Evaluation

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Video Rough Cut Feedback

Jayde Markland - Jayde believed that the editing was well worked and placed together for the parts that we had already created. She particularly liked the shots and edits within in the cafe for our first chorus and believed they worked well within the piece. She also liked the handheld shots of Hannah within the hospital car park - for both the camera work and the editing used to make it appear as a home video.
Due to the fact that the video has not yet been completed, she thought that the home video shots appeared to be random and not seem to make any sense when looking at the video from a narrative point of view. She has told us that once the rest of the video has been included that it will begin to make sense and can be followed easily and effectively.

Rachel Unsworth - "When you're singing with the guitar I think you need a close up of you singing or more camera movements in that bit like a medium shot. When Hannah is singing the lyrics, it could be much clearer what she is saying. I would have thought it could either be re-filmed or replaced with another kind of video.
I really like the home video within the car and the close up of the guitar as one of the opening shots. The editing in the scene in Ben's room also works well moving from him playing guitar, to the phone, and back again."

Catherine Schofield - "If I was completing this task for my coursework, there are a few things that I may consider changing, however there are also a large amount of techniques and styles used that look particularly effective.
The things I would change starts with the idea of a tighter shot of Ben on guitar, as I feel there is too much wasted white space around him. Also, in particular when the notes played on the guitar are highlighted within the song, I would consider doing a close up of bens hands on the guitar. Another change I would consider would be that Hannah wouldn’t look into the camera, and that Ben and Hannah should be face to face closer, rather than whispering in his ear. Therefore, the shot of Hannah speaking would be a very tight close up from over Ben’s shoulder. As well, I would consider playing with the line “now you’ll have to dance for the two of us” by maybe doing a shot of Ben and Hannah messing around dancing, possibly on a dance mat, helping to emphasize how close and comfortable they are with one another. A final change I would consider is a different shot for the line “trying to think what Lex would want me to do” I would maybe repeat the earlier shot of Ben and Hannah messing around playing funny faces, with Ben looking sad across at Hannah in a ghost form, to imply that he still sees her around in places they have been together before.
There are many effective shots and props used within this clip. Hannah’s dressing gown with contrasting colours of pink and black are very effective as the black obviously hints at the bleakness of the situation, whereas the pink highlights Hannah’s characters bright outlook on life, and trying to cheer her friends up even though she isn’t well. As well, the shot of the plate being pushed across the table from the low angle makes this shot particularly effective as it is almost like Hannah is offering the audience the chance to see the horrible hospital food. The combination of “home video” style shots is impressive as it highlights just how close Ben and Hannah’s characters were. The ending is very nicely done also, as it shows highlights Hannah’s happiness and shows just how much of a nice person she is to be around.
In conclusion, there are many features that are used creatively in this clip; however if I was to complete this task, I would consider doing some shots in a different style or format."

Response to feedback

Some people commented that the chorus was a bit boring and needed something more to it, therefore we created somemore "home video" style clips to put in the chorus. Below are the clips before and after we made the changes to the chorus.

Before the home videos were added -

After the home videos were added -

When showing our video to people we got similar feedback about one part of it. This was "You have a male voice but a female singing in the chorus". We still want to leave the chorus as it is because it has not been entirely understood why we have used a female.
When looking at this we would like to refer back to our first blog post and the lyrics of our song. The lyrics going into the chorus read -

"Drew me close to listen this is what she said now,

(chorus)

You'll live to dance another day,

it's just now you'll have to dance... etc"

The reason we have decided to have Hannah singing the song instead of Ben is due to the fact that the lyrics read "this is what SHE said now", we wanted it to appear exactly as it would have happened in real life rather than simply Ben singing it because it would have been out of place within the ideas of the lyrics.


Digipak and Poster Feedback

Hannah Williamson - "I like desaturation of the leaves against the colour of the person and the guitar, it looks professional and it is aesthetically pleasing. I also like the collage around the lyrics page, this reflects what the music is going to be like. The picture in the far right top square looks out of place but right for a CD insert because it looks like a professional taken photograph of the artist, and all the light trail just adds to the effect. In general, I wouldn't change anything about the print, it looks fine as it is"

Laura Wilderspin - "I really like the way the double panel images look - They really have an effect of scrapbook imagery and it gives the impression that the song may have something to do with memories. The tool used has had a good effect - it makes it look like it has been cut out with a pair of scissors. The use of a bar code makes the CD packaging look real and professional. The lined paper effect also goes along with the idea of a scrapbook because it looks like the writing has been torn out of a scrapbook"

- "I really like the print piece as a whole. The double page creates a large amount of interest because it looks like a collage of photos - it makes it look like the artist really cares about his fans. It is also clear that the colour scheme is consistent keeping the main grey colour with the contrasting bright colours of the photographs. The professional photo also seems to show that the artist has done professional shoots rather than just snap shots of him with fans or a gig. So, as a whole I think the CD packaging has worked very well and is successful"

Response to Feedback

In general, we have found very positive feed back from others. Due to the small amount of negative evaluation we believe that it would be within our best interest to leave the CD as it is. By doing this we will need to ensure that our magazine advert follows a similar style to the print to allow it to be recognizable. We think that we could use another photograph from Cranwell avenue because it matches the front and back of the CD packaging' therefore making the CD easily linked to the advert. This will then allow for an increase in the sales of the CD - therefore aiding the artists career and record label. We are going to experiment further we the idea of desaturation in our magazine advert. due to magazines being colourful and eye catching, we may use strong colours to grab the reader's attention to the advert.

Facebook Feedback -

We decided that we could utilise new media formats to gain feedback from other people. The best way we found to do this was through the use of the social networking website Facebook.com. This helped us because people were able to tell us what they liked and what they didn't. From this research we were able to make changes such as adding in home videos in the chorus to make it more interesting and adding more flash backs.