EVALUATION AND REFLECTION
I confirm that the attached assessment is all my own work and does not include any work completed by anyone other than myself and sources have been appropriately referenced.
Week 1
15/3/21 - 21/3/21
For my FMP I was allocated the musical theatre students to base my project around. I already knew I wanted to continue with Ellie's corner so I just had to decide how to make this work with musical theatre.
I knew I wanted to make video content as I found this more enjoyable than written work. After watching a marvel movie, I went onto youtube to watch interviews with the cast. This inspired the idea to make fun and interactive interviews with the musical theatre students for my FMP. These videos and other behind the scenes content would all be posted on Ellie's corner.
I emailed Polly, the musical theatre teacher, and gave her a brief summary of my idea and asked what days they were in college. Polly replied and informed me there were 17 students and they were in college on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. She also invited me to join one of their lessons and propose the idea to the whole class.
On Wednesday I went in to meet the musical theatre students. I told them my idea and they all wanted to be involved. They gave me access to their online spreadsheets so I could see what musicals they were considering. Auditions are at the end of this term so I can begin filming after the Easter holidays. This gives me enough time to plan each video in-depth and get it to the highest standard possible.
I also met with Abbi, who is in the year below, she is going to be helping me with my project. We had a casual conversation and she liked my idea. I haven't come up with a final idea of what Abbi can do to help me however I will speak with her again next week and we can brainstorm together.
Week 2
22/3/21 - 28/3/21
The FMP deadline was changed from the 11th June to the 28th May. This means I loose two weeks of work time. I edited my time plan to fit everything into the next 10 weeks however this now means I will have to do as much work at home as possible during the Easter break. This may be challenging as I don't have all the facilities I do at college so I am going to try and do everything I need to do in before Easter.
Whilst on the college site on Thursday, I looked at two potential filming areas: the white photography studio and the theatre. I took pictures of both so I can have a visual picture once planning each video in-depth. However, I am going to have to go back and record some test videos to work out if I will need microphones or if the camera microphone works well enough.
I also emailed Polly to ask when the finalised list of musicals will be available. Once I have this list I will be able to start planning each video in detail and work out dates for filming.
Week 3
29/3/21 - 4/4/21
Polly replied at the beginning of this week and informed me that the finalised list of musicals will be available at the week back after the Easter holidays. As this means I wont be able to start recording until at least the 26th April, I am going to alter my plan. Instead of producing 5 videos, I am going to make 4. With the deadline changing I have limited time and 5 videos isn't achievable. However, timing is still very tight and I will have to work hard to get everything to the standard I want it to be in time for the deadline.
As my phone has a very good camera I decided it would be easiest to use to record on. Although I didn't know what the sound quality was like on the microphone so I went back to the photography studio to test it out. After recording a test video I realised the sound was too echoey. I spoke to the technicians and they have clip on microphones available to use, however there is only two so this limits the number of people that can be in each video.
I booked the photography studio for the 29th April from 12pm-4pm. This gives me 4 hours to film two videos which should be more than enough. I want to do a test run the week before so I know how to work the microphones. Booking it for the 29th also gives me a week and a half after Easter to plan and practise.
Easter
5/4/21 - 18/4/21
As it is the Easter holidays I'm going to try and do as much online preparation as possible. I'm going to begin my secondary research by watching online videos for inspiration. I went back to the original Marvel video that inspired me and watched similar videos from the suggested box. I enjoyed doing this as it didn't really feel like work as I already spend a lot of time watching youtube videos at home. Watching these videos also made me excited to create my own as they're enjoyable to watch and really show the personalities of the cast.
I created the wix website for Ellie's corner. As I had already made the page for MET connect I was able to copy it, allowing me to save a lot of time. The website is empty at the moment but I will begin adding content when it is done.
As I can't begin planning the videos properly because the final musicals haven't been decided yet. I started to make vague video plans for each one. This way I know what I'm doing and can easily organise and plan the video once I have the information I need from Polly. This stresses me out as I want to start planning as I feel like I'm running out of time.
I also created a checklist of jobs for the first week back after Easter. This allows me to see what I have to do to stick to schedule.
Week 6
19/4/21-25/4/21
For this week I made a checklist of jobs I wanted to achieve to make sure I am ready to film next week. This checklist can be found in the planning and production section of this website. I started the week by emailing Polly for the final list of musicals. This will allow me to begin planning each video properly and contact students to ask if they can film next Thursday. It's starting to feel like everything is coming into place and I'm enjoying having a lot to do. I feel less stressed than last week.
I then tested out the microphones so I know how to use them next Thursday. They only had one available for me to practise with but I will have two available for filming. I recorded a video of Grace whilst using the microphone and then worked out how to edit the recorded sound over the footage. I'm not in a rush to have the videos edited however I feel more organised and less uneasy now I know how.
I also made the instagram account for Ellie's corner. I haven't posted anything on there yet but I will start promoting it from my personal account once I have content. I plan on posting behind the scenes clips and videos on there. The posts will also make up the feed on my website home page.
