48. Evaluation Three

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is obviously a vital aspect of my project due to it allowing me to gain better knowledge of my own work from other perspectives. It allows me to be able to make potential changes, or see what aspects of the project I have completed well. By gaining feedback from various people throughout I was able to make slight changes throughout to improve my work and ensure my ancillary tasks where to the highest level.

When gaining audience feedback I decided to use qualitivie data rather than quantative as I thought this would provide more intricate answers and ensure I got the best possible results and could take the most from them. I created a questionairre and asked a small group of people to answer it. The people who completed the questionairre were of the same type of demographic group my video was aimed towards, focusing on C/D group of people. However, despite being in the same demographic group, they were of different ages, showing different perspectives dependant on ages. This way I was able to see if the answers differed regarding what age people watched the video.

After showing a group of people my video, I gained verbal feedback from the majority but also got a group of people to answer these six questions and these were a selection of answers I gained from the questionairre;


1) Did you enjoy the video?
"Yes I did, it was very enjoyable as it had a feel good feel at the end when the character succeeded."
"Yes, it was very good"
"Yes, however it got a bit repeatative and boring at some points."


2) What do you think the preferred reading of the video is?
"I thought it was about someone who is trying to be the best they possibly can be. I think they have many problems throughout but overcome these to get where they are, reflecting to the title and lyrics of the song - being a fighter."
"I think it's about someone who is dealing with adversity to get to where they want to be."
"Having challenges and working to overcome them."


3) Was the video easy to understand?
"Yes, you got the message that whatever the time of day, weather, the character was always out there playing, trying to get better."
"Yes, there was sporting aspects throughout making it easy to understand that was a key element. The different sporting locations also added to this."
"Yes. There was continuously sporting references throughout so you notice it's a struggle in sport. By relating the feeling to the time of day/weather it creates pathetic fallacy."

4) How do you think the character was feeling throughout the video?
"Down and depressed at the start then towards the end, happiness that they've overcome struggles and been successful. I think the weather being sunny at the point of the shot being scored helps this to be seen."
"Upset and depressed to begin with and happiness when they overcome obstacles."
"Dissapointment and inadequate at the beginning and happiness and successful at the end."


5)Do you think the ancillary tasks relate well to the main product - would you associate them with each other?
"Yes, I definitely would associate them and the video would make me want to buy the other products."
"Yes, as there are similar images used to what you see in the video."
"Yes the images relate to the video."

6)What changes could I have made to improve the video?
"The section at the very end where the character is just sitting there, you could have used a better way to show she has succeeded."
"Potentially  more characters to get different points of view."
"More characters to make it more interesting."

All these answers were very helpful and enabled me to realise alot. Firstly, I was glad they all enjoyed the video as obviously one of the key reasons people watch the videos is to not only promote the artist but to also enjoy watching and escape from life dependant on their uses and gratifications. Some people may have been watching to be introduced to the artist, others may be watching for enjoyment or to escape from their everyday lives and watch someone else. However, if they were watching it for enjoyment - they got this, which is what I aimed to do. I wanted people to understand and gain new thoughts and reasonings relating to Laura Mulvey's theory but also to enjoy the video.

Secondly, each individual also each person recognised the preferred reading of the video and realised it was about someone who has to deal with adversity and struggles at the beginning but with hard work, day and night, in any type of weather, the person worked hard to overcome it. Obviously this was what I wanted to create. I wanted to show that with strength and determination the talent could overcome obstacles and issues that they were confronted with and with the continuous hard work this was able to happen. This was shown by the different locations and the constant reflection to the sport. By everyone recognising the preferred reading it means I know that I have done what I needed to do. They're each different ages, meaning I have provided a video for a focus group that each age can understand. However, the ages range from 15-50, so I would say this is my focus group as they're obviously able to understand the emotional side and meaning that is being portrayed.  I'm pleased that people are able to recognise the key elements and story behind the video. Due to the demographic group being C/D they're also of the intellengence level to understand the meaning and connect the emotions with the storyline throughout. Overall, there were no oppositional, negoated or aberrant readings from my audience feedback, everyone agreed on the preferred readings. Everyone established that it was about becoming successful and about women in sport.

However, it was interesting to see that none of my audience feedback reflected on the talent being a female in sport. I found this interesting as it personally went against Laura Mulvey's theory and that everyone tends to relate to the aspect that the women is portrayed in a sexual manor. None of my audience mentioned the fact that the talent was a women and this didn't seem to be an issue for them. This may be due to their demographic and that they're used to seeing women in a strong, determined manor and in a respectful aspect, not just in a sexual manor. Although it was interesting to see that there was very little comments made on this matter.

Thirdly, I decided to ask whether the video was easy to understand. This was because to me, it had a simple storyline but complex emotions involved that I wanted to portray. As I stated before, the demographic group is of that where they potentially should be able to understand. However, despite discussing the demographic I aimed it at, I wanted it to be understandable by all. The first answer given was that as the audience you got the message that the individual was out there whatever day and time training hard to overcome the struggles - this was what I wanted to show. Secondly, another answer was that the constant reference to sporting elements, for exmaple, the basketball hoops and the basketball court as the location meant that it was easy to establish this was a key point. Thirdly, the third person recognised the link I was trying to create using the weather. I wanted to use each season to show that she was constantly working hard, but the individual picked up that the weather linked to pathetic fallacy as the weather represented the emotion/feeling at that point. A prime example that was noted was the sun shining as the talent scores one of the final shots. This is the thought I wanted to create.

The emotions/feelings portrayed throughout were obviously potentially the most important part of the video as this was the main point I wanted to get across apart from the way that women were viewed. Therefore, it was vital people knew how the character was feeling. Every person I asked recognised that the person was obviously unhappy and depressed to being with. They recognised this was represented by the dark weather and the angry emotions showed by the character boxing. However, they all realised that towards the end, due to the hard work, the success came and this changed the way the character was feeling. For example, the character was then overcome with happiness and the feeling of sucess towards the end. I'm pleased that people understood that this is what I wanted to create and related the weather to the feelings throughout.

I asked for feedback regarding the main product and ancillary tasks as this is also a big part of the production and the video is used to promote the artist, therefore there needs to be a recognisable connection. Personally, I thought they were connected so it was interesting to see what my audience thought. Each person all believed they related well and that they would associate each of the products to the video. This was mainly due to the screenshots and images coming straight from the video so they could automatically associate it with them. This was helpful as it also meant that these would be successful when helping shift units as the audience would see the digipak and automatically recongise the artist.

Lastly, I asked my audience what I could've changed about my video to improve it. Obviously I gained feedback throughout, as I was producing the video to see what I could change as I was editing it. However, it was interesting to see peoples opinions now it's completed. Therefore, the first answer I recieved was that I could of shown the success at the end in a different manor rather than the individual just sitting there miming. Although I will take this as constructive critismn, I believe I finished the video in the correct manor and won't be adapting this. This is down to believing that success was shown with the big finishing shot scored at the end. I believe the talent isn't 'just sitting there at the end'. I wanted to create the feel of the talent looking as if she's looking her doubters in the eye and saying the powerful words back to them as if to say 'I told you so'. Finishing with a smile to show the success and the happiness at the end of the video. I wanted a simple yet effective aspect. Other critism I recieved was that there was no other characters. At the beginning of the production I picked up on this and although it would have been good to get other perspectives of the matter, I believe only having one character meant the focus was fully on her and the underlying meaning particuarly when reflecting back to Laura Mulvey's theory. Therefore, despite noticing where the audience are coming from, I believe I justified why I didn't change thiese.