LO3 - Evaluation

Weekly blog updates are required, as with every unit. Please remember to
take photos/screenshots as you film/edit. You might find it easier if you note
down a record of what you did each day in a diary form.

Please use the following guidance to help you with each week.
THESE MUST BE COMPLETED IN DETAIL. INCLUDE IMAGES AND BE SPECIFIC!

Week 1 This week was spent on idea generation

What have you been asked to This week, I have been asked to come up with 3 ideas
do? for each chosen type of production. I then created a
survey and received feedback on it to help me
determine which of my ideas fitted my chosen
audience of 25 – 40-year olds best. From the
feedback and my own judgment, I had to chose my
final two ideas and develop them to a stage where
the whole story could be grasped. Afterwards I had to
write out information of the project concept, a
rationale and what I will do to evaluate my work.
Why have you chosen this target I chose to create my productions for the age range of
audience? 25 – 40-year olds because I felt that it would give me
a wider range of topics to choose from that would suit
my audience. Furthermore, I believe that it will allow
me to display more techniques and skills that I have
learned to create a feeling, as many of them are
subtle hints used through camera angle, movement
or how a scene is edited. Which the younger age
range would not necessarily pick up on.
What two productions have you I have chosen to do a short film and a music video
decided to make? How do they because I have practiced them in past productions,
allow you to improve your skills? and I believe that I can use what I have learnt to give
a better overall outcome. Furthermore, I believe that
they will allow me to show off my camerawork skills
which could not be shown in stop motion as well as it
is only photos.
Are you on track for the week? Yes
What work needs to be N/A
completed for you to catch up?
Week 2 This week was spent researching target audiences

What did you find out about your From my research I have found that Facebook is the
target audience through your most used social media platform by my target
secondary research? audience. From this I will use Facebook to help
promote my productions as it will most likely been see
by them there, and can use it if I need to conduct
more research as it gives me a higher chance of
getting more responses. Furthermore, I found that the
majority of my target audience are semi-skilled and
unskilled manual works who are in low paid and part
time jobs. This therefore tells me that by uploading my
production to a free site such as YouTube will be
better suited to my target audience as many won't
have subscription services such as Netflix. I also found
many millennials still like to get papers and have
something physical, rather than digitally. Furthermore I
found that 39.35% of 25 – 39 year olds have a college
level degree, and that 34% (highest % of groups) of 25
– 40 year olds are semi-skilled or unskilled manual
workers in low paid jobs. This therefore matches the
high amount of millennials which rent. In addition, I
found that renting costs on average £600 a month,
and raising a child from birth to 18 costs between
£75,000 and £100,000. Other interests and traits that
they have consist of: watching
documentaries/factual programmes, exercising
regularly, drinking wine & beer, shopping online,
eating out.

How will this help you in adapting

your idea to meet the chosen From this it tells me that my target audience don’t
audience? have much money, so therefore might not have
subscription services such as Netflix, so uploading my
production to free services like YouTube will suit them
better. The fact that they don’t have much money
tells me that they would of grown up in a more
working class environment, so therefore for my music
video, filming in an older, cheaper setting will meet
the audience better as it would remind them of their
home as kids and would therefore be more relatable.
Furthermore it tells me that by adding props such as
wine bottle or boxes from online orders in the scene, it
will make it more relatable to the audience, and
would make it look more like their home and those
items would also suggest the target audience that I
am targeting at.
How useful was interviewing
people from your chosen target Interviewing people from my target audience was
audience? very helpful as it enabled me to get them to develop
on their points so that I could understand the
reasoning behind their opinions and point. The focus
group helped me make tweaks to my idea to make it
better suited to them as an audience.

Was it difficult to get a large It was very difficult to get responses for the surveys. I
response to your survey? How believe that the main problem with it was that the
could you improve the amount of average time it took to complete each of the two
surveys was around 45min. I believe that this is the
respondents for your FMP?
reason it deterred many people from answering
because it took two long. Therefore to improve the
amount of responses I get in the future I will change
my survey to be easier to respond to with quick
answer questions so that people will be more willing to
answer, so I can then get a bigger collection to
responses and data.

What have you found to be the The key things that I should be targeting my audience
key things that you should be with is with an emotional connection to the music
targeting your audience with? video because the subject is something that has
happened recently to them, therefore making it a
What makes this audience
sensitive subject, but also allowing a high opportunity
different to the one you never for a relatable connection between the character
chose? and the audience to be created.

