Week 1-5

Wednesday 07/09/2016

Today was a good day. It was my third day since I’ve started the level 3 media Course. This week passed really quickly! On Monday we met Bee and out tutor called Sonia Kobal , who are, in my opinion, some great people. They helped us to get to know each other and also yesterday before we left we had the chance to share some of our ideas, regarding our first project which will be a 30 seconds narrative. I didn’t want to say it out loud, even if I had some ideas because I believed that they were unfinished; today after Bee showed us some examples for the project I had another idea that I think it’s better than my first one .

My first idea was to make a video which will represent an accident with a dog, but viewed from the point of view of a dog. Then, the next one that came up into my mind is called ‘’Just a dream’’ and it would be about me having a dream of the future, like I would dream something and then when I will woke up it will happen. The last one and I think the best of them, just came up when I was looking at my dog and thinking ‘’Hm , what if I would try to make a video that will have a short story displayed by some scenes that will have the same actions all the way and at the end of it to have something that will turn all the story upside down and will so have a huge impact and message to my audience?’’. I called it ‘’Small things’’ because I think the title will capture the audience’s attention and interest as they might think ‘’ the title of it is simple but it might be deeper than it looks!’’.

I was thinking of doing a short video where it displays me coming home from college and my dog Oli is greeting me every single time at the door, but I ignore him. This happens for a few days when suddenly I get home and understand that Oli is gone, after searching for him but not finding home. Then I realise why and also that’s the time when my message will be sent because after that scene I would like to put a black scene with an emotional slang as ‘’The small things are the ones that makes us happy !’’

I am still developing my idea/s but today after I came home I decided to start and put them down on my sketchbook and make a planning plan with them and it helped me a lot as now I am more sure on which one to pick! Next thing that I want to do is to search some pictures on google or chose some of the pictures that I have taken this summer when I was in holiday, and just stick them on my sketchbook. I feel that this is going to help me to start visualising my project and to make a storyboard based on them!

 

 

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Thursday 08/09/2016

Today I talked to Kunbi about my ideas and she advised me that I need to choose the one that I like the most and also the want that I can finish filming until the deadline, so after I thought a lot better about it I decided to choose the ‘’Simple Things’’ as I believe I will finish filming it until the deadline. Also, I chose it because as Kunbi was telling me, that to be easier for me, I should select the one of them that will give me the possibility to extend it and link it with my next projects as the music video or the FMP ; so I will chose this one for my 30 seconds narrative and probably for my music video, I was thinking to keep the theme, the essential message but to change it a little bit as an example : I would do a video about the ‘’simple things that brings you the happiness’’. How?! Well, I was imagining to have a person who, when she is sad she makes herself happy using these ‘’simple things’’ as buying a bag that she likes, coming home from school on one of her bad days and just sit at the table in the kitchen and start cooking and eating her favourite food and feel better, hugging her teddy bear, playing with her joyful dog or put some make up on and feel beautiful!

I searched some different pictures on google that will help me get an idea for my storyboard as I am not that good person at drawing and I feel that in this way it helps me with developing more the camera angles of the shots and think more of how should I improve them! Now I am going to print and stick them on my sketchbook and describe them a little bit so I would know what it is going in each scene and then I will try to change some of them and actually make the right storyboard!

 

 

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Friday 09/09/2016

Today I have added my pictures on my sketchbook and also I have made a little description on them and how would they link to my video of the 30 seconds narrative. It would have been better if I was good at drawing, so I could make this idea of a storyboard to look more realistic and more original.

Also, I have added some pictures with some slogans/emotional message that could help me to develop the message that I will send to my audience at the end of my video) the last scene).

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I am still thinking to search for more pictures as I don’t like the big gaps that remained after sticking these ones, and also I would like to add more because I believe that as long as I expand my knowledge further it will help me to improve my idea a lot and actually create a really emotive video with some really good scenes in it.

 

Monday 12/09/2016

Today I have done Production induction with John, which I found it quite interesting and challenging. He presented us our first brief and what we need to do for each task; moreover he taught us how to make a wix account, YouTube and google account, but for me was a lot easier , I think, than for the others because I already knew these basics from my last year , so I didn’t find it that hard. I really like it.

Then I had to plan out my three wire frames for the website so I would have an idea on how it will like, the design of it. I found it a little bit hard because I am not that good at drawing, but I just tried to follow the example that John gave to me and now it looks pretty good; even so I will change in time a little bit, as probably new ideas are going to come into my head on how to improve it more.

John told us that we need to do some research on 3 platforms and also to think of an original logo that will represent us later on. The research part is going to be really fun and I am going to enjoy it because firstly I like to search things and be informed about everything and secondly because it will be about platforms that are not boring and they are actually used by a lot of people, even me; so I find it like a bonus, to learn new things that are probably going to be helpful not only for now, but for a long period of time!

  I had an idea of 2 logos, for example one of them and probably my favourite was about a full human face that has on a half of it looking normal, serious and unattractive and the other half to have the iris of the eye full with ‘’small things’’ like food, clothes, faces of puppies , makeup, flowers , things that are small and unimportant but they do bring  your happiness ; also this half of the face is smiling so the message that I want to transmit would be that everyone has these ‘’small things’’ but only those who knows how to take advantage of them are joyful and smile! And the second one would be similar: this would represent a bag full of all these ‘’small and unimportant ‘’ things, which can help you to change your life and mind in a positive way. It’s like a magic bag for those who need to be happy!

