Question 3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

I showed my video to a select few in my class and recorded their feedback to some questions I had prepared.

1. Did the style of the music video fir the Indie-Pop genre?
My audience agreed that it did do this, particularly the performance parts where the camera zooms in and out quickly. This is what I wanted to achieve with the zoom ins as it is very typical of a DIY-feel video.

2. Was the studio setting too redundant?
They thought it was but this was not a bad thing; they thought that the redundancy allowed the audience to recognise the genre. One audience member commented that this redundancy also complimented the narrative really well. I was worried that maybe it was too similar to many other Indie-Pop videos but it seems that this does not make it feel like a copy.

3. Did the narrative make sense? How did you feel the lead singer felt?
They recognised that the lyrics were synaesthetic as they commented on the lyrics and therefore the singer "being mean". I am glad that through the camera work and editing the audience members could identify that the singer was also enjoying the fight as I thought that this might have been confusing when at times a mid-shot would show the singer laughing and in another she was look angry. These two conflicting emotions was something I wanted to come across in the narrative. This is an example of Stuart Hall's Reception Theory where the producer, me, creates a meaning for the audience members to decode. In this instance I wanted the feeling of anger yet submission to come across in the narrative and the audience felt that preferred reading. The audience also commented on the humor and how they enjoyed the messy parts of the scene such as the sandwich being pushed into the singer's face.

4. Is there anything you disliked/would change about the video?
The audience members wanted an extension of the narrative as they thought that the narrative was good. It was never my intention to extend the narrative as I wanted the video to be very performance based in the studio as this was more redundant of the genre. They also believed that the camera needed to be closer up, particularly during the sandwich in the face and the coke bottle being sprayed. I believe this would have been a good idea as it would have made those shots more pleasurable and fun for the audience.

5. What would be the reason that you would watch this video?
One audience member immediately commented on the humor and that this would draw her to the video. This is an example of users and gratifications; this audience member would use this music video for personal identity as they are listening to the music that they enjoy. The humor is not something that was important to me when making the video but I am glad that I could create that humor. The catchy song was also a drawing point for the video, revealing that my target audience are more mainstream that indie, something that I was aware of from the start. They also liked the synaesthetic editing and how the shots of the guitar were "on point". These were some of the features that I incorporated for the more mainstream audiences so it seems that the attraction worked.

6. What videos does it remind you of?
The rock band Paramore was mentioned who creates a different genre to mine and were not a band who I researched at all. However it is important to remember that most audiences will have a catalogue of different music genres that they listen to, not just one.


After uploading my draft video to FaceBook, I asked for feedback.

This person suggessted having less shots of the band in the studio. I disagreed and ignored this when doing my final piece as I wanted to establish my band has musicians and the shots of them playing instruments and singing did this. They also suggessted an extension of the narrative as it wasn't clear what was happening. I therefore chose to reshoot my narrative sequence with a different narrative and in a setting that was much more fun and engaging for the audience to watch. I made the scenes more synaesthetic to the lyrics so as it made more sense.

This comment was made after my final music video and therefore after my change of narrative.
This person has enjoyed the new narrative and says that it "added more life to the video" which is exactly what I was after as my previous comment said that my original narrative didn't have much "depth". This was one of the reasons why I changed my narrative and it seems my intentions to make it more fun have worked. They noticed that my narrative portrayed both anger and fun, which were my intentions, however it is worrying that he is confused by this. I did not want to leave the audience feeling confused and so I feel that I did not portray the mix of emotions well enough. I believe that if I had held some takes on the girl's happy face longer, then there would be less confusion.
"Tighter editing would have been beneficial"; I cut as many of the clips as I could but the song isn't hugely fast paced so I did not want to risk making it look hyper-edited. Plus for my genre, this would not have been conventional.

Digipack and Magazine Advert
I also received feedback on FaceBook about my digipack design and magazine advert.

Because of the positive feedback, I stuck with the idea of the bright colours, making an effort of over-expose the toy instruments on my digipack and the images on my magazine advert.

This person recommends placing the song titles just on the right hand side and under the toy guitar but I did not want this. I believed that to make it more aesthetically pleasing it would be better to surround the guitar with the titles and I still believe that this looks better. I did make them slightly smaller after this comment to make the titles look more professional. 

In contrast, this person believes that the bright colours should be darker. As I said before, I was happy with the over-exposure on both products and stuck with this. In fact, I specifically wanted the digipack in particular to be very child-like. 

This person also commented on the similarities with The Wombats which is a band I did research into (although only briefly) and took inspiration from for the studio setting in my music video and which is also seen in the images on my magazine advert. This means that I have been researching and taking inspiration from the kinds of bands that are recognisable to many of my target audience which will allow them to take the same pleasures from my products as they do from The Wombats and similar bands. 

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

My house style had to include a mixture of both the Pop genre and the Indie genre. This included using bright and clear images one all three products whilst maintaining a 'DIY' effect and the use of instruments to establish my band as musicians, not Pop stars. This will relate to my audience who enjoy the mix of both genres but are slightly more mainstream and need to be kept interested in my products.

Representations
I needed to present my band as musicians, not a group wanting to be famous. Yet I still wanted them to come across as fun and exciting. On my digipack I used toy instruments to make them come across as playful and not completely serious, making an effort to make them look surreal with the white background and over-exposure. This gave a child-like image to the digipack with its sharp greens and stimulating blues. The canted images on my magazine advert also added to the childish, imperfect imagery of the band, making the images stand out in the process. The narrative in my music video is very playful with the two characters enjoying a food fight in a park, the scenes coming across as childish with head and shoulder shots of food being pushed into the girl's face and a bottle of coke being thrown over the guy. I allowed my actors to improvise these scenes so that the playfullness never felt forced. The costume of the girl wearing a flowery dress, stereotypical of the gender and similar looking to a child's dress, once more emphasised a child-like image.
The seriousness of the band came across in my video where I had plenty of close-ups and extreme close-ups of guitars and the drum kit being played to the music, constantly reminding the audience of their musical talent. The performances here were conventional of the genre as rocking movements to the music were incorporated, suggesting a strong attackment to the music, and looking to the camera when singing a word on a beat. This made the band look like they were taking the music seriously. Professional labelling at the back square of the digipack also contributed to this representation as it is something all digipacks include. I added a website address, copyright information and my record label logo with a barcode at the bottom of the square as this is where these features are positioned on real digipacks. I decided to use the record label for Rough Trade, an independant record label who specialise in signing artists who are musically creative and are making music for the fun of it; this once more establishes my band as artists.
I believe that this was successful. The labelling looks professional and I have placed a huge emphasis on instruments throughout all three products.

Cinematography

I needed to make my products attractive to engage the more mainstream audience and so I did this by over-exposing my images of the toy instruments on my digipack and creating a blank background to emphasise the instruments. This looked aesthetically pleasing as the eye is drawn to the bright colours of the instruments. On my magazine advert I brightened up the shots of my lead singer to make her stand out; I again left the background blank to emphasise this. In my music video I used high key lighting on set to attempt to create an intense studio feel. I then shot in low angles and during the majority of the filming inside the studio to try and capture that feel. During the narrative scenes, I began with a long shot of the park to give the audience pretty scenery to enjoy before the narrative became mainly close-up shots and tight framing.

I do not believe that all of this was successful. The on set lighting for my video did not create the intense effect that I wanted. Feedback for my video evidences this.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?