Evaluation

Documentary evaluation

The documentary I made was based around the football oriented youth of Britain and finding out why they do what they do and why they enjoy it. For this documentary I was influenced by films such as the football factory which take a look into the culture of hooligans and there community. I decided to alter this slightly by basing it around people within my age group and turning the idea into a documentary following a small group of these people.

As this Documentary was a joint effort between me and someone else the pre production was split very well as I was tasked with conducting all of the research where my partner did the actual pre production for the documentary. The research was really useful when filming as we asked the general audience what they would like to see or what questions they would ask as a result allowing us to structure our questions easier. As for the research I decided to create a twelve page research file focusing on various types of quantitive and qualitative research whether that was viewing other documentaries such as super size me or come as you are, or doing a survey to gather peoples knowledge on the subject I was going to tackle and find out what they would be interested in learning. Overall conducting the research went really well and allowed me to really open my eyes on the topic of documentaries as well as the subjects they may be covering. For example I did a lot of research on the various modes of documentaries which are essentially the way they are presented to the audience and how they may view them. As well as this I also looked at the history of documentaries and what problems they faced when they were first being pioneered within the media industry. Not only this but I also did some background research on the people that my documentary was about as well as spending a day with their group in an attempt to learn more about them from the experience.

As for filming both times the filming went really smoothly as the people we worked with were very understanding and reliable which made asking the questions and getting answers quite easy, however we were met with some trouble along the way as during the first filming a situation arose where we had to use a different SD card than what we would have. Due to this when reviewing the footage everything seemed perfectly fine however when we went to edit the footage we were met with footage that had sadly been corrupted and not only meant that we had to go and reshoot but also aided in putting us essentially a week behind as we had to organise again when we were meeting and how we were going to film etc. As well as this we also went out and got our own B roll footage which was acquired via driving around the local football arena and hotspots when the football is on and gathering the best footage we could. I am really happy with the B roll that we did get but due to limitations around the ground we were not able to get as much that we may have liked but what we got still fits very well with the gritty down to earth style presented. Other than these main points the shots within the interviews could have looked a bit better and we could have improved the lighting by possibly making it a bit brighter and having the background a little less focused on and some of the B roll footage could have been a bit less shaky but under the circumstances I am happy with the outcome.

As for editing, I do think my editing was rather well put together especially for my intro and for the halfway point where the song changes but aside from those two main parts there wasn't much complex editing required as it all seemed to stem down to how I would arrange and structure the questions. One big problem that was faced though that severely stunted time was the fact that after filming for the first time our footage was very badly corrupted and it couldn't be salvaged therefore we had to reshoot the entire thing again. Although once having reshot the editing was very linear and smooth from there and was complete fairly shortly. The one thing I do think could have been improved about my finished edit is beside the two main areas in which the music starts there isn't a lot of actual editing going on and is more just the questions being asked and the people involved doing their role, however I do believe this was due to the lack of B roll footage we gathered as I didn't have much intention to re use b roll as I think the finished product may have seemed a bit repetitive and much prefer to have the intro and midway point be the main stylistic points within the video rather than have them be more streamline and spread the B roll without. Would we have attained more B roll footage there is a higher chance I would have weaved it more within the documentary.

Overall for my final product I am glad with the way that my documentary turned out as it looks sounds and is edited fairly well with the intro and halfway point of the video having some nice B-roll footage weaved into the video in order to split up the tone of the interviews. The documentary is a little over five minutes however I do feel that this was necessary in making it so that the video didn't seem rushed or finished because it had to be, as well as this some of the questions left in the video are those that people that I conducted research on wanted to know the answer to. As for audience responses Aiden Hemstock a fellow classmate reviewed my video and stated 'I think your song choice brings it all together making the documentary more enjoyable to watch however the volume seems to be a little too loud over the interview audio on the first song, I also like the comedic titles you gave the interviewees.' This information is really useful as it manages to highlight my strengths in certain areas such my comedic tendencies and my ability to match tone such as the music used within the video as a way of representing the football youth culture. As well as this another one of my classmates, Gabe, commented on my documentary where he said ' I really enjoy the intro and opening to this, good quality of footage and comedic introductions to the people taking part in your documentary'. This comment was really useful for me as the creator of the documentary as it allows me to see that when given the right opportunities my editing can be considered that of good standard or above, as well as this it also amplifies the idea that a key strength within my work resides in my comedy and is therefore not an area that I need to devote much of my time but instead make future attempts to make my work more serious. Another comment I got on video was by Kinga which said 'Good choice of the song and fits nicely with the editing. Great quality camera shots, very clear and sharp. I liked what you did with the background, it fits well with the topic discussed. The interviews were really interesting and I liked the different perspectives. I enjoyed the editing on this made it easy to watch the documentary. Great work!' This therefore tells me again that when needed to be my editing can suffice and entertain an audience and that I also have some key aspects which when given time can shine such as camera shots or the way a video is styled.

As well as this I also sent off my documentary to outside viewers to get there opinion on it such as my friend Elijah who commented 'Intro really sets the tone well, might be worth subtitling some of Evan's questions to Kieran and Aiden especially as mic seemed to be obscured so it's difficult to hear him.' This feedback is also extremely useful for me as it highlights from and outside perspective where I need to make improvements which again is to do with my sound. Although my sound has improved over the course of the year as the quality has drastically improved I just need to make sure it suites and mixes well in editing.

Overall I very much enjoyed working on my documentary as every part of production had something enjoyable in it, I also saw it as a good way to try and improve on certain areas such as my editing and this type of video has also taught me a lot not only about the industry of TV and Film but it has also given me lessons all around and was a very worthwhile topic.