Reflective Journal

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Reflective journal-music video

Tuesday 22/11/2016-

Ø WHAT WAS DONE /SEEN: Today I had my tutorial with Sonia and watched some examples of different videos genre,

Ø WHAT WENT GOOD/WRONG

ü My work was handed in at time and she said that I am focusing on my work

ü She advised me on what to do with my music video

ü My reflective journal annotations weren’t good enough

ü LACK OF CREATIVITY- I am not watching movies at all so how will it be possible to make videos and be creative?

ü My website’s need improvement

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE:

ü Sonia gave me as a next task to watch three movies: ELF, AMELIE AND THE MIRACLE ON THE 34 STREET

ü She also advised who to ask for camera help as I want to but a camcorder.

ü I printed out the sheet again and read it deeper and try to ask all the questions.

ü Sonia told me to try and chose another font as this one looks ‘’Cute and naïve’’.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT :

This talk with Sonia made me realise that the fact that I am not watching movies is very bad as I am a media student. IT’S NOT WASTE OF TIME as I thought! But I am still not too used with this thought even if I tried to.

It’s good when you hear that your work is enough and it will get you a good grade! It made me for the first after so much stress relieved and calm and more motivated.

It inspired me to try and push myself even harder for the next project, my music video and my final major project.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

ü Watch the three movies that Sonia gave me.

ü Watch 2-3 music videos that are closer to my idea.

ü Do as much research as I can.

ü Do my reflective journal following the subheadings and helpful questions on ilearn.

Wednesday 23/11/2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN: Today I have learnt what qualitative, quantitative, primary and secondary research is and done a power point on defining them. Also i signed my submission sheet for Nick.

Ø WHAT WENT WRONG:

ü Confusion: For a second I wasn’t sure what example of question to ask for qualitative research

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT:

ü ASK FOR HELP: I asked Gary to give me an example of a question so after that I could think of my own example.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT WHAT WAS DONE:

I liked the lesson today because it made me feel more confident on my knowledge and it also inspired me a little bit on how to make my music video very good. I am happy that I understood very easily the task and what I need to do from now on. I feel more optimistic and positive now on how I am going to develop my process in completing and making a music video.

I didn’t start to panic anymore when I didn’t know what to do and for the first time I felt good and I felt like I am starting to approach that personality of a media expert , because if they were in my place would have the same : don’t panic , stay calm and try to focus more on the situation.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

ü Do some more secondary and primary research and also a little bit of qualitative and quantitative.

ü Watch a range of music videos examples.

Make time to watch 3 movies per week.

ü Watch some Christmas movies as well as my FMP idea is based on that.

ü Record the song with Aaina (my artist).

Thursday 24/11/2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN : I finished all my work so in Nick’s lesson I printed out my lyrics and we went through them trying to get ideas for the visuals and in Bee’s class I did my first questionnaire on Survey Monkey.

Ø WHAT WENT GOOD/WRONG:

ü I haven’t get enough work done as I planned to.

Hand in on time- It’s always good to hand in your work on time because otherwise you would struggle in the last minute as my colleagues did today.

I got some good ideas for my music video’s visuals.

ü Lack of creativity- I didn’t know what to write for my last question on Survey Monkey

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT:

ü Ask for help: Abdul helped me with a question.

ü Completed my first two days on my Client Logbook.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT :

I was so lazy today and it didn’t feel good so after I have done my survey I felt better and more productive. Finally, Bee said I did the reflective journal good and I felt so happy that I finally got it right, but now I am scared that I will do it wrong again.

After Nick’s advice I wasn’t feeling of how I am going to represent my idea of music video because reading the lyrics and do annotation on imagery made it easier. Even so I still want to maybe try and think of some more ideas as after that I can chose the best one.

I think my questions on survey monkey should be improved as I was really bored when I did them and some of them might not be that clear or don’t give me that important feedback that I want.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

ü Start the research for the music video.

ü Record the song.

ü Plan a meeting with my actors and artist so we can discuss about our ideas.

Tuesday 29th of November 2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE /SEEN :

Today until the very end of Sonia’s lesson we had a discussion about our process in doing the music video, watched an example of Rihanna’s song : WE found love’’ and then we were supposed to do a little bit of research on that but I was too lazy to do that and it was almost the time to go home so I just sat down and stayed on my phone for 20 minutes.

Ø WHAT WENT WRONG /GOOD :

Realisation that I am not that far behind- I already have my client, an idea of visuals for the music video and the track.

Got a new visual idea- From my peer’s feedback I got a new idea of a shot and location where I can film for my music video: Children’s playground

Colour correction- I could use that in my edit to manipulate the colours in my music video and make it just blue or black & white

New examples of music video to watch: My colleagues gave me some new example of music videos that are related to the same theme

ü Lack of examples and confusion- I need to make myself a final idea of how my cinematography would look like but I can’t if I’m not watching an enough number of examples before.

ü Lack of ideas of locations- I realised that I still don’t know the exact locations of where I should film.

ü Don’t do research as much as needed – I didn’t do enough research so I couldn’t tell my final idea to Sonia, I was unsure.

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE:

ü I made a promise to myself to start watching more video and maybe analyse them.

ü Pick out what I liked about them and maybe write it down so I can remember and apply the same method in my music video.

ü Wrote down my colleague’s feedback: example of locations, videos, visuals, etc.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

These days I didn’t do as much work as I intended to so I am a little disappointed on myself. I am scared that my video won’t look good, but I try to be optimistic and try and make myself watch videos, which I don’t really like because I think it’s pointless, it’s just a waste of time but on the other hand that’s what a media student would do.

It was better that we discussed this subject in the lesson because if we wouldn’t I wouldn’t have the idea of the Children’s playground; which Fen gave it to me and it was very good because it could represent that impactful end of the video.

I covered some areas such as edit, colours and some shots after doing some research but I still need to do more as I feel it’s not enough and I don’t want on the filming day, on the set to do mistakes with lighting, camera or something like that. I need to prepare well before because if not the video will just look very bad!

I want to start learning from my mistakes so in my Final Major Project I will be acquainted with them and therefore avoiding them will help me to get a distinction.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

ü Do more research.

ü Meet with Aaina on Friday and talk about the visuals.

ü Do annotations on the videos that I like.

Wednesday 30th of November

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN: Today I was working on my survey questionnaire and I tried to do something new as I decided to print off just 5 examples of the survey and handed them to people and the other five send them through e-mail and then compare which one was faster or which one will give me more the best feedback.

Ø WHAT WAS GOOD/BAD:

I finally found the best questions for the survey- I had to ask questions that would give me that needed feedback.

Speed and punctuality - The printed off surveys were very fast handed back to me from my friends, after half an hour maximum which was what I wanted.

Have some good friends – My friends were very opened to help me with completing my survey through e-mails and some of them replied to it very fast.

ü Struggling to find the quotations – I couldn’t think of what to ask people so they would understand the question firstly and then respond to it.

ü Grammar: I even had some grammatical mistakes in question 8 of the survey.

ü Disadvantages of using e-mail – I forgot to send the survey to some people and one of them and one of them couldn’t tick one of the boxes at one of the questions.

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT

ü GARY’S HELP: Every time after I would change a question I would Gary’s opinion

ü IMPROVE THE QUESTIONS: I tried to went through all the question and edit them or add some new ones.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

I didn’t like the idea of using e-mail to get feedback because it’s just taking longer than printed them off and completing them and additionally if someone doesn’t understand a question asking for explanation is easier than sending an e-mail explaining what they don’t understand and then me sending another e-mail with what it means. I tried it because I wanted to compare the ways, even if I preferred the other one.

I felt so demotivated and disanointed today because firstly I could do those questions without lots of help from Gary (I think I annoyed him very much today) and the feedback was very bad because all people that filled it in would be very short and wouldn’t explain their answers with reasons, so now I hope the other ones will give me more information than these.

I hate doing research because I don’t even know what to search instead of just videos and I am so lazy and tired these days that I can’t do nothing properly and it gets boring watching just doing the same thing every day: watching music videos.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

ü Send the survey to the people that I missed.

ü Keep doing the research.

Look again on the feedback that I already have and do some annotations on them.

Thursday 01/12/2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN:

To I learnt about lighting with Bee and in Nick’s lesson we discussed more about out music videos and how important the lyrics are for the music video.

Ø NEW LEARNING:

ü COLOUR GRADING – it helps you to tell the listener what they need to know

ü THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX – it’s good to use personification of an object as a character in our music video as it will make it unique.

ü NOSTALGIA – you can create it with the colours which will set the mood and theme and flashbacks.

