Problems and Issues

For our initial idea, we planned to get some shots of the empty theatre to use in our viral ad. However, on querying about this to Simon, we found that it was going to be incredibly difficult to film in the actual theatre, as it was in constant use for rehearsals and shows. We also planned to get some shots of the grand piano, as this tied in well with our use of the piano music volumes, unfortunately we were only able to have a very short time to film these shots, as the piano needed to go back into storage as soon as possible. 
We received this message from Simon, who was incredibly helpful and informative.

Hello Group 1!

Thanks for getting in touch

You can have access to the 2 volumes of Beethoven piano sonatas, which Tim, the pianist, is happy to lend us next week – I am hoping he will give them to me tomorrow, so you could collect from the office (Central Library) on Monday.

I am sorry to say that access to the Studio Theatre is much more difficult, as it is in use for a Sheffield Theatre production at the moment and therefore very unlikely to be available for anything, and anyway it would look nothing like it does for our concerts  – see attached image showing Tim at the end of his last concert there. I just don’t think there will be a way to film in there, sorry.

In terms of getting any shots of a piano, it is out being used on the Crucible main stage for our two concerts tomorrow (which I think some of you said you might be coming to?) but it will not be free for being filmed as they are rehearsing and then it will be tuned, etc.

BUT – we can offer you one short time slot on Monday morning to get some shots of the piano before it is returned to its store. IF you can be at the Crucible Theatre stage door, which is on Norfolk Street, with your camera, etc, at 9am on Monday morning, my colleague Kathryn could meet you there and take you onto the stage, where you can have 15 minutes to film the piano.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS NO OTHER TIME THE PIANO WILL BE FREE, so for this to work, you would have to be able to make this time.

I am sorry to be so exact, but we do not control the Theatre buildings, and so we have to fit in with their operational day.

Let us know asap if this Monday morning plan can work.

Many thanks

Simon

Simon Seligman

Marketing and Communications Manager 

Usually working Mon/Wed/Thurs/Fri

&

Gina Walters 

Digital Marketing and CRM Officer

Usually working Fri

Despite being unable to get into the theatre to shoot, we were very grateful to have the opportunity to get some shots of the piano which we think is a vital feature in our piece. During our time filming in the studio, we took the opportunity to get some shot of the audience seating area and some parts of the studio, although it wasn't set up or lit as it would be during one of their concerts, we still managed to get some pretty good shots. 

The only other problem we came across while shooting this was the lack of control of the lighting in the studio. For fire safety reasons, we were unable to take our own lighting equipment to the theatre and the studio lighting wasn't set up for use. For this reason, some of our footage turned out to be quite grainy, but it turned out to be something that was just beyond our control and we intend to make use of the footage regardless.  

MITR Free Concert

Music In The Round Free Concert

www.musicintheround.co.uk/events

We were invited by marketing manager, Simon, to come and experience the theatre and music for ourselves at one of their pay-what-you-like events. One of the ways in which they raise money for charity, as you can make any amount of donation for the ticket as you like. We thought this would be a good opportunity to see the space that we could potentially be working with, as well as opening our minds to a different type of music experience than we are usually used to.  

We took with us a camera and zoom to capture something for future reference, but it turned out that the footage we got could potentially be usable in our ad. The lighting of the stage proved to be very effective, although the seating arrangements prevented us from using a tripod therefor, some of the shot turned out to be a little unsteady. 

I think having the opportunity to see this was very encouraging, there was actually quite a variation of people in the audience; just not very many of them. This gave us all the more motivation to go with the idea of making people aware of these talented musicians and everything they are trying to, and have, achieved. 

Research Survey

As part of researching the topic, we thought it would be a good starting point to gather people's thoughts and opinions on what classical music means to them. The aim of our viral is to reach people, predominantly, young people,  and to catch their attention as something which is different from how they first perceived it. We created a survey online and shared it across Facebook, reaching as many different types of people as possible. The feedback we received was mostly predictable, but there were some instances that we were quite surprised by.
Our questions intended to find out what type of music people predominantly liked to listen to, do they ever listen to classical music and what their perception of classical music is.

