This summary provides the key details from the document in 3 sentences: The document outlines a student's final major project which was a documentary about the mod subculture in Margate, UK from the 1960s. The student conducted research including viewing other films and documentaries. The outcome was a short documentary incorporating interviews with the student's grandparents who were mods, relevant music, and footage of Margate to portray the liveliness of the mod scene.

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

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?
• My Final Major Project was based on Mod Subculture in Margate, a group who
became relevant in the 1960s, when the mods and rockers were popular due to
their violent conflict and music. My documentary focuses on how it was at the
time, but also mentions the impact that it has had even on life today in the
seaside town.
• I was attracted to this project because I spent a lot of my childhood in Margate
due to my grandparents living there, my mum grew up in the 70s and I have
always been told about the mods and rockers visiting, and how different things
were when they were around, so I decided to find out even more information and
put it into my project.

4. What research did you undertake and how
did it help develop your project?
• When conducting my research, I started by looking at existing products, such as
films and documentaries, the first product I looked at was the film
‘Quadrophenia’ a mod inspired film written by Pete Townshend, lead singer of
the who. This film focuses a lot on music, as The Who released an entire album to
accompany the film. So, this helped me to decide that I also needed to include
songs that fit in with the documentary, to give it a more authentic feeling.
• I also looked into a few documentaries, these gave me a much better
understanding of what questions I needed to ask, I also realized a few topics that
were essential to focus on when speaking about Margate, such as Dreamland,
which played a huge role in most peoples lives at the time.

5. How did you develop and improve your ideas
throughout the project?
• My ideas developed quite early into the production of my documentary, my
original plan was to focus on the mods as well as the rockers and speak more
about the conflict between the two groups, but I realized that it was a better idea
to make the documentary on just the mods, as I had access to a lot more
information about them, and my interviewees were even mods themselves!
• I was also not planning on travelling anywhere for my FMP. And using archival
footage with a voiceover and an interview done using skype or on Facetime, it
was a good idea travel as I have my own footage now, and an interview which has
been filmed properly.

6. What was the outcome of the project/task?
• The outcome of my project was a short documentary that includes relevant
music, interviews and footage. I used a song right at the start which I think
worked perfectly with the footage, the video opens with about 150 people on
scooters racing around the main road in Margate, I used a song named ‘The Wah
Watusi’ which is very upbeat and energetic. Also whilst this song was playing, I
showed some footage that I got of Margate.
• I then included my interview, I interviewed my grandparents because in the 60’s
they were mods themselves who lived in Margate. We spoke about clothes,
music, places they would hang out etc. After the interview, the documentary
fades into ‘The Real Me’ by The Who, a song that was made for Quadrophenia
(one of my previously researched products)

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?
• I was looking forward to beginning my project. I have always had an interest in
the subculture but have never really had the time to focus and learn about the
things that I want to, so this was a great opportunity to do so. I knew from the
start that I would be able to get some good footage and be in the perfect location
because I was surrounded by it as a child.
• I also thought this would be a great opportunity to improve some skills that I
need to work on, for example animation, I used aftereffects to create a short
animation with the title of my documentary and inserted it at the very start.
• Before the project began, I was very unsure on who to interview, I didn’t know
anyone who considers themselves a mod that would be willing to take part. So, I
decided hearing about some old experiences would work just as well.

9. What do you think about your project development and
how did it help you to refine your idea?
• I think that my project development was vital in terms of reaching the end goal
that I wanted to achieve, I had an idea in my head the whole time of how I
wanted my documentary to look and feel, but if I had stuck to my original plan,
there is no way I would have been able to successfully get the product that I did.
• With the idea in my mind that I was going to travel for my Final Major Project, it
opened up a lot more possibilities. It meant that I was able to visit landmarks
associated with the mods and go to museums, to acquire additional information
that I used when conducting my interview.
• As I was in Margate, I managed to walk around and see things nearby or that had
been mentioned by someone and think if it was something that would go well in
my documentary, so by visiting I think I managed to refine my interview ideas.

