Audience Feedback Photo

Audience Feedback Results

In assembly this morning, the sixth form were handed yellow sheets so we could gather information on what they thought of our videos and there were issues such as the fact we have not used all our footage and there are a few gaps. Other criticism focused on Amelia's lip synching and the video generally could be more interesting.
Positive criticism, however, came in the form of Amelia playing Alice, in fact one person described her as a "cool Alice"! Other positive feedback was that it was professional and authentic. The editing was also appreciated and the location also received good feedback.

Audience Gratification

An important factor of creating something media-related is the reaction of the audience. We have already researched the connotations of the Indie genre and I have focused on what people who like and dislike Indie music have thought about the idea of the music video and the video itself, so this task focuses on how the audience absorbs this piece of media text.
To do this, I need to find out what it is the audience want and how they gratify the media text:

1. Connection to the artist - this is currently easier than ever as now people can follow a famous person on Twitter or "Like" their Facebook page and get directly in contact with the artist.

2. Synergy with other artists - At the moment, Rap is not the only genre where famous people combine such as Rihanna and Jay-Z or 50 Cent and Eminem: there is also a feel of synergy in indie/pop music. Ed Sheeran and Rupert Grint combine in the music video for Lego House, which is important as Ed Sheeran and the Harry Potter franchise, in which Rupert Grint is most famously recognised, are big at the moment.

3. Iconography/Role Model - This is done by how the artist dresses and goes out. In our audience research back in October, we found out that they did not follow every ounce of dress sense that the famous person had, but they were certainly influenced by it.

Audience Feedback Questions

In order to gain a wider perspective of the Indie genre and how we have done, we are coming up with some interview questions that we can ask people after they have viewed our music video at next week's assembly.

1. Do you feel that our music video fits into the genre (Indie/Pop)? Why?

2. Does our music video look authentic? Why?

3. What aspects of the video do you find effective?

4. Any criticism that you feel we could benefit from?

Audience Feedback

I asked members of the public what they thought of our music video to see if it was conventional of the genre or whether it was not a typical music video.

Jenny: I thought it was excellent, the locations were good, the timing was spot on and the acting was not bad. However, even though I enjoyed the camerawork it could look more professional but I did enjoy the Alice in Wonderland theme, I thought that was quite clever. Not being an Indie fan myself, this music video would definitely make me change my mind about the genre!

Jack: I am a massive Indie fan but I felt this was not typical of the genre. I could see particular references that were excellent but generally I didn't get the feel that you get with other Indie videos and some of the camera angles were a bit repetitive. On the other hand, it was still a good piece of work.

Overall, I think there is a positive reaction, however I can see where we need to improve.

Genre Research

The conventions for the Indie genre:

At the moment, Indie is half way between rock and pop music. Typically Indie fans stick to their roots and they try not to go down the celebrity route of dressing expensively or extravagantly. Their clothing is modern, but it doesn't cost too much. In the UK, Indie fans are likely to buy their clothes from places like New Look or Primark, possibly H&M.

Artists include:

Ash
The XX
The Kooks
Arctic Monkeys
Friendly Fires
Bombay Bicycle Club

Audience Research Results

The second person we interviewed was a 15 year old boy that enjoyed indie music, but it wasn't his favourite genre. However, interviewing him is still a necessary aspect of our audience research as we could gain a different perspective of the genre and how it is depicted.

Alex Jones, 15
Music Fan

1. What clothes do you wear?
I wear chinos most of the time, however I do wear jeans occasionally. I also wear Polo's or plain T-shirts.

2. Do you follow the same style as the indie artists you like?
I don't follow one artist's style in particular, generally I follow a trend more than anything.

3. Do you see indie artists as an icon/role model?
Indie artists are inspirational as they are unique and individual to themselves. Many people aspire to this method as it is successful.

4. What are the key aspects that attract you to indie music?
There is a real sense of variation in this type of music and there is a good beat as well!

5. Do you go to gigs on a regular basis?
Not particularly, it's not my game.

6. When was the last gig that you went to?
A couple of months ago.

7. In Indie music videos, what do you expect to see and why?
I expect to see the instruments and the artists themselves.

8. Do you expect different things from different indie artists?
Erm, personally yes, but there are different types of indie music, therefore I think there are different expectations.

Audience Research Results

After we wrote the interview questions, various people, male and female, were asked these questions and these are the results.

Jessica Quinn, 18
Indie Fan

1. What clothes do you wear?
I tend to follow the trends of most female indie artists, so normally dresses with cropped jackets and ankle boots. When the weather changes I swap the dresses with tight skinny jeans or leggings. My wardrobe is mainly filled with these style of clothes but in the morning I just through together the pieces of clothing depending on what mood I wake up in.

 
2. Do you follow the same style as the indie artists you like?
I would say so, yeah. I love identifying the artists' new trends when I see them in magazines and on television.

3. Do you see indie artists as an icon/role model?
As Indie artists follow what they believe in and so do I, I guess so. The trend is set by the artist following in what they believe in, however I see the fashion and dress sense as more of an icon for me.

4. What are the key aspects that attract you to indie music?
I love the individuality that each artist has and their connection to the music.

5. Do you go to gigs on a regular basis?
Sometimes, but not on a regular basis.


6. When was the last gig that you went to?
I think the last one I went to was a couple of weeks ago in my town, which was amazing! The band were also local.

7. In Indie music videos, what do you expect to see and why?
I want to see the artist a lot, I don't like it if they remain too anonymous. The clothing is important as well as many indie fans can connect to the fashion of the artist!

