Rough cut - Miss Georgiou

Rough cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8BaE0YDXO4

Audience feedback is important due to the fact that they are the ones who are going to determine the success of our product, therefore their feedback allows us to identify which aspects of the music video that they like and dislike, and these are things that we can change in order to help the music video to appeal to our audience who we are hoping will buy into the artist and her music that we are trying to sell. A rough cut is essential to carry out because it allows us to identify what the audience like and what needs to be improved in order to aid the success of our music video. The audience opinion is important regarding the success of an artist due to the fact that if the audience like the video they are going to be more likely to want to watch and listen to the song again which could increase the sales of the album and the exposure that the artist received through people listening to and watching her music video.

There were several different ways throughout the production process that we received feedback from our target audience, for example, the first in which we received feedback was by screening our production to a group of people within our established target audience of teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 to 25. This age range was decided due to the fact that the members within our group are of a similar age group therefore it will be easier for us to relate to them and we will have a better understanding of what they would and would not like to see in a music video. Furthermore, the screening allowed us to received positive and constructive comments in person and the audience could clearly talk to us about what they liked and disliked, enabling us to fully understood what we needed to do in order to improve our video, for example, one audience member told us that we needed to include more relationship based and emotional scenes in order to make the audience and the narrative feel more emotional/personal and to develop the relationship between the two characters in the video. In our video, we included a date scene which we felt would show the audience the progression of the relationship between the two characters due to the fact that it follows the scene where they both meet for the first time, and therefore shows that they decided to meet up again. Another way in which we received feedback was through the use of focus groups, which was where small groups of people from within our target audience could watch our rough cut music video and talk to us about what they liked and disliked about the video. These focus groups took place before the final deadline for our music video, therefore, if there were any aspects of the music video that they did not like we had enough time to change or re-film those aspects in order to help our video to appeal to them. This would result in our video being more successful because we will have provided our target audience with a video created based on their tastes and preferences, for example, when we first filmed the performance scene where the audience can see the artist playing the piano we decided to try and make the lighting lower key, however, after looking back over the footage we realised we had made the lighting too dark and therefore the audience would have been unable to see clearly the artist and appreciate that she was playing the piano. We also received feedback through the use of questionnaires, the whole purpose of which was to establish what our target audience would want to see in a music video and for us to identify aspects/elements that we could include in our own music video in order to create a video that they will want to watch and recommend, which will boost the success of the artist and her music, for example, the audience wanted part of the music video to be set in an easily accessible location because this would be easier for them to relate to due to the fact that it is likely that they will have been to these places themselves, for example, the beginning of our music video is set in the park which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is not a mainstream genre of music, therefore indie artists will not receive a huge amount of money from selling their music due to the fact that is likely the genre will only appeal to a select group of people. Indie artists will not be able to afford to hire our expensive studios and use green screens which are often used by most mainstream artists in genres such as pop in order to make a higher quality music video. YouTube was another good way for us to receive feedback from our target audience due to the fact that the application is easy to use and can be used by a worldwide audience, therefore our music video will be able to reach more people. Another benefit of YouTube is that it can show us the number of likes and dislikes that our video received and allowed our audience to comment their opinions beneath the video, which we received notification about, thus helping us to stay aware of how our target audience were reacting to our video. The target audience we important to consider and keep in mind during the production stage due to the fact that they were the ones who could determine the success of our video and the artist herself. This feedback would benefit our production because it would help us to improve our music video so far and enable us to identify and change elements that the audience may not like about the video, thus helping to make our whole video more appealing to the target audience. This was important for us to do due to the fact that if the audience like the video they are going to be more likely to recommend it or want to watch it again themselves, which has the potential to boost the success of the artist and her music. The feedback will also benefit the music industry due to the fact that it allows us to identify the weaknesses within our music video which would have had the potential to decrease the success of the music video. The more successful the music video is, the better the reputation the music industry will received as a result which could potentially lead to more artists wanting to work with them due to the fact that they will want to be successful too. This may also make the audience more aware of the different record labels and the artists that are signed to them, thus increasing their exposure and broadening their potential audience.

POSITIVE

A common positive comment that we received regarding our music video was that the audience enjoyed how detailed and clear the narrative was. The idea of a using a narrative conforms to the indie genre as indie music videos are often heavily narrative based due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own songs based on real life experiences which makes them more personal to the artist and usually used to express a deeper meaning to the song which can then be expressed to the audience through the use of visuals. Receiving a positive comment regarding the narrative was important to us all due to the fact that as a group we spent a lot of time deciding on a plot line and ensuring that the story would compliment the lyrics to the song we had chosen, therefore it would have been disappointing had the audience not liked or understood the narrative.

The audience also mentioned that they understood that the use of a lower key lighting was to emphasise the use of the flashback at the beginning of the video which was one of the most important aspects of our music video because it helped us to develop the narrative and explain to them the importance of certain characters, therefore it was important to the video that the audience understood what was happening and why we had included certain elements. One member of the target audience especially liked the incorporation of the flashback, which he referred to as a 'time movement'. The use of a flashback connotes the idea of going back in time, which we felt conformed to the indie genre which is often perceived as being old fashioned and would help us to make the video appear as though we are showing the audience a memory from the artist which is conventional to the genre due to the fact that indie artists are known for writing their own music based on real life experiences which therefore allow the audience to get to know more about them. We also felt the flashback would make our video more interesting to watch due to the fact that it shows the audience two different stories joining together which would help us to hook the audience and keep them curious when wanting to know the relevance of the elderly character in regards to the narrative and other characters. The flashback was important to our music video due to the fact that it helped us to develop our narrative by explaining to the audience who the elderly lady seen at the beginning of the video is by going back in time and showing her journey to the present day. Receiving a positive comment regarding the use of a flashback was important to our group due to the fact that we worked hard to develop a narrative that complemented the lyrics and allowed us to use a flashback, therefore it would have disappointing had the audience not liked it or not understood the purpose behind it.

