This document provides an evaluation of Flynn Westwood Bryant's final media project. Some of the good points Flynn learned from included learning how to use color grading software DaVinci Resolve, gaining experience shooting with a DSLR camera in new locations like lakes, and working with a brand client. Challenges Flynn faced were a lack of a concrete idea during planning due to location issues, research and planning taking more time than expected, and color grading being time-consuming, causing some delays. Overall, Flynn felt both relieved and that the project was of a good enough standard, but would have liked to explore more shot types given more time.

1. EVALUATION
Flynn Westwood Bryant

2. 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.

3. WHAT WAS THE THEME OF YOUR PROJECT
AND WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO IT?
The theme of my project was to create a short cinematic film to
really show off and display my technical ability when using a
camera. As of recent I’ve really found enjoyment from watching
certain creators such as GAWX and Sam Kolder make these
absolutely beautiful videos using nothing but a camera and some
software and felt as though I wanted to try and give it a go myself.

4. WHAT RESEARCH DID YOU UNDERTAKE AND
HOW DID IT HELP DEVELOP YOUR PROJECT?
• My research priority was to look at similar pieces to the one I had imagined. The included
cinematic videos of outdoors and film/tv series with similar aesthetic qualities and even
potential narratives. I found the research segment of the project to be difficult as I was torn
between certain ideas due to the ability to get to a specific location, I wanted to film in. By
looking at both sets of films and projects I could get a good grasp of the aesthetic I wanted
to follow which included a heavy emphasis on outdoors and wilderness. The influence of
looking into a theme for my video also helped with the structure and shot types I wanted to
use as following a less strict narrative and going off and shooting to a theme rather than a
story gave me far more creative freedom. Using shots influenced and inspired from my
research was something that lead my project to look as it does. An example of this would be
my research into Alex Corona and using shots of people moving and walking to create pace
in my video. Using background and foreground to create depth was another technique I
mimicked in my video as I found its aesthetic qualities when used on GAWX’s videos to be
beneficial. In terms of research practice, I intended on getting used to the camera and
shooting clear and technically sound footage. I did this by using practice shots in both a
studio and outdoor environment. In doing this I could get used to my equipment before I
went out and shot the actual thing.

5. HOW DID YOU DEVELOP AND IMPROVE
YOUR IDEAS THROUGHOUT THE PROJECT?
During the preproduction phases I found myself at a large roadblock as to
where I could take my ideas due to restrictions on where I could travel only
being confirmed in the late stages of planning meaning my project had to be
re planned. The initial idea was to create a suspenseful film starring two
characters clashing but when the opportunity arose to go to the lake district I
couldn’t pass up on the opportunity and given the dramatic views of the lake
district and the similarities it had to some of the videos and pieces i researched
such as Summer In Europe and New Forest. These two videos had a large focus
on outdoor based adventure and exploration with heavy emphasis on high
quality shots and cinematography. During the editing process I was
approached by a friend who had seen the early development of my project and
forwarded me to one of the design team on the lake district national park who
asked me to brand my video and create promotion for people visiting. With
the combination of the two ideas, I created my product and displayed it during
presentation.

6. WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME OF THE
PROJECT/TASK?
The outcome of my project was a well shot and edited
cinematography focused video which has been branded for a client in
order to promote the lake districts national beauty in order to attract
tourism to local towns and the surrounding area. I shot this using a
DSLR camera I rented from college and colour graded the raw footage
in DaVinci Resolve as after researching I found it was by far the best
software to grade shots quickly and easily. This process required lots
of research which I found to be interesting but very tedious as it was
hard to master the software. Overall the look of the shots I produced
felt high quality enough to export into premier pro and put cut down
to suit the aesthetic needs of the project.

7. 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.

8. HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE
PROJECT BEFORE YOU STARTED?
After coming off the back of my factual project I felt very ready to
begin the FMP from a technical standpoint as the production of that
project was something I am very proud of. In terms of idea
development for my FMP I wanted to to take my project in the
direction of a short film in a similar style to my year 1 FMP horror story
but when given the chance to work for an established brand to make
promotional material I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. With this
project being my final grade, I was nervous to go into the FMP as I find
production to be my strongest point and written work such as
planning to be my weakest as I like to work on impulses and in the
moment decisions when shooting which wouldn’t work due to the
grading system meaning I had to completely change my style of work
to approach my video.

9. DID YOU COLLABORATE ON YOUR PROJECT
OR ENGAGE CONTRIBUTORS, ETC?
The main contributor on my project was the Lake district national
park company which influenced me to make my originally themed
cinematic video into more of an advertisement and a showcase to
attract tourism to the local area. My other main contributor was my
actor Jamie Brown who was the key subject in the filming of nearly
all my project and my prior tests.

10. HOW DID YOU FEEL WHEN THE PROJECT
WAS COMPLETED AND WHY?
I was very relieved when I’d finished my project as it had been stressful
undergoing the operations before and during the production period. I
felt as though I had made a good and abstract piece of material that
could be understood and seen by a wide range of people. Personally, if
I had more time to work on the project, I would have liked to explore a
wider range of potential areas and shot types as a few of my shots are
re-used and ruin the unique feel to my advertisement. During the
showing of my final piece I did feel in comparison to other peoples
that it wasn’t as in depth which gave me doubts upon the grade I may
achieve but peer and teacher reflection ensured me that my project
was of a good enough standard.

11. 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

12. 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]
My first big lesson of the project was education myself on how to use DaVinci Resolve’s
colour grading system which meant my videos look and feel felt a lot livelier. While time
consuming it was a good learning curve and one, I can take into the future with other
projects.
The second lesson was learning to shoot my video in a place I wouldn’t normally have
access to. Having the opportunity to visit somewhere like the lakes and film there was a
privilege and pushed me far outside my comfort zone as it’s somewhere I may potentially
never get to film in again. Learning the best places to shoot off maps instead of being
able to properly recce my location was hard but due to the planning and research I put in
before it was a risk I’m glad I took.
Another good lesson I took out of this was being able to work with a brand and have my
work potentially used to promote an area. In working with the LDNP it allows me to show
that I have worked for a client which not only looks good on a portfolio but also looks
good to future employers.

13. 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]
Another big benefit from this project was learning and efficiently using a
DSLR camera to shoot my video. Prior to this I only used cameras for
photography so not only researching but using and having the experience
with a camera shows my experience and knowledge which I can then
market myself with for the future as it’s a n important skill in the media
industry.
This project taught me a lot about shot composition and filming things
that not only look nice but are technically challenging to replicate. An
example of this would be using foreground and background to create
depth to a shot. Having this knowledge and “eye” for a shot is largely
beneficial as it looks good in a portfolio and for potential employers.

14. WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU FACE AND
HOW DID YOU RESPOND TO THEM? TRY
AND THINK OF AT LEAST 3...
My main issue during my project was the lack of a concrete idea throughout research and
early stages of planning. Up until the planning phase I was uncertain to if I could make it
up to the lake district due to being unable to get transport and time where everybody
was free. This effected not only the production aspect due to having planned differently
but also me having to go through and change my initial idea which had a rebound effect
on how much time I had to complete the project.
A lack of time was another prominent issue of my project as I found topics such as
research and planning to take far longer than anticipated due to the in-depth
requirements to gain a merit rather than a pass. With this putting me behind schedule
already I found that grading the shots in DaVinci was another very time-consuming task
which led to production being finished nearly a week past its temporary deadline.
Sticking to deadlines was a major focus of mine for the FMP as its something I’ve
struggled with in the past but because of the increased workload this has led to my time
being managed poorly.

15. WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU FACE AND
HOW DID YOU RESPOND TO THEM? TRY
AND THINK OF AT LEAST 3...
The lack of a diary going through the project was a large mistake on my
behalf as I completely forgot to make it until production. This may result in
a worse grade and has resulted in the evaluation becoming harder as I
didn’t recall the early stages of my project.
My project is based on LDNP and is an advertisement but before the
designer reached out to me I had a video that lacked any form of direction
with rather basic planning due to a mixture of rushing and no stone idea.
This meant I could add a different approach and more content into my
work but if this opportunity didn’t arise my project would have been far
worse off.

16. WHAT WERE THE NEGATIVE POINTS ABOUT
THE EXPERIENCE, AND WHAT COULD YOU
HAVE DONE TO IMPROVE THEM?
The largest negative about the whole project for me was falling behind in
the earlier stages resulting in extra stress and lower quality work in
general. To prevent this in future projects I will attempt to use my time
more wisely and ignore distractions such as people and activities. Using
my time at home and on weekends, while I have a little bit, was nowhere
near enough so in the future I will spend far more free time on the project.
The low motivation during falling behind was another reason why I found
myself far more stressed in the final weeks of the project as I have a lot of
work to review and go over. If I’d have met the temporary deadlines and
submitted my work earlier it would have reduced this avoidable stress and
resulted in better work for me personally and for the people viewing it.

17. HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE FINAL PIECE? [THINK
ALONG THE LINES OF POOR, SATISFACTORY, GOOD
OR EXCELLENT...JUSTIFY YOUR RATING]
Certain aspects of my final piece I believe are excellent, but I think overall
it is a satisfactory project from my point of view. I think the strongest
point of my video would be the shot composition and technical aspect of
the colour grading process. Not only am I very pleased with the outcome,
but peers have commented on how well shot my project is which is nice
reassurance as I made sure to invest a lot of time and effort into learning
how to use the camera, take nice videos and edit those videos to look
aesthetically pleasing to a wide audience and impressive to a more niche
film making audience. The downside to my end piece would be its over
simplicity as when looked at from a broad perspective it’s just some music
with some pretty shots and has minimal direction if you subtract the
branding and the poem behind it.

18. HOW WELL DID YOUR PROJECT APPLY THE
CHARACTERISTICS AND CONVENTIONS OF
THE MEDIUM YOU WORKED IN?
My approach to creating my video initially was a niche and elegantly shot
film with focus on technical aspects such as colour grading and dramatic
use of music. When this is combined with the poem running over the
background music and the branding at the end, I would say I have made a
more edgy and different style of commercial that doesn’t fit to the original
conventions like that of any other place or event branding. It includes the
necessary pieces such as a logo but can be appreciated more by film
makers for its well shot and polished look as well as the average person
that may see it online or on television.

19. HOW DID YOU DESIGN APPEAL TO YOUR
TARGET AUDIENCE?
When referencing my research, it is shown that a short films target a very
niche market of people who are aspiring or are currently film makers.
Often these people have a 50/50 gender split and is more likely to be
shown to higher class people. When this is compared to my video it can be
shown from the cinematography that I have tried to tailor it to this
audience by using an artistic approach which can be recognized by a
mature audience and all genders.

20. 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.

21. HOW DID YOUR SKILLS DEVELOP DURING THE PORTFOLIO?
[REMEMBER, SKILLS AREN'T JUST TECHNICAL, REMEMBER
THINGS LIKE ORGANISATION, TIME MANAGEMENT,
COMMUNICATION, ETC AS WELL]
• During this project I’ve found a lot of skills which I can confidently say have improved
since not only my prior factual project but my year 1 FMP. I found my organizational
skills in my factual project to be a big downfall as I constantly had to move around and
change filming days as I hadn’t planned prior set days and set people. With travelling
such a far distance during this project I had to make sure all my logistics were planned
perfectly and for a set day meaning than even before planning things had to be put in
place for contingency and what we would do if we couldn’t make it to the intended
shooting location (at the time we couldn’t). Communication with people to achieve
these things was crucial too as without efficient and effective communication I
wouldn’t have been able to create as detailed of a project with my actor. My biggest
improvement needs to come in the form of time management as I found during the
early stages of research and planning i was weeks behind. To improve on this I will use
a lot more free time and invest myself more into my projects rather than doing it all in
a classroom environment,

