L3 cmpt y2 evaluation template

1. Factual Evaluation

2. L3 Creative Media
Production & Technology
Year Two Evaluation Template

3. Evaluation Overview
This evaluation form is designed to assistyou in the evaluation of your projects.
When using this form it is good practice to:
• Use appropriate terminology.
• Stay concise and focus on key points.
• Evaluate and analyse your statements.
• Focus on judgements about work rather than telling a story of how it was made.
Please find the grading matrix here to help you assess you are working at the right level.
Level 3 Extended Diploma Grading Matrix - https://bit.ly/2Jnqj3v

4. Project Overview
In this section you will outline the aim of the project/task and give an
overview of the activates you undertook to complete it.

5. What was the theme of your project and what
attracted you to it?
I wanted convey a theme of resilience, power and motivation. This
theme developed as the project did as I was investigating why people
cycle, why they go to such lengths to challenge themselves. At the
point of developing the project I didn’t have answers yet, I didn't know
what my interviewees were going to say. What they said molded the
theme.
Once I had collected all my interviews and was assembling the edit I
found the theme in which the interviewees were talking about. I found
this very powerful, I could use this to hopefully elicit an emotional
response.

6. What research did you undertake and how did it help develop
your project?
I researched into documentary films that linked to what I was trying to make. Firstly, I brokedown a 5-minute
documentary as I knew I would be limited with time. I needed to see how professionalsuse that limit and were
able to create something good and concise. I brokedown the structure of the film, identifyingclear structural
beats. Thishelped me narrow down what I needed to fill the gaps; I was able to havea good idea of how I
needed to structure the film.
Other documentaries I watched were genre linked such as sport and discovery toned. They all had relevant
themes of perseverance and why these people push themselves to the limit. It helped me indentify how this
subject is tackled such as the pacing and when certain detailsare revealed.
I also looked into topic research, something I lightlytouched on. I could've written and researched more
althoughat that point I didn't think I needed the information.I turned out to be correct, one of my proposed
intervieweeswasn't looking very possible to get him involved.
Doing a bit of audienceresaerch also helped me as it gave birth to the idea of giving the film a curious tone of
why people cycle, I bared in mind that not everyone watching will have the context of people's extreme cycling
habits. I was able to place that context and then ask, why. For the average person, all they see of cycing is
people on the road, who annoy them and maybe tour de France in the news. Adding that extra layer, I feel,
helped the film a lot in audience engagment and the flow and tone of the film.

7. How did you develop and improve your ideas throughout the
project?
I began by filling in a treatment form and a proposal, this was to help
me define what I was going to make and my ideas for the project.
Mostly throughout the whole project, especially at this stage, I was
unsure how it was going to be structured. Once I had researched into
some existing products, I then was able to craft a loose structure plan
for the film.

8. What was the outcome of the project/task?
I made a documentary film on the subject of why people extreme cycle.
In that, I interviewed various people from avid cycling fanatics, elite
riders and cycling volunteer fanatic. The film spanned 6 minutes long
going from interview to interview (in total, 3 interviews are featured). It
was important to me to feature a variety of cycling fans, which the film
succeeds in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbn1RdPkCd8

9. Personal Response
This section will explore your thoughts and feelings about the
experience. This will help gain a understand of how your personal
feelings may have impacted the final outcome.

10. How did you feel about the project before you started?
I was excited to begin a new project in a new form, I'd never made a
proper documentary film before, so this new prospect interested me a
great deal. I wasn't really sure how it was going to turn out and how I
was going to convey my own style in such a rigid conventions. If I
wanted to breakdown those conventions first, I would have to learn
them through making a standard documentary, which I have now.
I was nervous too, a documentary is unlike anything I've made before, I
didn't want to mess it up and make something I'm not proud of. I felt
comfortable that the subject I chose is one that I can make a film about
confidently. I have a personal connection to the subject, and I already
had a great idea of who I will interviewing, so that wasn't a problem.

11. What do you think about your project development and how
did it help you to refine your idea?
My project was always going to be about cycling, first it was going to centre on pro
cyclist Connor Swift as I have a connection that could've got him to agree to be
involved in the project, unfortunately he never got back to us although my dad is a
friend of his coach. At this point I didn't really need him and the angle of the film
had shifted. I had a huge cyclist sat right in front of me (my dad) it made sense to
interview him, not only the countless people and friends we know who I could've
interviewed.
I ultimately decided against the Swift centeric documentary as there's so much to
cover, I didn't know what angle to approach it from. I wanted my documentary to
be a more self-contained entity rather than a proposed first episode of a web series
as I'd never have closure with the project. It would've been harder to juggle
interviewing a pro cyclist, with the limited time he has, when he's in the country.
The logistics and timetable would've been a nightmare.
This thankfully lead me onto choosing a more broad yet focused topic as I develped
the idea in my head.

