My written essay evaluation for the barbering brief for a tutorial video.

1. Barbering Project- Tutorial videofor ‘short graduation’ haircut
Response:
In thisessayI will be discussingmyoverall evaluationforthe BarberingTutorial videoforclientMark
Sowerby,thiswill consistof myideas/planning/practical workfor pre-production,actual production
and post-production.Ibelieve Ihave metmostof the clientswantsandneedsaswell ascompleting
the finishedproducttoa goodstandard.
Firstly,Ithinkmyproduct can
conformto some theoriessuchas
Semiotics(RolandBarthes).For
example,the introductionincludes
lotsof ‘index’semioticssuchas
aroundthe hairdressingsalon. I.e.,
barbercapes,hair products,trainee
mannequinheadscantell the audience thatthisvideoisgoingtobe hairdressingrelated.Itsetsthe
genre forthe restof the video,thisisdone toshow more of an advertisingside of the project- asthe
videowill be usedatopenevenings,itshowsoff the high-quality facilitiesof the college.
Secondly,myvideocanalsobe usedinrelation tothe theoryby Katzand Blumler‘usesand
gratification’forseveral purposes.The firstisfor ‘personal identity’,asthisisa tutorial videobeing
usedina college,hairdressingwill mostlikelybe apart of who the vieweris.Whywouldaperson
whois notinterestedinhairdressingwatcha tutorial onhow to do it?For the viewertowatch this
as a college studentmustmeanthattheyhave an interestinbarberingandwanttopursue itat a
workinglevel oratleastineducation.Theywill mostlikelybe usingthe videotorecreate whatis
happeningonscreenwhichfitsperfectlyintothis theory’s values.The viewerisalsolikelyto
recognize the subject(myclient) asa role model forwhattheyare learning.Theywill use whatthey
see andreplicate it,meaningthatpartof theirskill setisdirectlyrelatedtothe videoIhave made.
Additionally,the ‘social interaction’partof thistheoryfitshandin handwithmyvideotoo.Asa
vocational qualification,studentsare likelytobe inclassrooms withotherlike-mindedstudentswith
an interestinbarbering.‘Social interaction’isthe partof the theorythat talksabout how a piece of
mediacan be usedto make conversationbetweenaviewerandtheirpeers.There are several
reasonsthat thisvideomaycome upin conversation,forexample askingaclassmate aboutsome of
the terminologyusedthattheymaynotunderstandorremember(e.g., “Nape”,“T-section”),or
aboutthe musicusedetc.It islikelythatclassmateswillmentionthe videotoeach otherwhenin
classif theyare followingalong.Evenoutsideof classroomssuchasat openevenings,thereare
plentyof talkingpointssuchascollege facilitieswhichisalwayslookedatbypotential studentsand
parents.Finally,myvideoalsoconforms tothe ‘surveillance’partof the theoryinthat it isusedto
gaininformation.The whole purpose of the videoistoinformandeducate viewersandtobe usedas
a learningaid.
Typically,tutorial videosuse writtenorspokeninformationlayeredover the topof visual
demonstrations.IlearnedthisinmyresearchintoexistingproductsandIbelieve myvideocanfit
nicelyintoatutorial style video.The textonscreenandpicture allowsthisvideotobe more of a
tutorial thena simple demonstration. BeforeIaddedthese in,Ididfeel thatitwasnot much of a

