This document provides guidance for evaluating a Year 2 project. It recommends using appropriate terminology, staying concise and focusing on key points when evaluating. It also provides a link to the grading matrix. The project overview section asks the student to outline the aim of their project and the activities undertaken. The student describes choosing a topic about decisions made in the 1960s to remove British rail infrastructure, filming a documentary, and basing it on a personally interesting topic. Research undertaken included analyzing existing YouTube and TV documentaries to understand different styles, and conducting a survey to gather opinions on important elements. Ideas were developed through drafts and feedback from others. The outcome was a mini documentary on the Beeching Axe, and

1. Alex Foreman
FMP Evaluation
Year Two Evaluation Template

2. Evaluation Overview
This evaluation form is designed to assist you 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

3. 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.

4. • My project was about the decisions made in the 1960s that removed vast amounts of infrastructure
from British rail. I was attracted to it as it is an area I have an existing background knowledge in. The
topic also had different areas to explore from the issues in the past that caused the Beeching Axe to the
modern environmental angle.
• I knew I wanted to work in the video sector. Having experimented with the different areas of media in
the past, filming and editing was always something I come back to. Because of the continual work in
this sector, it had become the one I was most familiar with. It reduce the amount of unknows going into
the work as I already had a basic knowledge of Premiere Pro. Having planned previous projects in the
video sector I knew the process and the best approach for planning locations and shots.
• I personally enjoy watching factual content and prefer documentary style content to fictional films such
as horrors or dramas. Because of this I am more familiar with content in this area. This was an
advantage when looking into existing examples of work. I already knew of some content I could take
inspiration from. I was able to think through what I have watched and figure out what would be the best
fit for the stye of this project. I then looked into a range of these videos in details.
• I based my work around a topic I am personally interested in. It is easier to work on something you have
a passion for as it increases your motivation. The pre-production of the project was also benefited as the
background information I already had helped me to make decisions about what to research further. As
my final piece of work on the course, I wanted it to have some character and personality. I could have
made a documentary on anything, doing one on something I care about more the project more
individual to me.
What was the theme of your project and what attracted you to it?

5. I looked into a number of different existing products. I focused my attention to videos from a range of sources:
• YouTube provided me with content that was the closest to what I was going to make. Looking into existing content helped me get a better understanding of
the style and approach I wanted to take with the production. Different channels showed me the different styles and approaches for making content.This was
useful as it broke the stereotypical image of a documentary, set by larger organizations such as the BBC. It also provided a more reasonable target for the
quality of the production. I was able to see what was possible to achieve if I put the work in.
• The larger companies were also useful. I was able to take away from the way they make a piece of work continuously flow. I took a detailed look at a Sky
News documentary on RAF Quick Reaction Alerts. I took a lot away from it.The way they did interviews, I liked how there was no messing around at the
start.The voice over and B-roll introduction made things flow well. I also liked how the audio fit together; sound is very important, if it is done right the
viewer shouldn’t have to think about it.They
• My research document investigated existing data to build a picture of the ways people travel.The government release yearly data covering different aspects of
domestic travel. I was able to look at things like the amount our population make use of private and public transport in the present day. It just built me nice
picture to work from. In terms of project development, this helped me to angle the content and influenced what I covered.
There were a number of questions I had that were specific to the project, in order to get statistics on those I created my own survey which I sent out.The
responses from this gave me picture on people's honest opinions about things that later influenced what I thought the most important elements of the project.
What research did you undertake and how did it help develop your project?

6. How did you develop and improve your ideas throughout the project?
• I did several drafts and plans as the project went on.These helped me to build on the existing concept and ideas I had.
One of the things that effected my idea the main part of planning, looking at the organizational and visual side of things. I wanted the
locations to be relevant but also accessible. Until I came to that point in the project, I hadn’t really considered some of the things I
should have.
• I ended up cutting out some of the script when it came to editing.There were a couple of reasons I did this. One of them was the
length of the video. I made too much; the length just wasn't achievable in the time period.There was also the issue that the time period
was far enough in the past, the world has changed significantly. A lot of the things I was talking about have changed or have been
completed removed from the face of the earth.The railway is something that moves on quick, and things just aren’t the same as they
used to be.This lead to me getting slightly inventive with my shots and better what I was making.
• People around me assisted with decisions. Classmates and other people around me outside of lesson were useful for idea development.
I was putting ideas up for discussion. This helped me pick through ideas and find the positives and negatives of them. Speaking through
concepts and the positives and negatives they each had helped me to iron out problems to better the final result. Sometimes when
you're in the zone and working on an idea, it can be hard to judge it. Having other people give me their opinions removed some of the
zone to enable me to judge my ideas better. The result of the development was being able to improve the initial idea.
• As the project went on, editorial decisions had to be made for the benefit of the final production. Having never written a documentary
script before, I wasn’t sure how the amount of text would translate to the length of the content. I ended up writing quite a lot on not
only the history around the Beeching Axe, but I also set a storyline and history of British Rail. It just wasn’t going to be possible to shoot
content for the over ten minutes of content I had scripted. Therefore, I had to make some cuts to the script.

