The document summarizes a student's year two evaluation of a media production project. The project involved creating an advertisement for an independent food and shopping tour of York, England. Some key points: - The student chose this theme because they were familiar with York and felt independent businesses were overlooked. - Research on the target audience (ages 18-24) and existing tours helped inform the project's development. - An initial idea to include custom maps was scrapped due to technical difficulties and replaced with new footage. - The completed advertisement achieved the goal of promoting independent York businesses to a younger demographic. - While generally pleased with the outcome, the student reflected on opportunities to improve, such as including interior

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

2. What was the theme of your project and
what attracted you to it?
• The theme for my project was to advertise some of the well known and highly rated independent food and shopping
places in York. I was attracted to this theme because of all the tours I’ve seen in York It’s probably one I would do myself.
Being in the age range of the target audience, I felt as if this was a good place to start. My idea behind picking independent
food and shopping places was that I was able to create what would be a kind of day out for the users of the tour. It was to
maybe create a base plan for someone’s day. I feel as if the tour would not just advertise the waypoints that I had chosen,
but maybe some other places in York that my target audience would be appealed to. I purposely picked waypoints that
were situated in areas that held other shops and points of interest that would appeal to my target audience. All these
ideas attracted me because I feel as if the more independent business of York still fall into the shadows of places like bars
and clubs and I believe they have bigger potential. So my idea was to try and advertise these places to shine more light to
them to people who maybe didn’t know they were there, as well as bringing people into York who have no clue what York
is like and building a new view for York could be.

3. What research did you undertake and how
did it help develop your project?
• To help with my product, I chose to first research the target audience. My idea behind this was to gather as much
information about my target audience as I could before I started to research existing products. I felt that if I researched the
target audience first, I was able to gather a better understanding to what their interests are and how I could create an
advert that could appeal to them ;which leads me onto researching existing products. Knowing what the target audience’s
interests where meant that I was able to then research existing products that did and didn’t appeal to the target audience,
then giving me an insight on technical qualities that were commonly used to appeal to the target audience and maybe
some that wouldn’t, so I know what to avoid. I decided to research already existing tours to get an idea of what kind of
products already existed so I could try and stand out and be different as well as researching adverts that maybe weren’t
for tours, but that had a target audience that crossed over with my own which I found helped outline the commonly used
technical qualities. I found that research really helped me when it came to planning my work because I felt as if I had an
arsenal of back up to help me decide how to advertise my tour. It gave me the confidence to decide how to shoot certain
shots, what angles to pick and aspects like editing techniques. Which just made all of production a lot easier because I was
confident in my choices.

4. How did you develop and improve your ideas
throughout the project?
• When I first planned the production of my advert, one of my ideas was to take a screenshot of google maps at each
waypoint and trace around it in photoshop. My idea was to create a more appealing looking map, with maybe some added
illustrations for each waypoint to make it more personalised. I was going to have each map appear onto the screen just
before introducing each waypoint by maybe using an animation to help introduce the map into the video smoothly. But I
found whilst creating the map for the first waypoint, my idea was a lot harder than I expected, I struggled to trace as
sharp as I would have liked. So to try and improve on that I thought about using the quick selection tool to trace around
parts of the map and then create a new layer. Which then changed the colour of, but even that wasn’t up to the standard
that I would have liked. After spending a day on this idea and not having any other ideas that could help, I decided to scrap
the map designs. I chose to then go back out and record more footage in town that would be show as a replacement, my
idea was to use either walking transitions or landmarks near the waypoints to help with the transitions between each
waypoint. So for example, from waypoint 1 to 2, I used a sped up walking shot, but for the last waypoint, I used a shot
from the minster walls of the minster which I found to create a way better effect rather than the bad map designs.

5. What was the outcome of the project/task?
• The outcome of my project was a short advert that would be advertised on social media to a target audience of people
aged 18-24. The product that I have made would be used to advertise what would be an independent food and shopping
store tour to help show some places like these in York some light to try and change the demographic for York from a
heavily middle-aged demographic, to one a lot more diverse. Increasing the age range and the type of person that would
be interested in York. I believe that my advert followed my pan almost exactly how I wanted and created a product that I
was happy with and what I believe would fir the client brief that we were given at the start of the project.

