What did you learn from your audience feedback?

For my audience feedback, I showed 5 people my main task and subsidiary tasks, and asked them 6 questions:

• Was there a controlled use of camerawork?
• Was there a variety of shot types?
• Was there close attention to the use of mise-en-scene?
• Is the narrative clear?
• Do the images work well with the sound?
• Would the product as a whole make you want to buy/download the album?

Each question was given a rating out of 5, and participants were allowed to provide additional comments related to the questions. Here is an example of some positive audience feedback:

Was there a controlled use of camerawork? 4/5
Was there a variety of shot types? 4/5
Was there close attention to the use of mise-en-scene? 5/5
Is the narrative clear? 3/5
Do the images work well with the sound? 4/5
Would the product as a whole make you want to buy/download the album? 4/5

"The use of the dark red filters and the run-down urban setting adds to the bleak atmosphere of the song and the video, and I like the way the subsidiary tasks all relate to one another, although I think that there could be more emphasis on the narrative. However, I think it is a good accompaniment of the song and it is convincing enough to make me want to buy the album."

Feedback from the other 4 participants was similar, with comments about the use of mise-en-scene and editing techniques adding to the atmosphere of the video being frequent. I agreed with this feedback, but I disagree with their view on the narrative, as I wanted the video to balance both performance and narrative aspects and not have one becoming dominant.

When creating the video, the Uses and Gratifications theory was in mind as I was looking to entertain the audience, and I wanted to make a video for an audience that wasn't influenced by the power of media and make a video that they could connect with. I also considered demographics, hence for the questionnaire I asked people aged 16-18, as this was the age group I was targeting and that I felt could relate most to the video. From what I gathered, my audience were entertained by my video, and that they could definitely connect with the main character and the themes of conflict, teenage angst and boredom. These themes and the purposes of the video were also part of my preferred reading, so I am happy that I encoded the video so that the audience could decode it in the way that I wanted them to.