7. What was the outcome of the project/task?
• Physically, the content that came out of this unit of work is a mini documentary on the beehcing axe.
• After this project, I am happier in both After Effects and Premier Pro. I have used tutorials and other online resources to help me
progress my skills in each piece of software. The area I have come the furthest in is making on screen elements. Before going into this
piece of work, I found After Effects much more confusing and challenging than I currently do. I think the way my work looks is better than
what I have made previously. Part of this is due to the experimentation I did before going out, I tried different ways of creating elements
of my video. This enabled me to pick what I thought the best technique would be.
• I have gained filming skills. The good and bad of the project has given me experience I can use to better future projects. I am more
comfortable with getting the DSLRs to create the high-quality result I want. I have previously struggled to achieve certain shots I wanted
due to the number of settings and features I didn’t know how to use. Parts of this project provided a learning curve and opportunity to
learn as I went on.
• My personal organization skills have improved. There was still a little rush to get the work submitted, just not at the same level as other
projects. I still got behind in the middle of the project, but I have bettered the way I work and managed to vastly reduce pressure before
submission.

8. 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.

9. How did you feel about the project before you started?
• Before I started, I was unsure what I wanted to do. This uncertainty continued for the first couple of weeks. It took me while to generate ideas and then a
period to settle on one and start working on it. This left me feeling unsure about the project on a whole. It made me feel pressured as I didn’t know the
direction I was going. As time want on, I eventually settled on concept I was happy with that I thought would work.
• I found the large time period quite a stressful and daunting prospect. I don’t have a great track record for time management on larger projects and the massive
scale of the project was quite overwhelming. At the same time, I didn’t feel much pressure to actually work at the beginning due to the sheer amount of time I
had available to create something. This was actually a bad thing as it delayed me in properly getting going.
• As my final piece of work, I knew I had to make something good that worked well. I think this is one of the reasons I delayed from the beginging as I just wasn’t
happy with most the ideas on the mind map. I just couldn’t see myself making them for hours on end. I wanted to show off me alongside the skills I have
gained in order to make the most impactful final piece possible.
• As a person who prefers a practical hands-on environment, I knew the written work wasn’t going to be my favorite bit of the project. This made all the context,
research and pre-production daunting . It hurt my motivation in the beginning as I wasn’t keen to do it. Not liking this element of the production process meant
that I decided from early on my production dairy would be in a video form to reduce the amount of writing in my project. This also added the benefit that I
could talk about parts of my project more easily by having them come up on screen. I know from previous work it can be hard to write about a video in a
document that will ultimately become a PDF.

10. What do you think about your project development and how did
it help you to refine your idea?
I spent a lot of time going through ideas before getting started. I like the variety of options given to me by the mind map. The way I wrote down every little idea
did benefit the final production. I was able to combine ideas to make several better concepts. From there, I picked the one I ended up using.
It took a while to get to a point where I was happy with what I was going to create. I was unsure in the early stage if my idea was going to be good enough and I
actually think the self-doubt drove me to better my end piece.
The content of the production changed as I started to plan. I removed a couple of things and added other to benefit the flow of my final piece of work. This just
made sense during the planning of the work. The original plan I had got rearranged to ultimately benefit the production.
Research did help me out. The secondary research altered the angle of my content as it provided me with an insight into what people's real-world habits are. The
government information was useful for statistics that played a key part in my video. Some of the statistics played a part in deciding shots and topics for different
elements of the content in the video. This is because there were bits of data I thought were important to leave in.
The primary research also moved my planning and later production in the right direction. I gauged people's options on matters relevant to my video to help me
angle my final piece. This told me what people actually thought of transport. As my video was about the negatives of the Beeching Axe, I used this information to
decide what would be best things to talk about to change peoples image of transport.
My project developed with time limits. Certain things were not achievable in the limited production time and budget available. This was for several reasons: it
would take too long to learn a technique then implement it, I would have to travel somewhere far to film, something would require more crew or equipment than
I had, or something was just too time consuming for it to be worth it for the end result.

11. Did you collaborate on your project or engage contributors, etc?
• Towards the end I was getting a little low on time. One of the things that became an increasing challenge was traveling around.
Unfortunately, it was not possible to get everywhere via public transport. I used my parents to give me lifts to some filming locations.
This sped up the time the filming process took. It also helped reduce the effort of carrying kit around. It was better to put the gear in the
car boot as opposed to hauling it to every possible location.
• Towards the end of the production, I interviewed two people. To be fair I did already know them; but I did have to organize and plan how
I wanted them to fit into the video. The guests offered me and any viewers a perspective on the Beeching Axes, from the point of
view of an average member of the public. Having conducted interviews for a past project, I was prepared for what I need to do. Although
I didn’t have enough time to book a second DSLR camera out, I was able to make use of my phone for a second angle. This provided a a
different source of video for me to cut to. This provided multiple opportunities. I was able to hide cuts by a simple swap of angles. It also
just helped the content to flow. It made things more interesting. In the interview with Barry; I was able to pan to the bus stop he was
near and show off some of the surrounding area without using one clunky viewpoint. I think the contributors were a great help to me
and the overall quality of my production. I always knew I wanted vary the way the story was being told to the viewer. External people
helped me with that.
• As my parents were already providing me lifts to filming locations, they were also helpful for shooting some the content. The opening
presenting to camera is shot by by mum. This was a massive help as I didn’t need to worry out a tripod on the station, something which I
know network rail can be funny about.
• As part of my ongoing evaluations. I used some of the people I know on the course to provide some feedback. It can be hard to be
certain on the way something looks as you’re going along. I feel that when in the zone, you can think certain things are good when
they’re just not. Elements in my work were guided by the people I know. They gave on on the go feedback to whether the effect I was
creating or the ideas I had actually looked good.

