My weekly blog
Week 1:
The pilot week of our AS media practical has been very interesting. Firstly I was given my group for the practical. I am very pleased with the group I have been put in because I feel me and the other three members of my group have a very strong and high achieving mentality and work ethic so from the moment we joined together we all showed each other we wanted to achieve highly. I am the only person in group who did Media Studies at GCSE so I have some experience with the practical side of Media, however, two of the other members of my group did Drama at GCSE so they are very good at acting. With all of these valuable assets coming together we were handed our first task which was the preliminary task. This was a small task set with a specific criteria to create a mini clip. Whilst doing our preliminary task I learnt a few new skills but the main one being editing and the use of 'final cut pro'.
The pilot week of our AS media practical has been very interesting. Firstly I was given my group for the practical. I am very pleased with the group I have been put in because I feel me and the other three members of my group have a very strong and high achieving mentality and work ethic so from the moment we joined together we all showed each other we wanted to achieve highly. I am the only person in group who did Media Studies at GCSE so I have some experience with the practical side of Media, however, two of the other members of my group did Drama at GCSE so they are very good at acting. With all of these valuable assets coming together we were handed our first task which was the preliminary task. This was a small task set with a specific criteria to create a mini clip. Whilst doing our preliminary task I learnt a few new skills but the main one being editing and the use of 'final cut pro'.
Week 2:
Throughout the whole of week two we had been researching and planning some of our ideas to the film opening we will be creating. We managed to come of up with several intriguing and exciting ideas and after hours of debating on which one would be the best we all finally came to a conclusion. One member of my group, Khadija, thought we could take some inspiration of a TV show called 'Sense 8' and incorporate a essence of it into our movies. The standout and main plot of 'Sense 8' is that all the characters have a special bond and connection between them. We wanted to implement this into our film so that helped us to finalise our idea. Once we all had a general finalisation in our minds of what we were planning on creating we had to start knocking in some detail so we thought about answering some questions on the idea like; Who? Where? When? Why? Once we were all confident with answering all of these questions and we had cleared up the overall concept in all of our minds we started to plan our some of our scenes and shots we would be using in the actual film opening.
Throughout the whole of week two we had been researching and planning some of our ideas to the film opening we will be creating. We managed to come of up with several intriguing and exciting ideas and after hours of debating on which one would be the best we all finally came to a conclusion. One member of my group, Khadija, thought we could take some inspiration of a TV show called 'Sense 8' and incorporate a essence of it into our movies. The standout and main plot of 'Sense 8' is that all the characters have a special bond and connection between them. We wanted to implement this into our film so that helped us to finalise our idea. Once we all had a general finalisation in our minds of what we were planning on creating we had to start knocking in some detail so we thought about answering some questions on the idea like; Who? Where? When? Why? Once we were all confident with answering all of these questions and we had cleared up the overall concept in all of our minds we started to plan our some of our scenes and shots we would be using in the actual film opening.
Week 3:
During week three we had almost completed all of our research as a group and set our priorities to getting all of our planning done so that we would be ready to go onto filming. We have been told a few things we were need in preparation as part of the planning towards our film opening. Some of which are creating a draft and a final storyboard as well as a script and a few other things of the sort. During week 3 we completed most of the planning, however, we still had a few tasks we still had left to complete. By week three I feel I have developed a strong bond with all my group and we have all grown into very good friends very quickly which I feel is beneficial in order to do well in our Media AS practical task. We have set up group chats on a few social medias like whatsapp and snapchat. This will allow us to share work and ideas and easily interact and help each other out with our work we do outside of lesson towards our practical task.
During week three we had almost completed all of our research as a group and set our priorities to getting all of our planning done so that we would be ready to go onto filming. We have been told a few things we were need in preparation as part of the planning towards our film opening. Some of which are creating a draft and a final storyboard as well as a script and a few other things of the sort. During week 3 we completed most of the planning, however, we still had a few tasks we still had left to complete. By week three I feel I have developed a strong bond with all my group and we have all grown into very good friends very quickly which I feel is beneficial in order to do well in our Media AS practical task. We have set up group chats on a few social medias like whatsapp and snapchat. This will allow us to share work and ideas and easily interact and help each other out with our work we do outside of lesson towards our practical task.
