A2: Evaluation Part II: Audience Feedback and New Media Technology

PLEASE NOTE: This is PART II of the Evaluation, Part I will be supplied on disc.

The Importance Of Audience Feedback

The importance of audience feedback in relation to my Media Product is vital. As a producer, I want my audience (being the consumers) to decode the preferred reading that I am trying to encode in my short film and their feedback will signify this. If the preferred reading I am trying to create is not understood by the audience, this will tell me that I have encoded it wrongly and I will need to take this into consideration when creating my next Media Product.

However, if the preferred reading is decoded by the audience, their feedback is equally as important. This will allow me to see what the audience liked and didn't like from a critical response and I will also be able to take their comments into consideration upon creation of another Media Product. I can see what I did correctly and what I lacked in and use this as a learning curve to improve my Media knowledge.

There were many ways in which I was able to capture audience feedback. The first and foremost is being this blogger, which allows people to comment on my work, giving me constructive criticism. This is how my teacher marked my work; by commenting on my blog posts. This is was very convenient as I could see feedback from any computer that had a working internet connection.

The second is YouTube, a worldwide video service where user's upload their own videos. YouTube has sparked success for many short film directors, who have received millions of hits on their short films due to the popularity of the site and word of mouth. The audience feedback is also from around the globe, so if someone from a different country watches my film, then they can give critical feedback, which will allow me to see whether they liked it or not. This will lead me to question whether my film appeals to the masses and people with different cultural experiences from myself.

Upon uploading my short film to YouTube, I received numerous comments from different users of the Web 2.0 service. The most prevalent being the lighting, in which a number of the user's commented on, stating that "it was hard to see anything" in some of the scenes. I hadn't noticed this, as because I produced and directed the short film, I knew the plot line and could easily decode the preferred reading. This led us to re-film certain scenes and after re-uploading, there were no comments on the lighting and there were no comments of people stating that they couldn't see much.

The final method I used to capture audience feedback was a viewing in front of my friends and class at school; this was the most prevalent of the three methods I used as I was able to get direct feedback from them. The comments they made were, is that they couldn't understand the narrative and the camera shots used in conversations were hard to follow. Again, this led us to re-film the scenes using better camera shots and upon next viewing to the same audience; there comments stated that it was a "massive improvement" and that they could understand the narrative properly.

To conclude, audience feedback is very important and shapes my knowledge of Media and creating a Media Product. I have and will continue to use it as one big learning curve to create industry standard Media Products. Without the audience feedback I captured for my short film, it would be a very different product of a lower standard.

The Importance Of New Media Technology

The importance of new Media Technology in relation to my Media Product is that of a great one. The high standard technology of the contemporary world made the quality of my product to an almost industry standard level.

I used software such as Final Cut Express - itself being an industry standard product, which allowed me to cut and edit my film into what it is today. It allowed me to add any desired effects, including transitions, text, slow-motion and increase of speed. It also allowed me to add audio to my film to create a desired effect. The software application is easy to use and has an understandable GUI (graphical user interface). As mentioned previously, I used Web 2.0 applications to enhance the overall experience of my product. These being YouTube and this blog (Blogger), they allowed me to upload my work for either reference or user feedback, which helped the process of creation massively.

The hardware I used was fantastic too, we had access to Sony HD Cameras which made my short film look and sound like an industry standard film. It made my short film look and sound very clear and was aesthetically pleasing to watch.

All of this has tied into how new media technologies have become very important to me. As these new technologies have been made available to me, it has turned me from a passive viewer to an active producer. I am now able to represent what I want using these technologies, the prime example, being my short film itself; a representation of gang life in inner city London. Being an active producer and finishing a product is very satisfactory. Philosopher David Gauntlett states now that we have the tools to create something ourselves, when we create it, we gain a bigger sense of satisfaction that we could if we were given something; for example, the satisfaction I received from creating my short film was far greater than watching something similar on TV or Cinema.

As an active producer, I no longer have to accept what the Media "feeds" me as I am now able to represent something myself, or give my views about a certain topic and get it heard by many different people online.

To conclude, the importance of new Media Technology is massive. From being a passive viewer to an active audience has allowed me to create a Media product to an almost industry standard level. This is due to the new technology and its ease of use which allows me to do this.