Task 3:

What have you learned from the audience feedback?
We used five different techniques to research are audience feedback. These techniques were: selective screening, focus group, questionnaires, Youtube and Facebook.
Bellow our two examples of the comments we got back from our Youtube upload. ‘The Black and White of the video adds an overall style that suits the video and attracts the viewer to watch the content and not get distracted. The close up shots of the symbols and the lead singer are really effective and the snow adds mood and atmosphere to the video as a whole. Sometimes the narrative of the video was unclear and it almost looks like the girl is walking towards him rather than away but overall the video is very well done.”
‘This video is exciting and interesting it keeps you involved and wanting to now what’s happens next. The use of black and white is also a very clever effect especially with the snow. This creates a very dead no contrast feel, very much the same as what’s happened to the relationship of the main characters in the video.”
It was really good to get comments back from our target audience (teenagers) because it made us realize some of what we did really worked it also pointed out what was wrong with our video. From these comments I realized that to the audience the narrative could seam a bit confusing, which I can understand. However we did not want to create a cliché narrative and did not want to distract the audience’s eye from the performance elements.
From Youtube we were also able to see where are viewers were from around the world. We were able to go on the insight statistics of our video. These statistics showed us how many people had watched our video and showed a graph of when our video was most watched. We were also able to see the sources of our views, which were from; Youtube channel page player, related videos, embedded player, external links, Youtube search, Youtube other, mobile devices, Youtube subscription modules and viral/other. Out of all of these sources the majority of viewers watched it via the Youtube channel player page. Finally from the insight statistics we were able to see where around the world our video was being watched. There were five different places; United Kingdom, New Zealand, Germany, Hong Kong and Canada.
To learn more about our audience feedback we created a questionnaire about our video and then asked it to a focus group. I felt it was a good exercise to do but I did not think the focus group gave us as much feedback as we wanted. Bellow are the questions and answers we got from the focus group.
We firstly asked what they thought the strengths and weaknesses in our video were? They felt that the black and white made it look more professional. This was because everyone else’s video had been done in colour, so it made ours stand out. They also felt that the snow added to it and made it interesting. They also liked the way the snow represented coldness and showed that the lead singer had lost feeling. The variety of locations helped them keep interest in the video, as there was a lot to look at. They finally said that the blending modes made the video seam of a higher quality. The blending modes made the video seam a higher quality. These were the strengths and then the weaknesses were that there were not enough hand held shots, therefore lacking in movement.
Our second question was; which character do you form the biggest bond with and why? The majority of the focus said that it was the lead singer that they bonded with most and that this was because of the amount of shots of him and how many close ups there were of him. One person in the focus group said that they bonded most with the lead girl. This was because her role raised questions.
Our third question was; what does the black and white mean to you? The response was good, as they all liked the black and white and said it played well with the narrative and lyrics to the song.
Our forth question was; do you think the style of song works with the style of the video (cuts, editing, mise en scene)? We did not get much of a response for this question other then them saying that it did work.
Our final question was; what do you feel about the narrative? The response was good to this question as they all seamed to understand the narrative well. They understood that the lead singer and the lead girl had broken up and that the lead singer was upset about it. They also understood that these two characters are contrasts towards each other in the fact that he is cold and she is not.
After taking in all of the audience feedback we then discussed what we thought were are own strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths: The organic feel you get from the band, the simplicity of the video. Sometimes with videos more is less, we wanted our audience to be able to be taken on a trip when watching our video rather then forced. We didn’t want it to be to ‘in your face’ but still memorable, I also rather enjoyed the fact that the narrative was a little confusing because it made you want to work out what was going to happen, whether the tow characters would end up together or not, I thought that the black and white really helped to make our video stand out. It also I think worked well with the song and the narrative.
Weaknesses: I think that we should have used more movement shots to add to the video, I also think that the blending modes all though worked very well to connect characters it was a bit hard to see what was happening in the behind layer, I also feel that the location where it is snowing we should have made more of because it was such an original concept.
Preferred Readings:
The narrative of the video is all about a love story, which we got from the lyrics. It is all about a break up between the lead male and lead female actors. There is a strong element of class through out the video that is portrayed through the three different locations. The male actor is set in a big wealthy looking house where as the female actor is set in a council estate. We did this to contrast their feelings and backgrounds. There is also a strong element of weather, which again portrays the two lead characters feelings. The snowing for example shows how the male actor is feeling, as he is cold and alone. Which is a contrast towards the female actor, which is feeling warm and comfortable. We turned the video black and white to add to this romantic atmosphere through out the video. We also wanted to make the video stand out and be more unique. The location for the band was a damp room; this was to make it clear the band was organic, and also to work with the narrative.

Negotiated Readings: Organic band. Black and white created a melancholy atmosphere. The big house had symbolic value to show the boys loneliness. The snow makes it look as if the roof is deteriorating which is mirroring their relationship. Make the connection between the lead singer and the male actor with the blending layers. The shots of the estate make it look more professional. Pathetic fallacy of a mistake or error the environment reflects the emotional state of the characters with in it. Contrast in outfits, him wrapped up in a coat her in a t-shirt. Audience character proximity lead singer walks towards the character. Shows his emotion when he pushes the microphone over.

Oppositional Readings: Instability with the movement of camera. Spontaneity, unplanned documentary helps with the organic band feel. The style is generic linked to a specific type of music. The flower wallpaper adds to the romance, tells the audience exactly where they are, contrast against the concrete in the estate, the estate is harsh which is a contrast to the soft flowery wallpaper. He's like a memory when using the blending layers, looking back to the past also with the black and white. In black and white it is quite hard to see the behind images when using the blending layers. The lead female is walking away from his happiness away from the light. The cold breathe looked to perfect when the lead singer is walking through the house and so it looks a bit fake. We don't know whether it's her memory or his when the blending of layers happens on them walking in the same direction. As the lead female is walking around the estate she walks past a pram suggesting she is think about family life. Blending layers with the drummer and the snow in the background is really unclear to what's happening.