Start here if you are not sure what a pre-production project is!

Note - you do NOT have to wait for one stage to be complete before starting the next. You can start working on audience and desk research while waiting for your client to respond, for example.

STAGE 1 - THE IDEA - COMPLETE BY MONDAY MAY 18

BRIEF:

Task : What are you planning to do? Who is your client? Who is your target audience? What is the purpose of your piece? In this section, you can include any ideas, notes, sketches of initial planning and ideas. You should have received feedback on the sisfilm thread and you can see who else is working in the same area on the SISTV page; this advice can count as part of your research and may well be mentioned in your final project.

Basically, here you should have a short, focused description (100 - 200 words) of what you are doing, who it is for, and what its purpose is.

I'm planning to a instructional video for which instructs one to swap their own hardware. This is created to instruct others so they are able to learn, and do it themselves.
My Clients are currently Kyle and Miroslav of ifixit.com. However, because they are out of Hong Kong, I would still like to ask Mr.Moran - the School Technician, and possibly doing it for both of them. So ask him. What are you waiting for?

The Target Audience would probably split into two different sections. School Students, who would probably wouldn't be so technological savvy, which means complicated terms should not be used. Whilst I also have to cater to the other side of the spectrum, those who probably know more about technology than most others. One advice I was given, was to give some instructions to the school students, and see if they can follow. If so, it should be fine for the technological savvy.

During the first few emails with Kyle and Miroslav
-They wanted to use their existing pictures
-They wanted me to apply a creative methods to show the instructions
-The reason using existing still images instead of refilming, was the limited equipment.

Current Problem : Miroslav is on Holiday, and Kyle is currently away.

STAGE 2 - RESEARCH - COMPLETE BY MONDAY MAY 25

DESK RESEARCH:

Task : You need to find and analyse at least TWO existing examples of the text type you are planning to make. So, for example, if you are planning to make a promotional video, you need to track down existing examples, embed the videos here, and write a brief (300 - 500 words) analysis of each of them.

First Video : http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbook_13_mem_hd_h/ (I am currently requesting permission to get a downloadble copy to upload to the wiki.

The instructional video from “Other World Computing” uses a very direct approach, it is very simply a person showing the process of the hardware swap. It’s framing was done due to the fact that they want the attention to be directed to the process.

The content was filling the screen, and having it’s key areas at the top left and bottom left power points. This was done because attention is usually grabbed at the power points. In addition, by doing a high shot and the fact that having such a composition would make the process clearer for the audience.

Something else that they tried to do to make the process clear, was the act of filming in one angle, and only having one edit. In addition, this would decrease the time required and any confusion. However, the downside of this, is that some details might not be captured depending on the hardware change in question.

The layout and design of the instructional video is very simple as well, by replacing text with the actual “technician’s” voice whilst he changes the hardware. The lack of text was used to prevent confusion with the hardware change process, and so the viewers would concentrate on the process and not on the text.

Something that’s interesting, is that it has many “advertisement” of their own products, which was probably the intention of doing such a video advert.

Second

On the contrary, the second video, which was produced by a blog - Lifehacker, has much more edits and cuts. This could possibly be due to the use of a shaky camera. Another advantage of doing such cuts, is that they can speed up the video faster, without any steps missed.

The composition of the instructional video is again, based on the actual practicality to make the important areas (where the action is happening) more visible.

The video’s layout and design is quite different from the first one, as this one includes a lot more text, and uses this to inform. In response of that, they use a techno-ish music (which probably connotates what this video is about - Technology).

The text is a very simple san serif font, it was probably used as it’s the default font in the video editing and since the font it isn’t very fancy, it would stop others deviate from distractions, which could be a problem if they miss a step.

They also have a very interesting format when push, pulls are needed - a yellow overlay which shows the direction. This is effective especially due to it’s lighting and angle.

From the two videos above, many things can be learnt and applied to my instructional videos.
Use directional guides to emphasize on key areas.
In addition, keep a clean layout like the firs video, so it does not steal the audience's interest.
Have good lighting and good focus on your intended area of maintenance


AUDIENCE RESEARCH:

Task : Having looked here, you should have decided the best way to gather information about what your audience will like and respond to. On this page, you need to include an example of your research methods (eg a link to the online questionnaire you used, a copy of the paper questionnaire or a link to the recording of the interviews you conducted) AND the analysis of the results. The results need to be presented well (Excel or Numbers, please) AND you should be able to show what you have learned about your audience's likes and dislikes and which approaches are likely to work.

Question 1 :
What is your Name? (Optional). The purpose of this question is to be able to easily identify different people.

Question 2 :
How old are you? The purpose of this question is to find the average age of the video's target audience and thus be able to produce a better piece to suit them

Question 3 :
Have you tried swapping the hardware yourself in the past? This, is a filter question, so I can easily find out which people's data I should follow through and use. This is especially useful as the main target audience (as pre-determined with Kyle), is people who have already done it in the past.

Question 4 :
In your opinion, what's the hardest thing about following guides to swap hardware? This question is to identify the main problems with the current solution,

Question 5 :
What Problems have you faced previously? This question is very similar to the above, and there has been a "scare" of them mixing them up - but the above was for "following instructions" and this one is for general problems

Question 6 :
If your opinion, what is the most important thing to a guide which explains how to swap hardware? This was to find out what they felt was most important, and planned to incorporate it into the final product.

Question 7 :
What form of Video Guides would you like? This is a way to deciding whether to use still images or motion (video) as this was something that's been in debate for a while.

Question 8 :
Why have you chosen what you have for the above question? This is a open ended question to find their opinions on why, and to gain feedback on possible methods to make it better.

Results :


Lots of things have came up in this survey, most notably the huge demand for still images over motion based footage which I find to be an advantage personally... But based ont he results

- The main age group interested in these videos are around 41-50. This coincides with the side's main customer base
- The biggest problem seems to be lack of detail, and detail is definitely important based on future question's results.
- Apart from easy to understand instructions, it seems that clear graphics is something I need. This backs up what I had from my Desk Research Data.
- Based on answers for question 5 and 8, it seems that I will need to have clear communication, and non-flashy images to steal the "spotlight" which was a major concern for motion based footage.

Explanation : I posted my research on iFixit's Forums to gain feedback directly from them, and PMed certain members for opinions.

I also asked some other people interested in this project, what they would like. I asked them questions similar to a focus group, the the data gathered...
- If audio overlay is used, it must be clear and not distract one from the actual visual in which they will see the fix going on.
- Do not use flashy and overcomplicated words, they don't care
- Do not use flashy colours, minimalistic colours will do
- Do not overcomplicate, and understand that some do not have high speed internet, so I have to consider making it Youtube Size and quality without loss of quality.
- In addition, if I decide to use bullet points, make sure it can be seen on Youtube videos quality as a standard.

STAGE 3 - THE PRE-PRODUCTION - COMPLETE BY MONDAY JUNE 8

The storyboard / mock up / whatever planning method is appropriate to your task. It should be digitised and embedded on this page. You should be able to show what influence the results of your market research have had on your final ideas and approach.

STAGE 4 - THE EVALUATION - COMPLETE BY FRIDAY JUNE 12

Look here for instructions.

STAGE 5 - THE BONUS!

You should have designed a logo for SIS TV. Include your design (and a brief paragraph explaining what you were trying to achieve) here.