ü CONCEPT- it gives you a direction

ü NARRATIVE- the narrative is very important in music videos as it allows you to develop your idea easier and plan it.

ü 3 POINT LIGHTING- There are three types of lighting called key light, back light and fill light.

ü SOFT AND HARD LIGHT – The soft light allows you to identify all the features and the whole face at a character and the hard light is usually used in ‘’film noir’’ to give you an uncomfortable feeling.

Ø WHAT WAS GOOD/WRONG:

IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY- Having the chance of a lesson focused on this subject is not common every day.

REALISATION- I realised that the lyrics were much more important than I thought they were.

HELP- I might work in a group with Kunbi and Najma so I won’t be struggling with this project.

ü PROBLEM- Sonia might not let us work as a group

ü STILL NOT CLEAR ON HOW MY CINEMATOGRAPHY WILL LOOK LIKE

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE:

ü RESEARCH-I watched 6 music videos and did some annotations on them

ü Think I decided to work on my own even in I will work in a group or not.

Ø HOW I DID FEEL ABOUT IT :

Today was one of my favourite days as I learnt so much and it was interesting, it made me feel encouraged and motivated to keep going on and give the best that I can.

One of the music videos that Bee showed us as example called ‘’Something wrong in Atlantis’’ I realised that if you know how to play with the lights you can come up with something brilliant. I loved the play of the lights in contrast with the darkness! It made me feel confused, interested and it had a mysterious air about it. The colours used, camera movement earned my attention, so I would like to try and apply this method to my music video.

Doing my video in black and white is more likely to happen than in colours, even if I have insecurities about it as I think the colours are going to be in a strong relation with the lyrics and narrative.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

ü Take the screenshots for the storyboard.

Continue with my research-go to library and borrow a book about music videos.

ü Do my planner.

Find the locations for the music video.

ü Do a mind map of the idea.

Monday 05/12/2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE /SEEN :

Today in John’s lesson I have done my scheduler and talked to Sonia about using Victoria in my music video as a second actor and during my reed session I have learnt how to behave myself when approaching an employer. Also, I have started doing my proposal for the music video in my independent learning time with Kunbi.

Ø NEW LERNING:

ü TIME MANAGEMENT – I have calculated my proposed dates in a way that would help me to get everything done before the deadline.

ü PANIC – I shouldn’t panic in some situations very fast because there will be always someone to help me very fast and resolve the problem.

ü HAVE A PLAN B IS IMPORTANT – Having Victoria as my plan b actor was the best thing that happened to me because if she wouldn’t have offer I would have needed to start looking for someone else in the middle of the project and therefore wasting time.

ü USE OF MAKE-UP – You need to use a little bit of make up when you film because otherwise it can affect your filming; foundation powder is a good example to use.

Ø WHAT WENT GOOD /WRONG:

SCHEDULER- Planning my production was very good as now everything is settled and it will be easier to communicate with my artist and actor about the time when they need to be free.

PROPOSAL- Doing my proposal helped to think deeper and organise my idea and how it will be displayed.

ü LACK OF TIME- I won’t have that much time to film during the Christmas holiday as I am going to be in Romania and return here very late

ü ORGANISATION-It was very hard to organise my ideas and write them down for my proposal as all my ideas were vey disorganised.

ü ERROR OCCURRED-I couldn’t log in onto my ilearn account today even if I tried for several times and it looked like someone hacked it

ü UNABLE TO EXPLAIN SOMETHING WELL- I didn’t explain my question well when giving that e-mail to Sonia so she misunderstood me .

ü DIDN’T HAVE FEEDBACK-John didn’t have time to give the feedback on my website page for unit 7 in this lesson

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

ü ASK FOR HELP- I asked john for help but the one that did help me was Murden as he would have faced the problem before me and showed me the solution.

ü FILM EARLIER- I decided to do some filming tests this weekend so in case something would go wrong to have time to be precautious and avoid it when I am ging to come back and maybe film again.

ü THINK-I sat there and tried to focus on my task , think deeper and started to write my ideas down ; I also re-read what I have written so far and check for any mistakes .

ü TRY AND GOT THINGS CLEAR – I sent her another e-mail back but this time I clarified myself so she realised that she misunderstood me and answer my question, agreeing with me.

ü TALKED TO HIM-I asked him at the end of the lesson and he said to not worry about it as I did a good job and didn’t have many mistakes (the only one being that I forgot to add my Harvard Reference to my media report)

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

I am so worried and angry because I can’t film during the Christmas holiday and additionally to that because Victoria might not be able to film this weekend. I didn’t even find the perfect locations for it which is making me be even more worried. They should have given us more time on doing this project as I feel I need a break I am more stressed with this project than I was with the 30 seconds’ narrative.

Additionally, today we didn’t have the library session which annoyed me because I needed to wait for an hour for nothing and then followed by the reed session which was boring, useless and a waste of time in my opinion. Even if I spoke to an employer before when the guy was practising an example of an interview test with different people at the end of the lesson I found myself feeling nervous and unsure, which was unexpectable. I think I still need to pay attention to these lessons because I might think I know everything but in fact to know nothing.

Doing my proposal was very hard and I struggled until I had something wrote down. It seems to me that it becoming harder and harder to get things done and complete something which didn’t happen to me before and the moment s when I am panicking about my work more often than usual. I really need to start doing lots of work as I used to before, it’s just that I feel tired of this stress and work that needs to be handed in.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

Borrow the book that Gary told me to from the library.

Keep on researching and watching videos.

ü Update my reflective journal and try to include some more pictures.

Tuesday 06/12/2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN :

Today in Sonia’s lesson we had a little introduction to music videos so we it can be helpful and easier for us to complete the task of analysing the three videos on the brief and we also watched some popular music videos and practiced more on how to take notes based on what she presented to us.

Ø NEW LEARNING:

ü HISTORY OF MUSIC VIDEOS-In 1975 the first video that had visual effects was released and its name was ‘’Bohemian Rhapsody’’ by Queen and on 1 August 1981 the music channel ‘’MTV’’ appeared.

ü INTERTEXTUALITY-intertextuality means the relation between media texts such a for example in Michael’s Jackson video ‘’Smooth Criminal’’ it is a reference to the era of FILM NOIR as it’s uses hard light a lot.

ü OBJECTIFICATION-it means when you present someone as an object or sexual object.

ü JUMP CUT- it is for example when you are in a place in a scene and then in the next one you are closer to the camera and in the last one you are the closes to the camera all of this happening very fast in the edit.

ü COMPOSITY- is when two layers are on one; like double exposure but not the same.

Ø WHAT WENT GOOD / WRONG:

CODES AND CONVENTIONS- I understood better what each of them means and now I can make the difference between them, unlike before.

MODERN EXAMPLES SHOWN- It was good that Sonia has also displayed us some exampled but better than that was that all of them were modern and even the old ones were still known by me.

SOLUTION FOR SECONDARYV RESEARCH- She recommended us a book by Andrew Goodwin which we can refer to in our research for the music video and get marked for that.

COMPOSITY-I found out that what I was calling ‘’double exposure’’ was in fact called composity and it inspired me to apply it into my post-production in my music video.

ü LACK OF SPEED-I was too tired during the lesson and even if I tried to write everything down I couldn’t finish before Sonia would go onto the next slide of the power point.

ü NOT FEELING WELL- We wrote most of the time while the light was tuned off and then switched on suddenly provoked me a headache as I was also trying to focus on taking notes.

ü FORGOT TO BORROW THE BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY- I was too lazy and tired to go to the library and take that book and I told myself that I will do it tomorrow.

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT:

ü FOLLOW SONIA’S ADVISE- I tried to write just what appeared to me the most important things in that slide so I can finish before she would go to the next one.

ü I didn’t do nothing about the headache I just ignored it and it went away by itself.

ü REMIND MYSELF- I have set a reminder on my phone for tomorrow at 1pm o’clock to go and borrow that book., so I can’t forget about it now.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

I am happy and pleased that now I can understand this media terms and their meaning and make the difference between them when it comes to analysing them in a media text such as music video, but I think I should exercise more with this task so therefore at the end of it to be sure about it.

Sonia’s lesson was for the first time boring. I didn’t like at all as I thought I would fall asleep at one point and all I wanted to do was just to get out of there as soon as it was finished, but this was just because I was really tired the whole day as I feel I don’t get enough sleep at night. The music videos that we watched cheered me up a little bit as I knew the songs and seen them before but today while we went deeper into them I was shocked on how many meaning Michael Jackson’s videos for example can have and that it can enlarged to a greater range of media areas only through its intertextuality.

