Evaluation Of My E4 E-Sting

Introduction / How I Exhibited My Work

Once my E4 E-Sting was completed I was asked to exhibit and distribute the video along different network sites. The sites I have used for my E-Sting is Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Microsoft Outlook. This allowed me to expand my audiences in order to get a diverse response. I also created a questionnaire and sent it along all of the websites shown above, which again allowed me to expand my audience research. Within my questionnaire I made sure that I covered the following: 

• Genre and Audience
• Content and Narrative
• Aesthetic Qualities
• Creative Qualities
• Technique and Technical Qualities Used
• Style (Stop - Motion)

Methods Of Exhibition

When evaluating my audience responses I have decided to present it in a essay format, showing pictures from my results to make it an comprehensive piece of evaluation by giving images and explanation. It makes it more presentable for readers. I find it easier as the reader can see what I am seeing, making my evaluation more understandable to the reader.

Besides exhibiting my E-Sting on social websites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, there were others way I could of got my video seen. One example would be burning it onto a disk and distributing it to people of all ages and genders so that the audience demographic and physcographic is widened.







Another example is showing it on TV's at which people from all kinds of demographics would see it. One example in the Norfolk area (where I live) would be Norwich City Center which is home to a huge screen that hangs over a shopping mall. With people walking in and out of the shopping mall, they would witness the E-Sting giving them viewing pleasures. Expanding my exposure.



A focus group would also be another great example to exhibit my E-Sting as it would be a good way to show the E-Sting to a specific demographic and collect the feedback straight away so they are fresh and quick, allowing me to make any immediate improvements.

All of these methods could of increased my chances in obtaining a wider demographic which could of increase my quality of the results. This would then give me a better understanding on what people really thought of my E4 E-Sting.

Responses From Questionnaire

When carrying out my audience research I wanted to make sure I had a wide age audience. By doing this I asked a set of questions with the answers under 15, 15 -18, 19 - 29 and 30+. This allowed me to see what age group would see and enjoy my E-Sting.

My results showed that I have asked more people of the age range 15 - 18 (60%), than people who are 19 - 29 (20%) and 30+(20%). I asked a total of 10 candidates.

Looking through my results in detail I have noticed that the majority of the candidates who answered the appropriate questions are Males how are aged 15 - 18.

From looking at all of these factors it can show that mostly Males who are aged 15-18 liked my E-Sting and found it more interesting compared to other candidates.

From looking at the results we can see that most of the candidates were possibly Male (50%). However 25% of Females also participated in the questionnaire. At the end I was left with 20% of candidates not specifying their gender.

This made the results some what unreliable as I could of asked an equal amount of demographics genders. Maybe next time I will ask 10 Males, and 10 Females. Therefore making my results reliable and valid.

5 / 10 of candidates that answered this question all knew that the video was stop - motion animation (SMA).

There are good and bad points to this. The good points are that everyone understood what the video involved, technique wise, making them appreciate the idea used. However, not everyone answered the questions which again gave me unreliable results.

Also the results don't say if these candidates knew about stop-motion to begin with. Next time I might add a question asking if they know what stop-motion is to get a better understanding from my results.

'Who do you think this video is made for (the audience)?'

From looking at my results in my questionnaire, I have learnt many things about my E4 E-Sting. One would be that some people think that the video is aimed at 'young teens' or 'C4 Viewers' (Female aged 30+), which in theory is what I was aiming for. Others also said that 'older teens' (Female 15-18) would be interested in this E-Sting as it involves images of teens and could also appeal to 'creative teens' (Female 19-29). Predominantly it was the females who noticed it was made for teens but were unable to explain why. I believe this was because there wasn't a question asking 'why' which is a suggestion that could be implemented into my next project. However I was happy with the results of candidates noticing that the main demographic was teens (aged 15 - 18).

'Do you find the video entertaining and why?'

From looking at my results I have noticed that most people found the video very entertaining to watch due to factors like creativity and originality. Some candidates quoted that they liked the video because it was 'short but snappy' (Female 30+), which was a one of the things I was going for. I like the fact that some candidates said that the idea was 'original and interesting to watch' (Male 15-18)  as it made me more proud and happy with the final result, as originality was noticed. The idea used was also commented with people saying that it was 'both complicated and simple but gets the message across in a quirky way' (Male 15-18). Being an 'Inception' type of idea, I really tried to 'wow' and complicate my audience. However there was one person who didn't enjoy the E-Sting to reasons that were unspecified.

