WEEKLY BLOGS

WEEK 1
My final major project started with my teachers having all of the students in one room whilst they
explained the entire task to us , to make sure all of us knew what was expected and what deadlines
we needed to meet. They then told us that we have the choice of a music video and short film , 2
music videos with linking narratives , a factual programme - documentary , or a tv episode . I felt
confident in the sense that I was really familiar with all of these different types of mediums as this
year we have been practising them in the previous units . This is where I realised that I wasn't sure
of which of these options to pick, until my teachers told us to do something that we find interesting
and are perhaps passionate about . I felt to do a documentary because it is my favourite thing to
watch, for example when I get home and watch Netflix I like to watch a crime documentary. Its good
as well because when it comes to analysing codes and conventions I am really familiar with it . Then
when thinking of what to do I was told to pick a topic I'm also knowledgable about and get good
interviews . From this, I decided to choose Skype because my dad had worked the first Skype team ,
and so I had contacts so it made sense for me to do this. I also thought about doing a music video to
Swimming Pools by Kendrick Lamar with the concept that rappers glamourise drinking and drug use
through their songs, but to juxtaposition it with the visuals of the real life consequences and
tendencies of drink and drug over indulging - fights , vomiting , drink driving , vandalism , sexual
assult , girls crying in the toilet over boys etc . This idea wouldn't work because its unrealistic that I
can get that many actors and that the footage would look okay, I just dont feel like I have the
resources and funds for it , so this pushed me in the direction of doing the skype idea.
WEEK 2
This week we were doing topic research. I found this quite dull
as my idea is Skype so I just interviewed my dad whilst looking
at the effects Skype has had on peoples lives in terms of
communication . Because we are only one week in and i'm
finding this topic boring I've started thinking about how to tweak
it in order for it to be something I'm perhaps more passionate
about . I have started thinking about the differences in my
parents generation and my own , which has led me to think that I
should do my documentary with a hypothesis of " how has
technology effected the communication of today" When I
realised this was a stronger path to take I started looking at
todays communication as a whole - online dating , social media
use , the average age for getting a phone , and the history of
communication.
WEEK 3
This week I finished working on my target audience research and this
really helped me develop my idea as I looked into what people in my age
group were interested in when it came to technology. I sent out surveys to
my target audience of 16 plus asking them about my idea and how they
thought I could improve it. The feedback I got from this is still coming
back as I did it on survey monkey which is hard to get replies for but so
far I have found it useful. Next week is half term and I will work on some
of my topic research and also my context page so I am able to catch up
on my work.
WEEK 4
This week I worked on my research as we had an extra week to do this as so
many of us were behind. I found out all about today’s communication and
how it has an effect on today’s society. I did a lot of research on skype as this
is where my initial idea came from. I also analyzed all of my survey results
from survey monkey and they weren’t really useful when it came to the
development of my idea, this is because I didn’t get as many responses as I
needed so I have decided to send some more surveys out via instagram. I
looked into pigeon mail and how it worked along with the printing press
which was created by the monks as a form of book. I have just been planning
out what else I want to research – I hope to look into viral trends and things
that are dangerous today through communication
This has helped me to understand my topic better and so I know what I want
my production to look like. I am also starting to see how communication has
evolved over the years which will help me shape my final script.
WEEK 5
This week I have primarily been writing my script . I have struggled with
this because I still want to research some other areas of communication
with technology. Something about my script that I feel is gonna take a
long time is writing content that I can realistically match visuals with from
stuff I shoot myself . This is challenging because it forces me to begin
looking now at where I want to film , what I want to film and who I wish
to film . The script has also challenged me because it has made me want
to research different things in order to implement them into my script ,
so I need to go back to my research and add to it before writing certain
elements of my script.
WEEK 6
This week I have been doing location research . I started my location research by
looking at a survey I did asking if my audience would prefer to see a documentary
with professional or street side interviews. The answer I got for this was more casual ,
street side interviews. This helped me to determine what sort of locations I would be
looking at filming at. I looked at local towns near where I live so that they are easily
accessible – so I looked at maidenhead , reading and Marlow . Reading has the
biggest high street out of these so I feel like filming there will be good because its
busier. A flaw of reading high street is that due to how busy it is , the sound isn't great
there which has pushed me more to filming at Marlow or maidenhead . Maidenhead
doesn't have a great crowd to talk to , and I feel like the answers I would get wont be
that interesting , and in Marlow there is more of an age range of people to talk to so I
think I'm going to primarily try and film there . There is also exhibitions at the
science museum that are relevant to my production so im looking into filming there ,
even though its harder to get people to commit to coming to London to help me
film.