12. How did you feel when the project was completed and why?
• Getting the work uploaded was a good feeling. Lack of ideas delayed me in getting my project going. I also had issues with time management throughout.
This meant I was working right up to the final deadline which placed a lot of pressure on me to pull everything together. In particular my production was
behind schedule. It took me a while to get to a point where I was ready to film. This placed me in a bad position where I had to do the production in a much-
reduced period of time. I am happy with what I managed to pull together in the end. The final hand in was quite a scary prospect and there were times
where I wasn’t sure if I would meet it. I am happy with what I gave in at the deadline as I think it is a reflection of what I am capable of.
• Handing everything made the project feel worth it. All the time I committed into creating the end product and all the written work has given me a stronger
end result. As I cleared personal commitments aside to create this project, it was nice to having something to show for it.
• I am pleased with what I managed to achieve. Although my idea gas developed a long way from the original concepts, the final piece is still something I am
proud of. If anything, my ideas have developed for the better which has left me satisfied with the way y ideas moved on.
• I do wish I had spent more time on some sections. Although I like the end result, I created, I just wish I was able to commit more time to some areas. I think I
could have spent longer visual planning. My shot list did the job, and it didn’t prevent me from filming. At the same time, I don’t like all the shots and I feel
the flow in the end video would have benefited from a little more thought in the planning stages. I also feel I could have conducted more research into
relevant editing techniques.
• My lack of organization certainly slowed me down and made the project more stressful. I do have a light feeling of regret for the time I didn’t make use of. Ag

13. 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

14. 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]
I am happy with the way my video editing skills have moved forward. I think the on-screen elements
help my video along. Some of the feedback from people around me was that my video was hard to
follow in places. I then started to implement elements that backed up what I was talking about. I
added graphics to avoid people getting lost in statistics. One of the things suggested to me was the
timeline that updates with the year being focuses on. This has a good presence at the bottom of the
video and reduces confusion. I like the way the timeline works from a technical perspective. The way
the dates fade on and off makes the graphic look professional. I didn’t want the on-screen elements to
take away from the end piece and I don’t think they do. They’re not too in your face and get across
what they need to. The other graphics, I think, are well animated and are just apart of the little things
that bring the video to a higher standard.
I am also pleased with my decision to implement other on-screen elements such as the graph showing
transport emissions. The graph is well animated. To start with, I wasn’t sure how to make the text
come onto the bar. I settled for the solution of having it fade on. Overall, the graphic is simple and
effective at putting the information across to the viewer.
I love the way the footage in the background looks. I layered some video underneath and turned the
opacity down. This made it so the focus was on the bar chart, while also giving the viewers something
to look at.
The technical side of my camera operation has seen massive improvements. During the
experimentation, I was not very confident or good at filming. I am now so much more comfortable
with camera operation. The shots in the video are good. After I refined the way I film so I flipped the
screen on the camera to face me. It was way easier to get good content. I like the focus and exposure
in the shots, it separates me from the background well. There is some good contrast. I am happy with
the focus and lighting of the shots throughout the video.

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]
I think, the interviews complete the video well. They really benefit the look of the production. I
think they are one of the things that brings the grade of the work up. I now have more
experience and knowledge on collaboration with people. The interviews also gave me ways to
improve the variety of storytelling in my video.
The second camera angle in the chat with Barry makes a nice, high-quality effect. I know that I
could improve my work in the future by utilizing more than one angle during other sections. As
a minimum at least one extra static camera would help out. It could be even better if the
camera moved. I could cut the moving out just used it when it was in a new shot. This would
give the effect of multiple angles.
I think the fact I was on time with the project is positive. I have learnt the importance of managing personal time. Although I wasn’t perfect
with organization on the project, I was much better than I have previously been. I know how improved organization makes it so you are
better in the end. Having more spare time towards meant I was able to make changes to my work where improvements are needed. Without
the opportunity, I would be worse off. This means that elements in my project would be at a worse grade than they currently are. In the
future, I will make sure there is spare time in any work I do.

