Blog Post 10: My Production Review

Throughout the production of my project, I have received lots of feedback which helped me fix and improve any problems or missing content.

Storyboard and Mock-up Teacher Feedback

The feedback I received for my storyboarded narrative overall was positive. The teacher liked the build-up towards the final performance with the boy and girl. However, there were some issues with the narrative. First, the narrative felt weak when the boy and the girl meets, especially when there was nothing in the lyrics to amplify. Therefore, I decided to remove the meeting, and instead draw parallels between the two characters to emphasise each character's independence. Secondly, it wasn't very clear what the boy and girl were signing up for. To fix this, I decided to make it a talent show and put more focus on a poster that both the girl and boy saw. This will anchor the idea that they are both working towards a big performance.

Performance Bed Teacher Feedback

With the performance bed, there were no problems with the performance and some issues with the editing. There was also a problem with the lighting in the motion shots, causing shadows and poor lighting on the face. The big issue was the editing style; I had to edit my video more like a music video instead of a narrative video. So I followed Vernallis' disjuncture theory and tried to make the shots more extreme.

Rough Cut with Narrative Informal Teacher Feedback

When I did my rough cut after the first weekend of filming and asked my teacher to review it, the main problem was the pacing. The build-up of my narrative felt unnatural as the slow-motion shots were mixed in with the action shots during the chorus, even during the fast energetic rhythms. Furthermore, it was suggested that I should more present-day shots of the characters performing, which could be intercut between all the other shots to improve the pacing. There were some acting issues as well with the male actor, as it seemed unnatural and dramatized. To fix these problems, I refilmed some shots and added new shots to be filmed in the studio for the following week.

Website Informal Teacher Feedback

For my website, my teachers praised the design and the consistent house style. There was plenty of good content and the social media pages were professional. However, my second page was criticized, as a merch page was too bland and had little content. Therefore, I decided to switch it to a member page, where it would show example content that one can see if they sign up, with a sign up/log in button at the top. Also, the navigation was mentioned, because many of the buttons that seemed clickable led to nowhere, so I made sure to link them between pages to make my website more cohesive.

Music Video Teacher Feedback

For my first review of my music video, my teacher said that the shots were good and the mise en scene was excellent. However, she was confused about the narrative, as she thought parts of the narrative could be grouped up together so the action parts of the final performance of the boy and the girl could come in at the chorus, while the slower narrative parts could be intercut with the verses. To reflect on this, I created a time sequence of where all the shots will go to make sure I had a clear narrative on paper that was spread out through the music video.

Final Cut Teacher Feedback

My final review from my teacher was extremely good, as I fixed the narrative issues. The major problem was the colour grading and adding a title card with artist information, social media, website and industry information. I aimed to get the colour grade consistent, so no shot would be too glaring when watching it.

Website Teacher Feedback

For my final review of my website, the main issues from the first check were resolved. The only thing I had to do was to make sure that the correct videos were linked so that it would play my music video on the page.

Audience Feedback

One of my participants watching my video

After completing my video, I went to multiple people in my "16-25 year-old" age group to ask for feedback. The general consensus was that it was very professional and the narrative was very clear. Some mention the colour grade, which had some inconsistencies. Other than that, all my participants enjoyed my video.