Evaluation
Introduction
In this task I was asked by a client to create a short 45
second promotional video for Gateshead College’s Media Department.
What I Did
The process I went through was to first of all draft out a
number of ideas of what I could do for the video. From the brainstorming
process I created an idea which I detailed down in a presentation and delivered
to my clients. After they had signed off on it I began work on constructing the
idea.
The first thing I had to do was draw up all of the
pre-production documentation such as the cast and crew lists, storyboard and
even health and safety details. This took me roughly an afternoon to make sure
I had done everything to the right standard.
I understood that my production had to appeal to my target audience of 16+ school leavers wanting to come to college to study a media related course. As such I wanted to appeal to them and show them what to expect.
The pre-production was an important part of my work because it allowed me to see all the aspects of what I had to do as well as make sure I had all my bases covered such as knowing where to film, who I needed and what equipment. It made the process of filming later on easier and meant I stayed on track and got the shots I needed instead of shots I thought might work.
I understood that my production had to appeal to my target audience of 16+ school leavers wanting to come to college to study a media related course. As such I wanted to appeal to them and show them what to expect.
The pre-production was an important part of my work because it allowed me to see all the aspects of what I had to do as well as make sure I had all my bases covered such as knowing where to film, who I needed and what equipment. It made the process of filming later on easier and meant I stayed on track and got the shots I needed instead of shots I thought might work.
With all the pre-production done I collected up all of my
actors and began filming the scenes, ensuring I had ample extra shots. I made
sure to overdo every shot and record everything with a few takes just in case I
noticed a mistake at the editing stage. I did go out later on for some extra
shots though I never used them.
The biggest problem I encountered was locations. I had wanted to record in a radio studio and in the colleges theatre. This would have allowed me to have clips in all the media areas. However this proved a problem due to the fact the college didn’t have its own studio at the time and Metro Radio, the radio courses’ partner refused to allow me to record in the studio. I struggled to get hold of the theatre. Every time I attempted to record in there I was informed that it was booked up. As a result I never got a shot in there and had to improvise and use different shots. This is something that may have impacted upon my product as a whole but I feel it didn’t affect it too badly and therefore I don’t think it to be too much of a problem.
With my actors I was able to record ‘students’ at work and try and tell a short story in both the music and photography areas.
The biggest problem I encountered was locations. I had wanted to record in a radio studio and in the colleges theatre. This would have allowed me to have clips in all the media areas. However this proved a problem due to the fact the college didn’t have its own studio at the time and Metro Radio, the radio courses’ partner refused to allow me to record in the studio. I struggled to get hold of the theatre. Every time I attempted to record in there I was informed that it was booked up. As a result I never got a shot in there and had to improvise and use different shots. This is something that may have impacted upon my product as a whole but I feel it didn’t affect it too badly and therefore I don’t think it to be too much of a problem.
With my actors I was able to record ‘students’ at work and try and tell a short story in both the music and photography areas.
The next logical stage of the process was to edit everything
together using FinalCut Pro, a software package I hadn’t used before. I was
slightly overwhelmed at first but quickly learnt the software and was able to
create a high quality product for my client which I exported two versions of, a
Lossy and Lossless format. I did one of
each so that my client could upload the Lossy version to the internet for
people to view with minimal streaming and bandwidth. The Lossless version though was there for the
client to use on a DVD at presentations. Being high quality was important for
this.
Feedback
I asked several of my peers to give me critical feedback on
my product so I could see what they liked and disliked. Below is a transcript
of what was said and what my response for each is. The questions asked are in
bold, the feedback received is in italics and my responses will be in red.
Does the promo show
off the media departments within Gateshead College?
“Yes and No – I can
see you do media but it didn’t show enough of what media stuff they do – Maybe
having more action or film some people filming something”
I do agree there maybe wasn’t enough
action in the video, but I only had 45 seconds. I wanted to show off what the
media department had to offer. I tried to show students doing media however
with my limited set of actors and budget I couldn’t get as many action shots as
I’d have liked. I do however believe that what I do have is good and fits well. Next time I will attempt to get more action
in.
“Yes it shows some of
them – radio, photography, which I guess is due to room availability”
You’ve hit the nail on the head
there. Room availability was my biggest problem. I attempted to get hold of the
stage every single week but it was always booked up and I was unable to get a
chance to film even during lunch or break times.
