The way in which audiences
interpret, use and respond to text is different to how they used to; there is
no one audience response. The audience is capable of creating their own meaning
from the text. Instead of corresponding to the hypodermic model theory where
audiences are injected with the product message and accept its direct meaning,
they are now seen to be less passive, decoding texts differently and producing
their own personal interpretations. It is also important to take into account the
audience’s own background, as their experiences can influence how they consume
a product. An audience response can differ through background, personal
experiences, and education. Stuart Hall in his research stated that texts were
encoded by the people who produced them (with their own meanings influenced by
their background, experiences and education) but once the reader of that text had
decoded the content of the text, applying their own meanings, the original meanings
intended by the producer may change. The cultural theorist Stuart Hall calls
this the ‘Margin of Understanding,’ He also states that there are different types of
ways audience can read text ‘Audience Positioning;
- Preferred readings: This is where the audience decode the text as closely to the meaning the producer intended. Often their cultural and social experiences are similar to that of the producer, and they have experiences similar to those suggested in the text.
- Negotiated readings: This where the audience negotiates with themselves to allow themselves to accept the way the text is portrayed. The audience may disagree with some of the elements of the text and agree with others
- Oppositional readings: This is where the audience finds themselves with a conflicting view of the text in the question, due to their beliefs, and experiences.
These perspectives allow us to understand that text has different meaning to different people. Allowing us to challenge theories, like the 'hypodermic needle'; that sees all audiences as unreceptive viewers of a text, and that they all view text in the same way when injected with information.
Our target audience was based the ages of 16-21. All of different ethnicities, but primarily lower middle-class, or working class backgrounds.
Our target audience was based the ages of 16-21. All of different ethnicities, but primarily lower middle-class, or working class backgrounds.
For our music video the target audience research was valuable in telling us what we had done well in terms of music video production and what didn't go so well. After showing the music video to our target audience the feedback we received was; that the way we portrayed gender ambiguity successfully. As the 'gender bending' was either apparent (as they noticed the character switching between a man's suit, and a young girl's dress) or they found the main character's gender undistinguishable not being able to tell the difference what the character's gender was. However since members of the chosen target audience contained people who knew the actress in the music video, she was recognised as female by her facial piercings, however she was not distinguished by the majority. The gender ambiguity was confused by the audience for gender confusion. We aimed for the gender ambiguity of the character to serve as a means to stop the audience from focusing on the character's gender, not promoting sexism, or for people to look at the character for sexual gratification (ie. male gaze) as most women are judged for their looks, regardless of their artistic merit, for this reason purely we didn't want the character's physical aesthetics to distract from the visuals behind them, or the song they were singing to.
Our music video was based upon the opening scene of Amelie directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet which is very contrasted and saturated to create a retro, home-movie kind of look. We tried to make our film look retro too, aiming for a 70's feel with a 70's style background, heavy contrast and saturation. The quality of the video being of lower quality; also makes it look somewhat old fashioned. The feedback we received on this was that 'the grainy effect (heavy contrast) makes it seem vintage' and 'The quality of the video not being full HD adds a certain feel of vintage filming.' thus achieving our goal.
Some of our target audience did not understand that our music video was in fact conceptual claiming that it had a 'lack of story' and that they found the music video disjointed 'incoherent' this shows that certain audiences respond better to music videos with a narrative, and an easier to follow storyline. Due to the fact our music video was performance and conceptual based it did not follow a story line.
In regards to the filming our target audience found that the hand held camera made for a shaky viewing experience, stating: 'just use a tripod' , 'kind of makes me feel a bit ill' , 'interesting apart from the shaky camera movements.' and 'at times it would be a bit overwhelming seeing the camera physically move around a lot and the amount of zooming was a little much too.' Our intention with the hand held camera movements and the zooming was to show the character's state of mind that the character felt disconnected from the outside world, that her state of mind was nervous, and awkward. We also felt the fast paced handheld camera movements and zooming added variety in comparison to using a static camera, and went well with the speed of the song but due to received feedback, a more static camera would of been preferred by the audience.
The stop motion and editing was perceived well, people saying the visuals and editing were 'very creative in the terms of especially in terms of editing', 'good use of editing in terms of stop motion' however no-one seemed to notice the theme of childhood. One person confusing the stop motion Russian dolls for representing 'identity confusion' rather than being simple child play things. However this may of been because we obscured the singers face with a mask, which could of confused the audience as they assumed the mask to be representative of identity confusion, in reference to the gender ambiguity of the character. However we obscured the performer's face in order to take away from her appearance, to have her taken more seriously as an artist and to show she is living in a fantasy world while playing with her toys, the mask serves as a piece of dressing up clothes.
We also showed the music video to people outside of our target audience. some of those people stated that they did not like the song and 'preferred R&B' and did not understand the concept of the music video, and some did not enjoy the song either. This may be because R&B videos are often narrative or performance based rather than conceptual.
We also showed the music video to people outside of our target audience. some of those people stated that they did not like the song and 'preferred R&B' and did not understand the concept of the music video, and some did not enjoy the song either. This may be because R&B videos are often narrative or performance based rather than conceptual.
Audience feedback has been a reliable way for us to figure out what we could of done better if we had the chance to create a music video again, and helped us recognise that different types of audiences read texts differently and that the original intended interpretation of the music video will change, depending on the viewers background, and experiences.
