Monday, 28 January 2013

Q4: Reflective Evaluation


Question 4:


How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?



Q3: Reflective Evaluation

Question 3:

What have you learned from your audience feedback?



Audience feedback is very important because we can see what people like and dislike about our video. As it is the general public who are going to be viewing the video. It helps us improve because it is people who will be sharing it with peers, it is essential that we target them the best way possible, by showing what they want to see.
Our target audience of 16-30 gave relatively positive feedback. For example, most females in this category gave our video a 5/5 and said our story was very good and made them feel emotional, which is what we wanted. Surprisingly, males at the same age complimented the story and how it has a good meaning and was well thought out.

We gathered audience feedback by giving out questionnaires, like shown below. We also posted it on Youtube and sent out emails to use digital media to get results. We felt these methods of social networking would be the fastest way to communicate with the public for the best feedback. We are very happy with the feedback, we received. Most people felt the video had a strong and true story-line as well as good acting which gave a sense of realism.

We created a Wordle of the main points from the feedback so that we could see which words were repeated from everyone.


Some people mentioned that they really liked the blurred lights in the background as it looks really nice next to Joy's face.


People mentioned that some shots too out of focus and this was seen as a slight problem, however in this shot below, the focus was pulled straight back in so it wasn't too much of a problem. Some people thought that this focus change was a good thing as it made the video look more professional to them.


The fact that Joy's face is so close the camera was good as it connects her with the viewer and this was said in the feedback as they felt that the emotion through the eyes made it better and that it felt like Joy was singing straight to the viewer.


Somebody said that the sun reflecting on the actress contributed to the happy and sad emotions in the video.


People liked the ending how she was shown walking away from the gave as this portrayed that she was moving on and that her soul was being mended.



We created a first edit of our video and showed it to various people for feedback. They had lots of bad points about this video as I have listed below, I have also listed what we did to improve on these points in our final video.



The length of the video was way too long and the whole one minute part was boring and unnecessary. In our final video we don't have an intro at all and this makes the length shorter so that it is interesting the whole way through.

We showed the graveyard scene half way through the video and this gave the storyline away in the middle and it created a surprise in the middle which made everything after this quite boring as you've seen the surprise already. We changed this so that the graveyard would only be revealed at the end and this way the viewer will be interested for the whole video and then have a surprise at the end.
The actors were seen as aseptic and boring, you couldn't tell when the actress was sad and when she was happy. This actress wasn't available to film again but we decided on a different actress also, and we made sure that this new actress, as well as the actor, conveyed their emotions much clearer and evident.

A suggestion was that the artist, Joy, should have been looking down the lens to communicate with the audience more. In our final video, the majority of shots of Joy had her looking at the camera and this has made a great impact on the video as it connects Joy with the viewer and lets the viewer feel the emotion from Joy.

More happy memories were needed instead of sad to let the viewer experience the strong loving relationship the couple had. We included much more happy moments in our video to give off the happy warm feeling within these memories.

There were a few continuity errors with costume. As we started the video again, we made sure that there were no continuity errors.

We had far too much focus changing and also there were too many shaky and jumpy shots. We reduced this in our final video although there are a few slightly shaky hand held shots and we still used the focus changing as an effect but this made our video look personal but professional as there wasn't too much.

The letter as one of the props was commented as pointless as it didn't have a strong representation of anything in the video. We replaced the letter with a small toy that had a fun and happy memory behind it, this gave the prop more meaning and importance.

We liked some of the suggestions for the music video, however we found reasons why we couldn't use these ideas such as a budget. Lots of people couldn't quite understand the lyrics and this was due to the production of the song which we couldn't change, this made it hard for people to fully understand the video too. 

Problems with feedback could be that the people giving the feedback might not have any experience of watching music videos so wouldn't be able to compare with a professional one, also they might not like the certain genre for the video or the song/artist and therefore wouldn't appreciate the video as much. Some people might not take the feedback seriously and give false results and this wouldn't be helpful when trying to improve the video.