Music in The Round - Viral Brief

Project brief 

This brief for digital productions skills comes in two parts; a 1 minute viral advertisement, followed by a 3 minute featurette. This is our first brief involving real clients and companies, and this was our first taste of what it was like to work for somebody in the real world. And so it soon became apparent that we needed to approach this project in a much more professional manner. 

Viral Advertising

Viral advertising is a marketing strategy, which relies on the medium of the internet, particularly social media, in order to pass the ad around, in turn allowing it to reach as wide an audience as possible.Viral advertising is personal and, while coming from an identified sponsor, it does not mean businesses pay for its distribution. Most of the well-known viral ads circulating online are ads paid by a sponsor company, launched either on their own platform (company webpage or social media profile) or on social media websites such as YouTube.Consumers receive the page link from a social media network or copy the entire ad from a website and pass it along through e-mail or posting it on a blog, webpage or social media profile. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games,advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, text messages,email messages, or web pages.The most commonly utilised transmission vehicles for viral messages include: pass-along based,incentive based, trendy based, and undercover based. However,the creative nature of viral marketing enables an "endless amount of potential forms and vehicles the messages can utilize for transmission".

Our Client- Music In The Round

From what we have gathered, Music In the Round is a charitable organisation, based in Sheffield's Crucible theatre,that exists to promote the best in international chamber music and inspire audiences with the unique power and intensity of music, played in an intimate setting. 
Our initial thoughts about this company were admittedly quite uninspired, we as a group have little to no interest or understanding of classical chamber music, something which proved to be quite intimidating given the fact that we have to produce an ad to promote and draw people to this charitable company. However, on talking to their director of marketing, Simon, we soon understood that he was completely aware of our initial reaction, and this was something that he wanted us to address in our ad. We got the feeling that it was important to him to get people to realise the huge amount of time and effort it takes these musicians to practice and perfect their musical skills. Admittedly, we had no concept of how many sacrifices these people make for something that they are so passionate about. It made us think how frustrating it must be for somebody to brush off your talent, something which you have invested a great majority of your life into, with the thought of it being 'boring' or 'out-of-date'. 
We immediately settled on the idea of attempting to show the audience exactly what goes into such a performance, as this is something we sensed that Simon was very much keen on portraying. We were also offered the use of one of the musicians own personal music volume books, containing a collection of Beethoven's sonatas. We thought that this would be a great way to emphasise the huge amount of music that is to be learnt and performed by the musician in perhaps just one concert.

The main aim for our viral ad, is to engage a different type of audience than this subject would usually attract. We plan to pose a question to the viewer, in order to provoke them to think more deeply on the subject. Our plan is to provide an answer and explanation in the second part of this brief. 

Workshop- Green Screen & Compositing

Green Screen Workshop

In this session,we acquired the basic skills on the purpose and use of the green screen, specifically the importance of lighting and setting up the camera/screen correctly. This was followed by an IT session on compositing and keying. 

We started the session with the basic three-way set up with correct lighting, and formed a long shot focusing on the subject so we could composite this later in a second workshop. I soon learned the importance of lighting your subject correctly when using a green-screen, as any spill as a result of poor lighting creates problems when it comes to editing (as I found in the compositing workshop)  

Compositing Workshop

Keying
Keying is the process of isolating a single colour or brightness value in an electronic image and using software to make that value transparent, allowing another image to show through the affected areas. Luminance keying, or luma-keying, is the process of keying out a brightness value or range, like black or white. Luminance keys are often used for applying mattes. Colour keying, or chromakeying, identifies a specific colour to remove.


In order to isolate one area from the rest, the background colour must be distinctly different. Bright green beats blue partially because it is not a colour normally featured or worn by the subject and is the furthest away from natural skin colour. Any clothing that matches the background too closely will also key out, making gaps in your subject, or making it disappear altogether.