Critical Evaluation

In evaluation to my finished product, overall I am satisfied by what I have created and excited with the progressions that as a programme it could lead on from here to become. There are some things I think couldn’t have gone any better, but some things that made it look rushed and really rough.

After planning to create my video, I planned to make it into a huge production and kind of ‘bit off more than I could swallow’ with the time I had to create it. I wanted to have various endings but eventually had to settle for one ending, I also had to narrow down the options the character had to choose due to construction plans outside the Redmond’s Building, as another one of the dilemma’s Daniel would come to would be as if to go inside the building or do various things outside, this was a comical part in the video and because I couldn’t do this to think of a quick replacement lost a bit of the humour, which I wasn’t happy with. The main problem I had which left me with little time to think of a solution is the elevator edit which I talked about in my previous post. It looked really rough as Daniel left the elevator, and I just couldn’t create an effect that would look like Daniel was walking out of the elevator, so I eventually had to settle for a zoom that would give the effect that he was teleported in some way. It worked but it didn’t work how I wanted it too, I would have like for Daniel to turn around and re-enter the elevator and filmed for this to happen, but it just proved impossible.

But I did enjoy the way in which you look at things in a new light, where you involve the user in everything you do, it was new to me when working in pre-production, you’re constantly thinking about what different users would like to see happen next instead of telling them all the same story, it was good to be able to cater for more than one audience and I enjoyed working like this. It was also good to see how the narrative worked when showing my video to people, it kept the story from ever becoming boring and always kept them switched on during the longer sequences, this was something I wanted to achieve from the off and think I got it to a tee.

I also like to think that where I tried to make a video that would be similar to the game; The Stanley Parable, it also had a lot of differences. I kept the key features of the game in the likes of the use of POV and the Narrator, but also gave it a visual appeal by using different shots and angles allowing for a cinematic experience. This was something that during my research had never been looked upon; nobody had created a similar format of this game. I also created a similar ending to the main ending of The Stanley Parable, but with a twist, The ending of The Stanley Parable was pointless and ended with no happy ending and mine was similar, however it lead Daniel into a coma and the narrator revealed that he could awaken anywhere at any place which would allow a continuation of the video, in which I would look forward to creating Remember Daniel? – Part 2. The series would allow me to expand on the original and do the things I would have wanted to do previously without any time constraints.

I have already thought into this as I look into the future development of Remember Daniel? I would have wanted to create a series where part 2 would have 2 possible endings and then there would be two different part 3 videos, which the user would be directed to depending on their ending on part 2. I have also thought into meeting new characters and back tracking their stories to see what they were doing at the same time as Daniel e.g. When Daniel awakens there would be another character who wakes next to him and you can look at how she came to this position in a flashback. The user would then find out how they are linked to each other by switching from each user.

This video is just the beginning for Remember Daniel and I am pleased with what could become of this series. I am also satisfied with the start I have made to it after reaching some complications, but considering it was a new concept of editing that I was exploring, it was an enjoyable project that I felt my knowledge of user interactivity grew along the way and I will look forward to any other projects I come across in which I have to make a YouTube annotated video.