We also created these charts showing the amount of people who liked our video.


It shows the amount of males/females and even the age groups who rated our video. Using the questionnaire of what people thought of the video out of 5, we gained this information. It seems our target audience was correct as 16-30's gave it the best scores of 4 & 5's. However the over 40s gave a few 3 out of 5s, which shows it may not appeal to them as much. It seems females enjoyed the video more, as a lot of males gave it 4/5 as apposed to a lot of females giving 5/5, but this is too be expected from the storyline we chose to do.

_________________________________________________________


Here is most of the feedback we received. Altogether, we gained around 40 replies from our questionnaires as well as comments on our Youtube page and e-mails. We feel this is a good amount of people for a focus group. We gained lots of feedback, from all different ages and gender so we can see an all around view of what people thought. It seems everyone really enjoyed it, even people who aren't our target group, for example 40+, who felt the storyline was very good!

The purple writing is negative comments we have replied too, as to why we did certain things.



MALE 


UNDER 16s





Age: 15



1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 

Yes 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing?

It was fine, very clear



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why?

Yes



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

I think that it stands up great next to other videos of the same genre



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video?

Love, sadness, longing



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why?

Yes



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

They were fairly equal



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most?

The way the shots were edited together seamlessly



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

Maybe shoot the narrative without the actors heads in shot 







16 - 30s



Age: 17



1. How much did you like the video? 

5 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 

Yes. The shots of artist with their acoustic guitar fits with conventions. 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing? 

Some long duration shots fits with calm, slow pace of music. Very good variety of shots. Good use of close-­‐ups to show artist/character, fast shots look good for when she is happy. Fit with mood.



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why? 

Yes. 



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

Very professional. Different focuses/shots/pace used very well. 



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video?

Felt sorry for the character, as they had lost someone close to them. Easy to relate to. This is good because relating to an ordinary teenage breakup is hard to do as this is very common and you get over it easily however, relating to a death is much more meaningful because death is loss on a whole other level and is harder to get over.



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why?

Yes. Song is about losing someone and trying to move on from it. 



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

Yes. 


9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most?

The quality of all the different shots. Lots of different shots used in a very effective way.



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

Even though it is on purpose, a bit less shakey at times maybe to make it a bit more calm.
Yes, we feel that some shots could have been less shakey. 





Age: 20



1. 4 / 5



2. Yeah, although I don't really watch many of those kind of music videos so can't really judge.


3. 
Really good editing I think, right shots in the right places, often really good quality shots. 



4. Course I understood it 


5. Looked of a similar quality however not as extravagant, but that mainly comes down to budget I guess


Yes if there was money put towards the video then we could have created a much more professional video however this is a student music video and there were only the resources we had.



6. I guess all I can put for this is that I was captivated by the film, and watched with intent.



7. Yes, the video followed the story of the lyrics closely



8. I think they were but don't see how that's a reflection of how good the film is



9. The storyline's my favourite bit



10. Nothing





Age: 31



1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 

The video is more appropriate for a folk tune I think. I wouldn’t class indie in the same group. 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing?

There is lots of soft focus which I think takes away from the message sometimes. Wide angle shots make a nice change and are quite refreshing (graves, couple walking). Close of ups of the singer (who is the narrator) are nice but again maybe over used.


We needed this amount of close ups of the singer as this keeps the closeness between the viewer and the singer. It also conveys the singer’s emotions about the song too. 



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why?

I think I did understand the video. More story scenes as opposed to close ups of the singer would make this easier.


The music video was created to sell the artist therefore we needed these shots of the artist to tell the viewer who is singing the song and to show the viewer who she is and to sell her and her song.



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video?

There are elements in this video that are professional and it is very heavily influenced by music videos in this genre. Perhaps the balance of techniques (and over use of some) detracts from the professionalism. I was surprised that this is an amateur video.



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video?

