Evaluation of Finished Product

Evaluation of Production Practice and Management Reflection Through this part of the evaluation, I will be looking at the feedback given by the audience and clients as well as myself to highlight the positives of the documentary as well as some of the potential improvements I could make to make it even better. This feedback is split into five sections as followed: Appeal to Audience USP / Place in the market Conventions used Use of Technology Improvements

APPEAL TO AUDIENCE Target Audience (Class) My target audience felt I used ‘different ethnicities and genders’ which really appeals to the mass market. They noticed this most significantly the voxpops where I intentionally tried to use a range to ethnicities to try involve all races of people. I felt I had a good variety of people who would really represent the target area of London being very multicultural. Here is an example of the range of people I used.

‘ Different genders and ethnicities … ‘

Also they discussed how the contemporary music would really relate to the younger audience which would have a big appeal for the target market. I used music every time I was travelling between interviews which my audience felt was effective saying ‘good music all the way through’. They felt it was like a soundtrack having a song which suited each interview which would be engaging for young people.

Clients (Teachers) The clients felt the starting sequence of the montage was really effective and significant to my target audience showing how this change in university tuition fees has occurred. They felt possibly it could have been paced better but it was framed to highlight the negativity of the tuition fees, followed up by the presenter giving a positive insight into the topic which was an unusual but effective path to take. The topic is ‘really relevant to young people today’ and ‘a lot of young people could make use of the information’ that I provided. They felt I showed clearly the options that young people have available to them through the structure of the documentary which was really appealing combined with my ‘light hearted and humorous but really informative’ mode of address.

Own Feedback (Me) I feel that my documentary relates to both genders as I have used both males and females consistently. I have also used a range of ethnicities therefore I think my video will appeal to most people. Through my video, I used constant voxpops which were all students within the brief target market of 16-24 year olds which relates back to the brief and would appeal to the target market. The topic is one that all young people can relate to at this time and also the music is mainstream once again to keep the audience engaged as they have surely heard at least one of these songs being played somewhere. Taking all these factors into account I feel my documentary does has huge audience appeal.

USP / PLACE IN MARKET Target Audience (Class) My target audience felt that this was a ‘completely new and different’ approach on the rise of tuition fees. They felt that a lot of documentaries had been produced around this topic but none with the specific angle that I took of exploring the alternative options. They felt this was the key unique selling point, and as a result would have a clear place in the market.

It was however very similar to a lot of the documentaries out there in the aspect that it explored university and but it was the angle that distinguished mine from the others. They felt the start with all the archive footage really helped emphasise the topic of university.

Clients (Teachers) My clients also felt that the unique selling point was the angle that I took on the topic. They said that a lot of the documentaries in this area are very negative portraying young people as lazy ‘sitting around doing nothing’ whereas my video showed me as the presenter almost tackle the dilemma that I faced which they felt was really effective and a new approach which no one has really done before.

‘ Tuition Fees – Portrayed negatively by the media …’

Own feedback (Me) I feel the unique selling point of my documentary is its relevance. This is the first year in which the tuition fees are being raised in university therefore a look through the alternative options will appeal to most people now than ever. The brief target audience of 16-24 year olds are the age group which can mostly relate to the topic of education and jobs, therefore my documentary is really relevant to their interests at the moment. I feel this has a clear space in the market showing an unconventional viewpoint of the negatively portrayed rise in tuition fees.

USE OF TECHNOLOGY Target Audience (Class) My target audience felt that the camera language in my documentary was really effective having all sorts of different angles and shots which was very conventional. In terms of editing they felt that the graphics were used well and told us clearly who each interviewee was with their job title as well as supporting the interviews e.g. having the logo of the charity when introducing the charity worker through the voiceover. They also thought the music was ‘what we listen to’ and ‘one of the biggest things which made it entertaining’.

Every interview was backed by a song which suited the style of the interview which worked effectively. All in all they thought I used technology really well.

Clients (Teachers) My clients thought my camera work and editing was ‘very accomplished’ considering it was all done on iMovie. They felt my topic was quite hard to make dynamic but I did so using varied camera angles and movement wherever I could which can be seen in my final video.

This was a huge strength of mine which really enhanced my final video. Here are some of the ‘unorthodox’ shots that I used.

