Further show reels

As a result of the main show reel, I was then asked to make a shorter version of a show reel, containing different footage from each area, for example Buster Keaton and another part of archive footage. The class would each get into groups of 2 and then create the show reel, which will be a vital part of my commission project as well as the main show reel.

In my opinion, this would be a little easier than the main show reel as I will have the parts chosen for me with Alex, and would simply add them together effectively. My show reel was created on the wednesday 24th June, working with Alex in a pair. We had to create our individual show reel, including 3 parts of archive footage, an animation from Depict 90 second videos, and a Bjork music video.

We had to include paperwork to list what was on the showreel so that it could be checked with the council and legalised. The showreel had a specific order, including logos before each video etc. Below is a copy of the paperwork for one video.

Measuring audience response and feedback

In terms of the feedback from the audience and their response, I have decided to generate some data through pie charts instead of just rough note tables, which is what I took when we went down on the day of the screening to interview people for audience feedback.

I thought using pie charts analyses the data better and makes it clearer for information to be seen and shown.

The first question I asked the audience was how long they stopped for to watch the show reel screening. Obviously I asked them this as they came away from the screening and simply asked how long they had stayed for. Here is the response.

This is the data for how long the audience stayed at the screening. In this pie chart, you can see the actual numbers of people who stayed for periods of time, all together I asked 50 people. In the pie chart below you can see the data percentage wise.

Here you can see how long the audience stayed in terms of percentages out of 50 people in total. From the pie chart, you can see that the majority of people stayed for 5 - 10 minutes - which I think is excellent. There were quite a few who stayed for a minute or less but I think this is due to being busy in the town centre.

Here you can see the age of the audience who stayed to watch the screenings. From the data, you can see the majority of the audience were middle aged 30 - 40 year olds, and this may be because they enjoy hearing about the history of Cambridge and comparing it to when they were little.

Here you can see the age of the audience who stayed for the screening, but you can see the actual numbers of people as opposed to percentages in the last graph.

Here you can see the problems with the shop screening and the numbers of people who thought these problems. The survey was overall out of 50 people.

On both of these pie charts, you can see what the audience felt the problems were with the shop screening. The majority of people thought that the music was too loud and repetitive and that

it was too bright to see the screen as effectively as they would have liked. Personally these were the two main issues I identified with on the day of these interviews so this wasn't suprising.

Here you can see the data I have collected which shows what the audience liked about the shop screening. This pie chart shows the percentages of people and what they liked out of 50 people in total.

Here you can see the actual numbers of audience members and what they liked about the screening. From the pie chart it is easy to evaluate that the main attraction to the screening in Habitat, Regent Street was that the footage was eye catching and interesting. The next is that the shop boasted something new, modern or creative as opposed to the other shops in the town centre.

Audience feedback - rough notes and tally charts

While the audience interviews and data were being received, I took some tally charts to show a clearer way to collate the audience feedback. The pictures below show clear tally charts and rough notes from the audience interviews.

Hopefully with these tally charts I should be able to create some pie charts or tables on the computer to show the information a bit clearer, these rough notes however are a good measure of what the audience thought etc.

Audience response - 12th June

In terms of the audience response, on the day of the screening we as a class went down to the Grafton centre near Habitat on the 12th of June (the shop where the screening was being shown) to get some feedback and audience comments. The shop screening ran from the 11th of June through to the 27th June.

I personally asked the audiences about what they liked about the show reel, what they didn't like, how long they stayed for and how old they were.

Here you can see some of the class in the town centre.

Here you can see the audience outside Habitat, and you can see them watching the show reel on the screen.

Here you can see the busy town centre and some of the audience members we asked for some feedback from.

Here you can see what Habitat was like long BEFORE the screening, this boosts no attraction what so ever.

Here you can see a picture I took of the screen from the outside of the shop. Some audience feedback was that they could not see the screen very well and from this picture and the show reel on the day of the screening I agree that it was quite hard to see, perhaps this would be an improvement for a shop screening of the show reels next time.

Media coverage of the project - 11th June

Concerning the project, there was various media coverage which also shows that as a community, Cambridge themselves were very interested in the changing spaces project - to such an extent that there would be news coverage by the BBC concerning the project. The link for the BBC news broadcast concerning the project, with interviews from Tony Jones and media students in my class, the link is on this hyperlink.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8101099.stm

Here you can see the start of the video and the BBC news website which streams the news broadcast about the project.

Here you can see an interview from the client for this commission project, Tony Jones.

The link to this website also led to me another website, called 'emptyshopsnetwork'. The website shows all the empty shops in the UK and shows plans for what is going to happen there.

I thought this was personally very interesting as it showed all the artists details and information for each shop that is empty and being temporarily used by these artists.

To see the link for the empty shop network, the link is here.

There is also a Cambridge Evening News article about the project, shown below.

My personal response to first show reel

The first cut from wednesday 10th June (PM) showed that some improvements were needed. While watching the show reel rough cut, I identified the following points as improvements.

• The animated logos, (completed by the visual effects team) were a bit too

advanced and ‘flashy’, perhaps being more simply animated would be better for the show reel.

• One logo appeared twice and some of the effects on the logos were a bit unnecessary.

• The music did not fit with the archive footage and calmer music may have been more suitable.

• The Buster Keaton video needs to be de-interlacing, and there were straight cuts through the footage which sometimes cut too soon. (Perhaps fades would be better for the transitions between each part of footage)

• The music sometimes ends abruptly and the cut at the end of the archive footage happened too soon.

• There was a bit too much Long Road students work, and the archive footage was meant to be the main footage showing.

