Evaluation

I believe that I have done very well with this unit. I already knew what idea and what
type of production I wanted to create even before the unit had started. The Idea was
about the life of my brother Ben Harman. Ben was born a normal child but suffered a
brain injury shortly after birth. This was because of neglect from hospital staff. I created
the production for two main reasons. The first reason was to understand more about
what my family went through as I was always kept out of the loop and the second was
to make people more aware of disability and help people understand how to deal with
it better.

I created surveys on SurveyMonkey. I asked a range of people what production they

would want to see. I thought of two other productions which were a music video and a
short film. I asked which productions they would want to see and about 90% wanted
to see the documentary on my brother. There were a lot of comments saying, “they
liked the personal nature of the documentary and that I could create something
special.” This was amazing to hear as that was one of my main aims of the production

I also created Focus Groups throughout the project. I wanted to get further knowledge
about what people would like to see in my production. I Interviewed some of my friends
and family so I could get a wide range of responses. This would allow me to get more
variety. I asked my interviewees what they liked about my production and what style
of documentary they would like to see. These were really helpful as I got a lot of
confidence for my production and I had more of an idea about how I would tell the
story.
I believe that I have successfully fulfilled the brief. I used the checklist for the brief to
help me. I went through the checklist starting from the top and I managed to complete
everything in the right format, which was in a word document. I put a lot of detail into
my brief so I could explain thoroughly what competition in was entering, my production
schedule looking clear and informative and project idea outlined clearly.

I believe I followed the guidelines of my competition well. I entered into the short
Factual Programme competition. It took me a while to find a competition within the
UK Film Festival but I did find one which met the criteria. The first guideline I had to
comply too was that the Documentary had to be under 40 minuets. This wasn’t going
to be a problem as I was aiming my production to be around 15 Minutes long. My
college rules stated it couldn’t be longer than 20 minuets so that had worked itself
out.

I then looked at the deadline for my competition which was July 27th. I knew instantly
this would give me enough time to film, edit and enhance my production within plenty
of time. My college production for getting my whole project done was Friday the 14 th
of May. This again worked itself out as the competition deadline was a long while
after the college deadline so I didn’t have too much to worry about.

I finally looked at the submission fee for the short documentary deadline which was
£40 to enter. I knew I would have to pay a little fee when entering into a huge
competition for such an esteemed festival. I looked at other submission fees for
different competitions and some you had to pay over £100 for. Money isn’t a huge
issue for me but I didn’t want to go to extravagant.

Overall, I believe I chose an appropriate competition within the festival. The

deadlines and fees were very lenient for me as I completed my production on the
14th of May. If my competition deadline was a lot closer to the college deadline I
could’ve been stressing and my production may not have looked as clean and
professional as it did. I also considered the different fees for the different
competitions. If I entered into one that had a low submission fee then that
competition may not seem as popular or interesting. However, if I entered into a
really expensive competition there would be a lot of people entering and I would
have a lot of productions to compete with. I believe I was smart with my choices.
I believe that I followed the conventions of my genre. I knew I wanted to create a
documentary about my brother long before the FMP started but I hadn’t actually
decided what style of documentary I wanted to portray. My first bit of research was
about researching what the different styles of documentaries meant. I looked at a
college video made by some students and I found it really helpful. I analysed each
style and talked about the definition of each style, how the video explained what the
style meant and how I could use that particular style in my production. I analysed all
5 styles thoroughly so I had a good understanding of how to present my
documentary. After this I decided to analyse professional productions so I had
examples of how the styles were portrayed. I looked at productions like Our planet
and Supersize me. This was very helpful research as I finally had two styles in mind.

I wanted to create either an expository style or a performative style documentary. An

expository style would fit well with my production Idea. I did research the main
conventions of an expository style which were narration, B-roll and a strong idea. I
used these conventions to a certain extent. I didn’t want to have a traditional
narration in my production because I felt it would be too distracting and would sound
very monotone. I wanted to have my interviewees constantly talking in the interview
throughout the production. I used text on my production to sum up what my
interviewees were saying so I could save time and my production didn’t last as long.
I was always going to use B-roll in my production as it’s a vital part of any production.
I wanted a mix of old pictures, day in the life footage and archive footage as well. I
had a very strong idea in place as the story is so hard hitting unconventional for a
documentary. I did also consider using a performative style as well. A performative
mainly consists of the presenter on screen guiding the audience throughout. This
style could fit in my production as I could follow Ben around looking at his daily life
and guiding the audience telling them about ben to their face.
Comparing this too my production I would say there are similar aspects, but I have
mentioned I put my own a little twist on mine. Obviously, I would never be able to
compete with a production of this magnitude, but I wanted to add as many
conventions of an expository style as possible. I did not have a traditional
narration/voiceover as I didn’t want one, but I did have my interviewees constantly
talking throughout. I did choose appropriate B-roll for my production which included
old pictures of Ben, recent footage of my Mum looking through a photo album and
Archive footage of London as well. B-roll is a massive factor in an expository style
documentary and I feel that my production followed this and that I did very well.