16. What challenges did you face and how did you respond to them?
Try and think of at least 3...
• The thing that hindered my production the most was my poor time management in the middle of the project. In order to get my work
completed within the time allocated to me I ended up working a lot in the lead up to the final hand in. I had to put other commitments and
elements of my life to one side so I could get everything completed in time. I knew this was likely to happen so cleared some time for it.
• I had issues with camera equipment availability. Delay was caused to the project by me not booking gear out in time. I did create backup
plans which I ended up having to use. My phone ended up very useful for an emergency backup option. There isn’t a phone that matches
the quality of audio from a shotgun microphone connected to a DSLR. Most smart phones have a noticeably bad microphone. During
equipment shortages, I had to focus on B-roll. It wasn’t ideal and delayed some main elements of production. I had to alter where I was
filming and when. I was able to book proper equipment at later opportunities and shuffle my schedule to use it when it was most needed.
• I hadn’t appreciated that SD cards are not very common anymore. When I first went to transfer footage, I realized I couldn’t as there wasn’t
a PC in my house that was capable of taking an SD card. I had to delay getting the footage on my laptop until college, where I was able to
make use of an SD card reader in a college pc (my laptop only takes USB C). I had to upload the contents of the card to one drive and then
download it to the local storage on my laptop. It was a delay I could have done without. Luckily, I had some spare time to get the SD card
transferred before it was due back in.

17. What were the negative points about the experience, and what could you
have done to improve them?
• I made the whole process worse with added stress by not starting work sooner. I delayed getting started on basically all elements of my work. I would have
had more time that I could have used to produce a higher quality end edit. The rush to complete everything was unnecessary stress I could have avoided. A
simple plan, schedule and list of aims would have been enough to get me through with more style than cramming everything at the last minute. Everything,
from my written work to final edit would have been so much better off.
• I didn’t leave a lot of time for the production diary. It was the last thing I did. Having to make it start to finish in a limited period left me feeling I could have
done better. I had made a few notes as I went through the project, ultimately, I had to use memory to make the final diary. It would have been far easier if i
had a detailed log of my progress and a day-to-day sheet of notes to work from. I have never made a non-written production diary before, and I didn’t really
plan how I was going to create it. Had I have thought about it ahead, I could have used previous units of work to practice making video diaries. This would
have allowed me to figure out problems in advance.
• While conducting research, I created a survey that I sent out my social media pages. It was filled in by friends and family. It made it to a large enough
audience that it wasn’t a waste of time, and it did help me out. However, there are forums, pages and groups I could have dropped it into that would have
increased the sample size of the results. From this, my data would be more accurate.
• There was a shortage of camera equipment. As the Easter Holdiay came around, everyone booked out camera gear. Because of bad planning and time
management, I didn’t get to the form to request equipment before it was all out already. If I had been more prepared, I would have booked equipment out
well in advance to make sure I got it. This would have given more time for me to film which would have give more leeway for bad shots and filming days not
going to plan.
• The first time it came to transferring some footage to my laptop, I realized I didn’t have an SD card reader. I had to wait several days to go into college and
get a USB adaptor in order to move the footage across. This is another delay I didn’t need. If I had more time left in the project the experience would have
been less of an issue. By this point, I was running low on spare time.

18. How would you rate the final piece? [think along the lines of poor, satisfactory, good
or excellent...justify your rating]
• During the time limit and with the setbacks, I think I managed to create something that falls in line with how I initially envisioned it to.
The project has improved my technical skills in both production and postproduction. I have implemented new techniques into my final
piece. I think the on-screen graphics such as timelines create a good effect on the end product. The filming is to a level I would rate as
good. I have previously struggled with the settings of cameras and their general operation There have been some poor technical
moments in other projects. I am happy that these haven’t popped up during the FMP. The editing has crafted everything together well.
• The audio is good. There are good balanced levels between music and speaking. The speech itself is consistent and their aren’t drastic
level changes between the shots. There was an issue at Leeds station with trains making too much noise and drowning me out when
they went past. The only way to combat this was by cutting the filming part way through. Trains were just too consistent.
• The presentation of the work via my Wix portfolio is good. The site looks nice. I have used the site as a main fallback for all advertising.
The site is something I am proud to link people towards.
• I think the content itself and the way the story gets told is good. The viewers are presented with a well crafted story that does what I
originally wanted it to.

19. How well did your project apply the characteristics and
conventions of the medium you worked in?
• I took inspiration from existing products to better my final piece. My research helped me to
gauge the way content in a similar style is usually produced. I don’t think my content follows a
vastly different structure to a mini length production by someone like the BBC. Looking at the
RAF Quick Reaction Alert documentary, it follows a similar structure. In my production, there is a
mix of to camera presentation, interviews and voice over. I would say I have more presenting to
camera; however, I don’t think I have too much. The RAF mini doc tells a story covering past and
present. I think I also cover this variety. It breaks up what could otherwise be constant and a little
boring.
• I’m possibly closest to the YouTube side of the things. A lot of my content is self shot presenting.
This creates the similar vlog style which you may see in videos that I looked into by channels such
as Geoff Marshall. I think I match the chatty and not overly serious style.
• I have also included some on screen graphics and elements. These also feature in YouTube videos.
There are also some in bigger budget content as well. The BBC documentary on the Elizabeth line
has some route maps and other items. The YouTube ones are possibly the closest to the type I
created and included in my own work.
YouTube Graphic More complex BBC graphic.
• I noticed; some parts of content from the
larger organizations featured extra on-screen
information. I used this to label some locations
and give the names of the guests. This just
kept the flow going a little better. I didn’t have
to stop and read the information to keep
things moving.

