Reflective logs
Week 1:
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In this reflective log, I will explain what I have done to begin my Unit 12 work and analyse any practical work for its limitations and benefits. I will show the strengths and weaknesses of my practical exercise, if there was one, and at the end of the log, summarise what I have learned and what I need to improve to ensure accuracy in my shots.
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Our first task was to create a short video based on who we are. The "Who am I?" task is a personal reflective video stating information about ourselves which included our interests, inspirations and potentially the topic that I wish to delve into in my final major project. The aim of this task is to gather ideas about my interests and what I want to explore in my final major project, whether that's a certain genre, topic, or technique. I decided to do mine like a video essay as I would be more confident doing a voiceover with clips and images rather than being on camera. My questions include what influenced me into the film and tv pathway, what are some of my favourite things, and what can I explore for my final major project.
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We then were given a secondary task. This task was to create a mind-map stating all possible ideas for my final major project and research topic. For this, I decided to lay out my mind-map in a way I could understand it. That way is putting all my interests and the sub interests that come with that. I then also wrote what kind of FMP I wish to create and why - whether it's a documentary or short film, what kind of atmosphere I wish for it to have etc. I then had my mind-map in two halves, one half stating all the short film (or otherwise known as fictional ideas) and the other half stating all the documentary (or otherwise known as non-fictional ideas) possibilities.
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We were then given another task. I had to pick three ideas that could be potential topics for my FMP. For this, I am using my “Who am I?” task and Mind-map for topic ideas as in them tasks, I have stated my interests, and what my initial idea is for my final major project. I must then analyse these ideas for the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This way I will be able - and also my peers when I ask hem their opinion - which idea would be most suitable to me and the best idea for my final major project. After picking the three, I made a Google Form to ask for opinions from potential audiences. I received 10 responses on the form with "The sudden boom of interest in Anime" taking a lead with 4 votes. I then had to write a concluding paragraph explaining what idea I am going ahead with and why.
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I decided to not go for any of the ideas I originally created due to the logistics of them, they would not work out. I spoke to my tutor and decided that my idea of "Misogyny within the gaming community" would be a great idea as I know people who are also passionate about this subject that I could use for research or potential interviews for my documentary and it is also something I am passionate about.
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Overall, this week helped me understand how to generate ideas quickly and efficiently and how it is beneficial to gather second opinions. This will help me excel in future projects to do with documentaries and allow me to generate new skills.
Week 2:
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In this reflective log, I will explain my research question, my 3 video analysis and my write-up report and analyse any practical work for its limitations and benefits. I will show the strengths and weaknesses of my practical exercise, if there was one, and at the end of the log, summarise what I have learned and what I need to improve to ensure accuracy in my shots.
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Our first task was to solidify our research topic and question. Where I had chosen my documentary idea for my final major project last week, I had to choose a question about that documentary to research for my Unit 12 work. My research question is something that I want to explore as I have been in the gaming community for so long and experienced this treatment almost like it was normal, "How does misogyny affect the gaming community?".
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We then were given a secondary task. This task was to find 3 forms of media that was similar or explored the topic to the one we were researching. I found three documentaries that delved into the topic of misogyny in video gaming and esports and analysed them profusely to decide what I could take inspiration from and what to avoid when coming to making my own documentary. This analysis has helped me a lot not only gain inspiration on questions and interview topics and questions which I can delve into within my own documentary and research, but not what to do when it comes to creating a documentary. I have noticed the negative reception some of the documentaries I analysed received which is something I want to steer away from as I am aiming to create an informative and balanced documentary which promotes the issue of sexism within gaming, but also shows that a lot of women have equal resources in gaming to men.
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To finish off the previous task, we had to write a report, summarising our findings and how we can use them in the future when it comes to our own research and FMPs. I wrote about the similarities and differences, what the analysis has taught me and if it has affected my idea. I would say my initial idea has been slightly changed as doing the analysis for these documentaries have made me realise how easy it is to create an unintended biased agenda which isn’t fair. Now, I will make sure to research a lot into my topic to make sure I am following in the footsteps of the Vice documentary and not the BBC documentaries. I also would say that my initial idea was just to do with the gaming community but after analysing documentaries on the esports industry and women, I would like to explore that topic further within my research and potentially my documentary too.
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Overall, this week helped me understand the importance of creating a balanced and unbiased documentary and potential interview questions and research ideas. This will help me excel in future projects to do with documentaries and allow me to generate new skills.
