QUESTION THREE - What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

To gather audience feedback on my music video and print productions I created a questionnaire. I designed the questionnaire to focus on the opinions of the audience. I used SurveyMonkey as a platform to distribute my questionnaire and to analyse my results. My questionnaire can be found here. I did also, however, email a few more questions out more about the narrative within my music video as the platform I used only allowed 10 questions. The extra questions were:

• What themes did you think were prevalent throughout my video?
• Did you understand the links between the video and digipak? (use of drugs, alcohol to get rid of the pain and difficulty of life)
• Do you relate to the male or female character more? and why?
• Who do you empathise with the male or female character? why?

When distributing my questionnaire I focused on sending it mainly to those I thought would enjoy my video/print production and also to my audience demographic (ages 17+). My audience profile expresses the interests of my target audience.

I received 23 responses to my questionnaire.

When creating the questionnaire I focused on finding out the personal opinions of those responding, as well as what they thought certain aspects meant. I had mixed reviews about my print production and my video however they were very interesting to consider and help further my personal views and abilities within film making and print productions.

Those who watched and responded to my questionnaire were predominantly male at 56% (13), females at 39% (9) and then those who preferred not to say being 4% (1). 17 and 18-year-olds made up the greatest respondents to the questionnaire coming up at 16 out of the 23 respondents. This was very important as that age was my target audience. However, I did open up the questionnaire to those older to find out their opinion the oldest respondent being 50.

From my audience feedback, I learnt a lot about what people thought about my video and digipak. For my video people seemed to enjoy it with 73.92% of people rated me between 8 and 10. I asked them to leave comments as to what they liked about the video. A lot of comments were about the style of filming and the shot types I used, however, there were a few about the narrative within the video. For example, one comment stated 'The narrative is very clear (loneliness and etc). The cutting of the track in the video fits perfectly and does not negatively affect the song. The shots and editing skills that you convey throughout is very ambitious (especially that you are one person group) the video resembles a video montage of the couples relationship. Seems amateur (but in a good way!!) which conveys the story line and makes it relates to the audience more and puts the video on their level. This whole video kept me engaged and I enjoyed every second of it!' This was a very useful comment as it touched on a range of different aspects of the video. I then flipped this question and asked what they believed could have been improved. Within this section a few people skipped it which was not gratefully helpful as I didn't then much to go on. However, the responses I did get were indeed helpful. A lot of them discussed the colour correction used as some of the shots were rather dull and could have been changed. Another comment was that because of the duplicated footage more could have been shot and used. Henry Jenkins fandom theory could be applied here due to the audience taking the meanings that were useful to them (camera angles, narrative, editing techniques) and leaving the rest. 

10 out of the 23 respondents gave me a 10/10 for my digipak. A lot of the comments talked about their interest in the simplicity and professionalism of my digipak. However, some people didn't understand the links between the video and digital. I did receive a comment that was the only one that discussed their understanding of the broader narrative and theme of pain 'The artwork on both productions look professional and creative. The medical drugs shown seem to match the narrative of the video about pains. On the post you use social media icons, this is perfect as you further promote the band through their social media which is one of the main objectives. The digipak panels are also very visually appealing, it engages me and definitely interests me. Once again the digipak is very creative and professional. ' this was very interesting as it let me know that at least someone understood the links. 

My final question was about whether they would consider buying/picking up the CD if they saw it in a shop. 100% of the respondents said they would pick it up or buy it due to the intriguing artwork used. This links to Dick Hebdige's ideas of how young people construct their identity through fashioning musical influences. This, therefore, means that as young people we construct identity through our own personal aesthetic, and by using a stylistic aesthetic that was very simple I created a broader audience to the band. 

The questions I emailed to respondents also received significant and helpful feedback.

The first question of 'What themes did you think were prevalent throughout my video?' was one that people struggled to answer the most. I received mostly general answers about broken love and failed relationships and only received the one discussing the theme of pain and medicinal placebos to kill the pain of modern day life. The second question 'Did you understand the links between the video and digipak? (use of drugs, alcohol to get rid of the pain and difficulty of life)' was another one that people struggled to answer as I think by giving the themes I predominantly used the question became very closed with less opportunity to discuss further. The final two questions 'Do you relate to the male or female character more? and why?' and 'Who do you empathise with the male or female character? why?' were somewhat linked. From the responses I learnt that the males mostly related to the male character and the females the female character. This was probably due to them either being in similar or like-minded situations or simply because of being the same age and gender. Overall more people empathised with the female character, however, some respondents said that their empathy changed at the end of the video and instead felt a similar amount of empathy to both genders due to the ale character reflecting on what he had done wrong and beginning to understand, however they enjoyed the potential of the happy ending.

Overall, I learnt that people really enjoyed my digipak and my video but there could have still been improvements made which I mostly agreed with.

QUESTION ONE A - How have you used, developed or challenged the language of music videos?