I haven’t get that much work done today but at least I found out that aaina Is free this weekend so even if Victoria won’t be I will possibly do the camera tests and take some shots of aaina so I can get her out of the way and remain only with victoria’s part to do it after the Christmas holiday. I still need to find some locations but I don’t know how to search it or I don’t even know where I want to film. I want to be careful with this project as I want to show some improvement not only to my tutors but to myself as well.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT ACTION:

Find the locations.

Take the book.

Talk with Aaina ad Victoria and clarify things for them: time and place where we are going to film.

Meet with Kunbi and Najma and see how we are doing with our work.

Wednesday 07/12/2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN:

Today’s in Gary’s lesson I was doing some more secondary research for my music video and I asked Gary on what type of book I should borrow from the library to refer in my research and before my lesson I went to get it.

Ø NEW LEARNING:

ü ‘’POP’’ and ‘’POPULAR’’-Many people are using these two words thinking they are the same but it is not true, there are two different genres of music.

Ø WHAT WENT GOOD/WRONG:

MOTIVATION- I finally got the motivation to go to the library and search for that book.

MORE RESEARCH- I have done two more pages of research, but I still need to do more.

INSPIRITION-I told my friend Lucy about my idea and she gave me an idea of the locations tha ti can use.

ü NOT IN STOCK ANYMORE – I couldn’t find any book that was related to my subject and not even the book that Sonia advised us to use by Andrew Goodwin.

ü DISTRACTION- I didn’t finish my research yet because everyone around me was speaking and it was hard for me to focus and additionally I got distracted by my phone very often.

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT

ü OTHER’S LIBRARY- I decided as well as the woman from my college’s library advised me to do which is to go and try to find the book at my local libraries; I have two near me and I will try to make time and take a visit to them.

ü FINISH IT AT HOME- I will finish my research at home as I feel like there I can focus better than in college because it’s quieter and I will also turned off y phone during the research .

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

Today wasn’t that much of a productive today for me because I didn’t do enough work. I was so disappointed when I couldn’t find any of the books and neither the woman that helped me because I really hoped I will find it fast so I won’t be late for my lesson.

I don’t understand why do we need to do so much research because in my opinion it’s just making everything harder and more stressful for me as I need to do all the pre-production paper work and I am not even sure if the locations that I found are good.

I started to panic and think negative when I couldn’t find the books or at least one of them because now I will need to go and search for them at other libraries and I will just waste the time in which I could film or plan my idea, but on the other hand it is good because I am showing to my teachers that I am willing to learn and that I put effort in my work.

I was relieved when Lucy offered me her help with the music videos so I thought that bee was right that it is good to share your ideas with others.

I think the only good in this research that it is inspiring me to take the situation in my hands and face it and do whatever I can, go through the whole process and learn how to enjoy it. Also, I feel like this projects is helping be more independent, confident and have more patience which is almost impossible because I am the perfectionist type that’s always excessive.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

ü Keep Aaina and Victoria updated with what’s going on.

ü Ask Lucy if I will be stuck.

Finish my research.

Find the final locations.

Thursday 08/12/2016

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN: In Bee’s lesson we went in groups of four in the studio and Bee recorded us saying a Christmas message and then I edited it in Final Cut Pro by putting effects and a Christmas lights image on the background.

Ø NEW LEARNING:

ü GREEN SCREENING – Green screening was a great new experience as it gave me the chance to make a very funny Christmas card

ü LUMA – I learnt how to get rid of the whiteness in the left corner of my video by making the two tolls ‘’Luma Rolloff’’ and ‘’Chroma Rolloff’’

ü COMPOSITE- If you click on the blue one it will show you how it was the beginning and the one in the black and white will give my video a special effect making my video in black and white.

(Also, I was playing with the tools by putting them to different numbers and see how it affected the video)

ü THE PROCESS OF KEYING- I first click on the blue icon with the two duplicated squares and then on ‘’keying’’ and choose the ‘’Keyer’’ window and just drag it over my video and then stuck my background picture underneath my audio on the timeline and added a song by Michael Bubble called ‘’It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas’’ to make it cuter and happier as for the final piece to be completed.

ü NEW FILTERS, EFFECTS AND HOW TO CORRECT THAT SHARPENESS OF THE WITNESSES – I was exploring in the colour area and the different types of the filters, '‘Crop & Feather’’ and ‘’Background Squares’’. Then I was playing with the ‘’Edge Distance’’ by putting it at 6.0(this gave my video a green colour) and the ‘’Spill Level’’ by making it up to 100 (the colour would be purple).

Ø WHAT WENT GOOD/WRONG:

IMPROVEMENT- I had gain new information that will help me with my future projects and additionally I had improved my editing skills in Final Cut Pro by trying each icon and exploring them.

GAIN MORE CONFIDENCE – This amazing experience had made me feel more confident with my course and helped me to start and enjoy doing mistakes, learn from them and from the process that I am going through.

SHARE MY WORK ON YOUTUBE AND WIX-I put four examples of my editing on my YouTube channel and wix website so it would be easier for me to go back and watch each of them, in order, so I can see what I added new to them: the second one has bubbles effects, the third one has vignette effect, etc.

ü PRE-PRODUCTION WORK- I didn’t have time to start my pre-production paper work, which is not good because I want to film on Saturday and I don’t want to not plan my idea before the film day.

ü STORYBOARD-I was talking to Victoria almost the whole lesson today so I wasn’t focusing on my storyboard

ü FEEDBACK FROM NICK-I got the feedback for my 30 seconds’ narrative from Nick and because of my misunderstanding I had some mistakes in defining and answering to some in questions I the acoustic report and the legal & ethical issues piece was wrong. Therefore, I got a ‘’good’’ for that.

ü MY TRACK DIDN’T SEND THOUGH- Nick checked if he received the e-mail with my track that I sent to him last Thursday and he didn’t.

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE:

ü FOCUS-I will finish my pre-production at home; related to my storyboard I tried to do the third verse in the last minute but I will finish it at home as well.

ü ASK QUESTIONS- Nick went through the mistakes that I made with me and explained everything to me so I could understand why he gave me that grade.

ü SEND IT AGAIN- I asked Nick if I should e-mail it to him again and he said that I should so I made time and send it to him again.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT

Today I loved Bee’s lesson because I learnt so many new things and we all laughed and it just changed my day, made me happier. I had fun and I learnt new things and the most important thing I finally enjoyed doing mistakes and exploring. I wasn’t scared anymore to try something new like seeing what each icon and tool is doing.

Moreover, when we were in the studio I was the first one who was recorded and I was excited but when I saw myself on the spot I got a little bit nervous because I didn’t know what to say so I ended up by saying ‘’Merry Christmas!’’ and then a long pause and very serious I continued’ ’everyone’’ and then we all started to laugh. It was very funny!

Even if I started the day by being a little bit angry and disappointed on myself for my grades from Nick which it was my fault for not asking him questions about the subject from before and ignoring it, it ended by being a good and productive day. I appreciated Nick’s effort to make time and explain me what I didn’t understand because otherwise I would still have not understand what reverberation is and do the same grammatical mistakes in the future.

Getting that ‘’good’’ grade inspired me to pay more attention on my grammar and in the lessons in class with Nick and if I don’t understand something to ask for help because otherwise I can lose a good grade. Also, experiencing green screen and editing with it in Final Cut Pro encouraged me to have more courage when it comes to learning innovative things and stop being that scared because that will get me nowhere.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

ü Do the film tests this Saturday.

Finish the research.

Finish the pre-production paperwork.

Finish my storyboard.

Saturday 10th of December

Ø WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN:

Today Kunbi , Viktoria , Najma and I met at my house and for several hours we took as many taste shots as we could for the music video as we wouldn’t have time in the holiday because I will be in Romania .

Ø NEW LEARNING:

ü EFFORT- You need to put a lot of effort if you want to have that exact , nice shot that you want ( Eg: for a MS of Viktoria’s scene in the bathroom I needed to climb up the bathroom tub and have an uncomfortable position to hold the camera and behind me Kunbi needed to stay the same as me to hold the light)

ü ORGANISATION – For me it was very important and useful that I had already the types of shots that I wanted as an example to show to my team and try to reproduce them and, we knew how to organise what each of us will do during filming so each of us would do something.

ü LIGHTING- I saw how Najma was modifying the lighting when the camera was on the manual mode: she would go to the bottom where it said ‘’WB’’ on the left side of the screen and press it and then just try and see which of the effects was the best one.

Ø WHAT WENT GOOD/WRONG:

IMPROVED FILMING SKILLS – I had improved my filming skills and learnt better on how to use the manual mode and how to manipulate the lighting.

ORGANISATION SKILLS- I knew how to organise the filming and the time so we can have time to finish everything and have a break in between as well.

