500-Word Evaluation

 The idea for the project spawned from the societal shift witnessed in recent years in the evolution and subsequent popularisation of handheld technology, where it is now in almost every pocket. However, as more people become dependent on the technology to aid their lives, what would happen if the unthinkable were to happen and the technology ceased to exist? We wanted to explore this theme, and thus, “Disconnected” was born.

But fulfilling the project and bringing it to life, was challenging throughout, and marred by a variety of problems. The most challenging aspect I found during this project, was working with a particular group member, who for the most part, did not want to participate, rarely contributed, did not seem they like they wanted to and whose attitude was dreadful throughout, which made fulfilling the project more demanding than it should have been. Other problems which were faced included a lack of plan which inhibited filming for a while; once I was the one to take the initiative to make one, did the project take off.  An SD card which held the final day’s footage was lost as well. Although this issue was solved by filming the last day again, there is a massive continuity flaw with the character’s appearance as a result.  And finally, with all these problems, it did not leave us a lot of time to edit the video as convincingly as we could have. Under these circumstances, a lot could be done differently the next time; however, I am pleased that the project was completed in the end.

As detailed, the project was ambitious, especially the narrative. To make it relatable for an audience, I thought about what we had in terms of resources and the story we originally wanted to tell. Because of this, I had to scale down the story a little and make it more universal: about love, and considering the resources we had – actors and locations – the project then became easier to fulfil and allowed it to proceed into production, when it had stalled.

Watching the final video, I can see a number of ways that it can be improved. There was a lack of care with shooting particular sequences during production which editing could not put right, and will make immersion for an audience into the narrative fairly difficult. Owing to the number of problems the project dealt with, leaving it with little time, the video was edited quite hastily and languidly, for that matter. The project required sound to be implemented in some form and we went for it to be synchronous with the action on the screen; but with little time remaining, we couldn’t experiment with the sound as much; however the way that sound was used in the video, accentuated the narrative and made it all-the-more powerful; and arguably better.

Choosing a platform to showcase the video is fairly simple partly because of the subject matter and the age of the characters within. I believe the video would be fitting for a place like YouTube; and that is because the video has the potential, I feel, to develop a cult-like status owing to the heavy use of the Rocky theme tune and self-conscious acting, and with the power of social media, would allow an extensive audience to see it, and share it further.  

Ceysun Dixon KU ID: K1326851