1. Working to a Client Brief
Assignment 2
Evaluation
For thisassignment,we were taskedwithcreatingaproductbasedaroundwhatour future
universitycourse is;formyself,Emil,Aaron,andSteven,wouldbe VideoGames.Thus,after
consultingwithone another,we decidedtomake adocumentaryaroundthe creationof a video
game.
How my Team worked together, and how I contributed:
My responsibilitieswere toresearchthe historyof videogames,whichIdidinthe form of a
PowerPoint;foundhere:
https://www.slideshare.net/AmyWilkins1/a-history-of-video-games
I was alsoincharge of actuallyeditingourfinal piece,andgettingittoa highquality.
My team,quite simply,was abysmal.Peoplemissedlessons,andattimesitfeltIwas the onlyperson
whocared aboutthe final product.Where Idove intomyresponsibilitieshead-first,myteam
membersdidn’t,andthusthisledtomy otherresponsibilitiesbeingdelayed.Ibecame sostressed
that my mental healthwaseffected.Inshort,Ifeltthiswasunfairandselfishof the othersinmy
team.
Did I hit the brief? Where did I go wrong?
No,we didnot hitthe brief,inmypersonal opinion.Itwasrushed,itwas sloppy,andoverall Iwas
not happywithhowitcame out as a final piece.Myaimwas to create somethingof high-quality,
withgoodsoundand video.Somethinglike:
This– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH5MgEbBOps(The Lastof Us, 2013)
Or this- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9tLcD1r-6w (Horizon:ZeroDawn,2017)
Or eventhis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvlrNcn0hpY(The WalkingDead,2012 – 2018)
The above documentaries are centredaroundvideogamesthatIlove andholdnearto my heart,
and are videosthatIhave watchedmultiple timesbecauseof the qualityof theircontent.Butalso
because there isa nice balance between interviewsandgameplayfromthe respective games.
However,whatwe endedupwith,wasthis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji7IAauWW_s&t=102s
As youcan see there isa stark differencebetweenthe aforementioneddocumentaries,withtheir
high-qualityfootage andlighting,andthe soundqualitythatdoesn’tleave the audiencestrainingto
hear,and the ‘documentary’we created.
So,as forwhere Iwentwrong;quite simplyitwouldbe workingwithateam, insteadof onmyown.I
couldhave definitely,undoubtedlycreatedsomethingof higherquality,hadInotbeenlimitedtothe
‘documentary’ideathatEmil,Aaron,andStevenwantedtodo.Forexample, Icouldhave usedmy
owntools,at home,todesigncharacterconcepts,environmentconcepts,storyconcepts,etc.fora
videogame.Inhindsight,Iwouldhave done thisandhadmyprojectfinishedwithinamonthof
beinggiventhe task.
2. In regardsto the productionitself,though,the entiresettingwas,inmyopinion,horrible.Itwas
dark, itwas bare,there wasno character to it,and simplyputitwasboring. To thisday, I’mnot
entirelysure whythere wasacamera inthe background,butI suppose it was there justtoput
somethingthere. Itwasobviousuponasecondlookthatit wasrushed.Thiswas because,as
previouslystated,people didn’tdowhattheywere supposedtoandthusour productionsuffered
(lackof documentation,planning,storyboards,etc.).
Client and Peer Feedback
There wasmixedreviewswhenitcame towhat people thoughtaboutthisdocumentary.Most
importantly,the client(ourtutor,Kevin) gave usourinitial feedback,andtoldusto include different
thingsinthe final edit,suchas interspersedvideogame footage tomake itmore of a ‘seriesof
talkingheads’.But,asI am so busywithotherthings (andbeingthe onlyone whoisseemingly
willingtoeditatall),I was unable tosetthe time aside toput any furtherworkintothisproject;at
all.
It isworth notingthatI didattemptto do this,butmy editingexpertise wasa) notvast enough,and
b) limitedtosimple edits.Icouldn’tcutthe videoupwithoutitbecomingchoppyandevenmore
unprofessional-lookingthanitalreadywas.
However,uponshowingmypeers,Ireceivedoverall positive feedback. Whetherthisissimplyoutof
politenessorif theygenuinelyenjoyedit,Iamunsure.But,regardless,itdidreceive positive
feedback.
Overall,Iwouldputthisprojectdownasa failure.Ididthe bestwiththe time,resources,and the
team-membersIhad,butam extremelyunhappywiththe overallexperience,too.Whatshouldhave
beena fun,creative projectbecame somethingIdreaded,andIwouldn’tdoanythingthe same if
giventhe chance.
