The document provides a self-evaluation of the author's research, planning, and time management for a mountain bike media project. Some strengths highlighted include thorough research of existing products to inform planning, choosing familiar local trails for filming locations, and over-planning which prevented feeling lost. Weaknesses included a lack of target audience data, only researching similar rather than related products, forgetting a contingency plan, and underestimating health and safety considerations. Time management was mostly good except for one week where schedule conflicts caused delays. Technical qualities of the final work showed similarities to professional examples but also room for improvement.

1. Evaluation
Your name

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research

4. • I believe that one of the biggest strengths of my research
was that I took the time to research many different
existing products and, as I researched advertisement, I
researched different versions of existing advertisement
that were all advertising the same product. I found that
this was very helpful for me when it came to planning my
own advertisement a I had multiple choices of style that I
could use to best target towards my target audience for
my own advertisement. But not only did I research existing
bike advertisement, I also researched other existing bike
related media products, like mountain bike films,
photography and even YouTube series’. One reason that I
decided to research other mountain bike related media
products than just advertisement was to get a good idea
on how to us certain camera techniques that was the most
flattering for filming a bike, as well as the best ways to
represent speed. But in doing so I realised that there was
different ways of using camera techniques to film the bike
depending on the type of product you were making which
again really helped when it came down to making my shot
list in planning as I could refine the amount of different
camera techniques that I could use down. But not only did
research mountain bike films or advertisement, I also
researched photography which again helped with ideas
and planning for my posters. Mostly it gave me ideas to
use when it came to creating my own pieces of
photography which gave me an easy step towards creating
the posters as obviously the photography side of that is
very important.

5. • Another strength I found when researching existing
products was trying to figure out with my own knowledge
what the target audience would be for each product and
how the existing product would appeal to that audience.
Doing so helped me realise the bigger differences in each
product I researched, for example the effect of the overall
tone on the target audience which helped me refine the
target audience for my own advertisement and what
techniques I can use within my products to try and appeal
to the target audience to the best of my ability. It just
gave me an overall boost in confidence and even
knowledge in my target audience and the best ways to try
and appeal to them which really helped with planning for
my products.
• Although, I do believe that my research possibly had
some weaknesses, some being my own fault and some I
believe down to the lack of information available. For
example, I believe that one of my weaknesses was that I
didn’t have much target audience research information
with data to back up what I was saying. Although
mountain biking is now relatively a sport with a large
amount of participants to what it was 10 years ago,
compared to other sports, many other sports in fact, it’s
still a rather niche activity. This being so trying to find
relative data to prove how I have based my target
audience became more difficult than I had imagined,
then leading on to what I believe is a lack of important
data that could have helped me create a target audience
and back up what decisions I had made. To try and back
up decisions and assumptions I had made for
geodemographics, I had to resort to an episode from a
mountain biking series on youtube I had seen and pair
common knowledge to try and prove my points.

6. • I feel as if another weakness of my research was that I
just researched products that I was going to make for my
own project. But I never thought that it might have been
beneficial for me to research products related to my own,
but not exactly the same type of product. For example, it
might have been beneficial for me to maybe research into
mountain biking clothes or maybe even products. Doing
so would help me build up not just the bike or the
advertisement, but the character too. It maybe would
have slightly helped me a bit more when designing the
costume of my character if I had done deeper research
into the different clothing, I maybe will have had the
character dressed differently. This could’ve effected my
product due to the fact, the best way to advertise
something a lot of the time, and especially with mountain
bike adverts, is to try and make the advert relatable. And
being as there’s isn’t much talking in a lot of mountain
bike adverts, and generally mountain biking is almost all
the same, clothing is a way that most riders express
individuality. So clothing in the advert can be a big part of
making the advert feel relatable.