I couldn’t decide which style to use so I sent out a quick survey to ask my audience
what they would prefer to see. I did my survey on SurveyMonkey and made it quick
so people would be there for ages answering loads of questions. I put the options in
1 question and gave people a simple answer choice. I put examples of the styles so
my audience weren’t confused as not everyone is an expert at that sort of thing. My
audience clearly decided that they wanted to see an expository style which helped
me decide to use that style. I’m glad I got my audience involved as It helped me
understand what style of production would look aesthetically pleasing.
I believe I did do my topic justice. My topic was very personal too me as it’s about a
close family member. My topic was very sensitive on the whole as it is a very sad
story about my brother’s brain damage. This was always going to be my topic even
before FMP started and I wanted to portray it in the way I felt was best. I was
debating whether to create a factual programme short film or music video. The great
thing about my topic is that there is a certain genre that fits with it which is sad. I had
a reconstruction video idea which would follow the lives of my parents. This idea
could’ve fit with a music video or a short film. I could’ve had a sad song playing for a
music video or a depressing short film. I did go back and forth but I decided a factual
programme was the best way to go. I would be able to explain the context and really
tell the story properly with an emotional connection.

Once I figured out that I wanted to create a factual programme I researched into a lot
about disability and about Ben’s condition. My production was always going to have
a positive theme involved so I decided to research what other disabled people felt
were the positives in their lives. Obviously, I knew what positives there were about
Ben’s life but It was important to know how they felt they fitted into society. This was
important so I could explain how Ben fitted into society with his condition.
I then looked at an overview of brain damage so I could learn more about Ben’s
condition. I did find it difficult to find research on Neonatal hypoglycaemic brain
injuries as the condition is so rare. I did find a video talking about how low the
chances of a new-born baby suffering it were. I did find that most videos were
diabetic related. I did learn a lot reading articles about my brother on the internet and
they gave a little overview. I also asked my parents what the scientific name of his
condition was known as.

I did feel that my topic research went well as I did explore the positives of disability in
society and how people can be more accepting and I also learned a little about Ben’s
condition so I could explain to my audience what his exact problem was and how it
was caused in the first place.

I had 4 different interviewees and they all massively enhanced the story. Ben’s story
is so rare and difficult to explain for many reasons so there was no one better to
interview than his parents and the carers. My story was very personal to so many
people and I wanted to show exactly how hard it was for those close to Ben. My topic
wasn’t about a political debate or a topic that had so many different views, it was
about a sad personal story.

My Mum was my main Interviewee as she was able to relive Ben’s birth the first days
after his brain damage and watching him grow up. The story would not have worked
without her input as there would be so much context missing and there would be no
emotion to the story. If there was no emotion my audience would fail to grasp if the
story was even that bad. I also had my dad interviewed and I specifically asked him
to be more factual with his explanations. I asked him to do this so that he and my
Mum wouldn’t say the exact same thing for each question. My dad gave a very
detailed and rationale response especially when talking about the court case which
was important for my audience to understand the context of Ben’s life

I also Interviewed Ben’s carers. My Mum and Dad looked after Ben until he was
about 11 and then decided to get a group of carers in to help. This was also very
helpful for enhancing the story as my audience could understand how difficult it is
looking after a disabled child but how wonderful it is changing an unfortunate life into
a happy and fun life.

I believe that all my interviewees enhanced my story. They all have an emotional
connection to Ben as they have been with him through thick and thin. They’re not
people who have only spent a couple of days with him and don’t really know him,
they have spent the majority of his life with him and I believe that is really important.

I faced a few problems throughout the unit but luckily nothing Major went wrong. I
had a minor problem with the research section. I knew I needed to look into Ben’s
condition as thoroughly as possible so I could explain to my audience a little bit of
the context, so they were not confused watching my production. Unfortunately, Ben’s
condition is very rare, and his condition relates a lot to diabetic people. The scientific
name for Ben’s condition is a neonatal hypoglycaemic brain Injury. Hypoglycaemia is
often related to people who have diabetic issues so when I tried researching into
nondiabetic related cases there was not much to find. I did find a statistical video
which related to Ben’s condition, but it was not substantial enough in my opinion. I
did end up finding out more about his condition through talking to my parents, but I
would’ve rather had more to show in my topic research section.