How have you used media language in your from Charley Easter

QUESTION ONE B&C - How did you use, develop or challenge genre conventions in your music video? How did your print productions use, develop, or challenge conventions of media language and genre?

Question 1 b&c from Charley Easter

QUESTION ONE D - Narratological analysis of your music video

The music video I produced for Drunken Fumbling by Ego Honey had an overall linear structure with non-linear aspects. For example, the male character walking thinking about the female character. IT also follows Todorov's three act structure of an equlibibrium (girl drinking with friend and boy home in bed) this leads to the disequilibrium (the girl arriving home and them arguing) and then finally leading to the new equilibrium (the ending being open to interpretation). On the other hand, due to my music video being open to interpretation the ending can almost create a circular narreme. This is due to the costume use in the ending of the video being the same as during the memories.

Within my video aspects of Roland Barthes code was prevalent. I used his Proairetic Code (An event that drives the narrative on) this was shown when the male character is walking and having flashbacks about his relationship. The second aspect of Barthes code was the Enigma Code (An event that that leads to a question) this can be considered as the ending due to it having opportunity to be interpreted in different ways. I also used the Symbolic Code (An event that adds symbolic meaning) which is the third and final aspect of Barthes theory. This was shown through location, such as the repeated use of park and woods, which had memories of the relationship.

I would argue that the lack of narrative closure and ambiguity of the ending of my video can become a problem as audiences enjoy closure. On the other hand, it could be also seen as a audience pleasure as they are given opportunity to piece together their own ending. The ending also will pose questions to audiences such as 'Did they stay together?' 'Was the ending a memory or now?' and therefore gives opportunity for a sequel to be made and carry on the story. Mikhael Shore said 'Music video directors make videos as ambiguous as possible, with just enough narrative or suggestive concept to draw a viewer in'  I feel like my video somewhat follows this but it gives more than enough narrative for an audience to understand the concept.

I used narrative drivers to keep the story moving along. This keeps audiences interested and involved with the narrative. I used walking as a driver to show the story changing and moving location, this helping change location more smoothly. Within the shot of the male and female character arguing I used the narrative device of conflict to also keep the story interesting. Framing devices were also something I used to break up the video and ensure that the main message was being brought across. The shot of the maze shows this very well as it poses the idea of separation in the section where the two characters split off, but then dulls that down when they are running around it having fun.

QUESTION TWO - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (UPDATED)

My promotional package (Digipak/Poster/Video) are not all completely linked aesthetically but are more linked due to the genre and linked via their symbolic codes. When researching music videos of the same genre a lot of them were relatively story based, they also linked to the lyrics a lot. However, their album covers were very simplistic. For example, I looked a lot into Catfish and the Bottlemen.

I had a pharmaceutical theme after looking at the album Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space.

This influenced me because I also employed the metaphorical concept
of pharmaceutical drugs as a way to cope with the struggles
of the modern world.

It shows how we are simply all people making pointless relationships although we are just floating in space and are at some point going to die. This is very much the approach I took. I chose to show how the world is an awful place where as humans we rely on drugs and alcohol to kill pain, whether it be physical or emotional. My video links to this as it shows the breaking down of a relationship and how the male character remembers everything that she did and not so much what he did. There are very small links to these 'painkillers' throughout the video that can be hard to spot (the female character and her friend drinking, the tobacco). To engage my audience I wanted to create audience involvement by having tinfoil over the CD and the CD needing to be popped out similar to a pill. I believe this will pull the entire digipak together and make it slightly different and quirky. The tinfoil is covered in the name of the album and also has the band's name on it much like those that cover normal drugs/painkillers.

I decided to keep my poster and digital very close related and concise to ensure that they could be memorable to a consumer so that when the album came out they would recognise it. On one hand, because I wanted to keep my entire concept very fandom based and driven I believe those who would be fans of Ego Honey they would know it was one of their videos. This would be due to the references and the style of the shots and video overall. However, it could also not be known to those who aren't huge fans due to all of them not being so closely similar. I do not think this would affect my video/digipak as because of the way in which the digipak is made/designed I believe it would be interesting enough for someone to pick it up.

I used inter-textual references throughout my video that could also be considered effective. I used a 'Friends' like moment within the video that depicts the female character jumping into a setting. This is seen in the opening credits of the 90's show.

I also took a lot of influence from other music videos such as the use of the mainly narrative aspect from 'Ammonia and Bleach' by Emily's Army. I liked the way in which the band members are involved within the narrative of the story, and although I didn't specifically use it I did consider it. I did however take the aspect of the conflict between the couple and have that of a focus of the video.

I think that I definitely created 'band identity' through the use of genre links. These would include creating story throughout the video and the use of drugs and alcohol to follow the 'rock and roll' lifestyle that most bands follow. My aesthetic also promoted the band identity as it was something that can either be very obvious to be the band or not. The aesthetic also linked closely with the genre as I have explained above.

Music Video Rough

I decided to include a section without film towards the end as it created a break for the audience and gives them the ability to think about what has happened within the video.

Poster Final