2. how-toguide asitsimplyjustshowedwhattodo ratherthan explaininghow.Iusedanice transition
to do thiswhichmakesthe videofreezeandgoblurrywhilstthe additionalinformationis shown.
Thisis whatI hope will keepsome of the audience’sattentionandsimplywatchingahaircutmaybe
quite boring.Thoughthe mainpurpose of the videoistoinformandeducate ratherthan to
entertain,Ididfeel thatthere shouldbe some partsof itthat are visuallypleasingratherthansimply
straightcuts all the time. Intermsof the writingthatis displayed,I wasnot100% sure that all the
informationiscorrectas ithad to be changed from the original PowerPointwe were given.Ididdo
researchon whatwas beinginstructedtodoonthe presentationbutfoundsome of the information
to be misleadingsohadtochange itto the bestof my ability.If Iwere todo thisprojectagain,I
wouldhave toask the clienttoclarifysome of the stepsinvolvedtoavoidanissue of misleading,so
thisissomethingI couldhave improved.
Thisleadsme on to my initial researchandhow ithelpedme inthe projectas a whole.Ifoundthat
inmy researchintosimilarexistingproductsthatwhatgenerallyworkedwell wasacombinationof
midshotsand close upswhichzoomedinonmore
detailedparts.Forexample,some showedachange
inangle to show somethingthatmayhave been
hard to see inthe original angle andshotsize.This
was the same case formy video,the firstcutthat
the clientdoesisoutstretchedtowardsthe camera
and so viewerswouldhave noideahow muchhair
he is takingoff.Thisishow camera 2 came in useful
as it showedthathiddendetailandallowedviewers
to gaina more precise understandingonwhatwas
happeningonscreen. (see imagestothe left)
My brief interpretationalsocame inhandyas things
such as the findingof the college coursesInstagram
page.As inmy ‘Interpretingthe Brief’post,Ifound
that thispage had a focuson new equipment,andI
was able toconformto some of theirvalueslike
this- forexample,showingthisnew equipmentin
my introduction.The college asawhole alsohasits ownsetof valuessuchasfacilities,whichIagain
made sure to conformand showoff.
As I didresearchintowhatpeople thoughtmade agoodinstructional video,thisalsoprovedhelpful
whenitcame to doingmyownproject.I foundthatin thisresearch,people donotlike whenvideos
cause a ‘cognitive overload’whichinshortmeansthere istoomuchinformationinashort amount
of time.Myvideois10 minuteslongandsoshouldn’tcause thistohappenamongviewers,itisalso
pause-able sothatitcan be watchedina time bestsuitedtoeachaudience member.Mytexton
screenalsoremainsminimal andinformative,Ifoundinmyresearchthatanythingnon-essential to
the viewershouldbe leftoutandsothisiswhat I made sure of too.
Movingon to the original brief,Ibelievemyprojecthitsmostof the criteriathat isaskedfor.It asks
for a highqualityvideothatsupportslearners,whichIbelieveIhave done.Myvideoishighinterms
of the qualityof the graphicsdue to usingPremiere ProbutIalsothinkthe contentisgood tooas it
was made withprofessional camerasandusesappropriate transitionsandmusic.The musicwas
requestedtobe copyrightfree andsoI didfinda few songswhichtransitionintoeachotheroverthe
course of the video.The onlypartthat we didn’talwayshitwasthe requestfor‘staticshots’. Aswe
onlyhad one tripod,itwasdifficulttokeepthe camerasteadyfora longerperiodof time andso a

3. lotof the footage wasunusable orhad to be usedinconjunctionwiththe warpstabilisereffect.
Most of thiswasthenable to appear to be staticbut onlyinshortbursts.Towards the endof the
videotoo,whenthe hairlineisbeingcut,the cameragoesintosome panningsequenceswhich isnot
exactlywhatwasaskedfor butwas onlya minormistake anddidn’treallyaffectmuchof the project.
It doeslookmore aestheticallypleasingtoinclude some of these, butitdidn’tmatchup to the
clientsexactwishesasstatedonthe brief.
I wouldoverall saythe projectwasa success.I wasable to produce a high-qualityvideoafterthe
periodof time dedicatedtoplanningandusedthe productiontimewiselytocollectall of the shots
and additional informationneeded.Inpost-
production,Ithinkthe editingthatwasdone
afterthe mac problemwastoa good
standardand resultedinavideothatcould
definitelybe usefultostudentbarbersand
alsolookattractive and professional to
potential students.Myresearchand
paperworkall contributedtothe projectand
helpedme gainabetterunderstanding
aboutwhat the clientwantedandhowwe
were goingtoachieve this.Asa teamwe workedwell andwere able togetmore than enough
footage thatcouldbe usedtomake the video.Eventhoughalack of communicationbetweenthe
teamwas predictable,we came inwellorganisedandcompletedthe taskas a team. Postproduction
alsowentwell andI wasable to incorporate new techniques(suchasthe camerashake transition)
but alsouse existingtechniques(suchasthe freeze andblurtransition)tomake the video more
excitingtowatch.It can be useful asa learningaidandprovidesall the necessaryinformation
whetheritbe visual orwritten.
In summaryoverwhatcan be improved,myfirstpointwoulddefinitelybe tobringa secondtripod
nexttime.Thisonlyhappenedaswe wentinthinkingwe wouldonlybe givenone tripodand
camera,but the use of a secondcamera allowedustohave more freedominfilmingandgaining
more angles- we justshould’vepreparedwithasecondtripodtocombat the handheldeffect.
Anotherissue thatcroppedupwasthe mac glitcheswhichwasn’tanybody’sfault.IamgladI had
some backupsoftware onmy ownlaptopotherwise the projectmaynothave beenpossible tomake
and produce to a highstandardas I wouldhave hadto use anothervideo-makingplatformapart
formAdobe creative cloud.The lastminorissue couldalsohave beensome slightmiscommunication
withthe client.We were notverypreparedtonot have a voiceoverrecordedforusandso could
have perhapsdone some more planningintobackupoptions.IalsothinkIshouldhave askedthe
clienttoclarifysome of the instructionsonthe presentationbefore adjustingthemmyself,butIdo
thinkthat theyfitwell enoughtobe understoodatleastevenif theyaren’t100% clear.So next
project,Iwill have tomake sure to come betterpreparedwithequipment,communicate more with
the clientwhere necessaryandalsoseekbetterITsupportforif the college Mac’skeepglitching.
In conclusion,the barberingtutorial videoprojectwasasuccessand the outcome wasalmost
everythingthe clientaskedfor.There were onlyafew areasthatcouldbe improvedbutmyplanning
and researchmeantthatmost of the projectwentsmoothly.