Summary

On the whole, I thought this project went well. However, I would have liked to have been able to just concentrate on this one assignment. I felt like I didn't have much time, even though I had the best part of three months to do it. I found it a little hard to keep up with this while being given other assignments. I know that there's no avoiding that, but I think I could have done so much more with my story if I could have worked solely on that.

The visuals make it look more art based, not like any normal interview with a victim. They are dark visuals with strong contrasts, which compliment the topic of domestic violence. I had the footage mostly blurred at the beginning, but then subtly become clearer as the story went on and reach its 'happy ending'.

I think the final product turned out well, even though the story does have a slightly different feel to it than I intended. It doesn't matter so much that it doesn't sound like the story's coming from the victim herself, because the story still gets told. If I could do it again, I would definitely want more video footage to use. I think it would have been nicer if I'd had more angles and other variety of shots. I'm happy with the quality of the audio recording. I'd never recorded with that mixing desk or used Adobe Audition before, so it was a new and different experience for me. I think I got the gist of it and am pleased with the results. I would definitely be doing some recording with those tools in the future. The video meets the requirements of the brief, which was my goal, so I'm happy with that.

Final Outcome

Feedback

I was given feedback on the recordings I'd done before I made any major editing to them and to summarise it, the audio recording wasn't believable. The actual quality of recording was OK, but the acting wasn't so good. It sounded like what was being said was being read straight from a script, which was exactly what was being done. I know my course can't expect me to get professional actors, but I now see that it would greatly help my goal if I could get a recording that seems more natural. After all, the assignment is story telling, therefor if the audio doesn't seem natural then I'm not meeting the requirements of the brief so well. I know I won't be able to get an Oscar winning performance from anyone, but I can certainly try and ask them to act like they're really re-telling an ordeal they've been through. It was my own fault for not really paying much attention on how the story was being said during recording. I was too busy trying to get a clear recording and work my way around unfamiliar programmes and equipment. I was suggested that I use one of the little pin mics that TV presenters use and film the whole thing at the same time as recording. This would be the most logical way of doing this and quickest because the audio and film are done together. The only problem is, this requires the person I record to learn the script and whether I can get someone to do that in a short space of time doesn't look likely. It is quite a difficult time of year too, almost everyone I know willing to help me is busy studying, doing exams or doing their own assignments, so whether I can re-record anything is pretty uncertain.