Evaluation Question 3

I found I was able to benefit very much from audience feedback throughout the entire production process of my music video, and it did, in fact, help to determine how the video was filmed in the first place. When choosing the animation style for my music video, I was divided between three options...

-Cutout animation – best known for Monty Python and Charlie and Lola, this is a form of animation where paper cutouts are animated as layers against a background to create movement.

-Digital animation – such as in South Park, the same principle where I create images and animate objects as layers over a background, but all drawn on the computer in a program such as Microsoft Paint.
OR...
-A combination of both, i.e. have paper cutouts in a CG environment or CG characters against a hand-drawn environment.

I asked the audience - comprised of members of my class of the late teens age range (who I felt would form a large portion of the target market) - which they preferred after showing them images of what each style could look like, and pure cutout animation came out as the most popular choice with 6/8 votes, the remaining two both opting for a cutout/CG mix. I agree with the favoured opinion after watching the video back, as it was an interesting challenge compared to digital animation which I am very used to working with.

The animation was also the main aspect of the video which won it huge acclaim, and reactions were positive from everybody I approached for audience feedback after the video was completed. I used Facebook to ask for feedback, and I received comments of praise for the video, largely for the unique animation style.

I had similar comments from the rest of my class when I later recorded audience feedback with them...




I was pleased that I had succeeded with the conventions of my music video, and that for the most part, I had succeeded in making the audience feel sympathetic for my main character. Although there was one aspect I hadn't previously thought of...



I later approached my class about this point again, and found out that all the males in the class found they felt sympathy for the character, whereas the females felt divided between sympathy or if the main character is like a stalker...! This thought had never occurred to me during production, but the initial aim to create sympathy for the main character became more clear as the narrative was explained. I thought afterwards about developing my character's reasons for loving one girl only, but left this in the end due to time restraints and I did not want to confuse the narrative or make the video irrelevant to the song.

There were also comments in regards to the lighting...



The lighting was hard to keep consistent and nearly all of the lighting had to be edited in Adobe Premiere Pro 5.5, but this was always a huge problem on set and again, the above clip highlights positive sides to the outcome.

The comments I have had from my audience feedback were extremely helpful, because they suggest I have succeeded in conveying the narrative and the animation style has also been praised.

The people I asked were all in the late teens age range, both male and female, who I felt were most likely to purchase indie records such as this one because of the interest of youth in music. The positive comments I have had suggest that people would be interested in buying this record and also imply that this concept and the music video could work well commercially.