Evaluation for unit 5

Comparison to researched productions

My production I think was at a level where it was good but there were also parts to it that I
could've done better to make it professional. For the first week I researched different
podcasts that fit the genre of thriller and suspense. There was one which stood out the most
to me and I wanted my characters to kind of replicate
those characters that I heard in the audio drama. It
was called Dee T. Mitchell investigates. I really liked
this audio drama and wanted to input some of the
characters' aura in my audio drama. This is because
I liked how realistic all the characters in this audio
were and it made it easier to understand what was
going on during the sample I listened to. It gave me
really good inspiration for my audio drama.

I made sure when making the characters lines to have as realistic an effect as possible and
asking the actors to try their best at making the lines generous and not to sound too robotic. I
think that my audio drama is good because throughout the audio i can create an image in my
head and this is because of the foley sounds that i used, i think these sounds really helped
my production as it can tell the listener what is happening and who is doing what at a
specific time.
The foley sounds I used felt like they fit exactly what was happening and I was really pleased
with how realistic some of them did sound during the end production all together. If there was
something that I could improve, it would be the script itself, just because I think I could have
added more to it and maybe added onto it a little more so it can create more suspense. I
also would have made the ending actually end so people know what has happened for it to
end. I think comparing this to the audio dramas that I researched the volume of my
microphone would be the biggest improvement on because in the researched audio drama
you can hear the actors clearly and all of the words are clear and they don't have any
muffled noise because the audio is too loud. Whereas in my production there are times
where that happens and the audio does sometimes hit the red zone on audition.

Production Strengths

The strengths in my production I believe was the scene where Naomi’s mother was really
worried about not finding her daughter. I think that I managed to make this scene much
better than what was in my head and what I wanted it to come out like. The strengths of this
scene were, The foley sounds such as; Footsteps, Door opening and closing, telephone
ringing, paper shuffling. I think all of these sounds made the scene easier to imagine in the
audience's head as it creates a realistic feeling. All of these foley sounds added perfectly
together and I am proud of how this scene came out just because of the foley sounds. I also
think in this scene the dialogue was performed well and I think the actors showed true
emotion when carrying out the lines. This was a strength I think because in order for the
audience to feel emotion it has to come from the voice actor and when listening back to this
particular scene I felt the mothers emotion just because of how the actor carried it out. This
wasn't just this character. I felt it through the main character James hawkins. I think you can
feel the emotion through his voice which is that he wants to help the mother out and has a
real concern when trying to gather some information from the mother and asking her
questions. I think this matched the character's personality as a good hearted person. I had
some good feedback from my fellow peers as well in my survey that I created. These were
all good feedbacks, some people said that my sound effects were good and that they helped
create a more realistic view and gave the story its character. Others said that the characters
and their personalities helped them throughout the production as they were able to feel the
contrast between certain characters as well. My production created suspense well, which I
was glad to hear because it made me happy that I was able to fulfil the suspense side of the
genre.

Production Weaknesses

I think my production’s weakness was the script, I think it could've made it longer and I also
think that it just could’ve been better as a script itself. I felt as though it was very easy and it
didn't really last that long and it felt very quick. For future times maybe not rush the script
writing and make sure that I really plan out what I want to do and how I want the script to
work out as it is really important as the whole storyline is based off of my script. Another
weakness would be the volume of my production, there were times where the actors were
loud and that it might have been too loud for the listeners to listen to, which is
understandable as it was hard for me to listen to as well. An example of this was a car door
being shut and it was very loud and unbearable to listen to and it made it difficult to listen to
when it was repeated. Another weakness was definitely the ending of my production. It didn't
really make sense and my image of using a ‘monster figure' didn't really go to plan as I think
it just made it a bit confusing for the audience just because it was very random and nobody
saw it coming. I think it ended on a cliffhanger which wasn’t my intention but listening back to
it, i think it was definitely a cliffhanger that just didn’t make any sense.
I think that this weakness could have been fixed because I think during the planning stage
of my production I should have taken the ending into better consideration. The feedback i
was able to get from my survey about what i could’ve done better were, just basically how i
maybe should’ve made it longer so the audience could understand the characters a lot more
and the storyline as they wanted to know what happens to naomi and if they find her or
[Link] also told me that to make a clearer description of where the characters were at
what point and to make the foley sounds a bit clearer when this is happening. As they don’t
know which characters are doing what. I think this feedback is very useful as they had the
same ideas as me on what I could do to make this even better. I will definitely take all of this
feedback into consideration for my next production and make sure that it is better than this
one.

Did I meet my goal?

Some goals that I set myself were to make sure that I was able to meet the deadline of
recording and editing my production. I think I tried my best and I was able to record when I
wanted to, which was great as that meant I had the rest of the week to start editing. The
editing process was okay and I think I took my time with it as I did manage to edit it all
together and get it uploaded to my website on time. I think I edited to the best of my ability
and I am proud of how it came out. Another goal I set myself was to make sure that I stuck
to the genre that I picked out which was thriller and suspense. I think I achieved this goal to
the best of my ability. I also know this because from all my feedback it was clear that
everyone thought I achieved this goal. I think the goals that were set by the teachers I was
able to achieve as in my feedback from them it was nothing too bad about how my
production was set out and they did not state whether I did or did not achieve the thriller and
suspense genre. Showing my production to others such as family and friends made me
confident because they knew what genre it was without me saying. I definitely think I
reached this goal. I think a goal I could have reached was making my production at least 10
minutes. This wasn’t reached because my story planning didn’t go to plan and I didn't really
think it through which I think I could've definitely improved on that. To achieve it next time i
will plan it out better and really think about my script just because i think that it is important to
create a good production and if it was longer than i think it would’ve really engaged the
audience a lot better than it did, because it was so short it didn’t really captivate them. I think
next time I will definitely reach this goal much better.

Self- evaluation

Overall, I think that I am happy with myself and how I managed this unit. I think that
everything went really well and I am happy with the outcome of my production. I think that
working on this production in my own time and buying my own microphone also helped
massively because it gave me a chance to do this on my own and I didn't have to rely on the
college equipment. I think that I managed my time well and I got everything done on time
and I was able to upload everything onto my website. My strengths was definitely the editing
I feel, as I enjoyed it alot and I think that it came out alot better than expected. I think I used
the time I was given wisely and I think I was careful about how I went about the editing. This
is because I think I wanted to create the best storyline I could. I think that taking it slow with
the editing was a good choice and it worked well with my planning.
I definitely need to develop my skills with script writing as I mentioned before. I think this
because i rushed the ending and it took me a lot longer to do than i expected and that's
because i didn't have a real idea but i managed to come up with an idea that i liked and i
think that's why my script wasn’t the best of its ability just because i think i really did rush it. I
also added some other parts at the end during my recording so I don't really think it made
much sense at the end. I think i do need to move out of my comfort zone this is because i
didn’t get the whole classes feedback and i just got the people i sat with feedback so i don't
think i got the full like proper feedback, which is okay but i think next time i do need to be
comfortable with sending other people my work and letting them listen to it as it helps alot.
I think I could’ve spent more time. I think I struggled a bit with my secondary research and I
think asking for help would’ve been a good solution so I could get the best research
possible. So I definitely need to work on my comfort zone and getting out there, so in my
next production it is a lot smoother and if I need help then I get the help I need.