I am not an emotional person so would not find music videos emotive (I only blubbered a little bit during cinema paradiso!). I like the tune and the video complimented it nicely. I felt a little ‘christmassy’ if anything



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why?

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They match nicely. Pace of the video suits the tempo and timbre of the song.



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

I think there were too many shots of the performer. (more than narrative).


As mentioned above, we felt that the amount of shots of the performer were appropriate for our reasons. 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most?

Use of colour. I liked the blurry lights in the background. 



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

Less close ups and more wide shots. Although the tune is a little sad, the happy imagery is nice and could be used more effectively.

The close-­ups keep the viewer interested and involved with this story, they keep the connection strong. 




40+




Age: 44



1. How much did you like the video? 

5 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 

Yes



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing?

Very good. A large range of locations and situations have been used, very well put together.



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why?

Yes, with a huge surprise at the end.



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video?

I am not too familiar with recent music videos, but it appeared to me to be of a very high standard



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video?

Great happiness, love and great sadness. The communication of the change in emotions is very impressive.



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why?

Yes the video seemed very appropriate for the song



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

Yes



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most?

There was plenty of focus on the performer and good exchange with the narrative. Very much the emotion that was conveyed, and the change in emotion. Also the very good range of sources used for this video.



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

I don’t think I am qualified to comment. I think this was a very good video. 





Age: 52



1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5


2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 
Yes but it could be more quirky, could do with something a bit incongruous in there to make it stand out from the crowd.

The song is not a quirky song so this wouldn’t look right, also this idea would divert the importance of the ending. 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing? 

Excellent, I liked the timing of the cuts, the lighting and the use of focus (and out of focus) 



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why? 

I think so, but I didn’t take all the words in because I was concentrating on the visuals 



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

Very close. Technically, I think the lip-­‐sync was slightly out in places and the image broke up twice but both those problems could be because of youtube. Could just have done with something unique to make it stand out more. 

This was due to YouTube as the video is not out of sync or jumpy. 


6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video? 

A difficult one to answer as I was thinking about the quality etc of the video rather than trying to empathise with the characters. Also, I don’t think I get emotionally involved in less than 4 minutes. 



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why? 

Yes, but this is not necessarily important for a music video. Certainly, being too literal can detract from the experience but you have avoided that. The main thing is to catch the overall mood of the track which you have done well. 



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

Without watching it again I would say there was more narrative than performer, but the balance was good. 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most? 

Another hard question but I’ll go for the editing. Choosing the right shots and getting the timing right for the cut to the next shot etc. 



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

As I said, it could have done with a quirk. But this is the hardest part of video making. It needs to be something original enough to make you smile but not so bizarre that ruins the mood (the viewer has to be able to suspend their disbelief). The Praktica almost fulfils this role because of its vintage/retro qualities but I don’t think many people would notice it. Artistically, the acting and directing were very good and the camera work and editing were excellentExamples I can think of include the garden gnome in the film Amelie and the dancing milk carton in Blur’s “Coffee and TV” (but that would require expensive CGI). Sorry, they aren’t particularly good examples, you can probably think of better ones.

Nice idea but as we mentioned above, this wouldn’t suit the slow pace of the song and would divert the ending. Also, we don’t have the money for the expensive CGI, if we did then we would consider this. 




FEMALE


UNDER 16s




Age: 12



1. How much did you like the video? 

5 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why?


Yes the words fit in with the video very well 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing? 

I like the way it switched from the singing to the boy and the girl together 



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why? 

I do understand the video but how the boy dies confuses me a bit 



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

I think it is good because the music is good and the video tells a short story 



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video? 

At the start it was happy but nearer the end it was very sad 



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why? 

Yes 



Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

Yes altogether but some of the shots with the couple were slightly longer than the singer 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most? 

The editing was clever and the story was very emotional



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

Maybe some insight into the boy’s death would be interesting 


We wanted to make the ending more mysterious and make you want to know how the boy died and clearly this has worked. 







