Evaluation

 

Evaluation

This is an evaluation of my regional Identity project that I have been working on since last year. The project itself has multiple units inside it ranging from initial research to post production work. In this evaluation I will talk about all of the smaller units inside of this big project. 

Initial Research

To start the project I decided to read through the brief presented to ourselves in full in order to fully understand the task at hand. While reading the brief I managed to find out who the client was for this task. The client was Sunderland Culture and the task at hand was to create either a documentary, poster or short film to showcase regional identity. This would help me out as it would allow me to tailor make my product to suit the company further. 

I researched into the company to find out more information about the client, for example finding out where they operate, what they do etc. I found out their mottos and how the become who they are. I then researched into the possible audience for the product I was making. Looking at demographics and psychographics I found an age range of people who could possible view my end product, thus helping me with decision making on what to include in the product to better suit it to their needs. I carried out a survey to find out what people in this demographic would want to see from my product about Sunderland identity, creating the form on google forms helped me to easily and effortlessly create a good looking form and collect the feedback instantly this boosting productivity and allowing me to look at results making decisions faster on what to base it on. 

After looking at the answers it was time to make a decision. I studied the answers and researched the local areas history as this is a large part of peoples identity in the north east. I came up with the idea of making a footballing documentary as this would cater for majority of the people in the area with Sunderland being a major footballing city, this also worked alongside my results from my survey I had previously carried out as football was the convincing winner of that. 

After setting my sights on a footballing documentary I then spent some time watching some already existing ones. Watching the likes of Sunderland Til I Die and Never Lose Faith I got a great insight on what makes one of these documentaries successful. I looked at loads of different aspects of these videos, paying attention to shots types, angles, lighting, locations etc all gave me a greater understanding on what I had to do to make it a success.

So after looking at products I started to think of ideas on how I was going to present my documentary. I utilised Google Slides to help me write my ideas down in such a way that I could easily present it to people to gather further thoughts and feedback. I used high contrast text and links to showcase what I had looked at to come up with my ideas and where my inspirations came from. I presented my idea to peers who gave positive feedback on things I could maybe include in my documentary. 

Pre Production

Before I started filming for my documentary I had to do pre production work to make sure that my ideas made sense and that I was going to be safe while out recording video. I had to fill in risk assessment forms for each of the location that I would be shooting at in order to highlight any sort of risks that I could be exposed to whilst there. Filling these forms out also made me aware of how to combat any hazards whilst out and helped my make any contingency plans if anything was to go wrong. I also created a storyboard of how some sequences could look if I chose to use that edit and make any changes that I wanted. I also created an equipment list to help keep track on what sort of equipment I would be using and acted as a sort of checklist whilst out on shoots.

In the background of all this I put together a script of things that I wanted to cover in my documentary. I researched the area and the things that I wanted to include, utilising a mix of books, dvds and the internet helped me to gather a broad range of information to help my documentary progress. I Wrote my script but when reading through it I discovered that it would be a nightmare to remember or read outside when recording, therefore I decided to make some smaller notes on different topic sheets with key information so it would be easier to read whilst on camera recording. Therefore solving any problem with the script, it was also around this time I refined my script right back to only include key information to present on camera. 

Production

After completing all the paperwork I decided to separate my recording into different categories. I looked at things that I wanted to include and ordered them in place of importance. I created 3 channels: Talking to camera,misc and voice overs to help me to catagorise what footage I needed and which was the most important. 

I decided to start with a solid base and record all my talking to camera pieces first. I scheduled an early morning shoot down Roker to gather some B roll clips for an introductory sequence to start my documentary. Gathering a variety of different shots helped me have a variety of clips to choose from when making my sequence. I shot all these clips at 50fps so if I wanted to they could be slowed down and still look good on a 25 fps timeline inside Premiere Pro. I mainly used my sigma 18-35mm 1.8 art lens to capture these clips and it's also the main lens I used to record my talking to camera pieces. 

After recording some B roll I then travelled to the stadium to shoot my talking to camera clips for the documentary. For this to be effective I had to use a variety of shot types and angles to combat the ever-changing sun position. This also was an issue trying to use the same settings in similar places, moving only a couple of feet in either direction would change the lighting in the frame drastically as the sun was still rising.  Then there was the issue with unwanted lens flares during the shoot. To combat this issues I had to choose very carefully where to position the camera in relation to where the the sun would rise. 

