Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After completing the 'marketing-package' and music video, I personally asked or emailed members of my focus group to answer a few questions so I could get some final feedback. The members of my focus group had to fit the specifics of; being 16-25, regularly listeners of Brit-Pop/Indie music, enjoys socialising in pubs, smokes and/or drinks alcohol. 

The questions were as follows:

1) What genre of music do you think this advert/digipak is for? and why? 

2) If you had two words to describe the feel of this print work, what would they be? 

3) If you have watched my music video, did you feel like my print work linked successfully with it? Why/Why not?


The feedback our focus group gave also highly depended on what cultural capital people were using to make sense of the texts, and if they thought our work was similar to any other media texts. A lot of it was vague with comments such as: 

Some of my target audience related my music video to other texts, such as the film 'The Strangers' and the Pepsi Max advert, showing that the audience were most drawn in by the masks used. 

When reading through the feedback I received from the questions asked it is evident that our target audience have been  directly affected by the text in the way we intended them to, like in Morley's Cultural Studies Approach, the audience have taken the preferred reading. Our target audience/focus group can relate to the narrative in our video, as they understand that 'lads' of a similar age spend a lot of time in the pub with mates, and spend a lot of time travelling too and from commitments (i.e. travelling via train and bus to get around London) the video is seen to reflect this, and our audience see this as a positive notion and very relatable.  An older audience might take an oppositional view to the video and might believe it to be a negative reflection on youths, portraying them as 'yobbish', and not taking much seriously. This reading is also stated by Morley. 

Our Focus Group have spread our music video on 'Facebook' by tagging their friends in the video and by posting the link on their homepages. Media 2.0 has allowed us to get general feedback from a greater audience, with the use of comments on Facebook and also 'likes' on Youtube. This shows that Flew's theory of  producers and audiences changing relationship is true, us as producers are also in our target audience and we are able to show our product through media 2.0 quickly and easily because we associate with people from our target audience.
Our target audience have generally recognised the intended genre as Brit-Pop, as we have included stereotypical features of other videos of the same genre, such as outdoor, street scenes and following the 'day-to-day life' setting of our main character. Our focus group related our video to those of the Arctic Monkeys and Viva Brother which were two of our original inspirations.From our feedback things that I would alter if I were to do this again would be; including more of a performance from the band as a whole, because of snow disruption we were not able to get to the venue we had organised to used, and we were unfortunately unable to reschedule or find anything else suitable. I would also have liked to include the masks more, especially the pig mask as it held a great significance in my poster, yet it is rarely included in the video, creating no link for the audience. 

Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

When first creating ideas for the music video and the print production, I was aware that I had to create a coherent package; they needed to work well together and represent the genre of music and the style of my video effectively. I needed to ensure that my package had a 'house style' in order for it to be easily identifiable and that both parts worked together to attract audiences. 

In order to gain an insight in to my genres 'house style' I looked at digipaks from the same genre, including Oasis' 'What's the story, morning glory?' and Arctic Monkeys' 'R U mine?'. I used these as inspiration when planning and decision making. I used the photography studio in college to take most of the shots for my digipak and poster. In my digipak I did, however, include some photographs of various London locations taken earlier in the year, I thought it would be appropriate to use these images to create a link to my music video. 

I used different imagery in my digipak to my poster for variety, and to try and capture all aspects that would be included in to my music video, however in hindsight and looking specifically at my audience research it would have looked more professional and personal to my genre if I had kept it simple. Another point raised when looking at my audience research was the linkage between the video and my poster. The poster puts particular emphasis on the pig mask, however, the video rarely features it, which I feel lead to a lack in coherence. 

Colours and fonts are also important, they are helpful visual indicators that two products are linked together. My advert and digipak clearly show this, I used the font 'Hawaii Killer' found on www.dafont.com. This font gave it an 'edgy' and indie look. I also used 'Ariel' as the font for the regular text i.e. 'coming soon' and 'brand new single from...' etc etc.

Other artists, such as the Arctic Monkeys (below) use the same techniques of using the same font, colour scheme and imagery throughout their promotional packages. 

Question 1

Cherry - Daiquiri Cannons. (Finished Music Video)

Stills from London Filming Day 3.

The images above are all from our 3rd day of filming. We filmed Jack singing walking out of an apartment, and then walking down to the bus stop. We did this in hope that we will be doing lots of fast pace editing, so we can speed up his walking where he is not singing. 

We also filmed lots of London for fillers and to make it clear to the audience where our music video is set.

Updated schedule (due to snow)

Snow Issues

Due to heavy snow the Jess' coach down to London has been cancelled by National Express. They have offered to re-arrange the date for free. Jess spoke to Holly and I, and we agreed as soon as possible will be best to film. We also spoke to Jack, who said that he would be available to film the weekend after next, the 26th and 27th. As we've been given an extension due to the snow, this date is fine. Jess has re-arranged the coach for the same times as before, but now leaving Friday 25th January, and returning Sunday 27th January.

First filming day

On Saturday we went to the Farriers pub in Worcester. We collected around half an hours worth of footage, we shot and re-shot so we could play around with different bits during editing. We also shot some extra pieces such as Jack (lead) sat with his friends (the animals) at a table chatting just for fillers if we need some. 

Arranging Filming in London.

Today Jess booked a coach down to London online with National Express. She will be leaving Birmingham Coach Station on Friday 18th January at 7:00PM, and arriving at Victoria Coach Station at 9:35PM, where she will be met by one of the actors in our video. Jess' return coach is booked for Sunday 20th January at 6:00PM, and will be arriving back in Birmingham at 8:35PM.

Saturday we will be filming the shots in and outside of the flat, at the bus stop, and on the bus. Sunday we will be filming in Westminster.

We have booked the following equipment out;

• Pig and Rabbit Mask (our own)
• Camera
• Charger
• Extra Memory Card

Organisation

The group members organised over twitter to meet in town to begin filming. 

Cast and Props

We will be dressing our performers like they are part of our target audience, to allow the audience to relate their everyday lives to our video. 

Lead singer (Jack) - He will be wearing the same maroon Harrington-style jacket.

Friends (Sam & Laurie) - They will be wearing polo shirts, parka coats, and knitted jumpers.

Props: We have already got the pig and rabbit mask that we'll be using in the video. Other props such as beer/pork scratchings/cigarettes will all be bought when we're at the pub location. 

Locations

London Tube

London Bus

Busy Pub

For 'walking street shots'

Around town in general

Performance area

Although we will not use all of these locations in our final video, these are some of the places that we would like to use in order to add 'authenticity' to our video. 

Arranging the first filming day

As a group, we arranged with Jack, Sam, and Laurie (our actors) to meet us at The Farriers Arms pub at 12:30 tomorrow. They all have their clothing ready to wear (Jack; Polo shirt and Harrington-style jacket, Sam & Laurie; Similar style clothing, polo shirts etc.) There we will film bits around the pool table, bar and outside of the pub. Laurie will be wearing the rabbit mask, so it will be necessary to gain the pub landlords permission before filming.