7. Planning

8. • I believe that one of the strengths from my planning is
that I definitely prepared well. I made sure that locations
were chosen an noted down exactly where. I created a
storyboard as well as a shot list which both had names of
the trails I wanted to film on to help break down the
video and allow me to easily shoot on the day. I found
that having a detailed shot list paired with my storyboard
really helped film as it almost managed to become
mindless, just a simple check of the shot list, film and
then move on. It made it so much easier knowing that
not only I didn’t have to create shots on the day, but I was
positive that I was happy with the shots I had decided
and could just get on with it on filming day. But
sometimes I did slightly change the angles when on
location as I would get to where the shot was going to be
taken and some factors like. The environment would be
different to when I last saw due to the weather. For
example fallen trees in the way of the camera or simply
the plants around the trail had grown a lot faster than
planned, so I would have to slightly change the angle of
the shots, but I would still use the shot list as it create this
base for me to work off of and change and still try and
create as close as I could the shot that I had initially
planned. For example, one shot ended up being broken
up into two due to the light. The sot was just going to be
a simple pan to the left as the character walks past
revealing the bike inside the van, but due to the settings
needed on the camera to stop the sky looking so harsh,
you really struggled to see inside of the van and see the
bike. Basing the factor on I needed the audience to be
able to see the bike, I decided to create the second shot
inside the van so the bike was visible.

9. • I feel as if another strength to my planning was knowing
almost from the start of the project what locations I was
going to use. There was actually multiple reasons for this.
Often enough with mountain biking, people have what
they call their “local trails” which are just the trails that
are closest to them so often enough, they’re the trails the
ride the most resulting in these trails being very familiar
to the riders. In our (me and the actor) case, Yearsley
woods have our local trails in. Knowing these trails very
well allowed me to mentally envision them very well and
pick what trails would be best for the shots that I was
envisioning. But as well as that, because the actor was so
familiar to the trails, it was the place where he was
probably able to ride his best allowing me to capture
better shots. I found that because I had the locations set
from basically day one of the project, once I was onto
production, it went relatively rather easy and quickly
because I had been able to start putting the shot list
together in my head quite early into the project.
• I believe that another strength of my planning was
definitely because, as some could say, I over planned. For
example I created a very detailed shot list, but also
decided to write a script. I just found that if I over
planned, it meant that once I came to creating the
project, I never felt as if I was lost and didn’t know what
to do next, I always knew what I was doing and what was
coming next, which really helped me create my products
because it just lifted off what could have been a lot of
unnecessary pressure.

10. • Although I am very happy with how my planning had
turned out, I do feel as if there is some room for
improvement. One weakness of my planning was that I
actually forgot to create a contingency plan. Although I
feel as if I planned well for problems as I went a long. It
would have made more sense and would have been a lot
more secure if I had created a contingency plan. If I had
created a contingency plan, I will have been able to sit
down and think of a lot of problems that could have
occurred and created a plan to get around these. If I’m
completely honest, not many problems occurred during
my project, and the ones that did I managed to work
around them rather easily and find solutions. But there
was definitely a chance of a lot bigger problems that
could have happened and I wouldn’t have been prepared
for them.
• I also feel as if another weakness of my planning was my
health and safety table. Although at the time I felt as if I
had been prepared for any health and safety concerns, I
now look back at the filming days and my health and
safety table and realise that I was lacking many health
and safety concerns. For example, a lot of the trails that
we were filming on either finished on, started on or
crossed a path, some trails crossed rather busy paths and
there was always a possible chance of my actor travelling
at speed could of hit a walker. As well as that, the woods
aren’t just for mountain bikers, in fact the mountain bike
trails aren’t really meant to be there, so that means you
get other users of the woodland like dog walkers, and
every so often, a dog walks onto the trails which can be
dangerous too.

