To answer this question, we set up and exhibited our music video in front of around 30 target audience members and gave them a quick survey to fill out after the viewing. The target audience members were male and females between the ages of 16-19. The questions are as follows:
1. What do you like about the video?
2. What do you think is happening in the video?
3. Our genre is pop. How convincing is our video for this genre. Please give reasons.
4. Any criticism?
A few members thought that the character in the video was suitable to the song choice. Our idea of having a hedonistic female that goes out stealing and conning male victims can be related to the lyrics of the song. For example, the lyrics "You're gone and I gotta stay, High all the time, To keep you off my mind" goes with the narrative of the song as we see the character 'take revenge' on her male victims. It could be interpreted that she has been hurt in a past relationship and has given up on finding love, so instead indulges in other pleasures. "Realism- in the moment feeling" was another response. I agree with this person that the video feels real and that as a viewer, you feel like you are there in the scene. The fact that we used real life, and in some cases, public settings such as a bedroom, a street, a bar, a toilet etc. makes the video seem very realistic. As discussed in Evaluation Question II, we think that our product is easily feasible in real life and this character could be any ordinary person.
Only one person said that the music video could have been more convincing. The justification for this was that the song "could have been more upbeat and the convention of a happy pop song was not met". They went on to say how the narrative could have presented more of a "feel good" attitude despite the sad tone of the song. Taking this on board, I fully understand why this has been said and I actually agree with it. The song is not completely happy and upbeat and this may create the feeling that the song is not a pop product after all. On the other hand, I believe that this challenged convention is better and more suited for the artist we created, Mayla Lee, as well as for the theme of the song.
1. What do you like about the video?
2. What do you think is happening in the video?
3. Our genre is pop. How convincing is our video for this genre. Please give reasons.
4. Any criticism?
After receiving feedback, we collaborated as a group, collected all the comments together and superimposed them onto a copy of our music video as annotations. Please click here or play the video above to watch!
This method of information collection is quick and easy to conduct at the same time as collecting both positive and negative feedback. This was essential to do in order to answer this question to the highest degree as it requires a range of constructive feedback to analyse. The video's positive feedback can be seen in green text boxes and negative feedback, in red boxes.
ANALYSIS OF AUDIENCE FEEDBACK:
1. What do you like about the video?
One aspect of the video that was well liked by the majority was the "good lip sync and editing". This is a welcome response to the first question of the survey for me as I know that this was a feature that we wanted to execute well. After seeing some other examples that did not have as good of a lip sync, we knew that this central feature of a music video was vital for the success of our product at the audience reception. The use of up to four cameras when filming the performance side of the video was a very good decision and helped us when it came to the final cut. This links in to another response which was "cutting on the beat". Again, abiding by a common pop convention, we have added to the authenticity of our product by editing effectively.
A few members thought that the character in the video was suitable to the song choice. Our idea of having a hedonistic female that goes out stealing and conning male victims can be related to the lyrics of the song. For example, the lyrics "You're gone and I gotta stay, High all the time, To keep you off my mind" goes with the narrative of the song as we see the character 'take revenge' on her male victims. It could be interpreted that she has been hurt in a past relationship and has given up on finding love, so instead indulges in other pleasures. "Realism- in the moment feeling" was another response. I agree with this person that the video feels real and that as a viewer, you feel like you are there in the scene. The fact that we used real life, and in some cases, public settings such as a bedroom, a street, a bar, a toilet etc. makes the video seem very realistic. As discussed in Evaluation Question II, we think that our product is easily feasible in real life and this character could be any ordinary person.
Other feedback that the target audience members enjoyed included the range of camera angles, locations and scenes, especially the mirror and poker scenes. As we wrote the narrative, we introduced new locations and scenes that we wanted our character to feature in. We wanted to develop the mirror shots seen in other music videos and use this as a tool to tell a story that happened the night before. I think this went well in the production stages of the process despite the obvious difficulties of filming around mirrors. The use of a variety of shot types was essential in presenting an interesting video. If we had only used a handful of shots, we would have restricted what could be shown to the audience in the final video. Ultimately, this would have skewed what we wanted to show them. The final piece of positive feedback was the "Performance/Narrative balance". Some people enjoyed the fact that there was less performance and more of a story, which contradicts modern pop music videos. We wanted to challenge this particular convention but not everyone agrees about this decision- please see below at number 4.
