1. Evaluation
• Identify the characteristics and styles of factual production that you
deployed
• Explain your decisions regarding contexts and characteristics
• Compare/contrast your production work to 2 or 3 relevant examples of
professional production [consider characteristics, styles, technical aspects,
etc]
• Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your production from your own
perspective – what do you think worked, didn’t work, etc
• Create an action plan based on your evaluation listing development points
for future production work – e.g. organisational skills, time management,
technical aspects, conceptually, research, etc

2. Identify the characteristics and styles of factual production that you deployed. Explain your decisions regarding contexts and
characteristics
I used many styles and characteristics in my production, for example I used voiceovers to make my product seem more like a
factual piece of media work. This also helped me put across information to my audience a lot easier rather than having text on
screen in my video as it allowed me to present my research in the styles I wanted. I did this by using a voice recorder and editing
it in over the top of the video which correlated so it was fitting with what was being said in the voiceover. Another characteristic
and style of my product would be the old super 8 film look I used to show off some of my editing skills, although this wasn’t very
factual it helped give my product a more entertaining look and also challenged me to make something that could've been
potentially boring a bit more creative and interesting. However I do feel like it does give a bit of a more professional look to the
video as it seems higher budget. I did this by using online tutorials and following these tutorials on Adobe Premiere Pro, this was
fairly simple as I managed to find an online template and edit to my liking. One more style and characteristic I used was the use
of an interview, this is because I wanted to give the audience a very realistic look inside the industry from someone who has
actual experience to reflect on. This made my product have a very useful technique used in many other short documentary's and
other factual pieces of media which made it more authentic and much more like a factual production. I also did this by filming
the interview with a DSLR camera, RODE microphone and an audio recorder then editing them all together in post. I also used
primary and secondary research in my product as another characteristic and style of factual production since it is the core to any
factual media piece, this is what my whole product is based on and what I wanted to explore when making a factual product. This
made the information more creditable as it came from reliable sources which I gathered from online and in person, this
information helped me present what my product is about and why I am making my product. I also made an intro sequence with a
title and outro because I think it makes my product look more professional since it would most likely be found in any other
factual products and short docs. I did this by using Adobe Premiere Pro and using stock footage which I edited over to give it a
blank film look along with the text. One last characteristic and style I used in my product was in post production, I edited my
interviews audio to have less noise as the audio sounded very grainy and I also edited all the fillers my interviewee used in his
sentences. This made my product seem more professional and helped keep my product from being boring and too long, I did this
in Adobe Premiere Pro again and just cut up the interview into segments along with adding a noise reduction filter.

3. Example 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ3w99trVUk - Mac Miller - Stopped Making Excuses (Documentary)
This product is a look into the last 6 years of rapper mac millers life and career after
breaking out as a successful artist, when watching this product you can see that it starts off
with an intro sequence similar to mine. These intro sequences work very well in both
products to create a start up which helps give the audience a good understanding on what
they're about to watch.
This product also used interviews as did mine, these interviews helped give insight and
context into the product itself and the interviewee. The interview in this product allowed to
give a personal look inside the life of Mac Miller, the interview in this product is much more
personal and a lot more informal making it very entertaining. I think my products interview
differs from this one because it was a lot more formal and slightly less entertaining which is
mostly due to the fact that my interviewee isn't used to being in front of a camera therefore
isn't as comfortable and easy going when answering questions
The difference between these two products are that one is almost a bio pic and my product is a look into the media industry. My
product focuses on analysing the media industry itself and what its like to be working on film sets, whereas the “Stopped Making
Excuses” documentary is about the personal life of a rapper and his rise to fame whilst also openly talking about his substance
abuse. Another difference between these two products is that the “stopped making excuses” documentary was made using a
much higher budget and proffesionals, I think that this allows the documentary to look a lot better and also allows the producers
to add more interesting content because they have more accessible sources and equipment. My product was made on a near to
nothing budget, unfortunately this effected my products quality a little bit but I feel like I managed to do well with what was
available.