20. How well did your project apply the characteristics and conventions of the medium you
worked in?
• Making a little video for YouTube is different to making an hour-long piece of content for the
BBC. YouTube doesn’t need so many different people and locations involved. Looking at
other YouTube videos they are mainly one or two people telling a story. I think I fell in line
with the storytelling element of YouTube. The video is an effort by me and is about how I
chose to relay the content.
• The content I looked at featured at least one guest. I fit into this convention well as I had two.
I am more in line with the type of guests in YouTube videos. They were giving opinions in a
vox pop style. I found this to be common in YouTube content where the presenter would go
to a new line, station or try a new train. People would give their opinions. I would be in line
with larger companies if I was to feature knowledgeable guests from organizations or
companies. I found that it was going to be hard to get an ”expert” as a guest within the time
period.
• On a whole, the video just ticks documentary boxes. The presenting, interviews, structure
and content are all similar to both YouTube content and content put out by larger media
production companies. The presentation has good style to it. Its lighthearted enough that it
has a welcoming ever so slightly chatty feel to it, just not so much that there's too many
lighthearted moments.

21. How did you design appeal to your target audience?
• My aim was to create something that appealed to more than just train enthusiasts. I wanted my short documentary to provided a fact
and evidence-based insight and opinion into the Beeching Axes, in the 1960s. I think I have met this well. I was conscious to not make
assumptions about what people already know and I tried my best to provide as much context as possible. The video doesn’t make
reference that others are unlikely to understand. Again, this stops people from being excluded just because they don’t have an existing
knowledge.
• I wanted to present the work in an appropriate style. A documentary is a factual piece of work. It doesn’t need to be over the top with
loads of music. I aimed to create something that hooks the viewers in and keeps them engaged, while also not being too in your face.
During the video I mentioned some of the things that would be coming up later as a way of stopping viewers from losing interest. I
decided to do this subtlety as a way of maintaining style.
• I had a fairly large target age range. I think I have done my best to make video inclusive to that large range of ages. I chose to strike a
balance for transitions and on-screen graphics and effects. I didn’t want to create something that featured too many over the top
elements. I thought this was likely to take away from the content in the video. Loads of in-your-face editing would only make the video
more desirable for young people and could turn others away. I chose to try and provide enough variations in the content so young
people don’t turn the video off. I think I have done the best to meet the style of content likely to appeal to a large audience.

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?
• Despite the issues that I faced along the way, the end product was what I set out to make. When I initially planned the work, I wanted to
create a video that was engaging to a large audience, focused on real world issues and focused on something I cared about. I have made
a niche topic as interesting as I could to a larger audience. The style of video is something that I would watch myself. This helped me
along the way as existing product research was made easier by the background knowledge I already have.
• I have gained new skills that I can use working with video in the future. Using online resources, I have managed to better my editing skills
in After Effects and Premiere Pro. This increased the quality and production value of my final piece as I was able to use new techniques,
transitions and effects. I also find using a DSLR camera much less of a challenge. I am now far more familiar with the settings and
features. I gained more skill in this area by getting some initial guidance from a tutor then going out and experimenting with one in
different areas. I also took the chance to place the footage I capture into Premiere Pro; this then showed me what is correctable in
postproduction and what isn’t.
• I have increased my own confidence levels filming on location. When I started on the course, I found it very awkward to film outside
with random people around. Over passed projects, I became more comfortable with shooting in public. This piece of work once again
took me outside and made me film on location, sometimes presenting to camera. My confidence has increased because of this and
ultimately it has made me a better film maker.

24. What elements did not go well and why?
• The camera equipment provided by college is not the best at recording video. The cameras are designed for photography and are much
better for this purpose. When reviewing footage, I found it didn’t always look as I hoped it would. Moving shots were the issue. The
cameras don’t have auto focus and were very hard to track a moving subject with. There were a couple of shots that got cut from the
end production due to the lack of focus. It was almost impossible to tell how in focus you were once pressing record due to the small
screen size. I did eventually get better at shooting; it just took some time. Some of the later filming, where I present to camera, is much
better. It’s the earlier filming days that I felt could have been a lot better. In fact, a lot of the footage I shot in the very early days didn’t
make the edit as I was so unimpressed by it. The color of the raw footage was also pretty poor, its quite bland and I found it needed a
lot of correction in postproduction. I was able to rectify any issues within Premier Pro, it would have been nice to not have to spend as
long playing around with it.
• The stability of the cameras also wasn’t great. I needed to add the warp stabilizer effect in every clip I had shot with a college camera.
Without it, the footage was all over the place and had an unprofessional wobble to it. The warp stabilizer itself wasn’t fantastic. It had
the habit of adding distortion the footage. If you look, you can see the video getting a little warped during some of the shots. I knew
from experimentations, there may be some issue. I wasn’t expecting every warp stabilizer use to be perfect. There was a lot of fiddling
with settings to get the best out of the effect.
• Zooming in the camera added to the issue as it amplified the shake. This was fixable by using a tripod, however not every shot could be
static. Tripods are also clunky to carry around, so I prefer to avoid them where possible. One of the hinderances I ran into was Network
Rail preferring you didn’t make use of a tripod. Being as respectful as possible, I made sure to film handheld; or just find an alternative
solution. I did find work arounds, but it wasn’t ideal. There are some shots of trains moving that would have been way better with a
tripod for steady movement.
• Although a lot of the issues were fixable, they were all time consuming. My project was delayed by me having to fix them. It would have
been better if I didn’t have to spend so much time on color and stabilization.