2. What do you think is happening in the video?
There was a range of interpretations of our video by our target audience members. Some responses are more literal whereas some members have looked deeper into the meaning and message of the product. We accept them all as worthy interpretations and have found it interesting what people thought it was all about. Here is a list of all of the responses:
- The exploitation of men for personal gain especially with a sexualised tone
- Prostitution
- A con artist
- Meeting up with men/trying to find a partner
- Going out to bars and getting drunk
- Stealing
- Gambling
- Simply making money illegally
- Trying to get over a bad relationship
- Someone singing about an event whilst doing makeup
The closest responses to my own interpretation of the video
are "The exploitation of men for personal gain especially with a
sexualised tone" and "Trying to get over a bad relationship".
These particular members have looked into the deeper meaning of the visuals in
the video and acquainted them with the lyrics heard from the song. Although the
other responses aren't wrong, (eg. it is indeed about a con artist who steals,
gambles and gets drunk) they are very literal and we wanted to present a deeper
meaning to the visual text. My interpretation of my product is that a young
women has been hurt in a previous relationship and is pleasuring herself and
'taking revenge' by stealing, conning and sleeping with men. However, being a
co-writer of the narrative and cinematography as well as helping create the
video, I am biased due to this and must not oppress other people’s experiences
and views of the product. One extreme inference of the video included
"Prostitution". Although we did not want to create this image of the
character for our target audience, I can understand that the underlying tones
of voyeurism in the video may have presented this idea.
3. Our genre is pop. How convincing is our video for this genre. Please give reasons.
This question produced four main answers; very convincing, fairly convincing, could have been more convincing and not convincing. The reasoning behind the very convincing responses included "a matching narrative for the song" and "realistic conventions for pop music- a girl getting over a relationship and making money". I know that we worked hard on creating a narrative that could be identified with the use of the lyrics from the song- I am happy that this has made our product more convincing. It is also satisfying to see that our audience has recognised pop conventions in our product, especially within the storyline.
Responses like "a convincing pace", "good lip syncing", and "convincing use of costumes creating an authentic character" support the most popular answer- fairly convincing. I think that this is the most popular answer to question 3 of our survey because although it is no doubt a pop product, it challenges main pop conventions which is enough to stop people from fully enjoying and understanding it. These three answers are evidence that we have thought clearly about how we were going to edit the video and what effects these decision would have on the product. It also goes to show that careful planning and research in the costume department pays off.
Only one person said that the music video could have been more convincing. The justification for this was that the song "could have been more upbeat and the convention of a happy pop song was not met". They went on to say how the narrative could have presented more of a "feel good" attitude despite the sad tone of the song. Taking this on board, I fully understand why this has been said and I actually agree with it. The song is not completely happy and upbeat and this may create the feeling that the song is not a pop product after all. On the other hand, I believe that this challenged convention is better and more suited for the artist we created, Mayla Lee, as well as for the theme of the song.
At the other end of the scale, some believed the video was not convincing as a pop music video. Some thought that there "should be more performance scenes and should have less of a storyline". Others explained that they disliked it because "it did not have any dancing in" and "it was too depressing to be a pop video". I know that the genre is saturated with large budget dance routines and performances with visual effects and more. However, we decided to go against this and create a narrative based song instead of conforming with the performance focused convention. We wanted to tell a story within 3 and a half minutes instead of filling it completely with dance and lip sync. Personally, I think that we have challenged this well but I also understand that this is what the audience wants these days and we were prone to criticism in this area by making that decision.
4. Any criticism?
Question 4 solely focuses on criticism. If we had the chance to do the video again, we would happily mend these issues. Here is the list of answers:
- Unenthusiastic mime
- Some scenes were more prolonged than others (poker)
- Should be more performance
- Poor quality in some shots
- Aspect ratio and resolution changes throughout video
- Shaky camera
- Repetitive shots
- Should have chosen a different song for the video's narrative
- MORE revealing clothing for character (NOTE: this person thought character was a prostitute)
The unenthusiastic mime was surprising to us as we thought the mime looked good overall. However, in the close up shots of just the artist's face, we have recognised it does appear to look unenthusiastic, despite wanting to give off the opposite effect.
