Evaluation - Question 3

Question 3: What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?


For the audience feedback I set aside five technical terms to categorise the response; Lip-Sync, Editing, Cinematography, Lighting and how the visuals reflect the audio.



Lip-Sync: In general people said the Lip-Sync was decent and did flow with the video. However they did say that in some certain areas of the video the sync was clearly off. They put this down to the fact that the language of the video is Korean, which may or may not be true as it might just simply be a mistake in the editing process. From this I learnt the importance of the effect of lip-sync on a video and how it can make it or break it, I will bear this in mind when I come to lip-sync again as it is such an important process.  




Editing: People said overall for the editing was fast enough that the video actually appeared to be like a conventional music video. The cuts were quick enough and on time with the music that nobody could see an obvious "dodgy cut", which I'm pleased with since a an off beat cut can really ruin a music video. Some people said how the video could of been cut even a bit faster, so I will bear this in mind when I come to edit using music again and see how I can attempt to make the video faster without making it too jarring so the audience doesn't have a negative reaction/response to the video.




Cinematography: In general people said that the cinematography used was good and that it reflected the "fun" theme that I was going for. On a downside some of the feedback suggested that I could of used more experimental camera angles and shot types instead of  standard static shots with several close-ups. On the topic of the location, many people didn't like the location chosen. They said that it was too simplistic and rather boring. I agree with this response as I was originally going to use green screen as a backdrop, then in the editing process use the Chroma Key to remove it and replace it with a more exotic backdrop. But as another member of the class hadn't returned the green screen, I had to use the white and black backdrops you see which of course weren't ideal. In a future process I'll learn to be more experimental with my use of the camera, especially since it was K-Pop, which does demand a certain level of unique, experimentation with its video.




Lighting: In general people said the lighting was off and could of been a much bigger influence in the video. I agree with this statement as due to a technical issue I could only use one light in the process instead of the two that I wanted. This did impact the video but not in such a way where it was ruined, something that I intend to focus on in the future as lighting is such a integral point in a music video, especially in K-Pop where you can argue that lighting is somewhat overused in order to create that bright, vibrant and over-exposed look.




How the visuals reflect the audio: For the most part the feedback suggested that the visuals in the video reflected the music that I used. The fast, upbeat K-Pop track did flow alongside the "fun", "jokey"  atmosphere that I was going for in the video. Some of the feedback suggested that the video could have been a bit less plain, they didn't really go into detail as to how, but reflecting on the overall look of my music video I can see how I could in the future, add to the look of the video making it a bit lively and giving it a final, professional touch to it. From this process I learned on how important the visuals are when alongside the audio.



Also for my feedback I decided to have a Media 2.0 approach too and use a group chat on Facebook to obtain some feedback from an audience who don't hold the same cultural capital that the group above did. I chose to ask the following questions;

1 1. What do you think happens in the narrative?

2 2.  Do you think the performances are convincing?

3 3. Does the video remind you of anything you've seen before?

4 4. Would you ever consider being friends with the performers in the video?

5 5. What genre do you think the video belongs too?

   6. If you had total control over the video what would you change/not change? 

From this feedback from someone who has no prior knowledge to how the music industry works, I have learned that in general, people believe my video to remain within the genre constraints of K-Pop. She also said of how the video was easy to follow, no over-complicated narrative or technical issues that ruined the video. She also mentioned on the fact that she would watch the video through if it appeared on a music channel, this shows me that I have created an engaging video via the use of the visuals that has proven to keep an audience interested in the video.  

Overall from my qualitative feedback I have discovered an audiences' approach to a media text is what defines their preferred reading of it. I believe that my audience for my video are mainly passive as they are taking in the video and all of its visual aspects rather than questioning what actually goes on in the video itself. Although I can see how some members of my intended audience, due to their cultural capital, will be more interested in what my video is trying to represent through the cinematography, lighting, editing etc. when in a matter of fact all I tried to represent overall was a group of girls having fun in a very genre constrained video that doesn't challenge any ideological beliefs whatsoever and goes for a totally relaxed and fun scopophilia.