I’ve tried to draw them, but it didn’t come out as I planned so I think I will need to create them in Photoshop or think of something that it’s not that hard to draw.

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 Now I am planning to start my research as soon as I can and also edit my wix account. I have already my wire frames, my ideas and an example from John so it won’t be that difficult to start it.

I am so excited; I can’t wait to do it! I am quite pleased with this course so far, even if I know It will be hard but I think I can do it and I will do it !

Tuesday 13/09/2016

Today during my independence study time, I went to the media pod and start writing more on my media research. I’ve finished the first media platform so now I am moving onto my second one which will be YouTube and then Instagram. I have chosen these three platform because firstly I am a user of them and I was thinking why should I not search and expand my knowledge about them because I could find out things that I didn’t know until now and I am using them for such a long time, but I still cannot quite know some things about them. I like the idea of discovering new interesting facts about something that I’ve used for so long and that still provides me lots of secrets or specifics to learn, even now.

Also , in my three hours with Sonia today, of video production, I had tried to develop a little bit more my idea . After we all shared our ideas and our opinions about each of them, Sonia showed us a power point with some good points that could helped me to advance my idea. For example after she showed us an example of a short movie but which was made backwards and it would represent the main idea by every time flashing back until when the story started, I was thinking that I can make my video as well and I can have the first scene to be the last scene and then just explain what happened by flashing backwards.

I talk to Sonia about my main idea and she advised to go and search for ‘’epiphany’’ –its meaning and watch examples of it on YouTube, so that’s going to help me try to think of other ways that people can make themselves happy, which I think it’s a great idea because it challenges me to explore more and possibly change my idea a little bit and make it better, more creative.

I am going to talk to Gary as well about all my ideas tomorrow, because I am a little bit worried about my project, if I am doing well what I am doing , my thoughts and ideas and maybe ask him for an advise , as he knows better than me and I just need to talk with more and more tutors , until I am going to settle up my idea , be relaxed and be sure that what I am doing will get me a good grade, because I really , really want to pass this course! I am planning to push myself at the limit to get to that merit or distinction!

Wednesday 14/09/2016

Today in my 3 classes with Gary I’ve discovered lots of new and interesting things about genre, subgenre, visual codes and technical codes. I found this really helpful to me as it made me think better on what genre do I really have or will have in my 30 seconds narrative. Also, we’ve watched the beginning of a movie and then try to make some observations on it based on what we have learnt until then and I find it quite hard to actually put down my opinion , including visual codes or technical codes, but finally I end up with covering some of the codes, which I am proud of. After I talked to Gary about my ideas and thoughts he advised me to try and think of something else that would change radically the point of view of people towards something, so now I am just trying to follow his advice and research more, find pictures, stick them on my sketchbook, describe them and try to construct my idea.

Thursday 15/09/2016

Today was a long day. My first lesson was an audio lesson with Nick. I found it amazing because I have learnt what Foley artistry, which means how the sound is made and he showed us a lady and the way she makes some sounds for the horror movies, breaking bones or horses hooves. That was new to me and interesting. I enjoyed it a lot and also this helped me to not be that scared of horror movies anymore because now I know how they did it so I am thinking that’’ oh, I know how this was made so it’s not that scary anymore!’’.

Then Bee gave me a bad new because she gave us our finished timetables and the bad new was that I would be finishing from now on at 6 o’clock on Thursday. When I entered the class I was really tired and bored but Bee just started to show us a video, a visual anime by RSA which was more like a motivational speech that gained my attention and made me forget about the thought of going home faster and  brought me this desire of just stay there , watch and be as focused as I can . I enjoyed it because it made me realise that I was finding myself in it a little bit, and that I need to be more creative and use my ‘’divergent’’ brain more than the normal brain. I need to think more, and to not be afraid of just think more widely and have a larger vision of everything.

 

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Next thing that I loved about this lesson was that at one time Bee asked us a simple question, which I didn’t, knew the answer and when I found out , it was so simple, but because my brain is scared to try something new from normal and boring stuff, the basics, it just blocked. That’s what I felled like from the moment we started to think about the answer until we found out the actual response. At the first time, I was really angry because it was so simple and I couldn’t get it but after that I had this feeling of enjoyment and happiness as I realised I am in a course that wants you to be different, think different, think creatively, to be you, to let your mind free. In my opinion what happened today made me wake up from my sleeping and serious mood and just be happy and active and understand that I have a brain that needs to come out from its uninteresting part and be more funny, joyful. Moreover, this day just brought me the motivation that I needed to pass this course, but at the same time to have fun and enjoy the moment.

I am going to print some pictures from now on and stick them onto my sketchbook or start to share my ideas on my social media because who knows from where my best idea can come from.

Monday 19/09/2016

Today, in John’s lesson first thing that I’ve done was to show him my finished wire frames, which I started them last week in class, and then he advised me that it would be better to also write down the navigation of my website so I have written at the bottom of every page that I had the direction of the navigation and if it’s going to be horizontal or vertical and where its page is going to go. I’ve taken pictures of it, because even if it’s not that good I believe that it could be a beginning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Then we’ve started to design our wix page, but as soon as I started I couldn’t continue because I needed to go to the reception to change my Id Card to my old one and then to the library for resetting my password. I didn’t like it because, while I was waiting there I felt like I was wasting important time in which I could design my page and be in my class, but at least it wasn’t for an unimportant issue, so I think can forgive myself for skipping a little bit of my class.

