Marking criteria - planning & research

I have self-evaluated all of the planning and research that I have done so far. This is of all the work that is currently on the blog. I have used the marking criteria to see what level I think I'd mark myself as at the moment.

Level 3
There is proficient organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
Level 4
There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
There is excellent work on shot lists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
Time management is excellent.
There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.
There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.
There are excellent communication skills.

Things I think I could improve on;
I think I can definitely make the 'proficient organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props' into 'excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props' and move up a level. At the moment I have blogged about the locations which I intend to use but I still need to ask permission to film in the cafe. I have sent a message to the drama department to ask the 6th form drama students about getting a cast so I am in the process of obtaining one but I haven't put any of this information on the blog as yet. I am planning to do this once I have a better idea about what is happening with the casting.

Target audience

My target audience is primarily people who are currently in higher education, either in 6th form, at college or at university. These people are studying subjects which can be classified into the following; arts, sport, science, humanities, social science and technology.
They are people who like music, TV and films, sport and socialising with friends and other people. They usually have a similar taste in music to their friends. The top 3 most popular genres of music amongst the males in my target audience are indie, rock and pop and amongst the females they are rock, pop and RnB.
Amongst my target audience the most popular type of music videos for males are performance, narrative and thematic, equally, and for females it’s performance. Both males and females tend to watch music videos on music channels and YouTube or a similar site. When buying and downloading music both males and females mainly buy the albums on CD and use free downloads (legal and illegal).

Audience research results

For my audience research I intended to send my questionnaire to 30 people, with an equal amount going to both male and female. I asked year 12 students, year 13 students and first year university students (freshers).

Unfortunately, I was unable to get hold of enough freshers to complete my questionnaire.

Personal

Are you male or female?

How old are you?

Music Video

What type of music videos do you prefer watching?

How do you watch music videos?

What is your favourite/the best music video you've seen? And why?

Buying & Downloading Music

How do you usually buy music?

About You

Do you have a similar taste in music to your friends?

What are the top 3 music genres that you listen to?

Briefly state what sort of things you like to do in your free time.

What subject(s) are you currently studying?

Example - Last Ones Standing

If you had the chance to shoot a music video for Example's 'Last Ones Standing', what type of music video would it be?

Briefly state what sort of elements you would put in it.

Would you add in special effects during the post-production stage?

If yes, what sort of effects would you use?

Locations

I am going to film my music video around different parts of Bury St. Edmunds. On the map below I have marked the parts of the town which I plan to use. The green lines indicate the areas where I will find and the red lines show the proposed route.

For the bar scene I am going to film in the 6th form cafe.

Shot lists

These are the shot lists to accompany the storyboards.

Cafe

 Performance

 Bury St. Edmunds

Storyboards

The numbers on the storyboards next to the shots correspond to the sections detailed below.

Section 1
Instrumental

Section 2
Tell the taxi driver pull up over there
Section 3
Sprint down the street and we don’t pay the fare
Section 4
Onto the district line, force open the door
There’s loadsa seats free but we cotch on the floor

Section 5
Last night we both died a death
Just flowed ‘til no cider left
Jumped out the wrong side of bed
Now another night of wrong lies ahead, [ha]
Section 6
To be a kid again, Nancy and Sid again
Need medicine, cut out the middle men
Run free, only way to get rid of them
Never gonna catch us

Section 7
We’re on the run
And I’m about to lose it
She’s like a gun
And she ain’t afraid to use it

Section 8
Come on
We’ll catch our very last train
Light our very last flames
And we’ll knock it all back and forget our names
Coz it’s our last night
Section 9
And it’s one last fight
We’re the last ones
The last ones standing

Section 10
Go tell the waitress, we’ll have 2 rum and cokes
Ask for the bill and then we’ll split when she goes
Out the fire exit wearing some stranger’s coat
We’ll sing it out ‘til we’re sore in the throat

Section 11
This ain’t child’s play like pass the parcel or
Build a castle, jus’ a couple of rascals who
Section 12
Go harder, live faster
Section 13
Fight ‘til the end like Jason’s Argonauts, ha
Coz life’s a carnival
There’s no reason, motives marginal
Don’t care if we’re cold and starvin’
We’ll still be laughin’ when…

Section 14
We’re on the run
And I’m about to lose it
She’s like a gun
And she ain’t afraid to use it

Section 15
Come on
We’ll catch our very last train
Light our very last flames
Section 16
And we’ll knock it all back and forget our names
Coz it’s our last night
Section 17
And it’s one last fight
Section 18
We’re the last ones
[The last ones] [x2]

Come on
We’ll catch our very last train
Section 19
Light our very last flames
Section 20
And we’ll knock it all back and forget our names
Coz it’s our last night
Section 21
And it’s one last fight
We’re the last ones
[The last ones] [x2]

Section 22
The last ones standing

We’re on the run

Section 23
Come on
We’ll catch our very last train
Light our very last flames
Section 24
And we’ll knock it all back and forget our names
Coz it’s our last night
Section 25
And it’s one last fight
We’re the last ones
[The last ones] [x2]

Section 26
Come on
We’ll catch our very last train
Section 27
Light our very last flames
Section 28
And we’ll knock it all back and forget our names
Coz it’s our last night
Section 29
And it’s one last fight
We’re the last ones
[The last ones] [x2]

Section 30
The last ones standing

Audience research questionnaire

Personal: This section of the questionnaire sets up my analysis as it then allows me to separate the results between the different genders and age groups.
Music Video: I wanted to find out what types of videos were most popular among my target age group and also how they were more likely to watch music videos. I decided to ask what their favourite/the best music video they've seen was out of interest and to see just why they liked certain videos.
Buying & Downloading Music: Even though this doesn't have any bearing on music video consumption, I wanted to find out where my target audience obtained their music.
About You: This section will allow me to build up a picture of my target audience as I will be able to see what sorts of music they like as well as what they like doing generally and are currently studying.
Example - 'Last Ones Standing': This section won't have any bearing on what I am going to put in my music video but I thought it would be interesting to see what other people would maybe do if they had got chance.

Permission to use audio track

Example is signed to Data Records which is part of Ministry of Sound. I was unable to find a contact address for Data Records so I contacted Ministry of Sound to ask permission to use the audio track 'Last Ones Standing'. I got a reply back which put me in touch with the person that I needed to speak to regarding my request.

At the moment I haven't heard anything back so I am still waiting to see if I can have permission.

Final idea

The final idea has changed compared to the original idea but the narrative element of the music video is still relatively the same.
A guy and a girl are out on the town, on a date, just having fun with each other. They're running around the town and messing about and they go to a bar for a drink.
Performance shots will be inserted into the narrative. The performance shots will be of only the guy against a background singing the song. These will be separate from the narrative and the guy will have a different outfit on to make that distinction.

For my ancillary tasks that will accompany my music video, I am going to do a digipak and a web page for the artist.

Brainstorms of initial ideas

Please click on the brainstorms to view them.