Feedback on different versions of the final task

Since we considered the preliminary task as our rough cut too, you can imagine there were a few intermittent cuts and numerous instances of getting feedback, from the February of 2024 to that of 2025. Here's Zara's detailing of feedback on our first (rough) cut:

By the time we were done with our final task, we were swamped with CIEs too close for comfort. High on emotion during our last days of school ever, stress of the upcoming CIEs and exhaustion from all the work on our portfolios, we finally brought the final task to Sir Zia.

The first time we showed him was a tiny glimpse in our first class back at school after our mocks, which sadly ended up being one of the last ones. I was too tense to NOT show him, and wanted to catch potential flaws earlier on, knowing that showing him an incomplete version would taint his overall perspective, but alas, no animal is wilder than an A'Level student during the last stretch. So we showed sir a little bit, and THANKFULLY he couldn't tell which shots were filmed for the preliminary and which ones this time 'round. So that was a win for sure. Otherwise, he already liked the rough cut so he didn't have much to say in terms of making it different or changing it since we hadn't added the elements that would've changed the narrative.

BUT, very soon, we had our final task ready and it was time to show him:

Clearly, Sir Zia only had a few reservations, otherwise he felt that it was good. I was already planning to speak to him in more detail in our next class, but in the meantime, him not asking us to make many changes was a good sign.

Most of our friends had seen it during the editing process because we were busy editing in the A2 common room, and they thought it was very interesting. Mostly what intrigued them was the visuals and camera work, which are both things that stuck with our audiences when we showed them the rough cut. Things had become difficult at this point since we were simultaneously working on our music video, so directing and constructing both was tough. I remember going to school for our class nobody else came for other than our friend Zaha (one of the core four) and one other person.

By this point, I spoke to sir about the task in person and explained to him how I had started to find more and more things wrong with each project, with flaws being visible to only myself, as a co-creator. He explained that each person is their and their own work's harshest critic, after which he expressed that he did like our final task, that he liked the shots, editing, narrative and additions. We showed the video in class then, with my friend Zaha loving it - she's the best hype-woman I could've asked for at a time I was so insecure about something that wasn't just a project; it was a piece of art I created with my friend, pouring our personalities, ideas, heart and hard work into it in the most personal ways possible. Sir Zia understood that, then yet again expressed his liking towards the project and that I was just getting in my own head having seen it numerous times already. His only request was to make the transition from the positive to the negative tone change smoother than it was, which we changed too.

With a teacher like Sir Zia, you don't need much detail on what to do and what not to do - he taught us well, I say wholeheartedly, so with the rough cut, all he needed was to point us in the right direction from where we'd take the reigns and come to what is now our final cut.