12. Did you collaborate on your project or engage contributors, etc?
I interviewed 4 people, one of them unfortunately
being cut from the piece. My 3 main interviewees
came from different sources and that affected how
the interview was shot. Firstly, Mark Higham who
happens to be my dad. His interview was shot and
planned. I set up three-point lighting, this gave the
interview a professional look. Then, Mavis Evans
who we know as a family friend. I killed two birds
with one stone when we went to meet her. I was
able to conduct the interview as well as shoot
stage 2 of the women's tour (where Mavis was
volunteering at) this also opened the door to my 2
other interviewees Alice Lethbridge and Phoebe
Martin (cut) who road in the race. I went over to
them as they were cooling down after the race and
they very kindly agreed to be interviewed. CUT

13. How did you feel when the project was completed and why?
I was happy to have finished the project. I felt I completed it within
working with the schedule, I wasn't rushing to meet any deadlines. I
think the project process, moving from one area to the next, went
quite smoothly. I was satisfied with my end film; it was what I wanted
to create and during the edit I was able to shape the film more freely.

14. Evaluating the project
In the previous sections, you have been commenting upon the project development. The
evaluation may include some similar information but it will also include critical comment.
An evaluation must include information about the good and bad points of the project and it
is important to be honest. Finally, you should make a judgment about the effectiveness of
the success of the project

15. What were the good points about the project/task and what did you
learn from them? [try and think of at least 3, more if possible]
• Time management. Keeping to the schedule or getting ahead of schedule
was very important. I learned that keeping a strict deadline on areas of
completition limited stress and helped organisation.
• I feel for my first attemptat making a documentary film it went well, it was
useful to learn new skills, refine or renforce other techniques such as
three-point lightining set-up. I was given the opportuntiy to work with
more advanvced camera equipment which had its own new set of
challenges. This taught me to be willing to new and adapt with new skills,
conventions and equipment.
• I have a particular enjoyment at the editing stage. Having mostly edited
narrative fiction films, I had to approach the editing process differently.
Luckily, I had already defined the strcuture in the script which was the blue-
print for me during the edit. I learnt how to use that strcuture and play
with it during editing.

16. What challenges did you face and how did you respond to them? Try
and think of at least 3...
• During the interview with my dad, I was using Canon C100 (a more
advanced camera which I had never used before) and it was one of two
cameras set-up for the interview, I wanted to capture two different
angles. My first challenge was to find out how to use the camera, I was
given a quick and brief rundown of the basics before the interview
shoot. The main issue occurred with the use of the audio; the external
mic provided with the camera. When I thought I had everything set up
and working, I began to record the interview. I plugged in my headphone
into camera 1 as that was going to be my main source of audio. After a
few questions I began to worry something was wrong with the audio, as
I thought the rode external mic (attached to the camera) was picking up
the audio (that mic was meant to be the best mic out of the two I had)
the audio I was listening to wasn't very cripst or clear. I decided to take a
break from the interview to investigate further. I discovered that the
built-in mic C100 was recording audio and the better external mic wasn't
connected although it was switch on and plugged into the camera. I
reached out to my tutor for some advice, to hopefully solve the
problem. Unfortunately, everything I tried to fix the problem wasn't
working. I had to continue with the interview using the built-in mic
although it didn't sound great, it was all I had. I knew I had my camera 2
which was using a good rode mic but I didn't want to use that angle as
the main set up. Once I got to the editing stage, listened back on the
audio, I could identify that camera 1 audio was not good, you could
clearly hear the fan also in the background. Camera 2 sounded fine. I
decided if I wanted to use the footage from camera 1 I would have to
synch the audio from camera 2 to the visual footage of camera 1. It was
quite hard trying to synch the audio with the visual, but it was the only
way if I wanted it all to sound good. Having to edit the interview this way
might've taken down a potential problem if everyhting went well which
would be, when I cut from camera 1 to camera 2 they would have
different audio qualities and you might've been able to noice the quality
drop.
Canon 200D (camera 2,
Close-up)
Canon C100 (camera
1, medium, main set-
up)
Rode mic (working)
Other Rode mic
(not working)

17. What were the negative points about the experience, and what
could you have done to improve them?
• Having to synch audio either because the footage had poor audio
quality I couldn't use or because the image and audio settings got
mixed up. Next time I will conduct more tests and experiments when
using advanced equipment I'm not familiar with therefore I should be
more confident if something goes wrong. If there's a problem it will
have probably happened during my experiments.

18. How would you rate the final piece? [think along the lines of
poor, satisfactory, good or excellent...justify your rating]
I would give it the rating of "good". I'm satisfied with how the film
turned out but it's nothing great. It's my first documentary so naturally
it's my worst, if I went onto make another documentary, I would hope
it'll be a lot better than this one. I feel I made this film to a good
standard, abiding by the conventions of documentary filmmaking,
buliding up an emotion, competently shot and edited. My interview
questions provided me with some good answers, ones I was looking for.
My selection of interviewees I'm happy with. I still feel the films tone is
somewhat jumbled, that and the strcuture (when watching it the
strcucture doesn't really feel jumbled but it could've been smoother).

