Reflective Diary

1. Reflective Diary
Bertie Stasiulevicuis

2. Week 1 – Context Research
This week I have started my research, I began by looking at people who relate to my
project and researching why they are important within the subculture. I started by
looking at Pete Townshend from The Who, Then I looked at Don Letts who made
several documentaries and films based on the mods and rockers. After this I
researched Julien Temple, he made a famous documentary covering the Sex Pistols.
I also looked into Chris Green, the creator of a mod inspired film, released last year.
Finally I researched Rollin Binzer, the director of a popular film released in 1974,
about The Rolling Stones.
This was helpful because some of these people have made documentaries in the
past, this was a good way for me to find out how they made them and what
additional things I can do to perfect my project. I managed to find out a lot of
information about the people I researched, including their previous work and
beliefs, which was helpful to me as I could see the process they went through to
reach the point of fame they have now.
I think that by researching these people I have been able to make my idea of what
to do way more specific, I feel as if I am now able to cut out a lot of potential things
to include and focus more on what's important.
I think that something I could do in order to gain more information about the
people would be to look more into what peoples reactions were when their past
work was released, and how they reacted to it and if it was positive or negative.

3. Week 2 – Proposal
This week I made my proposal and a bibliography with 10 sources in. Making my
proposal has helped my project because it has given me a more exact idea of what to do
for my final project and it has shown me what I need to focus on more. In my proposal I
spoke about why I find this project concept interesting and the reasons why I have
chosen it. I also covered some things I have previously learnt at college and which of
these will help me to make this project as perfect as I possibly can.
Completing my bibliography was also helpful because I was able to find a few websites
and books that have information that will be helpful with the completion of my project,
all in one place. In this bibliography I have included a few websites, some
documentaries, films, books and podcasts. This enables me to get my information from
a number of sources and not repeat what I am finding out as they all cover separate
topics.
This week has helped towards my project because now I have a lot of useful tools in one
place that will help me to stay on top of my work. Being able to check the proposal will
remind me of what I need to focus on and make sure I complete certain tasks within a
time frame.
I have also made a production schedule to help me keep on top of my work, this will be
helpful for me because I know what needs to get done specifically in that week in order
for me not to fall behind on my work and have to catch up on extra work in the wrong
week.

4. Week 3 – Research
• This week I decided to look at some existing products, this has helped me to get an
idea of a few things that I should include in mine, as both of these have common
recurring themes. All of my existing products cover information on fashion, more
specifically what the mods would wear in the 1960’s. I think that this is important
information for me to know as it shows me what I should focus on when filming, it
will help me to find the perfect interviewee.
• All of the documentaries and films I watched also include a lot of music that was
popular at the time. I think that having music is important because it helps to set
the scene. It gives the viewer the right aesthetic and I think that really paints a
picture of how people were at the time.
• One of the documentaries I watched was directed by Don Letts, and he has a really
good way of linking the video shown to the interview. He uses the audio as the
background audio for the video, which will be related to what the person is saying,
and I plan to do something similar in my own project, to keep the viewer engaged.
• When I was analysing the products, I focused a lot on the locations they were
filmed in, by doing this I've realised that I need to make sure that I go somewhere
that has something to do with mod culture, I will travel to Margate and visit places
renowned with the mods and rockers, I will also film an interview here so that I can
get some first hand knowledge in my documentary.

5. Week 4 – Problem Solving & Experiments
• Throughout this week I have started on my problem solving section for my FMP, this will
help me when it comes to production because I will be able to save myself time if
anything goes wrong, I focused on equipment, ability, location, finance, transport,
interruptions and lighting. There are a number of things that can go wrong whilst I film
my project, but hopefully with the right planning I will be able to minimize the chance of
this happening.
• Once I had completed my problem solving, I moved onto my experiments. I started by
doing some audio testing, I went outside first to see how the audio sounded whilst I was
outside, we found that there was quite a lot of interruptions such as the wind and an air
conditioning system behind us, but the lighting was great as the sun was shining bright so
it provided perfect natural lighting. We moved inside afterwards to see how much of a
difference it would make, the audio was much more clear and you could tell what I was
saying much easier. But the lighting was not as good as all we had was indoor lights and
the sun coming through the blinds.
• I then decided to try some new video elements that I hadn’t done before, I
started with an over the shoulder shot, this was a great way to show the viewer
what the person in shot was focusing on, and its also a great way of getting a
small bit of information across.

6. Week 5 - Planning
• This week I started on planning section of my Final Major Project, I looked at location initially
– I focused on where I needed to go to record, and how much it’s going to cost me to get
there. More detailed in this I looked into where I needed to visit, and where I would stay in
the time I’m there.
• I then had a look at what equipment I would need, I realised that other than the camera I do
not have any of it, so I wrote about how I will obtain these things, all together its not very
expensive, so not much of an issue.
• I looked at the facilities that I will need in order to complete my project, and that is easily
accessible to me as it is just premiere pro I need, which is on the college computers, I also
have access to this at home, meaning if I need extra time I can easily find it.
• The next thing I considered was personnel, I came to the conclusion that I will need
someone with me to help, this will be for things such as filming interviews, and filming me if
I need to include any extra information.
• Finally I created a mock storyboard, once I have made a shot list these will both be very
helpful to me, as it basically turns into a list of things I can check off. If I make the shot list
detailed this is an easy way of making my project look really nice, and even professional.

