My group produced a documentary called 'Self phones' for a class assignment. We received feedback from other students that highlighted what worked well and areas for improvement. The soundtrack, editing, camera shots and archive material were praised, while framing, volume, credits and some background elements were issues. Overall the editing and camerawork were good, but more interviewees and archive footage could have strengthened the documentary. Feedback helped me learn how to structure a documentary and importance of careful music and editing choices.

1. Evaluation
Preliminary Task

2. Documentary
My documentary, 'Self phones', was
exhibited for other students within my
class. My group and I also gave feedback
for others in the class and we received
some points that were positive and
elements of the piece that needed to be
worked on.

3. Comments
What went well:
• Soundtrack
• Editing
• Camera Shots
• Archive Material
• Cutaways
Even better if:
• Framing
• Louder volume
• Credits
• Background didn’t work on some occasions
• More interviewees
• Blurry Shots
• Editing (one occasion hear the interviewer)
• Interviewee looking at the camera

4. Feedback
Firstly on a positive opening point the audience seemed to like our
choice in music used within the background of the documentary, this
is because they linked in with the topic of phones and it could be
considered as quite humorous as the songs have references to
phones. In contrast, when talking with the interviewee we needed to
higher the volume as sometimes it was hard to understand what
they were saying.

5. Feedback
Furthermore, the comments on editing were highly praised and
commented on. This is because we used a range of different
methods and put in content where it needed to be. For example: it
wasn’t too lengthy in speech and relevant cutaways with music and
archive footage were used along side this.
However, in contrast to this point on one occasion you can hear the
interviewee asking questions.

6. Feedback
On a positive note the viewers really enjoyed the range of camera
shots we used as it suited our documentary. The use of medium
close ups suited our documentary genre as it made it look more
professional and it also indicated that we wanted to take this
seriously. However, a let down was that we’d cut off part of the
interviewee’s head which would’ve let us down slightly.
Error

7. Points to improve on
• More interviewees.
• More Archive footage.
• Background distracting – didn’t work.
• Length of the fading - too long/short.

8. In the future
• From this I have learnt how a documentary
should look and points that may need work
on. Editing is especially important also I
have learnt that the choice of music within
a piece needs to be chosen wisely as it
will set the emotion on the audience.