Evaluation Q3

What have you learnt from your Audience Feedback?

We asked a variety of different people (some including our target audience) to give their opinions/personal feedback on our music video, by using various social networking sites such as; Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. But also the use of word of mouth which we recorded ourselves using computerised programs.

The large population of people accessing the social networking sites each day was the main reason why we used each of them, because it meant we could recieve comments from a selection of people which didn't just include our friends. This shows we were not being biased as we were open to any feedback (positive or negative) and hopefully the comments would come from different ages and genders so no one comment was the same. We knew each of the feedback comments which came from the general public would be, 100% reliable and truthful which is another reason why we decided to present our final music video to people who use these 3 different programs.

I was personally suprised by the amount of positive comments we got for our video through the feedback. Because as a group we knew that some parts through the video could have been re shot or changed to make it look more professional, however due to deadlines of final cuts being handed in we didn't have time to make the changes, but overall we are happy with how the video turned out.

The small amount of negative feedback we recieved did link back to our own personal comments that we thought could be changed if we re did the coursework.

However the comments which we didn't understand fully can be used as a useful resource for each of us to give our personal evaluation about.

To the right you can see a screen grab from a scene of our music video which I personally think could have been improved due to the bad camera angle used, this meant all of the characters body can't be seen and looks misplaced agaisnt the rest of the clips present as there is "deadspace" not being used which looks unprofessional. If we had chance to change this shot we would have made sure the main character told us when she was going to stand up so the camera would be in the central position.

I will be linking each of the points to the Stuart Hall theory, he says that viewers can interpret a music video in three ways; Preferred, Negotiated and Oppositional Meanings.

A Preferred meaning is when the audience understands the storyline that we have used throughout our music video, all aspects they talk about will be correct. e.g Female character likes to eat males.

Negotiated meaning is when the audience take in some of the "preferred" aspects included in our video, but then interprets others in thier own way to come up with thier own personal meaning. for example Female character likes to attack the males but then they assume she has physiological problems.

Oppositional meaning is when the audience don't understand the storyline at all and they believe it about something completely different. for example the female character has 3 boyfriends.

I will refer to each of these points when discussing feedback from viewers who specifically comment on the storyline.

The first feedback comment we collected was from YouTube, along with the majority of others, as this is how we linked the video up to other networkers.

Regarding this comment, I do agree that our lip syncing was successful, we made sure that our main character had the track to mime to for every scene we recorded so that when it came down to editing the clips in with the track it would be easier and each part would fit in correctly.

By him saying we kept the audience "interested" with the variety of clothing (mise en scene) we chose for our main character to wear, links into the Goodwin narrative theory.

We had our main character wear a different outfit for every different location we filmed in so for example the tea party scene, she looks very classy, compared to the fence scene where she looks rugged and tramp like due to the holes and mud on her outfit.

The reason for the large number of different scenes throughout the music video is that as a group we thought the story should unfold through the video with her "transforming" into her cannibal like body by the end, but by showing her in different scenes it reflects in the costume how she changes, from a normal teenage girl to an angry human eating cannibal.

We also tried to appeal to the "male gaze" when changing outfits, which was a common comment through this feedback via word of mouth people saying she was "exposed", however that was intentional so that she would stand out.

The only negative point he gave us was that one of our main scenes (male running) goes on for too long a duration. I do understand where he is coming from because after getting this feedback, I watched the video again and although we have a lot of cuts of him running in different directions the whole thing could have been shortened, due to deadlines though we had no time to re film extra scenes but this comment helps give a balanced arguement of the video.

The next comment came from a media student from a different class, she also left her comment on my Youtube page, but because as a group none of us talk to her it shows we are not asking only our close friends to leave comments, as we wanted to recieve comments from a variety of different genders and ages, so our results wern't biast.

Although her comment was quite short, it was really positive and as a group we all appreciated it, especially the "professional" part because it meant by using existing media conventions and following plans from the research part of the coursework, we have created a similar type of music video.

The main reasons why I believe she said it looks professional is because of the amount of editing we did e.g cutting each scene to the beat of the music, so that it had a continuous flow but also kept the audience interested throughout.

When referring to Emily (main character) she said "good job playing the part", the main reason why we used her is because she has such a confident personality and will try her best at any task, for example when playing the role of a "cannibal" she understood the concepts and meaning behind the story perfectly and this female has picked up on that through watching the video.

The third comment came from an unknown male who commented on our video via YouTube, although I wouldn't class the other two people who left feedback as friends, I do know who they are. By having feedback from a complete stranger is interesting because we knew that they would speak the truth.

This comment is once again referring to our editing skills. It's one of the main topics that people have commented on when giving feedback. For example the previous comment included the word "professional", the video is only seen in this way because of the amount of editing we did to make it look of a professional standard, the original filmed clips wouldn't have gotten half the praise.

We wanted each scene/clip to look exciting and eyecatching to viewers when watching our video, the superimposing part which includes a clip of the main character laughing with a clip of the male actor running undeneath was the most advanced part of editing we did, I found out how to create this affect when looking through the selection of filters availale when using Final Cut, which brought out my creative side as I learnt how to lower and increase the opacity over one clip to make the level equal for the reveal of both clips through the first verse.