6. 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.

7. How did you feel about the project before
you started?
• Before we started the project, I wasn’t very confident which I found really effected whether I was enjoying it. Out of the
whole project I found the start the most difficult, trying to create what would be a good tour to advertise to the target
audience that we were given by the client brief. Struggling so much before starting the production really had an effect on
my enjoyment. I found as we started the project that it wasn’t interesting me really, it’s not a kind of project that I find
myself really enjoying which probably again had an influence on how difficult I was finding the start. Because I wasn’t
completely interesting me, I found it more difficult to push through the struggles than I probably would have if I was
creating a project that I felt properly interested in.

8. How did you feel when the project was
completed and why?
• Once the project was completed, I was a lot happier with what I had made than I at first thought I was going to be. Like I
said before, when I first started the project I felt as if I was really struggling and didn’t really feel interested in the project;
which of course made me think that the end product wasn’t going to be very good. But to my surprise, the finished
product has kindly surprised me by being up to the standard that I wanted. Having finished looking back at the project
feeling rather happy has definitely taken what felt like a lot of pressure off of my shoulders. Almost all the way up until the
end of production I still wasn’t feeling very confident with my product so having finished it being rather happy with it is
definitely a relief.
• However, I do still look back at it with ideas that I think maybe would have worked better. For example, I feel as if I maybe
should taken some shots inside some of the shops that I was advertising instead of just staying outside. I’m also still
slightly disappointed that my idea for the map designs didn’t work, if I could get another go at that and maybe try and
hand draw them.

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? [try and think of at least 3, more if possible]
• One of the good points from my project I think was the recolouring. I feel as if I can say that I am very happy with the
changes I made to the colouring of the shots. The original shots that I had were very cold and blue looking, not the kind of
colour that you would want to use to advertise a place. I wanted to change the colours from very cold and blue to a much
warmer and colourful colour as I feel as if it would help advertise the city. That was probably one of the biggest aspects
that changed my opinion on the project, it made me realise that the shots I had got for my project weren’t as bad as I had
thought.
• I feel as if another good point of my project was the choice of music. I feel as if it fits the kind of tone and mood that I was
aiming for not only with the advert but the tour itself. Plus, it had some really distinctive beats and charms that I could cut
the clips to which helped enhance the post production value of my product.
• Another point of my project that I’m happy with was the pacing of the editing. After completing my research I found that
a fast paced editing was a commonly used techniques most likely to keep the interests up of the audience. But I found
whilst watching some existing products that some were paced well, but some were paced way too fast, not letting you
take in certain shots that you maybe would like to. So I kept that in mind when creating my product and I feel as if it was
paced fast enough to keep the audience interested, but didn’t move on from each waypoint too fast.

11. What challenges did you face and how did you
respond to them? Try and think of at least 3...
• One of the challenges that I faced straight away was trying to create the maps for each waypoint. I found that I wasn’t able
to create the maps to the standard that I originally wanted. I was struggling to try and trace around everything with the
mouse; the biggest difficulty was trying to keep the straight lines of the buildings and roads. Even after using the quick
selection tool, creating new layers and recolouring them. It still wasn’t to the standard that I wanted. So I resorted to
changing my idea to an establishing of location shot, for example a sped up travelling shot towards the waypoint or a shot
of a landmark near the waypoint.
• Another challenge that I faced during production was that some of my videos were too shaky. I found that it wasn’t off-
putting, just not very professional seeming. So using the warp stabilizer effect I could stabilize my shots. Only problem was
that if I did that, I wasn’t able to increase or decrease the speed of the shots, which I did want to do with some shots. So
to get around this problem I chose change each that had the warp stabilizer effect on into a subsequence which then
allowed me to change the speed of the clip.
• Another challenge I found was that actually towards the end of production, I had filmed some of my clips too long,
meaning that I ended up going over the maximum time. Which then meant to get around the challenge I had to go
through every clip and shave off anything that I could which eventually added up to be enough in the end.