Interestingly I never got chance to film any part of the radio course. Metro Radio, the partner of the radio course refused to allow me to film in their studios and the college studio was not completed on time to film it.
Interestingly I never got chance to film any part of the radio course. Metro Radio, the partner of the radio course refused to allow me to film in their studios and the college studio was not completed on time to film it.
“Yes shows off the
main media areas”
Thank You
“Not very much, but
more for the entire college”
I always considered the video would
be used on prospective students to media courses therefore I felt the need to
include other college areas as well as media facilities therefore showing the
prospective students the college they would see as a whole not just the
department.
How would you rate
the promo? 1 being not good and 10 being Excellent
The average
score received was 7.
Did you feel it was
well made?
“Yes, some shots could
have done with being a bit more exciting, but yes”
I agree with the excitement, but the
college wouldn’t allow me to use pyrotechnics. I did ask but apparently fire is
not something I can use. I will take your feedback on board however and attempt
to make any future projects more exciting.
“Yes some good camera
moves, transitions and animated text”
Thank You
“Yes though it could have done with a bit more information”
I wholeheartedly agree however the
college never gave any brief on what information was needed so I just added the
barebones. The college name and its web address. In hindsight I wish I’d also
added in information on what department they were looking at.
Did you like the
choice of music?
“I don’t Know”
Not sure how to respond to this
feedback, sorry.
“Yes went very well”
Thank You.
“Music was great, but
I feel you could have cut / edited the shots to match the beat”
I do agree though I did try my best to do it a bit. I made
sure the music changed when the shots did. It’s true that the shots didn’t
follow the beat, but then with song with a beat like that it’d have been a shot
change every 3 and half seconds. I felt jumping between shots that fast was too
confusing.
“Music was uplifting
and fit the video well”
Thank You.
“Yes”
Thank You.
Do you feel this
would appeal to the 16 year old target market?
“Yes, I think it’s
Catchy and Quick”
“Yes”
“Sure”
“Yeah I think it will
hit the 16-24 market”
Do you have any
further comments?
“I enjoyed it but I
think the clip at the start was too long”
I very much agree, however it fit
with the music and showed the front of the college.
“Don’t linger on
shots, but it was a good production”
I am starting to get a sense that
this might be something I need to look at. Thanks.
Conclusion
To conclude I have learnt a lot from this project. I have
learnt to importance of pre-production and target audience research. From
previous experience I know how stressful a project can be without the right
documentation yet in this case it was a pretty straight forward experience I
was more focused on the product as a result. It’s allowed me to build a variety
of skills such as planning and organisation. The project required me to make
specific plans such as what I was going to film and when. This meant that I
could categorise shots together and make sure I got them all in the correct
order and make sure I didn’t miss anything. Another skill I learnt was film
editing. Considering I’d never done it before I believe I did quite well. The
video is well edited and the music fits the scene changes quite well. This is
backed up by most of the feedback I received during the preview of the video.
If I was to do the video again I would do it totally different. Late on in the project I came up with a very good idea for an interesting and somewhat funny idea where a person disappears and reappears around the college. The idea I believe would have solved the ‘lingering shots’ problem outlined by my feedback. It would have also included actual speech meaning that less music would have been required.
In future I might do a similar project like that or if I kept with the style I used this time I would try and get hold of every location like I had wanted to this time. I might try and get dates for use of spaces far in advance, seeing as I was always asking at the start of a week, usually the space was already filled. If I asked several weeks in advance I might be able to get access to locations better and thus reduce the need for lingering shots.
If I was to do the video again I would do it totally different. Late on in the project I came up with a very good idea for an interesting and somewhat funny idea where a person disappears and reappears around the college. The idea I believe would have solved the ‘lingering shots’ problem outlined by my feedback. It would have also included actual speech meaning that less music would have been required.
In future I might do a similar project like that or if I kept with the style I used this time I would try and get hold of every location like I had wanted to this time. I might try and get dates for use of spaces far in advance, seeing as I was always asking at the start of a week, usually the space was already filled. If I asked several weeks in advance I might be able to get access to locations better and thus reduce the need for lingering shots.