Also by him giving us comments like well done and good job! makes me feel proud to have achieved such a successful video.

The fourth comment we received was from a first year media student, she directly messaged me to let me know that she had watched our video and that she thought it was "really good".

So instead of just taking her "word of mouth" comment I asked her to write on our actual Youtube video so I could screengrab it and use it as a part of my evaluation question.

Because Emily only added a few people to our facebook group to access our video, I sent her the link to our video, which would also include the amount of views.

Once again we received a positive comment from a member of our "target audience" and was one of the only people who spoke about the camera shots and angles, which shows that she understands the correct media terminology that we also use when completing work, so it was interesting to see that she uses the words correctly. The reason that we had a variety of shots in our video was because when it came to filming each scene I made sure I filmed them in different angles (up close, from the side, behind the characters) so I had more choice when editing. Rather than just play one shot continuously as viewers attention would be lost.

The reason I added so many speeded up parts of our main character making jolted head movements and wierd body positions, was to reflect her "cannibal" personality. As she was trapped inside a normal teenage girl's body, she struggled to be the person she hoped to be. However through the video you see her anger build up, until the tea party scene where she transforms into her "cannibal" self.

Adding a high level of speed to some of the clips will make them want to watch them again and again, just encase they have missed out some parts.

This feedback comment came from someone with the name Instant Win which meant it’s hard to determine which sex they are from, however this made collecting the research more interesting because it's hard to know exactly who is going to leave us a comment. Due to the high view rates and promotion over Twitter, it was certain that we wouldn't personally know everyone.

The main reason we added a "superimposed" scene into our music video was because we wanted to bring two scenes together as one viewers knew that the main character wanted to eat the male character and because he was slowly running down the long path it give us the chance to place a clip of her laughing over the top which could have indicated to viewers that she had caught him. The effect fades in and out so you can see each of the characters clearly. However the chorus then kicks in and it's then obvious that the effect was only used as technique and had nothing to do with the storyline.

Having someone else comment on the lip sync shows that she worked at a professional level, because she is a performing arts student she can hear the beats of the song and know when to time herself to mime each part correctly. It was useful when editing the clips in time with the track because most of them where correct and didn't need much editing to get them in place.

But to make sure we had enough clips to cut to the beat of the music, I always insisted in every location we capture various shots in different angles, as I knew they would get used more than once.

The main aspects that people giving feedback via our YouTube Channel commented on was the; mise en scene, editing and lip syncing. Although the rest of the comments do include these elements, the viewers have went into more detail as you will see when I talk about the comments received via our Facebook Page.

The reason I have grouped all of these feedback comments together is because each one of them has similar meanings and link together easily. A specific point they all picked up on was the "speeded up parts" just like a high percentage of other peoples feedback. The fact they all like that part is good to know and we hope they understand we have added clips into the video just for entertainment purposes, but also for each person watching to understand the storyline we have put together.

Goodwins theory can be talked about here as one of the males said that "it wouldnt get boring after a few watches" and Goodwin talks about keeping the audience interested at all times, I believe if people watch our video more than once, they will pick up on new elements each time because there is just that much going on.

Even though once again most of the comments were positive, it's more exciting to find out what people didn't like as then as a group we get to evaluate how we feel about what they said. One person said "there are a few shaky hand movements" this I 100% agree with and is one of the things I would re shoot and change if we had time because it looks very unprofessional but also distracts audiences attention away from the actual camera angle variety we have included and storylines we have created.

Because Stuart Hall is a theorist that can link exactly with this question, I began to ask a specific question to the audience "what storyline would you say this video expresses?". The response was minimal as most people had already given thier personal opinions, however I did manage to receive 2 comments, both including detail that I could analyse deeply.

The first comment shows the male understands some prospects of the actual storyline as we did want the audience to notice a change in her personality from a average teenage girl to having a vicious side and attacking all the male characters, the reason I think he said "head case" as if she has a physiological probem is probably because she looks out of control through the video, as she just wants to be a cannibal and doesn't want to hide that any longer, she finally "transforms" in one of the end scenes, this is when she seems at her happiest.

But when he says "she likes to eat people" I think everyone who watches the video who pick up on that point, because of the song title and her actions around the male actors, so it wasn't an interesting point to me because I thought it was expected.

Linking he's point to the Stuart Hall theory, James has taken the “Negotiated” meaning of the storyline, as he understands what storyline we have created, to an extent, but then made he's own personal views and opinions about what he believes it's about.

Overall I believe that he touches on certain aspects, but doesnt explain how or why they have been added to the video, which makes me personally struggle to believe that he understands the storyline we have created himself as there is not enough detail shown.

This comment is much more detailed and just by reading the first line, I can instantly tell that he is a media student, due to the amount of terminology he has used and how he's opinion is made very clear, regarding what he has watched. The storyline that he has personally picked up on is, that our main character likes to eat boys, however by referring to her as "attractive", shows he has picked up on the "male gaze" theory we have tried to incorporate as she is wears a revealing outfit in every scene to attract the attention of the male viewers.