19. What is your opinion of your final piece? What elements do
you think are successful and why?
I think that the main question I posed of 'why cycle?' Was defined and
cemented well within the film. The way I used and cut together shots
during interviews or the opening and closing of the film was effective,
the opening and closing especially effective in buliding up emotion
through the use of music, voice-over (both myself talking from script
and using sections of what my interviewees had to say)

20. How well did your project apply the characteristics and
conventions of the medium you worked in?
I successfully employed many key charcateristics of documentary films
such as talking heads inteviews, voice-over, opening of film introducing
the topic and hooking the audience, text naming the interviewee and
other information we may need, archival footage, interviews conducted
professionally using three-point lighting set-up, music to sway the
mood of the piece and handheld camera.

21. How did you design apeal to your target audience?
I knew people around the same age as me will be watching the film and
most of them are not extreme cyclists or cycling fans. I looked at it from
an everyday point-of-view, knowing how most people use cycling and
how cycling might annoy them. I ask why people cycle the way they do
and I acknowledge how most of use cycling as a mode of transport.

22. Analysis
In this section, you will focus on the details of the project and make
sense of what happened in the project. You should demonstrate how
your decisions informed the project development and the success of the
outcome.

23. In what ways was the overall project a success?
I think it was helpful to first define what I was going to make through
the use of the treatment and proposal forms, this would then help me
know where to look for good research points. I was very happy with
how successful my research turned out, especially the exisiting
products which I used to assit me in molding a structure within a time
limit, identifying the conventions in the genre and other techniques
used.
I also feel I successfully communicated the message I wanted to get
across, I was able to successfully produce the film smoothly working
with a schedule.

24. What elements did not go well and why?
As I've already mentioned working with new equipment lead to audio
complecations which further got more complecated as I was working
on the film during the edit. Other areas that didn't go to plan was an
organisational matter. When filming in the moors with my drone we
were going to be shooting at two locations, this information was told to
me when we arrived at the first location. I used my drone and it ran out
of battery as I couldn't use it when we drove to the second location. If I
was given more notice of what we were doing and mainly where we
were doing it, I could've brought a charger for my drone so I could've
gotten some more nice drone shots.

25. How did your skills develop during the portfolio? [remember,
skills aren't just technical, remember things like organisation,
time management, communication, etc as well]
My communications skills were key, I had to be keeping
my interviewees in the loop as much as possible. Organising when and
where we would be meeting, getting them involed etc. As I've
previously mentioned time management developed through the use of
a schedule and hitting on deadlines so I can keep in a smooth work
flow.
Some technical skills I develped or aquired was using premiere pro
effectivley, being curious of what I could do and looking up how I can
do such things.

26. What meaning and messages did you want to convey and were you
successful?
I wanted the film to be insightful for those who aren't familiar with
what extreme cyclists go through, build up an emotional feeling of
motivation and most prevalently perseverance. We need to have that
drive to challenge ourselves (this doesn't just apply yo cycling) to
maybe take a more challenging path and persevere through that to
accomplish something great. I think I was successful in that, the
answers my interviewees have certainly helped.

27. What feedback did you get from your peers and viewings?
"I like the drone shots, looks very professional. You did a good job
making it dramatic. Was entertaining."
"Liked drone shots. Enjoyed Mavis, she's very passionate about cycling.
Cutways, voice-over and music all add to it. Very professional. 10/10."
"The drone shots are really cool and I liked how you cut up the
interviews by not just keeping it on the person the whole time. It was
very dramatic."

28. What would you do differently in the future and why?
I would've spent more time colour grading the film, I didn't feel the
need to once I thought I'd finished the edit. I was happy with how my
shots looked but looking back I could've at least tried something. I also
probably didn't care for colour grading as I don't particularly enjoy it
but I know if I did it, it would've likley picked up a few of my shots and
added more of a professional stap on the film although that was
something I wanted to avoid as most short documentary films all look
similar.

29. What knowledge have you gained that would help you in the
future to improve your project? Also, what knowledge from
academic literature and professionals has helped and why?
I know now the defined conventions of documentary filmmaking, how
to navigate the interview process from choosing your interviewees to
how you ask the questions. I know how important audio is and I've got
to be careful recording correctly.

30. Action Plan
This section will identify what you would do differently in the future and
identify ways you could develop.

31. If you were making a similar project in the future, what would
you do differently?
I would choose a subject that was more of a wild card, something
like an investigation. Where I have an idea of where it might go but it
could turn into something else. That's risky but I think I'll probably find
that more engaging and exciting, even a little thrilling.
Or I'd choose a topic and build it around one person, rather than
having various interviews of different people, I'd focus on one person. I
feel that would make the film more emotioanlly relatable (depends on
the person) buliding the film around someone gives me more angles
to approach it, ways to edit it, ways to structure it. Free Solo did
this particularly well.

32. How could you develop your skills for future projects? Please
identify the appropriate resources and courses. For example,
webpages, tutorials, books, short courses and qualifications.
My research skills I will take to another level as for a future project
similar to this one I'd want to go somwhere new and experimental. I'll
dig into theories more, watch more challenging and experimental films.
My sources will be more obscure such as archieves and books from
libraries.

33. What personal attributes could you develop to ensure you are
working at a professional level?
I can develop my independence to find new, interesting people who I
haven't met before as my interviewees. My independence will also
work towords a more diverse research section.