After I’ve resolved my problem I went quickly upstairs and start to plan my outline for the wix page. First thing that I’ve done, was that I went to my ‘’Home’’ page and write my name instead of the name that was there and ‘’my site’’. I’ve chosen this example because I really like that clarity of the picture, but I think I am going to change with a picture of me, as it is my own type of page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In these four screenshots I was just exploring the page and decide which ones should I keep and which ones should I delete, so finally I’ve decided to keep the ‘‘about me’’ page but change its design to how I like it, with my own information.

I really like this layout of the pages because it gives me lots o ideas on how to develop my wix account and make it the best!

Furthermore, I was thinking to put some pictures with the post office, the things that are inside it such as pens, sweets , notebooks in my media page.

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Also, I’ve changed the background photo as well; I would have liked it to be one of my pictures, but because I didn’t have one at the time I just placed this until I’ll put an actual picture, taken by me.

 

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Moreover, I’ve decided to delete the page called ‘’ Book Online’’ and keep the other pages, but just change them with my own media, re-design them in my own way.

 

 

 

 

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In here, I was trying to find the best shape that was suited my page; after I experimented with different shapes, colours and texts I aimed for the pink shape, with the text in it.

 

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These screenshots that I’ve taken were to show how I add up my pages and the order of them. The second picture was taken when I was verifying my pages, guided by my flipchart near me, if everything is in the right place or of I have missed something put.

 

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 This helped me a lot because after I have done this I was feeling more confident on my work.

Tuesday 20/09/2016

Today was a good, but tiring day! By saying ‘’tiring’’ I mean that I was finished by 17:45 so when I came home I couldn’t do as much things as I planned.

In Sonia’s class we have watched some videos and then I started to do my proposal for my 30 seconds narrative video, which I found it a little bit hard, as it challenged me to actually explain my idea with words that everyone can understand what it is going to be. I had struggled a short time with this issue but at the end it was done and handed in at the right time, but after I handed it Sonia told us that we can’t be actors in our own video so now I need to re-do my proposal as in the one that I sent to her today I was an actor, in my video; so I’ll need to let her know that I’ve changed my mind.

 I was thinking to change my place in the video with Kris , because I need someone that can speak English but with a different accent , someone who can fake his accent to sound like a Romanian accent or other European accent ; as he is half Serbian I believe he can help me with this problem , but I’ll need to speak with him tomorrow and see if he wants to do it.

I am feeling peaceful now as I got my idea , got a working plan of its process,  got most of my actors and because I presented my idea to Sonia today and she said it’s a good one, so hopefully if I am going to push myself to the end of it I’m going to make it.

Yesterday I went to the Post Office to talk with the owner for her permission and when she said ‘’Yes’’ I was shocked and happy , so everything now it’s working fine; I just need to go and take some pictures for my storyboard as I am not that talented at drawing it. Tomorrow I am planning to do this as I am going to finish college quite early!

Wednesday 21/09/2016

Today, in Gary’s lesson we have been looking at types of genres and he told us that we’d need to do a report on two different genres that we like. The deadline is on the 3rd of October, so I believe I will have enough time to finish it, but I want to start earlier so if anything will be wrong I will have time to correct it.

Moreover, we have been looking at the narrative structure and after he showed us an example of how we can analyse a movie related to the points of the narrative structure such as: equilibrium, disequilibrium, resolution, etc. Then I had to chose a movie and do one as well so I’ve chosen the movie called ‘’Insidious’’ and when I started to write down the points it was really tough at the beginning because I didn’t know how to explain all the plot of the movie in a shorter way, but after an advise from Gary I made it. I thought a little bit on which sentences are telling that the disequilibrium is starting or the conflict and then all I needed to do is just to explain briefly on what was going out in that part from the movie.

I talked to John today about when I should start filming my piece and when he asked me if I have done all the paperwork all ready and if I am ready  to film I should start as soon as possible . That was the moment when I realised that the first thing I need to do now is go on Ilearn , take the papers that I need to do , start filling them and plan my idea , so I can start filming faster and be finished by the deadline. I know that it might be too early , but I like to start everything as quick as I can so I can finish at the right time and be relaxed after.

Also today, I went to the post office and take some shots of the inside and outside of it. There are some good shots taken, in where I love the light or its content such as these two.

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The last close up shot( the monkeys) might not be related to my video’s content, but I found these ‘’sweet’ ’monkeys’, and by saying ‘’sweet’’ I mean that they have sweets at the bottom, really funny and colourful and as I like colourful things because it transmits happiness to me, I just took a shot of them!

Thursday 22/09/2016

Today has been a very productive and informative day. Firstly, today’s morning I got up at 6:30 , so I can start doing my work by 8:00 am .I started lessons at 11 today and I thought to use the time that I have wisely.

I made my storyboard, after choosing the exact pictures from Google that describes the shots that I want to take for my video , and describe what each of them represents. Then my two Call Sheets , two because I am filming in two places so I need one for each place , which wasn’t hard at all, and my shot list. This was really easy for me because I experienced this last year , in my Level 2 Media course , and I was proud of myself as I knew how to do them and how to break down my idea.

I had an issue before doing my work. I went on Ilearn , hoping that all these sheets are already there, as John said to me yesterday, but they weren’t so I started to worry and panic a little bit ,because I didn’t know what to do and from where to get them ; then the idea of searching into my level 2 media stuff came in my mind, so I tried it and fortunately they were all there. I was so pleased that this problem had been resolved!