WEATHER- the weather helped us in the shots where Viktoria is smoking as it was raining and it just sited perfectly the narrative of the video.

ü RUN OUT OF BATTERY- we filmed for an hour or two because the camera’s battery run out of battery exactly when we were about to film the second scene and I didn’t get a charger from college either.

ü VIKTORIA WAS LATE- Viktoria happened to be an hour and a half late compared to Kunbi and Najma who were at my house almost at time as they had some problems that day and in addition to that when I tried to call her she wouldn’t answer.

ü RUINED SHOT- in one of the shots in the bathroom tub I wasn’t aware of my foot getting shown in the video as I was too focus on filming and trying to keep my balance and not fall off on Viktoria.

ü SECOND CAMERA OUT OF BATTERY- We wasted precious time because I need to charge a little my DSLR camera to continue filming as it run out of battery as well.

Ø WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT:

ü DECISION-I decided that next time I should give more attention to small details such as a charger and check if I have everything after I borrow something from college.

ü STARTED TO PANIC AND CALL PEOPLE- I called her for several times and then I got her best friend’s number from Kris and called her as well who told me that Viktoria should be at my place soon.

ü ANALYSE OF THE SHOT- Me and Viktoria checked the shot again and decided that we should better not use it in the video.

ü CHARGE THE CAMERA- I let the camera charge for a half an hour or so while we had a little break and talked about how the filmed went and share ideas on what else should include to make the video better.

Ø HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

I think today was the best filming experience of a project since I started this course because I learnt many things and, I was happy that I enjoyed the whole process. My team was the best as well as they all helped me with advises, especially Viktoria and it was nice that we helped each other and we shared the roles so each of us got the chance to be camera and lighting man as well which was fantastic for me because it made feel that I took part in this project and collaborated with them.

Moreover, they were very understandable and I am glad that they share their ideas with me because it helped me to be more open and confident of sharing my ideas to them too.

I wasn’t happy when Viktoria wouldn’t answer my calls when she was late because I had already lost too much time which was for filming or when my DSLR run out of battery because if it was already charged I wouldn’t have wasted half an hour of filming, but overall I am thankful and revealed that I have got some good shots and I appreciated my friend’s effort and dedication into this project.

Ø WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

ü Have another look on what it was filmed today.

ü Think of the other locations to film.

ü Add some pictures from what we filmed.

Monday 03/01/2017

WHAT WAS DONE/ SEEN – Today has been the day that most of colleagues went back to college, unlike me. I couldn’t go because I am still in Romania and I will stay here until Friday so I will miss the whole first week and more important the first deadline. Even if I couldn’t attend Sonia’s lesson I tasked myself to work on my website and almost finished the pre-production as well.
NEW LEARNING:

TYPES OF PROFESSINAL FONTS – I have researched and found out that types of fonts such as ‘’Georgia’’ and ‘’Times New Roman’’ are making part of the classic, elegant and fancy category called ‘’Serif’’ font.
HOW TO MAKE MY HOME PAGE PICTURE LOOK MORE DRAMATIC- The first picture wasn’t expressive enough so I chose another one of Viktoria’s face crop it just to the eyes and made it black and white and now it helps my home page to create an impact on my audience.

MOTIVATION AND DEVOTEMENT- I’ve learnt that it doesn’t matter if I am not in the class, at college to do the work. If I have the motivation and if I want to do it I can even from home and get everything done for handing it in when I will come back, next week.

WHAT WENT WELL /WRONG:

PRE-PRODUCTION PAPER WORK- I have finished my call sheet, risk assessment, budget, storyboard and proposal, but I still need to do another call sheet and risk assessment as I would like to take some shots in the park as well.
EDITING SKILLS- I had improved my editing skills when working on my picture for the music video home page on wix as I tried all the areas that there ; also, I wasn’t afraid to explore a little bit the feature that my laptop provided me with such as ‘’light’’ or ‘’colour’’ and put them to the fullest and the lowest to see what was the difference.

MADE SOME CHANGES TO MY WEBSITE-I added a picture for my home page , post the two answers through e-mails for my surveys and post my reflective journal and three videos from the test filming that we took on the 10th of December.

UNFINISHED RESEARCH- I was too tired when I finished my paper work and it was too late so I didn’t have time to finish my research, which didn’t make me that happy.
HOLIDAY MOOD- Even if I want to do everything and get it done I find it a little bit hard because I am too lazy and I would like to either profit of this chance to stay at home longer and relax, but I can’t.
PANIC AND FEAR- I had a moment of panic and got scared at the thought that I am missing so many important things and that my attendance will be very bad by the time I will get back and worse than that I will miss the first deadline which I never did. I got really scared because I felt like I will fail and be left behind.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

I said to myself that I will wake up earlier tomorrow and that will be the first things to be done.
I motivated myself by thinking that I want to be successful and get a distinction at the end of this course so I started to do more work and then I felt a lot more relieved and productive.
I messaged Kris and Chloe to ask them what we did at class and they let me know what we need to hand in for the deadline.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

This was the first time when I hate the feeling and thought of being in a holiday because I missed so much and I started to panic so much at the thought of missing the deadline as it is the first situation of this type that I was put in and I really didn’t like it that much.

Getting some work done was the only way on which I could make myself feel better and like I’m not wasting my time while everyone was doing work at college, so doing that I would feel like I am not left behind.

WHAT IS MY NEXT ACTION :

Finish my research.
Try and stay updated with the work.
Do my surveys.

Monday 09/01/2017

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN :

Today, in John’s lesson we had reviewed our work and the pre-production sheets. I also spoke with Sonia and got my sketchbook and folder back and check my attendance, which was very good: 96%. Finally, I managed to finish my work and handed it in at time and the surveys that I couldn’t print out I post them on my website.

NEW LEARNING:

CALLSHEET-I have learnt that call sheet has a big , important role in a production as it is our whole plan of the idea and as long as it is as detailed as possible I will get a good grade.
DIRECTOR PHOTOGRAPHY- represents the one who produce the look of the film for the director
TARANTINO’S QUOTE- he stated that ‘’a main scene of a film is like a painting’’ which can be explained as that scene is the most important and representative scene of the whole movie and the shots are like the small details in it.
Rushes- the rushes represent the process of reviewing the material shots on the filming day; in America, they are cold ‘’dailies’.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

FINISHED WORK-I finished my final evolution, my power point for Gary and I did one evaluation of one the survey and handed in to Sonia.
JOHN’S REVIEW-I understood better what some of the sections in the call sheet and told me what should I write for each one.
- We reviewed my storyboard and I realised that I should improve it by choosing just the main scenes for my music video which will represent my idea and set the theme and mood.
FOCUS GROUP- Troy, Chloe, Kris, Viktoria and Joel helped me on by break to do my focus group and also they advised me what type of questions I should ask them ; we analysed the music video ‘’Bleeding love’’ by Leona Lewis and their answers pleased me as we all agreed on some comments about the video and also I learnt to use Photo booth.

TIME-I found out too late that I need to do just one final evaluation so I started an hour before an hour when I needed to hand in my work.
PRINTER- I tried to print out the final evaluation but it wouldn’t work, I sent the same sheet for ten times but still nothing.
SURVEYS-The printer would print out just one and the same example of my survey’s responses.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT:

I started to rush so I can finish and not be late for my video REED lesson.
ASK TROY-I asked Troy for his advice and then he made me realise that I was using his account so I need to tell his number when printing and it worked.
I asked the guys from Media Pod for an advice and when it finally worked out I run out of money on my account, so I apologise to Sonia and post them on my wix website.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

Firstly, I would like to say that this day I think it was the worst day of this course so far. I am angry and disappointed on myself as I was too lazy to ask my colleagues what we had to do which put me in this last-minute situation. Thus , I had to rush out everything and I disliked it so much because my evaluation was incomplete (I forgot tospoke about my surveys )in my opinion. I could have done it better if I had more time.

Also, I am really scared that I will fail on be put on referral because I didn’t read the brief that much. Thinking that I already know everything didn’t get me nowhere; instead of that it got me into a bad situation like this.

Even so, this bad day was a lesson for me to stop thinking I know everything and that I can’t be perfect all the time , but sometimes I need to do mistakes like this so I can learn from them and also it pushed me back , in a good way , to realise that it is possible to do something wrong and panic but I think this is the pathway to the success with good and bad.

This inspired me to be more careful with how I spend my time in the future, read always the brief for several times and also communicate with my friends about the work more than do it independently.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Check my grades on proportal.
Update my reflective journal.
Post my focus group on wix website.

