Evaluation

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

This brief asked me to produce a technical and written piece, about a subject of my choosing. For the technical piece I could choose between video or a podcast. It must be able to showcase all the journalistic skills I have acquired so far, be ambitious but also achievable, and be a topic that works for NEON's latest issue and interests its target audience.

2. Outline the idea generation process.

- How did you go about developing ideas?

Before the brief was delivered I already had the idea of doing a challenge where I try to become a film nerd, and when I received the brief I realised that it would work for my FMP as well as receiving feedback that it was a good idea. From then I went about idea generating by making lists of ideas and researching similar concepts for inspiration. When thinking of ideas I wanted to consider my ability and what would be achievable in the time and other constraints I had, such as budget and access. To find other film topics to do the piece on, I researched lists of essay topics, read through them and picked out ideas that interested me.

- Why did you choose your final idea?

I chose my final idea because it was an idea I was really drawn to, was excited by so knew I would have the motivation to do it for the duration of the project. I also received good feedback about the idea, which ensured me that there would be interest for my idea. Film is also a wide-reaching topic, so I knew I had an audience. I took a problem I had, embarked on a challenge to solve it and at the end reflected on what I had learnt and what advice I could give to others as a result.

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

I started off with ideas that I had, and researching them to see if they had legs and could be made into a good piece of journalism. I also went to social media, to find topics in film that people are talking about. I found inspiration, by researching the ideas I had and seeing if others had created content about these ideas, and finding ways I could make my own unique spin on things, my own USP. I spent time brainstorming for my main idea, of different things I wanted to do in the challenge, who I wanted to talk to, what I wanted to learn, and what films I wanted to watch ect.

- Which ideas did you consider and reject? Why?

I knew that I wanted to do my project on film, but I had a range of different ideas. I also thought about doing a piece on the decline of the film industry, however I felt like this is an overdone topic and may be hard to gain access to interviewees. Another idea I had was to 'Films made by women, about women, for women'. For this idea I would have researched women in the film industry, watched films made by women, and those with strong female characters and talk to female pioneers in the industry. This was once of my runner-up ideas, I was really interested in it and thought I would be able to get access to talk to aspiring and up-coming female filmmakers on social media, to share their stories, however it is quite a common issue people like to talk about, so I may just have been re-hashing what others have already said. I also considered doing other types of challenges, like how to make a film in 30 days, and similar sort of challenges that would require me to immerse myself in something and try something knew, documenting this. However I decided that trying to become a film nerd was the most accessible idea for me to do, and would be achievable to a high quality.

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

I could potentially use more visual methods of displaying my ideas. I have no issues generating ideas, and trying to determine whether they have legs, would be achievable and engaging. This is a skill I have developed over my time studying journalism and practicing idea development. However I mainly use words and lists when generating ideas, so I could in the future try to use more visual methods, like mind-mapping, and storyboarding.

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 'what is a film nerd?'. I needed to understand what it meant to be a film nerd and how I could go about becoming one. I then found it useful to watch some performative documentaries to understand the style and how I could approach creating a documentary that showcases my experience. I found guidance to become a film nerd and more knowledgeable about film, aswell as recommendations of some of the greatest films, from lists like the IMDb Top 250 list, Letterboxd, and forums on Reddit and Quora to see what fans are recommending. During the 30 day challenge I also researched film analysis and how to rate/review films, which I featured in my finished piece.

- Which research sources were most useful to you?

One of my most useful sources of research was 'How to analyse movies- Film Studies 101 Patrick (H) Willems'. This was an in-depth lesson about film analysis from a professional,and helped me in my challenge to become more knowledgeable. I made notes whilst watching it and summarised it in my video series and article. My primary research via my interview with filmfluencing was also very useful. They explained what it meant to be a film nerd or cinephile as they refer to it, and helped me validate my experience during the challenge, so it was also very useful to feature in my conclusion epsiode. A lot of my research was watching films, and this helped me increase my knowledge, and put my new film analysis and review skills to practice.

- What conclusions did you draw from your research?

From my research I concluded that being a film nerd is a as subjective as film is. However, a big part of being a film nerd is watching films and enjoying them in your own way, having a big passion for film and wanting to know more than just surface-level stuff, from that I knew that becoming a film nerd was achievable if not something I already was, but had no direction for. I set out to watch some of the greatest films and develop my own taste, whilst gaining a deeper understanding of the medium. From my research I also learnt how to analyse a film, a skill which is very valuable for many film fans. I concluded that analysing a film isn't as complicated as it first appears and it all roots back to 'say what you see and ask why?'. There are different technical aspects that one may need to understand to get a better understanding of a film, but it is not difficult and is ultimately up to opinion.

- How did your research help mould your ideas?

My research helped me to pick what films I watched and what things I learnt during the process. I tried to check the boxes of what a film nerd is during the process, such as going to the cinema, collecting physical media and logging films on Letterboxd. I used my research to further my progression and showed this in the series.

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

I used different mediums. I read articles, watched videos and talked to experts.