Week 3:
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In this reflective log, I will explain what I did for my research methods task, and how I created my research mind-map and plan and analyse any practical work for its limitations and benefits. I will show the strengths and weaknesses of my practical exercise, if there was one, and at the end of the log, summarise what I have learned and what I need to improve to ensure accuracy in my shots.
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Our first task was to investigate what the different research methods are which are in the following: primary research, secondary research, qualitative research and quantitative research. The task was to write what they are, what are some of the methods that fall under that type of research, how I can utilise them for my research question, the advantages and the disadvantages. This has helped because now I understand the differences between the types of research and how to utilise them for my research efficiently.
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We then were given a secondary task. This task was to create a research mind-map which included different research methods and the advantages and disadvantages of me using them. I made sure to include different sections for primary and secondary and then I included 4 different methods for each type of research. I wrote down one advantage for using that method and how I would use it, and one disadvantage and why using it might not work. This has helped my research as I now know what issues may be caused during my research and how to overcome them if they do happen.
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The final task was to create a research plan. The research plan needs to be created so we can plan out our research effectively so when it comes to creating our research report, it is maximised and completed swiftly due to the short time limit. Without a research plan, I would be lost on what to research, how to research it and the relevance of researching it whereas now I know all of them things due to my research plan.
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Overall, this week helped me understand the different research methods and the advantages and disadvantages of them, and the importance of planning my research. This will help me excel in future projects to do with documentaries and allow me to generate new skills.
Week 4:
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In this reflective log, I will explain what I did for my research, discussing both of my primary and secondary methods and analyse any practical work for its limitations and benefits. I will show the strengths and weaknesses of my practical exercise, if there was one, and at the end of the log, summarise what I have learned and what I need to improve to ensure accuracy in my shots.
When it came to my research, I knew I wanted to investigate into both primary and secondary research methods so I can create a balanced opinion on sexism within the gaming and how it affects the community. I split my research question, “How does sexism affect the gaming community?” into 3 “mini” questions, “What are some people's experiences with sexism?", "What is the amount of sexism within videogaming?", and "How do people deal with misogyny and sexism within videogaming?"., and made sure that I would be gathering information that would be answering these when it came to researching.
I began my research by conducting my primary research. This is because primary research can be time consuming, so I knew if I started it first, I could conduct my secondary research while waiting for the results. My primary research consisted of a questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire was shared to people who found it on their twitter timelines as I shared it on my twitter account, and anyone within my college, specifically people in my class and the Games Development class. This questionnaire helped me gather results of both genders and all experiences. I then conducted an interview with 2 women from the Games Development class at Canterbury College. The interview had similar questions to my questionnaire however I was able to delve deeper in them questions or add on other questions I wanted to ask as it was a face-to-face research method rather than online.
I then conducted my secondary research. I split my secondary research into different sections. The first one being video content, and the second being article, books, and statistics. I looked at a range of content such as a podcast, video essay, international articles, a thesis, a qualitative study, and a book. I took quotes, statistics, and data from these informative sites that I can use for my final major project, a documentary on sexism within gaming.
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Overall, this week helped me gather information such as data and context for my research question “How does sexism affect the gaming community?” and my final major project, a documentary on sexism within gaming. This will help me excel in future projects to do with documentaries and allow me to generate new skills.
Week 5:
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In this reflective log, I will explain what I did for my research report and analyse any practical work for its limitations and benefits. I will show the strengths and weaknesses of my practical exercise, if there was one, and at the end of the log, summarise what I have learned and what I need to improve to ensure accuracy in my shots.
A research report is a final paper summarising research activities and findings. It had to be structured in the following format: introduction, methodology, findings, and discussion. The introduction gives context to the idea, why this specific research question is so important, and the overall plan for the research report. The methodology is the section where you describe all of your research methods, for example I used primary research, specifically a questionnaire and an interview, why you chose that research method and state them for their advantages and disadvantages. The findings section is where you say all of your findings that you gathered from your research and how it will help in the future. The final section, the discussion section, is an overall conclusion which shows how your research helped develop your understanding of the topic, what limitations there were and how this research is going to be used in the future.
Even though my research report is a very long summary of my research, I find that I had no other choice due to my large amount of research and findings that needed to be shown in that report. The research report was helpful to complete because it really helped me reflect on the helpfulness of my research for my documentary and guided me into thinking about how to structure my final major project and what to cover.
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Overall, this week helped me reflect on the helpfulness of my research for my documentary and guided me into thinking about how to structure my final major project and what to cover. This will help me excel in future projects to do with documentaries and allow me to generate new skills.