Focus group. How it can help in our production?

This week on Thursday we have to present our product to the focus group and via their comments and suggestions improve their quality. Therefore I need to finish the website production so I can present them a copy which will be the most close linked to the future version. The same work Eden, Dmitry and Harry must do, so we as a group can present them altogether and get the feedback.

These are things which we need to find out during focus group research:

1. do products work with each other?
2. is the website useful?
3. does it correspond to other products and the needs of potential target audience?
4. is music video edited enough or are there any problems with it?
5. how the digipack is related to the music video?
6. will all these three products interest the target audience?

The focus group as I said preciously is a research which will help us to develop the final version of our products and also show weak and strong sides of their production. Therefore during Thursday lesson we as a group are going to ask questions and by recording them and writing up we will be informed about all failures and successes from the viewpoint of individuals in the focus group.

What is a focus group?

Today we learned about focus groups, on Thursday our focus group will take place and we will find out about weaknesses and strengths of our products via communication with potential audience.

During this lesson we looked at two different ways of focus groups research, in both cases focus groups were used in early stages of concept or new products development, so producers may understand the way in which they need to work and what disadvantages their ideas have already, therefore they interact with respondents in an informal way trying by asking opened-ended questions reveal respondent's opinion on the product.

The first research was revealing the opinion of the focus group on new biscuits forms and tastes. It had several problems which we payed attention to and wrote them down, so the on Thursday avoid them and make our research more useful and less bias. First of all, the focus group was not very representative as it consisted mostly of children and their behaviour is unpredictable therefore the researcher can't really rely on them. Also, the rest of the audience are children's mothers who are kind of representative as they are suppliers of food for their children but their opinion is also bias as it depends upon their relationship with a child and the way of raising a particular child, therefore the audience for this research is not representative and it can manage the result, because there is a wide range of other ages who are potential buyers of these biscuits.
However, there are some positive aspects during this research, a researcher was find and friendly, he prepossess to him the whole audience, he joked and therefore children were not shy. Also, the first attempt to this attachment with the audience he has done when he bought biscuits into the room and allow children to eat as much as they can, therefore children were already happy and were not bothering regarding the tension and research in which they are involved.

The second research was targeted mainly on pet owners and tried to reveal their opinion on new pet food. During this video there are two groups of researchers who via collaborating with focus groups ere trying to understand their opinion and realise disadvantage and advantages of products and why some people won't buy it for their pets. In the first one the researcher had already a final idea in his mind, therefore focus group contribution was not useful for him and for the whole group. They were persuading the focus group respondents that the product is excellent and that they must admit it and buy it in future. They were ignoring comments and responses, therefore they was no use of that focus group contribution. The second group worked more with the audience however, they didn't chat with respondents, instead of asking opened-ended questions they were talking a lot to them, trying explain their idea. The main idea of making people by themselves to realise what product is about and get their opinion, they were influencing on their opinion and therefore this focus group research also is useless.

So basically the point of the focus group is to get the info from the focus group about the product, it must be neutral, not biased and to get an objective opinion all questions must be easy built and open-ended so that the focus group can interpret them and answer.

WIX.COM/ STEP 6/ PAGES REINNOVATION

For our presentation on Thursday the website must be nearly done. Therefore I decided to work on Blog and Tour pages.
For this I need to develop an idea of the Blog which will present Gen as a channel person who tells her fans ways of her music development and how she struggles to be more successful. Therefore first three blogs I uploaded are about her music video and album release and also about music video production process as it it very important for fans to know all aspects of her artistic life. The blog will be updated every day and on it she as a singer will share with her fans different types of the information. Also, there is a notice on the website which is related only to extremely crazy fans who are always surfing the web and searching the information about Gen. There is an information about her personal performance in Hurtwood House Theatre on Thursday due to an International Child Protection Day.

Moreover, I tried to develop a personal tour for Gen but it was impossible to do it through ticket sales therefore I found 'Clean Bandit" tour schedule, uploaded it on the website. However, we are not allowed to use the real artist name, therefore through Photoshop I edited this title and wrote Gen Sykes instead the real artist's name.