10. How did you feel when the project was
completed and why?
• I was mostly satisfied when I finished my project, I was quite pleased with how it
came out, I managed to include conventions that I previously said I was going to
include, such as an interview, montage and related music. I think that I managed
to capture the aesthetic that I was looking for, I wanted the video to have a
slightly retro feel to it as the topic was mostly popular in the 1960s. I would say
that it told the message I was trying to get across, which was that even though
the mods and rockers were around in the 1960s, the liveliness and excitement
that they brought is still around today, and the culture has been changed forever.

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]
• I’m happy that I managed to get an interview done for my project, as I had not really done a proper formal
interview before it was interesting to learn about it, and what I could have done to make it look better. I
learnt that a lot of the time after a question is asked the interviewee will most likely keep speaking and start
saying other points that are closely related to the one asked at the start, which is good because more
information is important for an interview.
• I travelled to the location that my FMP was based on, which at the start of the project wasn’t my plan, but I
think this is the only way my project was going to be the best I could make it. If I didn’t go – I wouldn’t have
been able to get anywhere near as much footage but seeing everything for myself meant that I was able to
film it and then use my own footage.
• As well as being able to get my own footage for the project, I also met someone who films in Margate all the
time, who said that it was fine for me to use some of their footage in my video, so I used some footage to
really capture the aesthetic of Margate, which helped because I was unable to get much footage of scooters
and mods, due to the time of year.
• This is the first time I have been able to include music in a project, and to take advantage of this I looked
back on my research to see what songs to use, I had noticed that all the songs in other documentaries fit
with what the interviewee was saying, whether it was a voice over or throughout an interview. I used an
upbeat song for the opening that was popular when the mods took over, and for the end I used a song made
by The Who, a mod inspired band.
• I also took this as an opportunity to work on animation, a very weak point for me. I didn’t have much option
on what to animate as the whole video was filmed footage, but I made a small, mod inspired intro with the
title of the documentary on, I used the mod target and used the colours commonly renowned with the
mods, red white and blue.

13. What challenges did you face and how did you
respond to them? Try and think of at least 3...
• When I went to Margate, I tried to film as much as I possibly could, but the area is not very large
and a lot of museums I went into didn’t allow filming or photography – because of this I was left a
bit stuck as I didn’t have very much footage, to solve this problem I used archival footage, a friend
of my mum said that I can use some footage he got from a scooter rally that took place a few
weeks ago, and I inserted this into my video.
• Once I had got all the footage that I could get, I realized I wasn’t sure who to interview, I needed it
to be someone who is or was a mod, but no one in my family knew anyone who currently was, so
my only option was to interview my grandparents, who were mods in the 1960s. The information
I got from my interview was perfect, I found out all about past experiences and how life was at
the time.
• I had a problem whilst editing with a lot of my videos, and that was that they were coming out
square, as they were older video. I went about this by changing them all to be a similar size,
which I believe gave the final product the retro look I was attempting to capture. A lot of the
video's quality was poor, but I think this also made sense with the retro theme.
• Another problem I had to face was not having a proper camera with me, I used my phone to
record all the clips I have got, which I think affected the quality at the end. If I had a professional
camera, I would have been able to capture the scenes better, and the product would have been a
lot more authentic.

14. How would you rate the final piece? [think along the lines of
poor, satisfactory, good or excellent...justify your rating]
• I think that my final piece was good. I managed to implement in most of the
things I said that I wanted to, this includes a montage, interview and certain
music, the only thing I said I was going to include that I didn’t was a voiceover,
because I couldn’t find any part of the video where it would have made sense to
include it.
• The documentary itself I would say has a nice lighthearted feel to it, which is what
I was attempting to get, the music accompanied by the buzz of Margate shows
the viewers what life can be like in this town due to its history.
• The interview section of my project could have been better, as it was the first one
I have properly done I wasn’t too sure on how to go around it, if I was to do it
again, I would use a tripod, so the video would be more stable and visually
pleasing.

