written evaluation

introduction

Having completed the rest of this portfolio, in this evaluation I will complete an overview of the process from conception to publication. I do not aim to include every detail as these have been covered in my reflective journaling and videos on the previous pages relating to those situations. As stated via the pitch, my aim was to make evaluation a regular process, hopefully resulting in a streamlined write up here that covers the essentials as a short hand. In doing this, I have referred to the Gibbs reflective cycle and while breakdown section by section.

To begin, I am very pleased by my end result of this project. At first, I believed in challenging myself I may have gone to ambitious and unfocused but in the limited time I was able to pull together this in depth portfolio with wide variety. In my opinion, I have showed off my strengths in production logistics, seeing as my files remained organised, contingencies were planned and production went smoothly on the whole. I am also happy due to the reception of my finished videos so far, which has been overly positive. At points, ideas did become separated and seemed chaotic but, after seeing the end project, everything was building together in a grander scheme that may not have been apparent during the build up. 

Concept and Context

The choice that set me on the right path for this FMP was by pushing away from short film and delving back into documentary. This came as a breath of fresh air following two shorts this year and last FMP, giving my portfolio overall diversity and improving on technics from my first documentary as a group in year one. In my evaluation from that documentary, I commented that I struggled with not being in full control organising as I was seated as director rather than producer. However, this time around, I got to focus on the logistics and put the pieces together all round.

Conceptually, the idea to maintain a connection with Damien Chazelle’s work from Unit 12 felt like a great way of keeping the portfolio cohesive overall. However, his influence was one of many I tried to throw into the basket so made the rational decision to move it aside and focus on the new content, of which I covered in great detail. My ambition was rewarded as every topic analysed had a part to play in one of my final videos, regarded I did need to make two videos to manage. If I were to do it again, I would be of the same mind as the project was fluid, able to adjust to new ideas and inspirations as it progressed. At times, with the further development of the Reality TV style, I was losing sight of Pilger’s work but managed to balance these by giving them their own spaces.

Research

My central comment on my research comes to do with its quantity. Looking back, since I completed each write up separately before compiling to this website, I didn’t realise how much I had done and it may look unfocused. However, I didn’t want to let hours of work go to waste so I found ways to include most of the content. I rarely went too deep into a topic and instead explored every aspect of a subject with purpose, for example looking into Baden Powell, gender roles and badge influences when looking at scouting. 

In future, I would make a more ridged plan in advance as to which areas I was going to focus on as I mainly got side tracked due to my interest in the topic, resulting in a four page compilation that is redeemed in quantity by my presentation. 

Throughout my research, I looked into global influences, arts, music and literature to widen my context and academic ability aside from the practicalities of this course. Due to this, I have gained a deep founded respect for the scouting movement’s development, the legacy of a reowned documentarian and why comfort watching tv is so vital to our modern society. Researching these didn’t only aid my FMP but my growth as a person.

Pre Production

Moving on, as stated throughout, my focus was on the pre production stage of the process due to plans following college. Most of my energy went into a flawless logistics power point with contact details, location checks, timings and most importantly contigencies, which I ended up needing a lot of due to online interview timings. I gave myself enough wiggle room to quickly reschedule interviews although some of these conversations were lost in the aether as I was recording data in various locations, missing off the zoom meeting schedule on a couple of occasions. 

Due to this, I resulted in sending codes last minute which didn’t look organised or professional. In hindsight, I believe I had too many logistics plans running around so keeping them all up to date became a flaw. I have to feel confident in having a central hub of work with backups rather than dispersing it to make sure no files corrupt. I still don’t know why a couple of people didn’t show up on the night without reason but this was partially due to poor communication from my end to keep things updates. 

In terms of the rest of the pre production stage, I remain proud of my spreadsheets and their colour formatting, an upgrade from my word document tables, and my precision with call sheets and consent forms. My interview questions were to the point and separated depending on location to give the edit variety. If I were to do this again, I wouldn’t repeat questions between interviews as many times as I had too many options in the edit. Even if I had extended the runtime, these wouldn’t have been used. 

Where my pre production did faulter was with diagrams such as storyboards and blocking scripts. I would do the blocking digitally in future for a more refined finish, also considering in person locations in advance to make get in and out even faster. Additionally, the storyboard is laughable and unnecessary. This could’ve been necessary if I thought more heavily about the structure of my film during this portion of proceedings.

On that note, I became hyper fixated on getting the footage and setting up this that I lost sight of its purpose following. Therefore, down the line, I had issues with reshoots in order to pull the footage together. This would be resolved by fine tuning my script and shot list, even including post voice over to give the project shape. 

Production

Furthermore, thanks to my logistics planning, my production, in a bubble, ran smoothly with few errors. One of these was my handling of ‘to the camera’ narration as I didn’t take time to learn this in advance, which resulted in many takes and setting us slightly behind schedule. Maybe had I prepared for this and new the material by heart, the narration would’ve been covered and reshoots unnecessar. 

I am very grateful for Ben and Mattie in helping the filming process even during their own FMPs. Having them on board made it easier to explain shot types, timings and equipment use, especially since they both own their own without needing to hire. Both guys were on it with asking which equipment to bring. In order to be a greater manager in future, I should commence a kit audit before production to see what I could work with and requesting things to be bought along rather than them asking me first. 

Both in person days filming went well. I made a few calls of pushing timings around from my schedule in order to get shots but this was all calculated and not done off the fly. We gained every interview we set out to achieve, although some of these were reduced compared to others. For this project that was fine but could harm telling an individual’s story when I take the footage further. 

