The document provides an overview and evaluation of a student's year two media production project focused on creating a video game-themed guide to activities in York appealing to 16-24 year olds. The student researched their target audience and local activities. Their original idea expanded from a shopping guide to include activities based on feedback. Challenges included editing, sound, and pixel effects. Overall the project was deemed a success despite mistakes and changes needed. The student learned skills in research, editing, animation and would focus more on story and sound design for future projects.

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?
The theme of my project was to focus on activities that would appeal to the 16-to-
24-year-old age group (youths). My research showed that this group enjoy
videogame stores, gift shops and themed adventure activities like axe
throwing. My idea was to put these stores and activities in York into one guide to
attract this large demographic which have a significant amount of disposable
income they are willing to spend on their interests. The guide was made in the
style of a videogame which appeals to this young age group so for this reason, I
added pixel graphics to the real-life footage, placed pixel animated icons around it
with objectives which the player in the trailer had to follow. The graphics and icons
were made to show the atmosphere of a retro videogame and the objectives are
made to function like videogame quests, all of this is so the user will feel like they
are in an authentic video game experience. I was attracted to this idea as I enjoy
playing video games and I saw that there are so many fun activities in York related
to gaming with the potential to appeal to the 16-to-24-year-old age group that I
decided to put it into one guide.

4. What research did you undertake and how did it help
develop your project?
I researched my target audience of 16-to-24-year-olds by looking at demographic
information on the internet (for example the Office of National Statistics), completed a
survey of friends and family in the target age group asking how they like to spend their
leisure time and visited all the videogame shops, gift shops and activities around York to see
what they had to offer and speak to the staff. This research showed how my audience like to
spend their time and money and it helped me develop the theme for my guide. Using the
information I found, I came up with the Geeks and Gamers guide to York which allowed me
to curate what York has to offer to my target demographic. The data showed that this is a
sizable demographic willing to spend a large amount of their disposable income on their
interests. I researched the gamer shops and themed activities in York for my target
audience and learned of the videogame shops like Sore Thumbs Retro Arcade Videogame
Shop that sells retro games and gift shops like the Traveling Man that sells anime
merchandise. I also researched activities like axe throwing at the Hilt and crazy golf at Harry
Potter themed Hole in Wand. This research further helped develop my project by giving me
ideas on what my target audience would like and inspired me to present the guide as a
video game theme focused on a story or quest for players to go around York visiting these
stores and attractions.

5. How did you develop and improve your ideas throughout
the project?
My original idea was just to produce a shopping guide for places that sold video
games and related merchandise however I soon realized that this was too limited as
there are not enough non-national chain stores in York selling video games. From my
research, I discovered that York had many places with activities that my target
audience likes and learned that the 16-to-24-year-old age group also like a much
wider range of leisure pursuits like theme-based activities and video games
experiences. I wanted to include what video gamers like to do alongside their
gaming. This research produced a long list of activities for visitors to York instead of
just going to shops. My original idea was too limited because people would just go to
shops to get videogames, but I learned of the other fun activities in York that would
attract my target audience and that made me expand the idea form a boring
scavenger hunt to a videogame themed guide that was full of fun activities. My
research also showed that a tourist guide that was like a quest or video game played
on a mobile device was popular with my target demographic so I changed my original
idea to make the Geeks and Gamers Guide have a video game themed presentation.

6. What was the outcome of the project/task?
I believe my project was a success in the end despite its
slow production and despite little mistakes and things
having to be constantly re-edited. The project lasted 4
minutes and was surprisingly well paced and it included
every story element despite its short run time. There
were the odd mistakes in some pixel effects like a minor
pixel not being in the right place, but they were barely
noticeable. The project was also well received but it was
pointed out that I missed out sound in the opening, so I
had to go back and change that, but despite for these
needed changes, the project was completed on time.

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 and why?
When I first started the project, I was overwhelmed by the task but the longer I worked
on the project the more I liked about it. As I researched the project, I gained more focus
and clarity on my target market and what creative solutions would work best. I had
never done market research before but gained an understanding of its importance in the
creative process. I visiting the Game shops and themed activity venues around York I was
also pleasantly surprised by the kindness and willingness to help of the staff. They helped
me to understand what 16 to 24 years like, confirmed I was thinking in the right way and
gave me enthusiasm for creating a quality end-product.
I wanted to create authentic video game experience but was limited by the effects and
technologies available to me. Although my Geeks and Gamer tour is not exactly like I
want in terms of being like a real video game, it accurately shows the concept.
There were many times in the project when I thought that it was doomed to fail, or I
wouldn’t be able to get it done in time and when it came to producing the Gamer Guide, I
felt overwhelmed with having to edit everything all at once. When I finally finished the
project, I was happy with the final production given the technological limitations.

