Evaluation task 3; Questionnaire...

Feedback questionaire

- Paula, Leyla, Helena, Grace

Dear respondent,

Having just seen our music video, please will in the following questionnaire, as honestly and complete as possible, according to your opinion. This would be very helpful to us as an A2 media group because we need some constructive criticism and feedback on our product.

About you:

☐ Female      ☐ Male

Age:

Nationality:

What’s your favorite music style?

Do you prefer....

☐ live peformances

☐  music via iPod/TV

☐ clubbing

1. Did you enjoy watching the video, or did you find it boring? If so – at what points did you lose your interest?

 

2. Do you think the video is too abstract or absurd? Yes or no?

 

3. If you could identify a narrative within, what was it?

4. What are the video’s strengths that would make it successful in the real indie-music industry?

 

5. What do you think about the artist? Do you sympathize with him? Would you like to see more of him and his work?

6. Please circle the number which most closely reflects your opinion of the artist:

Vulnerable	1	2	3	4	5	Strong
Introvert	1	2	3	4	5	Confident
Creative	1	2	3	4	5	Boring
Ambiguous	1	2	3	4	5	Masculine
Serious	1	2	3	4	5	Boring
Depressive	1	2	3	4	5	Happy
Mysterious	1	2	3	4	5	Stereotype
Mad	1	2	3	4	5	Funny

7. Is there anything in the video you would have liked to see? E.g. more performance, more fast paced shots, more naked skin??;)

8. What was your favorite moment?

 

Thank You very much!

Evaluation Task 2; How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation Task 1...

Performance - As a group we decided that, whilst we needed a performance element, we didn’t want a normal one. In attempt to find a middle ground we made the piano look like it was playing itself. This allowed us to follow the classic music video convention of a performance element, but twist it in a way where it wasn’t derivative.

Colour/Lighting – We wanted to set the tone of our video as ethereal and yet slightly moody, so the lighting was neutral if not sometimes cold. The colours in the video were muted and reflected the melancholic feel of the song.

Costume – The costume in our video reflected the style of the song and the audience it is intended for.  Our artist is dressed in skinny jeans, smart shoes and a shirt or coat depending on the setting. He was styled with pieces which indicate ‘indie’ culture, which would more likely appeal to this young, cultured, fashionable audience the song is intended for.

Set – The set needed to establish the type of artist we were using and the music genre he represents. The video was split between an old, abandoned house and a white studio. Both locations were sparse, with very few props involved, emphasising his loneliness and troubled nature which supports his star image.

Camera – Throughout our video we used a lot of MCUs, allowing action to be seen whilst staying close enough to our artist to permit his emotions and facial expressions to show.

Editing – In order to mirror the pace and rhythm of the song we used relatively long, still shots throughout the majority of the video. However this was not the case during the ballerina’s dance sequence, where in order to make a more dynamic sequence, the cuts became much faster. Whilst this may not have been conventional, the group found this faster cutting to work in this case.

The CD cover we designed for our artist remained cohesive with his star image and the style of the video, using repeated motifs of the wallpaper, polaroid and handwriting which all appeared in the film. The cover also managed to remain in keeing with the style of the alternative/indie genre we were trying to go for, with a specific colour scheme and the currently popular polaroid/vintage look it has. Below are examples of real world covers.

Promotional Poster...

Video Diary...

Here is a video and diary from over the 3 days we shot for your enjoyment...

Day 3 of the Shoot...

The last mini part of our shoot was the footage which will be placed within a Polaroid frame to create a magical moving image. It consisted of Paula, dressed in her ballerina costume, lighting and setting off a Chinese lantern. This is the kind of look we were going for, except in a field and in late afternoon.

We only had one lantern so this was a one take situation, with a high chance of failure due to the unstable nature of setting a huge piece of paper on fire on a windy day. But we took that chance. We set the camera in place and set it on record before we had started, for fear of a frantic run for the camera when things didn’t go to plan.
Whilst Paula got changed, it took 3 of us to light the lantern and hold it up. I handed my part over to Paula so I could go back to the camera and check the focus. After the recommended 2 minutes of filling the lantern with hot air, Helena and Niall ran out of view of the camera leaving Paula holding onto the rapidly rising lantern.
We decided it was time to let the lantern go, and it gracefully blew several metres sideways before crashing onto the grass. However Paula managed to grab it before it set itself on fire, and let it go again. This time it rose up perfectly and just kept going. Over the school. Over the canteen. It just kept going up until it was a tiny dot in the sky, flying into the surrey hills.

Hopefully it’ll be in focus.

Day 2 of the Shoot...

The second half of the shoot took place at Leith Hill Place, and our actor was to walk around the house, bringing things back to life. This half of the video was scheduled for a morning slot and we drove over for around 10am.

Our first shot was in a long corridor, our actor is walking along it towards a slowly opening door which has a bright light coming from it. In order to create this ‘magical’ opening door, I wrapped a piece of string around the handle. Luckily, that side of the door is partially cropped out sand underexposed, so this basic put together technique worked really well and created the eerie feel we were hoping for. We had a few problems with the lights, we blew the fuse in one of the extension cords, causing this sequence to take us quite a long time to do. After that we shot the staircase sequence and realised it was lunch time. Luckily for us it was a Wednesday, allowing us to run over into the afternoons activity programme and continue shooting after our lunch break.

Post lunch we split off into 2 teams, half the group shooting several of the regeneration sequences and the rest of the lip sync, whilst Paula and I shot the ballerina sequence, starring Paula as a toy come ballerina who plays out a dance sequence. We had placed her in front of a window, which meant we needed to light her as she appeared as a silhouette. We set up 2 lights which unfortunately threw hotspots  onto the shiny painted surface of the window frame. We shot from most possible angles and captured most sections of Paula’s body whilst she was dancing, and then went on to shoot the ballerina inside the music box.

We regrouped to get the final shots of our actor picking up the ballerina box and setting it go. The light had changed considerably in this time and it was dark outside, so we shot away from the windows in an attempt to keep continuity.