15. How well did your project apply the characteristics
and conventions of the medium you worked in?
• The conventions of my medium that I mentioned in my previous work were
interviews, montage, music and a voiceover.
• I was able to use three out of four of these conventions, the first one shown in
the video was the music, I used an upbeat mod inspired song named ‘Wah
Watusi’ over a clip with hundreds of mods, I think that this songs boosts the
atmosphere and really proves how exciting Margate can be.
• The next convention I used was the interview. I interviewed my grandparents, as
they used to be mods when they were younger, in the 1960’s so they have loads
of experiences that are included in the documentary.
• After this, I used a montage to show how full of life Margate still is and will
continue to be, I also implemented music in – I used a song named ‘The Real Me’
a song by the who made for Quadrophenia.
• Unfortunately, I was unable to include a voiceover, as it didn’t really fit in
anywhere appropriately, and if I put one in it would have seemed a bit too forced.

16. How did your design appeal to your target
audience?
• I used a lot of colour in my documentary, which is quite common in entertainment now, I
think it catches the eye as well as showing the eccentric life that Margate has.
• Earlier in the project I did a survey on what people are interested in seeing when they
watch a documentary, and it was sent to my target audience. The top voted response
was music, so I made sure this was something I implemented in as much as I could – to
do so, the song opens and ends with songs related to mod subculture.
• The next highest voted response was the interviews, which was the main section of the
documentary, and this is where most of the information was told, to keep it interesting
throughout I included photos of what the interviewees were talking about, so the viewer
has a better understanding of how it looks.
• I also made sure to include a lot of shots of the location itself, for the same reason –
when I went to film I walked around Margate for a whole day recording it from different
angles, I think this is important in a documentary as it can help to set the scene.

17. 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.

18. How did your skills develop during the portfolio? [remember,
skills aren't just technical, remember things like organisation,
time management, communication, etc as well]
• I developed my animation skills when complete, this is something I had been wanting to
try for a while and this was my opportunity to do so, I used premiere pro to add in
animations and learnt about key frames and how to do timings to fit in. The biggest
challenge I faced throughout was getting the text to come from different directions
without the animation looking messy, I had to slow the video down and use trial and
error to find out what looks the best whilst still making sure they are in their final place
at similar times.
• As well as animation, I think that my general editing skills have improved somewhat
whilst finishing up my project. It was new for me to have audio over a video and having
to time the two and make them fit with what the interviewee is saying. I also had to
experiment with audio fading, which was something that I hadn’t before.
• My time management is also something that I had time to work on when doing this
project, a problem of mine previously has been underestimating the time that it takes to
film, but with this in mind I set myself a lot of time to get all the shots I needed to be at a
level I was satisfied with. I spent three days in Margate and reviewed all the footage I got
to see if there was anything I needed to redo.

19. What meaning and messages did you want to
convey and were you successful?
• I wanted people to learn how much culture Margate really has, and that it
is more than just an English seaside town, I wanted to let people know that
the liveliness the mods and rockers brought with them when visiting in the
60’s lives on even until today. I tried to show this with the video clips and
footage I had acquired, and after my interview I inserted a small section of
text which mentions the amount of visitors Margate still gets, and why it
will continue to be popular.
• As well as the liveliness, I also wanted people to come away from the video
and learn something new, so I tried to add in some informative parts to the
video meaning that I could achieve this, I believe that if someone who is
less familiar with the subculture was to watch the documentary, they
would most likely learn something from it.

