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
do?
Why have you chosen this target
audience?
What two productions have you
decided to make? How do they
allow you to improve your skills?
We have been asked to come up with six ideas for
either a music video, stop motion or short film (3 for 2).
We were next asked to send out a survey to get
feedback on our ideas and to narrow it down to one
idea for a music video and a short film. After this we
came up with our final detailed ideas. Then we
started working on our proposal, this includes
Evaluation, Project concept and Rationale.
I chose the target audience of 25 to 40 as I believe I
will excel at creating work for an older audience as I
think I have more in common with older audiences
rather than younger.
I've decided to make a short film and a music video. I
decided to make these two because I have previous
experience in the two and I believe I can carry them
out at a high standard. My initial ideas for my short film
is a story about a character as he wakes up after a
night out. He will go about his normal life and getting
ready for the day. He will then leave his house to
realise he can't hear anyone. My second idea is
about a young man who wakes up confused in the
middle of a town centre, however he cannot hear or
remember what happened. My final idea for short
films is a story about a deaf man in a public area. He
goes about his day however in the background the
audience can see loads of people fleeing from the
scene. For my music video I decided my first idea
would focus on addiction and the effects of it on your
perception, this would be to the song insomnia by
Faithless. The second idea was a music video to the
song Loaded, and would be about a group of boys
who have just finished school and will go out on their
first night out as adults. My final idea for music videos
was a video to the song Mr Sandman, this song is a
classic and the story would revolve around a man

How did the focus groups help
you to select your idea?
Are you on track for the week?
Week 2
What did you find out about your
target audience through your
secondary research?
How will this help you in adapting
your idea to meet the chosen
audience?
How useful was interviewing
people from your chosen target
audience?
who lives the same day over and over without
realising it.
The focus groups helped in producing a production as
it gave me a good understanding of what the target
audience wants to see. I was told that out of my 3
short film ideas my first one about a young man who
wakes up not knowing where he is or what has
happened. This was the most favoured idea as it leans
into the psychological thriller vibe which is quite
common in the 25 to 40 target audience age range.
Yes I am mostly on track for this week, I have
completed the majority of the hard work with
generating ideas however I could spend a little more
time ironing out the whole story.
This week was spent researching target audiences
Using secondary research to better understand my
target was very helpful as I went on websites like
Satista and FollowingData to understand what 25 to
40 year olds do and like. To start off I looked into jobs.
It turned out that a lot 25 to 40 year olds worked in
offices, schools and retail. Using this knowledge I
delved deeper into understanding these people, I
learned that many people from this age range are
parents, like tv (Factual programs, soaps and
crime/thrillers), they also like to use Facebook, do
shopping, pay bills and like drinking Coffee/Tea,
wine/beer.
This newly found knowledge using secondary research
has helped me adapt and change my final ideas to
better fit the target audience because it has shown
me that instead of having a more horror themed short
film i should aim it to be more of a thriller as that
seems to appeal to them more. The secondary
research has also helped me change my music video
idea as i will go for more of an awareness theme to
help make more people understand addiction as my
target audience seems to like the idea of having a
better understanding of things from documentaries.
Interviewing people in my target audience helped in
my target audience research as it showed my exactly

Was it difficult to get a large
response to your survey? How
could you improve the amount of
respondents for your FMP?
What have you found to be the
key things that you should be
targeting your audience with?
What makes this audience
different to the one you never
chose?
Are you on track for the week?
What work needs to be
completed in your own time?
Week 3
What genres have you chosen
and why?
What have you learnt from your
secondary research this week?
How will this influence what you
include in your productions?
what they would like to see from each of my
productions.
It was very hard trying to get 50 responses to my
survey as i personally don't know 50 25 to 40 year olds,
however using social medias like Facebook, snapchat
and Instagram i got a reasonable amount of
responses. I used social media as I discovered from
my secondary research that a lot of 25 to 40 year olds
use Facebook and Instagram.
Over this week I have learnt that I need to be
targeting certain things to get my target audience
interested in what I’m creating. These are things like
raising awareness for problems in the real world,
including a thriller/crime vibe, maybe using children in
some way to get the audience to relate to the main
character and using everyday things that the target
audience does to help them relate further. This can
be as easy as including alcohol or using a workplace
they would recognise.
yes I’m on track for this week with everything except
my interviews
Finish interviews over weekend.
This week was spent researching codes and
conventions
I have chosen for my short film to go along with the
psychological thriller genre as I believe that it fits the
target audience best with the story I am creating. I
believe this because I have researched into it using
secondary and primary research so I know this is a
popular genre with 25 to 40 year olds. For my music
video i have decided to go with the song ‘Insomnia’
by faithless. This song is an old school dance song
from the 90s and is very popular with the age range.
For the actual video i want to tap into hat
psychological thriller genre as I believe it will fit my
production very well as my narrative is all about
perception with addiction.
My secondary research this week has taught me
some of the codes and conventions for a
psychological thriller. To start I watched clips from
Memento and Silence of the lambs. I used these two
movies in particular as they use that psychological
thriller genre to their advantage to create tension in
all areas. From this will use the techniques they have
taught me like close up shots to put us in the
protagonist’s head, music to increase tension, and
interesting shots like dolly zoom shots mixed with
toggled opacity.
From this I will be making sure to include these
techniques and themes into both of my production to

