MY PRESENTATION
PRESENTATION EVALUATION & FEEDBACK
This presentation was about all of my work that I have done for this unit. In the presentation we had to justify why and how the products we created met the client brief.
Something I did well in terms of the presentation was that I designed the slides in a way that not only fit with the theme of the task but also captures attention as before creating my presentation I did research on what makes a well designed PowerPoint presentation. Due to the research I did, I decided I would use a dark background and light text and I also decided I would make the text bold, clear and easy to read, I also concluded from the research I did that when creating a presentation you should use as minimal text as possible and try to speak and expand on the short points on your presentation.
Something I am personally proud of is the fact that I stood up in front of everyone and did my presentation as public speaking is quite a fear of mine. I know my delivery could have been so much better however due to my anxieties I was quite shaky and panicky. I definitely, regretfully rushed through trying to read it because of my nerves which probably made me hard to understand however I vow to do better next time.
A thing I think could definitely be improved about my presentation is that it could have been more professional in terms of language, I could have used terms such as “Brand Awareness” etc. and there are many parts where I could have gone more in depth where I didn’t realise I needed to - for example I forgot to include a statement that told the audience what we were aiming to do with our creations and what the client was hoping to gain from them and I didn't include enough information on audience research. I could have gone into much more detail on why my products meet the client brief, why they are good quality products and why they worked and why they didn't however, again, my nerves got in the way of me speaking to my full potential on these things.
Overall, I am proud of my effort to create a presentation and stand up in front of everybody and speak as it is something that I have always struggled with, the overall feedback from everyone who watched my presentation was that it went well and that they understood what I was trying to explain which is a positive so although I could have done much better at trying to control my nerves and delivered better I feel that it is a positive that I did it and got it done.
FINAL UNIT EVALUATION
Throughout this unit I have done many different things - creating a promotional poster, a play recording and a title sequence - and therefore learnt a lot to go along with that. At the very beginning of this project we started with nothing but a brief from our client (Laura Dent from the NLC Acting Department) and then managed to build our way up using client and target audience research in order to gain the information we needed and use it to our advantage in creating the promotional material requested.
The first part of the unit is what I am referring to when I talk about the audience research we completed in our group. Not only did this task get us the information we needed to start working on our promotional material for the College’s Drama Department, it also really opened my eyes to just how valuable and important completing different types of research can be and it also allowed me to learn which types of research are the most effective and which ones are less effective within the target audience we were aiming for as we created online questionnaires, completed vox pops and we also did focussed meetings with the acting students themselves.
After experimenting with these various forms of research, we found that the approach of the online questionnaire was very likeable and useful as we could send it around different groups of people fast and quickly gain a wide range of opinions. We found that people within the 16-24 audience demographic preferred to answer questions anonymously on the questionnaires rather than in person like when we conducted the vox pops. I went around myself asking for feedback on the vox pops and people stated that they felt anxious and somewhat pressured or uncomfortable when we asked and recorded the questions in person with the microphones and equipment. When I asked what we could have done better, they stated that 'maybe making the situation look less formal with the microphones etc.' would allow them to feel less anxiety when being approached. After gaining this feedback and after the overall information we gained with this method I came to the conclusion that most people within the target age range and possibly most people in general do not like partaking in random interviews such as these and there are probably better methods we could go about using in the future anyway as due to people feeling nervous or 'on the spot' we didn’t receive many useable or useful answers.
Something that really did go well and was extremely useful within this part of the project though was the focus group meetings with the acting students. These were planned discussions using questions and focus points we had planned out and written down. Because of this, the people we were speaking with were therefore much more comfortable and the situation was better for everyone involved. These discussions were held in a professional and private environment too which made everyone calmer and feel less pressured.
In Summary, this first task went really well and we were then able to gather all of the information together and start working. If I were to do this task again I would definitely stick to carrying out focus groups and creating online questionnaires while maybe working on finding an alternative method to vox pops.
After the research task, we were then ready to move on to creating our promotional posters and I am overall really proud of my end result and ended up with amazing positive feedback from both professional designers, creative students, and the client at the end of the unit. Throughout creation I referred back to the target audience research and linked my design decisions to it which is what helped me to get this result. I used my creative design and illustrative strengths to my advantage and came out with something I really liked and so did others. You can find all of the written feedback under the 'Promotional Poster' section where you will find all of my work related to that task.
A common theme throughout the feedback from the client overall was that my illustrative strength and design ability was something that was definitely visible and shone through and something that was also noticed about my poster was that the style fits with what they wanted and what was most appropriate based on the target audience research we did. Something that the client and others said that could be improved about my poster is that they would have preferred that it looked a bit 'brighter' and have a more positive tone to it as the more dark, gritty feel wasn't appreciated by everyone however some really did like the unique approach in comparison to the other more conventional posters which is sort of the kind of thing I was going for so I really appreciate and take this feedback on board and I am really proud of my efforts - this was probably my favourite part of the entire unit as a whole.
Upon completing the task of the promotional poster I could then move on to the filming and editing of the Drama Department's final performance. The post-production work on the play recording was a standout, combining shots for a visually striking experience. However, I missed final colour grading, which I believe would have enhanced the overall appeal. In future edits, prioritizing time for colour grading is a lesson learned. Improvement is needed in sound quality; some actors' voices were unclear due to microphone issues. Testing microphones before recording and using both boom and lavalier mics could prevent such issues. Allocating more time in post-production for audio editing is also crucial. Pre-production research and testing were strong points, aiding communication and camera angle decisions. Cameras were strategically placed based on rehearsals, but camera movement issues occurred. Practice with video cameras beforehand can help overcome such challenges in the future. If given the chance again, I'd prefer a hands-on role during filming, confident in choosing the right shots. Learning from challenges, I'd focus on improving filming techniques for a smoother production process.
Overall, I’m really proud of in the title sequence I created and it definitely ended up surpassing my expectations. Despite initial challenges with After Effects, experimentation and tutorials helped me navigate the software and achieve compelling animations. The consistent illustration style, especially the paper textures and ripping transitions, received positive feedback. Transitions, like the ripping effect and the bus disappearing behind text, stand out. The 'cartoony' music and additional sound effects enhance the sequence's appeal. However, font choices could better align with the theme, and more experimentation with transitions and tutorials would have improved the overall professionalism. Despite not being my favourite work, client feedback, with the sequence being favoured by drama students, validated my efforts and brought satisfaction.