Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Problem 3 – Reshooting
When I discovered that the footage that I had captured was so poor, I immediately wanted to
reshoot the shots that were too static and too dark. One of my actors, Jackson Seal, had
very poor communication skills and lack of networks made it also impossible to get through
to him and arrange a time to re-film. Despite to take Wednesday off college due to food
poisoning, I managed to arrange with my actors to reshoot the scenes at 4pm that day. This
way, we had about two hours to reshoot in the light of the day, and if needed we could shoot
again on Thursday. However, this quickly fell through again as Jackson failed to arrive on
time again, and then just failed to arrive for the shoot all together. I understood that there
was no way I would be able to complete the work on time, and definitely not to a standard I
was comfortable in submitting, let alone proud of.
Do you believe you met the requirements of the target audience? How?
I believe that I did meet the requirements of the target audiences in my own production, as I
followed the feedback that I received in my SurveyMonkey. The majority of decisions that I
made about the production came from said questionnaire, which I felt helped me to best
capture what each target audience desired in a music video. One example of this was that
approximately 80% of participants said that they liked the style of the POV shots in The
Weeknd – False Alarm. From this, I understood that a lot of people enjoyed this way of
capturing the narrative and have implemented this into my own production. The majority of
Ed Sheeran – Castle On The Hill is filmed through a first person style, and whilst I did
include other shots I made most of the video from this perspective. People said that the way
The Weeknd – False Alarm was filmed captivates the audience and wittingly engages them
as they see everything through a character and therefore feel connected to the character in
the music video. This was mainly enjoyed by a younger audience, but people from the more
mature end of the spectrum (50-60) also stated that they found it interesting.
Screenshots from The Weeknd – False Alarm that show the POV style of filming.
With the editing style, I think that I met the requirements of the target audience overall as
I followed a similar style as The Lumineers – Sleep On The Floor (which was voted as the
most popular music video in my online survey). The natural and seeming ‘easy’ editing
technique appealed to the majority of the audience members, while still looking effective. In
my survey, I learnt that older generations preferred a more realistic type of content – which is
why they prefer dramas and soaps over fantasy and action in the film and television format.
Screenshots from The Lumineers – Sleep On The Floor that show the natural editing style
The Lumineers – Sleep On The Floor to show the natural editing style
Finally, with the narrative, I wanted to incorporate a similar style as Vance Joy – Riptide
uses. Their simplistic and basic ideas that make the visuals of the music video match the
lyrics from the song. I didn’t want it to be exactly like Riptide however, so I did add other
information and visuals to create a more cinematic look. Not only did Vance Joy – Riptide do
this, but there were elements of this technique in The Lumineers – Sleep On The Floor as
well.
Clip of the video to show the narrative techniques in Vance Joy - Riptide
Were you able to show your production to the intended target audience
(peers and teachers aside) What did they have to say about your production?
Once my production had been completed, I needed to show a selection of people who were
not associated with the college. Their opinions would be different to those in college, and
while they wouldn’t analyse it as thoroughly, they should be more brutally honest as they
hadn’t seen the amount of work and effort I put into the music video.
The first person that I showed my production to was my abuela, who (despite the language
barrier) loves Ed Sheeran’s music and was excited to see what I had created. As her English
is not particularly good, I wrote her survey responses for her. Out of 10, my abuela rated the
overall music video an eight. She said that while she enjoyed the message of the video, she
said that some of the visuals were a little too dark. However, in Question 4, she said that the
production did appeal to her age range. While the character was a young male, she said that
the first person perspective and the themes included made her feel represented in the
music. Question 5 was a little more detailed, with eight different attributes needing evaluation
– storyline, costume design, cinematography, editing, lighting, cast, props and location. In
her opinion, she thought that the storyline was good and showed a clear link to the song. I
showed her the shooting script alongside the video, so she could compare them and she
agreed that it was quite similar. With the cinematography, she said that the POV style made
the music video connect to her more as she felt like it was her taking the journey through the
ages. Finally, with props, she stated that it was good that I used a variety of props (for
example; childhood memorabilia). Some of them, such as the cigarettes, she obviously
wasn’t’ as happy about, but the she thought that it did work with the video.
The second person that I asked to watch my video was my mum’s friend, Sarah Jenkins.