Tuesday 10/01/2017

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN :

Today in Sonia’s lesson we learnt what is the best way to do a Harvard reference and then we talked about the purpose of a music video.

NEW LEARNING :

HARVARD REFERENCE- I learnt how to create a Harvard reference in the right way.
BRANDING AN ARTIST-One of the purposes of the music videos is to explore and expose the artist’s profile.
MARKETING OF ARTIST-The artist becomes a brand and it depends on the media about how they are seen by the audience.
MONEY- The overall purpose of a music video is to generate money and I learnt that making music videos requests a huge sum of money, so the directors and producers needs to take it seriously and deal with the banks.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

- We did some exercises on ilearn which helped me to understand better the way we need to do the referencing for our research.
MUSIC VIDEOS- I found out new things and terms about music videos which changed the whole perspective that I had about it.

TIRED-I was so tired and Sonia’s lesson got really boring for me because I couldn’t understand that much from the power point about music video purpose.
HARVARD REFERENCE- at the first exercise I couldn’t get the answers right no matter how much I tried.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE :

ATTENTION- I paid attention to what she was saying and try to understand and I also decided that it would be better to have a deeper look at it again.
ASK FOR HELP-I ask Chloe for help as she did it right and then I got it right too; it was just some small mistakes that I did which I’d miss such as a comma or a space.
DECISION- I decided that next time when I will do an exercise I will pay more attention to the details and read it twice.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT :

I felt a little bit uncomfortable because I couldn’t understand the lesson properly as before but then I calmed myself down at the positive thought that I will read the whole power point from the beginning at home I would have more chances to understand it.

Furthermore, I got really angry when I did some mistakes on the Harvard Reference exercise because it annoyed me so much that other people could do it , unless me . I think I am the perfectionist type of person who when something goes wrong starts immediately to panic and be negative about everything.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Do some more research

Talk to Bee about my grades and referrals

Start sonia’s homework -power point about purpose of music video.

Wednesday 11/01/2017

WHAT WAS DONE /SEEN

Today, in Gary’s lesson I didn’t do that much work because I already finished my music video analysis which is due next Friday, so the only thing that I have done was to read it again and try to follow what was written on the brief that we needed to include. I also got went to the REED building and got my application for work experience.

NEW LEARNING:

WASTING TIME – It’s not very good to waste precious time in the lesson where I could have got so much work done and finished.
AMBITION- I have learnt that if I really want something I need to be as ambitious as I can to succeed.
ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY- I was the lucky one that Bee recommended me for this amazing work experience opportunity because of my records and effort to attend all the lessons.

WHAT WENT GOOD/WRONG:

I felt so good when completing that application for work experience and for I being chosen to do it out of so many students.
– This encouraged me to keep going and attend all my lessons, do my homework and meet my deadlines more; inspired me to work even harder for my future project which will be FMP.

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS- After e-mailing my analysis to Gary I checked the brief again and spotted that I have missed some parts in my analysis.
UNABLE TO FIND DECLAN- When I went to the REED building and asked for Declan he wasn’t there.
HAVING TO CHOOSE- I got another possible offer of one week of experience at BBC but I wouldn’t know if I should take it or not.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

I started to take each paragraph of my analysis and include or take out some sentences, so it could present the structure that was on the brief.
I tole one of his colleagues who I was and why was I looking for him and left my mobile number; he then called me and everything was settled.
I asked Bee for an advice and she said that if I can I should take both as it would look good on my CV.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

In my opinion, today didn’t seem to be that of a productive day for me because I have wasted almost all Gary’s lesson doing almost nothing than just laughing with Kris and fooling around, which when I look back on it I am not that satisfied about it.

I feel like this project is rushing me and make me be unable to take my time to do it as the 30 seconds one, I believe I am used to know that I have plenty of time to do a project because when that happens I can be more relaxed and do my work easily.

I am really happy at the thought of starting a six months work experience which will offer me a job at the end of it (that’s what bee mentioned) , but I also feel very nervous because I am scared ifI won’t be able to complete or meet their expectations and disappoint my teachers or myself .

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN

Stop being lazy and start getting work done.
Set a date when I should go to Barnet Hospital to hand in my application.
Go and give them my application as soon as possible.

Thursday 12/01/2017

WHAT WAS DONE /SEEN:

I have improved my pitch power point presentation about my client in Bee’s lesson and in Nick’s lesson I have finally managed to send him my track so he can improve it, by using the site called ‘’wetransfer.com’’. Also, Sonia advised me to upload my updated reflective journal on my website so I did that during Nick’s lesson, but I didn’t upload any pictures yet.

NEW LEARNING:

GRADING MATRIX- Bee showed us the way of how we are going to be graded for our last project and what we need to do to get a distinction.
FOLDER- She handed us the dividers and some mind maps beneath each of them to guide us with our work; this is very important as everything that I will have in my folder for the last and most important project will need to be perfect and in the right order.
MIND MAPS= CHECK LISTS
BE MATICULOUS ABOUT MY WORK- I have learnt that if I want to get the best mark I need to pay attention very close to what work I am handing in into that folder.
SHARING ON GOOGLE DRIVE- I have learnt how I can use backup my work using my google drive account and how I can make my work easily by sharing it with Kunbi and Najma so we can edit our music video paper-work online at the same time.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

PITCH POWER POINT – I have finished my power point and added some pictures to it so now it looks better and even more eye-catching.
GOOGLE DRIVE SAVED DATA- I don’t need to worry for saving my changes to any work as on google drive it saves automatically, which is amazing.
TEST SHOTS OF MUSIC VIDEO- Viktoria and I showed Bee and Nick what we filmed for the music video and they were pleased about the shots; Bee even called out some other people and showed them what we have done as an example.

NO EMAILS- I didn’t have Najma’s email and Kunbi wasn’t online when I was doing my power point on google drive so I couldn’t share with them.
LAST SLIDE- I didn’t know what to write for my last slide of the power point where it was about the production.
REFLECTIVE JOIURNAL /MY EVALUATION- The things that I forgot to include in my final evaluation were written in my reflective journal which wasn’t on my wix website.
Work EXPERIENCE APPLICATION- I haven’t been able to go to the barnet hospital and give them my application today because I haven’t had time with all the work that I needed to do.
ERROR OCCURRED- My stills from the filming day wouldn’t go through when I tried e-mailing to myself.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

After Kunbi told me that her class didn’t do this lesson about google drive yet I decided that I will do the power point by myself so I won’t get left behind.
I asked Bee for an advice and she said that I should leave the last one for now, so I just left it blank.
I spoke with Sonia about it and she said that it is not that bad if I forgot to, it should be fine if my reflective journal will be uploaded on my website, so that was what I did immediately.
I decided that I will go next Monday to hand it in during my two hours’ break, so I won’t waste any time.
I tried and send the images to myself by using Facebook messenger and it worked very fast.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

Deterring the when I should go to the Barnet hospital and give in my application because I feel like I am wasting the chance more and more and that I am lazy, which I shouldn’t be, so I will give my best and on Monday I will go there and give it in so I won’t be any more stressed about losing the opportunity.

I think this work experience will make me be a little more tired especially when I must do it among with all the stress and worries that I will have when doing my final major project.

I started to panic again when Kris told me that I didn’t wrote enough for my evaluation and when I saw Sonia I went instantly and told her what was on my mind and then when she advised me what should I do, I calmed myself down. This me to be so I won’t have negative thoughts about failing the course after.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

Go to Barnet hospital on Monday.
Talk with Kunbi , Najma and Viktoria about using the studio next Thursday.

Do my production paper-work.

Get the location and actor releases handed in.

Meet with Aaina and update her with my work.

Monday 16th of January

WHAT WAS DONE / SEEN:

I haven’t done that much in john lesson today, but I asked for his opinion on my risk assessments and he told me what I needed to write for when I will film in the studio on Thursday. Also, he checked my call sheets again and he said it was fine.

NEW LEARNING:

ALWAYS IN CONTROL- john told us that we need to always be in control, as directors when we record our videos.
RISK ASSESSMENTS- I have learnt that when using lights as powerful as the ones borrowed from college the risk assessment as crucial because I will know what immediate action to take in case something will happen.
FOUR LIGHTS- I have learnt that if I will record in the studio when using a black background I will need to have four lights: two on the back and two on the subject.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

NEW, CLEAR INFORMATION-After john explained to me how should I arrange the lights I was more confident on myself when I will use them for filming this Thursday.
BLACK SCREEN- John talked with Bee about using a black screen on Thursday and now everything is good as thy will arrange it for us (KUNBI, NAJMA AND I)
WORK EXPERIENCE- I managed to go to Barnet hospital today during my break and handed in my application with my CV too.

