Miss Georgiou - Rough cut

Audience feedback is very important for a production. This is as it allows for both positive and constructive comments to be made upon the work, so further changes can be made to improve the final version. This is why a rough cut is so essential to carry out, as if something in particular is said to be a serious flaw of the production for example, through the feedback given from viewers this can be changed, helping towards improving the final quality of the production.

We received feedback from our target audience via a number of different ways. The main one coming from the rough cut of the music video, which I uploaded to youtube, where people that watched it could leave comments on the production. As a group, we also showed the music video to classmates, friends and family, asking for any positive or constructive comments they could provide us with. Before publishing the rough cut onto youtube, as a class we showed each other everyones videos in little focus groups, where we got the chance to comment upon each others work.

This feedback benefited my production in a number of ways. It helped towards getting myself gaining a more up to date insight into what the target audience liked and disliked about the production, allowing for final amendments to be made before the release of the final version. With my group and I's production, since receiving feedback we have made a number of significant changes to the production which we believe will help towards making it more appealing for the target audience, which we wouldn't have even considered if any feedback wasn't given. Overall, I believe all the feedback my group and I have received has helped towards creating a better production, and one which is further suited towards the target audience we had in mind. As an industry as a whole, giving feedback to music video productions is important for this reason. A filmmakers objective will be to produce a video which is appealing towards their target audience, therefore receiving feedback from them and following this in theory should result in a happy audience and more popularity and sales, and improving the quality of music videos and what people want as a whole.

An example of one of the comments left on social media (youtube), on my group and I's rough cut

One positive comment we received was that the narrative was used well, and that number of different locations were present in the production. I think this was a fair comment to make, and that as I group we tried to incorporate a number of different locations which we deemed suitable for an indie music video and audience, to provide with a diverse viewing experience which we believed was done successfully.

Another positive comment my group and I received was that the portrayal of the artist was clearly evident, and that the position of struggle which he is shown as being in can be seen. I believe that my group and I did make this portrayal clear through the use of micro elements and the narrative, through the changing locations and the events which happen within the video, such as when the artist can't pay for the cab, signalling that he has reached rock bottom.

The next positive comment my group and I received was that throughout the music video, a large diversity of shots was used. Although the quality of the shots wasn't always great due to issues with the cameras focus, I do believe that the choice of shots throughout the music video were good, and helped towards showing the portrayal of the artist clearly, as well as providing with a diverse viewing experience which was engaging.

One constructive comment we received was that more filters could have been added, to make the music video look more professional and look similar to real media indie videos. I agree with this comment, and since posting the rough cut a number of changes have been made to the updated version, adding in various filters during the entirety of the video.

Another constructive comment we received on the rough cut was that some shots were filmed out of focus, and were blurry and unclear to see. My group and I appreciated this after looking back over raw footage when constructing the foundations of the music video, and is a very valid point. Going back to re film certain shots wasn't possible due to location restrictions (one example being as Liverpool street isn't close by), and as half of the shots were in focus and the other half weren't, we have worked around this and found a way to make the visuals more consistently clearer throughout the entirety of the music video.

The next constructive comment we received was that the role of certain characters and the narrative as a whole was a bit unclear, more specifically that the role of the "successful artist" who can be seen signing autographs and celebrating his success. I do agree with this comment as regardless that those things can be seen, it is clear that he is a successful individual, yet there is no clear indication that he has a relation with the music industry, or that he is a music artist. My group and I appreciated this comment after receiving it, although when going to re film some of these parts, we couldn't find a logical way which would match the previous shots we had filmed to show that he was a music artist, as we couldn't have him holding a guitar for example as it wouldn't be in any of the other shots. This was frustrating as I still believe making this representation clearer would have improved our production for the better, yet no other alternatives could be found.

In regards to the first constructive comment referring to the lack of filters, since receiving this feedback a number of changes have been made to the up to date production. This can be seen throughout the update to date production, where the "faded sun" preset filter on final cut pro has been added during any point where our artist isn't performing. We done this for the sake of making the production look more professional, and while doing so linking it towards the themes and connotations of the music video, as the filter itself has both an optimistic with changing his life for the better, and also a pessimistic vibe towards it, which shows how the artist is gradually losing hope with the lack of success he has throughout the music video.

In regards to the second constructive comment, we worked around the out of the focus shots through the use of a filter on final cut pro. The filter "focus" was used to focus the attention of the visuals to a small part of the shot, and while doing so blurring out the unselected sections. From doing this I believe the production looks more profession to the rough cut, and through the feedback given has enable my group and I to improve an important aspect of the video, as the visuals look more consistently in focus in the up to date version of the music video.