She fits into the age range of 30-40 years, and follows the stereotypical codes and
conventions of someone in that category. This meant that her opinions would be what I base
that age range’s opinions on, which is quite a task for her to complete. She filled out a
survey on SurveyMonkey to analyse, with detail that I was not prepared for. This wasn’t the
first production that she had seen of mine, so there would be some comparison between
other films and videos that I had made in the past. Overall, she rated the music video an
eight, saying that she enjoyed the visuals and the storyline in particular. With Question 4,
she stated that production did appeal to her age range. There was a sense of nostalgia with
many of the clips, which helped me to understand that memories and re-creating memories
in a music video based for older/mature audiences was a good idea as many felt that it
connected them to the storyline. This was the main reason that when I went back to improve
the video, I used more of a VHS style of editing than done previously as I wanted to re-
create the old cinematography style. In Question 5, she wrote detailed examples of each
attribute she liked and what she thought I could improve on in my next production, whether
that was a more complex storyline or lighter visuals. Her opinions in my feedback were fair
and backed up with new points on how to change certain aspects of the video that she was
not as confident would appeal to the target audience.
The final person that I got to watch my music video was Ellis Bell, a fourteen year old boy
who lives on my road. He is not the typical teenage boy – quite quiet and reserved –
however his opinions on my production I found were very helpful. He rated the music video
an eight as well, which I thought was quite generous. In my opinion, it would be a maximum
of a seven, but I don’t know whether that it because I am too self-critical of my own work or if
I genuinely believe that it was worth a seven. He said that he liked the way it was filmed as
he got to be the main character. I thought that this might be a problem with the running POV
shots, as Ellis is disabled, but he said that it was clever as he got to experience it almost like
virtual reality. With Question 4, he said that production did appeal to his age range,
especially making the character about his age. This way he felt that he connected more to
the character, but also that the POV shooting made anyone feel that they were also
experiencing the themes and topics of the video. He liked the simple editing, but also said
that he thought maybe an older look would create a more nostalgic sense for the more
mature audience members. On Question 5, he wrote a little for each box. The main point
that he included was with the lighting of some of the shots - ‘While it works for a couple of
them, maybe re-shoot the scenes where it is a little darker’. All his opinions mattered to me,
as while I was creating the video for audiences aged 10-18, 30-40 and 50-60, Ellis is the
closest to my own age and I felt that the video works best with teenage boys, while not
excluding out anyone.
How do you feel your product compares to the existing professional products
that reach all target audiences?
In comparison to other existing professional productions, I
think that my music video does work quite well. When
studying three products that targeted all three target
audience, I concluded with the understanding that the
reason that all three products were so popular was
because they all had a connection to an experience that
the audience can relate to; whether that is up to nostalgia
or current issues is due to the age of the audience. My
music video is aimed to recreate this, as the themes
included either evoke of nostalgia for the older audience
(30-40 and 50-60 year olds) or current issues for the
younger audience (10-18). Obviously, some differences
do affect the quality of the production. The only product
that I can really compare mine to is Ed Sheeran – Perfect
as it is also a music video. The budget for Ed Sheeran’s
music video was obviously a lot bigger than my own,
which meant that the production team could afford to
spend money on flights to a ski resort and props that
feature in the final edit. Meanwhile, my budget was rather
slim, which meant that I could only afford some of the
smaller props and needed to settle for the rest by either
borrowing them or changing the script slightly. As well as
a bigger budget, Perfect also had a larger crew. This
allowed them to designate qualified professionals to each
role of the production team, whereas I had to complete
everything by myself. This meant that some of the factors
that I am not as good at (such as editing and lighting) are
better in Ed Sheeran – Perfect because the people doing
the tasks knew what they were doing.
Screenshots from Ed Sheeran - Perfect
What area are you looking to improve on in your next production?
In my opinion, I am looking to improve both my time management skills and my editing skills
in the next and final production. As the next project we will be working on is our Final Major
Project, I want to be able to create a production that encapsulates my time at The Henley
College and represents how far I have come as a creator. In every production I have made
so far I feel that I am too self-critical and, as a result, end up hating the final outcome. In my
next production, I want to be able to enjoy creating the piece and editing it without hating the
work that I have created.