For my short film the main thing I need to focus on is

creating a nostalgic feeling for the audience relating
it to films and aspects of their childhood to get to their
childhood fears and allow the production to make
more of an effect on them and to get them to
engage with it more.

Are you on track for the week? Yes

What work needs to be N/A
completed in your own time?
Week 3 This week was spent researching codes and
conventions
What genres have you chosen I have chosen to do my short film as a thriller/horror.
and why? This is because I believe it will be well suited to my
target audience and because it will allow me to easily
create tension and suspense to keep the audience
engaged and interested without the use of dialogue.
For my music video I have chosen to do a drama on
the loss of a loved one. I have chosen this because it
is well suited to my target audience who mostly have
experience the loss of someone close and will be able
to easily relate to it, creating an emotional
connection between them and the production.

What have you learnt from your This week I have been looking at professional
secondary research this week? productions, analysing them and watching videos
detailed analysis of productions. From this I have
found out how different camera angles can reflect
how the character is feeling, as well as their
placement in the shot. Furthermore, I it reinforced my
knowledge on how the mis-en-scene was constructed
to create a certain atmosphere and to tells us about
more than just the characters.

How will this influence what you From looking the professional productions, it allowed
include in your productions? me to see what camera angles, lighting etc… was
used in my chosen genres. Therefore, I have chosen
certain aspects of each production that I intend to
use in mine to improve the outcome of it and so that it
matches the genre successfully. For example, after
looking at ‘Lay Me Down’ by Sam Smith, I could see
that by having positive memories about a lost one, it
connected us better with the characters as we
understand their relationship better, but also makes a
sad time happy. As if we are celebrating their life. So
therefore, I chose to try and include positive memories
in mine to make sure it is not too emotional for my
target audience.

What are the key conventions for For my drama music video, I must include a real-life
your chosen genres that MUST be situation which is relatable to the audience and
included for it to be that genre? contains an emotional situation. Then, for my
thriller/horror short film, it should contain building
suspense and tension with some sort of ‘evil’ aspect
which attempts to cause the viewer to be scared/feel
uneasy.
Are you on track for the week? Yes
What work needs to be N/A
completed in your own time?
Week 4 This week was spent researching codes and
conventions
What have you learnt from your This week I have conducted some practical primary
primary research this week? research to allow me to practice skills that I will need
to use for my production. First I practiced layering
sounds by removing and recreating the audio for a
clip. I chose to use a clip of someone walking through
a forest at night, which reflected the genre of my
production. Therefore making the practice more
suited to my production. From recreating the sound, it
showed me that by layering lots of individual sounds
from the scene on top of each other, that it makes
the overall sounds of the scene more convincing and
fit better with the video. This is because by having
multiple sounds, they blend together and helped
create scene feel more realistic as we weren’t just
hearing what was happening, but also what the
surroundings were.

Secondly, I filmed short video clips in different lighting

with different white balance settings. This allowed me
to see and understand the difference that the use of
white balance, mixed with the type of lighting had on
the final product of the video. After doing this I
brought the footage into premiere pro and practiced
colour correcting by editing presets within premiere
pro and through colour correcting without presets,
and just using the adjustable parameters.

In doing this, it allowed me to understand how I could

use colour correcting to help convey the feeling of
the scene and change the overall look of it to better
fit what I intended, if it wasn’t achieved fully during
filming.
What developments do you need For my productions to meet the codes and
to make to your production for it conventions of their genres, I need to use the correct
to meet these codes and white balance during filming to get the best quality
footage possible out of it, with the correct colour to
conventions requirements?
allow post production colour correction to have the
most effect on the production, and to allow it to work
And successfully and look how I plan to. This is because if I
use the incorrect white balance it will alter the colour
How did processing the results of of the footage and make it harder to correct/change
your research help you to it to what I want it to be in post. For example, in my
understand it thoroughly? short film I need to make sure I alter the white
balance depending on the lighting because some of
it is being filmed during the night, so only artificial light
is being used. Therefore in post-production I will need
the footage to look its best and not miscoloured so I
 can darken and alter the footage to make it look like
the intended genre.
Are you on track for the week? Yes
What work needs to be N/A
completed in your own time?

Week 5 This week was spent planning your productions

What did you learn from your From completing my planning I learnt that by having
planning? days set without anything planned, in fairly regular
intervals, that it has allowed me to make sure I was
keeping up with all the work and gave me time to
complete anything that wasn’t complete. This then
stopped work from stacking up and stopped me from
falling behind the work and my production schedule.