9. 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

10. What were the good points about
the project/task and what did you
learn from them?
1. The pixelation was a positive part of
the project because it made the scenes
look like a videogame. Thanks to editing
these scenes I learned how to animate
in photoshop, and I learned how to put
animation over real life footage, I also
learned how to use filters on adobe
premiere.
2. The action scenes were a good
learning experience from the project
because I learned how to plan and film
complex action scenes and fighting
chorography. I also gained experience
in using practical effects and how to
film using different angles and
perspectives.
3. The quiet scenes that I edited were a
good point of the project because I
learned how to make sound effects and
add them where necessary. I also
learned how they add atmosphere and
can be used to build tension in the film.

11. What challenges did you face and
how did you respond to them?
1. The recording and editing were two massive
challenges I had to deal with and were also the
two most important parts of the project. I
responded to these challenges by getting certain
parts of the project done at specific times and
focused on doing individual bits of recoding each
day. I scheduled specific times to record each
scene and to edit the recordings each day.
2. The opening was a challenge I had to face as it
was difficult to complete the editing
which required a lot of detail and I didn’t have the
right footage at times. I responded to this
challenge by recording less complex footage in
multiple shots and I then edited and placed it at
the start of the film which speed up the
production process.
3. The pixelation was a challenge I had to face
because it covered and obscured the footage
which meant it needed extensive editing in a
great amount of detail resulting in lot of mistakes.
I responded to this challenge by making many
different versions of the pixelation to stick to
certain parts of the trailer so I wouldn’t have to
constantly make new animations.

12. What were the negative points about
the experience, and what could you
have done to improve them?
1. The background noise was a negative point
because it never matched with the scene and kept on
interfering with the rest of my editing so I had to cut
it out and a large amount of time finding sound
effects that would fit them. I could improve what I’ve
done by filming certain scenes again that required
the background noise but at quieter points in the day
so there would be no unwanted sound.
2. The text was a negative point because it required a
lot of detail which I accidently over-looked and had
to go back and change. It also took up a lot of room
on the screen. I could improve what I’ve done by
doing more recording rather than the viewer having
to read text off the screen.
3. The minor sound effects were a negative point
because they had to be precisely picked out for a
specific scene and because they were too tiny to see
on the editing format. I didn’t see them when I
moved footage around which threw them in the
wrong order. I could improve what I’ve done by
choosing specific sound effects for all scenes which
would make them longer. However, I could see and
use the sound effects when editing and I can put the
same sound effects on each scene instead of
spending hours finding short specific ones.

13. How would you rate the final piece? What is your opinion of your final piece? What
elements do you think are successful and why?
I would rate my final piece as GOOD because even though it
didn’t end up exactly how I wanted it, it looked like the
videogame theme I had planned, and it was well structured and
accurately reflected the research I had done. I think the fighting
and kill chorography was successful because it show the reality
of fighting and the fighting represented actual over the top
brutal kills and stealth kills which is the style in real video games.
The pixelation was successful because it looked like a retro
themed videogame which gamers would be familiar with. The
sound effects were successful because they matched with the
footage and all the sound effects were from videogames which
made the trailer feel authentic and true to the source material.

14. How well did your project apply the characteristics and
conventions of the medium you worked in?
Characteristics: Because my guide trailer was videogame themed I made it
like a gameplay trailer; videogame trailers have a simple story to show how
the gameplay mechanics and the game itself works. I made a simple story of a
narrator telling the player to go to a videogame shop and retrieve a game,
and throughout the trailer the narrator says the different gameplay
mechanics and gets the player to try them out at certain points.
Conventions: The trailer was themed around the conventions of videogame
design with icons around the screen that help the player and graphics that
don’t look like real life. I drew pixilated icons which were like the many icons
around the players eyesight on the videogame screen and I made the quality
into pixels to look like the graphics that are not life-like. I made the graphics
pixelated because this is the popular stereotype of how videogames look so I
produced a format that was familiar to the gamer audience.