16 - 30s




Age: 19


1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5 



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 
  
Yes, but it’s on the side of indie, probably because of the story scenes with the couple, the actual artist shots are ideal for the genre. 


  
3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing? 

Really well edited, well-­‐placed shots. Some of the fades in and out of focus were a bit extreme but it’s in keeping with the genre so it’s not distracting. Some of the long shots lost the surrealism that music videos tend to have a bit, like almost broke the magic. 


We needed these long shots for a variety of shots, if there were close-ups then you wouldn’t see the background and this is important to show you the setting. 


4. Did you understand the video? If not, why? 

Yes. 



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

Looks very professional, the angles and editing especially. 



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video? 

Made me smile, its peaceful and quite sad. 



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why? 

Yes it did quite nicely, it was a little unexpected compared to the lyrics but it actually worked well at bringing out another level and wasn’t cliché at all. 



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative? 

I felt like they were pretty even, maybe slightly more narrative. 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most? 

The close up shots really worked, the shot transitions and some of the camera angles were really interesting. 



10. How do you think the video could be improved? 

I thought maybe the last scene by the grave could have been different, the shot of the sun through the hair was beautiful but after that I thought that should be the last image maybe. But the final artist shot was nice. 

It would have been nice to end on a grave shot with the sun in it, however we wanted to film the actress walking away from the grave as she has accepted the loss but we couldn’t have the sun in this shot for two reasons; we liked the idea of seeing the grave up close and having her feet walk off in the background and this shot was too low to have the sun in it, and we didn’t want to break the 180 degree rule so we couldn’t get a good shot of her walking away with the sun in the shot. 





Age: 20




1. How much did you like the video?


5 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre?

Yeah, thought it fit in really well, with the clothes and camera and type of song.



3. What did you think of the camerawork editing?

Thought it was really good, looked professional.



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why?


I think I understood it. Needed to link the words and the song, although sometimes couldn't tell if she was smiling or crying, I think crying?



We tried to convey her upset about the loss but happy still from remembering her memories.


5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video?


Good video, as good as any of the other music videos that focus on telling a story rather than just dancing etc.




6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video?


I was really sad especially the ending, but enjoyed the song.




7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why?

Yeah thought it fit in really well with the song.



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

I'd say the narrative outweighed the performer but not obviously.



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most?

I enjoyed how it was like a home video and made it more personal and helped tell the story better.



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

Thought it was really good, I don't think it needed any improvement. 







Age: 28 


1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 

Yes. Overall I think the video had an emotive style that’s consistent with the music and the genre. I think the shifting camera focus gave an indie style. The video had a slightly “unique” feel, and a natural rather than polished style, which I would associate with indie/folk. 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing? 

I liked the camerawork and editing. I think the camera movement and the way it came in and out of focus added to the style of the video. I liked the way the video was made up of lots of small scenes building together to make a story, but they weren’t so short that it felt like it was bitty or jumping around too much (which some videos do, I think). 



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why? 

Yes, I think the story was clear by the end and made sense alongside the music track. 



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

The video is just as good as many commercial videos. I would not be surprised to see this if it were on TV or online as a professional music video. 



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video? 

As the story unfolded I found it quite moving. There was a clear picture of love and memories. It became quite sad towards the end, but in a kind of bittersweet way, like there was hope and happy memories rather than just misery! I think the sunshine over the character at the graveside contributed to this, and of course the song itself. 
 

 
7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why? 

The song was about love and healing and the video portrayed this really well. As mentioned previously, I think both the song and the video had a bittersweet feel. 



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative? 

I feel like there was slightly more time spent on the narrative but that’s probably just because I was paying more attention to the narrative. 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most? 

The way that it captured emotion and affected me. I couldn’t put this down to a single aspect of the video but I think the way the story was put together (showing the association to the relationship of each object the girl had) was really effective. 



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

I don’t know, I think it’s really good!







40+




Age: 41


1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 

Yes. Would not look out of place when compared with similar videos 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing? 

