Evaluation

1. What exactly did this brief ask you to produce?

The brief asked me to produce a journalistic project, with the option to explore written, visual or audio journalism. The subject of the work was free to choose, depending on interest and ability. However, we needed to ensure our end product was carefully planned, thoroughly researched, ambitious and challenging, relevant to a target audience, and delivered to the highest standard.

2. Outline the idea generation process.

- How did you go about developing ideas?

When I received the brief I started thinking about ideas for the project, based on what I am passionate about and what I am knowledgeable about. I chose to do my project on motorsports, as I am passionate about it, knowledgeable about it and my audience on social media are motorsport fans. I looked at subjects that people are talking about in motorsports on social media and what conversations need to be highlighted.

- Why did you choose your final idea?

I was inspired by watching F1 Academy and seeing female racing drivers succeed, so I decided to do my project on this. I also looked on social media to see if people were talking about the subject and found that on social media and in the news this topic was being heavily discussed and is more relevant than ever and will encourage more conversation about the topic.

- How did your idea develop during the course of the project?

When planning the scope was F1 Academy and reaching F1. In terms of initiatives trying to help female racing drivers I had a list, like Discover Your Drive, More Than Equal, Formula Woman etc. I chose to focus on More Than Equal and F1 Academy and asked my expert about this. When I started looking for interviewees and contacting them, I decided to open the scope of the project to make it female racing drivers reaching the top levels of motorsport especially when I interviewed Abbie Eaton at Donnington.

- Which ideas did you consider and reject? Why?

I considered broadening the scope to young drivers in the F1 feeder series and making the angle about financial struggles for drivers like lack of sponsorship and funding as motorsport is very expensive. I didn't take this idea as I got interviews with female drivers, but also because the idea of female racing drivers and women in motorsport is a more personal subject for me.

- In what ways could your idea generation be improved for future projects?

In the future I could use more visual ways of generating ideas. In this project I noted my ideas down in Google Docs when I thought about them. In future projects I will create mind-maps and brainstorm on paper, give myself time to generate ideas and focus more on the process of idea generation to get the best possible ideas.

3. Outline our research process.

- Where did your research start and where did it take you? How did you follow the leads?

My research started with finding the unique challenges female racing drivers face. I needed to know what to address in the documentary and that helped me pick what topics to discuss, like which initiatives helped address these challenges. I found out about More Than Equal through researching initiatives, and then used this as a foundation of the rest of my research. Then I started looking for sources of primary research -interviewees- on social media and contacting as many as possible so I could secure an interview with a driver and an expert who could give an overview.

- Which research sources were most useful to you?

Web-based research, especially about More Than Equal and the results of its study, helped me understand the challenges and what needs to done. For F1 Academy research, YouTube was most useful as it helped me summarise what F1 Academy is about and I learnt about some things that I didn't know of before through watching other short documentaries about it, like the one Financial Time did.

- What conclusions did you draw from your research?

From my research I can conclude that there are unique challenges that female racing drivers face, however, these challenges can be applicable to those who are from lower wealth backgrounds, and stigma is the main challenge. I can also conclude that the situation is a lot better now than it was 5 or 10 years ago. It is a good time to be a female racing drivers as there are more opportunities, however there is still stigma and criticism towards these drivers because they are women, which is an issue that needs to be addressed.

- How did your research help mould your ideas?

My research helped me mould my ideas as it helped me know what topics to address in the documentary. As I learnt more about the topic through my research, I got more ideas for what I should address in the documentary, and my research especially helped me with my piece-to-cameras as I knew which information to talk about.

- How did you ensure that you used a variety of different sources?

I used a variety of sources in both my primary and secondary research. For web-based research I used different news and blog sites like Autosport, F1 Academy, More Than Equal, Females in Motorsport, the Telegraph and Sky sports among others. This meant that I got a range of information in my research. On YouTube I watched videos from F1 Academy themselves as well as the Financial Times and I also watched the documentary film Beyond Driven which inspired me and gave me more information than websites. I also used social media (TikTok and Instagram) as a source to research opinions and statements. In primary research I heard from two different drivers who have had different experiences and also a content creator who has insight into F1 Academy and More Than Equal.