25. What elements did not go well and why?
I should have thought more about the shots in advance. It ended up a challenge to get enough footage for the full video. Part of the issue
was the time period for the content of the video. Covering the mid 1900s is hard because there aren’t many relevant locations that still
exist. Because of this, I chose to not shoot the whole video at old locations and some of it contains shots that I just thought would look
good in the end piece. I probably should have thought about the issues around a documentary on the past while going into the project and
prepared better.
Filming with college camera equipment was a pain. It took a while to get the settings and options correct. They are definitely not the type
of cameras you can just press record on and hope for the best. I was using a Cannon 600d, I found the focus to be temperamental. It
created a really nice high quality effect while the camera was mounted to a tripod and focused on a static subject. Where the camera
struggled with focus was when it wasn't mounted static, or the subject was moving. I would say the DSLR filming was probably the biggest
let down of the project. It just wasn’t as I hoped it would be. The end result was footage that didn’t compare to what could be shot
elsewhere. Even a modern smartphone beat the camera for moving subjects.
After visiting location, I was disappointed with the way the footage looked when I reviewed it. I had higher expectations for the quality and
the first location lowered these very quickly.
There was also the moment where I forgot the SD card for the camera. This wasn’t good on location when I realized I couldn’t film
anything. This was more my own organizational issues than the fault of the camera. It was still something I could have done without. I
would say this wins the award for stupidest moment of the production.

26. How did your skills develop during the portfolio? [remember, skills aren't
just technical, remember things like organisation, time management,
communication, etc as well]
In the modern world, there is a need to move around. People need to go to work to keep society functioning. Other people have familly and friends to go and
visit. Everyone relies on moving large distances at some point. With growing concerns about the enviroment I wanted to create a piece of work that showed
the power of the rail network we once had. I wanted to educate and tell the story of how we are in the current situation.
This project was helped by other people's opinions. I have developed my skills in working with others. In the past, I have found it hard to
use the people around me for review on what I have made. For example, although they were made by me, the timeline graphics were
added because of someone else. I was given the feedback that some of the content I made was hard to follow in places. Someone
suggested having the year on the screen. I therefore set out to make an animated timeline. I do agree with the feedback, this helps locate
you in the final video.
In this project After Effects has been really useful to me. It is the 1st time I have used it to create effects that make use of its exclusive
features. I am now comfortable in the layout of the software. I have developed in my ability to use the different features. I used new
effects and features. Ultimately this has been educational and will benefit me in the future as I now have a much more varied knowledge
of effects for video. The on-screen elements keep the end product interesting and improved the viewing experience.
This project has been a step forward in personal organization. I was able to deliver the final piece more on time than previous units of
work. There was a little bit of a rush to meet exam board deadlines as not everything was perfect. However, the rush wasn’t as bad as
previous pieces of work. I have a high quality, less thrown together product as a result.
I would say my confidence has increased, especially as an independent film maker. In the Year 1 FMP, I didn’t really know what I was doing.
This meant the work was quite messy and I don’t think I had a presence or was very comfortable as a presenter.

27. What meaning and messages did you want to convey and were you successful?
In the modern world, there is a need to move around. People need to go to work to keep society functioning. Other people have familly
and friends to go and visit. Everyone relies on moving large distances at some point. With growing concerns about the environment, I
wanted to create a piece of work that showed the power of the rail network we once had. I wanted to educate and tell the story of how
we are in the current situation. I think I was successful in giving a detailed story that explains the reasons behind the beeching axe. Why it
happened…. Who was involved…. What the aim was… What the arguments for and against are.
Ultimately, I wanted to provide a platform to an issue that some people are not even aware of. A lot of people that are aware only have a
limited understanding. I think it is important that people have a past and present political understanding. If the general population are not
aware and don’t care about the decisions being made at the top, anything can happen. I think I have been successful in getting across a
story of only working with money in mind and the negative effect such an approach can have to the average person.
I wanted my viewpoint to come across, but in a balanced way. Although I could do it, its probably not right to create something that only
focuses on what I think. People need some space to develop their own ideas and viewpoints. I think I struck this balance well. You are able
to see my viewpoint, but I don’t think its overpowering and isn’t too pressuring.