12. What were the negative points about the
experience, and what could you have done to
improve them?
• Some of the negative points of my experience were bigger than other, for example one was that I maybe should have
planned what song I was going to use for my advert before I started production because then I could have let it influence
my work, whereas I chose the music for my advert after I had filmed everything and even started editing, luckily for me I
think that my choice of music worked with what I had filmed, but it took a long while to find a song that suited it. Whereas
a big negative point of my project was assuming that some parts would be easier than others. Like again the map designs, I
shouldn’t have assumed that they were going to be easy to create because in matter of fact they were not, at all. And
because I assumed that they were going to be so easy, I didn’t plan any back up which really knocked me off balance
during production. I then had to try and think of something new to replace the idea of the maps to help fill the
transitioning stage from waypoint to waypoint.

13. How would you rate the final piece? [think along the lines of
poor, satisfactory, good or excellent...justify your rating]
• I would have to say that I rate my final piece solidly as satisfactory. Nothing more, nothing less. I feel as if I followed the
brief rather well and used my research to my advantage and created an advert that could be professionally used as an
advert for a tour. But tother than that, I don’t feel as if there’s anything special to it. I believe that I maybe should have
tried to have gone bigger with my idea. Two ways I possibly could have done that was simply cutting down the length of
my shots and having more shots all together, maybe some interior shots for the waypoints or simply more waypoints for
the tour. I believe that my advert shows that I took the brief into consideration all the way through the project and that I
made sure that it would be suitable for my target audience. But you can see in my project that I maybe didn’t push myself
as far as I possibly should have, I feel as if I did what I already know and can do rather well. I just didn’t really try anything
new or experimental and I wish that I had now.

14. What is your opinion of your final piece? What
elements do you think are successful and why?
• My opinion of my final piece is that it follows what was asked for in the brief and would do what it was made to. I feel as if
it could be used a rather successful advertisement for a tour that would help bring in the demographic that was discussed
in the client brief. I feel as if elements such as the recolouring worked rather well and successfully. The original colour of
the clips didn’t make York or any of the waypoints that I was trying to advertise very enticing; after the recolouring though
I feel as it really helps with the advertisement because it’s just made every colour pop slightly more and has made York at
the time of shooting seem a lot nicer to be in. Whereas before the shots made this city seem very cold, boring and
uninviting

15. How well did your project apply the characteristics
and conventions of the medium you worked in?
• I believe that my project used some of the conventions and characteristics of the medium that researched and worked in. I
found after researching existing products that there were some commonly used characteristics and conventions within the
genre that I was to work in. For example, on very commonly used convention, almost in every single advert that I watched
was fast paced editing. So going into the planning and production of my advertisement I knew that I would have to use fast
paced editing to try and conform to the genre and appeal to the target audience. I feel as if this I used this convention
rather well in my project because I noticed whilst researching some existing products that they could go overboard with
the idea of fast paced editing and actually create a too fast paced project. I feel as if this then stops the audience from
being able to connect into what they’re watching because they don’t get long enough to really fully take in what they’re
watching which can cause the audience to lose interest in what they are watching. I believe that the pace of my advert
worked rather well; the pacing wasn’t too slow so it didn’t lose the audiences interest and it wasn’t too fast that t
stopped the audience from being able to connect to what they’re watching.

16. How did you design appeal to your target
audience?
• I believe that I managed to create an advert that would appeal to my target audience due to certain aspects that I used in
my advert, for example some aspects could be the choice of waypoints to use for my tour, the colouring of the advert,
music choice and so on. To go into more detail, I feel as if my choice of waypoints were one big factor for appealing to my
target audience. I feel as if the whole idea of independent food and shopping places around York is a good idea because it
helps create a base plan for what could be a day out, then allowing the users to peal off the tour and discover more of
York themselves. Talking about the waypoints for my tour, I feel as if the ways I filmed each waypoint to advertise the tour
would help appeal to the target audience. I believe that because I didn’t show all of what each waypoint has to offer, it
reduced the chance of some people deciding that they don’t want to use the tour to discover York. Just showing the basics
of each waypoint helped let the audience know what they would be going to go see, whilst still keeping most of each
waypoint a surprise and open for the imagination which I feel was a great way to help appeal to the target audience. I also
believe that the choice of music for my advert also helps appeal to the target audience because it helps enhance the
whole mood and tone that I was going for through the whole project, that being relaxed and chilled.