Week 4:
Commencing the first few lessons of week four we had to increase the amount of work we had to get done in each lesson so we all had to change our mentalities. We started to face a few issues as we went into week four. One of which was when we asked a few teachers on their opinion and they gave us some critical advice, some of which was to change and erase a few scenes in our upcoming film opening. With these changes that we had to make it meant that we had to rethink about our script and final storyboard so we knew we had to get that done. Another issue that had arisen was that one of our group members was going on work experience for week five so we would be missing him. However, with every dark night, there is a brighter day ahead. We focused mostly on our research and getting it all done by the end of week four and we did manage to finish it. It was then purely down to making sure we had each others work individually on all our websites.
Commencing the first few lessons of week four we had to increase the amount of work we had to get done in each lesson so we all had to change our mentalities. We started to face a few issues as we went into week four. One of which was when we asked a few teachers on their opinion and they gave us some critical advice, some of which was to change and erase a few scenes in our upcoming film opening. With these changes that we had to make it meant that we had to rethink about our script and final storyboard so we knew we had to get that done. Another issue that had arisen was that one of our group members was going on work experience for week five so we would be missing him. However, with every dark night, there is a brighter day ahead. We focused mostly on our research and getting it all done by the end of week four and we did manage to finish it. It was then purely down to making sure we had each others work individually on all our websites.
Week 5:
During the entirety of this week me and my group were without a member as he was on work experience, therefore, we all had to work extra hard to get as much work done as possible whilst he was gone. Because one of our members who was also acting in our film wasn't in, we decided to try and finish off other tasks we had left to complete such as our final storyboard. This week as a whole was quite frustrating as because we didn't have our whole group in school we couldn't come to conclusions on what we would be doing next in terms of finalising our script or starting to film some scenes. At the end of the week however, our whole group met up at a local library and finished our storyboards completely. In addition to this we all arranged the dates we were all available to go out to film scenes for our film.
During the entirety of this week me and my group were without a member as he was on work experience, therefore, we all had to work extra hard to get as much work done as possible whilst he was gone. Because one of our members who was also acting in our film wasn't in, we decided to try and finish off other tasks we had left to complete such as our final storyboard. This week as a whole was quite frustrating as because we didn't have our whole group in school we couldn't come to conclusions on what we would be doing next in terms of finalising our script or starting to film some scenes. At the end of the week however, our whole group met up at a local library and finished our storyboards completely. In addition to this we all arranged the dates we were all available to go out to film scenes for our film.
Week 6:
Right from the off on week 6 we all decided to film footage for one our scenes at my house. We brought in our costumes and props and left straight from our media lesson to my house to begin filming. After coming to a group decision that my bathroom was the most suitable bathroom to film at that was available to us, we were ready to get one of our scenes filmed and ready to be edited. We managed to film a majority of the scene we were filming in my bathroom successfully on the Monday of week 6, however, after reviewing some of the footage we decided to re-shoot a few shots which we would end up doing towards the end of this week. On the Wednesday we managed to film a lot of footage towards my characters introduction. Me and Daniaal planned on filming this scene at night on a road in our area that gives off a spooky/threatening atmosphere. We decided to do this as we wanted to audience to see my character as a 'trouble maker' or 'mischievous' sort of person. By our character walking home late at night in our scene in this sort of environment, we hoped we could give of this sort of representation. Finally, on Friday me and Daniaal went to film the rest of the scenes for my character and for this scene it involved a few shots from inside a car of my characters brother driving my to my birthday party venue. Initially it was hard preparing for this scene as we needed someone who could drive to play my characters older brother and luckily Daniaal's brother offered to help and play this role. Another difficulty we faced before producing the footage for this scene was acquiring the equipment in order to record footage whilst driving inside the car. Daniaal's brother also owned the equipment in order to record inside the car which was helpful.