I wanted to begin planning and organising each video in extreme detail this week as well. However, Polly still hasn't replied to my email so I am unclear of which musicals are being used. This stresses me out as there isn't much time left until the end of the project so I don't have time to waste.
Week 7
26/4/21- 2/5/21
At the start of the week Polly replied and shared the spreadsheet of the final musicals. The variety of musicals wasn't what I expected so I decided to change idea to fit my plan better. I decided to make each video about musical theatre as a whole rather than specific musicals. This allows me to ask a variety of questions about different types of musicals or just musical theatre itself.
I replied to Polly's email and asked if I would be able to join their lesson tomorrow to talk and organise with the students about filming on Thursday. As I'm feeling as like I have very little time left, I decided to make a time plan for the last few weeks. This way I can visualise how much time I have left to make sure I get everything done on time. I'm going to add to the time plan each week with more specific jobs to achieve.
Polly didn't reply to my email about meeting with the students. With my plan changing and not having confirmed filming with the students, I moved my booking of the photography studio to next Thursday instead. This gives me an extra week to plan the videos and organise the videos properly with the musical theatre students.
Week 8
3/5/21-9/5/21
I started the week by following up my email to Polly about meeting with the students again. She replied and we organised for me to go in and speak to them on Wednesday.
Talking to the students again made me more confident in my project as they were all really excited to take part. In the meeting we arranged time slots for filming the next day. Each pair of students had 15 mins to film between 1pm-2pm. I'm really glad I had this meeting with the students as it felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders as the project is really taking motion.
On filming day and I asked Indy to help out, she took BTS pictures and helped me set up. This really helped as I was extremely stressed out. Only one of the two microphones worked however I solved this issue by just putting the microphone between the students.
Overall I was extremely pleased with how filming went, it flowed very well with the students answering the questions perfectly and also having amazing on screen presence. After filming, I transferred all the footage from my phone to my laptop to begin editing.
Week 9
10/5/21-16/5/21
Indy sent me all the behind the scenes pictures. They all turned out really well, which made me excited to begin editing. I uploaded most of the bts pictures onto my planning and production page and annotated what was going on. I think the pictures were a good idea as they help visualise what I am saying in the annotations. As I was going through the pictures I decided to add a Gallery page to the Ellie's corner website. This way everyone can see how the videos were made and the musical theatre students can have access to the pictures.
I started writing up all my examples of problem solving throughout the project. I had made a list throughout the project so this made it easier to remember.
I have started posting more frequently on the @elliescornerr instagram and gained a number of followers. I have enjoyed sharing behind the scenes pictures with my followers. I have receive a lot of support in the comments.
Week 10
17/5/21-23/5/21
I started the week by evaluating how much time and how many tasks I have left to do. After thinking for a while for I decided to change my final plan one last time. Instead of making another 2 more videos like I had planned, I am now going to just make the two I have filmed. I don't have enough time to film and produce another two videos to the high standard I would want them to be. By focusing on the two videos I have filmed, I can make sure they are exactly how I want them to be without rushing. I can also spend more time promoting the videos on my instagram page.
I began editing video 1 in imovie. I chose imovie as I have used it in the past and have an understanding of how to use it. Once I got into the swing of editing it was a lot easier than I thought it would be and I was able to edit the first video a lot faster than expected.
I added all the behind the scenes pictures to the Gallery section on the Ellie's corner website, this took me a while to do as there was a lot to sort through but I am extremely happy with the finished product. I think this adds a really nice touch to the website.
I posted 3 different posts on the @elliescornerr instagram page to announce the launch date I had decided: 26th May. I received a number of messages from the musical theatre students all saying how much they had enjoyed filming and were excited to see the videos. These messages made me really happy as it was nice somebody was excited about the project.
Week 11
24/5/21-30/5/21
Final evaluation and reflection
I edited video 2 in the same way that I did video 1. I've got really quick at editing and can feel myself getting better. This project has really helped and expanded my digital skills which I am really happy about. I uploaded the video to youtube but I'm going to keep it on the private setting until I'm ready to release it.
I wrote up my practical skills section. I had kept a brief list of examples throughout my work so this made it easier when writing up. I also used pictures and video to back up my examples.
On Wednesday, 26th May, I posted the link to my website on my instagram to share with my followers. A couple of the musical theatre students messaged me and said the videos were very well put together and they enjoyed watching. This made me very happy as I feel like all my work paid off.
Overall, the videos went extremely well and I am happy with the level of work I have produced throughout the project. I've managed to produce a high quality of written work along side the content for Ellie's corner. I prepared well for the project and planned in detail which made the whole process easier. My extensive research also helped inspire me throughout the project. From doing this project I have learnt that things can always go wrong and your plan will change no matter what although this isn't necessarily a bad thing. If I were to do the project again I would give myself more time to produce more final videos like I had originally planned.