- How did you ensure that your sources were reliable?

To ensure my sources were reliable I used many different sources and cross-checked them, to see if the information I was getting was valid. I would read many different articles, and get similar answers from each one which showed me that that they were accurate. For example, when it came to learning film analysis I watched two different videos, which gave me the same information, one went into greater detail than the other, but it showed that I was learning the correct information. I also made sure that sources were credible, they are in the industry so can give accurate information and are trustworthy.

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

In the future, I could conduct more primary research, especially on social media. I did create a video and a google form asking for film recommendations and received some responses, however I could have found a new and more engaging way of conducting primary research, in hopes of recieving more responses.

4. Outline your planning process.

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

I first started off with writing a documentary treatment. This allowed me to visualise what I wanted the finished video to look like and what elements I needed. Even though I abandoned this plan, it was a good way for me to first determine what I was trying to do. I planned it to be a 30 day challenge so I set out a time frame between 21st April-21st May, and before that I spent time preparing for the challenge, making a list of objectives and recording my intro before I started the challenge, to show where I started, and provide a contrast for what I would be like at the end of the challenge. I changed the documentary into a series of videos when I realised the amount of footage I was recording and that I would struggle to get it down to under 10 minutes. So I decided a series of videos under 10 minutes better suited my project. In my pre-production I also planned a few different segments, some of which didn't come to fruition, however I did script some segments which I recorded and featured in the final video piece. For the written piece my plan was to write in a chronological order and have the piece read like a diary entry. I had read other articles in a similar style, where someone sets themselves a challenge and reflects on it, so I thought that style would work for me.

- How well did you stick to your agreed timeframe?

I sticked to the 30 days well, between 21st April and 21st May. This allowed me to consistently watch films and create footage. However my time frame for pre-production was very fluid and I had a lot of time to plan and research even during the production process, but post-production (editing, posting and promoting) was much more rushed towards the end.

What difficulties did you encounter?

I encountered issues with motivation. This project had a lot of footage to film and edit, a lot of long films to watch and a lot to think about. Therefore, at times I did find myself unmotivated, and procrastinating, as I felt that I lacked a vision for the editing process and was going with the flow during the 30 days, didn't have a set plan, there are no set guidlines to become a film nerd so it was challenging at times.

I also encountered issues with ClipChamp, which I had chosen to edit on. When using ClipChamp on my laptop I battled with constant errors and files having to be re-located and didn't actually get much editing done because I was waiting for things to load, for them not to load.

How did you overcome them?

To overcome the overwhelming editing process and large amount of footage I stayed organised, keeping files in date order in my OneDrive, and when it came to editing I had a standardised way of editing things. First watch it through and make cuts ruthlessly. Then watch it through with the cuts and make any more cuts, to get it to the shortest duration possible. Add the intro (which I had downloaded separate, so I could add it to each episode easily without having to cut down the music again), add titles screens in-between segments and add the outro on. Add images when I refer to films, and text when I make important points. Makes sure each clip has a fade through black transition and flows smoothly into the next one. This allowed me to edit 2 episodes in 3 hours, and upload 4 episodes quickly. Editing the first episode took a few days, however for the other episodes it took a matter of hours as I had gotten into the rhythm.

I had to be patient when it came to issues with ClipChamp, however at college when using faster computers, I was able to edit smoothly, so this meant I had to do my editing at college and do it productively.

What skills did you APPLY?

I applied many skills during this project, and combined everything I have learnt throughout my time studying journalism. I used my skills of contacting contributors and conducting interviews, producing videos using my phone, a mic and tripod, and editing using ClipChamp. All of those skills have been developed over the past two years, particularly during my first FMP. I also used my skill in writing articles from the 1st person, like I did in B1 Task 3.

What skills did you LEARN?

I learnt how to do a performative piece, which wasn't something I had done before. Being able to write and record about my own experiences and keep it engaging for others. I also learnt how to do a photo shoot with the photography students. It was a new experience for me to be in the studio and collaborate with others, sharing ideas.

6. Evaluate your final product.

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

Strengths: I was able to complete the 30 day challenge well, completing a lot of quality secondary research, and regularly filming footage for the final piece. I also found a routine way of editing which made it quicker and easier to edit videos, which is something I will use in the future. I think that the idea was very interesting and unique. I worked with others a lot in this process, getting recommendations from the people around me, and worked with the photography team for the photo shoot, and this collaboration improved the quality of my finished product.

Areas of improvement: I could have been more ambitious with the interviews and primary research. I could have contacted people with larger audiences. At times I was unsure about the direction of the project. I left the editing too close to the deadline, which meant that I had to do a lot in a shorter time than I had done other things, for example I had a lot of time for research, but not much time for editing.

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

If I were to do this project again I could have created some different segments, to separate the piece-to-cameras. I could have filmed a segment in the studio, and been a bit more creative. However, I chose not to do that for this project due to time constraints, as it would have been a lot to plan and taken more time to edit. If I had more strictly kept to the timeline, I may have had more time to produce and edit more things for the video piece.