Promotional Video Evaluation

                                                         Evaluation

Critical Evaluation of Production Skills

For my production I had to create a promotional video. The subject, which I had to promote, was a documentary being made about the old Co-op Hall in Nuneaton. The hall had been there since 1938 and was demolished in 2008 to pave way for a big supermarket chain. The Hall was mostly remembered for the dances it held on a Friday and Saturday night. It has a big history with bands such as The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks and even the Rolling Stones who played there. For these reasons and more the Hall has a big part in peoples lives in the local community and because of this the demolition was very controversial. The documentary being made is funded by the National Lottery and is to document people’s memories of the Hall.  Our brief was to produce a promotional video for a recognized client. Our client was Mick Dabrowski the director of the documentary.

The first step I took with making my video was analysing different promotional videos and looking at the codes and conventions which they use to make it successful.  My main influence for my video was a video, promoting “Butterflies”, an extra curriculum school programme for children. The reason for me choosing this as my main influence was because it used all of the codes and conventions for promotional videos such as establishing shots, montages, diegetic/non diegetic sound, interviews etc in a suitable and effective way which got the point of the video across, gave information to the viewer and most importantly, promoted it.

The style which I was aiming to get with my video was a fast edited video that also uses montages to help get its message across, taking all the best points made in interviews and putting them all together. The final product does have this but not as much as I would have liked, if I was to go back and do it again I would ensure that I had enough interview footage with good points in to be able to do quicker cuts and still meet over the minimum time limit allowed on the video.

In my video I tried to make sure I used some key codes and conventions of promotional videos. I think this is one of the things I did quite well as I have used them throughout my film. The first of which is the very first shot, an establishing photo of the Hall then dissolving into an establishing shot of what is there now revealing the supermarket. The camera then pans down the street to give a clear insight into how much the area has changed. I think my use of the key convention of establishing shots was quite effective in this way. My next shot is of a Big Band that used to play at the Hall back in the day playing one of their songs. This shot worked really well because it starts off a timeline of the hall as these sort of Big Bands were the first kind of band to play there. This shot also fulfils two of the key conventions, diegetic sound of the band playing and the use of suitable music. Because the band used to play there, the song they are playing fits to the topic of the video and because of this I feel that again this shot worked really well. Another example of suitable music I used is the song “All Day and All of the Night” by The Kinks. This song starts straight after the big band introducing the documentary with a short montage of photos. This also worked really well as it uses the convention of fitting music alongside the other convention of a montage. There were some legal issues I had to consider for the music choice such as copyright laws. Because my video is not going public I don’t have to get permission to use the song.

When we filmed our first interview, we encountered a lot of problems. The first was finding a suitable location to film around the college. After rejecting numerous locations due to a great deal of noise or not being enough room, we decided to use the upstairs of the college library because there was plenty of room and it was very quiet. We took all the equipment there and started to set it all up but when we went to get more, the photography studio back drop collapsed. Because of this we had a bit of a problem as the interviewees were turning up soon. Having to improvise we decided to take advantage of the nice weather that day and film outside in the college courtyard. Because it was a nice day we didn’t have to worry about lighting equipment because we could just use natural lighting, the main concern was sound as the mic we were using was very good and could pick up the slightest noise from traffic etc. When we saw the footage it was good quality sound and good shots on the camera, the problem was at the end of the interview a Magpie starts to make noise in the background. In editing, the Magpie sound added an eerie feeling at the end of the interview because Betty said something quite emotional at the end and the diegetic sound of the Magpie added to it.

Critical Evaluation of Finished Product

If I was to start all over again, I would definitely make sure I made a production and shot log before I started any filming or editing as this would have made it a lot easier. Because I didn’t do a production log I found it difficult at first to come up with a structure for my film and it took me a while to decide to go for the quick cut method. I would definitely do a production log before if I did this again.

After doing this project, I have learnt all ways do a production log before starting any filming or editing to ensure that my film will have good structure to it.  I will also remember to make sure I have more footage than I need so that I can do montages of quick cuts effectively.

Overall I feel that my promotional video is a success. I’ve had a meeting with my client Mick Dabrowski and he gave me feedback. He was happy with the outcome and is going to use some of my footage in the final documentary. There are a couple of things he gave me feedback on that I could have improved for example, on my photos in my video he told me they look good and they work but next time I should think about using more effects such as the Ken Burns effect which is where the picture slowly moves so that it adds some form of animation to the photo rather than just a still image.

I feel that my video does promote the documentary quite well.  It does this through the strong use of key conventions I have used through out such as montages, use of fitting music, good use of diegetic and non diegetic sound and also a good use of effects. All of these put together help my video to have a purpose. It does promote the documentary being made so I believe I have met my clients brief and feedback from my client Mick Da Browski backs this up.

“I think the fashion and the Romance are the best bits” This quote is from a recorded conversation with my client whilst watching my video. In this part he was talking about my video, as a big part of it is the fashion. This quote shows he was pleased about that part of my video. “That’s good, there’s some really good stuff in there. Ill incorporate some of all three videos in the final cut” This quote shows how he is happy with the outcome of my video; this is proven because he says he wants to incorporate some of my footage in the final documentary.

“The timing of your dissolves are really nice and works really well and even adds something to the whole video” This is another quote showing that he was satisfied with my work. This quote backs up my good use of effects as he feels they add to the whole video. All of these quotes are evidence that I have met my clients brief with my promotional video and that it does promote and it does have a purpose. They also reinforce my opinion on my work being a success overall.