own (YouTube). This means they are advanced in technology and
have certain expectations of a modern media product. This factor is useful in the construction as this age
range will have appreciation of certain aspects that have been included to appeal to them. These features have
been added for a better outcome, such as a personal message from the artist, and a website to get more
involved. This means it’s so important I send the correct message across as the audience are the ones who
decode the message. Just as Stuart Hall stated that producers encode texts with messages for the audience to
decode. Receiving the meaning can be polysemic and vary on who is decoding the text. This is because of
different social backgrounds, culture, working class/middle class and even upbringing. Therefore people will
all have different perspectives, this is why I used as many features as possible that I knew most people would
relate to indie folk. To then reach my target audience. When receiving feedback this allowed me to make
adjustments and improve my products so that it was more captivating for the audience.
• By using the approach uses and gratification, which focuses on the consumer rather than the actual message
itself. Furthermore by focusing on what the audience wants to deliver a product that would appeal to them.
By asking ‘what people do with media’ than ‘what media does to people’ (Katz). Assuming members of the
audience are not passive but have an active role in interpreting media themselves.
4. HOT DESKING
• It was important for me to get as much feedback as possible. Therefore I arranged certain exercises to do so. One
of which was hot desking. This was really useful as it involved media students who understand the codes and
conventions which are vital throughout these products. Therefore I knew I was getting feedback from a critical
point of view, with the understanding of what these products should included. This helped me throughout
altering certain aspects and making corrections. I got feedback on the structure, if the products linked, codes and
conventions, and if as a whole it worked. When constructing my video, if I was ever unsure if something worked
I would ask my peers, such as if the pace of the footage fitted with the song. A lot of the time I got positive
feedback, however it helped me view my own work and see where my strengths and weaknesses were.
•
The hot desking exercise was really helpful in many ways, even from viewing other people's work. Furthermore it
got me thinking analytically which in turn helped me to be critical of my own work. It also helped getting other
people’s opinions, to see how the audience would react to the products in real life. A vital aim was to get the
representation right, therefore I asked if the construct and representation is effective for the genre, indie folk.
Which gave me clarity when I got the feedback from my peers ‘The setting is of the music video and some of
the photos are in the woods, which is typical of the indie genre. Everyone in the video seems happy and
are smiling and dancing and it is cut to the beat (which was quite fast) which shows that it is happy. The
title of the album also is showing a happy outlook.’ and from another ‘The settings are outside which is a
convention of indie folk music videos. The happy mood is created throughout the promotional package
really well with the bright colours and the actions the people are doing in the music video.’ Overall I was
very pleased I reached my target here, as people claimed they understood what was going on, the genre and said
elements I included were effective. This is when considering reception theory is important as the producer
encodes the texts, but most importantly if the audience can decode the text in the ‘correct’ way. If the audience
understands the form it was meant to presented in. As representation can be portrayed in many different ways,
they provide models (stereotypes) of how we see things in the world we inhabit. They are ideological in the way
that they are constructed within framework of values and beliefs. To find out I was able to represent this in way
for the audience to decode correctly meant I have successfully produced my products.
5. FOCUS GROUP
• Juxtaposed to the hot desking exercise I did my focus group with not
my peers or media students. This was good to get a different perspective
from people who don't fully know about the codes and conventions and
how they interpreted it as an individual. There was many benefits to
conducting this exercise as they are judging simply on the look and their
first impressions without thinking too much into it. This helped me
discover what people would initially think of the products from first
glance. Again I got all really positive feedback, which makes this more
reassuring than before, is that I know its not bias as its not my fellow
peers. The only points made into what I would have done different was
to have more footage with people together. This was originally my idea,
however I had issues with people letting me down throughout the
filming which made this difficult. With the focus group actively engaging
with the products embodies the uses and gratification theory by Blumler
and Katz.
7. ANCILLARY PRODUCTS FEEDBACK
• Getting feedback on my ancillary products was minimal at times compared to
the music video, as I hadn't started the construction. Yet as soon as I even
started the planning of my digipak and advert my peers was giving me advice
throughout. For example I was originally going to use images on my advert,
after discussing this with my peers, we came up with a better idea and I decided
to sketch instead. Which improved my work hugely, I also used the same
exercises as I did to get feedback from my music video. This meant I was able
to gain the same benefits from having media students, and an audience who is
unfamiliar with the codes and conventions of the products. Something I found
that worked really well with this was that, I wasn't just getting feedback on the
ancillary products, yet the promotional package as a whole. This helped to view
the work all together and see if there was strong links with the music video and
ancillary products.
8. FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS
• Everyone who I got feedback from was an associate of my target audience demographic. This was
useful to get the correct feedback. Yet I asked a mixture of people: male, female, student, in work
etc. They all had different interests and hobbies, which meant they all could have interpreted it
differently. Yet the fact they all had similar opinions meant I had met the target of presenting my
work productively. I decided to ask males and females because my product is aimed at both.
However it is to my understanding that it is possibly more appealing to females due to the song and
colours used. Therefore a lot of feedback was from females, but I decided to still see if it would
appeal to males which it still did. The males said they found it appealing because it’s an upbeat fun
video. Luckily the colour genre of the song and colour scheme did not lose the males attention.
• Although I officially just got feedback from a certain age range. I posted the video on Facebook,
which to my surprise lots of people reacted well to. It got many shares, and people was telling me
they had to watch it more than once. This was from a very wide age range and different people
who seemed to be interested in the video. This suggests that the music video appeals to a wide
audience not just a youthful target audience.
9. CONCLUSION
• The process of feedback has taught me a lot, and I have gained
knowledge of the importance of feedback. Once I got my
feedback, I actually felt better about my products than I did
before. It helped me through the stages of developing and
improving each aspect of the products. When at times I may
have not considered, due to looking at my own work differently.
As it’s easy to get absorbed in the work and lose thought of being
critical. Even when it came to small details, it helped my a huge
result. I have gained a lot from the feedback, and learnt that the
opinions of others. Whether it's with media knowledge or not, can
be useful in many different ways. As this enabled me to
reconstruct my work to the best of my ability and reach a wide
target audience.