What are the key conventions for
your chosen genres? What MUST
you include for it to be that
genre?
Are you on track for the week?
Week 4
What have you learnt from you
primary research this week?
What developments do you need
to make to your production for it
to meet these codes and
conventions requirements?
How processing the results of your
research did helps you to
understand it thoroughly?
Are you on track for the week?
Week 5
What did you learn from your
planning?
How will this be useful as your
production process continues?
get the highest possible grade I can achieve. These
techniques are shot types like dutch angles, dolly
zooms, close ups, wide angle establishing shots
,dramatic use of lighting and editing techniques like
speed/duration, opacity and colour.
For the psychological thriller genre i need to use close
up shots to put us in the head of the protagonist, mind
bending shots like dolly zoom shots and lighting
effects to show of what state of mind the character is
in at the moment.
yes i have completed all my work
This week was spent researching codes and
conventions
Using survey monkey to get responses for my codes
and conventions helped me learn what exactly my
audience has come to expect from my chosen
genre. These are things like high intense moments that
keep the people watching on their toes, good music
to make it even tenser, good sense of lighting to
make a visually pleasing short film/music video and
good amount of effects to keep the visuals
interesting.
I am going to have to do more research into certain
types of lighting and certain effects that make my
production more pleasurable to watch. I am going to
do this by watching youtube videos on how i can
make effects to show how the characters feeling. I
am also going to have to research into some certain
filming techniques so I can combine the effects with
the filming techniques to make a visually stimulating
production. Lastly i'm going to listen to a number of
movie themes and soundtracks to find a good track
that fits my short film.
Processing my results and looking into how I will create
them myself helped a lot as I know have a better
understanding of how my production will look when it
is finished. It has also deepened my knowledge on my
target audience even further which is always helpful.
Yes i have completed all work i have been asked to
do.
This week was spent planning your productions
From planning this week I learned a number of things.
To start, I discovered that I need to take more time to
finish planning thoroughly so I can have a more
professional filming session. I also learned that the
more storyboards you make the easier the filming is.
I can use this knowledge when it comes to making my
short film and make sure I create a storyboard for

What issues did you encounter
whilst planning and how did you
overcome them?
How much work did you
complete outside of the lessons?
Are you ready to film next week
and if not, what do you need to
complete to be ready?
Are your storyboards up to
standard?
Week 6
How did you find the filming
process?
Did you encounter any problems
during filming? How did you
overcome them?
After reviewing footage, what do
you feel you need to reshoot?
What new techniques from your
previous units have you tried to
use?
Are the locations you filmed at
suitable to your production?
Are you keeping up with your
production schedule?
What footage still needs
capturing?
Week 7
every shot so I have a really good understanding of
what I am to create.
When planning I started my script straight away which
I was told was wrong however i finished it as quick as I
could so I could finish the rest of my work, thankfully it
came together and I finished all the work in time.
Another problem I had was finding actors. This was a
problem because the majority of my friends are
unhelpful and camera shy, however using my initiative
and knowing I didn't have a lot of time I made sure to
compensate my actors so they would help.
I didn't complete any work outside of college
however I made sure I was coming an hour early
each day to complete extra work.
I am ready to film the only thing I have left to do it
add all the work into a production booklet.
My storyboards are to highest artistic standard I can
do myself. I labelled them so i know what i am exactly
to film.
This week was spent filming
I found the filming process for my music video very
enjoyable as It was all planned out and rather easy.
The only problem I encountered during filming was a
slight location cancellation. Thankfully it wasn't an
entire cancellation as i could use the two hallways
and elevator I mainly needed, however I still needed
to use another room for the bedroom. Luckily my
actor pulled through and let me use his bedroom and
saved the project. This has taught me that I need
more back up locations.
The only footage I need to reshoot is the entry
sequence as I believe it is slightly shaky.
I have used dolly zoom shots, dutch angles following
shots, over the shoulder shots and 360 shots however
some of these might not be featured in the final
production.
I believe the locations I shot at are suitable for my
production as they fit nicely into the target audience
as the protagonist is at his own flat and goes to the
pub which fits nicely into the target audience
research I carried out earlier.
I've been mostly true to my production schedule so far
however I missed filming on Friday.
My whole short film and the ending to my music
video.
This week was spent filming
How did you find the filming
process?
Did you encounter any problems
during filming? How did you
overcome them?
After reviewing footage, are you
happy with what you have
captured?
Have the techniques you planned
on using turned out well?
Week 8
How are you finding the editing
process this week?
Have you encountered any
problems whilst editing? How did
you overcome them?
Are there any new techniques
you are trying to use during this
editing process?
This week I filmed the last bit of my music video and
my short film. The process went well as I believed I
have filmed something I am proud off.
Not as many problems happened this week as
happened last week and i ran overall a lot smoother.
The only slight problem I had was an inconsistency in
what trouser my main actor is wearing, In one scene
he has black jeans however in the next he has blue.
This however is quite a minor problem as it is quite
dark and hardly noticeable.
Im happy with the majority of the footage I captured
this week and I feel my music videos ending was
filmed best out of all my work however there are a
few shots which could do with a bit re-shooting. These
are scenes in my short film inside the elevator room.
Most of the techniques i researched have worked out
well. Especially the lighting effects and dolly zoom
shots.
This week was spent editing
As my specialism, I found the editing process most
enjoyable out of the whole video making process as i
felt it was the best place I could express what I was
trying to create. Whilst editing I made sure to cut to
beat so the video was pleasurable to both your eyes
and ears. I also made sure to make use of the opacity
effect and speed durations to create effects that
make the audience realize how the protagonist is
feeling.
The only problem I encountered whilst editing was
when lost my work so far on the first day however I
quickly recovered by staying in an extra hour to get
back to where I was.
The only new technique I tried was using opacity and
speed to make an effect that looks like part of the
screen is lagging behind. This effect worked out very