At college, in Nick’s class I had learnt, again new and interesting things. We started our lesson by doing a spider graph of the factors that affects audio, which was fun because we got to share our different ideas and opinions. When it was my turn , I written down ‘’birds’’ as an outdoor factor that disturbs the audio. After I’ve seen it, it seemed to me that my idea was stupid and uncreative, but as Viktoria told me that we can write everything , I felt better and I said to myself ‘’It’s not a bad idea, after all!’’. Then, we discussed about how is the RODE NTG-2 Shotgun different to the Audio Technica AT4053b , watched a video and try to answer to some questions. This part of lesson was a little bit harder to understand , as  I didn’t like it that much and I got a little annoyed when I couldn’t find the actual answers to those three questions , but I will do better next time and try to concentrate more.

I enjoyed the next video, which was about a guy standing in a ‘’dead room’’, in silence, for about an hour. The term ‘’dead room’’ to me was new, but it was easier to understand after Nick showed us that video. I would like to try and stay in a room like that too, but at the same time I feel scared to do it as I don’t like to be alone in a silent room without the lights on for too long!

Bee’s lesson, instead was as funny, attractive and active as the last time. We also have learnt and see lots of new things. She showed us the different types of shots, camera movements and also we have practiced the camera shots. I knew some of them from the last year , but it surprised to realise that there are so many shots that I didn’t even have an idea of . Shots such as pan shot, crane shot, dolly shot , tracking shot , extreme close up shot/long shot, 180 degrees Rule , and also the best part of the lesson in my opinion was that Bee showed us these shots by using the people from my class, my colleagues . This made the whole lesson and information, for me, easier to collect and keep in my mind.

Moreover, to understand some shots, as the dolly shot, we needed to watch an example from the movie ‘’Jaws’’ or ’’Touch of Evil’’. I loved this lesson. Seeing the example of shots, using movies or just my colleagues is helping and making me interested and attracted to the information.

I’ve discovered that it depends on the camera angle taken, to make a person look gigantic or very small, which was quite new to me but I had never been happier to learn something new, as every time I see the way that a shot is taken it gives the feeling that I am approaching the ‘’secrets’’ behind movies and filming , which is amazing!

The only thing that I didn’t like at this lesson was that Bee one time had chosen me as an example for a shot and in this hot she would zoom in into my face and all the others could see me on the screen, and I was looking not that good, but finally we all laughed about it and enjoy the moment, because what did really matter was the shot not that my face was looking bad/good.

Furthermore, we needed to go and take screengrabs of different shots in movies that we liked, print them and stick them on our sketchbook. I finished printing them out , but I was too tired to stick them and I didn’t have my glue at me today either , so I chose to do this tomorrow , at home. This is a wonderful idea because it helps me to become an active learner that goes out there, search and try it on myself and also it might help me with my ideas in the future. I already got an idea for my 30 seconds narrative and it was about adding a dolly shot in the scene where Abdul realises that he lost his wallet, so I can make the video more dramatic to the audience.

Friday 23 /09/2016

Today I had print some pictures of the post office , that I’ve taken and make myself a mood board , print some logos as well so they can help me to develop my own logo , and stick them on my sketchbook. It did help me a little bit; I tried to create and draw some examples that were in my head but just two-three of them are my favourites. I am still thinking of it and next thing that I’ll do is try one of them in Photoshop and see how it looks like! I’d like my logo to represent me and when the other people see it to have immediately an idea of my ideas and how I am thinking and seeing the world, to share it with me. I want to make it look different, creative and attractive too.

Monday 26/09/2016

Today, in John’s lesson we’ve checked our wix websites and it was a really good thing because if I didn’t do it, I would still have some small ‘’mistakes’’ on my website. I have deleted any outstanding work so I can change and put my own details and pictures.

Firstly, I have deleted the background picture of the ‘’contact me ‘’page and put another picture, just for now, because I might change it with one taken by me because I want all my pictures that are on this website to be taken by me, so I can feel more proud of my work .Also I was playing with the fonts and it was really interesting.

Moreover, in my ‘’contact me ‘’ page I had discovered a new feature that this website provides that animates the way of how the shape, in which I have put my text with my details, is showing, and after I was trying some of the filters I’ve chosen the one called ‘’Fly-in’’ because I liked it and I thought that this would be the perfect one for this page. I have changed the actual picture with a one of the post office that was one of my favourites; its lighting is good and I love that long shot of the inside of the post office because it makes it look so spacious and filled with all these different objects.

Also I have done a lots of other changes such as trying different ways to design my pages , but I decided to left them with just one background colour until I’ll be able to put my personal media there , put some shapes and text in the ‘’About me ‘’ page, change again the home page because I didn’t like it ; I like it now but I  want to go and take some pictures that would look good for each main page , inclusive my home page , but to also represents me and my idea. Maybe the symbol of the post office or a long beautiful shot , or just a flower / butterfly but edited it in the Photoshop for my home page , because I would like that everything I do and express on website to have a link between my major ideas like the 30 seconds narrative / music video/Fmp.

One of the issues that I faced today was that when I was on ‘’Preview’’ mode and went to my home page and tried to click on ‘’My site’’ box it wouldn’t go to my actual website, and I started to panic of the thought of re-doing my whole website again, but John came to help me and we resolve the problem. The reason why my site wouldn’t show was that I didn’t have a main menu in which there are all my pages and sub-pages. I felt so relieved and happy when I was able to navigate onto my website after!

