Slide Show Copies
Presentation Footage
Peer Feedback
| Peer | Strengths | Points for improvement |
| Abi. S | -Very detailed overview -Great inspiration -Talked about how you can learn from last project -Reflective cycle | -Could split target audience more (e.g. geographic audience) -Is every 2 weeks to meet with developer enough? -Unorganised plan; start promoting before researching strategies? |
| Thomas. T | -Good project idea -Organised aims and objectives -Delivers points clearly and confidently -Knows flaws from last years final project | -Accidentally going back through project instead of forward -Seemed slightly unprepared (lack of confidence) |
| Adam. S | -Good context very detailed -Mentioning what practical skills to use -Presentations skills were great, use of images and videos -Good research, very detailed -Good evaluations very detailed | -Budget isn’t accurate as you won’t need to pay that much -plan was very vague and didn’t really make sense, need to mention the progress of the music composition -laughed, rushed through it a bit too much |
Peer Feedback Response
Abi said in her feedback that meeting with the game developer every 2 weeks may not be enough, after taking this advice into careful consideration I agree with her. This is because there are many reasons why having a meeting every two weeks is not a good idea, one reason is that I could be spending two weeks on a musical idea that the developer may not even like. This would stunt my progress in the project and add a lot weight to my work load. Therefore I will organise meetings at the end of every week to make sure that the developer is happy with my progress, if they are not happy with the music I have made it will be a lot easier to recover as I would have only been working on the music for a week since the last time the developer reviewed the music.
Abi also stated in her feedback that my project plan was unorganised as it doesn’t make sense to commence the promotion then research promotion strategies weeks later. I agree with this comment as learning how to promote effectively through research would make a drastic positive impact on my promotion when it begins, therefore I will reorganise my plan so that I begin researching promotion around week 2 in order to prepare for promotion in the upcoming week. The last point of improvement Abi gave me was to split the target audience up more (e.g. geographic audience), I will posting surveys using ‘surveymonkey.com’ as part of my initial research to pinpoint my target audience. Due to the feedback I have been given I will include geographic audience as a factor of these surveys, in order to more accurately pin point my target audience.
Adam stated during his feedback that my plan was very vague and neglects to mention the process of composing the music. After reflecting on this feedback and reviewing my project plan it is clear to see that the presentation plan is very vague and lacks sufficient detail, therefore I will improve my plan when writing my proposal, using much more detail. In the proposal plan I will often plan by each session instead of by the week, this will give me a clear idea of what I must work on in each session in order to achieve my weekly targets and project aims. In the peer feedback I was also told that the plan neglected to mention the process of composing the video game music itself, it is very important to have a clear plan to guide you when composing music to help improve your work flow and time management. Therefore in my proposal plan I will provide a detailed plan of how I am going to be spending each week/session working on my music, this will include session plans such as; mixing, experimenting, recording and editing the music. Overall I believe this feedback is very helpful as it will benefit me and my project a lot to have a more detailed plan, therefore in my proposal I provide a much more detailed and organised plan using the ideas I have mentioned of this page.
Tutor Feedback and Response- Nic. S
During the tutor feedback Nic told me that I may need to “cut down my project work load” in order to complete the project to a high standard. One plan Nic suggested I could remove from the project is recording live instruments into the music such as brass and strings. This is because it takes 2 weeks to record a live ensemble into Logic, which is a huge amount of time for the project. It also takes a huge amount of skill to make live instruments sound good in music using techniques such as; microphone positions and mixing techniques. Therefore recording live brass and strings into the music would take a very large amount of time out my project and also require a large amount of research and skill to make them sound professional. After reflecting on this feedback I have decided to not record a live string orchestra as I am now aware of the large amount of weight it would add onto my work load, I also believe recording live instruments into Logic will have a negative impact on the quality of the music I compose due to the large amount of composing time I would have to sacrifice for recording sessions. Therefore I will improve the quality of the MIDI instruments by transferring the stock Logic MIDI files onto my BBSCO Discover plug-in on my laptop before bouncing, this will make the MIDI instruments sound much more lifelike and give the music more character.
Another piece of feedback that I was given was that I have given myself “no time or flexibility to practice mixing near the end of the project”, this is because in my presentation plan I scheduled to begin mixing my music one week before the deadline. This offers no time for flexibility to fine tune my music or research mixing near the end of the project, and as mixing is one of my weak points I hope to research mixing techniques in order to independently create clean and organised music mix. Therefore I will re-arrange my project plan so that I have more flexible time to counter issues such as writers block and to also research extra topics. As part of my initial research I will research how to counter writers block as this was an issue I encountered in my last project that wasted a week and a half of progress. Therefore researching how to counter this issue I believe will help improve my efficiency and time management during this project.
In my presentation I addressed my weak points when it comes to composing music and how I hope to improve upon them in this project. One of my weak points in my last final project was said to be my use and knowledge of harmony, Nic said a great way to understand how to create great harmonies is by analysing harmonies used in classical pieces of music as well as how they are orchestrated. This would help me understand how great composers such as Mozart and Beethoven composed their harmonies, which would therefore advance my harmonic knowledge allowing me to create more complex harmonies in my compositions. Researching how these pieces were orchestrated would also help me understand how to professionally and more realistically write for a full orchestra when composing orchestral music. Therefore I will also research and analyse how my biggest classical inspirations were composed and orchestrated such as; Swan Lake, Lacrimosa and Beethovens Symphony No.5. I believe in depth research into how these pieces of music are constructed would expand my harmonic and orchestral knowledge, therefore helping me improve the quality and advancement of my music compositions.