Right from the off on week 6 we all decided to film footage for one our scenes at my house. We brought in our costumes and props and left straight from our media lesson to my house to begin filming. After coming to a group decision that my bathroom was the most suitable bathroom to film at that was available to us, we were ready to get one of our scenes filmed and ready to be edited. We managed to film a majority of the scene we were filming in my bathroom successfully on the Monday of week 6, however, after reviewing some of the footage we decided to re-shoot a few shots which we would end up doing towards the end of this week. On the Wednesday we managed to film a lot of footage towards my characters introduction. Me and Daniaal planned on filming this scene at night on a road in our area that gives off a spooky/threatening atmosphere. We decided to do this as we wanted to audience to see my character as a 'trouble maker' or 'mischievous' sort of person. By our character walking home late at night in our scene in this sort of environment, we hoped we could give of this sort of representation. Finally, on Friday me and Daniaal went to film the rest of the scenes for my character and for this scene it involved a few shots from inside a car of my characters brother driving my to my birthday party venue. Initially it was hard preparing for this scene as we needed someone who could drive to play my characters older brother and luckily Daniaal's brother offered to help and play this role. Another difficulty we faced before producing the footage for this scene was acquiring the equipment in order to record footage whilst driving inside the car. Daniaal's brother also owned the equipment in order to record inside the car which was helpful.
Week 7:
Me, Daniaal and Khadija were determined to completely finish recording all of our scenes by the Wednesday of week 7 so that we would comfortably have enough time to edit our film opening. We had one big scene left to shoot and this was a scene were Daniaal would be training at the gym and then collapse on his way out. On Monday we began to record some of the shots towards this scene but because we went during a busy time it was hard to record so we didn't manage to acquire all the footage. This meant that we had to go to finish filming this scene at a more abstract time where our gym would be less busy. Me and Daniaal both had a half day on Wednesday so we went and lunch time to finish recording this scene and we did. This was a relief as we had to constantly be going out whenever we had time to film and we were 'finally finished.' This was until tomorrow when I was showing my teachers the footage and I didn't head the feedback I wanted. Taking in the critical comments that I had received about footage and having to break the news to my other two group members was extremely hard. At this point me and my other members of my group were in complete disbelief and and became really stressed as we came to a realisation on mistakes we had made when filming scenes for our opening. At this point we all had to come to a decision on how we could make this right and what we did was we came to a conclusion that we would completely remake a new film opening. At first, this seemed like an impossible task but we were determined as a group to do this and put right what was wrong from our previous mistakes. By the end of the week we settled down and started to come up with new ideas for our new film opening. Even thought we were all still in a very stressed and angry state, our personalities persevered and helped us to keep going.
Me, Daniaal and Khadija were determined to completely finish recording all of our scenes by the Wednesday of week 7 so that we would comfortably have enough time to edit our film opening. We had one big scene left to shoot and this was a scene were Daniaal would be training at the gym and then collapse on his way out. On Monday we began to record some of the shots towards this scene but because we went during a busy time it was hard to record so we didn't manage to acquire all the footage. This meant that we had to go to finish filming this scene at a more abstract time where our gym would be less busy. Me and Daniaal both had a half day on Wednesday so we went and lunch time to finish recording this scene and we did. This was a relief as we had to constantly be going out whenever we had time to film and we were 'finally finished.' This was until tomorrow when I was showing my teachers the footage and I didn't head the feedback I wanted. Taking in the critical comments that I had received about footage and having to break the news to my other two group members was extremely hard. At this point me and my other members of my group were in complete disbelief and and became really stressed as we came to a realisation on mistakes we had made when filming scenes for our opening. At this point we all had to come to a decision on how we could make this right and what we did was we came to a conclusion that we would completely remake a new film opening. At first, this seemed like an impossible task but we were determined as a group to do this and put right what was wrong from our previous mistakes. By the end of the week we settled down and started to come up with new ideas for our new film opening. Even thought we were all still in a very stressed and angry state, our personalities persevered and helped us to keep going.