Then another bad new came to me as when I tried to transport my reflective journal as a pdf so I can uploaded it on the website, it wasn’t possible as some of my pictures were too big so now I had to convert them to a smaller size, which I didn’t like and when I tried to do it on my laptop at home it wouldn’t work and I don’t know why so I am a little bit upset. Now what I will do about it is that tomorrow before lesson I will try and do it on the mac, at college and see if it’s working. So I am not going to upload any screengrab of the website, and upload them tomorrow because I can convert them too; this way it will be easier, I believe.

John gave me feedback on my research for him so now what I need to do is to compromise the first media platform to just 100 words, because I’ve written too much which is good, but it’s going to be a little bit hard as I need to write just the most important parts of it, at which I am not that good at.

Tuesday 27/09/2016

I’ve managed to change some pictures that seemed to me to be too big and that could cause trouble when converting my reflective journal into a PDF document, so I can uploading it and now I need to ask John on how I can convert the rest of them that I will put in the future, but from my laptop at home as I still don’t know how to do it. I am happy that I change these ones for now but I am also worried for the next ones, so I need to resolve the problem or I ‘ll need to come to college and change them, from the mac which I don’t really like!Today in Sonia’ s lesson I found out my date for tutorial, 22/09/11, which is a good time as if it was sooner I would feel that, because I have a lot of work to do, I haven’t go time to go home and do more work, but in that time I think I’m going to be really relaxed and everything is going to be just fine. Moreover, today I had started to do my pictures for the animatic and I found it really easy and fun.

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Then I was just playing and experiencing the tools and see what each of them is doing and which one should I pick. I really enjoyed that!

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After Sonia showed us the brief for Gary’s report and where I can find the pre-production paper work, I was astonished to see how much work I need to do and need to do it really quickly as I am going to film next week, so what I am gong to do now is that when I am going to arrive home I am going to start one of them because the quicker I start the sooner I get to film and finish everything!

Wednesday 28/09/2016

Today in Gary’s lesson we have discussed in more detailed the brief and what exactly we need to write in our report for him, based on the two genres and unfortunately I needed to start writing my piece again because even if I’ve finished it I wrote about drama and action and after Gary told me that I need to re-do new genres because these ones are too basic and also they are common in almost every movie. This upset me a little bit and disappointed me as I really worked hard for those two and it was for nothing, but at the same time I motivated myself as they are not that many words to write about so I can do it again if I am focusing and concentrating . We already started the report in class and I finished it today at home, so now I have one more to do. Great! Also, today while I had two hours ago break until my English course I’ve went to the media pod and start doing some research for Nick’s report on the microphones. It was a great idea because after that it made me felt a hard-working person and devoted to the course. I will start using my free time to do research for course work more often and think on how I can manage my time more so I can have much more time dedicated to the media work!

I found it really helpful the discussion and the homework for Gary because it makes me understand better the message of a movie and also connect it to the message that I want my video to send to its audience, its narrative structure or what genre it will be.

I stacked a range of pictures on my sketchbook yesterday, but I didn’t have time to write a little bit of description today, so I’ll do it tomorrow.

Thursday 30/09/2016

This day started amazingly with my first lesson with Nick , where we just played around , discovering and exploring different types of microphones.

I was in team with Kris, Victoria and Chloe and when it came our turn we just went there and start messing around with microphones. We started by trying to set uo the mic and then put the headphones on and just speak into the microphone and also if we couldn’t hear nothing in our headphones we would say that and someone would increase the volume, while speaking, until we would hear it in the headphones. When it came my turn I put my headphones on and Kris would have the microphone and start saying something funny and the way his voice was sounding made me laugh. Then I took some different microphones and putting them closer to my mouth to hear my own voice and it was scary a little bit, but I loved it! Also when I tried the condenser microphone and while I was speaking into my headphones , Viktoria took a photo and she said that I am looking so ‘’professional’’ in it and I started laughing , but she was true : I really look like a someone professional .

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Now what I am going to do is to stick some pictures with the mixer and the pictures that me and Viktoria have taken and just describe what I was doing in each section, so when I’ll forget something I would just go back and have the information there.

 

Then in Bee’s media class I started to do my Animatic in Final Cut Pro, which was pretty easy to use as I already had some skills from the last year, but there was one thing that was new to me which was the key frame in the Final Cut Pro. Bee showed me very quick and then she directed me to the tutorial on her YouTube channel to pick up the information from there and try do it by myself. I understood the method, but when I re-played the whole process of the picture, I realised that something went wrong, but I didn’t start panic as later on Bee showed us the process from the beginning and then I realised when I did the mistake and the way to escape it next time, which it was good. Also, we tried to transfer my Final Cut Pro onto my hard drive and log in to another computer to see if when we will put back the hard drive into a different computer it will still have all my work and it had, which is fantastic because now I can actually work on any computer that I want; Bee and I were really happy about it!

 Moreover my shot list needs to be re-done as it contains too many shots and I have just ten shots in my animatic, which is worrying me. I think will think deeper on the shots that will be on my shot list, so it can relate to my animatic or maybe add 2-3 shots in my animatic, but then I need to think about their duration. Oh, this is really hard and stressful but I hope everything is going to be fine.

 

Friday 30/09/2016

I am so happy because firstly two of my actors can film at 1-2pm o’clock on the Saturday afternoon and secondly the manager of the post office confirmed me that I can film at that time, which is great. Now all I need to do is just complete all my paper work and also let Abdul know about the time and if he can confirm me that he can film too.

