Evaluation Question 3
As well as maintaining the mature attitude towards our collection of feedback, we decided that a creative and innovative way to present how the general public would view our music video is by doing our own representation of the television programme 'Gogglebox'. As a group we acted out various different situations from the programme itself as to how they would react to watching our music video. Despite this not allowing us to gain any form of mature feedback for our video, we believe it is a good representation of how the general public would perceive our video. We use no technical language and are not fully focused on the video itself, however we did this purely to highlight a natural response to the video in a normal family home.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Audience Feedback is one of the most important aspects when it comes to making improvements to your work. When we first began filming our rough cut for our music video we had a basic plan with the types of shots and angles that we were going to use as well as a rough idea of what we wanted the video to look like. Once filming had taken place and we began to edit the video we became aware that there were a lot of issues and things that we could do to make it a lot better. We also realised the importance of asking our target audience to comment on the likes and dislikes of our video so that we could get the right audience's point of view on the video and what they would like to see implemented to make it more appealing for them. These are the ones that are likely to watch the video and so the changes had to be applied to the feedback given by this specific audience. We therefore asked 6 members of our target audience to watch and comment feedback on the video.
Rough Cut:
Feedback and Action Plan
After having 6 of our peers watch and comment feedback on our rough cut, we were made aware of the likes and dislikes of our music video from other members of our target audience. In asking other members of our class, we were more likely to get better critiscism as they are more aware of the forms and conventions of music videos as well as researching and creating a music video at the same time as us. Therefore the importance of feedback from other media students gave us the best opportunity to create a music video that fits all the forms and conventions which are important in creating a successful, professional and authentic music video. Below is a summary of the likes and dislikes that we received from them:
Likes:
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Lead singer's overall performance was brilliant showing the emotion within the song as well as looking the part.
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The band looked as though they were a real band, good choice of band members.
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Clothing suits the band and type of genre and the lead singer's shirt stands out amongst the rest of what the band is wearing.
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The timing of the change of shots with the music was done well.
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Often see the instrument when it is being played.
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Length of shots matches the pace of the song.
Dislikes:
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Hardly any camera movement, still shots were too prominent in the video.
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Guitarist needs to play the strings not pretend as it doesn't look realistic enough.
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Natural light for the room made it look boring, lighting of some sort is needed.
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The shot transitions were fast cuts with no use of transitions and due to the song being quite slow it didn't suit the pace of the song.
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Performers sometimes laugh, need to remain professional in performance so that there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics. The lyrics will be better portrayed through their emotion.
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Lack of shot variety, often see the same shots being used.
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Don't cut the lead singers head off at the top as some shots his hair is not shown.
After receiving this feedback, it became more aware to us of what was needed in order to create a more successful and professional music video. We took the feedback from our peers as well as the comments made by our teacher into account and created an action plan for what we needed to do when we next went and filmed for our final cut. The video below shows the feedback as well as a detailed action plan of what we felt we needed to do in order to fulfil the expectations of what a real music video would look like.
Following the action plan we made, we went forward and filmed our final cut. In gaining feedback for our rough cut we were able to add specific features to the setting, performers, camera shots, camera movement etc. in order for our final cut to consist of all the forms and conventions of a real music video. The feedback was specific and detailed enough for us to understand what changes and improvements needed to be made to our rough cut and we learnt a huge amount from gaining the feedback from members of our class due to their knowledge of music videos and what is needed for success. Below is our final cut which we put together using the feedback gained.
Final Cut:
Based on our feedback, there were some major changes to our final cut from our rough cut:
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We utilised stage lighting with one in each corner of the room to create a sense of intimacy as our target audience stated that the natural lighting caused a lack of engagement for them.
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We added a significant amount of camera movement naking use of a handheld camera rather than a tripod which was used for all the filming of our rough cut.
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We used cross dissolves and fades in between most of the shots which matched the pace of the song and making the relationship between the music and the visuals stand out more.
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We used our shot ideas post from our blog more effectively and used a variety of shots with you very rarely noticing the same camera shot being used.
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All of the positioning of camera shots i.e. cutting the top of the lead singers head out of the frame were perfected.
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The increased camera movement matched the song type well making the video more intriguing to watch.
All of these changes wouldn't have occured if it wasn't for the constructive criticism received from the feedback we gained from our rough cut. Audience feedback therefore proved vital for what we believe turned out to be a successful representation of a music video for Paolo Nutini's song 'Last Request'.
General Audience Feedback for Final Cut:
Once we had completed our final cut, we wanted to gain positive and negative feedback on what people thought of our final piece. Our whole class watched our music video together and wrote what they thought worked well and what didn't and we enjoyed haring all the positive feedback but also things we could have done differently if we were to to the video again.
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As well getting written feedback from our peers, we also did a detailed Q&A with a few members of our class to get a more detailed analysis of our music video with them commenting more specifically on the video rather than the written feedback which was more general. In gaining an array of different forms of feedback this enabled us to gain a huge amount of positives along with constructive critiscism of our video. Feedback is always important for the future where you can take onboard what is said and use this to produce a higher standard if work in the future.
Overall, we were able to take a lot from the feedback given to us by both our peers as well as our own perception of what the general public would think of our music video:
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One of the main pieces of positive feedback that we received was the fact that the 3 band members suited the genre perfectly whilst their overall performance remained strong throughout. The clothes they wore as well as the way they acted, completed the look of an indie band, perfect for our chosen song and genre.
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The wide variety of shots that we used was commented on positively from our final cut feedback. We learnt that from our rough cut feedback, there was a lack of camera shots and angles which caused a lack of engagement for the audience. Therefore when recreating the video we ensured that there was a wider range of camera shots and this was notified within our feedback. We included point of view shots, close ups, long shots, panning shots and both high and low angle shots to ensure there was a variety keeping the audience amused.
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From our rough cut feedback we became more aware of the importance of the relationship between the visuals and the music. This in particular included the inclusion of seeing the instrument when you hear the instrument being played and this was continuously noted in our feedback.
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The setting was seen as a positive due to it suiting the intimate nature of the song however others argued that a more vibrant setting could have been used. The lighting did however prove to make all the difference with many agreeing that lighting was key to creating a sense of professionalism and authenticity. This idea of using lighting came from our rough cut feedback where people felt that the natural lighting meant the message of the song was not fully portrayed. The lighting suited the slow, relaxed nature of the song resulting in a strong relationship between the lyrics and music and the visuals.
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Despite the lighting being a huge positive towards the professionalism of the video, sometimes the lighting was harsh on the lead singer's face and shadows also crossed his face from the microphone due to the positioning of the lights. If we were to do the video again the lights would have been adjusted to ensure this didn't occur.
Feedback therefore was probably the most important aspect in terms of how we were able to produce our final music video. We learnt exactly what our target audience expected to see and what was needed in order to fulfil the forms and conventions of a music video and as a result we feel that as a group the feedback helped with what we believe to be a successful representation of a real music video.
What We Have Learnt: Summary