7. Week 6 – Documentary Features
• I focused on some things that I will need to know when filming my documentary that will help me whilst
editing to make my video look as professional as it can be. To do this, I researched a few common
conventions which are seen in documentaries and how they can be done.
• I started by looking at a voice over, this is something I am definitely going to include in my video as I've found
out that this is a great way of keeping the viewer engaged in what's happening, it can be boring to watch a
video of the same two people talking for a few minutes, I plan to get people I interview speaking about the
locations that are memorable to them, then I will show clips of these places that I have acquired at the same
time, this also gives the viewer a better understanding.
• I then looked at direct and indirect interviews and what the difference was between them both. This was
quite helpful because before this I didn’t even know that there was multiple types of interview. With this
information I know that I should film my documentaries in the direct style, as it is more common in this type
of documentary.
• When searching the different conventions I came across archival footage, this is footage that has been used
elsewhere and then shown in something newer, I think I will end up doing this in my own project with
Dreamland in Margate, an amusement park that was burnt down, the park was a very common place for
people to meet up and have fun.

8. Week 7 – Audience Feedback
• In these two weeks I went back on my work and added some
more points which I thought were useful, and also cleaned up
the PowerPoints to make them look more presentable. This
was a good idea because it has given me the chance to
include information that I think is vital and relates to my FMP
so when I am doing my evaluation I will be able to use this as
a sort of checklist.
• I also did some feedback from when I did my survey, I
analysed my results and this has helped me to narrow down
the properties that I need to include in my video. I found out
what people really knew about the mod subculture, and what
surrounds it – such as the type of music that is associated with
it, and what films people had seen which include mod
connotations.
• I also completed some market research based on the film and
television sector, I learnt about the amount of money that
goes in every year and learnt about the incline that it is on. By
doing this I realised how much of a high demand there was for
visual entertainment, and the majority of people are happy to
watch a film or something on TV.

9. Week 8 - Planning
• This week I started planning how I want my video to look and also techniques I am going to use when I am
filming. I started by thinking about the video itself, I decided that there was a few conventions that I am
think are important to include. First of all I wanted to make sure that I used a voice over. This is helpful when
creating a video because it means that the viewer understands what the interviewee is talking about, for
example if a location has been brought up, it would be good to see what it looks like, if it’s a person – the
viewer will want to see what they look like. With this in mind, I am going to have to get plenty of footage of
the location I am in, but I may struggle with people. This is where Archival footage comes in, this is another
technique I will try to use in my project – archival footage is video that has been taken at some point in
history that I will use in my own video, Margate holds a lot of history and therefore isn’t the same as it used
to be whatsoever, with the use of archival footage I can bring peoples words back to life and even show a
comparison of how it looked then and how it looks now. I am also most likely going to include a montage, a
group of clips all put together with music in the background to show a lot of information at once, a lot of the
footage I am planning to get is going to be fairly repetitive, as it will be landscapes, this isn’t to say its not
important though, so I will make sure to include them all.

10. Week 9 - Filming
• I travelled to Margate this week to film for my FMP, this is where my
whole project is based so it was important that I visited. I used my phone
to record all the shots as it was much easier than travelling for hours with
a big camera, I also run the risk of it getting lost, damaged or stolen. I got
a lot of shots of the location I was filming in, I went to locations that were
popular amongst the mods and hold history in Margate, for example the
beach, where there was a big fight between the mods and rockers in the
1960’s.
• I got a lot of shots of the journey from my grandparents house to the
main town, it is about an hours walk and I filmed a clip that was a couple
of seconds long every 10-15 minutes or so. I plan to put these together in
a montage style and have a song over it that was popular during the time.
• I also decided that it was a good idea to interview my grandparents, they
were both mods in the 60’s therefore they had some first hand
knowledge of how it really was at the time. I asked them about the type
of clothes they wore, where they would hang out and if they ever saw
violence.
• Whilst I was there, I went to some museums in the area – I did this so
that I could get a bit more knowledge of how it really was when the mods
were in Margate, this also helped me to think of some better questions to
ask that would give more specific answers about the reality of life at the
time.

11. Week 10 - Editing
• This week I started editing my project, I uploaded all of the clips that I got from Margate and put them into
premiere pro, I decided that I was going to open with the song ‘Wah Watusi’ by the Orlons, it is an upbeat
song and it goes well with the opening clip, which is a shot of the main road in Margate, and in the
background you can see the famous theme park named Dreamland. In the clip, there are hundreds of mods
on scooters riding around the area. I think that this is a good opening shot as it shows the viewer an
authentic look of how Margate really looked in the 1960’s. I also included some of the shots I got of the
journey into the town with the same song playing in the background.
• After my opening scene, the interview with my grandparents starts, I used two premiere pro effects to make
the change in what is happening in the video. The first one I put in was a audio fade, this means that
throughout the last two seconds of the opening the music begins to dim, and the audio from the interview is
now more prominent, as that is what is going to be focused on. The other effect that I used was a transition,
on premiere pro it is called ‘Barn doors’ and this is when one video merges into another as if two barn doors
were opening. Throughout the interview section, I included photos of the topics that were being spoken
about, for example, at one point Dreamland is mentioned, so I showed some photos of the ballroom.
• After the interview section I made a montage, I did this by using the previous clips that I got and pieced
them together in order with a song over the top of them – the song played is called ‘The Real Me’, by the
Who (a mod inspired band)

12. Week 11 - Finishing
• I spent this week focusing on replying and
working on my feedback. The main improvement
that I needed to make was additional detail, to
get around this, I went back to all of my sections
and chose out the things that I hadn’t written
much about (in this case I had to write a
summary) and by doing this it rounds off my
work nicely instead of leaving gaps. This was
helpful for me to do as well because it gave me
something to look back on in other sections, and
use it to improve.
• I also decided to add on additional points of
interest into my research, instead of writing
about them just because they are similar to my
product, I also spoke about music choice,
location, shot selection, editing and storytelling,
this helped me to give my existing products a
much wider investigation, meaning I can also
find something to learn from them that I can
include in my own project.