Furthermore I learnt that by having through planning it

has enabled me to know exactly what still needed to
be done and when things should be done by to
ensure the production runs according plan. This was
mainly due to the production schedule that I created
where I outlined each individual task which should
take place on each day to ensure that every task
would be completed in good time to meet the
deadline dates.
How will this be useful as your By continuing to keep my production schedule up to
production process continues? date and detailed, it will allow the rest of the
production process to run as smoothly as it has so far,
and will allow enough time for it all to be completed.
Furthermore it will reduce the risk of problems with
filming, actors etc… And will allow me to have
enough time after filming dates to re-record if there is
problems with actors’ availability etc…
What issues did you encounter While planning I encountered very little problems. The
whilst planning and how did you only issue I had was that my actor for my music video
overcome them? is unavailable until the 6th November, but this
shouldn’t cause much of a problem because I can
start editing my short film while I wait to film the music
video. Also because of my thorough planning, it will
allow me around 2 weeks to edit the music video
after filming which will easily be enough time.
How much work did you Outside of lessons I have completed small sections of
complete outside of the lessons? the planning and have gone over previous work to
make sure it is all completed to a high standard.
Are you ready to film next week Yes – All the planning has been completed and is in
and if not, what do you need to place to allow a smooth running of filming next week
complete to be ready?
Are your storyboards up to Yes
standard?

Week 6 This week was spent filming

How did you find the filming Due to the large amount of planning, which included
process? storyboards, shooting script, and backup equipment,
it allowed me to make sure I was prepared for any
problems that occurred during the production.
Furthermore, I set the filming date quite early to allow
for enough time to re-shoot if needed.
Did you encounter any problems During the filming of the production I found that it was
during filming? How did you hard to keep all members of the crew quiet and
overcome them? concentrated throughout filming. To fix this, when
certain members of the crew were not needed I got
them to go into a separate room to relax until they
were needed again.
After reviewing footage, what do After reviewing the footage I found that the office
you feel you need to reshoot? scene was very jumpy and didn’t work very well.
Therefore I decided to organise to reshoot this section
to that I could fix this problem.
Are the locations you filmed at The locations I filmed at were well suited to the
suitable to your production? production. The kitchen had easily adjustable lighting
to allow the shots to be constructed better.
Furthermore rooms such as the bedroom could be
easily linked with my target audience and their
childhood homes through how it’s less modern look.
Finally, it had an office in it with allowed for scenes to
be filmed on the same location even though in the
production they are separate.
Are you keeping up with your Yes
production schedule?
What footage still needs The office scene - reshoot has been organised
capturing?

Week 7 This week was spent filming

How did you find the filming The filming process for my Music Video went very
process? smoothly and went as planned. This was due to large
amount of planning. Furthermore I believe it went very
smoothly because there were less crew members on
set than in my short film. This allowed me to focus
more on the shots and less on the actors.
Did you encounter any problems During filming I found that we had limited light
during filming? How did you because of my actor was only available in the
overcome them? afternoons, and because of the time of year it gets
dark around 4pm. Therefore to counteract this I fitted
my camera with a lower aperture lens and had
organised a backup day to film if it got too dark to
film.
Are the locations you filmed at The locations I used to film my Music video at work
suitable to your production? extremely well, with the ‘grandparents’ house in the
video being owned by people who are grandparents
themselves, which meant the layout of their house
with pictures of their grandchildren and the style of
their rooms were perfectly suited to its use in the music
video.
After reviewing footage, are you After reviewing the footage from both days of filming I
happy with what you have am happy with how they look, and a reshoot will not
captured? be needed.
Have the techniques you planned The techniques I planned on using, such as dolly shots
on using turned out well? turned out very successfully. This was due to the
equipment I had which consisted of a gimbal which
helped me to keep the dolly shots very smooth.

Week 8 This week was spent editing

How did you finding the editing The editing process for my music video went smoothly
process? and I didn’t encounter any problems. Lip syncing the
vocal recording with the video was fairly easy
because during filming the actor sang to the
recording of the song rather than the original, which
therefore allowed it to be easily matched in post.
Have you encountered any During editing now major problems were
problems whilst editing? How did encountered, although I did find that the clips
you overcome them? appeared to be very dark, gloomy and grey which
made them feel sad and depressing. To fix this I took
my time when colour correcting to refine it and try and
change the mood of the shot so it felt more uplifting
and less sad.
Are you happy with the outcome I am extremely happy with the outcome of my music
of your production? Why? video. This is because I feel that it successfully causes
empathy with the audience but shows positive
memories which keep it from being really sad, and
more a memory of the good things of the
grandmother’s life. Furthermore I feel that it was shot
successfully and smoothly, which allows the video to
flow. Also, I believe that the colour of the production
as a whole is to a professional standard, with all shots
correctly exposed, and how the use of colour in some
shots is successful in conveying feelings to the
audience.