15. How did your design appeal to your target audience?
My target audience was 16-to-24-year-olds and I researched the main ways they
spend their leisure time and discovered that most of them liked videogames and
fiction. For this reason, I planned to make my guide trailer based on a
videogame theme. The most popular activity for my target audience was playing
video games, so I made the overall design of the guide look like a videogame
(pixel quality) and this design appealed to my target audience because the guide
makes them live the videogames that they love to play all the time. The
videogame theme also appealed to my target audience because of how it
functioned like a videogame, it would have side quests and icons that served as
the mechanics of how to play the game, not only getting to live in a videogame
but also getting to take part in the videogame world. And lastly all the activities
in the guide appealed to my target audience because it was full of activities that
matched the things they liked, they could go to the videogame stores to play
videogames or go to gift shops that sell anime which they love looking at and do
activities like axe throwing or going on climbing frames instead of doing more
traditional activities that do not appeal to them.

16. 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.

17. How did your skills develop during the portfolio?
My skills developed greatly during this portfolio, the skills that I developed were
organization, editing, pixelation, costumes, practical effects, fighting choreography and audio
design. I developed my skills by being organized as there were so many details I had to put
in during a short amount of time. I also developed my filming and editing skills by learning
editing techniques of Adobe Premier and how to animate and draw in Adobe Photoshop. I
also learned to reorganize the way I film by filming certain segments at the most appropriate
time and then edited them according to a set schedule. I have a lot of experience editing
however this project helped my skills develop by me learning all the editing techniques of
Adobe Premiere and how to animate and draw in Adobe Photoshop. I have struggled using
Adobe Photoshop but doing it frequently for this project taught me how to make pixel art
and pixelmation. I never used costumes in my previous work but my skills developed thanks
to this project by making me plan how the characters would be dressed. In the past, I
would use toy weapons for filming violent scenes but I learned to use practical effects like
using a mannequin head to show a decapitation. I have done plenty of fighting choreography
in my previous movies but my skills developed through this project to do stealth killing
choreography from researching videogame stealth killing. Finally, audio was never my
strong suit in my films but this project helped develop my skills by making me add a lot of
detail into certain scenes by including small significant sounds.

18. What would you do differently in the future and why?
I would make longer and more complex stories for my future
projects and have a different variety of music styles and
simple sound effects. I would make longer and more complex
stories because my projects could be more immersive and
have more atmosphere, instead of them being repetitive and
funny like my York Geeks and Gamers Guide. Because this
project has taught me the importance of music styles and
sound effects, I want to develop this further in future
projects and use different styles and sound effects to explore
more variety. Through incorporating more complex stories
and variety, I would be able to make my movies truly
professional, authentic, and appealing to a wider audience.

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

20. How could you develop your skills for future projects? Identify the
appropriate resources and courses.
I could develop my skills for future projects in certain areas: transitions, sound design,
choreography and practical effects. I have experience in all these areas but I think if I develop my
skills more I can make professional projects and films. I could develop my skills on transitions by
learning more about film transitions and experiment with them or join Parker Welbeck and his
team (they specialize in editing) so they can teach me how to use Premiere to make unique
transitions. I could develop my skills on sound design by learning all the different types of foley,
music and sound effects and experiment with them or I could join a course that focuses on sound
so they can teach me how it works. I could develop my skills on choreography by joining gyms
and fighting clubs to learn the realism of fighting. I could develop my skills on practical effects by
joining the make-up course so they can teach me how to make practical effects for gory kills.
These are websites that I researched to develop my skills in the future.
• Transitions: TOP 8 "Smooth" Seamless Transitions - YouTube
• Sound Design: How To SOUND DESIGN | Step by step tutorial - YouTube
• Choreography: Fight choreography: Planning and shooting your fight scenes - Videomaker
• Practical Effects: 5 Filmmaking Tips for Creating Practical Gore Effects (premiumbeat.com)

21. What personal attributes could you develop to ensure you
are working at a professional level?
I have two attributes that I could develop to ensure I’m working at a
professional level which are the taking more time with my production and
taking more feedback on my projects. I sometimes get in too much of a hurry
to get a project done as soon as possible because either I don’t like it or I
don’t want to fall behind but I could immerse myself more in my projects and
devote more time to it to slow down so I can make my projects the best they
can be. The pacing of my projects tends to be too fast and repetitive which
leads to them becoming unintentionally like a comedy but I could make my
stories longer with differing story elements to make meaningful, deeper
and unique projects. The most important attribute is feedback because,
unless it’s mandatory, I don’t change my work based on feedback, but if I take
more feedback my projects could be improved and I could use those skills in
the future to make even better projects which will fulfil the message I want.