Evaluation

 The task I was given for this unit was to develop strong ideas and plan for a series of videos with an interlinked visual style and narrative focus. This task was given by the company fruit bowl tech and was to promote the release of their new app, aimed at 24-60 year olds fitting in the social class of ABC-1 and the psychographics of explorers, aspirers and mainstreamers. One of my tasks was to develop my video ideas and plan to appeal to the personalities of these demographics and psychographics whilst conveying the family focus the app has. This is in order to increase the sign ups to the app. The success of the video would've been measured by the amount of sign ups to the app.

To begin, my initial idea was to create a short video showing a story of an engaged couple trying to find ways to reconnect with family members and end up discovering family members they were unaware they had. As the project went on, a number of variables such as client feedback and research helped me come to the conclusion that I needed to find a way to incorporate the ancestry side into my video. 

To further my ideas and help to understand the type of advertisement I wanted to create, I analysed the codes and conventions along with the different aspects and as a result the success of promotional videos. What I took from this was that I wanted to use scenarios that the target audience may feel they can relate to. I also found that promotional videos with minor comedic elements are more memorable and in turn more successful, I decided to use this knowledge along with my need to integrate the ancestry side of the app and develop my idea further, creating a comedic scene containing two people from different time eras making a connection. To further improve my analysis of pre-existing promotional videos I would add a section containing pros and cons to the different aspects of the videos and discuss how I could take inspirations from these to better my own ideas.

To further the success we were to achieve on the video, I did some initial research. This consisted of audience research along with looking into possible ways to stand out from our competitors, this entailed looking into demographics. I decided the most effective way to evaluate how to best reach our demographic was to conduct a short survey consisting of questions asking peoples ages and gender. This was in order to decipher the best platforms to display our promotion on. I found this survey to be a success as it provided me with the information I originally sought out, allowing the discovery that platform used most by our demographic was facebook. To improve this survey I would incorporate questions into the survey that relate to the psychographics as well, this would improve the way we appeal to the target audience. I then moved onto the target psychographics, finding a detailed, accurate definition of each psychographic we were targeting and then suggesting possibilities of how to appeal to said psychographics. I feel as though this method was effective in helping me develop my planning and ideas for my promotional video. However, to improve, I would analyse pre-existing videos aimed at the same/similar psychographics and detail how they appealed to them, giving further inspiration. I then looked at competitors, I looked at facebook and ancestry, detailing why they are competitors and how to surpass them. To further improve this I would incorporate a questionnaire asking users of both apps what their favourite and least favourite features and qualities of the apps are.

After I had established my video idea and planned for what type of video I wished to create, I looked into the costs of the production and where I wanted to get/hire everything needed for the production. I separated this into equipment, crew, location and cast to avoid any future confusion. To ensure I found and used the best quality resources (excluding location) I could, I researched average costs and cross referenced numbers from different websites along with discussing ethical issues that may be presented with wages. This was effective because it ensured I found the most trustworthy resources I could that fit in with the original agreed budget. To improve in the future I would look into well known and trusted places to get said resources from so as I knew 100% that the production would go as smooth as possible. To find my chosen locations I searched possible locations, their prices for hire and then weighed up the pros and cons of each location to help finalise my decision. To improve my location scouting, I would Suggest more possible locations as this presents a possibility of finding more appropriate and cost effective locations. Overall I think my budget decisions were effective as I stayed true to the original budget leaving enough room for any contingency issues to be accounted for. To improve my budgeting I would think about the cost of transportation to my locations a long with accommodation for staff.

I also looked at any possible legal or ethical issues and how to prevent those. I composed research, solutions to potential problems and created a variety of forms for people to fill out in order to prevent any potential law suits. I found this effective because it helped to develop certain aspects of the production in order to avoid any legal issues such as copyright, defamation, etc. To improve, I would show examples of forms required for issues presented by copyright laws incase any issues presented any further into the production.

If I was presented with the ability to make the production, I would use editing techniques such as jump cuts and transitions to avoid viewer confusion and keep their attention. This would be effective as these two techniques avoid any un-necessary filler footage, preventing the viewer from losing interest in the video and therefore the product itself.

Throughout this production I believe I have communicated with the client frequently and kept them up to date with any developments along with taking their feedback. I also believe I have showed a high level of professionalism through communication, always showing up to scheduled meetings on time, requesting extra meetings to ensure I had done all they required from me. However, to improve my communication, I would ask the client more questions about the brief, allowing for more feedback, furthering any possibilities of pleasing the client.