After all of this was done I then had to record some voice over narration for the second half of my documentary to go over some match footage. I used the same microphone I had used previously for my speaking to camera shooting, with similar settings but this time I was speaking indoors so had a finer control over the sounds I wanted. Simply recording a video of me narrating the piece for the voice over was easy enough then it was a case of just importing into Premiere Pro, unlinking the clips and using the audio. 

In-between all of this I recorded footage from the matches that I  attended during the season, so I had the option of using that as well as any footage I decided to find online. I filled out risk assessments for all locations I decided to film at to outline any possible risks and how I could effectively combat them.

Post Production

I started off by creating a sequence on Premiere Pro to test my B roll footage. I came up with a sequence I liked and what I though would fit well with my style. I then showed a few peers to gather some verbal feedback and made some subtle changes to improve my inital draft.

I then created another sequence and edited my speaking to camera footage. I included photos of things I spoke about to help the viewer visualise what I was speaking about. 

A 3rd sequence was created to compile everything into but before I copied them into this timeline I colour coded them with Premiere Pro's label tool so I knew where each clip had came from by just looking at the timeline. I complied the clips in the order that I wanted them to be in and the order that makes the most logical sense. I then added a transition or two in order to fill the gaps between clips and also make the video flow a lot smoother. From there I went on to edit the sound, making sure it wasn't too loud or too quiet, adding music in helped the music to fill the background of a clip or sequence that had no sound in to begin with eg the opening sequence. 

once I had was happy with what I had created I then uploaded it to YouTube and created a survey with google forms to gather feedback on my video so far. I received positive feedback with constructive points on how I could improve my documentary, one of these being to include and interview. 

Taking this on board I scheduled an interview with a peer who is interested on the topic of football in the local area. I got him to fill out the necessary paperwork so I was legally covered and set about recording the interview. I set up in the college's studio with a solid black background and strong lighting for the best possible quality. I had done some prior research into interviews and found the most commonly used shot type followed the mid shot with the rule of thirds technique, getting the interviewee to seated so that they talk into the large space in the frame. Following my script I had refined I asked the questions I had come up with prior to the interview taking place. 

I went through a few test runs of my footage before I had a product I was happy with, this is due to little things that needed changing throughout my product and also due to feedback I had received both verbal and through the use of forms. 

When editing my ending sequence I showcased my understanding of superimpositions by including them in that sequence. This worked well with my piece as it is giving the viewer information about two things at once, it gives the viewer more information about what is going on at that time or in a short time before or after.  

Ive also included images that appear on screen at certain intervals to help the viewer understand and to help visualise what is being said if they were to be unsure of anything. 

Overall, I believe this project went rather well, I was able to create a solid product that included all the necessary information that was required to make it a success. It also helped that Sunderland went on to win the final to give the documentary a happy and conclusive end. Of course there is things I would change next time, weather that be slightly changing some of the shot types I used, the composition of shots or include some things I had missed in this version. 

I believe that my end product successfully matched what the brief asked of me. I managed to create a documentary that showcased regional identity within the area with the main topic being Sunderland AFC which is arguably the biggest topic in Sunderland itself. I was able to effectively capture the audiences attention with the region specific theme along with my editing style of the production. I was allowed to have a lot of creative freedom due to the Expository Mode of documentary making, allowing me to use external footage, my own footage, B Roll footage and interviews. This all allowing me to create a more solid, more effective end product. The use of B Roll footage in this documentary allowed me to include shots that wouldn't usually be put in the project if I was not following this theme type. I used B Roll to capture the viewers attention to engage them in my production without having to constantly talk to the camera allowing me to utilise a voice over narration. 

I have successfully followed my target audiences needs by supplying all the required information about the chosen topic to ensure that they area able to understand what is going on and what is being spoken about. I have explored the subject area in great detail, researching in books, dvds and the internet to gather a broad range of knowledge in my chosen topic, which ultimately helped to create a more informative product and pass more knowledge over to the viewer.