4. Example 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L72G8TLtTCk
This product looks at how a man lived in alone in the woods for 40 years
and also helped scientists with the research he conducted out of boredom.
The product starts off with a cinematic intro sequence, this helps set the
tone for the video and eases into introducing the main focus of the product
Billy Barr. This is similar to my product as I also created an intro sequence to
ease the audience into what they're watching, both contained cinematic
shots and a title to the products.
When playing the intro sequence the product addresses the audience and directly asks them a question, my product asked
questions but they were more like titles to topics I wanted to cover. I think the technique of addressing the audience and directly
asking questions is very useful and would be something I would like to use in the future in my own creations as it helps involve
the audience into the product and will help with their reception to the contents of the film. I think this will also help intrigue the
audience which will keep them watching. Further in the product Billy Barr is then interviewed and goes onto talk about his
research and how he survives out in the snow by himself on a cabin, This is also very similar to my product as I have included an
interview in my own product, this allows to give personal insight into the what the interviewee is talking about or the topic of the
product. One more similarity is the background music, using this background music helps immerse the audience in the product
especially since it creates a mood for the video and has to match the contents of the product. Using music also makes the
products seem more professional and can also help keep the product interesting and not boring. Although there are many
similarities there are some differences, for example the National Geographic product is a lot more professional since it was made
by skilled professionals unlike my product which was made on a low budget and limited equipment/resources. Another
difference is that the national geographic product uses a lot more different camera angles and uses the interview footage as a
voiceover on top of cinematic footage. this helps keep the audiences attention as just having the interview footage alone could
prove to be a very boring viewing experience for the audience, unfortunately this is what I've done in my product and would be
something I would go back and change

5. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your production from your own perspective – what do you think worked, didn’t work,
etc
My product has many strengths and weaknesses, for example I think some strengths to my product was the old 8mm film
look, personally this is one of my favourite features because it makes my product seem more unique and also allows me to
show off my editing skills. I also think another strength would be that by creating this product the contents allowed me to
actually look into future opportunities and even educated me on what possibilities I could pursue. One more strength to my
product would be the rolling film reel transition between footage, I think this because it makes my product more creative,
unique and allowed me to become more experienced within Adobe Premiere. Although there were many strengths there
were also many weaknesses for example, the audio in my interview was very static and had a lot of noise. I slightly fixed this
by using a “denoiser” effect in premiere although this made the audio sound very tinny which ultimately meant that I had to
lower the volume of this audio so it wasn’t as prominent, Unfortunately this came at a cost which now meant I had to lower
the audio on all the tracks so that the interview audio was to a similar loudness as the voice over and background music. This
created my products audio to be very quiet if the audience didn’t up the volume on their devices. Another weakness to my
product would also be the footage, I personally think that the voice over footage is okay but wasn’t up to the standards of my
hopeful intentions. I would’ve hoped to add more relevant footage and images of what the voiceover was talking about. One
more weakness to my product was also the interview, although this was a very useful and important part of my product and
could be considered as a strength I think that it dragged out and was very boring for the audience to watch along with the
tinny audio. I tried to save this footage by adding some relevant images over the top of the footage and by cutting it down as
much as possible.

6. Create an action plan based on your evaluation listing development points for future production work – e.g. organisational
skills, time management, technical aspects, conceptually, research, etc
In future I will set out an action plan, I will focus on dividing my time between planning and production sustainably. I
also plan on meeting deadlines whilst also having time to review my products in full detail, to have a successful action
plan I also need to spend more time in college with the resources that will help me complete my products or planning. I
will also need to spend time out of college to study more techniques I can implement into my products using adobe
programs, therefore this will allow me to have the knowledge prior to production. In future I also plan on making
multiple backups of my work and having organised files.

7. The FADER. (2016). Mac Miller - Stopped Making Excuses (Documentary). Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ3w99trVUk. Last accessed 28th Nov 2018.
Bibliography
Tall Story Films. (2014). A Place Like This (Documentary Short Film).Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_WzVVndUCY. Last accessed 28th Nov 2018.