'Evaluation and Communication'
Feedback From Peers
Feedback From Teachers
Final Evaluation
Evaluation Readthrough
Hannah's Feedback-
Lucy's Feedback-
Izzie's Feedback-
Ray's Feedback-
Callum's Feedback-
Hannah's positive feedback was exactly what I was hoping for but not expecting. I set out to create this Documentary with the goal to educate and inform my Audience whilst making them emotional and inspired by the narration and Steph's story. When I had completed my Project, I was not convinced I reached that goal and hat it was up to the standard I was hoping for. We are our own worst critic. This Documentary's feedback has been the best I have gotten compared to all of my project throughout my two years at Yeovil College. Hannah also touched up on the filming angles and shots which I was lucky enough to be able to gather as I had access to two cameras. As this is a real authentic Documentary, I could not refilm questions or script the interviewees answers so I had to use two cameras for the same shot together.
I struggled greatly trying to find music soundtracks for this Documentary as the mood throughout the 10 minutes changed a lot. I ended up having 5 songs with different genres and moods for each one. To have her like the music and how it fits with the feelings of each scenes, means I was successful in picking and cropping the soundtracks to each segment.
The one negative piece of feedback she gave me, was the length of the interviews and how they could have been broken up. I completely agree with this and if I had the option to have another filming day, I would focus on gathering B-Roll. Unfortunately, on the day I did not have enough time to film B-Roll which left the Interviews plain and simple.
Lucy's positive Feedback was very similar to Hannah's in the fact that they both found it 'informative and moving'. Lucy is a typical Audience member who I wanted to focus my Documentary towards, someone who 'doesn't know much about Autism'. When I was looking over my research questionnaire answers a couple weeks back, I noticed a lot of people between the ages of 13-19 year olds do not know the definition of or what is included with Autism. Autism is not as common as many people would think, which is why schools do not teach about it or much knowledge is shown about the disability on Social Media. I believe it is important for people to be educated about this subject, which is why I have posted my final edit of 'Autism and Me' to all of my social media's in hopes that people will watch it and understand everything about Autism, more.
Another good Feedback that I got from Lucy, was that she liked the different perspectives of people surrounding the subject of Autism. Autism does not only effect the person with it, but everyone around them: family, friends and health care workers. Severely Autistic people usually have a hard upbringing of their childhood and need support throughout their life, this can be hard on everyone. It was important for me to include that in the Documentary, as that is the reality of Autism.
For the negative Feedback, Lucy commented on the lack of Locations used. If I was to recreate or extend this Documentary, I would do a day in the life of Steph, showing what Autism is actually like to live with. Doing that would give me the opportunity to use more that 3 filming locations which would improve the pace of the film.
Izzie's Feedback was the last of my peers. Within her Feedback, she talks about the message my Documentary puts across and how important it was for me to make it. Similar to my other two feedback, I am proud that people understand what I was trying to get across and the fact they will now carry their knowledge of Autism along with them in life. A piece of feedback that she specifically focused on was the fluidity and how easy the Documentary was to follow. My biggest concern, was that the footage was cut quite abruptly and the narration did not flow with the interviews. Having more than one angle on all of the interviews 'gave a bit more variation' which certainly helped the Documentary seem less lengthy.
Compared to the other two feedbacks, Izzie did not agree with my choice of music and felt it did not quite fit. With me having varied responses to the music, it is hard for me to determine whether or not my choices work. Everyone has their own opinion and everyone's are different with how they would pin point a soundtrack's mood or fit. She does however proceed to talk about how she understood my struggle with finding the music, which is true. Possibly, she is thinking that if I had more time, I could of picked a better fitting song, which I agree with.
It was important for me to get a range of feedback from different ages and profession skills. Ray is a professional worker within the film industry, which means his feedback is important to me.
He started off the message with 'a very powerful film with your sister'. This sentence shows the Documentary had a big impact on him and the story's reality is hard hitting, I was aiming for this response.
He then goes on to discussing Film Freeway, which is a website dedicated to Film festivals for Students and new Filmmakers. Before this message, I was not confident in my Project and was embarrassed for people to see it, as I believe it is badly Directed. Ray thinks differently.
The final piece of feedback took me by surprise. He suggests taking the Documentary to one step further and 'making it a full scale documentary for broadcast'. Never in my life would I have thought my Project was good enough to develop further. With Steph's permission, I will be taking up the offer and will hopefully continue her story. Maybe now I can include my other ideas, without having to worry about time scale and management.
Callum's Feedback was short but important none the less. Getting validation and positive responses from a higher personnel is good and O am glad he understood the effort it took to make it.
Director's Commentary
Film Freeway
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With my project now completed and I am happy with the product, I have added my Poster, Trailer, Documentary and Profile to Film Freeway. Film Freeway is a website for small companies or Students to enter their Film Projects for Festivals. At the festivals there are opportunities to win awards but most importantly to receive feedback. Usually people have to pay entry fees up to £100 but because my Documentary includes a disabled person (Steph) I got a free entry. The one I entered is called 'Slamdance Film Festival'. It takes place in America however it does accept worldwide entries. I chose this festival as the company works with AGBO Films which is a Production Company owned by my favourite Director's Joe and Anthony Russo. Even if I do not shortlist for the final awards evening, I am promised feedback, which will be gratefully accepted.