Evaulation (On Everything ) 23rd May

My final project is called The life behind the mask its a short film about gang violence and knife crime , this was overall created by many things which includes case studies , contextual research , audience responses and technical skills , it was produced within a space of 9 weeks of intense hard work starting from it first being a simple idea from my mind to it turning into a 5 minute short film , everything that I have produced has played a huge part in me creating such a intense project , I never thought it would be finished due to how bad I am with timing .

1. The effectiveness of your research ( Contextual , audience and production)

The contextual research I did was quite effective because I literally researched and referenced everything , that I believed I needed , in terms of effectiveness my contextual research played a huge factor in me making this short film because like I said in one of previous reflections , I only had a bit of general knowledge when it came to gang violence and knife crime so when I did my research it really expanded my understanding and I had a clearer idea of what I was going to do in terms of production . The contextual research about gang violence and knife crime , made me think about the storyline a bit more in depth for example I wanted to make my storyline and script as realistic as possible because it would make the audience question" is this based off a real story " that's what I wanted my audience to be thinking so to accomplish that I had to make my research as effective as possible , I had to really challenge myself for instants as I was gathering all the research I was also learning and picking facts and statistics that could be used to my advantage to better my project in the best possible way . In terms of contextual research it was quite effective because like I said previously it helped me build up a project to actually show , my contextual research wasn't just based off of gang violence , it was based off crime and crime rates in general because gang violence knife crime it links to crime so I researched crime rates in the UK by me doing that it helped me come up with the opening to my short film because , the crime rates that were occurring in the UK were committed by mostly all young people so then I thought why don't I just revolve my whole storyline around young people but id reverse it , I would get a young person but someone who'd been a victim of gang violence and knife crime and I'd get them to tell their story to a group of young offenders , I came up with this idea based of the contextual research I found .

All the research I conducted was all quite effective but in terms of the most effective I would say my audience research because it helped me decide who I was actually targeting , I ended up picking a niche audience because I decided not everyone watches short films , they watch actual films , once I did my audience research case study I got an overview of who watches what and what type of genre its in , so I could decide who I was actually going to make the short film for , the audience research guided me in the right direction to what demographic and psychographic I was particularly targeting so my research was effective in terms of who I was targeting , the only disadvantage to audience research is that my product couldn't target everyone , I was even struggling to find examples of short films that had my particular target audience or ranges from 16 - 24 . My audience research made me look for a range of different short films aimed at certain target audiences because of the criteria it involves . In terms of audience research for my short film , I conducted an online survey and I even voice recorded everyone's opinions about my short film by me doing this , it helped me figured out what could be briefly improved .

My project is mainly about gang violence and knife crime so therefore I did research regarding using knives for my short film , I even researched the pros and cons of using a real knife as a prop for my short film , I had to really consider whether it was worth it to use a real knife but by researching the amount of stabbings that have occurred over the year because of gang violence , I just did the pros and cons fro using an actual knife while filming there happened to be more cons then pros due to health and safety , but my final decision was that I used an actual knife , so by me actually doing the research it helped me make a critical decision for my short film and it ended up looking much better than I thought , we just had to extra careful in terms of health safety. Without me not doing that particular research it would of seriously effected my decision making in general , by me making that decision to use a real knife while acting could of harmed one of my actors but I successfully took the risk and it paid off . In terms of production research it was the most productive because it really helped me organise what was happening for my short film for example I made a equipment list , location list ( Reece) , by me doing this particular research about the equipment I was going to use I had to this what would be the most useful , the equipment list I made wasn't  exactly what is used on the say , so it was useful for me to research the equipment I thought I would need for the short film , but turns out I didn't need to use all of the equipment , because it just wasn't needed but it was helpful for me to do my production research because without it , I wouldn't exactly know what I was using or what I was using it for . Another thing that was quite effective was creating a location list about all the different locations I was filming in , that gradually changed overtime because I kept changing my mind about the locations , I even made serious changes to my storyline ( script ) because a lot of things were quite last minute , when I originally did the location I had quite ionic places to film in for example canary wharf , but I realised I don't want to have to rely on my actors to travel there so therefore I changed the location to somewhere much closer , but I thought it was the smarter decisions , it was supposed to be Just one location but I thought it would be effective to do about two locations so the audience doesn't get bored .

