DMC U2 1.3, 2.2 - 2.4

How to give constructive feedback

To give constructive feedback its important to say your point and always give a reason to back up your point. Another way to give constructive feedback is to use the feedback sandwich, which is a way you discuss someones project with them in a certain way; Positive comment, Constructive criticism, Positive Comment. This helps the person receiving the feedback to feel as if they are not being targeted at negatively.

To receive feedback is similar to some extent but there are a few things that differentiate the two.

When receiving feedback its important to hold your ground when people are giving feedback as sometimes people can be quite harsh on comments, so try and make sure to ask for reasons behind their points. Also not to be passive with the comments they give and just go along with what the audience says. And asking questions in return if you believe their criticism is wrong but in a respective manner.

Select and justify appropriate presentation techniques for a specific creative idea (film)

The way I would present my short film would be to give a small explanation of the film first without explaining the narrative. Then I would let the film run on a projected screen with the sound being relatively loud as the sound plays a huge role in my film with dimmed lights/no lights. After the screening has finished I would be willing to answer questions about the film and how it was shot.

Present your creative idea to a group

Above is the video from when I had presented my video to a relatively large group in comparison to the focus group I had presented the video to for the testing of my video. I had recieved feedback from both sessions as I wanted to know with the focus group if any changes were need to be done, then with the larger group I wanted to know whether the changes made any difference to the feedback given which it did as I hadn't got any negative feedback on the technical side of my film.

Evaluate effectiveness of presentation

I think my presentation skills were not the best as I felt that I hadn't given enough information to the audience for them to understand what my film was about. Although I did try and explain, the information given wasn't in enough depth. I also feel like I should have explained the stages of my planning i.e. coming up with narratives, then creating the story board, location scouting, gathering props and facing limitations throughout this whole time. Public speaking is also a weakness of mine as I am not too confident being on camera nor am I confident speaking in front of a lot of people which is probably the main reason I didn't ask the audience any questions when everyone was quiet. Overall I think that my presentation could have gone better but I am happy with what was said during the feedback.

Review your video sequence CIM 314V 4.1 - 4.5

Parameters and Constraints that influenced my decisions:

I had several parameters and constraints that had influenced the decisions I had made for the production of my film. One was having to follow the brief of the competition I was entering, the two main constraints I faced from the brief was that I had to keep the film 3mins or under, I felt that this was a good parameter though because it allowed me to really think about how I would have to combine the use of audio and video to present the narrative to its full potential. Another constraint from the brief was the $1000 budget I had to keep within, although my film was pretty much a zero budget film, this would have been more of an effect if I had the money for a massive production. I also had to face time constraints as there was a pretty tight deadline to enter the competition (31st December 2013) along with all submission forms. This had made me quite weary about filming at such a late date and having to shoot in a day. In the end my film was just under 2mins long which is very short in comparison to what my initial ideas were for a full 3min film.

Evaluate the quality of the finished product and fitness for purpose:

After watching my film after several weeks of entering the competition I was able to evaluate the product in depth a little more than I would have just after completion. The quality is quite obvious that it wasn't shot professionally and was shot on an extremely small budget using equipment that was already owned. Even after the post production to try and make it look like it had more of the professional touch to it. But I believe that the film is fit for its purpose as it did get entered into the competition in time with a confirmation email alerting me that the film was successfully entered into the competition.

Evaluation with client and feedback:

Here is the video of the presentation for my film, with the feedback from the audience and client after the screening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpNpGZzqhco&feature=youtu.be&safe=active

I felt that the feedback given was really good, very helpful for myself to take and be able to produce a better film in the future. I felt that the fact that so many of the audience were left very confused is a good thing as it was one of my aims to do so, but maybe if the video was a little longer, the narrative would have been a bit more easier to understand. If I was to critically identify the areas I could improve on, I think it would be to shoot with custom settings so the footage that comes out of the camera I use isn't saturated already, giving me much more freedom with controlling colour in post production.

Review technical and aesthetic qualities of final product:

After watching the film that I have made I was able to find a few areas that I would change slightly, mainly one of the transitions where its visible to the viewer that the subject in the shot was standing still before he started walking. Also in terms of technicality I think that the film may have had a bit more of an impact if I had used some dialogue instead of using several soundtracks on top of the video afterwards. Personally I think the film aesthetically looks good, its clear it was shot on a DSLR due to the over sharp shots and the colours were already saturated when they were uploaded but I don't think it brings down the quality of the film. If I was to shoot this film again, I would set the settings on my camera so they were shooting with very low colour toning and sharpness; this would give me video clips which are very similar to RAW files allowing me to colour grade it with much more freedom without having to think I was going to over saturate the colours.

Creating Your Video Sequence CIM 314V 3,1- 3,10