He believes we have illustrated a link between the lyrics in the song and the clips in our video. We incorporated this link as we wanted to make sure we were keeping in check with the exisiting media conventions that Ke$ha always includes in her music videos; revealing costumes, outrageous personality and confident in every role that she plays, to make sure this link was made we decided that using Emily (performing arts student) would be our best bet as, she finds it easy to get into character and tskrd direction well, so meant we got the best out of each scene.

Linking Nick's comment to the Stuart Hall theory it shows that he got our "preferred" meaning of the music video, which he interpreted in the correct way.

The main element we wantd to get across was that our main character had two personalities; one being an average teenage girl but the other showing her "alter ego" who is someone that likes to attack attractive males in the hope to feed off thier blood, and judging by he's feedback this is the exact storyline he picked up on.

FIlming in a variety of locations and using a variety of angles was mainly done to entertain the audience, which is something he again picked up on so we must have kept him interested throughout.

Overall from the two detailed comments we received, the results where different in some respects but they both linked to the Stuart Hall theory and meant I had a lot to discuss regarding each of them and how they linked back to things he says but also our personal opinions.

Above is a graph taken from my personal Youtube Channel showing how many people have watched our video, what programs they have accessed the video by and what age group the majority of them are in. At the top of the screengrab you can see a graph based image with letters marking each point, these are discussed in detail underneath - regarding how the viewers found the video (for example through a Twitter link) - then a number next to the discription to inform how many people viewed our video through the same link.

I believe this is a useful way to look deeper into where the feedback has come from and how many people have accessed our video linking to each letter.

A) This shows 5 of the viewers actually typed in the video name (Final Third Cannibal) to watch our final one, this would most probably be students from our class who have seen us create the video link or one of our friends who as a group we have talked about the video to each one of them.

B&C) 9 of the viewers had accessed our videos through mine and Sophie's own personal media blog and watched it via the link we had compressed onto our blog for the examiner to access quickly. These 9 people would have been media students as our subject tutor has her own blog including all the students work which is accessable during lesson.

D&E) 11 viewers watched on Sophie's own Youtube page, she did most of her promotion through Twitter, so they will have clicked on the link which will have took them straight to her page. E reflects the same process only the link was maybe copied by someone who had watched the video to get us more views.

F&G) 64 views came from again the people of twitter, but instead of re opening the link to direct them to the Youtube page then instead watched it via Sophie's post on thier Twitter accounts. She posted the link a number of times, so the other 43 views were watched from a mobile device, this could have been Youtube or Twitter links just via a smartphone instead of using a computer/laptop.

H) 30 people watched our music video via my personal Youtube channel, this will most likely of been my friends who asked to see the work I had created and instead of sending them the link I just opened my channel, it could of also been me watching the video to collect screengrabs for numerous evaluation tasks.

I) Finally 17 views came from viewers watching our video via the link posted in our "secret" group on Facebook. Because Emily didn't want everyone in her friends list seeing our video, she created a group of people we all knew in the hope they would leave some feedback, but we also used Facebook as another social networking site to give us a variety of elements to worth with when creating each evaluation question.

9 people have liked the video, it could be for a number of reasons, but we will never know who has liked it as it doesn't give you any specific information accept the number.

The rest of the image shows the age and gender of the people watching our video; 3 most popular outcomes were; Females age 13-17, this was the closest we got to reaching our target audience as the rest were Male age 65- and Male age 25-34, these two age groups are much higher than we aimed our audience would be, however the reason I believe this to be true is due to the fact we aimed the video at the "male gaze" and it's made a lot of men interested.

Country wise our video is most popular in England and France compared to Austrailia. This is interesting to know, but I did expect it to be mostly english people watching as most of my friends on Twitter and Facebook are english and this accounts for the other members of our team, also if the people were from a different country, and left a comment, we may not have been able to understand them, so overall our feedback research has paid off and by looking deeper into who and how people watched our video. Its give me a deeper understanding of how much goes into one small creation.

Overall I think that by finding out feedback from various members of the public (some including our target audience) worked really well because without it we would never have known people's personal opinions on what they liked about it and what we could improve.

If we had chance to re make this music video again we would change the following aspects:

• Where now there is a long duration of the male running scene in our final video, next time we could add more of the storyline and flash from one scenario back to the running and vice versa to make sure the audience are still interested.
• Watching back every clip when filming would be another point to pick up on next time, this didn't happen when we did film the music video which resulted in shaky camera movements and also bad camera angles.
• Even though we were trying to make our video apply to the "male gaze" theory, we could tone down the amount of flesh being shown in each shot as it could have made some viewers uncomfortable, she could be shown looking attractive in other ways.
• Finally the choice of location would be different if we had the chance to shoot the whole video again, because our subject tutor informed us that the locations wern't as thought out as other groups for example (media and photography studios) However we did use these to the best of our ability and the deadlines where what stopped us but also the town we live in didn't have appropriate locations for the storyline of our video to link in to.