This evaluation summarizes the student's final project video bidding for Sunderland to be the UK City of Culture 2025. The student discusses their planning process and intentions for the video to showcase Sunderland from history to present through visuals and stories. The student analyzes how their video aligns with communication theories around personal identity, relationships, media messages, and regional identity. Research on the client, audiences, and similar projects informed video content and targeting. Overall, the student believes the video effectively promotes Sunderland's culture, arts, and development for the City of Culture bid while addressing some minor weaknesses in narration.

1. Evaluation
My final productforthe projectfor SunderlandCulture isabidvideowhichdisplaysSunderland
throughthe ages to presentday,endingonthe advancementandcreative transformationof the
city. In thisevaluationIwill gothroughmyplanningprocess,intentionsbehindthe piece andthe
constructionanddevelopmentof myideasintoanendproduct.
Firstly,Iwouldlike togothroughsome theoriesthatI have foundrelevanttomyownproduct.Katz
and Blumler’stheory‘UsesandGratification’canbe appliedtomyproject.Ibelieve thatif my
audience isactive,theycanuse mybidvideoas part of theirpersonal identityorrelationships.In
more detail,if theyare fromSunderland,myvideocouldencouragethemtothinkaboutwhat
makesthema ‘Mackem’- like the brief askedoriginally. I’mhopingthatitwill inspire people tothink
abouttheirroots andhow exactlythatfitsinwiththeirpersonal identity.Perhapstheycantake
elementsof the video(suchasthe sectiononheritage orcreative arts) and be able to see
themselveswithinit. Intermsof personal relationships,theycanuse the videotospark
conversationsaboutthe same
question‘whoamI’(beingfrom
Sunderland). Audiencescould
potentiallybe discussingwiththeir
grandparentsetc.to findoutmore
abouttheirfamilyhistoryandhowthat couldmake themwhotheyare today.
The secondtheoryI wouldlike toaddress
isGerber’s‘CultivationTheory’that
discussesrepeatedmessagesinmedia
havinga lastingeffectonaudiences.
Particularly,the factthatSunderland
hasn’talwayshada goodreputationwithin
media. The people of Sunderlandare no
strangerto seeingarticlesonline regarding
violence,anti-social behaviour,robberiesetcwithin
theircity.Thoughmost of these don’tmake national
news,one google searchisenoughtosee that
Sunderlandisn’taparticularlyfavoritedcity withinthe
UK. I believethata lotof my audience will be aware of
this.My videogoesagainstthisbiasandbrings
Sunderlandoutina positive lightwhichwillalso
hopefullychangespeoplesperspective onthis.Iam
presentingitinthisdifferentlightbyshowingoff the
visualsof the city throughmise enscene (Penshaw,beachetc) aswell as speakingaboutour
extensive history.ThisalsorelatestoGauntlet’s‘PickandMix’theory. Peoplewill notrelate or
choose to identifywithSunderlandforthe reasonsof crime orbad reputationwithinthe city,
however,theycouldstillchoose toside withthe heritagethatwe have.Theymaywantto use my
videoandparticularlyitssectiononheritage toidentitywith- theycould‘pickandmix’thispartof
Sunderlandtoconnectwith. Inmyvideo,Ithinkitis apparentthat I’mnot tryingto make out
Sunderlandtobe the mostperfectcity.My videoacceptsthat the cityhas flaws.These are mostly
shownthroughcamera techniquesandmise enscene- cameraisshakywhichrepresents
imperfection,asdoesthe clipsonmore gloomydayswhere the weatheris overcast.Thisishow I’m

2. hopingmyaudience will interpretitona deepermeaning-there are alwaysbothgoodandparts to
everylocation.
Goingback to the start of the project,I carriedout some researchintothe client,myaudience and
some similarproducts.These all playedasignificantpartinhelpingme decide whattodofor my
ownvideo. The researchintothe clientdefinitelyhelpedme tostartgeneratingsome ideasonwhat
I wantedtobe shownonscreen.For example,Iusedclipsfromthe National GlassCentre,
SunderlandMuseum&WinterGardenspurelybecause theyare ownedbySunderlandCultureandI
thoughtthat the clientwouldlike these buildingstobe shownoff andpromoted. Myresearchon
existingproductsalsocontributedtomyinitial ideageneration.Iwatchedandanalyzed3bidvideos
fromdifferentcountries,twoof whichhadwonthat yearand one that wasshortlisted.Thisshowed
me what sort of thingsthe judgesof this
contestwere lookingforinthe bidvideos.
For example,Ifoundthatwinningcities
tendedtohave a focuson the creative arts.
Researchonpotential audiencesalsogave
me a chance to thinkaboutwhat to include
and how to aimfor a certainaudience.As
my targetage groupwas alreadysetat 16-
25, thisgave me most of the foundation.
From there,Icarriedout some researchof
my ownusingGoogle formsandgot the greenlightfromresponsestellingme thattheywouldbe
interestedtosee the final product- these were all withinthe age bracketgiveninthe brief.
I have identifiedsomestrengthsandweaknesseswithinmyproject. Onthe strengths,Ibelievemy
editinghasbecome betterandmore experimental (e.g.transitionsthatwere onthe storyboard).
Thismakesfor a much more interestingwatchratherthana straightmontage.These have paidoff
and issomethingthatI woulddefinitelyreplicate infuture if appropriate. Ialsobelievethatmy
researchskillsare nowmore indepthandprecise,meaningIcanclearlyenvisionandtargetan
audience- thisissomethingthatIwas doingona basic level lastyearbuthave now improvedupon
and usedinthisprojecteffectively.Intermsof some weaknessesthroughoutthe project,Ithinkthat
I couldhave improvedthe narration.AsIdidn’toriginally intendtodoa narrationforthe piece,this
was puttogetherwithinthe space of a week.Ithinkif Ihad knownI wasgoingto do it fromthe
start, I couldhave wentthroughthe scripta few more timesandtweakeditabitmore. This was
thenaddedinusingPremiere Rush soIcouldn’tadjustthe volume settingaswell asonPremiere
Pro. However,thisdoesn’treallyaffectthe overallqualityof the projectandsoI am nottoo worried
aboutit- itssimplysomethingthatIwill be doingdifferentlynexttime.Ididalsocome acrossa few
hurdlesthatwere noonesfaultsuchas the coalminingexhibit(inthe SunderlandMuseum) being
closedandslightlydelayingthe editingprocessdue tohavingtogo back a secondtime whenit
reopened.

3. Finally,Ibelieve myoverall projectmeetsthe brief well.Ihave hadresponsesonmygoogle forms
that have toldme thisand also have adaptedmy workto conformwithSunderlandCultureasa
company. I have triedto reachquite a large
audience simplyusing16-25 as a guideline
and no particularrace or genderetc.Ihave
includedwhatIthoughtwouldbe interesting
to people andhope thatthere issomething
inthere for everyone.Forexample,there is
some football references(to1973 final,of
whichonlySunderlandsupporterswould
recognize the clipshownontopof the
statue).There are alsoreferencestomusic,creative arts,theatre etcsohopefullyitwillappeal toas
manypeople aspossible.IthinkIexplore the questionwell- ‘WhoamI?’- andrelate itback to
regional identityandhowthisshapeswhowe are today. It isup to the audience whattheytake from
the video,butthere isenoughtoshowwhySunderlandshouldbe cityof culture- visuals,arts,music,
developmentetc.
In conclusion,Ithinkthe projectismostlysuccessfulandwouldmake agoodbidvideofor
Sunderlandtobe Cityof Culture 2025. It showcasesall the highlightsof the cityandisheavily
inspiredbypastwinners.