Evaluation; PV LO4.1 and PV LO4.2

Learning Objective 4

Evaluation.

4.1 Critically evaluate own finished product against agreed criteria and make recommendations for improvements.

4.2 Critically evaluate own production skills against agreed criteria and make recommendations for improvements.

For this project myself and Aylen Abdullah had to create a promotional video around the length of 5 minutes for our client a dance company; Dynamic Eclipse Arts. We had to show what the company has to offer and to show it to the public in a whole new light. Throughout the project we encountered many problems as well as finding many solutions.

We as a production crew had many ideas for our client and we wanted to make a fresh modern video to really put our skills to the test and show what we would do for the client. However when deciding on the footage that was required for us to create this promotional video we soon found that the client wanted us to use a wide range of their archival footage to show the growth of the company, this however lead us to more problems. When looking through the archival footage it was clear to say that the footage needed a lot of work as the quality of the film wasn’t the best so therefore we had the challenge of improving, the already bad, footage to make for a better result for the client. However being the editor on this project I lacked the skills to do therefore I found this rather challenging as I soon had to learn a whole new set of editing skills in order to give the client what they required. Also the director, Aylen Abdullah, fell ill during a major part of the project and this lead to us not being able to film on certain days and made the whole production a bit more harder than it needed to be because of Aylen not being well enough to work. It soon became very difficult to get any contact with our client as our schedules both clashed and they were extremely busy with their work, so the communication broke down a little between us and the client so therefore we ended up going into the final editing stages rather blind as to what the client wanted for their promotional video. So therefore we did what we could with the footage that was provided by the client and the footage that we had filmed ourselves.

Editing this promotional was a challenge as myself and the director had very little skills in this area therefore between us we was working our way through the footage trying to work out and piece together what we had in order to create the video. I believe that by doing this project I have improved my skills on Final Cut Pro which will be useful for me in future projects. I have also improved my skills in After Effects as we shown how to create a DVD menu as well as  a DVD cover, although we didn’t use this within our final promotional video, I now know how to create and develop my skills within this area.

The breakdown of communication between us and the client restricted our ideas and when we had completed the final promotional video the feedback that we received was all positive however it was suggested that we should have included a voiceover and interviews, but again this was difficult as the lack of communication between us and the client lead to us having a lack of knowledge about the company therefore we was relying on other sources to find out the relevant information about the company in order for us to create the final promotional video successfully. Also the wording that was used in the promotional video might not the grammatically correct and the capitalisation might be a little however this was a request from the client and was something that we had no control over.  

Throughout this project we have encountered many problems and I now know how difficult it can be to work for a client that doesn’t have the time for you as a production company to help you understand what they require from you. However I believe that I have developed my skills in a range of areas and I have learnt how major a client and work alongside other people. But at the end of the day the client was pleased with our final production piece and would use us in the future of any other filming was required for their company.