WIX.COM/ STEP 5/ BACKGROUND

The many on Gen Sykes's website contains out of several links: Home, About, Photos, Music, Tour and Blog. Therefore there have to be 6 backgrounds. The most simple choice is that I can do them all the same but then the audience might feel boring.

Therefore I decided to have a simple green colour of the Home Page and then play around with other. For that purpose I asked Harry to take several photos of Gen profile and sent them to me.

When I received them, I uploaded them on Photoshop and edit there. I added the colourful background which in my opinion works with the whole Gen's style.

However, I decided not to use these theme on every background of the website and therefore I left a blank colour on Photos and Blog pages.


During the focus group research on Thursday I want to ask respondents about the correlation between our three products and especially how colours on the website correspond t the total star image and the music video theme. The amount of different colours in the music videos is varied between

WIX.COM/ STEP 4/ FONT

I presented my website to Phil saying that this is my first draft which is based on the material I found online. I talked about four websites and the research on them. Afterwards, Phil told me that I need to work on the background and fonts. I decided first of all focus on fonts and then work on the background because Harry didn't finish with the photoshoot and I didn't have enough materials to upload on the website and decide which picture to put on the main page as a background. 

Therefore I started to try different fonts on the title and here are several examples:

 

The main problem was to make a website look combined, make it look as a single product so the first difference was that the TITLE OF THE WEBSITE and the TITLE OF THE ALBUM had different fonts. I asked Harry which font he used in production of the digipack and used it for my website title. Also, I decided that that font can be used in every text on the website including the MENU, therefore I changed all the text and this what I finished with as our main web page.

WIX.COM/ STEP 3/ MENU

 Previously I've seen on different websites that the menu is located differently and I know that the menu must be very approachable because it's very important tool used during surfing the internet on different websites. Therefore I need to think about the location of it and also the font so our menu will be seen by the audience and used regularly to transfer from one page on another. I looked at three different popular website of this music industry.

The first one is Ellie Golding website. Her website is very messy and it looks like it was produced by fans. However, there are many points of the menu and the audience can easily surf this website and find what it wants. This menu is located in the middle o the page under the title of the website so this makes it difficult to find. Moreover, the website is done in different purple-pink colour and this is why it's difficult to notice white font of the menu which doesn't work with the rest of the website.
The next website I looked at was Ed Sheeran's website. It is very simple but despite this there is lots of the information and also the manu is located on the clean background, it's not difficult find it and use in future. The menu is on the left side of the page and therefore it takes lots of place. The idea of the font an the colour  of it is very simple and can be used in my website however I don't like the location therefore I will prefer to make it on the top of the page horizontally.

The closest idea of the menu and font to mine had Owl City website, its font and menu are very simple but this doesn't make the website boring, it just makes the surfing simplier and therefore I prefer this type of the menu and will work on it.

WIX.COM/ STEP2/ TEMPLATE

 The first decision I had to make was the template of the future website. I found four different types of design and all of them are suitable for our theme.

The first one is a Lorde's website and it has a simple home page because it's just a website to represent a new album "Pure Heroine" therefore there are no links to other pages and it has only 7 links to other social networks like Twitter or Instagram, but they are separate from the website. Therefore this template can't be used in our production. However, I like the idea of the big photo used as a background therefore I asked Harry to take some pics this type so then I can use them in the website production.

The second one website of Foxes I liked because of its simple idea and bright colour. Also, my group has made just one video and one album therefore the representation of them both on the main page is very provocative and can attract the audience to look deeper into the website if the "front cover" will interest them. Therefore, I decided to have this template as the main one for my website production and keep this idea in mind. 

Next two templates do not present any bright ideas and design however, the Glasser website made me think about the font of the website and the colour of title. Moreover, I decide to play around with background on the third step of production. As we can see, on their main page the video is in the middle, so the attention is payed to it before the audience moves to the next page however, there is also a photo with an artist which is done in extravagant style and also can interest the audience in the website. 

The last website I looked at was Owl City website which has a traditional template represented on the WIX.com. However, its content is very big, they have plenty of videos and photos as well as blogs and chat with their fans. Moreover, their website consists of different fonts and colours. I didn't like it because it look like a mess. There are lots of information which is irrelevant and the structure is not simple and clear, it's difficult to find the right info and the audience can find it's useless.