Another positive comment received was that one audience member liked our use of fades and transitions between the shots in the video, for example, the most common transition used in our video was cross dissolve. Achieving a smooth transition between scenes was important because they helped the video as a whole to flow better which makes it easier for the audience to watch due to the fact that it helps to make the video feel more like a short film/cinematic experiences for the audience rather than a music video. We also felt that a clearly explained and performed narrative was more likely to be remembered by the audience when compared to only showing the audience visuals of the artist singing which they would be able to see in all of her other music videos, therefore this video would have lost its originality. The story would help our group to make the music video feel more personal to the artist because it feels as though she has put thought into the music video and has taken the time to plan out a personal story that she wanted to share with the audience.

CONSTRUCTIVE

One constructive comment that we received was to include more elements of performance within the music video, however, we purposely decided to make our video heavily narrative based in order to express to the audience the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of the song which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as writing their own music based on real life experiences, therefore it is more personal to them and allows the audience to get to know more about the artist. Furthermore, lyrics can often be quite ambiguous, therefore the use of a narrative clarifies to the audience what the lyrics actually mean and helps to give the song more meaning. After receiving this comment we decided to include more elements of performance in the video to break up the longer sections of narrative, for example, in between the shots of the artist and the male character saying goodbye before he went off to war. Adding more performance to the video was not a problem for our group due to the fact that while we were filming we filmed extra footage of the artist just singing in case we ran short of narrative or needed to include more visuals of the artist just singing. It was better for us to film too much at the beginning because this would ensure that the footage and its lighting and location would compliment the footage that we already had. The use of performance shows the audience visuals of her which helps to clarify who she is and what she looks like which is beneficial to our artist due to the fact that she is new to the music industry, therefore not many people will know who she is. Our artist will need to expose herself in order to build up a loyal fan base of people who are going to buy into her music and increase her chance of being successful.




Another constructive comment that we received for our rough cut was that the audience could not identify a set colour theme throughout the video. This was partly due to the fact that we decided that the lighting would become more lower key as the video progressed in order to show the audience that the narrative was developing (suggested by the fact that the lighting was becoming darker), for example, the audience see the male character dies towards the end of the video, which is followed by the artist scattering his ashes. These particular scenes are not intended to make the audience feel happy but to show them that there is a deeper meaning behind the lyrics such as 'the darkest fairy-tale') which gives the audience the idea that the two characters are not going to have a happy ending (the idea of death) and to make them feel more emotional when they watch the video which we wanted because we felt this would help to make the video more memorable. However, after looking back over our music video we have decided to enhance the filters that we have already added to the video in order to make them more visible to the audience. We feel as though by making the use of filters more obvious to the audience they will be able to understand the mood of the narrative better and see clearly how the artists are represented as feeling during specific points within the video.

One element of our music video that a member of our audience did not particularly like was how unrealistic the death of the male character scene was, which can be seen towards the end of the video after he is sent off to the war. In regards to the constructive comment, it was obviously difficult for us to film in a location that resembled an actual warzone, which is why throughout those scenes we decided to use mostly close up shots to keep the audience focus on the character, rather than his location. Furthermore, we obviously couldn't use a real gun because of health and safety and the fact that none of us actually own a gun, however, I do feel we did the best with the resources that were available to us and that at the end of the day the audience knew that he had been killed, therefore the purpose of those scenes had been achieved through the use of visuals of him holding a gun, lying on the ground and the use of khaki green colours and an army print t-shirt.

In conclusion, there were several comments of constructive criticism that we received from our target audience regarding the rough cut for our music video, for example, it was recommended by someone that we needed to add more filters to the footage in the music video in order to help make it appear more old fashioned which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists are often perceived as having a vintage style and the genre itself is seen as not fitting into the mainstream. Our group has decided to look over our video and to enhance the filters that have already been used on the footage, for example, the effect Combat was used on the footage following the flashback to make the lighting appear more lower key in order to create more of an old fashioned atmosphere. We want the audience to be able to tell that filters have been used within the music video because the use of different colours help us to express the mood of the narrative and to show the audience how the characters are feeling at specific points within the video, for example, the use of a lower key lighting towards the end of the video while the artist is scattering the ashes in the park will suggests to the audience that she is upset/depressed due to the fact that the male character has died. Another aspect of our music video that we plan on adapting following receiving the audience feedback is the use of performance scenes to break up the longer sections of narrative within the video. We plan on using performance to show the audience that the scene has changed, for example, visuals of the artist singing will be seen between the opening sequence of the artist and the male character meeting in the park and the date scene that follows. In order to decide what changes we are going to make to our final music video we will need to organise another group meeting so that we can all express our ideas and discuss whether making these changes will actually improve the video we have so far.