phase 1
To understand the assignment’s context and define the right problem to solve, the following activities were done:
Analysing the initial situation
Deriving insights from user interviews and desk research
Defining the problem
As the outcome of this phase was a clear problem definition, the phase itself is counted as a deliverable.
To understand the initial situation of the assignment and the client’s ambitions about a web platform for filmmakers, a problem analysis session was conducted with the client.
To gain insight into the process of how filmmakers find suitable music for their film projects, three user interviews with filmmakers were conducted. To gather context about different options filmmakers have for finding suitable music, additional literature study and available product analysis research was done. To derive insights from the conducted user interviews and desk research, the gathered findings were analysed using the affinity mapping method.1
To define the problem, all the above results were analysed using the root cause analysis method.
After receiving the client brief from Mandelo (the internship company), it was analysed to create a debrief of the initial situation and define questions for a problem analysis meeting with Droomgever (the client). The conclusion from this meeting was a clear understanding of the client’s vision for the project.
Based on their experience of collaborating with filmmakers and creators, Droomgever has identified an opportunity for improvement in finding authentic music. They envisioned a web platform that would connect aspiring music artists with filmmakers seeking affordable and authentic music for their films. This platform would allow music artists to showcase their work and gain recognition while enabling filmmakers to easily find music that aligns with the creative vision for their films. (see Reading guide)
The full analysis of the situation and other results like planning were documented in a project plan. After evaluating the project plan with the company mentor and graduation coach, the project direction changed (see Reading guide) and an updated planning was created to note down the changes.
The user interviews were conducted with a professional promotional videographer, a beginner real estate videographer and a professional film producer. The interviews analysis revealed the findings that to find suitable music for their productions, filmmakers tend to either:
work with a composer to create custom music that matches the desired vision
search for existing music (usually on royalty-free music platforms A) and try to find music that fits the desired vision as much as possible
The literature study provided further findings that custom-composed music is valuable because it can be perfectly adjusted to the visuals of the film but is usually very expensive.
Using these findings, the following insight was derived based on the interviews and literature study findings:
A composer can capture the essence of the story and deliver results that create the desired effect for the film. However, this service is often expensive, making it a less feasible option for projects with limited budgets. Therefore, working with a composer is possible for high-end productions where a larger budget is involved. In such situations, filmmakers go to existing music and try to find a good match there. However, what if there was a way to still involve a composer in the process to evaluate the quality of the music for more affordable prices? (further explored in the Ideation phase)
The available product analysis was conducted on the popular royalty-free music platforms Artlist and Musicbed as they were mentioned in the client brief and during the user interviews. It was discovered that usually such platforms are very similar in terms of features so further analysis of more platforms felt unnecessary. In the visuals below, you can see what Artlist and Musicbed look like:
Artlist
Musicbed
The analysis of these platforms provided the following findings which were later used to define the problem:
music library - with a music library of over 10,000 songs (which expands daily), filmmakers have a variety of options to choose from
search filters - the libraries can be filtered by options like mood, genre and instruments to reduce the results to meet the desired preferences
find similar songs - filmmakers can find alternatives of a song on the platform if they like a certain song but still want to consider other songs that sound similar
licensing - the platforms offer licensing options which allow filmmakers to use the chosen music in different contexts
pricing - the platforms offer affordable prices for filmmakers
Using these findings, the following insight was derived based on the interviews and available product analysis findings:
As existing music is often copyrighted and given the limitations of using copyrighted music due to legal and financial constraints2, filmmakers often opt for more affordable options such as looking for music on royalty-free music platforms. Such platforms usually have large music collections which increases the chances of containing music that aligns with the filmmaker's preferences. However, navigating these platforms can be overwhelming due to the trial-and-error process of filtering and listening to a large number of music results until a suitable option is found. During the interviews, one filmmaker said:
“It's great to have a lot of filtering options for when I'm not sure what vibe I'm going for with the video. However, sometimes it could be very distracting, like picking a movie on Netflix.”
This shows that such a time-consuming exercise can prevent filmmakers from discovering suitable music options that may be inside the music libraries but are hard to reach. As a result, to avoid spending too much time, filmmakers often settle for a decent music selection that falls short of fully satisfying their desires which can impact the full potential of their storytelling.
Combining all the above insights, it can be concluded that the process of finding suitable music can be problematic for filmmakers as it can impede their creative vision. Although effective (as filmmakers can settle for the obtained results), this process is not efficient which creates an opportunity for improvement.
Filmmakers face the challenge of finding suitable music for their film projects, as this process often proves time-consuming and exhausting, leading to settling for mediocre music search results, which impedes the creative vision.
After having a problem analysis meeting with the client, the initial situation was clear and was reflected in a project plan document. After conducting user interviews with three filmmakers, it was discovered that filmmakers usually find music for their film projects by working with a composer who can create custom music or by searching for existing music. Based on these findings, two important insights were derived from analysis on the user interviews, a literature study and an available product analysis on the popular royalty-free music platforms Artlist and Musicbed:
Although of high quality, custom music can be expensive due to the emotional effort of composers. Therefore, when the projects have lower budgets, filmmakers tend to find music on royalty-free music platforms.
Royalty-free music platforms usually have big music libraries with features like search filters and finding similar songs, which can be helpful to narrow down the music results to the needs of filmmakers. However, it can be overwhelming for filmmakers to filter and listen to a large number of music results.
The expensive custom-composed music and the time-consuming trial-and-error music discovery process on royalty-free music platforms hide the risk for filmmakers to settle for mediocre results, which can impede their creative vision. Therefore, the music discovery process of filmmakers proves to not always be efficient which makes it open for improvement.
Having gained an understanding of the problem and insights into why finding suitable film music can be inefficient, the next step was to ideate potential solutions.