Evaluation on Feedback Received

First Peer Viewing I made sure that my promotional video was completed to a near finished state for the first viewing, so I was able to get feedback on the video as a whole, and not just for some segments. This worked really well, as the feedback which I received at this stage allowed me to change the video according to the feedback which I received, and as the whole video was there, I was sure that I was not missing out on any vital feedback which may have happened if I didnt show the whole video at the first peer viewing session. The first piece of feedback which I received from my first peer viewing was that the lady on the bus had to go. I left her in at this stage as I wasnt sure if my peers would like it (to add humour) or just thought it was irrelevant. I was right that it did add humour to the video; however after critically evaluating it after the peer viewing, I realised that the reaction may be somewhat different when it goes onto Visit Norwichs website. I.e. the audience watching may not find it as funny. I was glad that I left it in for the peer viewing, as if I didnt, I wouldnt have got this feedback, and I wouldnt have understood what was wrong with it and I may have decided to put it back in which would have been a critical mistake. Working with this feedback allowed me to take a similar image of the Norwich logo (as I did like the shot, minus the lady) and insert this one instead. The humour has gone from this part of the video, but I feel that it was for the best. I was advised to re-record the voice over as the audio had a bad echo in places and the levels werent right. I knew that I needed to re-record the voice over as it was recorded on separate days and I could hear a change in my voice, but I didnt hear the echo. When I re-recorded the voice over, I made sure that the quality was crisp and to a professional standard. When playing it back, there was still a slight echo, so I put the audio into Adobe Audition, and I was able to improve the quality there. If I didnt get the feedback about the echo, I would not have kept an eye out for this, and the final piece may not have been as good as it is now. I was also advised that I should change a part of the voice over, as from the start it is constantly giving information, and then there was a long pause of thirty seconds when there were shots showing the back streets of Norwich. I understood why my lecturer wanted me to change this, as it has an effect on the pace of the video, but I also wanted to keep all of the shots as it was a unique selling point of Norwich. I acted on the feedback given, and I ended up cutting a few of the shots out; added some quicker cuts in other places; and made the voice over slower which made the pause last only twelve seconds. Even though there is still a pause, I think that as it is near the end of the video, having a bit of silence makes the testimonials and end PTC sound stronger. After I made these changes, I showed it to a few of my peers, and they agreed that a pause is needed, but it is much better than it was before. As they liked the new pause I decided to keep that as it was. If they said that it was still too long, I would have shortened it more, but my peers agreed that it wasnt needed. The last major piece of feedback which I received in my first peer viewing, again, was from my lecturer who said that the ending of the video needed to be changed, (the three Bens with the lightning). I personally thought that it was different and unique, but I was told that it had a different style to the rest of the video which put it out of place. As a lot of my peers (who are in the target

audience bracket) agreed with this comment, I would have been unprofessional not to act on it. For this reason, I decided to keep the end PTC, but only use one character. The reason I decided to keep the PTC at the end was because my other lecturer said that he really liked the idea of having a PTC at the end rounding the video up, and having the shot come out of the television screen after the testimonials helped it flow well. If I did not have this part ready for the first viewing, I would not have got the feedback on the change of style, and I would not have changed this for the final version. If this happened, I would have ended up with a piece which changed style near the end which would not have been professional. This proves how important it was for me to get the video to a near finished state for the first peer viewing. In addition to the criticisms which I received, I also got many positive comments about the video. I liked the backing tracks which I selected, but I thought that I would check this with my peers just to make sure that they were suitable. All of my peers agreed with me saying that they were suitable as they enhanced the video and that the tracks were upbeat and lively. Even though I was happy with the tracks which I chose, I was even happier getting reassurance that they were suitable. If I did choose unsuitable tracks, this could have been disastrous for the final edit if this wasnt pointed out. The first peer viewing was vital, as without it, I would not have had any feedback to act on before showing it to other people. In addition, my peers and lecturers know all about editing styles, editing software etc. so getting feedback from them first was a great stepping stone to then get more feedback from other people. Online Questionnaire 1 As I got pointers from my peers and lecturers of what to change, after I made the changes, I decided to put my pre-peer viewing video and post-peer viewing video on a questionnaire website, and I asked the question What version do you prefer and why? The results were quite astonishing, as 93% of people who answered the question said that they preferred the post-peer viewing video. I made it fair by not saying what one was the latest version, as this could have made the results bias. I knew that I preferred the new version, but I wanted to confirm this with more people. Getting this feedback was great, as this made me happy knowing that the latest version was the one which most people preferred, and it wasnt just my peers/ lecturers who thought the changes were for the better. The feedback which I received about why they preferred the post-peer viewing video included phrases such as it flowed better, the ending fits in with the style, and the voice over is clearer. This feedback relates directly to the changes which I made through the feedback which I received from my peers and lecturers. If I did not show my video at the peer viewing, I would have not got this feedback as I would not have made these changes, so this shows how important the first viewing was. Online Questionnaire 2 I made a second questionnaire shortly after making the first one, only showing the updated version of the video. I made this questionnaire a week before the deadline, so if there were any other things which people thought could be changed, I would have time to change them. I put at the top of the questionnaire Please only fill out if you are aged between 16-21. I done that so only people in my

