Rough cut

Audience feedback is crucial to a production because the audience provide useful and effective feedback for the creators to take on board and to make these changes in the areas of the video that are lacking in certain aspects. The audience are useful because they give a good indication to what should be kept in the music video and what they liked about it, the creators will take note of this and make sure to nature make too many changes to this part of the video. Rough cuts are key essentials to making a music video because these videos are not the finished products, meaning when an improvement has been stated, the creators can then work on these improvements so that the audience are satisfied with the end product.

Me and my group received feedback from a number of sources, one method was to use the social media site youtube, this is where we uploaded the video initially and audiences could leave comments in the comment section of the video. Another method was to show the product in front of our class so me and my group could acquire some good things as well as improvements from our fellow students and teachers. Finally I showed the video to some family members of mine to see if they could offer any feedback, indie has such a wide audience age range that it wasn't a problem going to people for some criticisms as well as good things that me and my group did with the video.

As stated before, me and my group created the rough cut in the efforts to achieve some constructive comments and things we did well. Me and my group created a rough cut first so that when me and my group had all our comments and pieces of feedback we could then use them all to better the final production. If all these improvements are made it will make the video look better and feel like an actual music video as with our rough cut there are improvements to be made but we just need the audience to point out particular problems. The rough cut comments and improvements gave me and my group a good indication of what we needed to improve on and what we did well, and if all these improvements are made to our existing video then we would have accomplished our task of making a video that appeals to our target audience. The rough cut we made and what we will do with that information will benefit the industry because all audiences will feel appreciated that their feedback that they gave is going to good use and will be implemented and rectified so that they can have the most enjoyable experience when they watch music videos.

One comment we received on youtube about our video that shows we did something right was that we had a good use of a narrative which could mean that it was well structured or easy to follow or that the narrative of the artist was constructed in a way that the audience member were able to empathize with him, the next part of the comment states that we used locations well. The narrative part of the comment i can agree with because we had to go over the whole narrative a few times so that we were all aware of what was going to unfold within the music video. The part of the comment that said we used locations effectively was also something i could agree with as we took care trying to pick locations that would like different but still convey the same ideas as before e.g. me and my group used Loughton high road to try and show a different part of central London.

Another positive comment we received was from a fellow student saying that the artist has a very clear representation throughout the video, and that the way he is portrayed struggling to make it in the city is clearly demonstrated throughout. I believe that me and my group did convey this effectively when making our video as there are several scenes that show he has reached his lowest low/rock bottom like when the camera cuts to an extreme close up of the money box and there are only 1 and 2 p coins showing that the artist isn't making any money which also relates to the scene where he runs away from the cab because he didn't pay the fare.

The last positive comment me and my group received was from the teachers saying that we have used a wide range of diverse camera angles and techniques throughout the entire video wherever it was possible or needed. Me and my group can agree with this comment because we kept making sure the shots weren't being repetitive whilst filming in London and Loughton. All of the shots we used were used so that the audience would be interested in the amount of diverse camera techniques used and some of the shots we used help create certain ideas from the audience like when the artist tries to get into his house near the end and the shot is a high angle shot looking down on him as if to suggest he is inferior.

The first constructive comment me and my group received was from our teachers after showing them the video was that the lens on the camera wasn't adjusted properly and as a result certain shots are showing the artist out of focus. This is extremely noticeable when watching the video a second time an me and my group are very thankful for this constructive comment. However re filming the shots would be problematic because the filming location would be very difficult to get to again so that it's still bright and sunny as we are in the middle of winter, and the distance was very far for re filming all the way in liverpool street, this is also the reason why the second location is Loughton because it's busy as well as close by so me and my group thought that it would work there. Me and my group just need to focus on how to clear up the camera shots so that it doesn't look as if they are out of focus.

Another constructive comment made was that we need to use filters a lot more in our video so that it can look more professional as stated in the youtube comment we received. Me and my group have taken this comment on board and think that we could use a grainy filter to take some of the colour out of the video so that it looks a bit more depressing this makes it more conventional for the audience which will make it more professional as it will look like a realistic music video for the indie genre.

The last constructive comment made about our video was that one of the characters in the video, who is a successful individual and signs an autograph at one point, doesn't look as though he is a successful music artist. This is a very good comment that was made because though me and my group knew what he was, the audience would struggle understanding his purpose in the video, me and my group know he is a direct opposite from our artist but because the successful person isn't given much of an identity and it's difficult to see if he is even a music artist whatsoever. Me and my group planned on re filming these scenes so that he was listening to an Ipod so a connection could be hinted at, but in relation to the camera shot that should follow this one, he isn't seen at all with the with the ipod or even headphones, so this was a problematic constructive point but we still haven't corrected.

Me and my group will start improving the video by adding several filters throughout, one idea me and my group have had is to use a filter that takes away a lot of the colour from the shots our artist is in so that it looks as though it is a depressing story. Me and my group then had the idea of adding colour back into the video when our artist is playing the guitar and when the successful artist is on screen because the colour would show success for the successful artist and would show hope for our artist. One last correction me and my group will be making is that there is a focus filter we can use to blur the edges of a shot so that the artist doesn't look out of focus as much anymore, he'll still be blurry but the background will be a lot more blurry so that our artist stands out.