Are you on track with all of your
work?
Week 9
How did you find the editing
process?
Have you encountered any
problems whilst editing? How did
you overcome them?
Are you happy with the outcome
of your productions? Why?
How did your productions meet
your target audience?
well as i feel it looked very professional and well done.
yes I have edited my entire music video ready to edit
my short film next week.
This week was spent editing
The editing process for my short film was good, I
enjoyed making a psychological thriller as i haven't
made one before. To make it more investing added
some spooky music and dramatic effects. Overall
however the editing for my music video was better as
I feel that looked more professional and well made.
The only problem whilst editing my short film was when
I first sat down to edit it and I found out that three clips
had been corrupted which set me back a bit. To
overcome it, I edited around those scenes and re-shot
them as soon as I could. Thankfully I managed to do it
and finished the editing process pretty well.
I am very happy with my productions as I believe I
fitted them well to the target audience, made them
as professional as I could and stuck mostly to my
original plans with only a few minor hiccups.
I feel my productions fit the target audience well as I
stayed in that psychological thriller genre which is very
popular with 25 to 40 year olds. My music video fits the
target audience as the song choice is straight from
the 90s and the adult themes matches into that age
group as well.
What aspects of your productions
could have been better targeted
to your audience?
How effectively have you
matched the codes and
conventions you researched
earlier in the unit?
How do you feel your work
compares to existing professional
productions?
Are there any areas where your
production falls short? How would
you improve it next time?
What have you learnt about
yourself to take into the Final
Major Project? What do you
personally need to improve on?
Week 10
How did you choose to pitch your
idea?
What made your pitch stand out
and be different? Why would it
convince someone to invest?
How did the pitch go?
The only way I can see me bettering my productions
to fit me target audience is by making all of the actors
the same age as the target audience. I did think
about this in the planning stage however it didn't
seem doable as all of the 25 year olds i know wouldn't
have been up for doing it. Next time I would look for
professional actors that would be able to also act a
bit better and be more suited to the role.
To make sure my productions used all of the codes
and conventions I learned I made sure to have a
place for each of them. For example, I used a number
of filming techniques and tension building techniques
from memento and silence of the lambs. These two
clips helped extremely in my short film as they showed
me to use long takes, spooky and empty wide shots to
show how small the character is and good tense
music ques.
In my personal opinion I believe that my music video is
semi-professional and is carried out to a high standard
of editing. out of the two the short film is weaker in my
opinion however if I had spent more time on it with
better planning I think it could of been a lot more
professional.
The only area I think my music video was lacking in
was at 2:15 where I had to reuse footage as I didn't
have time to reshoot it however other than that my
music video was alright. My short films story however
jumped around a lot and was missing some of the
footage, but I believe I did the best with the footage I
had.
I have learnt that to get work done, I need to force
myself to sit down and do it because when I do, I can
create something I am proud of. Going into the FMP i
need to spend more time planning and I need to stop
being lazy when it comes to research because It
catches up to me when I am filming and editing.
This week you pitched
I didn't choose to pitch however we have to do
public speaking so i created a PowerPoint featuring
the brief, target audience research, codes and
conventions and feedback. Unfortunately the pitch
wasn't the best as i was a bit rushed to finish it.
I believe the strengths of my pitch were my
confidence in front of the class however my pitch
lacked on the PowerPoint slide. I do not believe
somebody would invest however given an hour more
time I think I could have created something a lot
better.
The pitch itself was pretty bad however I made some
people laugh, I know this isn't the main goal when
doing a pitch but then again i didn't choose to do

Is there anything you would do
differently in your next pitch?
public speaking. Unfortunately I had not exported the
music video fully yet so I didn't get to show it in my
pitch despite it being the better production out of the
two.
In my next pitch I am going to spend more time
finishing the actual PowerPoint and spend time
rehearsing it before so I can be sure I reach over 10
minutes.