target audience range would fill out the questionnaire, and I would not get feedback from people who the video is not aimed at. The first question which I asked was Would this video make you inclined to visit Norwich, if so why/ if not, why not? 16/27 people said that it would. This is approximately 60%, which I think is a lot, as not everybody would be persuaded to visit a new place (especially a location) just because of a video. Also, as I knew that the people who answered the questionnaire didnt know me (as I didnt link it with my social networking pages etc), I knew that the results were accurate. For the people who said yes, I received comments such as it looks like a jam packed place, and Ill go anywhere which has hot weather. These pieces of feedback were great, as I wanted the video to be jam packed as I thought that it would appeal to my target audience, and it also shows me that the research which I did at the start of the production was right, being that teenagers like fast paced and upbeat things. If I didnt research into my target audience in depth at the start of the production, I may not have realised this, and I may have made the style of the video different, and that may then not have appealed to as much of my target audience. As for the weather comment, I wasnt expecting comments such as this, but it shows that the viewers of the video were listening to the voice over as much as they were watching the visuals. I was worried that the target audience may drown the voice over out and just watch the visuals, but knowing that they do listen to the voice over has made me happy, as the voice over is supposed to be as, if not more, persuasive than the actual visuals in the video. This shows me that finding all of the persuasive facts and statistics about Norwich (i.e. hottest place in the UK, award winning stores etc., ) was worthwhile and important, as without them, the figure of 16/27 people being persuaded to visit Norwich may have been lower. - It was all well and good getting positive feedback as it made me feel that the video was completed to a professional standard; however, I asked the questionnaire to people who didnt know me so I could get some harsh criticism to act on. Before starting the questionnaire, I was expecting to get some harsh criticism, but this did not come. Only one person who said that the video didnt persuade them answered the question fully, instead of just saying no. The feedback from this individual was still quite diluted, just saying Id rather go abroad. This feedback is fine, but it didnt allow me to improve the video any further. However, I did then understand that some people would still say no even if the video was the best/ most persuasive promotional video ever, just because they would make a judgemental decision as Norwich is in the UK and not somewhere where they want to go on holiday. I then guessed that other people who said no, said so for the same reason. Another question which I asked was What could be improved in the video? Only seven people answered this question, and one comment which I received was the colours seem to change in a couple of shots. I knew that the colour was something which I needed to improve, as unfortunately, the colours seemed to change on a couple of shots when I exported it and watched it on a PC and not a Mac, so I had to export the video approximately ten times before getting the colours right. I knew the colours were a bit off before getting this feedback, but I didnt think anybody would notice them so I was going to leave it, but as somebody did notice it, I knew that I couldnt keep it as it was. This did take up a lot of time, but I knew that if I was going to make the video as professional as possible, I could not leave errors (however minor), if somebody could spot them. Another comment which I received was the voice over needs to be louder. I got the same feedback from my peers and lecturer in the first viewing, so I knew it was something which needed to be changed. I didnt see any issue with it (probably because it was my video and my voice), so I got my technical assistant to change the levels for me. As I didnt know what was wrong with the levels, if I changed them