Week 8:
Week 8 was a week we did not have any time to waste at all. Me and Daniaal came up with so many different ideas for our new film opening after hours of brainstorming together and asking our friends and teachers for doable and creative ideas. One idea we came up with was about 3-5 lads in a park in shock as they all just killed someone. Each individual had a different personality and identity that would be stereotypical of a male teenage friend group. Typically in a group there would be the quite person and the confident person. They would all be discussing the crime they had just committed whilst also being spied on and recorded by an unknown stalker. After the group of lads growing in suspicion, the confident lad in the group decides to go over to the bush where he suspects someone is. He then finds a note on the floor that says that "I know what you've done". This would then commence into a story where the group are in danger as an unknown stranger knows about what they did. After presenting the few ideas that we felt were doable to creative enough to incorporate all the for media conventions in terms of analysis. Our teachers liked the idea of having a character experiencing weird symptoms and also thought was having one character rather than 2 would be more efficient as were tight on time. After consulting our ideas with our teachers we came to a conclusion on our idea and what we were going to do. On Friday and Saturday we completed all of the research and planning for our new film opening as well and planned when we would film the scenes toward our new film opening. Following this, me, Daniaal and Khadija met up early on Sunday morning to record some footage.
Week 8 was a week we did not have any time to waste at all. Me and Daniaal came up with so many different ideas for our new film opening after hours of brainstorming together and asking our friends and teachers for doable and creative ideas. One idea we came up with was about 3-5 lads in a park in shock as they all just killed someone. Each individual had a different personality and identity that would be stereotypical of a male teenage friend group. Typically in a group there would be the quite person and the confident person. They would all be discussing the crime they had just committed whilst also being spied on and recorded by an unknown stalker. After the group of lads growing in suspicion, the confident lad in the group decides to go over to the bush where he suspects someone is. He then finds a note on the floor that says that "I know what you've done". This would then commence into a story where the group are in danger as an unknown stranger knows about what they did. After presenting the few ideas that we felt were doable to creative enough to incorporate all the for media conventions in terms of analysis. Our teachers liked the idea of having a character experiencing weird symptoms and also thought was having one character rather than 2 would be more efficient as were tight on time. After consulting our ideas with our teachers we came to a conclusion on our idea and what we were going to do. On Friday and Saturday we completed all of the research and planning for our new film opening as well and planned when we would film the scenes toward our new film opening. Following this, me, Daniaal and Khadija met up early on Sunday morning to record some footage.
AftWeek 9:
Week 9 was by far the most hectic week so far as we had an incredible amount to do this week. On the Monday me, Daniaal and Khadija completely finished filming every scene and shot we needed to commence to editing. A couple of my teachers for other subjects were not in for the entirety of this week which turned out to be extremely useful for me as I had a lot of extra time to edit my footage. I am determined to make sure me and my groups film opening would be as good as it possibly could be so I was completely ready to sacrifice constant hours on end to edit this film opening. On the Tuesday and Wednesday me and Daniaal imported and lengthened all of our footage to our ideals as well as making sure the was a flow to our film. We accomplished this and had the majority of visual editing done by the end of Wednesday. Me and Daniaal learnt many editing techniques with the help of a friend of ours in our class, Iljeet, as well as several YouTube tutorials for Final Cut Pro. Me and Daniaal also ended up staying at school till 7 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday to ensure our editing was to our liking. This allowed us to completely focus and spend all our time on editing sound which by far was the hardest task to do for me I felt over these 9 weeks. We wanted to use a lot of diegetic sound within our film opening for a sense of realism but as well as this import some non-diegetic sounds over our footage to create different atmospheres. The camera we used picked up a lot of white/background noise such as heavy wind blowing in some of our shots. Therefore implementing diegetic sounds in these scenes was extremely hard. However, the most difficult part of editing sound was finding the perfect NON COPYRIGHT sound that we could possibly find anywhere on the internet. Finding simple sound effects took up to an hour in some cases and became really tedious and time consuming, however, with me and Daniaal staying at school until 9:30 on this Thursday we managed to completely finish implementing the perfect sound over our film opening. This meant that we just had to fix up minor errors that we may have made on the Friday morning as well as showing our teachers and improving upon their constructive comments. After doing this we uploaded our film opening to YouTube.
