Task 4: Director's Commentary

1. We first found the song ‘Young Love’ on an iPod belonging to a member of our group, liking the song we began researching ‘The Mystery Jets’ and their original video. We found them to be young, fun and quirky and so tried to incorporate these concepts in our own video. When on location we used a Sony PD 170 camera to film the stop motion shots that involved food, and of the feedback we received the most positive was in reference to the stop motion filming. This type of animation has been in use since 1898 and is created by making an object appear to move on its own by physically manipulating it by small increments between individually photographed frames. It creates a fun quirky atmosphere and is in some ways a hermeneutic code.
On the shoot day we used playback in the studio for the band to play along to whilst we watched them on an LCD TV monitor. This technology was put in place in order for us to maintain correct framing while shooting and for the band to be able to hear the song clearly. The lighting director controlled our pink “mover” lights in the studio using an app on his iPhone connected to the Chansys Magic Q lighting desk in the studio. In order to capture this lighting we brought photographers in on the day to take images of the band in action; this was also because we intended to use these pictures for our ancillary products.

2. To edit we used a programme called Final Cut Pro on G5 Macs in the edit suite, here we created our timeline by layering a series of sequences on top of a main wide shot sequence individually. Because we had two very different locations and we wanted to make sure our band appeared organically made, we had to cut between the two locations as equally as possible. We also cut down our song that was too long, using a programme called Wave pad so as to give the video a clean finish.
In the editing programme; After Effects we coloured and graded our finished piece to give it a more professional look, we also tried to create a split screen sequence with a ‘falling hearts’ backdrop but this was not possible in the end. When creating our poster and Digipak cover we used the Adobe CS2 Version of Photoshop on ----- computers. Here we used the healing brush, clone tool and blur tool among others to give our band member’s a slight make over so as to attract more audience members.

3. We then uploaded our finished product to internet social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Blogger in order to receive useful feedback. We also analysed our work by creating a focus group and setting up a showing of our video using an interactive board and an over-head projector. We also gave the group questionnaires to fill out for feedback purposes. Overall we feel that our end product was successful in using digital technology that was not commonly used 10 years ago, however, if we were to film the video again we would definitely use more stop motion filming because our audience feedback suggested that this was the most successful part of our video.

Task 3: How far has your audience feedback helped you?

Do you agree with the feedback you have been given from your audience?

This week we created a primarily quantitative data questionnaire in order to get some feedback on what did and didn’t work within our pop promo. With reference to the eight questionnaires that were filled out in response to our video, it is clear to see that we are definitely targeting a female audience rather than a male one.

For the male participants their main complaints were that the song was not their style of music and that the video itself was too ‘cheesy’. However, when asked whether or not our video’s narrative fitted well with the song itself, all the participants replied affirmatively. The use of stop-motion camera work also had a positive reception and depending on choices of songs for their A2 year, many participants said that this interesting camera style would be something to consider using in their own videos. Female candidates seemed to enjoy the ‘breakfast narrative’ because it appealed to their own imaginations’ ideal. And although none of the participants thought they would go to see the band in concert, roughly 60% of the girls said that they would watch this video again because it was cute and entertaining.
There were a few comments about the poor lip synching within the video and one or two participants mentioned that the playing of the instruments seemed under rehearsed or implausible. The elements within the pop promo that were most enjoyed by our audience were the stop motion and for some the narrative suspense.
I find this feedback to be honest and believable and the material that we have gathered from it is a little useful. However, the elements that were most enjoyed are impossible to use again within the poster or the digipack cover so this feedback doesn’t have any immediate purpose for us yet.
I do agree with a lot of what the participants have said and the fact that the female members of the audience preferred it more than the male members did does not surprise me. Our target audience is in fact young girls between 12 and 17 so for the upper end of that mark to enjoy the video is encouraging. Perhaps with the poster and the digipack cover advertising the band further, more members of the public would be tempted to see the band in concert.
Although not all the feedback is positive it does not dishearten us with a view to our product because none of the responses seemed surprising and when we began this production we knew that this video and band would not be hugely commercialised.
Overall the reception of our video was what we expected from the older end of our audience spectrum. The feedback comes across as honest and had we the chance to re-do this video I would certainly take this information on board.

Task 2 Screen Grabs

1. The performance element of our video is shown in this screen grab of our unusual band who are aiming at a target audience of mainly female 12-18 year olds. This video markets the band as being ordinary boys who play their own music and show their talent without focussing too much on appearance.

2. Love is the theme of our video, this screen grab of the stop motion letters adds to our theme. The song is about Young Love and the letters are symbolic of the lyrics. Our music video is a look at a romantic relationship between two young people and is aimed at other young people experiencing first love.

3. Although this female vocalist is only featured in the song we did feel that she should be seen in the video, surrounded by hearts she continues to emphasise our theme of love and because she is a young girl our target audience could hopefully relate to her, thus attracting an even more varied audience.

4. This screen grab of the kitchen filmed when on location addresses star image by showing the lead singer’s naked torso, this is meant to attract our female target audience. Seeing the lead singer in a morning shot like this which is then followed by the last frame of the video of his girlfriend in bed suggests that this is perhaps the morning after the night before...

5. The instrument close ups show the organic quality of the band in that they are skilled musicians who are able to perform with and play their instruments. The pink background, created by the red heads in the studio, and the strategically placed pink heart on the wall emphasises the band’s name ‘The Paper Hearts’.

6. The final frame of the video shows the relationship between the lead singer and the guest vocalist. This is a clear symbolic implication of the sexual content of the video in that he serves her breakfast in bed, however, it is a subtle enough that this video could be shown on music channels such as MTV, any scenes shown are very PG and simply add to the narrative structure of the video.

The Digipak - final

This is the inside of the digipack with the band's handwriting and images of origami to their 'old school' appeal.
This is the album's front cover, with images as if taken in a photo booth in keeping with the youthful aspect of our band.

The Poster - final

Task 1 Star Image presentation

Task 2 star image

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia5

CD digipack

Our front cover shows photos of the band in photo strips and the paper in the back symbolises their band name as well as conveying their school boy image. The back cover is the two hands holding a heart where we are going to put the titles of the albums songs in the handwriting of one of our group in keeping with the teenage scrawl we have on the inside cover.
The inside cover represents the band in poleroids and photo strips with origami cut outs which give a youthful feel to the CD. The handwriting is supposed to be all over the place and funny giving the impression that the band created it all themselves.

First Draft of the Poster

This is our first draft for our poster, which is a working process and it might change in the next couple of weeks.