Own Feedback (Me) I feel I have used a variety of shots using an orthodox approach with the camera experimenting with different angles and movements. For example, I used a time lapse of central London which I filmed myself that looks professional. Through the video, I have used a fast editing approach which I feel gives the documentary a good consistent pace almost like reflecting the pace of a student’s life. I also used relevant cutaways which I found from the internet that are relevant to the topic, which I feel engage the audience further through hearing the information. My music is relevant and engaging as I have used artists that are mainstream and popular with people with the age range of 16-24. I have used artists from London such as Tinie Tempah and Wretch 32 which makes the video even more appealing to people from London which is the target area for my audience. I also used archive footage, voiceovers and graphics which seem to all fit in really smoothly into my documentary. All in all I have tried to make my use of technology the best that it could be.

CONVENTIONS Target Audience (Class) My audience felt I had a lot of conventions within my documentary. I used a presenter who was said to use ‘effective rhetorical questions to engage the audience’. I also had the reconstruction which they felt was another trope of a documentary but did not really work effectively as the other aspects. They felt the use of technology here was good using the phone call audio and the blurred screen with the graphic however it was obvious that the clip was desynchronised from the audio shown by the movement of the actor’s lips whilst the phone call ended. I used relevant archive footage and graphics to really give the video

the feel of a documentary combined with humour which was another successful convention.

‘Reconstruction – Desynchronised?’

‘Rhetorical Questions’

Clients (Teachers) My clients felt that I showed a ‘good understanding of conventions’ using them creatively through the documentary. They thought even little things like having the interviews framed well and brief information to make the video clear and concise worked really effectively and was a successful convention of a documentary film. They also thought that all my interviewees were passionate and informative but ‘more importantly experts in what they were talking about’ which they felt really enhanced the documentary. Also using things like my reconstruction really illustrated my points without me ‘having to talk too much’ which worked really well.

Own Feedback (Me) I personally tried to use as many conventions of a documentary that I could. I did this whilst planning the segments in my documentary. Some I had to include anyway like graphics and archive footage but other bits like comedy segments, I had to find space to include which in the end I felt worked really well. Here is a list of all the main conventions I used: Sign on / Sign off (Presenter, Voiceover, Rhetorical questions) Montage (Archive footage, Music) Vox-pops / Interviews (Expert advice, Anecdotal stories) Graphics (Titles, Logos, Cutaways, Articles) Comedy to highlight point (Popular culture reference, Unusual to camera pieces)

IMPROVEMENTS Target Audience (Class) There were a few minor improvements that the target audience suggested including improving some sound levels and some camera work which was shaking during one interview. They also felt the reconstruction could have been edited to be a lot more effective mainly by being synchronised with the sound. The main improvement that they mentioned which I feel could have really made my documentary better is within the comedy segment of the top tips for a job interview. One of the tips was always dress smart and the actor was meant to be contradicting all these tips.

Therefore he should have really been dressed rough rather than wearing a ralph lauren hoody which could be seen as smart by some people. I think to really get my point across I should have had him dressed really rough which would be a lot more effective and would have added to the humour.

Clients (Teachers) My clients also felt some improvements could have been made. They felt the comedy segment was funny, but the jokes could have been more ‘universal’ as only the people who knew the actors would find the name confusion funny. A suggestion was that I use ‘sophisticated humour’ which would mean sarcasm which would be received as humorous by all the audience rather than just the people I know. Also they felt that my presenting to camera was good but would have been better if I made the whole search for options after school more personal to me as I am not going to university. They felt this would have given it a better story and would connect more with the audience. Additionally, the presenting should have been more dynamic instead of just talking to the camera from different seats.

They thought I could have made it more interesting if I was talking to the camera whilst getting on with my day e.g. whilst playing football or during class. Another thing that was said was that my sound levels of my music were colliding with the dialogue in the clip which made it almost like a ‘battle to hear the sound’. The clients said they felt if the song had been there without the lyrics, the whole clip would have been a lot more viable. Finally they thought the voxpops could have been used in a different order to introduce the problem of young people having a lack of experience rather than summarising this segment however I felt that using them at the end linked well with the next segment of charity work. I thought these were all significant improvements that would have really levelled up my documentary.

Own Feedback (Me) There were many improvements that I felt I could have made. Firstly, I should have used one more male voxpop to even out the gender bias. I feel this would have made the video appeal to a wider audience. Also in terms of the actual filming, I could have used a few different angles during the interviews instead of only using a maximum of two for everyone.

Maybe if I asked the same question from three different angles, it would have made the interviews a lot more engaging as I would constantly switch through the shots. Also the sound levels could have been monitored better as I felt the audio slipped in certain places such as the start where you can hardly hear the background music. Finally, I think more transitions could be used in places which would have easily enhanced my documentary. For example at the end when I show a flashback of the three interviewees, I could have used the wipe transition to present the images more effectively. All in all though I feel my documentary looks good for a first time production. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVVfYBqyir8