Evaluation Question 3 - audience feedback

We have completed our question three of the evaluation based on audience feedback where we combined all our feedback into one:

Showcase vlog

After the showcase, my group and I filmed our response to the feedback we received after handing out forms to the audience.

This is a photo of one of the forms we received which we found to be very useful.

Here is the vlog:

Music video completed

This is our final product!!

Magazine advert analysis

I chose a number of magazine adverts featuring rock bands such as You Me At Six, Enter Shikari and Kodaline to evaluate how these artists use symbolic images, fonts, colour palette and mise-en-scene to either conform or subvert from the rock genre.

You Me At Six:

Enter Shikari:

Kodaline:

Digipak cover ideas

I have been doing some thinking about the design on my digipak, both cover and back. I also did some research into album cover designs of the rock culture and analysed the conventions that were both conformed to and subverted from. 

The Bronx

The Bronx are an American hardcore punk band. Their album cover design for their third album titled The Bronx (III) subverts from the conventions of rock bands. 

Their album cover consists of two birds edited in a spiral shape. This reminds me more of a sci-fi theme than rock, however, the harsh colours of black and white against the pink conforms to the rock genre. The band's title is clearly marked in front of a black background for emphasis. 

I would like to incorporate this design on my own digipak with maybe images of the "protagonist" of our music video as the main attraction. I also considered using the trees constantly seen in the video, as a background. I think this design is very original and interesting and the bright colours caught my eye, which is something I want for my design. 

Haerts

Haerts are an American indie pop band and their album titled "All For You" caught my eye as it is simple and basic, yet effective.

The front cover of their album is shown on the left. It consists of a colour palette of greys, purples and whites which is very conforming of the indie genre. It also displays an image of a naked person from behind which may represent the exposure of emotions, which is something implied in their lyrics. The band's name is sprawled at the very top of the cover and looks as though it as been written on with a white board marker. Underneath the band's title is the word "hemiplegia" which is the paralysis of one side of the body. This can explain the reason there is a line drawn in the middle of the cover, halving the body, thus illustrating the paralysis on one side of the body. On the right is an image of the back cover which simply consists of the song titles listed in basic font. 

This design interested me because although it is simple, it is very interesting to look at, especially at the image directly positioned in the middle of the framing. I would like to incorporate this into my digipak design, possibly on the back cover with the song titles printed over it. 

Lower Than Atlantis

Lower Than Atlantis are a four piece alternative rock band from Hertfordshire, UK. 

Their newest album titled "Lower Than Atlantis" consists of a pink background which subverts from the usual colour scheme of black and white for the rock genre. In front of the background are the four band members, with the lead singer being closer to the camera than the others. This conforms to the star quality image theory proposed by Richard Dyer. There are two different fonts used which is effective because it creates diversity contrasting with the simplicity of the design. The name "Atlantis" originates from a fictional island from Plato's works. The font suits the idea of Atlantis being an island as the wavy font resembles waves. 

I like the idea of the band members being used on the front cover as it conforms to the rock genre. I am considering incorporating this onto my dijipack cover with my group members and I lined up. I think the background should be a faint image of the trees featured frequently in the music video as it ties the album cover with the video. The image I would be using is from our opening of our video:

Instead of the writing, there would be an image of the band members. The band's title and album title would be at the top in bold white writing so that it is bright against the dull background.

Audience feedback

I constructed a questionnaire in which contained questions regarding music genre and conventions. I also included questions about my personal music video. I used a series of different platforms to do so; 

1) My media class watched our video and then wrote down on paper "WWW" (what went well) and "EBI". We took the advice from the feedback and made sure to make those changes in our video where we felt appropriate. We also filmed a group vlog explaining in more detail how useful the feedback from our classmates was:

The questions asked were: 

2) I showed my family members my music video and then gave them a series of questions in which they answered. I then put the data on a table for easy access. 

All three agreed that music videos should include originality and I believe that that is something my music video does not lack. Personally, I think artists such as Lady Gaga have become much more successful by being 'different' not only in appearance wise, but career wise, also. 

(image from her music video of "Bad Romance")

3) I also sent the questions to friends using social networking sites such as Facebook:

The majority of our feedback suggests that some shots may be a little too repetitive and although this is a common convention in music videos, I feel that other shots may be more suitable. Another suggestion made apparent by feedback is that the transitions need to be made smoother, which is something we have adapted to our video since.

Overall, this exercise was very useful and my group and I have used the feedback to improve our final product.

Our video so far, and changes

The changes that my group and I have made so far have benefited us and our music video as now, after receiving both positive and negative audience feedback, we have adjusted and changed the content and concept. 

Firstly, the shots of past and present were not that clear so as well as using a fade transition, we also changed the filter of the past shots (romantic filter) we also adjusted the colouring palette to black and white, and enhanced the brightness. 

This shot consists of the back of the "man" which is relevant in our concept because we wanted the "killer" to remain anonymous until the very end of the music video. 

Secondly, we added another shot of myself lip syncing, however, decided to not include the eyes and the majority of the face as we wanted to adhere to the anonymity of the people in the video. We also included this shot throughout the video as most music videos include repetition.

Thirdly, we decided to include the shot where the murder actually happens. However, we wanted to subvert from the cliché murder scenes, and instead we made it as discreet yet apparent as possible. We also edited to the beat, which is a convention used a lot in the rock genre. 

However, after receiving negative audience feedback, we realised that it may not be apparent enough so we went out and filmed another shot of a rock being dropped on the ground. This may be cliché but we feel like we could make it work, if we edited it to the beat and didn't make a big deal of it. The shot includes a close-up which is a convention of music videos in general.

We also included over-laying shots in our music video as we feel this is very effective. It could also represent the period of time in which it takes the spirit to appear.