Overall I think me doing all of this research was quite smart because it made me , actual conduct research of my own to help me make critical decisions about whether that will be beneficial for my final project some of the research I did went straight into making my short film , but others changed as time progressed but that's why research develops because your idea is changing .

2. How your product compares to your case studies ?

Link to my case study ( short film )

https://pearladewale2001.blogspot.com/2019/03/research-case-study.html

In all honesty my project doesn't even compare to my case studies due to the fact that they are at more of a professional level than me , but to be honest in terms of target audience and structuring I would say my short film supports there's . My case studies were about a short film called Drawn out and short film is called The life behind the mask . In terms of technical skills mine is know where near up to the standard due to the fact that they used multiples cameras and various of different angles , frames and shots and not that I didn't use different shots or angles but my short film was purely continuous and what I mean about that is that it wasn't always changing angles , the camera was swinging between people talking , in comparison to " drawn out " they are always switching angles and it gradual and settle like it looks natural . In turns of producing there's is much more at a professional level whereas mine is ok but for the time I was given to create this project I believe my short film is competition level , because its actually of a high standard but there is always room for improvement . In terms of my case study they had a linear narrative meaning it had a beginning , middle and end , in comparison to mine I believe the narrative is the same due to the fact our storyline are of the same concept which I can clearly see , that the producers have really told a story . In terms of if I had a bigger time frame and level of equipment they used and a professional team my work would definitely be up to their standards . 

In terms of media techniques , they used in their short film such as extreme close ups and close ups it allows the audience to see the emotion they are portraying exactly the same as what I did I used extreme close ups when it needed for example in terms of emotive language , if someone was angry or expressing something of importance it was used , whereas in the drawn out short film ( case study) they used close ups throughout which made it more effective because it was showing the audience exactly what that character feeling is , it allows the audience to contact , which is where I went wrong as a producer because I could of involved a lot more close ups to allow the audience to connect and feel exactly what that particular character is feeling . Another thing that "drawn out " did was they used shot reverse whereas I explained in a previous reflection I didn't actually film separate shots so therefore I had to cut shot reverse shot from a longer clip , in comparison to drawn out they filmed the shot reverse separately so the audience could really see the reaction clearly as the other person was talking , it shows that they are having a conversation , I could of easily accomplished that in my short film but I clearly didn't plan my shots properly and that's where I went wrong . Overall "DRAWN OUT " had a much bigger production team , they had a longer time to film , professional actors , in general they included more technical aspects for example establishing shots I probably used like one establishing shot , which was a common mistake of a newbie producer ,your letting the audience know where that character is , and it could cause confusion for the viewer , in comparison to drawn they used many establishing shots , range of them because the location was always changing. Overall I think that my short film was no where up to standards of this short film but on the other hand there were common similarities between the two short films . In terms of editing I believe mine is quite good because I really challenged myself because I really struggled because it was my first short film , in comparison to the drawn out short film I feel like their editing is of a professional standard they must of used a better editing software such as final cut pro , whereas I used premiere pro , they had maybe a but more freedom in terms of editing , their transitions are much smoother and you cant even tell that its moving scenes . In terms of sound they used quite a lot of Foley sound whereas I took my music off the internet , but most of my sound was dialogue , in their short film they had gun shots so they would of used Foley sound for that . and Technically their sound was much better than mine due to the fact that I had a lot od audio interference .

 In terms of Mise en scene in my short film I included various props , change of costumes location which I believe was up to standard of my case study short film , accept from the locations because they used way more locations than I di to be honest. With my editing the length of my takes were ricidoulosly  long  which made it harder for me to actually cut it down , whereas the producer for drawn out had short takes so that gave them more time to do more takes for the film . In the general the quality of this short film was much better than mine due to lighting , camera shots angles etc.

3.  How your technical Skills have developed

I have many skills for example editing but the skills that I have picked up a long the were researching because in all fairness I never usually plan anything before maybe that's one of the reason why some of my work hasn't turned out great but in terms of my researching is definitely a new skill I had adapted to because its really usually in building what you are making . Another technical skill I developed during this project was production skills in terms of camera operator , directing and producing I took it upon myself to be all three of these roles and I have done these things before but I have gained new skills alongside them for example I was never the best camera operator but when I was filming this short film , I have to consider a range of different shots and angles that I have never really practised before , so I would say I have developed a lot of production skills , they have defiantly improved , my handheld shots used to be really shaking but now its more sturdy . Another skill I have developed is blogging , my blogger is much more organised and more presentable than before I have learned how to blog things in an orderly manor and its made my blogger look much more professional , I've also learnt the more you blog the more the examiner will see your progression. Overall I think all my skills ( editing , producing , filmmaking and blogging etc. ) have all improved dramatically because during this whole product making I have developed something , my skills have just developed alongside me , everything I have done so far is because I have picked up certain skills a long the way and that's what makes my project so good because of my skills .

