WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?By Mathew Horne.

CLASS FEEDBACK. Feedback from my classmate revealed that “some shots were blurry” but “there was good

variety of shots”. From a critical perspective I can see that I needed to take more care when setting up the camera and making sure that it is in focus before starting to film. But on the other hand, the types of shots that were used were very good and there was a lot of variety. This is a quote that I am very happy with because it was one of my intentions to develop my shot using skills on this project. So from this, I know that I can use a good variety of shots without over using any of them and not using them too little so that you can’t notice that they are even there. However, because I had to show the film to the class after it had been finished and because we were behind in finishing it off, I was unable to make any of the changes to focus that I would ideally have done, given I had more time. “I loved the tea towel shot” one person said after we told them there was a use of a tea towel when creating the ‘through the wall’ effect. As this was something I didn’t expect anyone to say, I am very pleased with this response and so I will make note of this type of shot to use in future projects. As you can see there was not a lot of help/input from my classmates which meant that I had to look for feedback from people over the world wide web,, including a survey from SurveyMonkey and a couple of comments on my YouTube video of the music video.

YOUTUBE FEEDBACK.

These two comments are the only comments I got on my YouTube video. The first comment talks about things I have covered in my previous slide but also adds “simplistic but works with good conventions of rock genre”. This to me suggests that she has decoded and understood the genre specific representations that I have used and thus is able to identify that the video is of the rock genre. It also adds that in addition to the shots being blurry, some of them were poorly exposed compared to other parts. This means that if I were to do it again, I would have to make sure that the exposure was right when filming for both the narrative and the live performance so that it doesn’t look odd or “inconsistent throughout” to add continuity. The latter comment touches upon a common convention of the rock genre which is that the “editing speeds up as the song does”. This means that the use of quick cutting from one shot to the next is used aptly and is really able to represent the video as a rock video. Lastly, the latter comment says there is “a really nice connection between the audio and the sound” which might be a reference to the song saying “door banging” and the visuals showing someone knocking/banging on the door. This is, according to Goodwin, something that happens in all music genres; however, it was never my intention to do this but if the audience seem to like it then I would have taken it into consideration if I was to reshoot the music video.

SURVEYMONKEY FEEDBACK. I will analyse

the survey Monkey results question by question so that I have a detailed response to each of them. However, this may mean that some analysis’ may be briefer than others.

As we can see from this first question, it is very obvious that the majority of the audience understand and found the conventions of the rock genre present in my music video and thus, I was able to represent the genre aptly in my music video.

One thing that is very common in the rock genre is the use of darkness or shadows to create a feel of dinginess that is often thought of when thinking of the rock genre. This, coupled with question one, means that I was able to capture the right sort of lighting used in rock videos and transfer it into my own video when filming it.

Q3 shows that what people think I used the best between lighting, props, outfitting, location and use of narrative. The results found that the audience noticed rock props more than anything. Surprisingly, the lighting was second but as the previous question showed, people expect to see a sort of darkness around rock videos and that is what I provided. Least noticeable was the use of location, this may be down to the fact that almost any genre can use a recording studio or a street to make a music video. So if I was to do it again, I would stick to my use of lighting and props and think about where I am filming my video a little more.

There is no negativity surrounding this question and answer. This for me is the ideal response. It shows that my audience has been able to decode representations encoded within this medium and are able to see from the mise-en-scene how I have created the rock world as I see it. Following this response, I would have to say that if I was to revisit this project at a later date, I would be able to represent fully the genre I want by making the adjustments suggested by the previous questions, albeit the responses I got hardly seem to hinder my work at all.

This question was created for me to understand whether the audience was able to get a sense of what the narrative was about and whether the use of the camera was able to help the audience to come to their understanding. The responses I got were 100% positive, not in the middle or bad. Like the YouTube comments and classmate comments say, the use of shot variety was good, it was only the quality of the shots that was bad. So this infers that camera movement-wise, I was able to tell the story that I wanted to and thus I was perfectly capable of telling that story through the camerawork.

This question was thought up to ask the audience whether they though I used the conventions, or not as the case may be, well enough that they knew they were from the rock genre. The answer is yes. For some people it’s 100% yes and for others, it’s just a yes. But nonetheless, this provides me with enough information to say that non-critic audiences believe that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that I have done a good job at conveying, developing and ignoring the convention of the rock genre where necessary to create a convincing music video.

This question leaves the audience an opportunity to leave any qualitative, interpretative data for me to analyse. The first comment solidifies the fact that the lighting was used well in convincing the audience that the video was of the rock genre. And the second comment, this identifies something that I myself noticed after making the video which is that there is a significant lack of close ups, I have stressed the importance of close ups in my music video analysis’. It allows the audience to connect with the band members and to feel closer to them which gets them more invested into the band. Goodwin also stresses the importance of them and claims it is a convention that crops up in all music videos of any genre. The last comment just talks over what I have already talked about in previous slides, about variety of shots and focus being out.

CONCLUSION? To conclude, the audience feedback shows me that there are certain

things that I have done well when it comes to representing the genre of my music video, such as the lighting, the use of props and the use of camerawork. However, it also highlights areas of concern that is too late to fix. These areas are things that I would consider if I was ever to make something like this again, such as the exposure of the shots when filming the video and quality of the focus when shooting the video. Overall, I think that the audience feedback was very useful because it was able to show me what I did right and what I would have to change if I was to do it again, according to the general public who have seen my music video and have had the chance to respond to it.