How effectively did you use planning to support the project?

 

I think that I used planning quite effectively. I have regularly planned out my daily tasks although, I could have done them slightly more regularly and maybe gone into a bit more depth. My plan normally consisted on what I want to achieve in the day and sometimes what I will do throughout the week and the times of when I want to do what. It was slightly effective although I didn’t exactly follow the weekly planner as some tasks I was a lot slower and some I finished faster than I expected. I also planned out my recce shots showing images of the settings I plan to film the video at where they are and what might effect the filming for example people walking around the campus making noises. This was important as it helped me visualise how I want to film the video, what angles I might consider and what time I want to film it as the light would effect the setting and also the risk assessment. I also did a plan on what days I want to film the shoot and where I want to shoot the video and what times roughly I want to film the scenes. This helped me with the time management and being able to visualise how long I have to film and giving time for me to be able to do re-shoots if possible. Although I didn’t exactly follow it to the exact times and days as some days there was bad weather, some shots were a lot quicker to shoot or I wanted to film some extra shots that weren’t completely planned. I also planned what equipment I wanted to include to know what days I needed to film when to make sure equipment was available. I also did two lots of storyboards for the stone pillow video planning out the shots types of shots and how long they are. Although in the end I didn’t completely follow the story board as there were shots I didn’t film and extra shot that worked better for the video compared to the story board. I also created a mood board for my video to help me visualise the look and the final outcome of the stone pillow advert. 

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How effectively did you use ongoing reflection to identify areas that require improvement?

 

I regularly used reflection on my work although I think that I might have wanted to go in a bit more depth. My reflection normally included what I wanted to accomplish in the day and what I have accomplished for that lesson. This helped me see clearly whether I was behind or in front of the work that I was doing and whether I needed to be faster in my work or spend more time in certain areas of my work. I also normally did an evaluation on what work I did e.g. editing, filming , planning and evaluated on how effective it was for that day. It helped me reflect on what I need to improve on for example some areas I needed to improve on adding more effects to my video so the next lesson I researched into different effects on premiere pro.

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How effectively have you researched the audience’s media usage?

 

I have briefly researched into my audiences media although it is quite limited due to the fact that my target market is very young (6-11) and don’t really have social media and mainly watch television. I have found that mostly all of the charity adverts appeal to all ages due to them wanting to reach as large of a target market as possible so they can raise the most awareness. I found that the video has to be simpler in text/message e.g. the font easy to read and simple works so they understand it, it also needs to appropriate for that target audience so not including any inappropriate language.

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How did your research help you to target the audience?

 

Research helped with targeting my audience by helping me understand what charity adverts are out there to appeal to my audience. I did a lot of research in how they are designed and what they do to show the charity and make awareness. I researched into different adverts including one on dogs trust were they try to aim it specifically at children but it is aimed at everybody.  This has helped me plan out how I want to make my stone pillow video suitable for my target market of 6 to 11 year old's. It has also given me ideas on how to structure a charity advert and how to make it have a clear message.

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What audience feedback did you receive? How did this help you develop the product?

 

Audience feedback that I received throughout my work was I needed to add more compositing to my video to make it more creative and more interesting for the audience to watch. I also got told I needed to change the font that I used for my advert as it didn’t work with the video. I got told to change it from a serif to a san serif which defiantly improved it. I also got told to add music to my work in the early stages of me making the video which, I added from a royalty free website. I also got some feedback at the end about spelling mistakes I made on my video. This helped develop my product by improving the quality of it and it helps me make a better video that appeals to my target market.

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How have you been influenced by existing media products and promos?

 

I have been influence by existing media products such as dogs trust. Dogs trust was a charity to help sheltered dogs. The advert included a dog which was in the dogs trust facility holding a teddy version of a man. He carried it round with him and finally at the end he got adopted by the person who looked exactly like the teddy. This helped appeal to the young target audience as they can relate slightly to the situation of there teddy becoming real and there dreams to become true. This helped give me the idea to use a teddy bear to represent a human and this made my advert appeal more to a young audience. 

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Which editing techniques and processes have you used? What was most successful? Which aspects can be improved? How?

 

Editing techniques that I have used is compositing which is where you add sketches and drawings to the video which has made it slightly more interesting. I have also added transitions to some of the clips which has made the video flow better. I also added animations to the text to make it more interesting. Aspects that could be improved would be adding more compositing to the video and adding more animated compositing of the sketches moving. I also could have added a more variety of transitions to the clips to make the video better. I also maybe should have added framing to the videos and more of leading lines in the videos.

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How did you use compositional, structural and narrative conventions? How can this be improved?

 

My story line is a teddy bear getting abandoned and left all alone. This could have been improved by maybe having the ending showing the bear going into stone pillow and showing the change between the bear to the human to show the true meaning.

 

 

How has the project let you develop new professional skills for industry? (technical, aesthetic, working to a client’s brief, targeting an audience, meeting deadlines, professional communication).

 

The project has helped me improve my editing skills for example making a frame freeze and adding animation to my text. It has also helped my planning and refection skills as I have been repeatedly doing it on most days. It also helped me follow a brief that a client has given me and working to a target market.

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Overall

 

Overall I didn’t really like my stone pillow video as there isn’t many effects added to it this is due to me not knowing lots of editing skills on premiere pro and aftereffects. I think if I had more time I would have added more clips, more effects which would make the video overall more polished.