Media - First brief (3 minute moving image) - Evaluation

Media Pathway 3 minute moving image

Evaluation

My idea was to showcase a variety of techniques to create a mixed media film incorporating still photographs, annotation screens, film clips, and a vox-pop to loosely document the Dolphinholme residential trip in a light hearted and humorous way.

The initial difficulty with this was ensuring that it didn’t come across as ‘just a slideshow.’ To overcome this issue I decided that the photo/annotation sequences needed a soundtrack to lift them to the next level which also added another editing technique to showcase within the film. As far as the central theme was concerned, I had the one idea and ran with it, which in fairness probably detracted from the brief slightly but being of limited mobility and unable to carry lots of kit (probably my own fault for choosing to work alone on this) I felt that utilising existing media that I had previously worked on but not yet showcased was the best way to keep within my capabilities. As far as the brief was concerned I did explore different ideas by starting with the photographic idea and then choosing to incorporate the other media to enhance the project.

Strengths.

Within this brief I feel that my strengths were in the editing, although I had not used the college software previously, after a short introduction to it I picked it up relatively quickly. I must point out that there were a few teething problems but I managed very quickly to realise what I had done wrong and rectified it.

Weaknesses  

I do feel that there are a few areas that I need to work on. Firstly the ideas stage and thought processes are not something I am used to, previously my work has been very organic, setting out with a single idea or brief and creating the finished product (definitely an area that needs work). Secondly I feel very limited by my mobility coupled with the fact that I am used to lone working I need to start bringing other people on board to be able to expand my horizons and step out of my comfort zone. I also need to start working more with the college software as for this project I used it as little as possible and converted all the edited pieces into a format compatible with my own software (however, this did mean that I could work on it in my own time).

Outcome evaluation

As far as the outcome is concerned I feel that it fulfilled the brief for the most part however, maybe the ideas and research part could have been expanded upon. The final piece achieved exactly what I set out to create however, maybe I could have used more video clips and made the photographic section shorter and also the vox-pop could have been longer but in fairness it was difficult to catch people as they were all over the place working on their own projects. Also maybe next time I would try to create something completely new with more of a film element to it and look at teaming up with others to bounce ideas between us and for the added support of a film crew to overcome the mobility and lifting/carrying element.