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

Once we had completed a rough cut of our video we organised a target audience screening in the media room, we inviting along various people in the sixth form who best represented a sample of the target audience specified in the previous blog post 'Target Audience'. We wanted an audience that had previously not seen or did not know the contents of the video, in order to get a non-biased reaction.

Here are photos from the screening:

After screening the video we picked a select handful to come and give an interview about the video. We did this in groups of two. We asked the following questions:

• What were your initial thoughts?
• Were you shocked by the ending?
• Do you think the visuals correspond with the chosen song?
• What do you think are the positive aspects?
• What do you think are the negative aspects?
• If anything, what would you change about the video?

We then edited the interviews together with the corresponding video. See below:

Audience Feedback - Rough Cut 2 from WGSB on Vimeo.

The audience feedback was generally favourable, with each interviewee praising the video. However this may have been down to politeness. But it wasn't all niceties there was some constructive criticism.

Elements people particularly enjoyed were the strobe party scenes, and the fast paced editing, as well as the setting and casting. Furthermore the subtle hints throughout to the shocking finale. On the other hand some people felt that the animal masks and the inclusion of the younger boy was confusing, and seemed 'too random' at times.

This feedback helped to tweak our video slightly, with the inclusion of more quick cuts, to break up the long monotonous scenes such as Jack getting dressed and going to the bathroom. However this was something already picked up on by Mrs. McLuckie. The main conclusion we drew from this research was that the video was a product that appealed to the target audience, all the viewers were pleases with our efforts. Perhaps it was a narrative some could relate to, or perhaps it acted as escapism. We tried to encapsulate a Skins-esque teenage drama within the space of 3 minutes, and we hope this has been achieved.

On completion of the final cut Jordan put a link to the video on facebook, to get further feedback from the target audience.

Here we had one of Jordan's friends who is an experienced editor at the BBC say this about the video:

'I liked it. Editing to the beat can be tricky when trying to hold up a narrative. But you pulled it off by using constant "flash back" clips. Also, the picture in picture effect contained just the right amount of shots. Overloading the viewer with information can draw attention away from the narrative flow.

The reference to the child, suggesting a forgotten innocence within the character, tied in well with the video's portrayal of todays youth.

Overall, the sequence included some well thought out editorial decisions and I was happy to see normal cuts, rather than quick fix transitions.

I give the Prodigy parody a 80%, I deducted 20% due to indieness.'

It was great to receive feedback from a professional. Here he has picked up on The Prodigy video 'Smack My Bitch Up' which acted as a great influence in the narrative and filming of our video. In addition he compliments the fast paced editing, and inclusion of the young boy as juxtaposition with his elder self.

In conclusion the feedback helped us fine tune are video and build it into the finish product that it is now. Feedback early on, when we had a first rough cut, helped significantly move away from our original idea, to something more innovative and interesting.