2. Rough Cut- Survey responses
After the first rough cut, I created a survey and sent it out to members of my target
audience. This is an overview, as the analysis of this is in a separate blog post. These are
the responses:
3.
4.
5. Rough Cut- Q&A
• We asked two members of our target audience specific
questions about our rough cut for further feedback. Here are the
responses in a summary:
• What did you like about it? The red lighting and the use of
photos
• What did you think about light pulses? It was quite a cool effect,
added something to it rather than it being plain
• What did you think about the narrative? They liked it, its clear,
can be interpreted in different ways
• Is there anything that could be improved? The quality of some
bonfire shots
• What genre do you think it is? Has an alternative, indie style, not
the average pop video
‘It appealed to me I really liked it’
‘I think it has a built in repeatability’
6. Rough Cut Feedback 1
Likes Dislikes
Good use of cutting on the beat Some shots last too long and dislikes
the use of black filler gaps
Good use of transitions Montage (flashback) features some
grainy shots because of low light
levels
Use of photos to show a back story Narrative could be clearer
The stairway scene is too out of frame
and doesn’t work
He is a member of our target audience; likes
indie music and a teenager. Here is a
summary of his feedback, with what he likes
and what could be improved.
7. Rough Cut Feedback 2
Likes Dislikes
The shots of the fire The slap scene as it doesn’t look
realistic
Mix between narrative and
performance shots
Some shots last too long
The narrative is clear and the video
fits the genre
Grainy footage with the bonfire
The light pulses on the screen look
cool, works with the moving photos
This is Belle. She fits into our target
audience category and recognizes
herself as a Billie Eilish fan.
8. Rough Cut Feedback 3
This is our media teacher. Along
with members of our target
audience it was important to get
feedback from someone with more
experience in the field.
Summary:
- Good use of extreme close ups
- Nice juxtaposition of shots (bonfire with bedroom scene)
- Continuity of narrative is good- there has to be something to do with what the
photos represent
- There is the teasing of audience as the artist is slowly revealed and hidden in
shots
- The growing narrative includes enigma
- Built in repeatability as we ask questions about the narrative
- Some shots aren’t clear enough in their meaning e.g stairway shot is out of
frame so we cant see what’s going on
- Technical issues should be addressed.
9. Changes made since feedback
• After receiving feedback, we made changes for what
our target audience and teacher said.
• The most basic change we made was the duration of
shots, as people said that some lasted too long which
risked our audience becoming bored. This also
included cutting down the length of the black gaps
and replacing them
• We created a match on action shot for the stairway
scene and replaced the slap with an arm grab
• Added ken burns effect to long lasting shot of bed to
show more of the artists expression
10. Second Draft Feedback
• At this point, we asked a different teacher to review our
second draft. This was so we got another opinion on it and
we wanted to see if he viewed it in a different way to the
first teacher.
• One of the shots with the girl in front of fire is too short and
let go too soon
• All the creative choices fit the song e.g. red lighting, fire
• Some of fire is held too long- not all brilliant
• Some moments look too static
• Narrative is clear and fits
• Star image is established
• Visual effects are slick
• Moves on when necessary
11. Changes Made Since Feedback
• We replaced some of the lower quality, grainy shots
with a shot of the other characters eyes and a shot of
the two girls walking. This is to show the ‘antagonist’,
as it were, in more depth.
• We edited the colour and light levels of some shots
to further implicate the flashbacks
• Changed the speed of the hallway shot so it slows
down and focuses on Charlie
12. Final Cut Feedback 1
At this stage, we asked the same teacher to give us final feedback. This is a
summary of the points he made:
- The strobe effect caused by the frequency works well with the lighting
- The photos put in front of the singer are central to the narrative, as she is
sometimes blocked by them
- The story keeps extending itself
- The social norm is twisted and the story continues to be subverted, we are
unsure of the nature of the relationship between the two girls
13. Final Cut Feedback 2
• Concluding comments:
- Good use of colour- works with the song and video
- The close ups break up the long takes
- Likes the strobe effect
- The montage works better with the previous shots being replaced
- Corridor shot feeds the narrative
- Match on action shot (stairway) works better
- Narrative is a lot clearer
- Black gaps have become shorter
14. Final Cut- Survey
• As the creative process has come to an end, we
wanted to get final feedback for not only the music
video and its technicalities but the target audiences
thoughts on the song and Billie Eilish herself.
• To do this, I used survey monkey again, which will
compile my data and help me analyse it.
I asked this question first
as I wanted to think
about the ways in which
it can influence
someone's opinion on a
music video if they hadn’t
heard of the artist prior to
watching it. I also wanted
to reinforce her niche fan
base, as only 50% had
heard of her.
15. This question has helped me
understand how people can
have different ideas of genre
and it can mean different
things. 50% said indie pop
which is the genre Charlie
and I identified her as. 25%
then established her as
purely pop, perhaps
because they haven’t listed
to any other songs. On the
other hand, 16.67% replied
with indie and one person
responded with other. When
asked to specify, they replied
with the ‘alternative’ genre.
Question 3- do you like the song?
I gave them three options for this, yes
(83.33%), no (0%) and impartial to it which
was the rest of the responses. Liking the song
can help influence the decision on if they like
the music video.
16. Question 4- was the narrative clear?
All 12 respondents said that yes, it is clear
which is an improvement from the 60% who
said ‘no’ after the first rough cut. This was after
we made the changes to clear up any confusion
and give more of a backstory to the characters.
Question 5- please describe what you
think the narrative is?
All 12 responses had similar answers.
One answered ‘a best friend/romantic
interest leaves the main character for a
boy and she is upset’, followed by ‘I’m not
sure if the girls are lovers of friends, but
the boy split them up’. This is exactly the
response we wanted, we wanted to create
an enigma surrounding the nature of the
relationship and leave the audience
unsure.
Question 6- do you think the visual style suits the song choice?
All 12 respondents said yes to this, which means we felt satisfied as
this was one of our main creative aims.
17. Question 7
75%
16.67%8.33%
Given the problems we had previously with the dark and grainy footage, I wanted
to ask this question to see if it had improved. Most people voted ‘high quality’ and
16.67% voted ‘very high quality’. With this result, I am content as we improved our
video to fix the previous issues and most people told us that it could be better. In
the last survey, no one responded with ‘very high quality’, therefore we have made
a clear improvement.
18. Question 8- would you watch it again?
I asked this question as an important feature of a music video is that it has built
in repeatability. 100% said ‘yes’, they would watch it again which means our
video was a success.
Question 9- what was A. your favourite part and B. your least favourite part?
19. It seems as though the most common favourite feature of the music
video is the bedroom scene with the red lighting and the bonfire
scenes. As for least favourite part, some said that they ‘don’t dislike
anything’, whilst others said they didn't’t like the repetition of the one
burning photo.
20. Is our project successful?
• Doing this feedback has helped me reach the
conclusion that our music video was successful.
Asking our target audience these necessary
questions helped us changed what they’d didn’t like
so we could further improve our video to suit the
niche teen audience more. Our project started off
with a singular narrative but the main development of
our video was the enigma that has been created. By
having an open ending, it leaves the audience
wanting more and also creates repeatability, which in
turn helps the artist become more recognised.