11. Time Management
• I felt as if almost the whole time through the project my time management has been rather good. I know I
have been working a lot over the weekends, but that definitely wasn’t because of bad time management,
it was because I was simply trying to add as much detail as I possibly could to everything as I’m aiming for
the best grade that I can get. Due to this, I will say that there has been times where I had to move onto the
next stage of the project, for example research into planning and the two stages have overlapped. But I
never felt out of control and managed to do both with as much detail as possible. I think if you were
comparing me to what the timetable was being set by college, you could say that I was behind but I always
felt as if on my own calendar I was were I wanted to be, sometimes even in front because I always knew
that if I was trying to put as much detail into everything that I possibly could, it would take more time than
was possible if I was going to try and do everything at college. There was times like planning where I had
finished the basics of the PowerPoint before I needed which gave me more time to add my own detail and
more. I do feel as if I had more time given, my products would be better but I always feel this way at the
end of projects simply because if I had more time, I could go into more detail. If I had more time I would
have liked to of maybe tried a few more skills and software’s that I didn’t know. Although there was one
skill I tried that unfortunately I wasn’t able to do in my project and that wasn’t down to the lack of time. It
was actually because I was trying to roto brush the rider going through as section of trail in this one clip so
I could have a bit of tracked text go behind him, but sadly the macs weren’t able to handle trying to roto
brush any clips.

12. Time Management
• Although my time management almost all the way through the project I feel as if was good. There was one
week where my schedule was planned to use all three days, but I didn’t realise whilst creating the
schedule that actually this one week only had two days instead of three that I was ready for. Being like this
meant that I ended up being put behind schedule and resulted in me playing catch up the next couple of
weeks. To add onto that, again, we got to one week where I was ready to use all three days, but it turned
out that actually we weren’t going to be in that Wednesday and to add on top of that, I had to have that
Monday off du to a bad headache. So after being ready to use all three days to my advantage not only for
my schedule but to catch up on the days work I had to miss, I had to miss not one but two days which
resulted in me being pushed back further. This week when I had to have two days off, Monday and
Wednesday, I luckily managed to get everything I needed done on that Tuesday, but it definitely was a bus
Tuesday.

13. Technical Qualities

14. Similarities Differences
• One similarity is that both our work have a heavy
side of riding used to try and advertise the bike.
We both use clips of the bike being ridden, with
specific shots that will help advertise the bike, for
example, slow-motion and shots that the audience
view the bike easily
• Another similarity is that we both use, well I
pretend, professional and famous athletes that the
brand Trek sponsors to advertise the bike to try
and make the audience feel as I they can ride like
the highly skilled riders if they get that bike
• Another similarity between my product and their
own is that, although they overlayed music over
their video, they had enhanced the audio of the
bike on the trail which was also a trick that I did
with my video too.
• They use a segment that involves more of dialogue
and comedy which also information about the bike.
The start of their video, and compared to their
riding segment, is a large dialogue segment with
jokes about the bike and how addictive it is. While
at the same time just trickling in more and more
shots of the bike itself until we get to the riding
segment
• Another difference was the colouring of the whole
advertisement, with my own advertisement, the
overall colour of the video was a relatively simple
contrast but with a boosted orange hue. But with
their product, the contrast was rather high and all
the colours popped a lot but it didn't have an
overall consistent colour hue.
My work
IFHT Films- Trek Slash|Tattoo It On Your
Face https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiggXQ90FAc

15. Looking at my finished video, the one on the left and the video used for the actual advert on the right created by
professionals. We can see that when I came to creating my own advertisement for the bike I took some really
strong inspiration when it came to the composition of of the rider and the trail in the frame as well as the camera
angles. When creating this shot for my own video, I had their shot in mind. It took me rather surprisingly a long
time to try and create this shot. I knew that it was this type of shot that I wanted to go for, a nice low angle, as
close to the ground as I could and zoomed in as far as I can into the corner without effecting the quality of the
video. But one problem I had was that the camera didn’t relatively zoom as far as I would of liked so I had to play
around with up to five different angles for just this one shot. When framing the shot, I wanted to try and make this
shot a rather technical and well processed one. I felt is if I could help add to the depth of field like the shot on the
right with the unfocused part of the ground in the foreground, it would help bump up the technical side of my
project. To do so, I actually placed the leaves in the bottom left into frame, they’re not actually apart of anything
and are just laying on the ground. I feel as if it does help had depth of field and just create a bit more life to the
frame, looking back I just wish that I actually chose something different coloured like dead leaves or a branch as
the colour of the leaves used slightly blend into the grass in the background.