 

Monday 03/09/2016

Today in John’s lesson I had to actually display my reflective journal on the website by copying and paste the text first and then I took each picture, save it in my ‘’documents’’ folder and then stick it on my website. This was really tiring but it was worth it, as now my reflective journal looks more illustrative! I took two screenshots of when I was saving the pictures for the website and also when I’ve finished.

 

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Moreover, I am so happy because in my break time, I finished doing my logo and it looks amazing. Chloe and Kris helped me because they already made their logos so I asked them for, as I didn’t know to use Photoshop really good. It was a little bit challenging because I didn’t know what colours should I put to make it look more attractive and original, but at then I chose to make it purple as I love this colour and it also looks really nice just on the edges; I didn’t plan to make two letters with the same colour, it was just an idea while I was looking at it when it was finished to see if I should change something.

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Tuesday 04/10/2016

Today in Sonia’s lesson, we had to present her our report for Gary’s lesson and our visual research (Sketchbook) and if we have started our production paper work. I found this so important and helpful because I really needed to talk with her about my work as I was a little bit worried if what I did until now is good and if I should continue this way. She gave me feedback on everything today and told me to stop worrying because I will pass this first project and that I won’t fail my course if I am going to keep going like this. I was feeling so happy when hearing that; it was exactly what I need to hear to motivate me on keeping going. Also, she advised me to try and add more examples for the visual research in my sketchbook by watching different movies that I like and when I see the type of shot that I want to just stop it , analyse , take a screenshot of it and stick it on my sketchbook , because I never know when one of them will change my future projects  into something amazing that would get me a big grade .Moreover ,after I showed her my report on the two genres she said it’s fine what I have written until and that I need to add the Harvard referencing to it , but what is more important than that is that she advised to stop using Wikipedia for the next researchers and start using more academic ways of searching like books or extracts from books , which are online as pdfs. At the first sight I didn’t like it that much, but then I thought that if I want to really push myself to the fullest and get a good grade I should try at least because it might help me to widen my knowledge in the future and more than that is that is challenging me to go to the library and take a book and search through it.

Therefore now what I am going to do about it is to start doing my reference for the report for Gary , after I’ll ask him for a feedback too tomorrow and then I will start watching 2-3 movies and looks for a couple of shots for my visual research and stick them into my sketchbook.

Wednesday 05/10/2016

 

Today I went to Gary and ask him for feedback on my report and it was a good decision because I had some little mistakes , but after we went through the each paragraph , Gary told me what I should add or what I should delete , so then I just went to my computer  and  did it. Also , I needed to do my Harvard Referencing ; he showed us some examples , but I thought to use the site from my last year and I asked him if it’s a good idea and he said yes. It was really easy but I still need to put the direct words that are in my report in quotes to show that those are not my words, as Gary advised me at the end of the lesson. Therefore, now what I am going to do is that I will go through the text again with the websites opened too and see where I have used the quotation, which I don’t find it that hard. I asked Gary at the end of the lesson if besides that addition if everything else is alright and he said that is alright so I was quite pleased and satisfied, as I don’t need to re-do nothing else.

Also, I want to watch some trailers and take five screenshots for the shots examples and stick them onto my sketchbook and maybe describe them a little bit. Even if I have a lots of work to do it’s ok because in that way I am feeling like I am pushing myself to the limit and not waste my time!

 

Thursday 06/10/2016

Today has been a long and hard day , because we had learn so may new things , but I liked it as it was really interesting , especially Nick’s lesson . We had exercised the background noises and Foley noises for our video’s narrative  , which I didn’t like that much because it was tough for me to think and break down what noises my video will include and more than that how can I re-produce them. I tried and finally I had 2-3 examples such as breathing, footsteps, cars traffic; even if they were only 3 Nick said that it is ok and it’s enough, so I was feeling better after his feedback. Then we watched three videos about different stuff and we had to answer to the three questions that he asked us based on those videos, but we didn’t have any time to check the answers. I loved that part of the lesson, especially the last video he showed us. It was a video about a film called ‘’Australia’’ and we learnt the audio jobs and how they made the video, which was amazing. I had done some notes as well so I can remember later on. Also at the end of the lesson he gave us a homework and he advised me what microphones I should need for my shooting on Saturday.

 

 I went quickly after that to borrow them, but when I tried to start the recorder at home because I was so excited to make a small test before Saturday but it didn’t work and I was a little bit disappointed about it, so now what I am going to do is go tomorrow earlier at college and ask the guys from the Media Pod what went wrong and maybe if they can show me again how to use so I won’t make the mistake the next time.

Then, in Bee’s class I was doing my paper-work for the 30 seconds media while I was waiting for Bee o come and give me feedback. She didn’t have time to do today but she said that I can come tomorrow at 12:30 and we can do it then, so I was happy about that because I really need that feedback before Saturday so I’ll know if what I am doing is good. Moreover, I‘ve added my last picture for my animatic, I showed Sonia the screenshots that I have taken yesterday and which I had stick them on my sketchbook as she said and her opinion was good about it and when I asked her if I should start doing my preparation about my FMP as it is about Romanian Christmas and I would like to start filming when I’ll go, this December, in Romania she said yes so that’s what I am going to do. It’s going to be really stressful because I’ll need to do my music video at the same time but I hope everything will be ok!

What I am going to do now is to try and finish all my paper work and get the location release form signed by tomorrow!

 

FRIDAY 07/10/2016

• SUMMARY OF WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN: Today even I didn’t have lessons I went to college at 12:30 to have my feedback from Bee because I will film tomorrow and she couldn’t do it yesterday because she didn’t have enough time.

