2. Proposal
Throughout this project I have managed to stay close to what I planned in my
proposal, because I mentioned in my project concept that I was going to make
a short documentary looking into beauty standards. I also stated that I was
going to interview people of different groups and ages and I believe I have
managed to do this, however I didn’t do it on as bigger scale as I thought I
was going to do or with a wider group of people but this was because the
COVID restrictions. I was able to do my audience research where I
interviewed different people of different ages and this allowed me to
understand the direction I wanted to take my project, in terms of the project
concept part of the proposal I think I have done what I planned I was going to
do. I don’t think I stuck by the schedule part of the proposal as I was late
starting production due to not having responses back but I managed to get
back on track, overall the proposal was a beneficial part of this project and I
am pleased that I managed to execute what I had planned to do.
3. What was the theme of your project and what attracted you
to it?
I am doing a project for YMT as part of a Grayson Perry
exhibition, and I had to research his background and some
of his work to decide on what I wanted to look into. The
piece that attracted me to this project was ‘Melanie’ and
what I liked about this piece is that it didn’t have a typical
shape of beauty and it represented a plus sized woman but
the piece itself was ‘beautiful’ so I found myself leaning
towards that theme of ‘what is beauty?’ and looking into
how it is perceived in today’s society. Another thing that
attracted me to the piece ‘Melanie’ is that there were
different fertility figures dating back 100’s of years ago and
so I liked how there was a representation of beauty
through time because there were images of Madonna and
different models on the piece, as well old fertility figures so
this inspired me to look at different generations of people
and not focus towards a certain age or gender when it
came to interviewing people. Although the more I thought
about the piece of ‘Melanie’ the more I realized there were
so many directions I could take because the topic of
beauty is so wide I couldn’t narrow it down. So this is
where I was looking forward to starting the research so I
could gain a better understanding of where I wanted to go
with it.
4. What research did you undertake and how did it help develop
your project?
I really enjoyed the research segment of the project because its where I start to develop a lot of my
ideas and finding out which direction to take the project. I started with contextual research and for this
I started looking more into Grayson Perry as an artist as well as his background because I wanted to
know more about his work and what were the influences behind it, although I had a brief idea I was
going to base my work off of Melanie I wanted to look at some more of his artwork to see if I could see
any running themes within his work. This helped me compare some of the artwork to Melanie which
then led me to realizing Melanie was the piece that I wanted to focus on. I then started thinking about
making a short film because I wanted to explore making Melanie into a character so I started by
looking at certain directing styles of directors because I wanted to combine them to create my own
style so the film felt more personal. Looking into the directors really helped me to choose certain
components that I wanted to use in my own film so I started idea generation and came up with three
different ideas all about the character Melanie struggling with acceptance in society due to the way
she looked. At this point in the research I didn’t know I wanted to do a short documentary because
when I made the factual piece I couldn’t get anyone to be in it due to people backing out so I was
basing my FMP on previous experiences and I was thinking film was the best route to take. I then
went onto looking into Film Theory and Color Theory because this was something that I didn’t have a
great understanding on and wanted to know more about so I could make a good project and this was
helpful at the time because it did give me a clear idea of the type of film I wanted to make. After a
discussion with my tutor and Sarah I realized that a short documentary was a good route to take,
because I could get people’s perception of beauty and this would help the audience to feel involved
because it’s something they can relate to. It also meant that I didn’t have to find actors to be in my film
which would have been an issue because then I was working around their times and when they were
free and doing a documentary meant I could get a few people in because they didn’t have to act. After
realizing I didn’t want to do a film I then went onto to do the main part of the research where I was
wanting to look into different films/documentaries that were done in a certain style or addressed a
certain theme.
5. I started by looking at existing products and I started with “The Danish Girl” because this film
addressed what it was like to not be accepted in society at a certain time and I thought it
would be interesting to look into the trailer because I wanted to know what parts of the film
did they pick out to put into the trailer and is there anything I could talk about in the
documentary about representation. I also started looking at short documentaries to see how
they interviewed people and the types of components that went into making a short
documentary, something I noticed straight away was that they didn’t involve the question in
the video and this was something that I saw amongst quite a few of the ones I looked at so
this was something I wasn’t going to do but I did end up doing it for accessibility reasons and
I think it works really well with the rest of my project because it gives it some context. The
documentaries I watched I saw that there was a mix between interviews and contextual
footage so I wanted to create a mix but when making the project I wanted to make it like a
talking heads type of thing so I thought it was better to have interviews one after another but
to have something to demonstrate moving on from one question to another, so I think the
research did really help with the making of my project and gaining a better understanding of
what components could go into my own documentary but there were a few parts that I looked
at in the existing products that I said I was going to do but didn’t but it doesn’t make the
research any less helpful. The next part of the research was the audience and this was
something that I was stressed about because I didn’t know the type of audience I wanted to
target as I was thinking about just targeting women but then I wanted it to be open to
everyone to relate to because it was going in an art gallery, I started by looking at secondary
research to get a broader understanding of the different ages that attend art galleries and
this was because I started this project by wanting to target a certain age group but after
researching and discussing with people I thought it would be best to not target a certain age
because this would result in excluding half the audience out so I tried to incorporate as many
ages as possible into my project.