NO ANSWER- I didn’t get an immediate positive answer from Barnet hospital when I handed in my application for work experience.
A BAD CV- when I handed my cv in it didn’t look quite as a professional one.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

I’ve asked Bradley (the guy there) what will happen next and he said that he will have a look on my CV and application and then contact me for more information.
I excuse myself for the way my CV looked like to Bradley saying that this was my first time when using one and he said that it was alright.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

Even if today wasn’t that productive because in john lesson I didn’t do anything besides talking to john about Thursday, going to the Barnet hospital and giving them my application counted very much for me and made me feel very productive and motivated. On the other hand, I found new information to add in my risk assessments with John which was quite helpful because I am more clear on what not to do when using powerful lights or what action to take to prevent that.

Additionally, I felt ashamed and so unprofessional when I gave Bradley my CV because I didn’t pay attention to it to improve it in any ways and when I looked at it there I felt like I am not going to get the place just because of my CV. Therefore, feeling like making an excuse for it made me feel better and worse the same time, because Bradley was very delighted seeing that I was ‘’prepared’’, so when I excuse myself I believe I appeared unconfident to him.

This had encouraged me to think twice before speaking and to try and improve as much as I can my CV so next time when I am going to be in this type of situations to be confident, assured and prepared for it and get the job.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Finish the reflective journal evaluation.
Make some changes on my pre-production paper work.
Submit the work for Sonia for Friday.

Tuesday 17th 2017

WHAT WAS DONE /SEEN- I have submitted my report for Sonia earlier, finished my pitch power point on the client and spoke with Kunbi and Najma on what work we have outstanding to do; we have also shared and worked on google drive on the pitch.
NEW LEARNING:

GOOGLE DRIVE CHAT- I learnt how to use the chat on google drive so Kunbi, najma and I can communicate our ideas to each other when working on it.
NAJMA’S SURNAME- I learnt how to spell najma’s surname so I can include it in my paper-work sheets.
LOGOS AND LEGAL DOCUMENTS- I learnt that because we are in a group of three I need to put three logos on the legal documents and all our names and the director and producer roles.
LEGAL DOCUMENTS - I learnt that the first sheet is for my artist or the ‘’composer’’ to give us the right to use her track and the second one is for the artist too but only if he perform in the video if not then she doesn’t need to complete it ; for the second one I thought that Viktoria should fill it in even if she is the actor but she will be the one performing in the video.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

HARVARD REFERENCE- My Harvard reference list was good along with the report which was very good because I could immediately submit my report on ilearn and not stress about it anymore.
GOOGLE DRIVE- communicating through it makes everything easier for the ones who works in groups like us because even if all of us three are in different classes we can still work like we are near each other.
PITCH POWER POINT- I believe my power point has enough slides for making a 10minutes quick time presentation if I will spend almost two minutes on each slide which is what Sonia advised me too.
EVERYTHING BOOKED FOR THURSDAY- Kunbi has already talked with Bee and booked the camera and lighting for when we will record this Thursday from 9:00 till 12:00.

NO LOGOS- I still don’t have all the three logos of us to put them on my release forms; I just have mine.
PURPOSE OF MUSIC VIDEO POWER POINT- I didn’t even start Sonia’s homework with the purpose of the music videos.
NOT THAT MANY CHANGES- even if we were working on the pitch power point on google drive we still not added that much in it.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

I told Kunbi about the logos and she said that she will send them to me by e-mail.
I decided to do start it at home.
I worked on my own during my break.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT :

I was happy when we finally had the chance to share our work on google drive but then when I saw that we weren’t doing that much I started to be a little bit worried of being left behind. I feel like this project is going too fast because it doesn’t give me the chance to have a break from all the stress and pressure that I am dealing with right now, exactly like the first one.

Focusing on completing this music video project is so hard because we just had one deadline for the research, which again I am afraid of getting a bad grade because I was rushed to do it, but even so we should have had more deadlines throughout this project as it would have helped me more to be confident on my work at the end.

When Sonia told me, the report was alright I was so relieved because I was expecting her to tell me it was wrong and get it done all over again, so as soon as she told me to submit it I did and I felt so good being the first one who submits it J.It made me less stressful! This evet has inspired me to verify each piece of my work before handing it in and be meticulous about it because if I will do so I won’t need to do it again.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Remind Viktoria that we are filming on Thursday so she won’t be late.
Add some pictures to my reflective journal.

DO THE PRESENTATION IN QUICKTIME

Wednesday 18th of January 2017

WHAT WAS DONE /SEEN:

Today , in Gary’s lesson I checked my reflective journal evaluation and I asked Bee for her opinion because I wasn’t sure if I should add something more to it or not ; she said to add some pictures.

NEW LEARNING:

SUCCESS MEANS DRAFTING – I learnt that if I want to get something perfect I need to improve it and improve it for several times to get it perfect without any mistake, which can be very annoying sometimes.
TIME MANAGEMENT – the way I am spending my time is very important and especially at college because for example when I am on a break instead of spending it all by talking and laughing with my friends, I can have half an hour of fresh air and eat and relax and then the rest of it I can do some work.

WHAT WENT WELL /WRONG:

BEE’S OPINION- I was glad that finally bee said my reflective journal evaluation was fine.
EARLY SUBMISSION- I had already submitted my report for Sonia so I was free to get some of my pre-production paper work done or something else that I had outstanding.

TOO SCARED TO GET MY SHOT LIST DONE- I couldn’t get my shot list done today because I still don’t have an idea of how to do it.
NO FOLDER- I didn’t have my folder with the dividers at me today too, which wasn’t good at all.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE:

COURAGE- I embraced myself and tried to think positive and then everything was fine, but I still didn’t get it done in lesson.
SET A REMINDER- I set myself a reminder for today at 3 o’clock to get a folder for tomorrow as if I won’t have it Bee won’t let me in class.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

I found it so hard to wake up today because I am very tired of this work and college, I really need a break where I can just relax and sleep. Gary’s lesson was boring today, which is what didn’t motivate me to get some work done.

This evaluation is starting to annoy me because I am finished but I am too scared to give to Bee because I don’t know what will happen if it won’t be good, but I want to give it in so much so I can just get rid of it and the finish completely with the 30 seconds’ narrative.

This laziness is getting me nowhere but what is worse is that I am aware of this but I just can’t take it anymore and it is annoying me because I never used to be like this before; I want to give all my effort to every project that I have in this course but is so tiring already!

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Meet with everyone tomorrow at 9 o’clock.

Not be late.
Get some work done tomorrow

Thursday 19th of January

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN:

Today I did grading in Nick’s lesson in Final cut pro and then post the video on my website. Then in Bee’s lesson I tried to start my edit but I couldn’t because I was too busy with re-doing my scheduler and added it in my google drive folder.

NEW LEARNING:

SCHEDULER- I have finished my scheduler during Bee’s lesson, after so many trials to set the right dates.
GRADING- I had the chance to experiment the different effects of changing the colours in final cut pro; also, have an overall look on the edit and see what colour I should apply for the whole video.

COLOURBOARD- It is in the right corner in final cut pro, if you press the icon of a magic wand and then on ‘’Show Colour Board’’.

EXPORT THE LARGE VIDEO- To export it without any problems of being large file I needed to go on ‘’File’’ then ‘’Master File’’ and click on the ‘’H.264’’ , so it can be compromised.

BOOKING THE LECTURE THEATRE- to book the lecture theatre for filming we need to speak with the manager of the college, which is Greg, otherwise we might get kicked out by someone else who booked it.
OVERLAYERS- Viktoria told me how to put two layers over each other and after I tried it came out really good; I have learnt that collaborative work is very important because it changed the way I as thinking and I would like to try and use it in my final major project.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

STILLS IN LECTURE THEATRE- even if we were kicked out by someone else from the lecture theatre we had time to take some pictures of us setting up the lights that I can use for my reflective journal.
HELP- we didn’t know how to turn on the lights so someone from the media pod came and helped us; it was so easy all we needed to do was just a simple switch but we were too stressed as we were running out of time to realise it.
EXPLORING IN FINAL CUT PRO- messing around with the colours in final cut pro today was very helpful for me because I developed some new editing skills that I would like to apply on my final major project.
PRODUCTION SCHEDULER – I have finally finished my scheduler and did it in the right way.
Viktoria’s music video- she showed us her first version of music video and it was good because it inspired me to use overlaying too in my music video as it will make it look professional and sophisticated.
GETTING THE MASTER TRACK FROM NICK- I got the finished version of my song from nick today and it sounds amazing.