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. In what ways was the overall project a
success?
• I believe that my overall project was a success because I believe that I have created a product that fits the client brief.
Looking back over the project that I have made, I feel as if I have created a tour that would be suitable for trying to bring in
the demographic of 18 to 24 year olds to York. Aspects such as the fast paced editing style, a characteristic that I was
influenced by when researching existing products, really helps keep the interest of the target audience pulled into the
video. Another way that my project was an overall success was because at the time of filming my shots, I felt as if I had let
myself down with the shots I had planned. But I found that once put together in the video, clipped to the correct length
and recolouring finished I realised that I was actually rather happy with the shots that I had collected and that I was going
to create a project that I was going to like.

19. What elements did not go well and why?
• There are a few elements of my project that I feel as if did not go well; them being certain elements of my shots and
another being my map design ideas. Going back to the certain elements of my shots being something that didn’t
necessarily go well in my project is because I feel as if there were maybe some shots that I should’ve done differently. For
example, having three shots outside of each waypoint, I maybe should’ve replaced one of the longer four second shots
with a brief pan of the interior. It would just help the audience get a better idea of what each waypoint of the tour would
have to offer to them. Another element that I feel as if didn’t go to plan in my project was the idea of creating a map
design for each waypoint of the tour. My idea was to take a screenshots of each waypoints on google maps, then trace
over them on photoshop with a better and more appealing design. But I came up against the trouble of not being able to
create the designs that I had envisioned to the standard that I wanted. I struggled to trace the streets and buildings as
sharp as I would have liked with the mouse, so I had to make the decision to replace the parts that would have the maps
with extra shots; them being the transitioning shots between waypoints that I used.

20. How did your skills develop during the portfolio? [remember,
skills aren't just technical, remember things like organisation,
time management, communication, etc as well]
• If I’m completely honest with myself, I feel as if I didn’t really develop some of my skills that much with this project. I
wouldn’t say that they didn’t develop at all, just maybe not massively. I feel as if one of my skills that have improved
through the project is my organisational skills. In the past during some of my projects, I’ve found that as I have got into my
production part, there has been some parts that maybe weren’t going to plan because I had organized my planning wrong.
Or I had underestimated how long certain parts of my project would take which would then push back the next part of the
project and then the next and so on which would lead me into being behind on time creating stress and panic which I
didn’t need. And that would be all down to my organisational skills. With the project, there was not one time where I felt
lost and unsure what to do, and nothing pushed me back in my time line causing me to be back on time. For example
when I had the problem of not being able create the map designs that I wanted, I already had a plan ready for that idea to
fail. I do also feel as if my editing has gotten better too. Same again in the last few projects, I’ve watched my videos back
and noticed that are parts that I felt were the pacing was off or that I should have maybe cut some parts out where as this
project, I’m very happy with the pacing and I feel as if there aren’t any parts that I would want to cut out.

21. What meaning and messages did you want to
convey and were you successful?
• I believe that with this project and especially the way that I was approaching it, there weren’t any what you could call
hidden messages. There was really only one message that I was trying to convey in my advertisement; that being that York
is a place that can appeal to the demographic of eighteen to twenty-four year olds. Looking back at my video advert for
York, I believe that the meaning that I was trying to convey came across exactly how I wanted.

22. What would you do differently in the future
and why?
• If I got the chance to do this project again, I think that I would do a completely different idea. When I was first coming up
with my ideas for this project, I had the idea to film the advert in the way of a short film. Creating more of a story and
using an actor to go through the tour. My idea was to maybe show the actor going through the tour, having a day out in
York. I would still make it obvious though which waypoint was which. I’d do that by using an establishing shot at the start
of each waypoint, that could maybe be a wide angle of the actor walking in to the waypoint from afar. Or a following shot
of the actor walking in and stopping at the entrance to pan to the name of waypoint. I thought about creating this idea at
the start of the project, but I was put off by the idea that I maybe didn’t have the time to create it. But looking back, it may
have been a stressful few weeks of production, but I possibly could have had the time to create this idea.