8. Do you expect different things from different indie artists?
Ermm, yeah I think so because there are different types of indie genres, so for each off shoot of Indie, the audience expect different things.

The trend our group noticed in Jessica's answers is the fact that she follows the trends of fashion, so this is something we will consider when we create our music video.

Interview Questions

For our research about the genre we are planning to use in our music video, we created questions that we could ask members of the public in an interview. This research will be useful because the needs of the audience has to be satisfied and ultimately, we have to reflect their needs to make a good music video. Here are the interview questions:

1. What clothes do you wear?


2. Do you follow the same style as the indie artists you like?


3. Do you see indie artists as an icon/role model?


4. What are the key aspects that attract you to indie music?


5. Do you go to gigs on a regular basis?


6. When was the last gig that you went to?


7. In Indie music videos, what do you expect to see and why?


8. Do you expect different things from different indie artists?

Audience Research in Music Videos

Adele - Rolling in the Deep

This video appears to have a similar audience to Audrianna Cole, not in terms of size but in fact the age demographic:

Gender       Age

Female       13-17

Female       18-24

Male          45-54

There is a correlation, but she wears more clothes then some other artists of her age. Adele says herself when told she needed to lose weight that she "makes music for the ear, not the eye". The men aged 45-54 probably don't focus on her look but her voice and the music she writes. The girls/women aged 13-24 probably have a similar view and admire her for her confidence that perhaps others lack.

The chart shows this video has gained a large audience worldwide.

More information and pictures of the stats will be uploaded asap!

Statistics for Audrianna Cole - Misplaced

Information from YouTube:

Total views: 4,165
Likes: 33
Dislikes: 1

There are 13 comments on the video and these include: "amazing!!!" and "cool video". As it is a niche song and she is unsigned, there are no "Top Comments" with 49 likes as yet!
This video is most popular with:
Gender         Age
Female         13-17
Female         18-24
Male            35-44

The fact that the males appear slightly older is because lots of young people may lie about their age to create a YouTube account. However, another possibility could be that older men are watching this video as there may be a form of sex appeal for them, and the reason there isn't an audience for men in their 20's is because most women their age are less covered up then 35-44 year old women.
The chart below shows the popularity of this video around the world. The dark green means more popularity and the lighter colours with less popularity. The chart indicates that most of the viewers are American and a few of the viewers are British:

Ideal Audience Member

Name: Laura Brown
Gender: Female
Age: 19 (born in April 1992 in Barnet, North London where she still lives)

 
Hair: Blonde
Clothes: Shoulder bag and ankle boots
Celebrities: Alexa Chung
Music: Mainly Indie music, but enjoys going to see mass-market acts at festivals. She recently went to V Festival and stayed in the Red Camp. She has been going every year since 2008 except last year when she had food poisoning. She also likes to write music in her spare time. She finds new music either by her friends recommending particular songs or going to gigs and seeing new acts advertised
Films: Niche-aimed films such as Trainspotting and This is England. She likes bigger films as well such as Hot Fuzz and Harry Potter.
Television: She watches 4Music and likes presenters such as Will Best as she likes his sense of humour. She claims she doesn't like the X Factor but points out she only likes to watch it when Louis Walsh is on it! Other TV shows include The Inbetweeners and Made in Chelsea.

Education: She passed her GCSE's in 2008, getting 5A's, 2B's and 3C's and stayed in the sixth form for two years before going to Loughborough University in 2010
Transport: She owns a blue Mini Cooper S and uses it to drive on the M1 to university

Music Artists: Ed Sheeran, The Kooks, and sometimes likes listening to more mainstream-based artists such as Rihanna (who she is a big fan of) and Olly Murs.
Technology: She is a frequent Facebook user who updates her status about 3 times a week and uses a Blackberry to connect to her friends and social networking sites. She also likes to post YouTube videos of her own songs as she is a big fan of music.

Audience Understanding

1. Audience Engagement - The interaction between the audience and the medie text, and different people react in different ways to the same media text.

2. Audience Expectations - The ideas people have in advance of consuming the media text. Producers aim to alter their expectations into something they don't expect.

3. Audience Foreknowledge - The definite information (as opposed to the expectations) which an audience brings to a media product.

4. Audience Identification - When a part of the audience feel connected to a media text, because it directly expresses their attitude or lifestyle.

5. Audience Placement - Strategies used by media products to target a particular audience to make them feel that the media text is especially for them. The difference between this definition, ie Placement, and Identification is that Placement is where the people who create the media text deliberately connect the storyline of the text to relate to a niche of the audience, whereas Identification is where a niche of the audience find themselves relating to a character even though it was unintended by the media text.

6. Audience Research - Media institutions measuring an audience as it is important that the information they create in the text is relevant to the audience.

Audience

For the artist to make a connection to the audience, some key features have to be considered when it comes to how the media portray them:

1. Aspiration/Role Model
2. Connection/Communication
3. Relate - a "back story" that the audience can relate to
4. Enjoyment/Entertainment
5. Icon
6. Belonging
7. Identity - style choices reflect music tastes
8. Visualisation - something to LINK music to, this is very important in the music industry!!
9. Awareness

Planning for Audience Research

To ensure that the filming of the music video has the correct connotations and things people can relate to, we need to ask people questions about what they like seeing in music videos.
It is good research to ask people if they have a preference on what their favourite music genre is, but for this task, we could look up statistics of information and ask people open questions. The reason why these questions are better than closed questions is because the latter can only be answered with "yes" or "no". However, with open questions, the research can be more reliable and successful.