myself, I may not have changed them enough and it may still have not been right. The last piece of feedback which I received was the shot jumps near the start when the globe zooms into Norwich. I knew this happened as there is no way to get a continuous shot of Google Earth zooming right in; however I did try to match the frames in Avid, but this did not work. As this got pointed out, I knew that I couldnt leave it as it was, so I ended up adding a fade between the shots so the shot change wasnt as harsh. This was an easy change, but it wasnt something which I thought of doing before getting this feedback, so this piece of feedback helped with the overall look of the video. Furthermore, as it is at the very start of the video, it was important for it to look as good as possible which wouldnt have been the case if I didnt get this feedback and then act on it accordingly. The feedback from this questionnaire was mixed, as even though I couldnt act on some of the feedback which I received, I got to understand why the video wouldnt persuade some people to visit Norwich; and the second question which I asked, helped improve the video from an aesthetic point of view. Without this questionnaire, the aesthetic changes wouldnt have taken place which could have had a negative effect on the end result. Facebook comments I put the video on my Facebook profile at the same time as I published the second questionnaire, and I asked the question What could I improve in this video? Critique away! I have 400 people on Facebook, but even though the YouTube hits were going up as people were clicking on the link, nobody seemed to comment unless it was something positive. I thought it would be because they wouldnt want to say anything negative as they are my friends and didnt want to upset me. The only criticism I got over the four days the video was on Facebook was Maybe change some of the colouring? As I had received this feedback through my second questionnaire already, I saw little point of keeping the video on Facebook as I knew I would not receive any more criticism. This backs my thinking up that I would get more criticism and better feedback from people who dont know me, as they wouldnt care what they said or how it would come across. YouTube I put the video on YouTube as a way for people to watch it when I put the link on my Facebook page and on the questionnaire sites, but it never came across to me that people would leave comments underneath the video on YouTube itself! I received one positive comment Great video which was reassuring, and one criticism which said You like your panning shots Nobody (through my peer viewing/ Questionnaires/ Facebook etc.) had said about removing some of the panning shots up until this stage, so I did not think it was an issue. When I was doing extensive research into location promotional videos, I found that most do use panning shots, pull focus shots etc., but I wanted to make sure that I wasnt over using them. For this reason, I asked some of my peers what they thought of my shot choices and they said that they were suitable, and I agreed as I thought that they were in line with current practice. I knew that whatever criticism I was to receive, even if I thought it was wrong, I should ask for other peoples opinions in case it was something which somebody had just not brought up. In this instance, using lots of panning shots was suitable for the video which I was producing, but it could have been a different outcome i.e. my peers may have agreed with the YouTube subscriber, and it would have been something which I would have had to change to make the video better. Whatever feedback I receive, if I disagree with it, I will always ask for an outsiders

view so it makes me happy knowing that it doesnt need to change (if they disagree with the feedback) or something which I have to add to the list of changes (if they agree with the feedback).

Focus group After getting everything done and put onto disk, I thought I would finally show it to some on my family who were aged in between my target audience age bracket (ages 16, 17 and 20). The feedback which I received from my family included statements such as ..I love the backing theme which backed up the feedback from my first peer viewing, and other complimentary statements such as I like the effects, the voice over enhances the video, the video starts off really well etc. which was good. I showed this to my family on the day before the due date, so I had time to make changes if they were vital, but as I didnt get any criticisms from them, I decided to leave it there, and hand that version in as the finished copy. Visit Norwich Feedback (One week before the deadline): I thought it would be good to get feedback from my client, Visit Norwich, as the video is for them, and I want them to like it as much as possible. I asked Mel (who has been the face of Visit Norwich for me) what she thought of the video, and she said that she really liked it, and once the ending is completed, it will be even better. - I received this comment from Mel, as I showed her the video a week before the deadline when the ending still needed to be worked on which is understandable. As Mel was going on holiday for the week leading up to the deadline, this was the last chance I had to gain feedback from her, so I was unable to ask for her feedback closer to the deadline when the video was at a completed stage. Mel didnt give me much more criticism than this, so I asked her What could I have done to have made the video better? and she said that it would have been nice to get some footage of the music scene or Norwich Fashion Week as it would have added another dimension to the video. I agree that these places would have enhanced the video further; however, I did get in contact with Norwich Fashion Week, but as I emailed quite close to the start of the event (due to factors outside of my control), I did not get conformation to film there in time. In addition, I did want to get the Norfolk and Norwich Festival shown in the video, but as this takes place in May, with the start and end dates which I had for the production, there was no way in which I could have included this in the video. I did add sections to the video i.e. The Sainsbury Centre quite far into the production to substitute for the loss of Norwich Fashion Week so the video wouldnt feel empty. The final question I asked Mel was Do you think the video is fit for purpose? and without hesitation, she said absolutely!. It was good getting feedback from Mel at Visit Norwich, as even though the feedback wont make my end piece any better, its made me happy knowing that my client loves the video so far, and that it has met its purpose. As a professional, even though I will not be able to film the Norfolk and Norwich Festival in time for the deadline, if Visit Norwich really wants it to feature in the video, I will be more than happy to film there and then add it to the video at a later date. Overall Feeling: As I managed to get my video completed to a near finished stage over two weeks before the deadline, I was able to gain feedback on the video and have time to act on it where necessary. If I didnt have my video completed to a near finished stage until closer to the deadline, I may have received some criticism, and not have had time to act on it appropriately. Using my time effectively in this unit has allowed me to act on all negative feedback, and has helped me make the

video to a near-professional standard, which would not have been possible if I only had the finished version ready on the deadline day. If I were to make the video again, I would not change much, as I was able to adapt the video to my target audiences preferences in the last couple of weeks of the production. If I were to make another promotional video, I would definitely have a personal deadline well before the actual deadline so I would have time to act on feedback, like I did in this production. Overall, I think the production has run very smoothly and effectively as a whole, and I think that this wouldnt have been the case if I didnt use my excellent managerial skills.