Vague Feedback

As a client driven media producer I get feedback from my clients. Often it is helpful: Fix this, change that. Sometimes, however, I get a single sentence along the lines of, "I don't like it". One such comment that I recall was, "Could I get more?"

"More of what?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said, "Just more."

Sorry. No. I can't do anything with such direction.

Well, today, I got such feedback. My client said that they were uncertain as to whether their customers would like the video I had made. ...meaning what?

Despite the frustration of someone not liking what I have made, there were several other issues. I can do anything you want, but I have to know what it is you want. If you don't like what I make, I can't fix it without some notion of what you want changed. And my client knows their customers much more than I ever will. Will the end user like what I have made? I hope so, but client has the best guess.

Second, I make projects within the parameters and with the resources I am given. If my client does not like my project because it isn't "enough", that's not my fault. I'd be happy to give them "more" if they only tell me what it is they want more of.

And that's the skill that I must hone. I must learn how to ask the right questions so as to help my clients figure out what it is they want more of. That is an aspect of media production that they don't teach in any program I have encountered. It is something you must learn on your own, on the field.

How will the event end? I'm not sure. Given my client's deadline and how many other issues have already happened with the production of this product it could easily play out like the original example: I asked the guy to look over the project again and tell me specifically what he would like "more" of.

Several months later I got a check and a note thanking me for the great DVD.

Or perhaps I'll go back into pre-production as my client is able to better articulate the end goal of this project now that they have an almost finished version.

~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor