Rough cut feedback from blog

This is a screen shot showing the rough cut of my music video which I uploaded on to my own personal blog with the message: I would appreciate any feedback you could offer, particularly the strengths and weaknesses of the video and what improvements I could make to make it more suited to the genre/more appealing to the target audience.
This proves that I have been creative with my use of digital technology to try to gather as much feedback as possible, particularly from people who don't know me, which is useful as they don't feel pressured to give positive feedback about my music video.

Here is a close up of the only feedback I recieved for my music video post, despite the absence of comments it was positive feedback; two fellow bloggers 'liked' my post so that is encouraging. This proves that the rough cut of my music video clearly appeals to members of my target audience, as I viewed their profiles and one of the bloggers fell into my target audience category.

Rough cut feedback 2

Improvements:

I held a viewing of my music video with members of my target audience and got them to write down what they liked about the video and what they thought needed improving. Everyone had a mixture of positive and negative comments, which is helpful as I can improve my video to suit what the target audience wants to see. I then collected up all of their notes and sorted through them. The main improvement which 90% of the audience commented on was that some shots were shaky and needed editing to cut out the shaky footage. I completely agree with this point as I actually filmed some shots (most of the bird shots) with a hand held still image camera, so the shots were not as high quality as the other shots which I filmed using a Panasonic film camera on a tripod. To improve this I will cut one bird shot which is completely out of focus and tidy up the editing of other shaky shots so that the majority of the shots are smooth with minimal wobble.

Another comment was that I needed smoother editing and shorter shot times to quicken the pace of the video. I agree with these points too as I thought watching my music video on a large screen seemed to magnify errors, such as shaky camera work and also increased the time of the shots so I noticed they did drag on for longer than necessary. Therefore I will quicken the pace of shots which will make the video much sleeker and more attention grabbing. I will also make transitions smoother so there is a greater sense of continuity within the video and make the shots flow more successfully.

I received a lot of positive feedback about the dramatic speedboat shot however many people said that I should remove the first shot of the speedboat and just have the long speedboat shot at the end of the video as it is noticeable that I've repeated the shot. I agree with this and will therefore remove the first wide shot of the speedboat and keep the second shot at the end. I will also cut the end of the second speedboat shot, as some people said that the second shot of the speedboat needed to be trimmed slightly as the camera loses track of the boat at the end of the shot, which is understandable as it doesn't flow very well.

A few people said that my second animation with the letters spelling out the lyrics is quite abrupt and needs to be integrated better within the video, either through smoother transitions or by adding in more letter animation at different intervals within the video. I can understand this point, so I will experiment with more letter animation within the video, or maybe just make the transitions into and out of the animation smoother. One person said they thought I could include more close up shots of details within the video, such as close ups of leaves, or blades of grass within the wood. I didn't think about this during the editing process, however I like this idea as it would increase the variety of my shot types as I don't have many close ups within my rough cut. Therefore I will search through my footage and see if I have any close ups of detail which would reinforce the rural location of the video.

The whole audience said that the last few shots of my music video was the best and most effective section, one member of my target audience wrote, 'The last 30 seconds are perfect'. This is encouraging as it leaves the viewer with something memorable - especially as the last shot features the name of the artist, thus adding a personal touch and making sure she becomes recognisable among her target audience. One pertinent comment was that the last shot needed to last longer as the fade to black was too fast, so I will increase the length of this shot and add a slower fade.

Positive feedback:

The common feedback featured statements such as, 'nice shot selection', 'last 30 seconds are perfect', 'good variety of shots', 'effective end shot/great ending'. Many people commented on how much they enjoyed the surfer shots, animation, and end shot. In summary I think I have managed to successfully capture a variety of shots in different locations which reinforce the Indie genre of the music video and I think the composition of my shots work well - particularly the beach shots. I also think my music video conveys a creative touch, especially within the animations, which emphasises the category of people I want to attract. Generally the majority of the class all had positive comments to make so I have hopefully made a music video which will appeal to the target audience and engage the viewer. Therefore when I make the necessary improvements my music video should strongly attract the target audience to become dedicated fans of the artist!

Rough cut feedback

These are two members of my target audience who watched my music video rough cut, and then answered some of my questions. The first question I asked them was what they thought the strengths of the music video were; Ellie said she liked the two different locations (the woodland and beach) as she thought they complimented each other. She also said she liked the shot of Alex sat singing on the bench in the wood as it connects the different shots together and makes them flow. Fliss said she thought the wide variety of camera shots and different angles was really effective. Fliss also said she liked the way the imagery matched the music, for example the shot of the boat hitting the waves when the music got louder, faster and more dramatic. Ellie said she also liked the way the visuals reflected the music and the lyrics, such as when Alex is singing about birds, there are wide shots of birds flying in the sky. One of the main conventions of Andrew Goodwin's theory is that the visuals in a music video either illustrates, amplifies or contradicts the lyrics, so the visuals in my music video amplifies the music as well as amplifies the meaning of the lyrics. This is good as I want the target audience to understand the message in the song and to be able to relate to how the artist is feeling.