'What Genre do you think the video is?'

The majority of candidates that took part in the questionnaire said that the genre for this video was 'Comedy' (Male and Female, aged 15-18, 30+) due to things like facial expressions. During the production process I made sure that we pulled funny faces to make the video comical to the audience, portraying a comedy genre. However others said that the genre could be 'animation' (Female 19-29), 'experimental' (Male 15-18)  and 'horror' (15-18). From looking at these results I agree that there are some elements of comedy and thriller. The funny faces add to the comical feel to the video, however the idea of the pictures going into one another gives the video a thriller feel to it. One of the candidates also quoted that there might not be a 'predominant genre but hints of comedy' (Male 15-18).  All in all I was happy that most candidates caught onto the comedy side of the video as well as other genres.

'Do you see any creative qualities?'

When looking at my results from my questionnaire, I noticed that some candidates did notice some creative qualities within my E-Sting. Some people quoted on the editing saying that it 'works well' (Female 30+) which was a main skill that I was hoping to achieved or improve. However, knowing how to edit it was considered before shoot, as the process in this Stop-Motion idea was very tedious. The faces again were mentioned saying that they were 'amazing' (Male 15-18).  The amount of effort put into this idea was huge and has been one of the hardest piece of work ever as it had a lot of thought and planning put into it. This was commented in my results saying that they 'really liked the time and effort gone into this. It shows imagination' (Female 19-29).  The word 'professionalism' (Male 15-18) was used which really made me appreciate my efforts in making the E-Sting even more.

'Do you see any aesthetic qualities (does it look appealing)?' 

When collecting my results for this question, I noticed that most candidates commented on the colour scheme. With the lack in lighting and resources, it was hard to get the correct lighting, however the final results turned out good in terms of getting the right effect. One candidate quoted that they liked the 'consistent use of purple' (Female 30+).  This was good as I wanted to express the purple to show that the Mise-En-Scene was linked to E4. However one candidate quoted that it was 'quite dark for an E-Sting' (Female 15-18). In this comment this person was commenting on the amount of lighting within the frame. Again the access to resources was short, decreasing the opportunity to get better lighting. I think that some of the E-Sting was too bright and could of been edited in post. One thing I was trying to attempt was too keep the background as simple as possible so that the subject in the forefront was focused on. This was commented on in my results with one candidate quoting that the 'background is really simple' (Female 15-18).

Too Dark:

Too Bright:

'Do you see a narrative (a story)?'

When coming up with idea, it didn't really have a strong narrative to it, besides the 'Inception' effect. Some candidates that took part in the questionnaire noticed this, with some saying there could be a narrative adding onto the fact of identifying themes. This candidate quoted that there is evidence of 'friendship and fun' (Female 19-29). The rest of the candidates simply answered that there was no narrative evident. Maybe in the future projects I could try and implement some sort of narrative but going beyond the boundaries is more important to me than the story.

'Any comments on the technique or idea used?'

I wanted to ask this question last to see what people thought of the technique used, allowing the candidate to see what they want. When looking into my results, I noticed that one candidate understood that the idea was suitable for Channel 4, as it was an alternative of identifying its target audience. This person also mentioned the programmes within the Channel 4 quoting that it 'offers a range of programming catering to a range of audiences' (Female 30+). Essentially this is what I was trying to achieve by reaching out to my target audience. By adding teenagers to the E-Sting it allowed the teenage demographic to enjoy the video even more. This then helped in promoting the kind of programmes that could be seen on Channel 4 and E4 itself. In this case most programmes on E4 are targeted at teenagers, giving the E4 E-Sting an appropriate feel to it. With this inspiration coming from 'Vine' the idea of pictures going into one another has been used before. However some candidates noticed this and quoted that it was 'executed' (Male 15-18) very well. Because Channel 4 is a very high budget television channel, this candidate noticed the low budget, but effective, E-Sting which was a big contrast to what audiences normally see on Channel 4.

Constraints

With the idea being really simple, there wasn't much constraints from achieving what we wanted to achieve. The only possible constraints that could of come from this idea was legal issues, financial difficulties and lighting. For legal issues we had to make sure that everyone who was seen on camera had signed a talent release form in order to help avoid any legal issues. This became no problem as I had access to all the appropriate paperwork. In terms of lighting and financial issues, the only problem that arose was affording good lighting. The only light source used within the video was the ones coming from the room ceiling. This then reduced the effect on the amount of lighting used. However this was not a problem as the final result turned out quite bright, leaving any dark areas to be edited within post-production.

Regulation / Guideline Quotes From E4, Channel 4 and Ofcom:

- E4: "It HAS to be EXACTLY 10 seconds long. If it's not 10 seconds long IT WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED BY THE JUDGES".

- Ofcom: "8.6 If the broadcast of a programme would infringe the privacy of a person or organisation, consent should be obtained before the relevant material is broadcast, unless the infringement of privacy is warranted".

- Channel 4: Internal Compliance Procedures - "To be effective the compliance process must include all staff involved in the making and broadcasting of programmes, online content and supporting material such as trails, press information and marketing".

"The process requires knowledge of and adherence to the rules in the Ofcom Broadcasting Code ('the Ofcom Code')".

"The following internal compliance procedures apply to all programmes commissioned by, purchased for and broadcast on Channel 4 and all its platforms, including E4, More4, Film4 and 4Seven (including all '+1' catch-up channels) and to all material published online including 4oD. It also includes all press and publicity stunts, on-air and off-air marketing and publicity stunts, where they are likely to give rise to legal or regulatory complaint".  

Time Management

In terms of keeping within the deadlines, I succeed. I did however find that it was a bit difficult as stop-motion can be tedious and if one shot is ruined, it may result in doing the whole sequence all over again. When organizing dates to shoot I made sure that everyone was available, by using social networking sites like Facebook, before setting dates. This turned out to be very successful.

Time Frame For The E-Sting:

• Pre-Production - 14th - 22nd November
• Filming - 25th November - 6th December
• Editing - 9th - 13th December

Did I Meet The E4 Guidelines?

In terms of keeping to the E4 E-Sting Guidelines, I found that I kept to them very well. Within the guidelines, it states that the video must be exactly 10 seconds long in order to be considered. With YouTube adding an extra second onto our video, it became 11 seconds, however when exporting the video in Adobe Premiere Pro, it was exactly 10 seconds long. The guideline also states that the video must obtain a 10 second audio bed supplied by their website. Again, I obeyed these guidelines and used a 10 second audio bed from the E4 E-Sting's website. Another main guideline rule was the use of the logo of E4. Being integrated within my E-Sting I kept within these guidelines by providing the logo at the end of the E-Sting. One final guideline quoted by E4 is the explicit content within the E-Sting. It quotes that some forms of violence or provocative content may be shown after watershed or may not be used if it is over the top. So within reason some ideas can show a small amount of explicit content. Having none of these stated above in my E-Sting it wasn't a problem. So all in all I kept within all of the guidelines quoted by the E4 E-Sting's website.

What Have I Learned?

Taking in the lessons and the studies that I have had in class, stop-motion itself has become a great interest of mine, in terms of appreciating work that involves stop-motion a lot more. In terms of working to a brief it was a little bit difficult keeping within the E4 10 second guideline rule (stated above), as it restricted us in broadening longer ideas. However I was proud with the results in the final cut. In terms of stop-motion itself I have started to become more creative in my ideas as stop-motion can break the boundaries of reality.

Suitable For The Industry?

Giving into the practice I have had over the last year and a half, I have found working to a brief is a lot easier than doing what I plead. This is because when working to a brief, you understand and know what is expecting from you when deadline arrives, giving you a simple but working path to travel down. Also some assistance can come from a brief which can help if any problems arise.

Will I Take Animation Further?

I've loved the animation unit (live stop-motion) as it allowed me to stretch my creativity and go out of the boundaries of reality showing things that could not be possible to the human eye. It is like playing with reality by achieving the impossible. However, in terms of taking it further into the industry, I might pass. I enjoyed the unit however I want to focus on other aspects of the media industry that interest me more than animation. However this doesn't mean I will stop making stop-motion projects all together.

References

Survey Supplies - https://www.surveymonkey.com/home/

CD Collection Picture - http://uva.onlinejudge.org/external/118/p11849.jpg

Norwich Chapelfield Picture - http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/images/2008/08/08/big_screen_8_460_460x300.jpg

Focus Group Picture - http://www.c-research.in/img/FocusGroup.png
E4 E-Sting Regulations - http://estings.e4.com/competition#terms-anchor
Ofcom Broadcast Code, Section Eight, Privacy - http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/privacy/
Vine Pictures - http://eggboss.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Vine-Not-Available.jpg
Internal Compliance Procedures Information - http://www.channel4.com/producers-handbook/c4-compliance-procedures/internal-procedures-for-reference-up-and-compliance