Content Creation In Sunderland - Product and Feedback

I created my first draft, and I am happy with the way it's looking so far. I believe that I have used a wide variety of camera angles and editing techniques. I will gather feedback that will help with my production and final product. 

Feedback

I asked for my first wave of feedback on google forms, and I asked a series of questions that will hopefully help me improve upon my first draft. I successfully gathered 11 responses on my survey, this is what they said. 

The first question I asked was whether or not my documentary met the brief. Thankfully, all eleven people said yes. this was really reassuring, because I am glad to know that I spent my time effectively. I deliberately spoke about content creation in Sunderland, so my documentary would meet the Sunderland Culture brief. Meeting the brief is also a big part of professional practice, so I am pleased that my audience feel that I have met the brief. 

So, I also wanted to know if my product was long enough, especially since this is a big project. Again, all eleven people said yes and that really put my mind at ease. I am glad that my audience feel that my documentary was long enough, because it shows me that I have put in the necessary amount of work I need for this project. Not to mention, because everyone said it was a good length, I got no suggestions of how I could adjust things. 

Finally, I asked everyone what they would change. Most people said my first draft was really good and they wouldn't change anything. However, I got a few suggestions and I am grateful for everyone's honest feedback.  One of the suggestions I received was to add more transitions in between the segments. Personally, I think this is a good bit of advice and I will implement this in my next draft. Someone also told me to have my logo as a watermark, throughout the whole documentary. This is something I will also implement. It is good to have a fresh pair of eyes critique your work, because they can suggest things you would have never thought of. It is great communication. 

My Improvements

I made sure that I took my feedback on board, and implemented some new transitions. I opened my project in Splice and added five new transitions. I did three cross zoom transitions, one the three clips I have shown at the top. I also did a white colour fade transition on the arcade clip, I chose white because the background was light, so it works well. Not to mention, I did one glitch memories transition, so I could link the arcade segment to my conclusion. I am really happy with how these transitions turned out. 

I also made sure to add my watermark to the whole project. I put it in the bottom right corner, because nothing really went on down there, so it isn't interfering with anything. I also lowered the opacity to 51%, so it blends in with the background. Many mainstream TV channels do this such as the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. I added fade in and fade out animations to my logo, a lot TV channels do this as well. I made my logo fade in at the start of the intro, and I made it fade out right before the end credits. I am happy with how it looks in my project. 

Not to mention, I decided to add one Kinemaster split transition in between my regional identity segment, and my content creators in the local area discussion. I wanted to experiment with different types of transitions, and I really like how this one looks. I then exported draft two to my gallery and uploaded it to YouTube. I had some issues with Splice when making this segment, because it would randomly cut to a black screen during this segment. It's strange because I can't pinpoint why that was happening, it's clearly a problem with the software. So, I had to export everything before that segment as one video, then export everything after the segment as another video. I then inserted the segment into the documentary on Kinemaster, when I put the three segments together. 

DRAFT 2

This is my second draft of my documentary, I made sure to implement all of the feedback I received.  Personally, I think this draft is way more polished than the last one.

I also decided to make a more fitting thumbnail for this project. I made this thumbnail on Kinemaster, and I decided to implement some regional identity in to this image. I used an old cartoon image of Sunderland as my background, then I used the facial zoom effect. This effect blurs the sides of the image and focuses on the center. After that, I added the text from my intro to the middle of the thumbnail. Not to mention, I gave the text a thick black text stroke, so you can see it clearly. Once that was done I put my logo in the bottom right corner, and gave it a black text stroke. Once it was done, I exported it to my gallery and uploaded it as my YouTube thumbnail.

MY FOCUS GROUP

So, I decided to gather a focus group and show them my documentary. I did this so I could receive some feedback. As a whole, I thought I received some really good feedback, and the group were not scared to give me their honest opinions. It's good to receive constructive criticism, because it shows that I am not surrounded by yes men.  

One of my peers picked up on the basic fade transition, I used before the regional identity segment. She said that she didn't like it, so I will try my best to change this in my final draft. As well as this, another person picked up on me having my bankcard in the back of my phone case. Although you can't really see it, I will blur it out in my final draft.

Everyone in my focus group thought my documentary was good, and they liked the sound effects I used. I am glad they picked up on the fact it was heavily inspired by YouTube, because that's the vibe I was going for. The other pieces of feedback I received, where more about the concept of documentary. I was requested to discuss a wider variety of content, as well as do a longer segment outside. These suggestions were really helpful, and I will definitely consider them when creating future projects. My editing style was likened to the BBC's, which was a nice compliment to receive because the BBC make some really high end documentaries. Not to mention, BBC Three make content for 16-24 year old's, so I am glad to know that my style is appealing to my target audience.  When editing this video, I made sure to put the documentary at the top of the screen, so you can see what they were watching. 

My Final Improvements

Firstly, I added a circle wipe transition in order to add more flair to the segment. This is more visually appealing than the original fade transition I used before. I also used the Gaussian Blur effect to blur my bankcard. You couldn't really see it before, but this effect makes it impossible. This improvement is good for securing the safety of my bank account, it's better to be safe than sorry. I used Kinemaster for my improvements. 

Here is my final draft of my project, I made sure to apply some of my feedback in order to improve the documentary. I am really happy with how this looks now, and I am thankful for the feedback I received.  

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I am happy satisfied with the results from the feedback process. By receiving feedback, I have been able to gather the necessary information I needed in order to improve my documentary. I added transitions, effects, and logos that made my product far more polished. Not to mention, I also made a nice thumbnail, so I have also done some print work. 

The focus group I assembled was really constructive and they gave me some really honest feedback. If I where to to this again, I would discuss a wider variety of content and film some more outside segments. However, this documentary is very personalized, so it focuses more on my experiences. One of my peers even said that I could make the concept into a series. I really liked the edits and transitions I used, and I believe I used a wide variety of effects and camera angles. This is good for technical skill.

I have made sure to explain all of the changes I made, as well as the effects I chose. I really enjoy making videos, so I am glad I got to make this project. I definitely broadened my understanding of documentaries.