22. WHAT MEANING AND MESSAGES DID YOU
WANT TO CONVEY AND WERE YOU
SUCCESSFUL?
I wanted to take a very artistic approach to my film from the initial
thoughts stage so implementing a theme to my video was necessary as
not only would it give more structure to my work, but it can add a deeper
meaning that a viewer could unpack. By exploring the theme of loneliness
in my research, I found that films with conventions of loneliness usually
display a single person and either show the topic in a negative or a
positive light. In my video I chose to display this loneliness in a positive
light to show that being free and exploring is my characters way of
expressing himself and while he carries this bear around to resemble
someone, he is happy that he is alone. When considering the
advertisement side of the video and what I'm advertising, I’m happy with
the way it turned out as I feel it markets the lake district and exploring this
area regardless of being alone or with people.

23. WHAT FEEDBACK DID YOU GET FROM
YOUR PEERS AND VIEWINGS?
After the viewing, I was told by a lot of peers that my project was well shot
and and looked very professional. As I was aiming for this outlook I was
very glad people thought my work was to a high standard. They also
commented on me working with LDNP and said it was a good opportunity
which I also agree with.

24. 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?
If I could redo my project over again I’d be far more invested in my time
management skills and keeping to set deadlines as it keeps structure and
shows you how far behind/Infront you are. I’d also like to plan far more
thoroughly as I found while I had the minimum it wasn’t enough in the end
to create a full story and so my video lacked narrative. Planning for audio
would also be very useful as finding things like music and poems during
the production phase wasn’t efficient. After speaking to tutors they
suggested I should have shot more and tried to limit re-using shots as it
felt repetitive as it only had 35 shots in total meaning if I could remake my
film I would shoot over different days and in different locations to get
more footage and not make it feel repetitive.

25. ACTION PLAN
This section will identify what you would do differently in
the future and identify ways you could develop.

26. IF YOU WERE MAKING A SIMILAR PROJECT
IN THE FUTURE, WHAT WOULD YOU DO
DIFFERENTLY?
Although I am pleased with the outcome of my project, if I could change
anything it would be to pick a topic I could expand on more and have
more of a concrete plan for it. I found my year 1 FMP to be a success due
to the planning and idea I had initially drafted before meaning i knew
where I would film and what I was always filming. With the idea I initially
had for this project it didn’t have enough room to analyse hence why I had
to keep on changing my idea’s all the way up until planning. Upon
reflection I’ve found I usually work better from a brief so having that set
idea from the start meant I could successfully follow what I need to.

27. 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.
The way I wish to progress on from this course would be to higher education
studying film and television which may gain me further placement to a job in
the industry having rolls on film or tv sets. My number one university at the
moment is Northumbria as I’ve found their course to be closest to what I’d like
to do in the future. It involves “learn by doing” which is an approach I far prefer
to the written style, and it also gives placement into film studios and
companies. In order to get onto this course, I would need 120 UCAS points or a
merit in this course which I’m optimistic my work will hopefully achieve.
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/courses/film-and-tv-production-ba-hons-
uusfvp1/?&&ds_rl=1265527&gclid=CjwKCAjwjYKjBhB5EiwAiFdSfjSlBuF0uX5NLOgtWrXrZ6OaMNTAre2Byq0Cnt7
om0NiXBReikVOpRoCZbQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#entry

28. WHAT PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES COULD YOU
DEVELOP TO ENSURE YOU ARE WORKING AT
A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL?
The main skill I need to work on would be time management as most of
my projects are completed near to the end of the deadline or are rushed to
be completed resulting in lower quality overall. Film makers also need to
have a lot of creative and artistic talent which is something I will learn with
time as I progress and complete more assignments and projects. With
more experience I will be able to generate a professional looking portfolio
which may hopefully get me into professional placement or better.