4. Audience Responses to your final product ( might include illustrated data)



I showed my final project to my target audience , and I briefly collected a small amount of responses by asking them quantative and qualitative questions ,such as what wold you rate the film out of 10 and what needs to be improve there were a range of different questions stated in the questionnaire , here is a link to my questionnaire . ( https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf5l_AfP40UYuOPlYw_2658vgWxw2YIbmc3j4YrG43w4t_XwQ/viewform?usp=sf_link )  When I received the results from my target audience everyone's opinions were same results came back 100% which was the question whether the film was good majority answered yes. By me conducting this audience research it made me see the things I need to improve on for example , I asked my target audience what needs to be improved majority answered with audio and transitions , like I sad previously had a major issue with my audio but now that my audience has picked up on it , it shows in the future one of the things I need to work on more is perfecting my audio skills and working getting my sound levels in check otherwise it could really effect more of my projects in the future because I have had audio problems in the past . Another thing I have learned is that if I was to release my short film onto any major platforms it would have to be you tube because on my audience research it was 33.3% Netflix and 66.7% YouTube so that is majority rules . By me conducting this audience research it has taught me that I am a very skilled filmmaker and media producer but I still have a lot to learn and overall quite a few improvements to make and because I made the questionnaire for my target audience they know exactly what is best.





5. How your product will be disturbed and Consumed







My short film would be disturbed on all social media platforms such as YouTube , instgram and twitter , it will also be disturbed on the major YouTube channels such as  my own YouTube channel and a YouTube channel called Million youth media because they have a subscriptions of 251k Subscribers and they are one of the most well known channels for releasing short films especially in the UK , and because my product is a short film not a film it would be best suited on smaller media platforms instead  of platforms like Netflix or mainstream websites , it would nice to have it be exposed to such a wide range audience but in terms of the natural audiences these platforms are the best and are the most suitable for my short film but because my product is all about awareness I would like to it be on other platform such as BBC ONE , TWO OR THREE but because the young age ranges that watch the BBC I am not sure they would allow it to be shown on such a public platform but it would be nice to have it nationally disturbed on a such a well known platform because it will really get a lot of exposure . The way I would generate income is I would charge a small fee for example 99p if they would like to download it or purchases so they can watch it whenever they like . Another way I might make money is by attracting buyers or sponsors for the short film , and for example if I was to put it on YouTube and it generated a certain about of views YouTube will be paying you for all the likes and views you receive for the video , for example if I receive 1 million views on the short film and about 100k likes I will be making = $2,000 for every million views , but then YouTube take 45% of that . My product will be consumed by the younger target audience .

6.   Your next steps as a media producer ( next year what am I trying to learn)



As a media producer my next steps are defiantly challenge myself a bit more I should really push myself to do better , and do things that are out of my comfort zone so I can really better myself as a media producer , I really want to be able to create my own "film" because that would defiantly be a massive achievement for me . I want to learn how to use aftereffects because that will certainly take my editing to the next level in terms of me doing a lot more diverse things in premiere pro , I want to learn more about advertising because that's the pathway I want to really step into the future or filmmaking because I do want to be a director / editor in the advertising industry . This project has really taught me that everything is a process and not everything can be rushed , its really taught me to use my time wisely because if things are done last minute then they wont be as of high standard as you think , this project has also taught me to plan ahead for the future because it will make your life easier when you know exactly what you are doing instead of just going a head and doing so that defiantly I need to take a long with me . My Achilles heel would defiantly be my planning skills because if I had planned better I wouldn't of made a lot of silly mistakes for example if I created a shots list prior to me filming maybe I wouldn't of forgotten what shots I was going to do on the day , another weakness of mine is timing , I have the worst timing skills , if I was better with my timing then maybe my final project would of turned out much better . The practical steps I can take to overcome is I need to practise the skills that aren't exactly my strong suits I should continue them so that I am better at it in the future . In terms of Next year I really want to be a better filmmaker and learn new things because that way I will be the best in the game .