WIX.COM / STEP 1

During this lesson I managed to start working on our website in WIX.COM, however I do not have any opportunities to present the final piece until Harry will finish with photos which I need to upload on the website so it can represent our artist.

This is how I started working on the website. I decided first of all to decide on the structure and font, so then it will be easier to renovate it and add some photos.

I have worked already in wix.com last year so therefore it is much easier for me this time.  I hope that the progress will be seen soon because the website development is very important for our group's work for this project.

I chose a Music Video Website Template as the format is right for our project. There is enough space for adding links like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other social networks through which we can promote our new star. Moreover, it is very important that users can listen to her songs online through Soundcoud.com and watch her performances and music videos online through Youtube.com. All these information I'm targeted to post during this week and start up our website so then fans can decide whether or not it is useful and comfortable to use.

Research into similar star image

Using WIX.COM our group need to produce a website which will be promoting Gen as a new star. The target audience are people who are interested in electro-pop music and can become real fans aged 15-25. Therefore this categorisation of people influences the design of the website and other extra products.

Firstly, I searched for artists who are similar in their music style and life style at all to Gen. I decided to work in the electro-pop and pop music industries so then the research can be not so spread.



Earlier, in our group we discussed that artists like Lorde, Soko, Ellie Golding and Taylor Swift are similar to Gen in their star image, appearance and the performance style. Therefore I had already some boarders in-between which me have to create Gen's image.



The deep research into these artists music career and their distribution campaigns, I realised that the closest to our artist is Lorde. Her website is extra ordinate and I took it as a model for our future website.

This lesson I used to find all the possible information and examples which then I can use to develop a website which will be recognised as successful for our final piece presentation. While I was doing this, Dmitry and Eden were working in editing suit and Harry was working on the digipack idea. 

Shooting day evaluation.

Today was the day X. We had 9 hours and during this time we needed to incorporate our ideas into useful in future footage and film everything what is possible in studio. We had everything prepared and were sure about the shooting as we came yesterday to the studio and talked to the light designer and builders. They made a major work and produced everything we needed for our music production. We chat a lot about our ideas with them so basically they knew what we were expecting and tried their best to embody our thoughts into reality. However, there was one problem which need to be solved quickly. We have ordered petals, the blossom which had to arrive on Saturday, 1st November, but there was a delay in 20 days therefore we should invent something what could replace the blossom. Phil and Eden decided to make confetti by themselves so it can be thrown up during the shooting and create the feeling of the snow falling down.

We made a shot list so during the shooting we could control what we need to do, be sure not to forget any important shots.

Shot list:

Mirror set

• Jen (singer) wide shot
• Jen close up
• Jen long shot
• Jen middle shot ( head and shoulder)
• Maria (cello player) wide shot
• Maria string close up
• bow close up
• Jacob (violin) wide shot
• Jacob close up
• string close up

Blue set

• Jen wide shot
• Jen close up
• Maria and Jacob close up
• Maria and Jacob wide shot
• Dancers (Natasha and Romani) wide shot
• Dancers close up
• Dancers slow motion close up
• Dancers body pic close up ( arms, legs, eyes)

Purple-dotted set

• Jen wide shot
• Jen close up
• Maria close up
• Maria wide shot
• Maria and Jacob close up
• Maria and Jacob wide shot

The real situation was completely different to our planning. Despite the shot list and schedule we were filming regarding what we see in front of the camera and how it works or not. Therefore the mirror set was at the end changed, for Jen close-up shots we built from these walls a small room and hand from the ceiling several light bulb. Therefore, our idea was changed and instead of an infinity room with a huge amount of small lights we had a small mirror room with 5 variously coloured lightbulbs.

We didn't divide our roles really however each of us had an important task which influence the whole development process. I was responsible for the make up and style therefore I spent half of the shooting day in the classroom, inventing different hair and make up styles for dancer, singer and cello player. However, I also took part in shooting and composition making, Dmitry and I decided whether or not we need to shoot players in the blue set with confetti and how they needed to be located around the set. Moreover, we all as a group decided on the lighting and I'm happy to notice that in this questions we felt into step.