28. What feedback did you get from your peers and viewings?
• The onscreen text and other effects improve the flow of the video. You text animations are cool. I like how writing doesn’t
just appear and transitions onto the screen. The main titles create a really nice way of fading out the train video before.
• I think there could have been more camera angles when presenting to camera. Another shot may make it more exciting. I like
the way the voice over is done. Its nice and clear; the recording sounds nice.
• The audio is mostly high quality. It could be improved in places. There is a point in one of the stations where there is a lot of
background noise. It overpowers the speaking. You could have found a better location for the audio. The levels are fine
throughout the rest of the video and the audio is consistent.
• It good. I like the creativity of the idea. It very cleaver. I wish the camera movements were better, they are a little shaky. At
some points, the shots don’t flow as well as they could do.
• The style of creation works well for you and the content. The talking bits are surprisingly well done. I like the location
transitions. I feel like I know what’s going on. I got lost is some other FMPs, but your story is well set out.

29. What would you do differently in the future and why?
• I would spend more time on the production of the project. I find written work is quite a challenging part of a college project and it
does take up a lot of my time. I ended up with a reduced frame of time to create the actual video, purely because the stuff before it
delayed me. I would just make sure there was enough production time to get everything properly made to the best of my ability. In
this piece of work, the production was probably the element I spent the least amount of time on.
• If I had the chance, it would be good to include more people in my productions. A think an extra crew member would have increased
the production of the pieces of my video where I am presenting to camera. The extra angle would have given me more options. I
could have thrown more inventive angles in the mix. Although things turned out alright in the end, it may be nice to have someone
monitoring audio. There was no way I was going to be easily able to monitor the levels on location, while still looking professional.
There is a shot at Leeds Station where the train in the background is making too much noise and its just overpowering. If I was able to
monitor the audio in real time, this may have been avoidable. Its just on of the ways I could improve quality.
• I would have liked the chance to experiment with audio recording before going to location. In the future, I would make sure there
isn’t a static hiss the background of the voice recordings. It not only reduces the overall quality of the audio, but fixing it takes
valuable time away. The other option is to go and re-record segments of video which is even more time consuming, especially if
location are a long way away. I would also make sure to go through my footage sooner. I kept recording without properly reviewing
the errors this meant I just wasn’t aware things had gone wrong.
• I would check footage more quickly. Again, there were no huge issues this time around, but I wasn’t checking the footage I had taken
before going back out to film. This meant I didn’t know how the footage looked on a decent sized screen and if there was anything
wrong with the camera or the way I had it set up I wasn’t able to change it.
• I would take for than 16gb of storage. I found the SD card I took filled up too quickly. On one of the locations, I had to go through
footage and delete some as the camera just stopped due to being full.

30. 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?
• My planning skills have progressed. I know much more about planning out
locations. It turns out that there is a lot to think into when picking out
locations. For example, Leeds gave me issues with loud background noise. I
could have improved my project by being more aware of the noise issues. Its
just another thing to think about before you start filming.
• Open street map helped me massively during the planning. Its definitely
something I should have used right from the start. It provides the benefit of
different layers to work with. They separate the map out. One of the options
the layers give you is a transport map. This very clearly highlights rail lines on
in black. It can just make the planning easier if you don’t have to fight through
Google satellite view to follow rail lines. I am then able to use this in
conjunction with google maps to find places to film. I used a shot of a
Northern Train in my video. This was taken from below the track having been
scouted by Open Street Map. I did also use google maps. Their imagery is just
better. This helps when figuring out exactly where I am going to film from. I
have more chance to see the area and work around issues that may be in my
way.

31. 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 have picked up a lot more knowledge about using college camera equipment. Going into this unit, I was
not the most comfortable using DSLRS in an environment that has varying light levels and a subject not in a
constant place, like the outside.
It was a challenge for me to get to grips with the camera. I used tutor help for this. I was shown the basic
settings such as exposure and ISO. I then progressed skills through my own trial and error. I also used some
YouTube content to improve myself. If was to re film the project, I think the video would be higher quality.
My framing, camera movements and lighting have come on since I started, and I think it would reflect in
what I was able to create.
The interviews in my FMP were some of the last things I shot, you can see how the quality cam on
compared to other footage. If was to go back again, I would like to think the rest of my work would be as
well framed, focused and lit.
Another thing that has come on, is my ability to implement effects and graphics. Now I am more
comfortable with the processes in After Effects and Illustrator, I would be spending less time on figuring out
how to do things and more time on making things happen. Looking at my current work, I could move the
quality on by creating more effects. Some of the text animations were from stock libraries and it would be
better to create them myself from scratch. They are not bad animations, its just more professional and
authentic if you make things yourself. The other benefit of course is lower cost. Being an independent film
maker, I don’t work for a large company that I can bill for the things I license.
My software knowledge has mostly come from trying things out as well as using online material from
YouTube and blogs. It was a great help being able to look up the solutions to specific problems. If I wasn’t
sure how to make an effect work, I just googled it. The freedom of looking at vast amounts of online
material made it so I was able to get specific ideas out my head and into reality.