6. What went well about the audience research is I created a survey to send out to people
with a few questions about what do they expect to see in a documentary, I did this because
I wanted this project to appeal to people and I wanted to make something that people
enjoy and not just making it so I like it and by sending out a questionnaire and analysing
the results I believe this helped me find a specific direction to follow in terms of making the
project. I then went onto interview a few people because I wanted to have a discussion
about the project and I asked them similar questions to the survey but I was able to get
them to elaborate their answer so I could question them about different things to get a
more specified response and this played a positive role in planning the final project. I
looked a few different techniques that I wanted to apply to my project and this was using
After Effects and Premier Pro, upon reflection I think this wasn’t the most beneficial part of
the research because I haven’t used those techniques so I believe I could have missed
this part of the research but at the time I believed I was going to be using it. I did look at
colour grading which I did use in the final piece but not to the same extent so even though
this was helpful I didn’t rely on it as much as I thought I was going to. Overall I believe the
research that I conducted played a beneficial role in making the final project because it
allowed me to look at examples of what people have done and then interview people about
what they want to see in a documentary and I have referred back through the interview
responses whilst making this project to make sure I incorporate what they said.
7. How did you develop and improve your ideas throughout the
project?
When I first heard about this project I had no idea where I was going to go with
it because there were so many themes that showed up in Perry’s work that I
wanted to explore, however when I first realized that I wanted to look into
beauty I stuck with that idea for the entire project although I did end up
developing and improving my ideas and this was done by talking to my tutor
and Sarah from the YMT and this allowed me to discuss the ideas I had with
them and then talk about how this could be improved. An example would be
when I first had the idea I was only going to interview women but after a
discussion I realized that it would be a better idea to interview men as well to
get a broader range of opinions and so it wouldn’t be targeted to a certain
gender. Due to COVID these meetings had to be done through Microsoft teams
which is a positive thing because it meant we could schedule them for every
week and every other week for the one to one meetings and this meant that I
was always getting feedback on the work I was doing so I was always at a
good level in terms of knowing what to do. I didn’t have to improve on a lot of
ideas because I had kept the same idea throughout the entire project but
another thing that helped was I kept reflective journals up until production so
this allowed me to reflect on what I had done on a certain day so I could see
how something had changed or if I had changed something I was able to write
about it. I was also developing my ideas through the research because I was
finding out new things to use in my project so overall in terms of developing my
ideas the key parts in being able to do this was being able to meet with Sarah
every week to discuss the project as well as discussing with my tutor and other
students who are involved in the work.
8. What was the outcome of the project/task?
The outcome of my project is a short documentary that discusses the topic of
beauty and how it differs between people. Overall I am really happy with the
outcome of my project because I have managed to keep it very similar to what
I planned to do in the proposal and this is something that I wanted to do
because in past projects I have found that I kept changing my idea and this
meant that the research wouldn’t necessarily apply to the project I had made, I
also found that with changing my idea it wouldn’t be the best standard
because I didn’t have the knowledge of what I wanted to do or I didn’t plan for
that specific approach so going into the FMP I was worried that this was going
to happen so for me managing to stick to one idea throughout the entire
project has been rewarding. In terms of the contribution to my project I am
happy with the amount of people in it because I was worried there wouldn’t be
enough but I had 40 minutes of footage to work with so this allowed me to
have enough footage to make the project with.
9. How did you feel about the project before you started?
Knowing this project was going to involve working with an outside source
was stressful because I knew that the YMT would want it to be a certain
way and at a certain standard so it was nerve wracking knowing that it
would feature in the gallery as part of a Grayson Perry exhibition. Even
though I was stressed about the project I was really excited to start it
because I had heard of Perry but I didn’t know enough about his work to
create an entire project on it so I was excited to learn more about his work.
As I started the initial plans and the contextual research I was worried
about what I was going to make because I didn’t know whether I wanted to
make a short fictional film or a short documentary because I am interested
in both fields but after a discussion with Sarah Yates from the YMT and my
tutor I realized it would be better to do a documentary because I can get
people’s opinions on things so when I realized what I wanted to make that’s
when I started getting excited for the project and less stressed because I
like the planning section and the research so after getting the stressful bit
over with it was fun to look more into how I was going to make it.
10. What do you think about your project development and how
did it help you to refine your idea?
I think I developed my project really well because I
went into a lot of detail in the research section to help
me specify how I wanted to make my documentary
and by looking into certain examples and talking to my
target audience I managed to get an outline of how I
wanted to make my FMP. This helped me refine my
idea because I was able to look at the structure of
other short documentaries that also involved
interviews and I was able to understand how a short
documentary should be structured. In the planning
section this was where I really managed to refine my
idea because I was able to write a script for the
introduction and I put an outline for the structure of
the interviews. As I am reflecting on the planning I
realize now that I haven't stuck to my script or the
storyboards and this is because working with Sarah
and the YMT I was able to get feedback when needed
because we set up meetings and we had a chat on
teams so I was getting feedback during production
and this meant that small things changed because I
had access to feedback when needed and I found this
really helpful as I was able to get guidance on the
project whilst I was making it and this was the most
beneficial part in terms of refining my idea.
