Reflective Evaluation

Pre Production

Pre Production was a success. We were introduced to the new unit and i was extremely excited to be a part of this wonderful project. I gathered many different ideas by looking at different charity adverts, such as oxfam or children in need adverts. I took inspiration from this because it instantly caught my eye. I am quite creative, so coming up with the 3 ideas wasn't a problem for me. I enjoyed the process of making different ideas because i liked imagining different scenarios for my adverts. We then had a visitor from Mind, who is our client, John Swallow. It was more of Q&A with John. We had to get ready a set of questions to ask John about the charity, and how he would like to see the advert. We asked him questions such as what is Mind about, what services Mind offer to people who have mental illnesses. We also went to the Mind centre and we got an insight into what they actually do. We visited the allotment Mind centre have and it was such an amazing experience. Next up, we were preparing for the pitch. I completed my pitch within 2 days because i knew what I was doing and what i wanted. I believed in my idea, and i was confident. So when the day came to deliver the pitch, i rehearsed the pitch in front of my classmate and i wanted verbal feedback from him. Because the pitching process was delayed, it gave me a chance to practice the pitch more and i felt ready to deliver the pitch. When my time came, i delivered the pitch in a confident and proffesional manner. I was clear and i put my view across well and John Swallow, 2 other representatives from Mind and Richard understood what i visioned.

We then found out who's idea got picked and who's didn't. Also, we found out the groups and i was gracefully partnered with Thomas and Rain. Me, Rain and Thomas completed the pre production within 2 days much to my surprise, but my group worked extremely hard in getting the pre production completed in the time that we did. We then had a group/tutor meeting with Richard. I wanted to film the following monday, which Richard said it was a little ambitious. So as a group, we decided filming on Monday was in-fact a little too ambitious. So we moved the shooting date to after the holidays, which gave us more preparation time.

After the holidays, we were approaching shooting date. But we still hadn't prepared the cards which is the main focus point of the advert. So i had a few cardboard boxes at home and i cut the boxes out into cards and Rain had gone into Microsoft word and printed out the words that were meant to be printed onto the cards. This turned out to be a disaster, because the cards were rubbish. and the words wouldn't fit onto one screen and when they did it wasn't big enough for the cards. so we were struggling with the cards because the college didn't do A4 pieces of paper except the art corridor. So Richard went to the art corridor and rain started to make the cards. I have to take responsibility for this because i am the director. As a director, i have to make sure that everything is sorted and prepared for the advert shoot day. So i take responsibility for this, and thats something i hope to take into the next project as a director, that be prepared and ready before the shoot day.

Production

At the start of production day, there was a mishap. I thought i didn't have to film till 1, but Richard said i was booked to film for 9, but from my understanding, i was meant to film at 1. So there we were, no cards, clock reaching 11am, with no extras. However, luckily, i got my actors back as the other group had filmed their shoot. So everything was looking on the up, my extras were back, i was motivated, the weather was on my side. During the shoot, i was extremely organised as were my group.  I had put the extras into their positions and we were ready to shoot. I believe I was demonstrative and that the cast understood what i wanted from them. For example, one of my actors didn't know what facial expression to put on, so i gave him a brief example on what to do and he understood what i wanted. The only problem during the actual shoot was the passing cars, because every time a car came by, we would have to stop filming and get off the road to let the car by. Luckily, it wasn't much of a problem because we managed to finish the shoot. As a director, i believe i fulfilled my role. I had earned the trust of my team members, and also the cast. I had used my previous experience because i had been a director before in my last unit and also last year in level 2, and the mistakes i made during those units, i strived into not making them this time round,  For example, there was a broken bottle near one of the actors, and as a director, it is my job to make sure that the actors are safe, so repositioned the actor to a different location. Me, Rain and Thomas had an understanding between us, they saw what i saw, and they wanted this advert to be the best it could be as much as i did. We communicated well, although Thomas did lose focus at times, Thomas did brilliant in making it up by committing himself to the advert.



Post Production

I found the editing process comfortable. Because i personally enjoy editing and i had completed my first  edit within 2 hours. But Richard had said that it was a little bit rushed, which in all fairness, it was. So  I started a 2nd draft, which felt a lot more composed, for example, there was too many cuts in the first draft which affected my edit because there was not enough emotion in the advert. So the 2nd half of my advert is a lot better in that sector, it really does portray the emotion.


My advert if i'm totally honest, wasn't what i thought it'd be. Nonetheless, I am extremely proud of the work me and my fellow team members have done. There were shots that i had in mind but didn't really work out because of a few reasons, one of them being lacking confidence in the shots. But that is something i hope to address in the near future. I wanted to use a song by Take That, but due to copyright issues that wasn't possible. So I had to settle for something else, which in it's own right, is still very effective and i am happy with this soundtrack because it has it's own qualities and ways to capture the audiences attention.

I feel the techniques i have used are effective. However, it could have been more effective had i used the shots i had planned, but due to the lack of confidence, i didn't use them. I mainly used mid shots of the actors. I felt this was the best shot to use to portray not only the facial expressions of my actors, but also the body posture which speaks a thousand words also. An example of this would be, there is a shot where my actors are holding up a bipolar card. I needed them to be as still as possible, but not looking staged or put on. I wanted them to be as natural as possible too, i told them to look straight into the camera motionless and it worked.

When I look at my advert, it makes me happy. Not because i directed it, because it makes me feel better. I personally don't suffer from a mental illness, thankfully, but i know of people who do suffer from a mental health disorder. And I want them to look at my advert and feel like there is hope and help out there that they can seek. My advert is called 'You Are Not Alone (Credit to Rain), i want people to know that they are not alone and that there are thousands of people in the same situation, so they feel a little bit better inisde. Because everyone wants to know that they have somebody supporting them. Also, i believe the music plays a part in all this. It is a soft piano tune, and it really has an effect on me and that is the reason why I used the song. Because I believe it will touch other people's hearts.

Summarise

I think i worked in a professional, motivated manner. I was focused all the way throughout the whole project, i admit i had a few blips, but believe no one can have a perfect experience, there has to be a few complications along the way. In my case, the complications were getting the card ready on time. But apart from that, i did well in getting the actors motivated and ready, developing a relationship with my team members so they understand me as-well as me understanding them.
I think i was organised to an extent, i believe apart from the card situation, i was organised and extremely professional. For example, i made sure all my team members were involved and i made sure each member had a say, whether it was right or wrong i made sure they had a voice. Because it is a team game. I made sure that the group folder was up to scratch and we were the first group to hand the folder in I believe. There were times where i could have hit the panic button but i remained professional and mature throughout the project. Overall, i believe my advert and this project was a success. Because, the finished advert wasn't too far of to what i wanted it to be. My group members were really helpful and also extremely professional. This project was one that really motivated me, because it is for people who have mental health disorders. Mental illness is a touchy subject, so i had to be careful in my shoot, because there are many ways you could offend someone, so we made sure we shot an advert where no one felt offended, but inspired. I hope John Swallow sees this too. One thing i could improve on is getting all the props together. Because the card situation, could have really cost me dearly. The cards were the most important bit of the advert, and without the cards, there is no advert. But i am taking this as a lesson learn, the lesson being to make sure everything sorted before the shoot date. Other then that, i am very proud of myself and my team as we have achieved a very good advert.