Half Term Holiday Diary:

My half term Homework this week was to begin the draft storyboards and the animatic for my music video as well as the drafts for my digipak. I’m currently in the process of creating these and have nearly finished but before actually creating these it was vital I get audience feedback for my overall idea. I asked several people to fill in audience feedback forms on my proposal and how they thought I could improve the idea for my music video. I also made sure that I didn't just give these forms to people in my media class but to people that will be able to give me a more impartial opinion. Additionally I didn’t just give out the forms to anyone but to those who will potentially be interested in my product and the kind of people that would listen to this genre of music.
This was really useful because it not only provided me with a fresh perspective on my ideas but also showed me how my potential target audience would react to my product and ultimately whether they would like it or not and what parts they did and didn't like. It also gave me ideas on how to improve some aspects of my music video idea and what difficulties I may face in the process.

Before creating my draft storyboards I handed out these forms to a few people to see what they thought of my initial idea so far, the aspects they liked and didn't like and overall what action they thought I could take to improve it. I've also created some polls on blog and these will enable me to understand better how my Target audience interact with music videos and music generally in terms of where they watch videos and what on the whole they consider to be the most important/entertaining aspect of a video and how they interact with the music industry in terms of where they get their music from etc. As well as this I have created polls asking my audience on the kind of things they like and find effective in an album cover/digipack. Such feedback really helped me in understanding where and how I could improve my overall idea for example in this feedback form he suggested that I include more than one story line within my video in order to make it a bit more interesting, specifically as I'm not using a location and such feedback I'm going to actively take on board and I'm now going to include a few 'stories' in my video, rather than just one main one which was my initial idea. Feedback also allowed me to understand which aspects my target audience found successful for example in this form he liked my idea of using props to make my video more vibrant and interesting, this is also something I'm going to take on board where I'm now going to make full use of all the props I’m thinking of having in my video and include more which fit in with my music video theme of love. Audience Feedback Form- Matt Williams


As well as handing out these forms I filmed Becca's response to my initial proposal idea, she is an example of my 'ideal' TA and therefore it was important I get her opinion beforehand as she is someone who will be most interested in engaging with my product.

Weekly Production Diary:

This week I did the photo shoot for my album cover. I already have an idea in mind of what I want to produce in terms of my cover and digipack and this helped me when conducting the photo shoot as I knew what kind of photo’s to take however in case I do change my mind at a later stage I took a lot of pictures so I won’t have to redo the photo shoot. Before actually carrying out I had to get my model to sign a consent form, this is print screened below. I also created a time lapse of the whole photography process which I will be uploading soon :)

Target Audience Profile:

Its fundamental that I understand my target audience in order to make sure my product is both attractive and suitable for my audience and therefore I have created a Target audience profile of my intended audience and how in terms of the uses and gratifications theory they will ‘use’ my product:

Production Diary:

This week we out and experimented with the cameras, we were given a checklist of shots we had to take for example high angle as well as of a list of effects we had to create on the software Adobe Premiere like reverse and extreme slow mo. We then tested shooting different objects, one of our ideas for reverse was to shoot people smoking and then put this in slow motion however when we did this it wasn’t as effective as we first thought because we had to take the camera of the tripod so the footage was really shaky. After shooting I uploaded the footage to Adobe Premiere and then experimented with different effects, noting ones down I found particularly successful like colour pass as I may use this in my own music video. I found working with the equipment and software really useful because I now feel better prepared to make my video and shoot it.
In order to make a successful product its important I get audience feedback at every stage of the production and planning of my music video, specifically by people who will interact with my product in the real world. I’m therefore in the process of creating polls on my blog to find out about the kind of things my target audience find successful in a video and where they would typically watch a video as well as getting feedback about my proposal idea and what people think is successful/ unsucessful about it and their ideas about how I could change these unsuccessful elements. In the next week I’m also going to create a target audience profile, by understanding my target audience better it will enable me to make a better product that will suit their wants.

Test Sequences-

After going out and experimenting with the Sony HVR A1E cameras I uploaded some of the sequences we shot into Adobe Premiere Pro- I then experimented with using various effects on these sequences such as reverse, colour pass and distort. I did this in order to gain a feel for both the equipment and software, which in turn will help me when creating my music video.
One of the shots we took which I found particularly effective was one I did picking a dandelion and when I put this in reverse it looked like I was putting the petals back on to the flower. I added to this effect by using the effect of colour pass which makes everything black and white except for one part of the sequence, I chose to make the Dandelions petals a bright yellow and this amplified the effect.
We also experimented with a lot of different camera angles for example extreme close ups, I found that (though not in every instance) extreme close ups looked really impressive and in my own video I would like to use a few extreme close up shots for example of just a person’s lips when there miming the song.
Some sequences which didn’t work as well as I thought would included shots we took when the camera was of the tripod, these were shaky and looked really unprofessional. Additionally all the videos we took outside were quiet noisy, even if it wasn’t actually that windy you could hear everything in the background and this is something I’m going to take into consideration if I choose to film anything outside.
The following video is the one of the Dandelion I created; I personally think this was the most effective and best looking video and it wasn’t difficult to do either.