32. 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?
During the project, I have figured out more ways of making audio work. Going into the project, I was going to have music the whole way
through as I wasn’t sure how I would edit it in and out or if that was even the right thing to do. I am now aware that sticking music at a
constant level under everything is not the way to go. As I went along, I figured out that I could improve my work by fading the music
around me talking. You can see the effect of this at the crimple viaduct and the interviews (I didn’t edit from start to finish. I did sections).
The crimple viaduct has the music fade in and out for specific moments. There is even a small music montage thing thrown in at one point.
If I was to start the edit from scratch, I would bring the music in and out more. I don’t think it ads anything to me talking. I've looked at
other existing products in hindsight and they don’t have music the whole way. Grand designs for example has very little music. I guess
when somethings an hour long soundtracking the whole thing isn’t reasonable.
My filming skills developed as time went on. It’s likely that if I was to go back and recapture elements of my project, I could improve the
look. I know that some shots I took didn’t have the best movement to them. I wasn’t really thinking about how the way the camera was
moving and the way this would look blended into the other parts of my production. Knowing which shots in my production worked best, I
am confident I could go back and improve some of the bad quality ones. I would pay more attention to the angles I was shooting at and
focus more on thinking about the journey of the camera. I would be more aware of what the viewer can see from start to finish.
If was to go back, I would enter the edit process with increased knowledge of the different software and techniques and elements within
it. This would mean, I spend less time worrying about how to get the software to actually function and more time on polishing effects to
make them as nice looking and well functioning as possible. Online resources have aided me through the edit process. I have used YouTube
for tutorials. I found these very useful as I could pause and rewind at certain points to understand a particular section of video. If I wasn’t
quite getting an element of the video, I could just watch it again.

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

34. If you were making a similar project in the future, what would you do differently?
• One of things that became slightly hard to produce was the production diary. I opted to create most the write up towards the end. The
issue, I failed to take notes during the project and was subsequently left having to remember what I did at what point. In the future, if I
have to make another diary, I will make sure to produce a log of what I do on what day. I would also take screenshots, screen recordings,
photos and videos as I went along. I think I just made the diary process more complex than it necessarily needed to be. I think, I would
also opt to make the diary as I went along.
• It may sound obvious, but a documentary is all about information. I would make sure to look further into the topic I am focusing on. The
research I did around the Beeching Axe wasn’t enough to write out my script. I ended up having to use YouTube videos and online
resources as I went. I could have gained more information before rather than doing it as I went along. The other thing with the script is
that I didn’t actually use all of it. I realized that the video may get slightly dull if it was all just script to camera. I chose to break things up
a little with some other elements. Now I know that not using just script is something that works well, I can plan for it. If I do something
similar in the future, I can leave some space for presenting on the spot at some locations. By not relying on scripts for everything, I do
think the video can be made more natural. This is a style I like anyway. I think its good to build a friendly atmosphere for people.
• If it was a college project, I would hand in my work more as I went along. I could improve my final result by using tutor feedback as I
went. I didn’t start handing much work in until right at the end of the process. This added stress as I had less time to fix anything that
was wrong. I think everything I did on the project could have been better with more feedback.
• When coming up with ideas, I would start to look into and think about what shots would be possible and how I would cover certain
elements of the video with footage. I Realized later in the project that getting enough footage to cover all the voice over was not going
to be the easiest. The time period I chose to focus my video on was the thing that affected me the most. Talking about things that no
longer exist from 60 years ago is quite hard to film. During future planning, I would think about the possible filming locations and
subjects. Even if there wasn’t things to film, I would have more time for work arounds such as interviewing knowledgeable people to
get them to help tell the story.

35. What personal attributes could you develop to ensure you are working at a professional level?
One of the things that hindered my progress through the project was my lack of organizational skills. To bring myself to work at a
professional level I need to work on this. I need strategies to stop myself falling behind schedule. The last few weeks of work were a rush
to get content in for the deadlines. In a professional environment, I could have a team of people working around me. In this situation I can
not fall behind. Not planning effectively and failing to get things done on time may cause massive complications.
The order I do things in could be altered to improve efficiency. There were times where my planning wasn’t conducted in a logical order. I
started planning some of my production before I had completed previous steps. This resulted in me planning for things that I later decided
didn’t actually fit. I was doing more work than I needed to. It broke my efficiency and resulted in lost time. In a workplace this lost time
would cost money.
I think my general technical skills could be improved. Leaving the course, I would like to go and learn video editing. In particular there is
still work for me to carry out in Premiere Pro. I managed to get a good result in this production; it is fine for what I needed. It would just be
nice to use some more advanced features as they would ultimately increase my grade.
Time is needed for more practice. I am not as efficient as I would like to be at getting what I have in my head and executing it.
I may benefit from branching out my area of work. At the moment, I have never chosen to work on anything other than documentaries. It
may be interesting to branch out. Making other productions would help me to increase my confidence as a film maker. I would be also able
to gain extra skills. These may be useful in what I chose to do after this course. I think as a film maker its important you don’t back yourself
into one genre and only work in that area. Its good to excel in one domain, but staying purely in it may not be the best decision.