In order to research the audience reaction to the pop promo we used various digital technologies to reach viewers. The promo was uploaded onto YouTube this enabled us to reach a wide audience all over the world. This allowed viewers to make comments, giving us audience feedback about the promo. An example of a positive comment received is, “really good effects, the band look good together and I really enjoyed it!” The disadvantage of this was that users of YouTube may not be looking for anything specifically related to our promo and therefore may not have come across it. The video was also uploaded onto our blogs through the website Blogger. I then posted this link onto my Facebook page in order to target a specific audience of my own age group, the feedback I received that the video was impressive as well as having a clear narrative and was of a strong quality. The disadvantage of this was that only my ‘friends’ on Facebook could view the video as it is not public. We also used a traditional form of research also screened the video to a focus group of 16-17 year olds, and provided them with a questionnaire to answer. We asked whether they liked the video and whether they listened to the indie genre of music as well as what they interpreted the narrative of the video to be. The advantage of this method is that we could gain specific feedback in areas of our choice. The disadvantage was due to the discussion before the questionnaire many of the audience gave the same answers in the questionnaire.
100% of the focus group answering the questionnaire liked the promo whether they listened to the Arctic Monkeys or not, alongside this two people rated it their favourite video on YouTube. Therefore the promo was successful to an extent as it entertained our audience. One of the strengths of the promo is that it is entertaining and enjoyable to watch. I believe that the use of stop motion in the video is effective in portraying the passing of time and how the band ultimately gain some sort of success, this was successfully translated to the focus group audience as on the whole they gave similar interpretations of the purpose of the stop motion. Some audience members mentioned that it gave the promo a unique selling point as it is not frequently used in pop promos. Others also said that it made the promo more stimulating and helped the progression of the narrative. The band’s image is clearly fitting to the stereotypes of this music genre due to that the audience thought that the props and costume used fitted well with the band’s environment and their image as well as showing their background effectively and mirroring their genre.
There are clear weaknesses to the promo such as the syncing of the instruments and singer to the track however this was a challenge in post production as although the band members chosen had the right image and looked good together they did not efficiently know the track and the singer found it a challenge to learn the lyrics. Comments on YouTube and from the focus group reflected this weakness as many said it was clear the band did not know the song well or were not playing the correct notes, an example of a comment made under the YouTube upload is “it’s a good video except the drummer is obviously not playing that song” perhaps our editing technique could have been more efficient in covering the band’s mistakes or we could have thought more carefully about who we cast in the promo. Other comments suggested that the transition between the bed-sit and studio could have been bigger. The transition does not place enough emphasis on that the band has reached success and is perhaps quite weak in comparison to the rest of the promo. The audience suggested that the use of a stage with lights would have been more effective in portraying the narrative and our intentions as the existing end of the video is not fully successful in portraying our aims.
The encoding-decoding model derives from the work of Stuart Hall. It is a theoretical model, which is based upon the notion that the audience do not act as a ‘mass’, but rather as a collection of smaller groups defined by social and ideological elements. Media texts are ‘encoded’ (both consciously and unconsciously) with the values of their producers, who are generally white, middle-class, men. However, the audience is not made up exclusively of these groups and different groups are likely to ‘read’ the text indifferent ways. This ‘decoding’ process has 3 possible outcomes which are a preferred reading, a negotiated reading and an oppositional reading.
A preferred reading is when the audience understand the intended values and the concept behind the media text. From most of the feedback we received it was clear that most of our audience gave the preferred reading that the band were a group of young boys who started out playing their music in a bed-sit style living room, as time passed the room became messier but gradually became cleaner symbolising how the band ‘cleaned up’ their lifestyle as they grew up as well as becoming more successful in the industry as time passed. This reading showed that the audience understood the concept and narrative of the promo and the values we intended them to interpret. Negotiated readings are when people understand some values and they accept some elements of the promo, but they have their own opinions. We received a negotiated reading that suggested that the band success was due to their appearance and dress sense rather than their music ability. An alternative negotiated reading is that the final sequence of the promo represents a dream or ambition rather than the band’s reality. An oppositional reading is when the audience or members of the audience completely disagree with the intended values and message behind the media text. One audience member commented on the artificiality of the music industry and stated that he thought that the promo was trying to convey that looks and attitude is more important than talent and how musicians today rarely write their own music.
In conclusion from our audience feedback we have learnt that the transition at the end of promo could have been improved and had more of an emphasis on it to convey our narrative as well as improving the syncing of the band and the track. However, to a large extent our narrative was successfully translated to the audience due to the stop motion as well as this, the band successfully conveyed their star image and conformed to the stereotypes of the indie genre.
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