20. What feedback did you get from your peers
and viewings?
• music fits well with topic and with the 60s when the
interviewees were parts of the mods.
• photos support their answers well to give visual
support to viewer.
• Interview had good range of questions to teach the
viewer about a wide range of things
• there was a natural feel to the interview with it
being in their home.
• videos were a bit blurry but it felt like it was meant
to be done like that to match older topic.
•
• improvements
•
• you could add a filter to highlight the blurry look so
it adds to the retro feel.
• panning could be a bit smoother at the end and
possibly in one direction, got a bit lost
• at the end the music stopped all of a sudden so a
slight fade would help.
I am pleased that Jack mentioned that he learnt
something from watching the documentary, this
is one of the main points I was trying to get
across to the viewer. Jack mentioned that I could
have used a filter over the blurry clips to give it a
retro feel, this is a good idea because if I used a
filter the whole way – the blurriness would have
been a lot smoother.
Another thing Jack mentioned was the panning,
this is something I should have taken a bit more
consideration to, as it makes the end of the
video look a bit more messy than it had to be,
and makes it feel like an almost abrupt ending.
Also with the ending - jack said that the music
would have been better off if it faded out
instead of just ending, I definitely agree with this
because it would have made it much smoother.
(Jack Hurst)

21. What feedback did you get from your peers
and viewings?
• I liked this documentary as I
actually learnt something
because prior I had no clue
what mod culture was and
what it meant to be a mod.
the interview was really good
and informative as I now have
a good understanding of what
the culture is like. the music
fits the video perfectly
however the way I would
improve would be to maybe
compile so of your own
footage and use that to break
up the interview a little more.
Similar to Jack, Karl mentioned that he learnt
something from the documentary which I'm
really happy about because I wanted people to
take something from the video instead of just
watching it for the sake of it. Karl made a good
point of breaking up the interview and inserting
footage throughout, which isn’t something I
had thought about doing but I think that would
be a good way for the viewer to stay interested
in what they’re watching, and it is also more
visually entertaining than just still images,
which is what I did.
I have realised since reading this feedback that
it also would have been a good idea to use the
audio from the interview as a voiceover, I think
there are a few extra places I could have gone
to after conducting the interview to help the
viewer understand.
(Karl Shepherd)

22. What would you do differently in the future
and why?
• Next time I make a documentary, the main thing I am going to make sure on is having the correct
equipment, simply having a proper camera, tripod and microphone would have made so much
difference and its something that I regret not doing now. I think that using my phone was fine, but
the image went blurry on most of the video, which is something that is very obviously visually off-
putting.
• Another thing I would do is attempt to find a time of year when there is an event happening, I
struggled this time because I was limited on time, but if I was able to go to a scooter rally or a
mod music show, there is a much higher chance of me being able to get more than just one
interview, and a wider range of people could have been spoken to which leads to adding a lot
more information in the video.
• Another benefit to having some live music playing in the background is that it would have added
to the atmosphere massively, and I would be able to capture some natural emotions from people
as they are exploring and enjoying Margate.
• I would also have tried to add some more information that I had found out by myself, such as in
museums, magazines or just the existing products that I looked into before. The way this could
have been done is by using a voiceover, I could record myself speaking over some footage that I
have got previously, and the documentary would have had a much more informative feeling to it.

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

24. What personal attributes could you develop to
ensure you are working at a professional level?
• I need to ensure that my organization is on point when I’m making a documentary, which
is something I think I should have worked harder on in this project, I got a bit too ahead
of myself when filming that I wasn’t sure what to prioritize, I focused too much on the
interview and the questions I was going to ask, which lead to not having enough footage
of the location.
• Also focusing on organization, I think equipment is something big that I missed out on, I
didn’t have time to get my Canon Camera, so I was left to just use my phone, which is
fine, but the camera would have given the documentary a much more real and
professional feel to it.
• Communication is another thing that I could improve on that would most likely bring me
a benefit if I did so. There's a higher chance I would have been able to get an interview
with another person / other people if I had got the word about earlier that I was going to
visit Margate, but as it was quite last minute, I didn’t have chance to travel to another
location to meet someone.
• Simply taking my time would also have been a benefit to me, as I was walking around, I
only filmed the video clips once, but if I had got a few styles the end video might have
turned out to be a bit better and have less of a repetitive feeling to it and the shots
would stay new and interesting.