Evaluation 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To present my 3rd evaluation, I have used a voice over with quicktime. I used it to display and explain, how my audience feedback had helped my through the production of my music video, digipak and magazine advertisement.  I also explain what I have learnt from it, what helped me to progress further. When using quicktime, I also covered examples and demonstrations of what I was talking about.  This included recording my screen as I went through my blog, displaying each example.

• When editing my music video, audience feedback was something which helped me massively.  An example of it helping me is when I published a first draft of my music video, as I began to edit.  I showed this to two of my piers and videoed them giving me feedback on what I had done so far.  This allowed me modify what I had done already, if necessary and continue the rest of my editing with confidence from the previous feedback.  An example of where this feedback helped me was when they commented on the Mura Masa inspired moving stills, not fitting in with the rest of the editing, as well as the song itself.  This then lead to me revisiting the moving shots which I already had in the video and agreeing with them.  I removed the ones I had already, and no longer continued with this idea. I then had to reorganise and plan more shots to replace the ones I had already.
• Audience Feedback also helped me in the production of my ancillaries as I had asked for feedback on different sections of my their production.  Once I had the first draft of my digipak and magazine advert, I asked for feedback from my audience and piers.  The feedback that I got meant that I was able to know whether what I had of my ancillaries so far fit the codes and conventions of others in the same genre. Examples of, what I learnt when receiving feedback on my ancillaries is that, the release date on my advertisement wasn't prominent enough and didn't fit the general convention of an advertisement, being that release dates are very bold, noticeable and eye catching. 

Strengths of how I carried out audience feedback - 

• A strength of holding a focus group as my first every audience feedback, was that the way it was held was very relaxed and informal, in comparison to a one on one interaction.  Therefore, people are much more likely to speak freely and feel more relaxed.  It also meant that people were able to build off each other in that, one person would speak, which would trigger and inspire another persons idea.  This way you have a much more varied response and feedback which is more honest. 
• A strength of the one on one feedback, with me recording a singular individual is that the person is a lot less likely to hold back.  Perhaps someone who is sat in a group was too shy or nervous to say what they wanted to say openly, in front of everyone else.  It also meant that the individual would focus more.  With one on one feedback, the person has no distraction and you r full attention is on then.  This would mean that the feedback received would be more thought through.

Weakness of how I carried out audience feedback - 

• A weakness of the way I carried out a form of audience feedback was with the ones where I involved more than one person.  There was one video which I did which involved 2 people, and one video I did which was group feedback.  The weakness I found with this form of feedback was that I didn't have the individuals 100% attention.  This meant that the feedback received wasn't as thought through as I would have like it to be. 

          How could I improve this? - I think, although the feedback I got from the groups was good, to improve the quality of the feedback I would do a lot more one on one feedback videos.  I also could have done a survey.

Why is audience feedback important to me?

• The first way that audience feedback is important to me is, as I created my film, as a film maker, I was able to know what I was doing right and what I was doing wrong as I went through production and whether it appealed to my target audience.  An example of where it has been very helpful in this way was when I collected feedback as I went through editing.  In several stages of editing, I received audience feedback which allowed me to know whether I was targeting it right.
• Another reason that feedback is important to me as a film maker, is that it allowed me to know where I could improve, in the eyes of my viewer.  The areas that I did need to improve, allowed me to go and learn new skills in order to do so.  For example, if some editing I had done received negative feedback, I would be able to go and search alternative ways to edit it and therefore learn new skills in doing so.