16. Similarities Differences
• One similarities of between my work and the film
created by the professionals were some of the
angles, we both decided to use some longer shots
compared to other mountain bike videos that have
short shots and fast paced editing. With the longer
shots, w both used a lot of panning to track the
rider and follow them through the trail.
• Another similarity with my work and the film made
is that they used, in the mountain bike scene,
famous and professional riders as a pull into the
film which, although I didn’t have anyone actually
famous to use, I did create a character that was
one for my advert. The idea is that with their film,
the audience wants to see these famous riders
detached from the famous life style that the
audience sees them in usually. And with my work,
the idea is that the famous person is a selling point
of the bike, it makes the audience want to try and
be like the famous rider.
• One difference between their product and my own
is the overall tone and mood. As my work is built to
be an advert, theirs is a film resulting in a different
mood and feel to the video. My work has more of a
serious mood to it and doesn’t necessarily try and
pull the audience in to make them feel almost a
part of the what their watching. Where as the film
made has more of a fun and laid back mood which
results in the audience feeling more apart of what
their watching as they laugh with the people who
they watch on their screens.
• Another difference is they didn’t just film riding,
their film has a solid 60:40 ratio of riding to talking.
But with their film the talking isn’t really to the
camera, as I was saying before, it’s each person
talking to each other and making jokes which
immerses the audience into the film.
My work
Misspentsummers- Tea & Biscuits – A very
British Mountain Bike Film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9xfr8hRs5I&t=740s

17. Looking at my finished video, the one on the left and the film created by professionals on the right, again like the
last one, we can see that there was some clear inspiration taken from this film with angles and composition. What I
realised whilst watching all these mountain bike adverts and films was that a common shot used that really helped
represent speed and rather easily was to have the rider riding almost directly away from the camera or as close to
that as you possibly could be. Although you could say that my shot is very similar to the shot on the right created
by the professionals. I feel as if there are some clear differences. Like for one the colouring is rather different in my
work compared to the film on the right. The film on the right is a lot brighter and a lot more exposed compared to
my own, but I understand why, for the film the mood was a lot less serious than my own, so a common aspect
through their film is the lack of editing actually done compared to other mountain bike products. Whereas my
product I tried to go for a very serious mood which resulted in bolder colours and less exposure that could flare up
certain colours. Another difference is that because of the relaxed mood of their film, in shots such as these, a slight
bit of shrubbery for a moment hiding the rider doesn't matter too much, but with my shot for my video, I made
sure that the rider would be completely seen throughout the whole shot.

18. Aesthetic Qualities

19. • Looking back on my project, I feel as if I’m rather happy
with how the overall look and aesthetic style of my video
resulted in. I’m really happy with how there was a
consistent colour in my video with that orange hue, there
was a worry after the first day of filming that this may be
a problem due to the fact that the second filming day was
going to be a week later and I didn’t know what the
weather was going to be like. But surprisingly and rather
luckily for me, the weather was almost exactly the same,
so when it came to editing it wasn’t too hard for me to try
and create this same orange summery look that I wanted
the whole video to have.
• Although I am very happy with the look of my video and
how I managed to get the overall aesthetic style of my
video to look. I do believe that there were some part of
my video that I would have liked t look slightly different.
For example there was this one shot, rather early in the
video where the rider goes through a section of three
corners but because of the lighting of the shot. With the
main light source being the sun and being almost directly
opposite of the camera, I found that I did manage to get a
slight orange look but it did actually end up being slightly
grey which wasn’t what I was going for. Another scene
where I would have liked to be able to change the colours
better was a shot where the rider rides down a steep
section, onto a fire road and then it cuts to a close up of
the gears being used. But because of the difference in the
angle and the lighting, it results in the fire road being a
different colour in each shot, which doesn’t matter too
much, but to make it a smoother transition, I feel that the
fire road looking a same colour or as close as possible
would help.
First day
Second day

