RESEARCH FOR MUSIC VIDEO: Skills audit, think back to the research that you conducted for your AS practical work, how have your skills in research developed since then? Write a short summary of these developments

This time last year my research skills were very 'amateur' however, once we began our thriller coursework they began to develop. This was particularly within researching the conventions of a thriller, and once my group chose our sub-genre (psychological thriller) we had to make detailed research of the conventions of an opening of a psychological thriller. 
Research from last year included watching many thriller openings, analysing forms of mise en scene that represented that particular genre i.e sunglasses which are usually a main prop used in thrillers. As well as looking out for  particular camera shots and forms of editing within thrillers. One of my favourite conventions of a thriller and some horror films is the false plateau, which is when the audience are fooled into thinking something bad is going to happen e.g (opening a curtain expecting someone to be there) and then it is something else e.g (a cat jumping or nothing is there at all). Unfortunately however we did not incorporate this in our opening thriller :[ 


It was important that we found a good backing track if any at all, and detailed research had to be conducted in order to do this. My group and I did not take this into too much consideration however, this year things are different. Doing a music video is only 3-5 minutes long however, because it is in accordance to a song and not something like acting it is important that a clear message is given to the audience, and in order to do this we need to have done PLENTY of research. Unlike last year whereas I would only look at thrillers I enjoyed this year it is important that I look for music videos that may have a similar concept to the concept our video is trying to portray.


Furthermore this year it is not only about the video itself but the artist and the genre. This helps us understand our target audience further and will contribute to our creation of our Digipak's and adverts. For example different types of Digipak's appeal to different people, and by understanding the genre of our music thoroughly we can begin to plan accordingly and know the type of label our artist will be signed to, where the adverts will be advertised etc. 
Already my group and I have done individual research on things like costume, performances and locations and a range of them, which will be presented in our pitch. Skills that I have developed since working with my group are organisation skills, being on time to lesson for the benefit of my group as well as myself.


Lastly the way we conduct our research is something that has been improved. Rather than just looking on Google and Youtube, I have been observing Twitter accounts of the original artists to get a sense of their personalities, magazines to see other peoples opinions on them and how we can challenge or conform to them and aim to try many more ways to conduct and develop research.