GETTING KICKED OUT- Kunbi, Najma , Viktoria and I got kicked out of the lecture theatre exactly when we were about to start filming by a group of other people who had booked it at that time for a session.
FORGET THE SD CARD IN THE CAMERA WHEN HANDING IT IN – I realised it just on time that we forgot my card with all my footage for the half of the video in it, in the camera that we had.
FIRE ALARM- While I was doing my scheduler the fire alarm started and I couldn’t finish it because we needed to go outside as fast as we could.
LATE- I needed to go to viktoria’s house and woke her up to go to college and record because she was sleeping as she forgot about our plans for today. Thus we were late half an hour.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT

RE-BOOK- We spoke with Greg and we told him the date that we wanted to film next week and time and he re-booked it for us for next Thursday from 9:00-12:00.
Got it back- I run immediately to the media pod and ask them for the camera and then they gave me the SD card from it.
FINISH IT – As soon as I came back in class I finished my scheduler and post it on my google drive account.
RUSH- we rushed with setting up everything so we won’t waste that much time.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

I was so angry when we got kicked out of the room and then a little bit even angrier that Bee couldn’t help us at all because the deadline is coming and I still didn’t shoot all my music video and I want to have time to edit it too. I regret that we didn’t take any test shots in the green screen studio because maybe we could have get some footage, but we were too angry to do anything in that moment.

Working and exploring grading in Nick’s lesson made me forget about the event before and captioned my interest and attention. This was one of those lesson when I enjoyed the process of working and trying something new, I wasn’t scared of doing any mistake, but on the contrary, I was willing to do as many mistakes I want and can so I can learn from them.

I was too afraid to remind bee about the 30 seconds evaluation today because I still didn’t put any pictures or I am scared that I haven’t get it right again, but she didn’t mention it so I think she must have forgot about it.

Furthermore, forgetting my SD card in the camera was unexpected to me because I never thought it would happen to me as I am trying to be responsible with my USB and SD CARD. I got so scared when I realised it ; it encouraged me to be more than responsible with my media object and to always have a backup because you never when it could to you as well.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Go to the interview at Barnet hospital next Friday (I got an email from them inviting me there).

Update my reflective journal for the days that I have missed this week.

Monday 23rd of January -I couldn’t go to college today as I was very sick , so I just stayed at home.

Tuesday 24th of January

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN : Today I felt better so I went to Sonia’s lesson but my bus was delayed so I was a little bit late at class. Even so in her lesson I have done my shot list and backed-up my footage for my music video o google drive. Sonia gave me a litlt bit of a feedback and then she showed us some editing features in Photoshop for our visual research.
NEW LEARNING :

MOTIVATION- I have got done my shot list so fast today that I didn’t believe, because I wasn’t distracted by my phone which inspired me to use it less often in my final major project.
LATE- to avoid getting late at class even once I learnt that I need to check the bus times earlier so I won’t leave house too late.
Reflective journal- I am too descriptive with it and miss the point of It: being reflective on what I write so from now I will inspire to try and be as reflective as I can in my FMP
PHOTOSHOP – I learnt how to play with the light and colours in Photoshop too , but I didn’t have enough time to practice more on it therefore I will do it next week and in the future I will try to manage my time in lesson in a way that I can do more tasks not just one.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG :

Work done- I am proud of myself as I finally finished my shot list and backed-up my music video footage. This encouraged me to focus and be ambitious in my next project because if I will I will pass.
PHOTOSHOP SKILLS- It was good that Sonia showed more editing skills on Photoshop that we can use because it encouraged me to try too and use them as visual research in my Final Major Project and Music Video.

LATE- It wasn’t good that I was late even if I emailed Sonia and let her know because I got my first yellow card and she also got very angry on us .
NOT ENOUGH TIME – I didn’t have time anymore to edit too in Photoshop and do visual research because doing my shot list and backing up my videos took me longer that I expected to.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL -Sonia said I am too descriptive with my reflective journal

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

I couldn’t do anything about it so I just completed it , gave it to Sonia and for the whole lesson I tried to stay as quiet as I could and do my work.
I told myself that I need to start managing my time more wisely in lesson so I will have time to do more tasks in just one lesson.
She explained me what mistake I have done and then I corrected myself.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT :

Well, having my first yellow card wasn’t that bad as I thought it would be and then when I saw how fast time went by today because I was busy doing work I couldn’t believe ; it really made me feel better and happier , but it would have been even better if I would have had more time to do some visual research on Photoshop too. Even so , I am glad that Sonia showed us the way and I am glad that I understood everything .

When it comes to reflective journal what can I say is that I HATE IT because I can never get it right no matter how much I try I can’t get it : sometimes I am too descriptive or sometimes I need to write less or other times its structure isn’t good ; I don’t know what to write or how to write anymore ! Even if I dislike it very much Sonia inspired me to keep trying and drafting until I will get it right for my final major project.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Update my wix website

Do my scheduler
Remind everyone about the shooting on Thursday.

WEDNESDAY 25TH OF JANUARY- I couldn’t stay at the lesson because I started to feel unwell again so I went home, but first I let Gary and Sonia know about it.

Thursday 26th of January.

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN : Today I filmed at the Lecture Hall and it went well and then I did my scheduler and some budget research.
NEW LEARNING :

HOW TO BE RESPONSIBLE – I learnt how to be responsible of the equipment if something breaks which made me feel very matured and confident of myself so in my Final Major Project I will try and stay the same.
LIGHTS AND COLOURS- I learnt how to shoot using different, colourful lights as an effect which inspired me to try it and apply it in some of my fmp scenes too as it will make my video look more sophisticated.
BUDGET- I learnt how to make a good research for the budget by choosing two example for each area; this has encouraged me to do the same in my final project too but even more detailed so I will get a good mark .

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG :

THE SHOOTING- The shooting well even if all of us were very tired and didn’t want to do it at all; we got some nice and colourful shots that I love and I can’t wait to put them in final cut pro.
RESPONSIBLE – I didn’t do the same mistake as last time with forgetting my sd card in the camera this time ; I took before we gave in back the camera.
SCHEDULER- bee helped me with completing my scheduler which inspired me to ask for her help more often in my final major project.

BUDGET RESEARCH- I didn’t have enough time to finish my budget research today. I had one more area to cover.
EDIT- I still didn’t start my edit of the video which is not good because mostly everyone has started it already.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

I finished it at home.
I went to college and started to edit on Friday.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT

I was really happy when Bee offered me her help with the video scheduler and also she gave me some advises on what should I add . I liked that we finally got some shots in the lecture hall and that no one was late this time. I disliked that I didn’t finish my budget research but also that I still didn’t start to edit my video yet because I am starting to run out of time.

I found it easy to understand how to set up the lights and the colours on the lights because I was looking and helping najma or kunbi to do it for several times as we tried to record using as many background colours. The only thing that I found challenging today was the budget research because I wouldn’t know how to do it or what to extract from the website and write about.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN

Go to the interview
Start my edit
Give Kunbi and Najma the footage
Meet with Aaina on Saturday.

Friday 27th of January

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN : I went college today and started to do my edit and also went to the interview for work experience at Barnet and Southgate college.
NEW LEARNING:

SLOW-MOTION- Joel showed me how to slow-motion a video and I was happy because now I can apply it to more shots in the edit.

WHAT WENT GOOD/WRONG:

EDIT- I started my edit and it was good because I realised that I won’t like it because I don’t know how to arrange the shots so my audience would understand the story.
SLOW-MOTION- I learnt how to apply slow-motion on one video and how to cut a video by another video thanks to Joel so next time I will try to ask for more help of my friends.

INTERVIEW- I needed to go to the Barnet Hospital interview so I couldn’t continue editing.
DISLIKE THE EDIT – I didn’t like the edit and I start to panic.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

I went back to college after finishing it and continue editing.
I told Bee about it and she said to not worry because she will help me which made me feel ten times better and inspired me to ask her for help next time when I will feel like failing.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT :

I am so proud of myself because I started my edit finally because I won’t get left behind and I won’t fail the course. Joel was really kind to show me how to apply slow-motion.

I enjoyed editing my video and I really liked it because compared to my first project I had a good variety of shots and where to choose from especially the ones shot in the Lecture Hall , but on the other hand I didn’t like it because I found it hard to choose the best video out from them for my scenes even if I was helped by my shot list.

Also , I found it quite challenging to structure and put all my shots in an order on the timeline because while I was looking at the shot list and the shots more ideas would come to my mind and I wouldn’t know which one to pick as I was always running out of time.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

WORK EXPERIENCE

FINISH MY EDIT

GET FEEDBACK.

