Final Video & Evaluation

Promotional Video and Evaluation

I decided to make an instruction style of Promotional Video as I feel it best suited the purpose of a fire awareness video and would allow me to adapt an informative approach. This remains very similar to what was discussed within the first meeting with my client as it became clear that the specific content of the video was to be the main focus, including some context of fire awareness as well as the correct information regarding safety procedures that exist within the college. From the very beginning of the project, the client emphasised how a shorter video (around 1-2 and a half minutes ) was imperative for the target audience because it needed to engage students who may not be particularly interested in informing themselves about fire safety procedures. I made sure that I took this in to account during every stage of the process and I feel that this may be one of the biggest strengths within the project as I feel that I had a clear understanding of what my client required of me and kept very close to the first brief.

Final Video

Evaluation

For the final product I decided to create a very simple instructional style video that could be easily engaged with by the students of King Edward VI College. I felt that it was important that each shot was related specifically with the text on screen to reinforce the informative element of the video that is most prominent throughout its entirety. I think the pacing of the video is quite good as each shot lingers for an amount of time which is appropriate for the audience to be able to read the text that relates to the image(s) without it feeling as though its dragging on any specific parts of the video. Another thing that I think works quite well for the video's overall appearance is the use of the fire stock footage throughout as it ensures that its consistently relating to the theme of fire safety/awareness which is something that the client requested in our first meeting. I also feel that by including the stock fire footage in the beginning shot of the video it enforces to the audience what the contents of the video will be related to and encourages them to engage with the information in an easy to follow guide.  As the video is aimed more towards informing students of the fire safety procedures, there is less of a focus on fire awareness such as fire statistics. Despite this, I think the two statistics included the beginning are a good way of relating the safety information to these statistics as they emphasise the dangers of fire and the implications of not following safety procedures made to ensure students safety. 

One of the things I found difficult when editing was ensuring that the information to be included was short and concise whilst also including the specifics of fire evacuation and procedures that must be followed. Therefore, within the first stages of editing I spent quite a lot of time ensuring that this was as accurate as possible and related specifically to the information students are required to know about fire safety and awareness. During the planning process, my client provided me with quite a lot of information by sharing the resources with me that he had already put together so this meant before I could go forward with filming I felt it was important to first read through these resources and narrow down the necessary information to be included. I found that some of the information was not particularly relevant for students and was instead related specifically to the staff within King Edward VI College therefore it was essential for me to make the distinction between the content relating to students versus staff. 

As I briefly mentioned before, I think that one of my biggest strengths throughout this process was understanding what my client required of me and taking in to account all of the ideas that they felt were important to include. The audio of the two different fire alarms was a suggestion made by the client as he thought it was necessary for students to hear the two different sounds made by the alarms in college. I was more than happy to oblige with this because I felt that it would make all elements of the video blend nicely and again remain consistent in relating to the theme of fire safety/awareness. Another suggestion made by the client was including a shot of student(s) walking down stairs to exit the building to demonstrate fire evacuation. However, due to time constraints I was only able to ask one student to be in the video and I would have ideally included a shot of a group of students exiting the building via the stairs. Despite time constraints, I feel I worked around any of the obstacles that this implemented on the project and even in instances where some of the shots didn't turn out as well as I would have been able to produce had I had more time, I came to a suitable compromise and made the best out of what I was able to produce rather than dwelling on what I wasn't able to produce. 

One of the weaknesses of my promotional video is that some of the transitions between shots is at some points a bit messy. I think that if I was to do this project again, I would have allowed more time for editing as I think it is easy to underestimate how much time it takes to edit to a degree which makes the video both fluent and smooth in appearance. I also would have spent more time researching the types of transitions available online and downloaded a pack which may have made the appearance of the video appear both more interesting and professional. Despite this, I am relatively happy with what I was able to produce in a shorter time frame due to being let down by my first client and do not see this as hugely impairing the final video. 

Another weakness of my promotional video is the shot for 'make your way to the nearest fire assembly point' is too dark. This is something that my client also picked up on when giving me feedback, therefore I do feel that it is definitely a slight detriment to the video's overall appearance and something that if I had more time that I would change altogether. I would instead film another shot of a fire exit which is more clear and also adjust the camera settings such as increasing the ISO and decreasing the aperture to ensure that enough light is able to enter the camera lens to give the best chance of producing a clear image.