When it came to filming, I did not really have too many problems, but I had a minor
issue with timings. My carers interviews went really well, and I was really pleased
with how they turned out. My parents’ interviews turned out well as well, but I was
very restricted on timings. My parents are very busy people, and I knew I had only a
couple of hours to get both interviews done within one day. I was not rushed off my
feet with it all, but I reckon if I had more time, they could have looked and sounded a
lot cleaner. I also had a minor problem filming my Mum’s interview as it took her
multiple attempts to get what she was talking about right. I did cut her some slack as
I understood she had spent the last 13 years trying to forget the whole story. She did
stutter a few times, but these were understandable, and she was clear and
informative with what she was saying.

I do wish I had chosen another location for my interviews. I have already mentioned
that I was on limited time but in a perfect world another location would have looked
aesthetically pleasing. All of my interview were shot in my living room which I thought
looked nice, but I could have chosen to do the carers interviews in the garden or
even in the summerhouse if I had more time. My story did still work, and it was not a
major issue, but I do think another location such as the kitchen or garden would have
added a bit more variety to the interviews.

I also would’ve like to have an interview with an expert such as a doctor. This
would’ve been helpful explaining the scientific nature of Ben’s Injury. My Mum gave
me a basic overview of what happened but I do not know anything scientific about it
so a doctor would have been very helpful to indicate my audience more about Ben’s
condition. If I had done this, I would’ve probably have had a voiceover and it would
last for about 2 minutes of the documentary. The documentary does still work without
it but in a perfect world context would have been explained better with it.

When It came to editing, I had minor problem with camera quality. On Beata’s
interview the first clip sounded very grainy and there was a slight noise in the
background. It was strange that that was only on the first clip, but it wasn’t something
I could just fix. The audio was still loud and clear but if I had more time to re shoot, I
would have done that interview on a different camera as that was the problem.

When I finished my production, I sent it too a few family members. I most importantly
sent my production to my parents to watch it. I got some really positive feedback
from my Mum and she even got a bit emotional watching it. She said “I really think
you have pinpointed everything about Ben in the right order and explained the
factual side really well. I got another response from a different family member saying
My mum looked “really professional”. She said the camerawork was very good and
that my Mum looked “stylish”. My Mum said she hated the way she looked in the
interview and she was embarrassed of herself, but that positive feedback did change
her mind.

I really believe I have made huge process throughout my time at college, not just on
this unit. At the start of the course, I was a complete novice to equipment and editing
software’s and I really did not feel confident with anything. I feel that my ability to
adapt has come in handy with learning different traits of a media course. Im really
happy with how my FMP has gone and I think a massive factor of that was my topic
and that I was motivated to complete it. I did not want to choose a topic I did not care
about as I would not put much effort into It. I believe I was more motivated than ever
to do well on my FMP as I really wanted to leave college with my head held high
knowing I had put everything into it. I made sure to discipline myself to stick with
schedules and complete work with quality and efficiency. I knew that if I slacked off, I
would procrastinate more and more and not do the work properly. In previous units I
was not motivated enough to do the work and I would not complete the research or
planning properly. Ive always wanted to push myself and I knew choosing a topic I
had a personal connection with would help that.

One aspect I believe I have particularly improved in is editing. I was actually scared
to edit previous productions as I did not believe in my own ability. Once I learned the
ropes more, I got more confident, and I believe I edited my FMP well. I knew how I
waned to edit my production as I had music planned and I structured my production
in Chronological order. I also did not allow the pressure to get too me. I have allowed
pressure to get to me in previous units, but I knew if I kept calm and put my head
down, I would complete it with little stress. I made sure I did nothing stupid like
corrupting my footage or leaving my project unsaved.

I believe my FMP will give me motivation to complete similar work like this in the
future. I understand im not the most proactive person, but I do feel like I stick with
something and do not give up easily which is an important life skill. I do not plan to
go to university, but I do have some important jobs I want to get involved in and skills
with different editing software’s and motivation skills will really come in handy.

I could sit here and reflect on every minor thing I would have changed but if im being
really honest I would not change much. I was really happy with my choice of
narrative and how I displayed the production. I was told throughout that I had a
strong story and that gave me the indication that I should not change anything. If I
had to pinpoint anything I wish I had got more B-roll footage of Ben. Old footage of
Ben was all stored on a non-transferable disk, so I had no way of getting access to it
which was a shame. I did have a lot of pictures that I could work with which was a
positive. I do wish I had more recent footage of Ben as B-roll in my production just to
show my audience what Ben was up to nowadays. Unfortunately, I do not see Ben
much and when he is home, he is always running around which meant it was hard to
capture any still footage. My production still looked accomplished but that would be
one thing I would try to do again if I had the chance.

Other than that, I was really happy with how the FMP turned out and I honestly
cannot think of anything major that I would change which im very proud of myself for.