• NEW LEARNING: I had learnt some new ways on how to start editing my logo and also how to use some tools in Photoshop. I liked it because it helped me to understand and realise that I need to think deeper and try to look at the logo and its appearance from a different perspective. It also helped me to understand more on how I can set the size of the screen for the video (the background of the picture), which I didn’t understand when Chloe did it for my present logo. I think this can be useful in my work practice or my studies because it might help me to start developing and creating a new , better logo than this one that I have for now and also as whenever I want to design something new in Photoshop I would know the beginning of it.

• PERSONAL REACTION: I feel happy and calmer about what was done today! I liked that Bee answered to all my questions so we almost cover everything that I wanted to know, that she gave me advises on what I should do or what I should add to my animatic and filming but what I really liked at this feedback was when she told me to get back and look at the examples of the flowers and chose which one is the most attractive one, because it was strange at the first sight but then it became an interesting and different way of seeing things, a more creative way which impressed me a little bit. When Bee explained to me how my reflective journal should be I found it quite easy to understand because firstly I already knew a little bit about what she was talking about as I had the scheme of it in my sketchbook and secondly because she showed me how to do it using that example. Also I liked that this feedback was in the form of a video because it makes it more enjoyable and easier for me to just go back and watch it when I want to check something or forgot how to use some tool in Photoshop.

• ACTION TO BE TAKEN: What I will do now is that tomorrow I will try and shoot the both scenes of my video, make sure I will film the scenes twice so I can have more options to choose for my editing, try and search for more pictures for my animatic and also for my logo. Moreover, I will try and finish my paper work and do more visual research, which I am going to stick it onto my sketchbook, either for my music video or FMP. Also, I will give the actors form to everybody to sign it, before starting to do the video.

 

MONDAY 10/10/2016

• SUMMARY OF WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN: Today morning in John’s lesson I couldn’t start straight up to do the tasks that he said because I was adding my Harvard reference to my Nick’s assignment, but as soon as I finished that I started to edit my new logo and when I was finished I posted it on my website. Then I’ve done my Unit 7 task 1 . I also, during my break, started and almost finished my business card as well and submit my report for Gary.

• NEW LEARNING: I have learnt more Photoshop skills such as how to canvas the size of the picture (1920:1080), how to make the difference between the layers or how you can realise on which layer you are editing at that moment or how to export the image so I can put it up on my website or anywhere.

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• Moreover, doing my business card I had discovered lots of new things on this programme too. For example editing the layout of my business card was new to me because I didn’t know I can include curved lines that intersects each other or how to make them blue and green/yellow, how to put a background picture of the card, which symbol was for helping me to actually curve the lines or the sizes or a business card (this was the first thing that I needed to do before starting designing it), etc. This helped me to understand and realise that making a business card is not that easy as I thought and I believe it can be very useful for me in the future because if I will have a job in media industry a business card would help me to reach more people and become more popular as well as my own business (if I’ll have one); but to produce the business card I’ll need to have the knowledge and skills to edit it and produce it the way I want in Photoshop.

• PERSONAL REACTION: Today was not my day as far as I am concern. I was desperate and start panicking while I was doing my Harvard reference for Nick’s homework and because I couldn’t submit the assignment on Ilearn when I tried I thought I am going to fail this course so what I’ve done was to e-mail him and say sorry for not submitting it on time. He replied to me after saying it was fine so I was feeling a lot better after that. Then I was really happy and pleased with my finished logo as now being finished I could just tick that out from the list. I really enjoyed the editing of my business card because some of my colleagues helped me too. It was funny as we would mistakes but then they would show me how to correct them. Also what it made me happier was that they helped me to choose which colour would go better with the blue line that I had already on my background.

• The only thing went bad today was that I couldn’t submit the homework for Nick and    also that when I tried several times to copy and paste my task 1 for Unit 7 on my website it didn’t work, so I wasn’t quite pleased with that because now I’ll might need to do it again.

• The editing of my business card wouldn’t have been easy to understand if my colleagues wouldn’t have let me try it by myself or showing me what buttons I need to press so I can undo my mistakes.

• On the other hand, I believe it is more difficult to edit the cards in Photoshop than on the vista print site as there you already have everything done for you, you just need to put your details or your logo while on Photoshop you actually do it from scratch.

• ACTION TO BE TAKEN:  For the next assignments I’ll make sure I will submit the work on the deadline and ask Sonia tomorrow for feedback on my business card and if it’ll be good, I will order it. Also I will try and log in to the computer where my screengrabs of editing the card are because I didn’t copy them on my USB, so I can show some examples in my reflective journal

 

TUESDAY 11/10/2016

• SUMMARY OF WHAT WAS DONE: Today in Sonia’s class we learnt how to do an animatic using After Effects and then we tried to do three examples of them.

• NEW LEARNING: The whole process with editing and choosing the pictures, only PNGs was new to me, but it helped to understand this type of application better now, compared to when I tried to use it last year. Also it made me find out that lots of videos are made in this way, which was amazing. This can have a very important role in my studies or work practice, as I might need to use it for my music video or final major project.