They also had some improvements for me to make to my music video, Ellie said that some of the shot transitions were too sharp and could be softer/smoother so I could improve this by adding in more dissolves so it's more flowing.  Fliss said that some of the shots were too short so the viewer didn't really have enough time to fully register what they were being shown, so I can improve this by lengthening some shots. Their feedback has proved really useful and I agree with all of their comments, so I will make the improvements and hopefully my music video will be more appealing to the target audience.



Artist feedback

Alex (my artist) had a huge amount of input when we created the storyboard as we sat down together and discussed different shot types, shot compositions and locations, as she had a clear idea of how she wanted to be represented within the music video. However I also had a clear idea of the style I wanted the video to capture - luckily we both agreed and even developed each others initial ideas. Although this project is a collaboration, I am the one in charge of the technical side - I edited on my own during class time, so the finished rough cut was Alex's first viewing of the video. She was impressed and pleased with the outcome, however she did give valued feedback on how I could improve it; she said she really liked the animations within the music video as they illustrate the lyrics successfully, this is good as I think the animations add a creative, quirky edge to the imagery which makes my music video a bit more unique. She thought the shot content effectively amplifies the message of her song. For example the wide shots of birds flying through the sky not only illustrates the main lyrics of her chorus but amplifies the message of her song: they depict humanity's need to stick together but also the difficulty to be individual in such a judgemental society, whilst the bird shots also evoke freedom and a care-free atmosphere, which follows the typical conventions of the Indie genre. 

Alex suggested some improvements, including; varying shot transitions to add interest, she suggests more dissolves to make the shots flow better and to give greater continuity. I agree with this point as I do use a lot of simple cuts between shots, however I did this because the majority of Indie music videos I have researched have only had jump cuts and cross dissolves as transitions, so I want to make my music video follow the typical conventions of the Indie genre by using similar transitions. I have used a few additive cross dissolves which gives a dream-like, ethereal effect, thus enhancing the quirky mood of the video, so I could add in more of these in appropriate places. Alex also said that she likes the shots of her looking down at the camera, so I will definitely try to use more low angle shots of her in the tree, as I think they make Alex appear in control and authoritative which is how I want her character to be represented.

Against The Wind Rough Cut

This is the rough cut of my music video which I will show to members of my target audience and ask for their feedback - either written or verbal recoded on camera. I think the main issue with the rough cut is that there is some shakey camera work and most of the shots need to be cut down to quicken the pace of the video, however I have plenty of time to make the neccessary improvements to ensure it appeals to my target audience.

Editing the brightness/contrast filter

This is a screen shot of me editing the brightness/contrast of my music video in Final Cut Express, I did this by clicking on the 'Effects' tab at the top of the small window on the left, and then I clicked on 'Video Filters' and selected the 'Brightness/Contrast' option and dragged this option to the middle box which contained the clip I wanted to edit. After this I clicked on the 'Filter' tab at the top of the middle box which opened a window containing individual brightness and contrast scales, so I could then play around with increasing/decreasing the brightness/contrast, until I found the combination that worked successfully.
I increased the 'Brightness/Contrast' filter to create an Instagram style to this shot to make it look edgy and artistic. This also makes the setting appear sunnier as the colours are brighter and more vibrant, therefore evoking a happy, cheerful atmosphere, which is one of the key conventions of the Indie genre.

This screen shot depicts me having dramatically increased the contrast of the shot, which really improves the clarity and sharpness of the imagery. It also makes the colours incredibly attention grabbing, however I think the colours within this particular shot may be a bit too bright so I will have to tone the colours down a bit, so that there is a sense of continuity between all of the different shots. I haven't enhanced the colours in all of the shots, as some are already bright enough, I've only enhanced the brightness/contrast filter on particular shots where the weather was dull and therefore the lighting wasn't good, but I've also used the filter to create an artistic style, however I don't want to overdo this effect - I want it to be a unique feature on some shots.

Editing transitions

This is a 14 minute screen recording of myself editing my music video rough cut in Final Cut Express. During this recording of the post-production process, I played around with transitions - I particularly like the additive cross dissolve which I've used for a few transitions as it gives a dreamlike, ethereal, quirky quality to the shot which follows the typical conventions of the Indie genre. Most of the transitions in the music video are simple cuts as the music videos I've analysed in the same genre mostly use cuts not a range of transitions.
The recording also shows me altering the end of the music video as members of my target audience suggested that the end shot should last longer so there is a bigger impact, therefore I lengthened the end shot. I also experimented with various special effects like altering the colour saturation and applying a kaleidoscope effect to a shot, however the colour saturation didn't work as I would have to apply it to all of the shots to reinforce the continuity. The kaleidoscope effect also didn't work, as it was hard to distinguish what was actually occurring within the shot, however it did give a creative, arty feel which follows the typical conventions of the Indie/Pop genre. Overall I found the editing process an enjoyable and simple process as I have previous experience of utilising the software and I had a wide variety of shots.