Moreover, something I must improve on is my interviewing technique. Watching the footage back, I spend a lot of time looking down at the questions rather than engaging with the interviewee in a more conversational manner. This is a confidence that will come with time as well as thoroughly learning my research to bring up points of discussion. I felt a lot of connections were only made as I already knew the interviewees but would look impersonal to a stranger.

Post Production

The next stage was my post production, where my breakdown of the edit massively helped me stay on task and manage the breadth of footage collected. At first, multicaming every interview felt tedious and time consuming but this was great time to reflect, marking certain points of discussion and cut down on redundant footage. In order to make a succinct video at around 10 minutes, the footage had to be wittled down. Due to my connection with the material, I found I wasn’t as brutal as I could’ve been, an issue that wouldn’t arrise in industry as a team of people would check through. 

Next in post, I was delighted by the results of my visual experimentation, incorporating John Pilger and reality TV styles into my own work. These styles are distinct and recognisable should someone come by the video with research to support. However, due to this, I believe the videos lost their identity in connection to me and my brand. When re-editing the serious documentary before full YouTube publication, I aim to lessen the hold of Pilger and stylise the feature towards myself. 

It would be ignorant of me to proceed without mentioning my lack of control over audio levels. Mattie did an excellent job supplying me with quality inputs to use but it was my responsibility to mix these and balance the levels throughout the videos. As is, interviews and narrations are at differing volumns, making it less accessible to a viewer. Sound is something we haven’t covered well in this course and I wish to look into mixing in future as this will also help with my youtube content. 

Final Videos

As a result of the mountain of content I covered, I have produced two videos, summing to 25 mins of runtime, following the same topic with different styles. Had I set out to achieve this in my pitch I would be more than pleased. However, this came as a thought spiral down the line that needed consolidation. I am glad I became curious about expanding this project as I have taken a lot from it but this needed to be referenced in my portfolio more heavily, something I can work on in time. 

The Pilger style demonstrates the facts as they are, remaining truthful to its inspiration. Where it faulters, however, is the location of my narration. Pilger usually performs in locations related to the material but, due to reshoots, I based myself where I could show added information on screen to read. 

On the other hand, the Gogglegonks video encapsulates everything as to why this format is so important. It gives less factual information than the Pilger but keeps a greater flow and entertainment factor. These two presented the battle of entertainment and intellectual. I will continue this series on Youtube as I gave it a flair of my own with the type face and messing with frame sizing.

Survey

While on the topic of the final videos, I wanted to see how well my target audience would receive this. I conducted a form that split responses by section: wanting to go on Jamboree, been on Jamboree, parent of Jamboree goer and other. I had responses from all areas and these were overwhelmingly positive. 

Each category enjoyed the videos and no one felt isolated. The main want in continuing this project was people just wanted more, a fantastic result seeing as I have ample more footage to share. Even those who had been on Jamboree or in scouting commented that they learnt something new while also being able to relax.

However, the responses were not unified when it came to asking which style I should continue with. Due to the mix, I have decided to finish the series of Gogglegonks, with 5 more episodes that can all be found on YouTube in the coming weeks as an appointment viewing but also restructure the Pilger video into a fresh style of my own, using what I’ve learned from this project to enforce a new direction. 

Time Management

Having summarised the main stages of the process, I want to quicly look at a major issue I had this time around. I should’ve factored in the external work I had during March when conceptulising this project as there are certain areas I rushed through in order to catch myself up. As much as my ambition is a quality I take great pride in, I need to set boundaries and enforce that I don’t ruin my natural schedule to complete a project.

To resolve this and keep me on track throughout, I need to set deadlines during the project to complete sections by rather than doing what I want to do when I want. At each deadline point, an external factor such as a tutor or parent should check in to make sure I remain on track. This would need to be organised and overseen by myself. 

Practical Skills

For the last couple of sections in my evaluation, I shall assess major marking criteria. After two years of studying and being the owner of a Sony A73 camera, it is easy to say that I am now camera man. I am happy to get stuck in where needed but I know my strengths in this course and know where I’m needed. Hence, my practical skills with a camera were present, with maning a close up camera on the roadtrips and the setups of virtual interviews, though limited.

On the other hand, I have presented many practical skills elsewhere, namely demonstrating my organization in spreadsheets and file formating, which are more relevant areas to my future. Naming conventions for footage is often overlooked but makes a world of difference when managing to find certain clips. 

As well as this, another practical skill worth mentioning is my editing. Coming onto this course, editing was something I wanted to test out as I thought it would be my career path. However, as much as I enjoy it, I couldn’t work on it full time. My heavier background with logistics puts that at the forefront. Nevertheless, I am competant with using Premiere Pro, knowing where to find effects and key framing. I still struggle with colour grading, hence why I mostly avoided it in this project, but I shall keep at editing my own freelance work and learn these skills with time. 

Presentation

Last but not least, I must address the formatting of this website. I have come a long way from FMP last year but the roots of the format remain the same, only with more cohesion and stronger branding. I have learnt that palette and font are vital and have developed this brand of GonkFilms to give me a platform following college. 

While working on the format for the FMP, I kept testing it on my peers to see if they can navigate the buttons to find certain information, allowing me to improve. I like the idea of the video logs as long droning text with the occasional picture can be hard work. Also, I separated out pages, such as the research section, as I didn’t want a viewer to scroll to far down and get lost in the drone of information. I realised this after I had recorded the videos, teaching me to finalise written work first before reflecting.

As well as branding my FMP, I worked during this period to improve my website overall, adding in many stylised showreels on the home page and sections dedicated to my external work from the college, building up my videography repertoire. With all this in mind, I can continue to grow this website and my brand across platforms going forward.