Excellent timing and lovely tight focus and aperture control, which gave a feeling of intimacy and internalising of the emotions. 



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why? 

Yes, video relies on the reveal and that worked really well. Still would love to know how he died but obviously that would make the video too sad. Lovely narrative.

  
We did not want to show how the boyfriend died because we wanted the audience to question this matter instead of know. 


5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

Perfectly professional quality and approach. Would not look out of place with other similar videos 



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video? 

Reminiscence, happiness, sadness, fun – a lot of heart. 



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why? 

Yes definitely. Lovely song. Like the end scene where she is just walking away – moving on 



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative? 

Yes – timing worked very well. 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most? 

Really liked the narrative – piecing together her memories with the objects. You managed to fit a lot of story into the video. 



10. How do you think the video could be improved? 

A suggestion rather than really necessary -­‐ would have liked to have seen copies of the photos she took maybe at the end, or her going through photos at the end? 


This would be a nice idea, however we feel that it would divert the attention and importance of the objects onto these photos and the video would seem too crammed.






Age: 48



1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, 
why?

Yes 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing? 

Excellent, I don’t know a lot about camera work but the video was entertaining and emotive. 



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why?

Yes 



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video?

Again, I’m no expert but it reminded me of watching a film, it told a story without words. 



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video? 

Love, happiness and then sadness. 



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why?

Yes 



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative?

Yes, beautifully so. 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most?

The fairground scenes, they could have been taken straight from a film. 



10. How do you think the video could be improved?

I think it married the song beautifully and wouldn’t change it.







Age: 49



1. How much did you like the video? 

4 / 5



2. Do you think the video is appropriate for the indie/folk genre? If not, why? 

I think it probably is appropriate for the folk genre (but my understanding of indie is not good)! 



3. What did you think of the camerawork/editing?

I thought this was excellent – very professional work. The 
conveyed in the scene where the boy and girl are running about together – all look extremely professional. 



4. Did you understand the video? If not, why? 

The true meaning behind the video only really became apparent to me at the end where the girl visited the grave. The feeling until this point was that the relationship had simply broken up. The video does convey the idea that the girl is broken-­‐hearted, and that she is reflecting back on the happy times. 



5. How do you think the video compares to a professional music video? 

I think the quality of the video is very good indeed. Strangely, the thing that made it appear an ‘amateur’ video for me was simply that the two protagonists looked very young and innocent; a typical commercial music video is often more dramatic in terms of the glamorous and/or extreme styling of the clothing and make-­‐up portrayed, which makes the actors seem more ‘worldly-­‐wise’ (not that this is necessarily a good thing)!! 


We wanted actors at around the same age as the artist as she is telling the story and it is personal to her so the viewer should be seeing this story as if it is the artist’s own memory and the age helps to portray this. 



6. What emotions came across to you when you were watching the video? 

The emotions were a mixture of joy, expressed in the blossoming love of youth, juxtaposed with the sorrow and loss felt because the relationship was at an end. 



7. Do you think that the video relates with the song? If not, why? 

Yes, I believe so, although I have to admit to being distracted by the visual action: there was a multiplexity of different scenes and shots which demanded my attention to the extent that the words of the song seemed to get lost a little in the background. 


This is common in music videos as you are into the video and the story that you are only subconsciously listening to the song and they both compliment each other to sell itself. 



8. Would you say that the amount of shots on the performer were equal with the amount of shots of the narrative? 

I think possibly there were more shots conveying the story than shots of the performer (although that sense may be influenced by the numerous scenes – see previous comment). The performer was very good and her eyes conveyed a lot of feeling too. 



9. What aspect of the music video impressed you the most?

I think the camerawork and editing was very impressive. Also, the use of 
symbolism was effective – the rose, soft toy and candle. 



10. How do you think the video could be improved? 

I personally think the acting could convey a little more intensity – for example, at the graveside. In such circumstances, I think a young girl would be overcome with grief – but that is possibly a subjective thing.