What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

EVALUATION 3

WHAT ARE THE MAIN DEMOGRAPHICS OF YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?

• AGE: 16-26

• SOCIAL CLASS: E (Unemployed/Student) and D (Working Class)

• ETHINICITY: British and American.

• GENDER: Female

IN YOUR FIRST INITIAL EDITS, HOW DID YOU TRY AND ATTRACT THIS DEMOGRAPHIC?We tried to attract this demographic by starting with several ideas that we thought would work well to capture the attention of the right people and to represent the songs meaning. To start off, we began to look at inspiration from existing industry standard music videos. When researching we found other videos that followed a similar theme of female empowerment that we wanted to portray. An example of this would be Beyoncé – Single Ladies, this video made us come up with ideas such as a female dominated dance routine which we included in our final product. We also had multiple group discussions to decide on different conventions that we could use in the video and print products such as which gender to use as the main character, what props we could use, locations we could film/shoot in and what costumes we could use to portray the right image. These discussions helped us decide on having a young female as the main character, using props such as microphones, filming in a busy City Centre and house and finally to wear expensive/fashionable clothing. Final discussions also confirmed what colour schemes and fonts we would base our print products on to keep a constant house style.

WHAT CONVENTIONS DID YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE IDENTIFY AS THE STRONGEST ASPECT OF YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS (MUSIC VIDEO, DIGIPAK & MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT)?The strongest aspect of our media products were casting, scenes we used and content of the music video.

Firstly, choosing the right cast played a big part in targeting the right audience that we picked the demographics for. For example, We used a female and male of a similar age to the target audience we set. This meant that people of a similar age to the ones in the music video and print products would be able to recognize them easily and also relate because they are going through a similar time in their lives.

The scenes we chose to film at were also key in trying to attract our demographics. We based part of our music video in a big city. This is associated with all generations but a modern park setting is where mostly youths would hang about. This also is a secret way to attract the attention of people we are trying to target because they will come from a similar background and surrounding.

Finally, the content of the music video played a big part in attracting the demographic. We included relationship scenes and energetic dance scenes to remain youthful and not date back to the time the song we chose was made for. We also added sassy and female empowerment signals in the content of the music video to relate to females that we were targeting. If females watched and related to the video they are more likely to want to watch the video again because everyone loves to relate to things they are watching.

WHAT CONVENTIONS DID YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE IDENTIFY AS THE WEAKEST ASPECT OF YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS? WHAT CHANGES DID YOU MAKE TO IMPROVE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCTS TO APPEAL TO YOUR TARGETED AUDIENCE?

The weakest aspects of our media products would be the typical pop conventions of Fame, wealth and power. Most pop music videos aim above their age range as their target audience will want to look up to how they want their lives to be in the future. In my opinion this was a weakness by us as we didn’t aim higher that our age range of 16-25. We stuck to a young relationship with very realistic themes such as sitting at home watching TV. Instead, other videos include expensive cars, big houses and exotic sceneries abroad.

Another convention we didn’t use to target our audience would be male gaze or female gaze. We kept the video very low key and kept all cast completely covered up. In other pop videos/products artists use males/females showing flesh to attract male and female gaze. This brings in more viewers because of fantasies. For example, In a justin bieber video he will have his top off to attract the young teenage girls that his usual target audience is.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT AUDIENCE FEEDBACK WHEN CREATING A MEDIA PRODUCT?

Taking in audience feedback when creating a media product is vital because it is the link between what people want and what you are creating. There is no point creating a product that people aren’t interested in as it wont make any sales and money will be lost. Feedback is also important as it indicates where to promote your product and how to market it. For example, if your product was targeted at elderly women it would be best to promote it in an elderly home or places like a local hairdressers. It can also be useful as it indicates what conventions to use to attract the attention of your targeted audience. It will tell you what colours the audience likes, content they like to watch/read, people they will recognize. Finally, knowing what conventions to include will also help your audience associate themselves with your product. If you had a magazine advert with Kanye West on it and it was targeted at elderly people they won’t be able to relate to your print because they wont know who he is whereas if you had a picture of cliff richard on it they would be able to relate to it because they recognize who he is.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOUR MUSIC ARTIST TO TRY AND APPEAL TO A MASS/NICHE AUDIENCE?

It is important for our music artist to appeal to a mass audience because this means more sales, a bigger reputation and more fame. If the artist has a wider target audience it means that their products will appeal to more people and will potentially make more sales. It also means that the artist will have a bigger reputation on the line, this could be a good or bad thing but if more people love what they do then they will have a strong reputation that will ensure their career lasts because people will get attached and be fans this means they will continue to buy their future products giving the artist a longer career of making money. Finally, more fame as more people will regonise them from their music if it targets them. Fame can then lead into different industries yet again giving them a longer sustainable career. It is also easier to create a product and look of an artist that will appeal to the general public because people tend to follow trends and copy each other in their social circles.

It is important for our music artist to appeal to a niche audience because there are a lot of people who enjoy being different. If our artist created a unique look and products that worked well then they would have a constant stream of fans and people who are committed to buying their products. A niche audience tends to stick to what they know in their unique style of music so continuing to produce products that fit to the minority taste will generate just as much money as the popular music choices will in a mass audience. In addition, there is less competition. An artist appealing to a mass audince is more likely to only have one hit with a lot of fame and sales then their popularity might die down when somebody new is introduced into the industry whereas in the long run an artist targeting a niche audience will be able to stick around in the industry producing the same unique products as there is less competition.