The poker scene was of disproportional length with other scenes in the video because it was, apart from the performance scenes, the most important. This scene is seen towards the bridge and climax of the song and is supposed to be the most exciting. It turned out to be the longest scene in the video despite cutting it down substantially! However, we wanted this to be the longest and most memorable because it visually defines the character and the song in the video. It metaphorically tells the audience how ever difficult life may be in parts, there is always a silver lining. The poker scene represents the game of life and its twists, turns and struggles. The ending of the scene, where she wins the game, represents the fact that you can beat all the odds and come out on top. This criticism reinforces the fact that pop videos are usually performance based and many audience members prefer it this way.
One big issue we had was the difference in quality of the cameras and their different aspect ratios. This is reflected largely in the criticism- "Poor quality in some shots" and "Aspect ratio and resolution changes throughout video". We have to take full responsibility for this error and given the chance to change or re-create the video, we would definitely fix this issue. In the performance scenes, we needed to film the actor from multiple angles to give us as much film to edit with as possible. Unfortunately, this meant that the secondary camera we were working with (Sony Super HAD CCD) did not output full HD resolution film like the main camera did (Canon EOS 500D). This mistake restricts our product from looking very professional which is truly saddening due to the amount of effort and hard work input into the product.
Another criticism was that in some shaky scenes where the camera was not completely still. Although not immediately obvious, it does appear that there is some accidental movement of the camera in the poker scene. Despite not being prevalent in the entire video, this must nevertheless be taken into account and identified.
One comment said "repetitive shots". We are not entirely sure what this specifically refers to due to its vague nature but we could assume it means that we have used several similar shots more than once throughout the video. I agree that we have repeated some shots but it is very difficult not to repeat them when there are over 100 different shots within the space of 3 minutes. We have decided to do this to link sequences (like the performance) together through the video.
The rest of the feedback from question 4 is purely personal preference . Some wanted less narrative and more performance. One particular person thought that the character should have "worn MORE revealing clothing". However, this same person thought that the character was a prostitute and so this comment is justified by this.
REFLECTION ON PRODUCT AFTER AUDIENCE FEEDBACK:
If we were to re-make the video there would be four main things I would definately change. One of these changes would be the balance between narrative and performance. Despite, my justification and reasoning behind making the music video narrative based, for the satisfaction of the majority, I would have reversed this. In the pop genre these days, a video can give meaning through the song and entertainment through the video. I believe I tried to provide too much meaning through the video and less focus on entertainment and this is why Bad Habits has been criticised.
The second of these changes would be the reduction in the amount of cameras used. I would do this and only use one camera to film with because it would mean all of the footage would be of the same quality. I would organise filming so that we would have more time to film therefore the necessity for multiple cameras would be eradicated. In doing so, I think the video would look more professional.
Next, I would go as far as changing the song. Again, although chosen for a reason, I think the audience would have enjoyed a more upbeat and happy song. I do not think that this limits our product too much as the majority liked the choice. However, it would conform more with modern pop conventions if it had these characteristics.
The last thing I would change was not identified in the target audience feedback. I would have personally changed the lighting in many of the scenes throughout the video. We wanted to create the correct atmosphere in these scenes with the use of high key and low key lighting. In evaluation, I think that lighting, despite much thought and consideration, did not come off as well as I would have hoped. For example, in the poker scene, I would have liked there to have been less lighting to create a darker, more mysterious atmosphere. However, the large lamp we were using lit up the whole room we were in.
In summary, I have learnt that the popularity of music videos are often defined by what they contain within them. After this feedback, I have identified that many users are very literal when it comes to interpreting the action on screen. This is why performance (including dancing and lip syncing) is popular and a huge pop genre convention. Upon reflection, it may have been unwise to tackle such large and important conventions and put a different spin on it. Audience members did like this and is the reason why we enjoyed making our video different- but it is not always for everyone. I have come to understand that editing and the choice of locations are crucial and this makes up the bulk of our positive audience reception.
Finally, and arguable more important than all of the above is being careful and having an eye for detail in the planning stages. The fact that the aspect ratio and resolution changes throughout my video frustrates me personally as this is easily fixed. It is a shame that our video suffers and does not get its "professional" finish that it deserves.
