Rough cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-is9Dan8Yo

Before releasing our final cut of our music video we produced a rough cut in order to gain feedback from our target audience. This feedback is important to have before releasing our final video, because it allows us to find out what parts of the video worked well and what parts need improvement. By pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of our music video we are able to reflect on the video, and are able to change/adapt specific highlighted weaknesses. As well as this, by showing us what has worked well it gives my group and i positive reinforcement to keep on working and it also shows us how we can improve by gaining inspiration from what has worked well. Therefore it is essential to carry out a rough cut so that we have previewed our production to our target audience and gathered by their thoughts and feedback. 

There were various ways in which we have collected our audience feedback. The first way we was able to gain feedback on our music video was by frequently screening parts of our production to other class mates. This was extremely helpful, as they also study the subject, meaning they have a specialised interest in the subject of music videos. Which resulted in us gaining feed back on our specific editing and cinematography, instead of just the general appearance of the video. Some of feedback included "good variety of shots" and "some shots are grainy". Another really good way that we were able to gain feedback was through our two media teachers. They are both very knowledgable in this subject, therefore can offer us precise and valuable feedback about how to make our video look like a proper media production and conventional to our genre. YouTube was the main way in which we gained feed back on our video. This is a really good platform to gain feedback from our audience because, it allows us to gain feedback from a wider audience, as youtube is a global video sharing website. Our video is available to a wide range of different people, this ensures that all of the feedback we gain is not bias and provides honest feedback. People that know members in our group are likely to sugar coat their feedback, whereas strangers are more likely to be truthful due to them not having any personal relations with any of the group.
A rather unique way that we gained feedback was from two rappers who came into our class to offer advice and provide feedback as they are professionals in the industry. The advice we gained from these rappers was really helpful because they are already established in the industry, therefore can offer a good insight into what will work well. We further gain feedback from focus groups and questionnaires. 

This feedback will benefit our production because we can make appropriate changes in order to improve the video, by doing this we can make sure that all of our production appeals to our audience. Which is important because it will help to maintain the audiences attention when they are watching because it will appeal to them. A rough cut will benefit the industry because the record label can preview it to a small specific target group this will allow them to gain detailed feedback to highlight the good and bad features. Which shows them how successful the video would be if it was released how it currently is. Then the record label can adjust the video in order to improve it and appeal constantly to the audience. This will allow them to target a better audience which makes it likely to be more successful. As a result it means that the record label is likely to be more successful. This will lead to the label being more likely to make profit and have high sales. Also the artist will be promoted more successful and gain  good representation. 

This was one of our comments that we gained from publishing our rough cut on youtube. This comment was predominately positive, some of the highlights from this comment are "looks like and actual indie music video" "clear storyline" and "good balance of performance" This comment made me feel proud of the video so far because it took my group and i a very long time to come up with our narrative and display this in our video. Therefore, by this being noticed in by someone out of our group is amazing. We also took into careful consideration the conventions of the indie genre by including low budget settings, the appearance of our artist and that is is based on past experiences. 

This comment was also majorly positive, the highlights of this feedback were "great job syncing the video with the lyrics, great performance and perfect framing" As a group we had a major focus on making sure the lyrics matched and that the video flowed, so getting a comment like this made me feel very good about our video as it showed that this specific focus had been paying off.

This was also some more positive feedback that we gained via YouTube, the highlights of this feedback was "amazing camera shots" "good use of setting" and "fashion is commonly linked with an indie genre" Again this comment made me feel very positive about the video, it was so important for us to create a conventional indie production so that it appealed to the target audience and this comment is supporting that so far we have done this successfully.

One of the negative pieces of feedback that we gained was from our teachers, this was "you need to include more negative parts of the couples relationship" Although at first I didn't particularly agree and thought we had enough. Upon reflection I can now see that more negative shots are need to show the contrast between the positive. Therefore showing the roller coaster relationship. By my teachers pointing this out my group and I are now able to improve our video so that when we come to publishing it, it will be as successful as possible.

This was another slightly negative comment that we got from YouTube, the most negative parts were that "gaps" and "a wider range of negative shots of the couple would make it a bit better" This is very is similar to out teachers comments. As two different people have said this my group and I have prioritised this as something that needs to defiantly be included to improve our video.

This was another piece of negative feedback we got, it was embedded within this mostly positive comment, "the lighting inside could have been better" I am grateful that this person has taken time to notice a small detail like this, and now that it has been pointed out my group and I can see that the lighting inside could have been bright which would have overall improved the shots and made the video clearer.

From all of the feedback that we have gained we are able to see what has worked well and what hasn't worked as well. Therefore from the few negative comments that we did receive my group and I have noticed that most of the actual footage that we have filmed is fine and we just need to add in some footage and re-film certain parts. We need to film some more negative scenes of the couple fighting to show the contrast in their relationship, and make it clear why the couple are fighting. We also need to re-film some of the inside scenes to ensure that we have good lighting in order for the audience to be able to see clearly what is going on.