WEEK 7
This week I have been looking at what sort of shots I want to get and how
I will order them throughout my production . The way I will be doing this
is by looking at what visuals I want and then where I plan on filming them
/ sourcing them keeping in mind that I can only use up to 10% archive
footage. I plan on filming most of my stuff at the exhibitions at the
Science museum , so I'm trying to think about what sort of shots I want to
get to suit my production. This week hasn’t actually been that productive
for me and I can feel little tasks building up that I still need to complete
over the weekend .
WEEK 8
This week I have been preparing for my pitch by doing a power point.
We were given a list of stuff to ensure was in our pitch so I have been
following that guide in order to do well in my pitch . In order to make my
pitch better I have added photos and made it look visually appealing .
Something that would let me down in my pitch would be not having a
script and relying on my communication abilities to talk my way through
it . I have overcome this by writing a script for the pitch, but it is difficult
because I want to ensure I answer all rising questions before they are
asked at the end , so predicting the questions has been key with this.
WEEK 9
This week I we were supposed to start filming but I have just been
completing older tasks like location recce and getting crew conformation
emails. This is frustrating for me because I want to start filming so that I
have time after to reshoot but I need to complete these tasks in order to
film in the first place. Something vital for my production to be successful
is for me to ensure I have a contingency plan if someone is unable to
help film with me . I have chosen my best mate chloe as my first choice
to film with , as she is reliable because I helped her with her production
in return for her helping me with mine. She is also useful because she
drives so its easier to get to locations and because she got an iPhone XS
which has amazing camera quality , so if something was to happen e.g
camera dies , I know I can film on her phone as back up.
WEEK 10
This week I filmed my production at the Science museum exhibitions and filmed my
roadside interviews . At the science museum it was really good, way better than I
thought. There was 4 different exhibitions which were showcasing loads of old
communication machines – old phones , the first computers , radios etc. A really
good part was that I did a lot of research on african drumming and they had a part of
one of the exhibitions dedicated entirely to african drumming . I was also allowed to
hold the first nokia and moterolla phones. These are two things that made inpressive
b roll . They also had the first psychical adverts for phones. This made me realise
how amazing it is to live in such a technologically advanced world today. Something
else that made cool b roll was there was a wall just showing the evoloution of phones ,
and another for computers . This made cool b roll as it is relevent to my production.
On the day my camera worked well although I really helped myself by last minute
packing another SD card , as towards the end of third exhibition there was minimal
space left on my first SD card. There are some shots that have reflections on because
I was filming through glass so if I have time I wish to go back and reshoot some of the
footage that I cant use .
 WEEK 11
This week I have been trying to get my first draft out so that I can get feedback on
it so I know how to improve it for my final draft. This has been difficult for me
because I am very pinicity when it comes to editing, and I get really OCD about it.
Whilst I still have previous tasks that need to be completed I am running out of
time to get this first draft sent out and to get feedback on it , and I am feeling really
overwhelmed with what to prioritise . I am primarily focusing on my first edit but it
still has a lot more to do . Because I only really filmed at exhbitions , even though
im filming different things my footage looks very samey . This is something that I
think will hold me back so if I have time I want to re shoot some stuff elsewhere .
Something I underestimated was that I didn’t realise how difficult it would be to get
relevent B- roll for my topic . There is only so much footage of people using
technology that you can get , you cant use that for a 15 minute documentary . In
order for my documentary to be interesting I have been looking at using more
archive footage , which I think will work well mixed with the B-roll from the
museum.
WEEK 12
This week has been really stressful . I have actually realised there are more
tasks than I thought that hadnt been completed . On top of this , I needed to
get my final edit out . Every day I have been working really hard to get this
done , but I don’t know if I will be able to complete this vast amount of work
because I have stupidly left it so last minute. A key part of this week has been
time management so that I can balance my work load without becoming
overwhelmed . Something that let me down is as the deadline grew closer I
have been rushing to get things done more so there is actually quite a lot of
irrelevent B-Roll towards the end of my production . This is something that its
too late to change this now but its definitely something that will let me down. I
have also been writing my evaluation which was difficult to write in terms of my
final production because I didn’t complete the final version right until the end
of the week . So I just had to soley focus on evaluating everything else I had
done apart from the actual final production .
 WEEK 13
This week I got my grade back which was that I was capped at a pass. In all
honesty , this was expected. I had such a vast amount of work to do which I
did complete a lot of but I didn’t know if I had enough to make me pass. Over
the last few days I have been given the opportunity to get my grade up to a pass
. So I have been completeing weekly blogs ,and mainly uploading stuff that I
had already done . I feel like I have let myself down as I am capable of a better
grade , however theres not exactly a lot I can do apart from just take
responsibility for it and seeing what I can do moving forward. Overall I think I
have done well to catch up on the amount of work I needed to catch up on ,
and to even pass the course because I have had a few personal issues which
have caused me to fall back at one point or another , but overall I am content
with a pass providing I do all the things I need to do to bring my grade up