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PERSONAL REACTION:

• I feel proud, satisfied and also feel like I am collecting more and more information in more and more areas such as Photoshop , After Effects , Final Cut Pro ; more and more skills and it’s wonderful. I feel really lucky because I am capable to take all this information and skills in. I liked editing on After Effects, even if it sounded scary at the beginning, because I had fun messing around with all the directions, speeds, effects and pictures. I found it easy to understand the process because Sonia showed us on the big screen first and even if when I tried I made a mistake, she helped me by showing how to get it wright. Putting the effect of bubbles in my ‘’Underwater’’ animation was kind of difficult for me to understand because it was new to me and I had to do a new layer for that so I was a little confused why it needs a new one instead of doing it on the actual one and have just one instead of two.

• ACTION TO TAKE:

• I will ask Sonia next why we need to put another layer for that effect, but before that I will go on the Internet and find more examples of Double Exposure ad stick them onto my sketchbook because it sounded really interesting this word to me so I would like to know more about it.

 

WEDNESDAY 12/10/2016

• WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN: Today in Gary’s lesson we had analyse some posters using denotation, connotation and also find out what semiotics are and how to include them in our analyses.

• NEW LEARNING: The term of ‘’semiotics’’ and ‘’spaghetti western’’ and their meanings were absolute new to me. The helped me to understand more the message of the images and also became a more informed person when it comes to analyse a poster. I found out that an image can not only an image but even a small symbol can have a HUGE meaning if you think deeper than the surface. This information can be very useful to me in my media studies as if I want to do a poster for one of my projects I would know how to structure it so the audience can understand my message.

• PERSONAL REACTION: This wasn’t hard at all it was interesting. I knew some information from the last year related to denotations and connotations, but the yesterday lesson helped me to understand it better as we made more examples and we discussed more about it. I liked that we’ve done lots of examples for each and discussed upon it altogether. It made the whole thing to be understood by me easier.

• ACTION TO BE TAKEN: I will try and find more pictures from each section that we have talked about today and stick them onto my sketchbook.

 

Thursday 13/10/2016

• WHAT I HAVE LEARNT:

• Reflective journal: After we discussed in Bee’s lesson about how we would actually do our reflective and she showed us an example of someone’s who got a distinction last year. She said that her reflective journal was the one that got her that grade as her video wasn’t that good. An example of her reflective journal is in the below.

• What is ‘’copyright’’ and how to avoid it: In Nick’s lesson we watched a video about creative commons and then we were put in groups of two ( I was with Chloe) and we needed to do some research about PRS and ACS and try to answer to three questions that he gave us for help.

• WHAT WENT WRONG?

• Unchecked the videos for the 30 seconds narrative: Bee needed to do the feedback with the rest of the people from my class, so she didn’t have time to look at my videos and give me feedback on them.

• HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT WHAT WAS DONE?

I felt really disappointed and angry when Bee told and showed us how we should do the reflective journal because we need to write too much and I don’t like to reflect on something, I am not good at that. I think is pointless! But on the other hand, a good well-structured reflective journal could get me a distinction, which is what I want so even if I don’t like it I must do it!

Moreover, I think Nick’s lesson for today was the first one that I didn’t like or enjoy as the others. Firstly, I didn’t like that I couldn’t understand the whole lesson, as the others, so I felt like I was an outsider because it seemed that anyone else understood everything. Secondly, I don’t understand how the knowledge of these companies or PRS/ACS would help me in the future. Maybe if I was interested in sound or music it would have been, but otherwise I don’t find it useful. I did like the video about creative commons because it helped me to understand the difference between copyright and creative commons and what we need to do if we want to make a video , what safety actions to take before that , which was new to me and I’ll remember that when I’ll start my music video.

• WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE?

• I went to Bee at the end of the lesson and reminded her that she forgot to look at my videos so I asked her if it will be better to come on Friday for the feedback and she said yes.

• WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN?

• Come earlier tomorrow to speak with Bee.

Go to Reed and talk to them for work experience or a job in television.

• Start doing my reflective journal following the example of that girl from last year.

• Start doing a rough edit of my 30 seconds narrative video.

 

14/10/2016

• WHAT I HAVE LEARNT?

• With Bee, doing my feedback, I realised that I haven’t film enough shots and that I didn’t shoot each scene twice (I missed out some).

• WHAT WENT WRONG?

• Lack of sound: I didn’t use a microphone, which made my video to not be perfect, as in one of the scene the volume of the dialogue is really slow.

• WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE?

• I started to do a rough edit of the video with the actual shots that I had.

• HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT?

• I felt sad and disappointed again, but this time was on myself. I didn’t want to use the mic because I was too stubborn and scared and I thought it will work like that, without the microphone and now the result is not what I wanted. It’s not perfect!

Also, I feel happy because I really like the quality of the video. It came up the exact quality that I desired and contemplate from before.

I think it’s bad because I didn’t say this to Bee, but I didn’t want her to be angry on me. Although, her feedback did help me because now I know what I need to add or cut out from my video. I didn’t have enough time to finish the whole edit as I was starting my A levels English class soon.

• I took some pictures of my timeline in FCP: (I remember that my video was like a flashback so I decided to put the last shot as the first one).

• WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN?

• Update reflective journal for today, as the example one.

Go to REED and talk to them for work experience, on Monday.

• Do some more research for my sketchbook and add some more things in it.

Finish my rough edit and film the first shot.

• Find 1-2 examples of genre posters for Gary’s homework.

• Do some research for my music video and FMP.

Talk to my tutors about the theme of my FMP and if my actual idea will get me a good grade.

I feel that my journey with reflective journal has developed pretty good until now. I am not pleased because it took me all this time to understand, finally, how it should be. To be very sure that now how I am doing it is the best way I will ask Bee for an opinion next Thursday.

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