SATURDAY 28TH OF JANUARY 17-WORK EXPERIENCE DAY

I did eight hours of work experience today working with the LDF company who were shooting a film at the moment called ‘’DISOBEDIENCE’’ and I did lots of pre-production jobs and a little runner job because they have put me to do these jobs as they were too busy so they offer me a chance to help them. Therefore I had to fill in some Actor cards for the 40 people who would come as extras on Monday and then I went to get some coffee for some of the actresses and then I was adding some pictures of the actors to their release forms. This was so fun but so tiring at the same time because I was so busy I didn’t have time even eat my lunch so when I was finished I was really hungry. It was exciting to work for my first time in the actual production because it made me feels like everything that I have learnt until now was worth it.

Monday 30th of January

WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY

Today in John’s lesson I went in one of the small rooms to do my edit of the music video.

THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE-POSITIVE EXPERIENCE

I have finished my edit.
I have learnt how to put bubbles effect- the effect was called ‘’bokeh’’
I have learnt how to edit faster and easier- I made two different timelines and then the main one, which made me happier because it appeals easier to choose the shots and order them.
MY STRENGTHS- I believe I am really good to cut the exact parts that I want and also to arrange the shots and add some slow motion to make it more dramatic and impactful. Also now I am more acquainted in working with Final Cut Pro and editing the speed of a shot and also applying new effects to it, which inspired me to use these skills in my final major project too.

THE LEARNING EXPERIENCE- NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE

I didn’t like that I couldn’t stay in my class because I was editing and that I didn’t have time to finish my survey today and post it on YouTube because it made me feel like I am wasting important time and I am running out of time too.
Moreover, I forgot my folder at home so I couldn’t print anything and added to the folder.
MY WEAKNESSES- I think I take too many pauses when I am working which is wasting my time and is not good because I don’t have that much time so I need to learn and manage it in the best way that I can to finish everything until my deadline.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

Finishing my edit made me feel so good because now all I need to do is just to get the feedback and I am almost done so I am less stressed. I don’t like that I am too lazy and demotivated to complete this work because it is getting me closer to that last moment situation in which I do everything and I am rushing so nothing is going to be perfect if I do that and this would be something that I should try to change when it will come to my final major project.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN:

Get some feedback.

Finish all the work.

Tuesday 31/01/2017

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN

Today I was working on my google drive budget research and shared it with Kunbi and Najma so they can write what they did in my video scheduler and add their team roles. Then in Sonia’s lesson I showed her my edit and got some feedback from her.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG :

FEEDBACK- Sonia’s feedback was critical but it was good. It didn’t make me feel bad because I knew I had some mistakes and I even saw them with her when we were watching the video but she saw some new mistakes which I couldn’t see them before, such as the font, camera movement in some shots, the difference between some shots. Therefore, when I will do my edits for the final major project I will make sure that before posting it I will ask my teacher’s opinion too.
TAKING PART AT BEE’S LESSON- they talked about reflective journal and what was good about it was that she asked each of my classmates some questions and while they were answering I could understand more how to write my reflective journal; things started to get clearer for me.
RESEARCH- Looking at Eylul’s huge and detailed research made me feel like I am about to fail this project because she did so much research and added it to her folder while I didn’t do that much; maybe half of it .

FEEDBACK- Sonia told me to find another font as the one that I had was too basic and it wouldn’t go with the theme of my video.
REALISATION-After having a discussion with Sonia about the purpose of the research that we made before starting the production I realised that I didn’t link my research that much with the actual production.
SET ONE FEEL- Sonia thought that my video should have just the sad shots/scenes because including the happy ones it doesn’t help it to set just one feel.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT:

I went on the website called ‘’Da font ‘’ and had a look on the variety of the fonts but I find it hard to select one because I liked them all so I asked Chloe but I didn’t like the font she chose so I chose the font called ‘’Fashion Victim’’ but even that is not good because it is too edgy and I don’t like it.

I made a reminder for myself to write about it in my reflective journal so next time I will remember it and avoid it.
I wrote it down and decided that to include that in my second edit.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Do my second edit.
Keep updating my reflective journal-BE REFLECTIVE
Do my budget and lights annotations.

WEDNESDAY 01/02/2017

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN :

Today’s in Gary’s lesson I did my surveys questions, post my edit on Youtube and shared the link on my Facebook account too and then I did my reflective journal annotations.

WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

SURVEY- It is good that I have finished my survey because now I can post get the feedback from people.
REFLECTIVE JOURNAL ANNOTATIONS- After doing my annotations I started to have a clearer idea about how to be reflective (the questions helped me the most) so in my FMP I will just have a look on them every single time when I will write my reflective journal.

DELETED A QUESTION- I pressed on something wrong and I deleted the second question of my survey putting back another question.
NOT ENOUGH TIME- I needed to go to my English class so I couldn’t finish the

Lights annotations too.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT :

1.ASK FOR HELP-I asked Kris for help but I figured it out by myself before him by deleting the question and write the previous one again.

2. I made a note in my journal to do it in my free time.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT :

I was so angry because I needed to go to my English lesson and finish annotating because I was really focused and in the mood for work but then English ruined everything. I really hate this project because I didn’t have time to do it properly I believe and I missed some small parts of it which it could have made it even better but now is too late that I realised it .

Everything is getting more and more stressful for me and all this work and edits is getting overwhelming for me because I don’t have time to rest or do nothing else than this project.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

Ask nick for an opinion on my edit.
Check how many responses I have got for the surveys.
Do some changes on my edit.

Thursday 02/02/2017

WHAT WAS DONE/SEEN: Nick did some changes on my edit and then Bee did some other changes on it and gave me feedback. We spoke about my shared work and she showed us how she will grade us for out final major project.
WHAT WENT WELL/WRONG:

NICK’S HELP- Nick had improved a lot my edit so now it looks ten times better than before because we applied slow-motion on more shots, changed the colour of the first shot and the white room ones and moreover I have learnt how to make it even smoother by using ‘’Optical Flow’’ feature.
I got 10 responses for my first rough edit and the feedback for it was very good because it gave me a lot of information such as the type of font that I should choose for the tile and credits or how I can improve my video.
VIKTORIA’S FEEDBACK- She was very critical with my video which on one hand I didn’t like it because it looked like I have done so many mistakes in my edit but on the other hand it was good and I appreciated that she was honest with me because she was right at some points but at the others I didn’t agree with her.

DOING A SECOND EDIT- After doing a second edit to the first rough one I was confused because I wouldn’t know if I should delete the first one and the survey for it too.
BUDGET RESEARCH REVIEWS- I couldn’t analyse the videos of cameras, lights, etc because I forgot my headphones at home.

WHAT ACTION DID I TAKE ABOUT IT:

ASK FOR HELP- Merdan told me that I should keep the surveys and the first edit too because it shows development and he was right so I did that and I also planned to update the second edit but keep the same survey.
I structured it in three headlines so it would look organised and then I copied and pasted the link of the YouTube video so I can search it up at home.

HOW DID I FEEL ABOUT IT:

I was so happy when I watched the new edit of the video after Nick’s help because we changed it to blue most of the shots which was exactly what I wanted from the beginning and we also cut it sharper so it goes in the exact time with the beat and but the only thing that I didn’t like was that Nick left some blank dark spaces between the shots at the end of the video because it looks like the video is interrupted suddenly .

Being unable to do my watch the videos on Youtube just wasted my time and made things harder for me because now I need to do it at home which I find it so hard to do because I get distracted very easily.

I regretted asking Bee for her opinion of my edit because she was the most critical person ever and she ruined all my hopes of finishing this annoying edit of the video and get the feedback before the deadline , but maybe the advantage of this was that I learnt how to fade in and fade out two shots in Final Cut Pro.

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN

Do the budget research
Get the release forms signed in
Do the lights annotations.

Sunday 05/02/2017

Najma , Kunbi and I met with Aaina today at McDonalds in Wood green for an hour and a half to speak more about what was going on with the edit and I also needed some more information about her for my pitch. Even though I couldn’t print off the release forms because I ran out of ink just when I was about to leave which made me so angry and even though everyone else besides was late(not too late) the meeting happened and I got the information from her which was good because now I am more sure about what I put in my pitch and we also discussed about the video too. The only thing that I didn’t like was that I couldn’t give her the release form so she could sign it and get it our of the way and more than that was that we started to talk about other topics more than the music video, because we including myself bi doing that we just met for nothing related to the music video. We should have talked more about it , but I am glad I made notes on what was discussed because it makes me feel like I have recorded something and it wasn’t in vain struggling to wake up at 9 am even though I was very tired!

WHAT IS MY NEXT PLAN :

DO THE LIGHTS ANNOTATIONS
BUDGET