EVALUATION
During the pre production process, I received feedback from my teachers on how to improve my pitch decks and my presentation skills. To improve my pitch, I needed to include more detailed research and pre production documents to assure them that I was prepared for filming and had everything planned, which would ensure a smooth production process. To improve my presentation, I needed to be louder and clearer in my speech to convey confidence in my product and its success. I also needed to use body language and facial expressions better to present my ideas and express passion and confidence in my work. Showing confidence in my own work will convince the people I am pitching to that it is something worth making and worth their time.
To help me throughout my post production process, I also asked for feedback from my teachers. The feedback I received about my editing was to make the cuts tighter. The long shots could get boring and disengage the audience so I had to adjust the length of the shots to keep my short film visually entertaining. I was also told to include extra shots during the introduction of my short film, however, it was not possible to film the extra shots due to the location and time I had. I worked with what I already had and tried to make it as engaging as possible despite the shots being very similar. Next time, I will prepare for situations like this and film as much as I can from as many different angles as possible so that I have a lot of footage to work with in case something goes wrong.
I made a questionnaire and sent it to a sample of my target audience to collect all the information regarding feedback so it was easier to compare data and find similarities in areas in which I could improve and areas that I excelled in. Most feedback I received about the final cut was positive and overall they enjoyed the premise and execution of my short film.
Most feedback praised me for my storytelling. The narrative and how I chose to deliver it kept many intrigued and hooked despite its simplicity. I also received a lot of good feedback for my editing and realism. The fact that my target audience successfully understood the preferred reading and related to the story, shows that I was able to tell a relevant story that appealed to my audience through personal identity.
A lot of feedback criticised my audio editing and visuals as many parts were hard to hear and see. Some did not like my stylistic choices of a handheld camera as it meant the subjects were hard to see sometimes because of the shaky filming.
In response to this, in the future I will aim to record my audio with better equipment and a clearer and louder voice to make sure any voice recordings are heard well. Loud, clear voice recordings will also ensure any audio editing - such as telephone sound effects - will not make them harder to hear. I will also use tripods more often to have steady, consistent shots that keep the subject in frame at all times to make it pleasing to watch.
I think I handled the cinematography well despite it being my first time handling a Canon camera. I was able to make my shots clear and track the subjects well when following them.
Another thing I did well was appeal to my audiences. All feedback from my target audience regarding the narrative was positive as they viewed it as relatable and relevant to many situations they face. 100% of my questionnaire participants said that they would share it with their friends and family which shows that I successfully entertained and appealed to my target audiences.
I also think I handled the editing process quite well. I have experience with premiere pro which made the editing process easy to finish and improve on after feedback. To challenge myself, I experimented with colour grading to set the mood and audio editing to make the audio recordings engaging and believable. I think I succeeded in both aspects as many of my target audience understood the tone and heavy emotions behind my narrative. I also used the feedback I received from my teachers and friends during the post production process which helped improve on the visual aspects of my short film as they provided many helpful tips on how to make it more engaging and interesting instead of boring and dull like my first draft was.
Before finalising my final cut, I made sure my product met the conventions of a short film. I compared what I had with my research into the conventions of short films and made sure I fulfilled them so that it was successful. It is under 20 minutes and has a simple, easy to understand narrative. Having a small amount of characters helped viewers to follow the narrative easily and successfully conveyed strong emotions of sadness which was also understood by most of my target audience who were able to sympathise with the characters and understand the emotional weight in the short film.
Another convention I fulfilled was making my short film easily accessible for free online on YouTube. It is where many short films are shared as it is free to upload and keep content there and has a wide reach as my pre-production research showed that YouTube’s biggest audience are people within my target audience’s age group. The website is also where most of my target audience prefer to watch short films.
However, I think there are many things I could improve on to strengthen the quality and standard of my work. One thing I could do is practice setting up a tripod. There were many shots I planned to be static, however, I did not have a tripod to work with so all shots had to be handheld. To work around this obstacle I should have borrowed a tripod from the equipment available at school and will better prepare for static shots in the future.
Another thing I could improve on is keeping the camera in focus. In many shots the camera is out of focus and the subject is slightly blurry. This makes for an unenjoyable viewing experience and disengages the audience because the camera is focused on something irrelevant in the background. To improve on this, next time I will double check the shot on the camera screen and adjust the focus many times to make sure the main object is in focus and the shot is not too zoomed in or out.
Most feedback I received regarding visuals said that some shots were hard to see as it was too dark. In the future, I will consider lighting more and make sure everything I want seen is clearly visible. I will also use the post production process to improve visibility by adding exposure and brightness effects where needed. In my future pieces of work, I will reflect on this audience feedback to make sure it is of high standard.
This unit made me feel nervous as this was the first time I had control over every aspect of a project, but in the end, my confidence grew as a director and editor as I took on both roles well. It also taught me a lot about how to better understand a target audience. Moving forward, I better know how to appeal to my audience and how to adjust my content accordingly after feedback I receive from my target audience.
This unit helped further develop my editing skills, both visuals and audio. It also helped me develop stronger research skills as I had a lot of stimuli and inspiration to work with to develop a relevant, relatable and engaging narrative delivered in a simple but effective way. I also developed cinematography and directorial skills during this unit as this was the first time I have directed another person for footage.
With the feedback I received from this unit, the next time I plan to make a short film I will improve on making pitch decks convincing and improving my presentation skills. To do this I will do more in depth research into successful pitch decks. I will also prepare more pre production documents in time for my pitch deck presentation to ensure my teachers that I am prepared for production and know exactly what my next steps are moving forward. I will also prepare more pre-production documents to ensure production and post-production are done on time. For example, I will prepare a shooting schedule the next time I plan to film so that my cast knows when to be available as I have learned that it is best to be very prepared for productions in case anything goes wrong and needs re-shooting or re-recording, which I did not have the time to do this time. Moving forward into future projects, such as my final major project, I will prepare more during pre-production to have a clear idea of what I want to film and what I want to communicate so I can make a well-researched, detailed pitch deck. All of this will ensure that for my FMP my production process will run better and improve in quality.
