What have you learned from your Audience

Feedback?

I got feedback throughout the whole filming process, where most people I spoke to encourage it. I was supposed to interview a person who can't be named, who works for RussiaToday and supports the Syrian Regime and Egyptian Army, I never knew this till I did research on him. This became a personal and political dispute against him, I didn't feel comfortable talking with a person who opposed the revolution and supported mass murderers. However I asked a few people, some of the hiphop artists agreed, one guy disagreed and told me it would be good to have a contrasting opinion in the documentary, and therefore allow the audience to make their own opinion. However this man is given a platform on TV all the time, therefore I found it unfair and went against all my ethics, which is one of the most vital thing in making this documentary, is keeping hold of our morals and ethics.  When I asked people, 90%, agreed with my decision. 

When discussing with Mr.Wroe my film after he watched the first draft, he explained many things that he didn't think worked in the film. His first criticism was that he wanted less text, and that there was a huge big opening and hype towards the title then it didn't stay as lifted. This is understandable however, my reasons for this is that I don't have enough time in five minutes to keep it uplifted, since it is a very serious documentary and choosing which 20 seconds of a two hour interview was very tricky. It is incomplete, but that is due to the beginning. Another issue he touched on was the style, he saw which he claimed I had my own style in filming or editing, which I agree with, however somethings puzzled him in the film, the amount of text. "This Documentary requires an open mind" this he liked, but wasn't sure it was that relevant. Even though this in particular is my favourite part, a certain part where I acclaim my position as a directer and talk directly to the audience through these words, where I narrow down the target audience to a certain mind of people, who are ready for a different opinion and not a fixed mindset and that is my target audience. When I asked three other people, they liked it, they heard my voice, this is the part of the film where there is a little authoritative narrative in a sense, influenced maybe by Michael Moore. 

Eric gave me some feedback where he told me that I should work on the sound bridges, since I like him, use Final Cut Pro, where we have the flexibility to work with sound and create sound bridges. The part of the intro just as it goes to the Immortal Technique footage the music stops in the middle, pretty abruptly. This is he found annoying, since he liked the tune, and it is a very good tool in attracting and catching the audiences' attention. He gave me some pointers on how to do it and this was good feedback since it made sense especially in relation to sound and audience. The other criticism was that I should maybe add a montage of Mos Def himself saying the quote, instead of just his quote with a plain black background, to add Mos Def quoting himself or some edited footage of him performing. 

Ernie recommended that I changed the editing technique "trail" which i use in two parts of the film, and bringing it to a minimum, this editing technique represents my style, so it was good to see someone might not like this fully, so I decided to change the last part with Native Sun and to reduce the trail and only start at the end when he puts his hand put and says that one powerful word "Legacy"

Another criticism was the typography/textology in the film where Sam and Eric both asked what was the point in the text style, that it was fancy. Eric liked it however recommended I make it more simple so that the audience can focus more on what is written than the style, which I agree with it can look a little too Arty. However my problem with this is that it may contradict too much with the title board of "It's Bigger than HipHop", and the font i use doesn't exist in Final Cut Pro. 

As for my Ancillary task I was given lots of constructive criticism from an Interior architect student and a an rat foundation student who both us photoshop and InDesign. There for they helped me a lot, in to trying and make it look professional. where I used in my Ancillary task of the advert of the Documentary a snap shot of a live concert which was raising money for Macmillan Cancer. Where Dana the Architect student commented and helped me where we used social media sites like Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp to give feedback.

Change the text font

The editing technique called “trail” to a minimum

Explain four pillars of HipHop, so my audience are aware that graffiti is one of the four pillars

Add a montage sequence behind the quotes instead of the black background for e.g. When I put the Mos Def quote, put a montage of one of his videos instead plain background.

Put more transitions in the beginning in Suli Breaks’s interview

Change the text, too fancy

The soundtrack stopped too abruptly