We spent a lot of time on the first set therefore the major problem for us during this day was the lack of time, and therefore after lunch we decided to work faster and without any changes in the schedule. This decision helped us to save lot of time, moreover I assume that actors were already prepared for the shooing and they had enough rest so for the rest 3 hours we managed to finish other two sets. 

Personally, I believe, that the most successful shot was the close up of instrument players in the purple shot, I liked the background and the way we placed them in the set, Maria was sitting in front of Jacob and we can see her eyes watching the bow and his face looking straight. This shot is very artistic in my point of view and shows how the music and the set are greatly connected. All actors, dancers and players worked greatly, they were prepared and respondent with understanding to all comments, therefore we managed to finish on time and didn't spent lot of time on arguments. We, 
as a group were pleased with the work they've done during this shooting day and thanked them a lot.

Rehearsal

Rehearsals are very important in our case because all actors, singers and players must understand what to play, how to perform and what it is like to be in studio. Therefore before half-term holidays we decided to have several rehearsals and this is the video of one of them. 

Here Maria ia playing the cello, she was told not to look in the camera and make the audience to feel that she's playing for herself therefore she sits in the darkness and plays very quietly. 

Afterwards I managed to do some editing and speed up her performance so we can see how we need to film and what we can then edit and which effects to add. This video represent our idea of the shooting.

A new props list

Today we went through the Prop list one more time so when we will come back from our holiday we will be 100% ready for the shooting. Therefore we made a new list where we divided tasks between four of us.

Props List

Research into the album cover style

Clean Bandit's music has been described as "fusion" music, mixing electronic music with classical and deep-house elements. Most of their music intertwines classical compositions, such as those from Beethoven, Dvorak, etc. (most typically, Mozart for their song "Mozart's House"). 

Therefore I thought about representation of classical art e.g. ancient greek sculptures and classical portraits from the Renaissance epoch e.g. Botticelli or Rafael. 

In addition to this, despite their postmodernist way of representation they use old fashioned classical instruments to produce their music: violin, cello, piano.


However, they work in a fusion style of
 music therefore to the classic way of interpretation we can add some postmodern art.




To sum up everything in one album cover which must represent their music and be acknowledged by their fan base the idea must contain these two abstract ideas including pop art and classic art.

Rehearsals

Two days in a row we managed to do the rehearsals with a cellist and a violin player.
It is impossible to get the chords of this song and therefore our musicians have to listen to the song and afterwards translate what they've listed to on the paper and only then play and practice it.
It was difficult from the beginning for Maria, however she managed to play first chords without any notes and she agreed with me in everyday practice during holidays.

Yesterday I had rehearsals with our violinist Jacob. He found it very difficult to play without the score, so for now, he just imitated playing. Over the half term I will try to find and send him the music score. What I did find great was that even though Jacob can't play just by his ear, he was very committed and said that he will try to find the score himself. He also said that once he has it, he will learn the song very quickly. 

Today we have rehearsals with Gen. We hope that she has learned the lyrics and so we will see exactly how she would look on the day of the shoot.   

Props list

We have divided our action plan in four different parts so now here are several things from the big list which we can and we need to get:

     
     1.make-up

• big eyelashes for Jan
• sparkles for the face drawing
• silver, blue and purple eye shadows 

     2. cello 

• every day practice with Maria Krechetova as well as filming her on the camera so then she'll get used to the feeling of constant shooting

     3. violin

     4. costumes

• silver sparky dress for Jan
• black suit for Maria Krechetova
• black training costumes for dancers and Jan too

     5. black dots 

     6. cherry blossom pack or petals 

And here is the list of props we need from the school:

      

      1. 2 white classic chairs 

      

Meeting with set designer

Today we had a meeting with Luke and set designer regarding our setting for the shooting. As I said previously in my "Set and Props" blog we are going to have 3 type of sets. These will be Mirror Room, Black-Purple set and the Blossom room.


