1. Context
As per my project proposal, what I wanted to create was a film to explore what identity really means and what it can entail using documentary film making techniques to get real stories, experiences, and examples through conversational interviews as opposed to talking head interviews. I wanted to encourage the viewer to consider what makes up their own identity and to also understand other people’s stories and have empathy.
The project proposal detailed everything I wished to accomplish and how I wished to do so, therefore I checked the project proposal very frequently to make sure that I was doing things the way I wanted to do them. I did not need to make any adaptations to the original proposal except extending the timetable and moving the later tasks around a little bit, this was because there were a few times when I did things earlier than planned or later than planned due to convenience. I tried to convey my contextual research in my blog and only put relevant information in my blog.
2. Research
During the project I did research on various things like documentary filmmakers, identity photographers, relating music and poetry, the Adobe Creative Cloud and interview techniques which helped me a lot with my project. However, my research was not very wide ranging because I already had the idea of identity, mementos, and migration in my head so a lot of my research was about those topics. This was the right thing to do with my project because it helped me stay focused and only look at information that was relevant to my work which meant that I did not waste time doing things I did not need to do. My original bibliography helped me get a better idea of what was already out there and how I might go about making what I wanted to make. Throughout the project I did not update it, not because I did not do more research but because I wanted the project proposal bibliography to reflect the work that influenced my original plans. Other research that I did is shown on my blog and in my OneDrive.
3. Problem Solving
My original concept was sustained throughout the project and I do not believe that I deviated from it. I wanted to make a film that talked about identity and experiences and that is what I made, though it ended up being three short films. This does not mean that there were no unforeseen elements though. I had wanted all the stories I got to have been gotten through conversational interviews which was not the case as setting up interviews was extremely hard, however I overcame that by asking the interviewees to answer the questions that I had provided and send me their responses, I do not believe that this took away from what the film was to be. My ideas were conveyed in the final piece through my questions and the responses of the interviewees and as much as I could, I tried to make the tests and experiments about the idea of identity.
4. Planning & Production
I do not believe that I have evidenced my work effectively enough. A lot of my planning and development work can be seen on my blog and OneDrive but I feel like I did not show my thought processes enough so that an outsider looking in could fully understand what I mean to show and how I got to the places I did. I talked little about management and realisation in my blog but I have tried to summarise that in my most recent blog posts. However, I do think that what I have done is better than what I did last year and so there was still improvement.
5. Practical Methods and Skills
When I was learning new skills and experimenting with different things I talked about them in my blog, for example the green screening workshop and the printing experimentation, however I did not go into a lot of detail as to how I did these processes and how I felt about them which I think was not a good thing to do. On the other hand, most of the time when I was talking about techniques and processes that I already knew, like Adobe Photoshop, I went into a lot of detail as to how I got the final product. Therefore, I was effective in demonstrating my implementation of different processes.
6. Evaluation and Reflection
Throughout my work, I made sure to evaluate it and write about my thoughts on the project however, I do not believe that I was analytical enough. I used feedback from my tutor, my peers and my family and friends to help me improve during the project, this feedback was more in depth than what I wrote about myself which should not have been the case. I should have been more critical about my work in my blog. Nevertheless, I was responsive to the advice and critiques that I got except for when it came to my OneDrive which I had to change in the end.