Group: Reflection on Audience research

After analysing our audience research last year we came to the conclusion that we need to include different strategies of gaining the data to help us mould and shape our final product to suit our target audience. Survey monkey is a good interactive way on gaining an insight into the viewers thought, however we feel the last time we use it some of our questions were rather week, thus the wording we used formed a leading question.

 

Therefore by using semantic differentials we believe we can still get back useful reliable results without forcing the audience down a certain route. It allows us to quantify opinions and gives the interviewee a scale on how much they liked or disliked an aspect of our work.

 

Furthermore there are other techniques we will use in gathering audience research such as focused groups. The focused groups are likely to consist of people we believe would be our target audience, younger males and females. They are a great way of testing our products, by understanding different opinions within the group, immediately. They also include concentrated feedback and we can ask how any improvements may be made

LF: Atlas Hands - Benjamin Francis Leftwich

I just came across this video and i really like some of the beach shots such as the very start and at 0:26 

What do you think?

TB: Technical Analysis Reflection

Above is the video I looked at for my technical analysis , ' The A Team' by Ed Sheeran. Doing this detailed analysis highlighted three key area's I will now pay attention to when filming our own music video.

- On our actual filming days we need to shoot far over the required amount , this is for filler shots and extra footage we may need to add into our final piece. Due to the fast cutting rate its necessary to film a large amount of footage.

- In the genre of song we are doing , a mild emotive narrative may be effective in adding a personal feel to the video , making it our own.

- Special effects , such as black and white layering or speeding up shots can prove incredibly engaging. Also , camera movement has become apparent as the most important tool in creating steady motion throughout the video.
(Left) - A screenshot of a woman kneeling over her dead friend. This is a very provocative shot , we hope to use framing like this to evoke emotion in our own piece.

Below is a scanned picture of my technical analysis that I carried out on paper.

LF:Brighton Recce Review

On the 27^th of September our media class went on a recce to Brighton to try and gain some basic ideas of what we would like our video to like and to experience filming in an urban environment and overcoming the difficulties that come with it.

Overall it was a very successful trip as we were thinking of using Brighton as one of our locations for our video. We like the location of the beach, a classic boy band location, combined with the edgy feel of the lanes adding a modern touch to our video. We had a list of shots we had to complete as well as doing our own work.

A shot that we were particularly excited about filming was a sped up shot, however we had trouble filming it. We attempted to film it in the main shopping centre however we had to stop filming because security said we were breaching regulations, however we still managed to complete 3 minutes of filming which we sped up 5000% and created an effective shot.

After analysing JLS ‘Everybody in Love’ a particular shot we liked was one of the boy bands singing directly into the camera whilst sitting down, therefore as we can see from above we decided to film from a low angle shot on Brighton pier. With a fast cutting rate and fading in shots we feel we can use this footage in our final piece.

Here is another still image we captured on Brighton Pier; we liked the background setting of the beach and the sea as it’s a very iconic shot, thus we are thinking of filming certain scenes of the video in black and white. I particularly like the contrast between the city landscape in the background and the picturesque beach. Whilst editing the photo I feel I slightly over contrasted it however on the HD cameras we wouldn’t do that. When we actually filmed this shot the camera would pan to the right as we walked to the left to create some movement within the shot.

In the photo above we tried to convey to the genre characteristics by wearing boy band clothing which combined with an authentic performance would create an authentic boy band feel.

JI: Brighton Recce

On 27th September we went down to Brighton with our media studies group for a recce, giving us an opportunity to explore with different equipment and our cameras in an exciting, photogenic location, with an urban feel. On arrival we were giving a number of different shot requirements we had to achieve throughout the day while experimenting different techniques of filming.

Here are a list of the shots we had to include:
MLS panning establishing shot for narrative/performance
Use of high/low angle for performance
Footage for sped up shot of character in crowd
POV handicam shot
360 pan
Tracking shot with character / performer in first person mode of address
A variety of CUs suitable for instruments
2 shots of your own design

These requirements allowed us to gain fresh ideas while filming, giving us possibly different shot ideas to which we had planned out. All these shots are common critical shots within music videos which are used to give the video interesting movement and repeatability for the audience.