After idea presentation we started the discussion regarding the colour synthesis in our video and the designer agreed with our decision on Purple-Black set and she also added that we need to understand how we are going to work out the dots on the purple background without any damages. After this we started talking about the Mirror room and she assumed that it would be helpful to use a specific way of gluing the mirrors to the walls and for this Luke brought her a Flinn catalogue where she'll find a solution for our idea production.

After this we went to the studio to decide what size of set we'll need so singer and dancers will be comfortable during performance. The Blossom part will be built especially for dancers' performance therefore we agreed to 16*4 feet and this sets altogether will consist of 12 boards which we'll pain during this week. The Black-Purple set will be a little bit smaller as the singer doesn't need that much space as dancers do, therefore we agreed on 12*2 feet and this will require only 10 boards and altogether we must buy 24 boards from which we are going to built out sets straight after they will be painted.

Meeting with the Lighting Supervisor

On Monday we met with George, who is in charge of the lighting design for all of our music videos. We were aware of the fact that our infinity lightroom was a huge ask and depended on George's view. When showing him the pictures of Kusama's original rooms, he was very impressed at our ambition and enthusiasm we were putting into our video. He also said that there are a few things he could try, but they would be a risk in the visual design and also very expensive. We also had to think about how we would light our lip-syncer in this room, as the lighting on her would also reflect on all of the mirrored walls. George said that he would do some research on what options there are to make the room look as effective as possible and then we could potentially try out the options before the shoot day. We also showed him the other set that we need to paint ourselves and he said that was very simple to light.

Feedback from screening our animatic to sample audience

The animatic we've done was introduced to Luke and the rest of the classroom. As it is a no developed project or test-run of our video we needed some feedback so then we can change some ideas and interpret audience's reaction on colours, sound etc.

Here are some comments regarding our animatic:

1. dancing fits with the track, the shadow “cross dissolve effect”, the repetitive image looks different- do even slower the jumping part

2. strong performance as Jen is very confident in herself!  

3. considering ballet jumps: try to develop more, more different movements

4. think about the location and mis-en-shot in the dance studio or studio, maybe the shot with 2 dancers and a cello players is too complicated and all these don't fit in it

5. cellist looks good and nice, cools out the track, links with the music, pulls out the sound when we’re watching it in very strong way

6. there must be no outside part, colourist it was a huge clash instead of this use indoor backgrounds!

7. door shots move away from ecstatic visual style, too naturalistic, can try different colour grades

8. cello justify the ballet

Props and set designs

Soon, we are going to have meeting with a set designer so therefore we need to finish our ideas about what kind of sets we need and the location of them.
The video will be shot in studio but there will be three different sets for it

1. mirror room with lights all over the floor and walls therefore the singer will be hidden in the darkness and with music step out of it

      2.  black and purple dotty set where the singer and also cellist and violin player will be, this set is mainly aimed at contrasting idea because from bright mirror room the audience must need a blank simple design of the set 

    3. electric blue blossom set is mainly designed for dancers to shot, the simple colour of walls and floor will not distract audi
ence from the slow motion shots of jumps

Finally, we've decided on these three types of sets and made a plan of what and when we can design and built them up. However, we have several questions about the production of these walls e.g. the number of boards, the easiest way to colour them and which colours are best to use so then they will work with each other.

Moreover, we worked on the props list as we need to organise all of these before the half-term holidays.

1. cherry blossom for Set 3
2. black dots for Set 2
3. cello for Set 2/3
4. violin for Set 2/3

In addition to this we were able to work on costume ideas and decided on more official way of dressing up therefore the singer in Set 1 will be in silver, sparkly dress or pale white so then she will step out as a miracle form the dark mirror set. At the Set 2 she will be dressed in black costume with purple dots on the clothing so she can move as a part of the setting. String players will be dressed in black-tie style. The dancers will be wearing their usual form e.g. black trousers and black body therefore they'll look more professional.

Evaluation of completed animatic

Finally we decide on the cast for our video and therefore it became possible to work with real actors and see them in action.

