Evaluation Question 3 - Ciara Nolan

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

INITIAL IDEA OF TARGET AUDIENCE:

• From my own experience of the indie-rock genre and from audience research I was able to produce an idea of who our target audience would be.
• We knew almost instantly that our target audience would vary between the ages of 15 and 24, this is due to the fact that this age group enjoy laid back music and would like the style of the Jungle Doctors.
• As our chosen band, Jungle Doctors, already had a fairly big following, we researched their social media pages, to find out what kind of people enjoy their music. From this we were able to create an image in our minds of who our target audience would be.
• As our target audience are so active on social media, using Youtube was vital to see the kind of comments the band got on their music, and it was also very useful for researching similar music.
• As well as Youtube, Facebook also provided us with the kind of people that followed the band; for instance, their occupation, hobbies and lifestyle, which was helpful when creating our ideal audience.
  

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:

• Being a fan of indie-rock music gave me an advantage, as I was able to discover different audiences within the genre, and pin point one best to suit our song choice.
• Also, by personally attending events such as Reading Festival, I was given the opportunity to see bands such as The Arctic Monkeys, The 1975 and The Libertines in 2014 and 2015. This meant I was able to discover the target audiences of such bands which would in turn relate to the target audiences our group would try and direct.
• As it was the years 2014&15, it also gave me an up-to-date interpretation of who would be listening to this genre of music

RESEARCH:

• I carried out a number of different techniques when researching our target audience, this way I had more information to work with.
• One technique was using Youtube as a source of researching. This allowed me to research live gigs within the indie-rock genre and find out what kind of audiences they were performing to.
• The two bands I focused on were Arctic Monkeys and their song 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor' and Bombay Bicycle Club and their song 'Shuffle'. Both music videos show the bands playing live, with many different band shots, which was something we wanted to include in our video. These two bands are very similar to the music of the Jungle Doctors, and that is why we were drawn to them.
• Arctic Monkeys' video interested me particularly, as I have seen them live which meant I was able to incorporate ideas from their music video, but also I could bring in my own experience and gauge who the target audience might be.
  
  
• The crowd's in both of these videos (above) showed a similar pattern: it was mainly a young male and female audience, with a similar 'hipster' style, which fit perfectly with our target audience. This style is very common within the indie-rock genre, therefore I developed this idea to ensure it appealed to this particular group of people.
• Furthermore, a survey we conducted found that it would be most effective to have the people i  our music video aged between 17 and 19, this way the audience feel as though they can relate to the band more; especially because we estimated that this age group would be the ones to view our video the most.

FURTHER RESEARCH:

• After trying to conduct research with a focus group, we came to the conclusion that this method wasn't very effective, as the responses were often immature. Also with a focus group, it provided an unbalanced view, as it was often more boys than girls.
• Therefore, we opted for individual audience interviews; which provided us with much more effective information to build on.
• During the research, we used a girl and 2 boys, with ages ranging from 17-20 (ages of our target audience).

• This particular research provided us with feedback about the song, ideas for our video and how people responded to the choice of genre

• Although we had effective feedback from our peers, and those in our target audience, we also turned to our teacher for some more productive, and analytical feedback. 
• This proved very helpful for us, not only because we received positive feedback about the lighting and the positioning of the camera, but we also received a lot of negative feedback, mainly based around the band shots, and the narrative not flowing or fitting well together.
• Due to this feedback, we thought it was completely necessary to change our song and music video now, while there was still time, rather than continuing with a video we were unhappy with.

• Our new idea, focused a lot more on the band, with efficient camera movement and a better storyline, which was more suitable to the indie-rock genre

• With our new, and more upbeat song, 'Late' by Jungle Doctors, we were able to include a lot more quick cuts between the band performance shots and the action shots. 
• By including the band in the narrative aspect of our video also meant that the entire storyline made much more sense, compared to our previous one
• This shows how big of an impact audience feedback is, as it can dramatically improve your product. We knew it was vital to receive as much feedback as possible because the audience are the ones acquiring the product, therefore it is important that we create a product that fits what they want and need.

• From the feedback of our final product (video above), it is clear that changing out song and idea made a dramatic difference to the success of our product.
• The feedback is a lot more positive and genuine, which meant that we were successful in creating a product to meet the audience's needs.
• We purposefully received feedback from people within our target audience and who are common listeners of the indie-rock genre so we were able to see if we truly did fit the criteria of this genre, and if fans would enjoy it.

PRINT PRODUCTS-

MAGAZINE ADVERT:

• The use of audience feedback was also extremely essential for the product and improvement of my print products.
• Audience feedback during the production process of the magazine advert meant we were able to change it from a very average advert, to a professional-looking product which would fit well lined up with professional work.
• Our first draft possessed many of the important elements that a magazine advert should include, such as an image of the band, release date, bold text and information about the band's social media. However, the overall look of the advert was not aesthetically pleasing or eye catching enough. 
• With audience feedback that agreed with what we already thought about our first draft, we were able to change it to suit their needs. We were told that the space looked empty and some colours didn't work well together, therefore we changed these aspects to produce a professional product.
• Our new, and final magazine advert possessed a lot more qualities of real and existing adverts that you would find in magazines such as NME. 
• Audience feedback was very useful when deciding on colours for the magazine. We were informed that the muted colours suited the magazine better, as it tied in with the digipak and the type of music of the band. Therefore, we decided to use this information and stick to the faded colouring to link it back to the band and their music.
• The laid back photo of the band as the main image received positive feedback as the audience felt it "reflected the personalities of the band members well". 
• Having 2 boys and 2 girls for audience feedback on our magazine also gave it a gender equal response, which in turn produced unbiased results 

(Final Magazine Advert)

DIGIPAK:

• The digipak was also transformed dramatically thanks to the audience feedback that we received and implemented into the development of our products
• The original idea was to have our digipak entirely in black and white, which is very common in the indie-rock genre. However, after audience feedback we found that it would be more eyecatching and appealing to follow the same colour scheme as the magazine advert, with the pastel, muted colours.
• The font remained the same throughout the digipak, and again linked back to our magazine advert, so the audience were able to see that the products were related. 
• Audience feedback on the digipak provided simple, yet effective criticisms, such as the font size and the colour scheme, which we were able to change in order to produce a professional final product.
• The main feedback was to keep the digipak simplistic- so that it wasn't too jam packed, and the simplicity would draw the audience towards it more- therefore this is exactly what we decided to do

(Final Digipak)

OVERALL:

• Research into the target audience as well as audience feedback was majorly important for the development of our music video and print products 
• It was vital to collect audience feedback during the entire production process, in order to change and tailor any aspects of the products based on feedback from the target audience. 
• It is almost always the case that the closer the products are to the target audiences' expectations, the more successful the products will be at promoting the band
• Without audience feedback, there is no way that our products would have come out as successful as they did. 
• In conclusion, audience feedback has had a massive impact on our final products. With personal opinions, analytical responses and criticisms, we were able to develop and change our products to suit the expectations of our target audience, resulting in a successful reaction.