As I am planning to collaborate with multiple different people Nic advised me to make connections to the people I hope to collaborate with as soon as possible, this will let me know if they are reliable and able efficiently collaborate with me and show dedication to my project. Communicating with them early would also give them plenty of times notice in order to prepare for the project, some people I would have to contact quickly would be; instrumentalists, digital designers and game developers. Contacting people you hope to collaborate with too late in the project can result in them not being able to work with you as it is too short notice and they have no time for you in their schedule, this can leave you trapped and in-able to progress in the project without them. Therefore I will begin making me connections to people I hope to work with as soon as possible to know if they are reliable and available to work with. The last piece of advice I received was to try and get feedback from a professional composer/industry professional who inspires me, this is because people such as myself are able contact established composers through email and potentially getting a reply. Therefore when I have made a draft version of my music composition I will send it to a professional composer via email and hope for feedback on it, the feedback given would be very helpful in allowing me improve upon weaknesses in my music.
Self Reflection
What went well?
I believe this presentation went very well and showed great organisation and presentation skills. One strength shown in this presentation was discussing important topics in great detail such as; how I will improve from last final project, my experience in composing, problem solving and my Plan B if things don’t go to plan. Discussing these topics in great detail shows that I am a organised and reliable person when it comes to organising my own project, this is useful in the music industry as employers will want to know if you are organised, professional and can counter anticipated problems that may occur in the project. Therefore showing this level of professionalism in your presentation can persuade an employer to hire you on their film/video game projects. I also made my presentation look very atheistically pleasing using images and videos which I embedded into the background of the presentation to make it look more organised, professional and interesting. As many people are interested in presentations when they feature images and videos as they help prevent boredom and keep people engaged.
Another strength of this project was my speech and composure I held throughout the presentation, the way I conducted myself throughout this presentation was very formal. As I wanted to look professional and organised when it came to my presentation, as in a real business occasion you would be expected to present in a formal and professional manner. Another strength in terms of presenting skills was my ability to look at the crowd when presenting, as many people when presenting read off the screen and don’t engage the crowd. This makes you look very shy and unorganised as it appears you don’t know the contents of you own presentation, therefore looking at the crowd often looks very organised and professional when it comes to presenting which was a strength of my presentation. Therefore throughout this presentation I held formal and professional presentations skills which could be used in future business proposals and presentations.
One of the strongest points of my presentation was addressing how I was going to learn from my mistakes of last years final project and implement them into this final project. This shows great musical growth as it shows that I know how to counter problems and fix mistakes which I had a hard time dealing with last year. Addressing the issues with last years project also shows great reflection skills, as I have had to reflect on mistakes I made last year and how I can counter them with the knowledge I now have. Another strength in terms of the contents of the presentation was discussing how I am going to use reflection cycles for detailed evaluations, this shows great preparation and forward thinking as I have already began thinking about advanced project resources such as the Gibbs reflection cycle.
What could be improved?
Despite the success of this presentation there is still many things I could have done better and improvements I must make to the project in the project proposal I must write in the near future. One of the most visible weaknesses of this presentation was my lack of confidence, as on multiple occasions in my speech my voice droned on which made it sound like I was unsure about what I was saying. To the audience this looks very unprofessional and unorganised, therefore it is important to speak confidently so that people believe you are confident in yourself and your project presentation. To become more confident when presenting I could rehearse presenting to my friends and family to practice getting better at presenting to a crowd, this would help improve my confidence when it comes to presenting.
Another issue caused by my lack of confidence can be seen near the end of the presentation when I miss some bullet points on the slide, this is because I was nervous about how much time I was taking up therefore I started to rush through it. This resulted in me missing some details in the presentation, rushing through a presentation looks very unprofessional and can cause you to miss important points on your presentation. Which may cause your audience to raise questions about the project and doubt your confidence. In should not have rushed through this presentation as there was no time limit, meaning I could have gone on to take up as much time as I needed. Therefore in future I will no rush through my presentations if there is not time limit, as this will allow me to confidently discuss my project in great detail.
One improvement I will make in my proposal from this presentation is to add more detail onto the ‘research’ page such as, where I will obtain my research sources from. For example I will say I will be getting my research books from the College library, and I will also use google scholar to find professional and detailed research on topics such as; harmony, music theory and synthesise. I am also going to reference a list of research sources I may use in my final project such as; books, online journals, documentaries, etcetera. One other page I am going to add more detail onto for the proposal is the production plan, as for the presentation I only had a brief and vague plan for the 10 week time span of this project. The proposal plan will be very detailed mentioning goals I will set for each week and how I spend my time in each session to achieve them goals. In the presentation plan I did not talk about how I will plan out my practical work progress, this is going to have to be improved in the proposal by talking about how I am going to progress my practical work throughout every week. Having a detailed plan to follow will help me keep an organised work schedule that will help me achieve my project aims and objectives without falling behind.