20. The aesthetic style that I was going for audio wise was to
copy some mountain bike films, adverts and series’ that I
have seen where instead of using music as a soundtrack,
the audio of the bike on the trail is enhanced with certain
techniques to allow just the audio of the bike to be the
soundtrack. Looking back at my project, again I’m very
happy with how the audio has resulted in my video, but if
I am completely honest with myself, it’s not completely
how I envisioned my project sounding. I was hoping to
have the sounds of the bike a lot more, almost intrusive.
Or at least a lot more obvious that the sound of the bike
isn’t natural. My initial idea was to try and use two
microphones not only to increase and enhance the sound
of the bike, but also to capture the sound of the bike from
a distance further that the camera and the microphone
on that was capable of capturing. But I came against the
problem in post that actually the second hand held
microphone that I had used hadn’t recorded the sound
how I wanted, it wasn’t record sounds from as far as I
thought it would. I did still want to use the sound
recorded from the second microphone so I used it to
enhance the already useable sound by overlaying it, but it
still didn’t give the exact effect I wanted.

21. Audience Appeal

22. • Looking back on my project and looking back at my
research for my target audience. I believe that my
product would appeal to the target audience rather well.
When creating my product, I was always making sure that
I was doing my best to try and make sure that it would
appeal to the target audience. When planning for my
project, every decision I made to create the
advertisement I made sure to consider whether it would
help me appeal to the target audience. I feel as if certain
parts are definitely aspects that would be used to appeal
to the target audience. For example, it’s a simple one but
the type of riding done in the video. I decided that the
type of bike that I was advertising would be one made for
riding steep technical trails but also able to have fun on
jumps and the advert shows that the bike is capable of
doing so. More technical sides of the advert that would
help appeal to the target audience would be like the
colouring of the video. I just to try and give it a very
bright summery vibe which I feel as if helps try and add to
the mood of good times and enjoyment.
• I feel as if another aspect of my advert that helped appeal
to the target audience was the costume design and the
usage of props. When designing the costume, I chose to
try and dress my character in a way that I I have seen the
target audience dressing like. The idea is that it’s a
combination of ”racer” and “chilled free rider”. To appeal
to the side of the racer, I chose to have my character
wearing tight mountain bike trousers which is a very
common style for racers. And to appeal to the free rider
side, I chose a short sleeve jersey with a nice bit of flare
on it, a hot pink to stand out.

23. • I feel as if the props that I chose to advertise the bike
would be an obvious key factor. The main prop that I had
to chose correctly was the bike. At first the prop that I
was going to use was going to be the actors own bike as I
felt that I would get the best riding out of him on his won
bike instead of trying to get him to ride as best as
possible on an unfamiliar bike. But when it properly came
to designing his costume and props. I realised that
although I might get him riding his best on his own bike,
compared to my bike, his is rather tame and doesn’t
really stand out. Working on this I started to try and
envision what it would certain shots would look like with
him on his bike and him on mine. Although I maybe lost
some of his riding skill by putting him on my bike, I don’t
think I lost enough for it to outweigh the importance of a
brighter coloured bike. I chose to put him on my bike as I
feel as if the brighter pop of colours compared to the
green background in almost all the shots would help
when trying to make the advert appeal to the target
audience.

24. Peer
Feedback

25. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
I like that there are lots of different camera angles and how it switches
between them as he rides as it looks a lot more cinematic and gives off a cool
effect.
I like how to text at the start is blended in with the scenery as it looks 3D and
like a movie.
• What improvements could have been made to the product?
This would of course be optional but I think maybe some music in the
background could add to the video a bit especially as its an advert. Even if its
just very quietly in the background so you can still hear the actual video.

26. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
– I really liked how professional the design of the logo
looked at the beginning, as well as the text within the
moving video. It had the same effect as a car advert.
– The shots were all extremely well done, especially the
extreme long shot and the action shots.
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
– I think to provide the sense of excitement/danger/risk
you seem to be going for it might be beneficial to add
some music into the background as the silences are
noticeable in some of the longer shots.

27. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
– I enjoyed seeing texts appearing on the background, I found it to
be quite a clever way of going about this, it made it look fun
– Slow-motion effect added on some of the action shots was a
nice addition
– Zooms on the gears looked really professional, I liked that shot
• What improvements could have been made to the
product?
– Unedited footage- some of the shots would perhaps look nicer
with boosted contrast/ changed brightness
– You could make the editing a little faster to showcase dynamic
and speed

28. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer feedback?
– In two of my peer feedbacks it’s stated that music would be a could factor to add to my video. I agree
that the video could definitely benefit from having some music in the background to help add to the
video. If I was to change it to have music, I’d like to create a different version with the music, so the
advertisement could be published with two different version of the ad, one with music and one
without. If I was to create a a version with music, I would recreate it with more detail then just
adding music, I would change when the shots cut so that it would cut with the beat of the song.
– In one of my peer feedbacks, it’s stated that some of the shots need more time spent on the
colouring. I also agree that some of the shots could do with a bit more colour correction as they look
a bit washed out compared to some of the other shots that I feel like really quite orange. I think that
I maybe needed to step back for a few days and then come back as I find doing so helps me realise
what I initially don’t like and would help me realise what shots need recolouring.
– In the same peer feedback, it’s stated that the editing style could be a little bit faster to showcase
dynamic and speed. I agree that the editing style could benefit from a faster pace. Watching the
video back myself, I feel as if there were sometimes that I had used the pace of the editing to my
advantage, for example the yo-yo effect with one long shot and then a fast shot in the middle and
the long shot to slow the pace down for the end. But there were definitely times when the pacing of
the editing was not considered and I just slapped the shots together not thinking that the pacing of
the editing would matter.

29. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
– Although I agree that a version of the advert with music would be beneficial, I disagree with the idea
that it is needed. I feel as if this might be due to the fact that being very into mountain bike films and
adverts, as they're basically just mountain bike films now, I notice the sound of the bike on the
ground in a different way to people who do not watch them. The sound of the bike has become a
new way to enhance the videos published instead of using music and the enhanced sound of the
bike was what I was going for. But I suppose since it wasn’t completely enhanced and fully noticeable
like I was hoping to go for.
– I disagree with the statement that the animated logo looked good. Maybe because I have watched it
many times and have realised the faults, but I feel as if the animated logo could be a lot better. I
think it’s kind of minimalistic and could have maybe done with more of an intricate design animation
wise. And because I had created the animation with the wrong aspect ratio, when I put it into
premiere I need to increase the scale making the quality worse.
– I don’t fully disagree with the statement that the close up shot of the gears looked professional, but I
do feel as if it could be a lot better. Looking back at the shot, I don’t like the handheld shot used for
it. If I were to create this shot again, I’d like to try and create it in a way that made it a lot more
stable. Possibly with a gimbal, but looking back at the shot, I feel as if a rig that could be attached to
the bike with the camera facing the gears would be really cool and work really well.

30. Peer Feedback Summary
• What changes would you make to your product based upon
your peer feedback and why?
– If I were to make changes to my product after I have been give this peer feedback. I’d clearly have to
make a version with music as it’s one aspect the people seem to feel that it needs. But if I was to
create this version with music, I wouldn’t just add music, I’d like I said create a whole new version
that would also have the shoots cut to the beat and not just the same add with music on it. I was
planning on trying to make this version of the advert, but I didn’t get the time to make it.
– Another change that I’d make to my advert after this peer feedback would be to try and spend more
time on colour correction. I said earlier that there are some shots that I should've given more
attention, but if I had the time and chance, I’d like to try and go through all the shots in the advert
and have another go at trying to recolour them as I feel as if there was a lot of potential in the shots
that I didn’t fully grasp and try and reveal.
– Another change that I’d make to my advert after this feedback would be the animated logo at the
start. One change that wouldn’t be too hard to make and wouldn’t add much, I just feel that it would
make it that slight bit better would be to create the same animation again with a bigger aspect ratio
so that it would be better quality for the advert. But I’d also like to try and create a version of the
animation that was a bit more difficult as I feel as if the one I have used for the advert is maybe a bit
simple and slightly boring.