- How did you ensure that your sources were reliable?

I used reliable news sources like Autosport and Sky Sports which have credibility, but I also cross-checked information like the findings of the More Than Equal study, by looking at many different articles about the study, comparing them and seeing if they used the same facts, which they did. For my primary sources, they are established racing drivers and I asked them about their personal experience, and for the content creator she creates a range of informative videos about many different subjects in motorsport and has talked about the topics before.

- In what ways could your research be improved for future projects?

In the future I could have done some interviews just for research purposes earlier in the process so I could get initial ideas about what specifically I needed to research and who I could talk to for even more information.

4. Outline your planning process.

- What pre-production did you undertake? How did it help you?

In pre-production I planned what I wanted for the documentary, making two documentary treatments to help me know what I needed for the documentary in terms of footage. This helped me be more organised, and when it came to filming at Donnington I knew what I wanted to film. The treatments also helped me know what questions to ask as those would create structure and storytelling in the documentary.

- How well did you stick to your agreed timeframe?

I didn't have much of a timetable, just a rough draft of a timetable that I made for my pitch presentation. I was able to keep to this though and began the post-production process in May like planned, production was through April and pre-production through March. I did have one date set, which was the day that I was going to Donnington to film footage and driver interviews on the 28th March.

- In what ways could your planning be improved for future projects?

In the future my projects should have a more structured timeframe, ideally with dates for each time I would film. This project lacked that except the filming day at Donnington on 28th March. This will allow me to know exactly where I am in the process and what I need to do, because at some points during this project I felt a bit lost on what I needed to do at certain points but learning from this project I will know how to better timetable a project so I can efficiently complete it.

5. Explore your skills and knowledge development.

- What new knowledge did you acquire during this project?

During this project I learnt a lot about F1 Academy and More Than Equal, which I hadn't heard of before starting the project. I learnt about the challenges that female racing drivers face but also that from the experience of the drivers that I interviewed it may not be as depressing of a reality that some make out, but there are still fundamental issues that need to be addressed and support for female racing drivers is having an impact.

- What new skills did you learn during this project?

During this project I learnt an array of new skills. I learnt how to add new effects in Adobe Premiere Pro like 'dip to black'. Compared to my first edit in Premiere Pro I have massively improved using the software and the finished project looks alot more professional and slick.

- How could you apply them in the future?

My improved skills in editing will help in any future projects. Its been incredibly useful and in any future video projects I will be able to create a professional standard edited product and will keep improving on my skills.

- How has this project helped you develop as a journalist?

As a journalist this helped me develop my editing skills, especially as I learnt how to use the software effectively and produce professional edits, and this is a key skill modern journalists need. I also went to my first event where I acted as a journalist, even though I didn't have media accreditation, it was an open paddock and I was able to approach two drivers for an interview, so my confidence has increased.

6. Evaluate your final product.

- How happy are you with your final product?

I am proud of my final product. A lot of work went into it and I have gotten good feedback from tutors and hope that with time I will get the same positive feedback on social media. I was frustrated because I didn't think it was perfect but I am happy with the outcome, but now there are ways I can improve for the next project like this.

- What are its strengths? What are the areas for improvement?

Its strengths is that it has some great interviews. I spoke to two incredible drivers and a well-known content creator, so despite how hard it was to get access, I still got some great interviews. It was well edited and showed improvement in my editing skills from my previous projects. There are areas for improvement. I could improve by planning more thoroughly and trying to get even more interesting interviews, maybe being a bit more ambitious for the project, filming more b-roll and being more creative.

- If you were to do this project again, what would you do differently?

I would plan it more thoroughly and try to get more access at Donnington so I could interview F4 drivers. I would also do vox pops at the track to get the fan opinion. I would also learn how to use the equipment at college like the Rode Mics and the DJI Osmo so that I could get even better quality footage, improving the audio quality and making footage stable.