By Deanna Hammond-BlackburnBy Deanna Hammond-Blackburn

Question 1: What mood/atmosphere did the video create for you?

• This first question had a few different responses, but the main emotional response was a happy atmosphere. People said that the reason for this was due to the bright colours, one person said that ‘the filter creates a warm feeling.’ This is interesting as the mood we were going for was more solemn in the beginning and then happier later on, however the colours in the video are bright. We edited the colours to make the video seem somewhat more dream like, to show the singer’s state of uncertainty and confusion, so perhaps more desaturation would have helped here.

• The other most common responses to the video were of ‘heartbreak and then moving on’ and solemn/sad. These moods were more to what we were aiming for in the editing, so I feel that overall we managed to convey the atmosphere well.

• The responses to this question were all positive; everyone thought that the music video reflected the genre and the feel of the song. The reason for this that people said was due to the video being slow, and ‘the transitions made it more emotional which goes with the song.’ Overall I feel that we did this very effectively and that our uses of transitions wasn’t overdone, and challenging this convention worked well for us.

• Another reason that someone said made the video effective was the way the video reflected the lyrics. I agree with this and feel that Goodwin’s theory about the relationships between the visuals and lyrics and the visuals and the music can easily be applied to our video.

Question 2: Did you feel the music video reflected the genre

and feel of the song? Did they go together?

The overall response to this question was very positive;

a lot of people said that they would buy his album and that the video did a good job of advertising the artist. People also said that we had ‘created an artist with a look which suits the genre’ and that ‘the artist had a distinct style which gave him a good image’ so it is clear that our costume and make up was effective. Another response said that ‘the performance clips advertised his wide range of talent’. This shows that our storyboarding and framing combined with the costume and star image worked together very well and would promote our artist productively.

Question 3: Did you feel the video advertised the artist/song? Would it make you want to buy his album, for example?

Question 4: What impression did the video give you of the singer?

The impressions of the artist were quite varied in the answers, however the main impression was of a country singer. This fits in somewhat with our genre, although to improve this we could have included less countryside shots or changed his image slightly.

Another impression was that he is a serious artist, or a ‘tender individual’ as someone replied. This is good as we didn’t want him to have any associations with genres such as pop, as they are more ostentatious and happy-go-lucky, and these impressions fit more with the indie genre.

The intended target audience seemed quite ambiguous to our small audience as the responses were contradictory. There were slightly more people who thought that the people this video would appeal to were young adults or older teens. This is good as our target audience was older teens and young adults, ranging from 16-30 years old.

Question 5: What sort of person would you say this video appeals to?

There was a mixed response to this part of the questionnaire, as

there seemed to be some confusion on the narrative elements of the video. However most people found that they could understand it and the main theme that they interpreted was one of a great loss. This is good as our story followed the artist as he felt the loss and heartbreak of breaking up with his girlfriend, and then the more positive emotions of moving on whilst treasuring the past memories. Most of the responses said they followed this, so I think the narrative was portrayed well and the narrative was combined effectively with the other elements.

One person even specifically said that ‘the driving home bit was portrayed creatively’. Goodwin’s theory can be applied even more here as the link between the lyrics and the visuals are strong.

Question 6: Did you understand the story of the video? Or perhaps any themes that cropped up in the both the song and the video? Could you see links between the lyrics and

what was shown on screen?

Most of the answers to this part of the questionnaire said that there wasn’t

anything in the video that made them jar out of the video which is overall acceptable. However there were a few more specific examples, the ‘font for the title’, ‘his singing’ and the ‘jump cuts in trees’.

The typography in our video I think fits the genre and the style of our artist very well, as the serif font and sophisticated elegant style is very common in the indie genre and fits with our star image. Therefore I feel that this comment is insignificant.

The jump cuts following the artist through the trees were specifically edited in such a way that it ‘jars’ the audience, the intention here was to confuse the audience so they could understand the confusion the artist is going through. This clearly is effective to the point where the audience must become much more of an active audience in order to follow the story further.

Question 7: Did anything jar or take you out of the video for a second?

Question 8: Did the video make you want to follow the artist’s progress further, for example by watching more of his music videos?

All of the answers to this question stated that they definitely expected to see the artist on a promotional poster or album cover, and most said that they expected to see him in a field/rural location or a location seen in the video, for example the barn or trees. This is good as we will be able to create effective synergy with the promotional poster, the album covers and the music video, which will then ultimately help to develop the star image.

This question got a lot of positive feedback and most people saying that they would follow the artist’s progress, along with comments about the video being well done and nice to watch.

One person commented saying that they would be more interested in a happier song; this would be something to note if we were to promote the artist further.

A few said that they wouldn’t follow his progress, and the only reason for this was ‘it was a lot of walking and not much explanation’. The walking in the video was necessary due to the common convention of the indie genre to show a journey, and the fact that this viewer needs an ‘explanation’ suggests that they need to learn to be more active in their viewing of some media texts, and therefore makes their comment counterproductive. Question 9:

What would you expect to be on a promotional poster or the album cover?

Question 9: Could you see this artist becoming internationally famous?

The responses to this were 50/50 in deciding whether our artist could achieve international fame. In the responses that said yes, some comments were made on him having ‘good style’, while another said that he ‘needs his image developing’. I feel that in order to become internationally famous we would have to develop his style to further portray his musical style and make him become more distinct.

A more negative comment mentioned him being ‘not socially relevant in this modern society’. In order for him to become an international star we would have to include more intertextuality and focus on more relevant situations. This could also apply to him becoming just a national star.

Again, this question brought up a very mixed collection of answers. A few people said no, and that it left them wondering about ‘what happened at the end’ or ‘what it was actually about’. This again relates to the audience being active or passive; to understand the video they should watch it more than once, which is effective at promoting the artist and also creating word of mouth, as these people would ask their friends about it and their friends would then watch the video etc.

Despite this, the overall feedback was more positive, with comments on the video leaving the audience ‘very emotive’ and allowing them to ‘connect/sympathise with the artist.’

Question 10: Did the video leave you thinking about the story and the artist afterwards?