BEFORE COLOUR CORRECTING:

AFTER COLOUR CORRECTING:

How did your productions meet I believe that my production successfully met my
your target audience? target audience through the use of location which
would help remind the audience of their grandparents
house from when they were young, adding an
emotional and nostalgic connection between them
and the production.
What aspects of your productions I think that to better suit the production to my target
could have been better targeted audience, I could of added in more specific items and
to your audience? belongings that they could relate to, which would
make it even more relatable.
How do you feel your work I feel that my production stands up well compared to
compares to existing professional professional productions through its professional look
productions? from the smooth and well flowing visuals. Furthermore I
believe the quality of the cover recording is also up to
a professional standard, from the quality of audio from
being recorded in a studio, to the vocals from the
singer. Although I don’t believe it is as good as
common professionally done videos, I believe that it
isn’t far off and is very successfully from the equipment
and resources to me.
Are there any areas where your In my opinion I don’t think there are any point where it
production falls short? How would falls in particular. This is because it has turned out as
you improve it next time? well as, if not better than I planned, and is successful in
meeting the target audience.
Are you on track with all of your Yes
work?
What work needs to be N/A
completed outside of lessons?

Week 9 This week was spent editing

How did you finding the editing The editing of my short film has gone well, turning out
process? very close to what I had imagined at the planning
stages.
Have you encountered any When editing I found that some of the shots at the
problems whilst editing? How did start in the first scene where the character is getting
you overcome them? ready, that they are too long and slow. Therefore to fix
this I added in some music and cut between the shots
to the beat of the song to help it flow and to keep
movement throughout to keep the shots interesting
and not stale.
Are you happy with the outcome I am happy with the outcome of my production,
of your productions? Why? although I believe that If I had a chance to go back
and shoot it all again that I could improve it so that it
 flowed better overall, and the positing of the
characters in some of the scenes would be slightly
better.
How did your productions meet I believe that my production successfully met my
your target audience? target audience through how it shows the daily life my
target audience experience of going to work,
therefore making it relatable for them and easier for
them to understand what is happening.
What aspects of your productions I believe that if my main character was older and
could have been better targeted closer to the age of my target audience that it would
to your audience? make it more easily relatable because they audience
more easily see them as a colleague because of their
age.
How effectively have you I feel that I have effectively matched the codes and
matched the codes and conventions of my genre through the changes in
conventions you researched tension, dark/gloomy setting and through the clown
like image of the ‘villain’ which is scary for my target
earlier in the unit?
audience because of the childhood fear of clowns.
How do you feel your work In my opinion, I feel that my production is of a high
compares to existing professional standard but I don’t believe it matches up to
productions? professional production because I feel that it doesn’t
flow as nicely as it should and needs more moments
of tension throughout as I believe it is introduced very
late in the production.
Are there any areas where your I feel that in my production, when the character
production falls short? How would moves between locations it isn’t as smooth as it could
you improve it next time? be as it is slightly jumpy. To improve this next time I
would plan to film more shots between the locations
to connect them better by showing the journey they
took to get there.
What have you learnt about I have learnt that I am very good at preparing myself
yourself to take into the Final for each stage of the productions and in getting each
Major Project? What do you piece of work done on time and to schedule.
Although I believe I personally need to improve on
personally need to improve on?
how I convey my ideas to other crew members so
that they understand better what they are meant to
do.
Are you on track with all of your Yes
work?
What work needs to be N/A
completed outside of lessons?
Week 10 This week you pitched

How did you choose to pitch your I pitched my research and ideas through using a
idea? simplistic PowerPoint to keep it easy to understand
and has que cards to make sure I covered all the
points
What made your pitch stand out In my pitch I kept refereeing back to the main points
and be different? Why would it in the brief and how each related to the target
convince someone to invest? audience to push how my productions fitted what
they asked successfully.
How did the pitch go? I feel like the pitch went really well because I was able
to cover all the points I wanted to within the correct
amount of time and was able to easily answers
questions that were posed to me.
Is there anything you would do In my next pitch I will make sure I practice it more
differently in your next pitch? before as I feel like I tried to cover too much in the
time I had which meant I was talking slight fast to get
through it all