Week 9 was by far the most hectic week so far as we had an incredible amount to do this week. On the Monday me, Daniaal and Khadija completely finished filming every scene and shot we needed to commence to editing. A couple of my teachers for other subjects were not in for the entirety of this week which turned out to be extremely useful for me as I had a lot of extra time to edit my footage. I am determined to make sure me and my groups film opening would be as good as it possibly could be so I was completely ready to sacrifice constant hours on end to edit this film opening. On the Tuesday and Wednesday me and Daniaal imported and lengthened all of our footage to our ideals as well as making sure the was a flow to our film. We accomplished this and had the majority of visual editing done by the end of Wednesday. Me and Daniaal learnt many editing techniques with the help of a friend of ours in our class, Iljeet, as well as several YouTube tutorials for Final Cut Pro. Me and Daniaal also ended up staying at school till 7 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday to ensure our editing was to our liking. This allowed us to completely focus and spend all our time on editing sound which by far was the hardest task to do for me I felt over these 9 weeks. We wanted to use a lot of diegetic sound within our film opening for a sense of realism but as well as this import some non-diegetic sounds over our footage to create different atmospheres. The camera we used picked up a lot of white/background noise such as heavy wind blowing in some of our shots. Therefore implementing diegetic sounds in these scenes was extremely hard. However, the most difficult part of editing sound was finding the perfect NON COPYRIGHT sound that we could possibly find anywhere on the internet. Finding simple sound effects took up to an hour in some cases and became really tedious and time consuming, however, with me and Daniaal staying at school until 9:30 on this Thursday we managed to completely finish implementing the perfect sound over our film opening. This meant that we just had to fix up minor errors that we may have made on the Friday morning as well as showing our teachers and improving upon their constructive comments. After doing this we uploaded our film opening to YouTube.
Week 10:
After finished Research, Planning, and our Final product - The Second Wound we knew we had one last thing left to do towards our media coursework. This was the evaluation. With our group only having 3 members we had a little bit more to do each in comparison to some groups who had 4 members. We were set 7 questions as a group to write up, record and make a presentation for. Me and Daniaal were once again fully prepared to devote as much time as we had to perfecting our evaluations. After being set the 7 questions and dividing them up between us, with me and Daniaal taking 2 each and Khadija taking 3 we had all written them up and recorded them by the end of the week so we could edit the presentations for them for the whole of next week.
After finished Research, Planning, and our Final product - The Second Wound we knew we had one last thing left to do towards our media coursework. This was the evaluation. With our group only having 3 members we had a little bit more to do each in comparison to some groups who had 4 members. We were set 7 questions as a group to write up, record and make a presentation for. Me and Daniaal were once again fully prepared to devote as much time as we had to perfecting our evaluations. After being set the 7 questions and dividing them up between us, with me and Daniaal taking 2 each and Khadija taking 3 we had all written them up and recorded them by the end of the week so we could edit the presentations for them for the whole of next week.
Week 11:
Week 11 which was the final week of producing our media coursework before submitting and uploading everything was a relatively straight forward week. We had audios completed for all seven questions and commenced to completing the presentations for 1 or 2 each day so that we had them all done and uploaded by Friday. We completed 2 evaluations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday leaving us with only 1 to do on Thursday which me and Daniaal successfully completed. This meant that on Friday we uploaded all of our evaluations and put them onto our weebly sites.
Week 11 which was the final week of producing our media coursework before submitting and uploading everything was a relatively straight forward week. We had audios completed for all seven questions and commenced to completing the presentations for 1 or 2 each day so that we had them all done and uploaded by Friday. We completed 2 evaluations on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday leaving us with only 1 to do on Thursday which me and Daniaal successfully completed. This meant that on Friday we uploaded all of our evaluations and put them onto our weebly sites.