Cast: 
Jen(A2)- lip sync
Natasha(A2)- dancer
Ro(AS)- dancer 
Julia(AS)- cello
Jacob(A2) - violin

The way we did it is completely different to our final piece because the whole background idea will be developed in two weeks and now instead of filming in studio we used common room and the outdoor location. However, the animatic helped us to understand the way our actions react on a camera, how they look and how they act. Also, we realised how many shots it's needed to be done and what kind they must be: wide or long, shot-reverse-shot etc. Moreover, we worked on the lighting so now we now how it must be set up, where and what we need for our pic to look not very bright in the camera.

Animatic making

This week we need to organise the process of shooting an animatic for our video. Animatic is a preliminary form of a television commercial consisting of a series of drawings with a voice-over, prepared chiefly for test-marketing. This literally means that we need a test-run of our future music video and therefore we have several ways how to do it: storyboard, video or photos.

Our group has chosen a video animatic therefore we need to prepare already a singer, a dancer and props to understand what we’ll need in future, which ideas have to be changed and how in total it looks.

4 types of location:

1.infinity light room 

2.the blossom

3.the projections and patterns

4.the lake ( put a filter and make it contemporary) 

The main shots will be in a studio and the singer will be dressed in black so that we can pass on to the audience all emotions through singer’s face and tone of voice.

However, one of the shots will be a wide shot of a singer and in the background there will be different patterns which will change and with them her costume will be changing, every «drop» in the sound will be followed by an extra yellow circle on singer’s clothing.

There is a cast list of people whom we want to try in our animatic and understand finally whom we need because our song carries an oriental subtext therefore we are thinking about an asian cast which will perfectly suit the motive of the song.

Cast

1.Isabel- singer

2.Ro - dancing

3.Jane -dancing

4.Natasha- dancing( she is very flexible and for our dance we need a dancer who can split in the air, this is in what she’s excellent )

We e-mailed Isabel the lyrics and say her to prepare for the test-shooting next week. She agreed and promised to prepare for it.

Also in the process of filming we will need some instrument players. The will be shots of a person playing a chello and a ksilofon.

We found these instruments in our school and the only problem left is to find students who can play them.

Finally, we e-mailed the Warner Studio regarding the video which we want to shoot and asked for the permission on shooting. Here is the screenshot of our e-mail.

Final idea. Art direction planning

Today we decided finally on the song which we will use in our music video, it’s Clean Bandit - Rihanna. The song is quiet oriental therefore we changed basic ideas of our video.

The main location will be studio where the singer and the instrument players will be based. Also we will have a ballet dancer.

The main idea of the video will be an oriental asian theme with an asian singer in a black room with a light behind her and a dancer who will perform a contemporary ballet. In addition to this there will be two instrument players therefore we will have approximately 7 different shots.

The visual style must oriental also, therefore we found an artist whose works since 90-s are only concentrated on patterns and we took an inspiration from her works.

Her name is Yayoi Kusama and on this website we can see all her major work pieces, http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/picture-galleries/2012/february/02/the-fantastical-world-of-yayoi-kusama/

We will use patterns in the wall design, in studio and also there will responds on the singer’s costume. Also, we plan to project the pattern on her face while the rest of the body will covered by darkness.

The make-up is one of the most important things in the scenario therefore we thought properly about it and took an inspiration from Twiggy’s and Bardout’s photos, so the singer will have big childish eyes with a bright eyelashes, style of 70-s which now is spreading among the style industry. Her face will be covered with sparkles and the total look will be more alien than human.

Final brainstorm

We have only 4 weeks left until the shooting of our video therefore today we had a last brainstorm for our idea.
This is what we had at the end of the lesson:

1. neon lighting (have to confirm with Luke this idea because we'll need a special lighting for that)
2. lots of bulbs hanging on different height
3. room with mirrors and lights all around where the main action will take place
4. dark corner where will be a drummer and singer, there will be only one light behind them
5.  drums will have water on its cover therefore every time the drummer will play on them splashes of water will be shooted
6. dancers will have neon colored costumes and will perform a contemporary dance probably ballet

Altogether this idea was made up from different prospective and we have used different videos for inspiration.

The last thing which we need to do tomorrow is the choice of music. The genre was changed into indi-rock with long drums part somewhere in the middle so we can put the shot of drums.