To give us an authentic feel to the shots we were going to do we decided to wear costume which we would generally use within our music video. Here is a shot of me and Luca in our costume:



Here is a shot of One Direction in there latest video, 'That What Makes You Beautiful':



Through our initial research into boy bands we have taken some inspiration from One Direction who are possibly the most exciting new boy band in the music industry at the moment, and used similar costume from them to create an authentic boy band look.

Through this recce I feel it helped us getting a real feel for how difficult filming a music video was going to be, especially in a busy location. External factors while filming can prove to be a very influential factor while filming, and effect how the footage turns out. We found ourselves having to wait between shots for the general public to pass by which ultimately ended up being quite time consuming, so this is a factor we have to think about when choosing our location to filming.

I feel for our song 'Close to you - JLS' Brighton could be an appropriate location as it has a very iconic and memorable setting which would work well within our music video. Also with the presence of the beach it could help us bring out that fun, exciting feel to our boy band which is predominately shown amongst boy bands.



Here is a mid-production shot of us filming on Brighton pier:



Here you can see us experimenting with different type of shots, with this one being shot from a low angle to try and add different angles and movement into our filming to create a more exciting watch video. We gained inspiration of this from JLS' video 'Everybody in Love'. Here is a shot from that video of Aston performing:



Other troubles we had was permission while shooting footage. We had to get some indoor shots on our recce, however when we asked a few shops, we found that they took high precaution with people filming within their stores, so this meant we weren't able to get some good shots inside. We were able to shoot for a few minutes within the Churchill Square shopping centre in Brighton, however after a while we were told by security we had to leave. Luckily we had just enough shot footage to be able to achieve the footage of the character sped up in a crowded place. Here's a print screen of this footage:



Overall the recce was a really good experience for our group and gave us some good ideas which we can eventually use within our music video and a possibly an idea of a second location.

LF: Technical Deconstruction - Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness

1.      ECU of record player.

2.      CU- meet shot of kid cudi

3.      CU of extras hand with alcohol, early signifier

4.      LS of kid cudi drinking out of bottles, extras socialising around.

5.      Same shot however extras go into slow motion (brilliant effect)

6.      CU of another extra in focus, 2 extras out of focus.

7.      Cut back to LS of Kid Cudi sitting in chair again with champagne bottle.

8.      CU meat shot, with hand movements.

9.      MS out of focus fading into focus of two extras.

10.  CU Kid Cudi

11.  LS of Kid Cudi in chair

12.  CU kid cudi, slight dance moves.

13.  MS of torso of two extras holding champagne.

14.  LS Kid Cudi

15.  CU of Kid Cudi

16.  LS of Kid Cudi with props being thrown across room

17.  MLS of woman opening champagne bottle slow motion.

18.  LS of extras with glitter falling down.

19.  LS slow motion of 5 extras partying.

20.  CU of drake and Kid cudi

21.  LS of party with glitter falling

22.  CU of kid cudi

23.  MLS of hands and glasses, slow motion pouring champagne.

24.  LS kid cudi drinking out of bottle

25.  LS of extras partying

26.  CU of extra (woman) with glass half covering face.

27.  ECU of extra man

28.  Low angle shot of phone flying through air, sped up to LS of extras face.

29.  LS slow mo of extras face

30.  MLS of woman drinking champagne having a god time

31.  LS of DJ holding a kid cudi vinyl cover

32.  CU of kid cudi

33.  Sped up shot of Kid Cudi and drake ranging from CU-MS

34.  White fade leading to LS of Kid Cudi in chair with champagne.

35.  Sweeping shot of crown drinking.

36.  CU of woman smiling

37.  Panning left shot of extra very low-level lighting.

38.  ECU of Kid Cudi

39.  MS of kid Cudi sitting o bar stool

40.  ECU of Kid Cudi

41.  MS of Kid Cudi at the bar with people around him in slow motion

42.  CU of Kid Cudi-Meet shot

43.  Side angle CU of Kid Cudi

44.  Long MS of kid Cudi again with extras appearing in a different time zone.

45.  CU of Kid Cudi

46.  MS of Kid Cudi slight hand movments

47.  Low motion panning up shot of man raising hand with shot glass.

48.  MS of Kid Cudi, referring to lyrics with dance moves (dreams)

49.  CU slow motion of man doing shot

50.  MS of Kid Cudi

51.  CU of Kid Cudi

52.  MS of Kid Cudi

53.  Cuts to close up of man smiling after doing shot- CU

54.  MS of Kid Cudi

55.  ECU of Kid Cudi

56.  MS of Kid Cudi

57.  Slow Motion Low angle shot of champagne glasses colliding.

58.  Low lighting shot of extra with glitter falling down.

59.  MS of Kid Cudi and Drake with dark background.

60.  Slow motion shot of glitter falling.

61.  MS of Kid Cudi and drake

62.  MS of Extras Partying, followed by another extra holding a glass of champagne

63.  MS of Kid Cudi and Drake

64.  Slow motion low angle shot of a woman’s hand and falling glitter.

65.  Wide angle lense shot of Kid Cudi sitting on chair with extras in slow motion.

66.  MS of Kid Cudi/Drake, camera movement is minimal but a nice effect, bright white lights blind the audience for split second.

67.  ECU of kid cudi, with sparkling lights in the background, good use of Mise-en-scene.

68.  Final shots, Kid Cudi feeling the effects of the night before, effects include blurring, and de focusing.

• I chose to technically deconstruct Kid Cudi – Pursuit of Happiness, although it is not a boy band song it is a commercial video which conforms to the conventions of the genre, and you can draw many parallels between the two genres.

• First of all one of the main differentials of this video is the cutting rate as there are a number of long shots throughout the video, nonetheless there are always very unusual effects during these shots which still captures the audiences attention. For instance the long shots of Kid Cudi sitting in the chair at times last for around 4 seconds however there is a lot happening in the shot.

• The extras standing around Kid Cudi are partying in slow motion whereas Kid Cudi is moving at a normal speed, I feel this effect is very unusual and if we can adopt a similar effect through our video we can gain top level marks.

• The use of slow motion is a common theme throughout the video and breaks up the tempo of the shots making it more interesting, furthermore the audience can truly take in the Mise en Scene and the quality of the framing. I feel is it crucial that if we do use slow motion we need to consider our set and the use of lighting extremely carefully.

• Moreover Pursuit of Happiness does push the boundaries of the video in some aspects such as a slightly slower cutting rate and long shots; nonetheless the amount of meet shots during the video is very high. Kid Cudi dominates a lot of the screen time and although he is a solo artist we intend to allocate a lot of screen time to the members of the boy band.

JI: Technical Analysis

For my technical analysis I deconstructed JLS - Everybody in Love.



Here are some screen shots of my technical analysis, broken down shot by shot:





This video is a typical commercial based boy band video. The deconstruction of this video has enabled me to look beneath the surface of a typical boy band video, and gain a real understanding and meaning of the production involved, which we will need to think about incorporating into our video.

While looking at this video it has allowed me to realise the clear fast cutting rate is crucial within a music video to keep the audience entertained and wondering where the video is going to go next. Without this it would lose the repeatability factor which is needed for an interesting video.

The large number of meat shots used also has shown me that these are crucial within a boy band, as a video is a marketing tool for the band, so there needs to be a large number of shots of the band to attract their target audience, which for us will be predominantly be a female audience.



Camera movement is crucial for keeping the video alive and entertaining for the audience, and it used to great effect within this video. Nothing greatly exciting happens within the video however the movement of the camera within the setting makes it enjoyable to watch. Although there are a couple of static shots the way they have integrated the rule of thirds within them and the mise-en-scene doesn't make them too dull for the audience.