• One Long Road video showed a dead body, this was not allowed as all videos had to be suited to all the public in terms of content, a dead body was a bit extreme to show to the general public. In my summary of notes I knew that concerning complaints, there were a few about visual quality, but Tony insisted you could see it all fine. Tony and the film trust took a gamble and due to this got a lot of publicity concerning the project.

From the production meeting I knew that in terms of feedback for Long Road, there were only 2 complaints, it was more the repetitive nature that annoyed some people, but overall there were not many complaints. In September the film trust would like to get people’s feedback and views, quotes etc.

The second and third show reels followed a more consistent pattern which was more liked. The public etc liked the moving logos, however the soundtrack seemed to be fluctuating, but this was only due to the speakers, and the only part doing this was the fashion show music. The level of sound was a little too loud – and this could be silent in the next programme if there are complaints. Overall, the show reel as a whole was a good achievement, despite the few improvements that would be made.

The footage was eye catching and interesting, so would ensure the public would stop and take a look as they walked past. The footage was organised well and was clearly explained throughout. With the improvements made, the show reel would be ready to show to the public, and hopefully would catch their attention.

My first 'Pilot' Showreel - 10th June

Here is mine and the classes initial pilot showreel, which we produced after the initial meeting with Tony Jones. Overall, you can see some of the shots I had personally suggested to Tony Jones in the initial pitch for the show reel, which is a good sign since it shows clear interaction with the client. I hope this show reel matches the client Tony Jones' needs and after his feedback I should know what to improve.

Changes to show reel after client feedback

This table I personally made shows the client feedback from Tony Jones, and what the issue he brought up was. It also shows how I personally resolved these issues and the actions and changes I made.

As a result of the feedback myself and others received from Tony Jones concerning the show reel, there were a few considerable and noticeable changes due to this feedback. After all, the idea of a commission is that the project done for the commission clearly relates to the clients wishes and needs, and in this sense changes need to be made to address Tony Jones' needs and ideas for the show reel.

With these adjustments, the show reel was made to suit Tony Jones (the client) and was edited more to his liking. I personally thought the show reel looked considerably better once the archive footage was changed a little, and the music was changed to suit the footage.

With the logos more subtle, the show reel focused on the actual footage rather than relying on effects to attract the audience. With more logos at the end rather than at the start, it was more organised and looked considerably better due to all of the adjustments made.

Tony Jones response & feedback to first show reel

After the first pilot show reel for the public, Tony Jones’ had various responses, and a few improvements I could make in order to make the video better for the public.

• He wanted the Buster Keaton video shortened, and to have the idea of Kylie Minogue coming out from one of the shops in the Buster Keaton video. However this was a bit too much so I simply merged the two videos together - so Kylie Minogue followed straight after Buster Keaton.

• After the discussion about too many titles, Tony Jones wanted to tone down the titles, and have them more subtle. He wanted more of Dave’s ‘Peoples Cinema’ title, and he felt there were too many logos at the start, so the class simply had the Long Road logo and the Cambridge Film Trust at the start - all the remaining logos went at the end of the show reel.

• He also felt the soundtrack to the archive footage was too lively, the same as what we felt from watching the rough cut footage.

• He felt the archive footage of punting was too ‘touristy’ for Cambridge, and to have more shops of town and Fitzroy street. With these adjustments, the show reel was made to suit Tony Jones (the client) and was edited more to his liking.

• The show reel looked considerably better once the archive footage was changed a little, and the music was changed to suit the footage. With the logos more subtle, the show reel focused on the actual footage rather than relying on effects to attract the audience.

• With more logos at the end rather than at the start, it was more organised and looked considerably better due to all of the adjustments made.

Archive footage - personal opinion

While looking through the archive footage, I personally think that there were some excellent parts of footage which would be ideal in the trailer, such as the footage of punting to show traditional cambridge, and shots of the town centre and lions yard centre to see the comparisons to today and modern day Cambridge.

This shot from the archive footage i thought was particularly effective, because it showed the old traditional Cambridge and would therefore be very appealing to the target audience especially the older generation who can compare what Cambridge was like to what Cambridge is now like in the modern day.

All of these recognisable shots I thought were excellent to include in the show reel, because they are instantly recognisable as precise points in the town centre and therefore the target audience will be able to relate to them more clearly as opposed to just being general footage.

These shots which I think are effective however, may be different to my client Tony Jones' ideas of shots and footage and therefore I need to pay close attention and be careful when considering the needs and thoughts of the client.

Pilot show reel - material analysis

The idea was to have a 20-25 minute show reel to play in the empty shop windows around Cambridge, so this then would catch the public’s attention. The show reel contained footage from Buster Keaton videos, a Kylie Minouge video produced by Michel Gondry, some Long Road work from film/media studies and the Diploma, and old archive footage of Cambridge during the 1950’s.

The old archive footage of Cambridge was shown to show how much Cambridge had changed over the course of 50 years. The Long Road videos were used to show student work and the video of Buster Keaton had footage of shops used in the specific one we chose.

Tony Jones was granted the rights to use the Kylie Minogue ‘Come Into My World’ video, which was used because it showed various shops which were lively and colourful - this is similar to the shops Tony Jones hoped to create by the Commission project.

Videos showing work from the Creative and Media Diploma were also included in the showreel to show the involvement our college had in the project and our close relationship with the class' client, Tony Jones.

Council Document

For the commission with the client, when making the show reels, myself and the rest of the class had to complete a table showing all the contents of the showreel. Below you can see the actual email which asks for this council document. Paula Beegan (partner with Tony Jones of the Cambridge film trust) is addressing our teacher Pete rather than me personally, so that he can then forward this email to the neccessary class members.

This included the certificate, the directors of the video, the country the video was made in, the length of the video and the year the video was made, as well as a short synopsis of each video.

Click to enlarge this image of the table. This table refers to the main show reel as a commission which I completed with some other members of the class.