11. A key role in developing my ideas was the Teams chat with Sarah from YMT,
this is because from the beginning of the project we had weekly teams
meetings where we would discuss where we are with the topic and what are
the next stages. This helped me through the research and the planning stage
because I was able to communicate my ideas and get some feedback on them
which helped to expand my project. Once I had finished production I was able
to send versions to the chat to get feedback and there were a few things that
needed changing for accessibility reasons or if I had made a mistake that I
didn’t spot, this was really useful because I was able to get an outside point of
view and as a result I was in a position to make these adjustments and
therefore make a better project. Overall I think this was the main activity that
really helped me make this project as getting feedback from an outside source
and my tutor I was able to make the amendments to get the best possible
result.
12. How did you feel when the project was completed and
why?
When I finished the project I felt relived that I was done with production
because it got to the point where every time I watched it over I would
change something and this wasn’t what I wanted to do, because it meant I
was too close to the project so I was noticing all these little things which
can be beneficial because then the project can be tidied up but it can also
be a negative effect as I could be changing things that are good. I’m
happy that I have finished the project because I was worried when
starting as I thought I would constantly change my idea which is
something I have done in previous projects but knowing at the end that I
have stuck by the same idea throughout the project has been rewarding. I
have also made something that I like and that I’m proud of and I feel more
confident after doing this project because I had the opportunity to work
with a client outside of college which has given me an insight into the
future industry, I have also had the opportunity to work with people and
interview them in depth so I feel more prepared for the future after
completing this project.
13. What were the good points about the project/task and what
did you learn from them?
Throughout this project there have been multiple good points about this FMP as it
has taught me a lot about how to create a short documentary and how to work with
a client outside of college. For me the main good point is that I managed to work
with people and include interviews in my final piece, this is something I was
worried to do because I was relying on other people to get the footage for my FMP
and in previous projects I had people back out last minute but I did manage to get
enough people with enough footage to create a good length project. I really
enjoyed working with other people because I think it gives a good representation of
what the industry is going to be like, I also enjoyed interviewing a couple people
because they were in my ‘bubble’ it was interesting to hear people’s point of view
about a topic especially coming from different ages. Furthermore the process
leading up to production has been beneficial to me because I was working from
home due to COVID restrictions but working from home has taught me a lot about
time management and distractions and knowing that I can complete the work to a
good standard has been rewarding and I can transfer and apply those skills in
future projects. Another good point about my project is that I was able to work with
YMT as part of a Grayson Perry exhibition, this has taught me a lot about working
with a client because when I thought I had finished they wanted something
changing so having the feedback has been really helpful especially coming from
someone outside of my family or friend group and college. During this FMP I have
used loads of different software such as Photoshop, After Effects, Premier Pro and
even though I haven't used all the work I did using this software in the final project
I have become more use to how the software works and what techniques I should
use so this is something that I can use in the future which is going to benefit me
when going to university.
14. What challenges did you face and how did you respond to
them?
During this project I have faced a number of challenges, the main on being
the pandemic as it has affected the amount of time we were in college for. As
a result of this I had to do all the work up to production at home and this was
a challenge because I have trouble managing my time and I get easily
distracted so working from home was quite difficult but I managed to set time
out of the day to focus on my work as well as having to check in on teams so
I was able to work in a similar structure to a college day. Another challenge
that came from the pandemic was that I couldn’t do face to face interviews
due to the current restrictions that were in place at the time so I had to plan
my FMP on people’s responses that I couldn’t film so I was quite stressed in
case I didn’t get enough responses back. I found a way around this because I
wrote a list of instructions and a guide to give to people to instruct them to
how I wanted them to film their responses and this was a good way to get the
look I wanted and without breaking the restrictions so I did manage to work
around the pandemic in terms of planning my project. When it came to pre-
production I found that people weren't sending back their interviews so it got
quite stressful because I was having to message people everyday to try and
get them in time for production then when we were back in college after
Easter I still didn’t have any to work with so I had to spend a week of
production waiting for responses so relying on people to make the project
was a challenge because I based my whole FMP on people’s responses
which was a risk but it did pay off in the end as I managed to get enough
footage to make a good length video.
15. What were the bad points about the experience, and what
could you have done to improve them?
I don’t think there were any bad points about
this experience, as I am pleased with how my
project has turned out. There were a few
moments that were stressful and when I
wasn’t happy with my project an example
would be when I started production and I had
no responses to use so at that point I started
worrying about my project and I started
thinking I might have to change my idea. To
avoid this happening again I could have sent
out the questions and instructions earlier to
allow people more time and I might have
been able to avoid worrying about it but I
think stressing about the project is part of the
process and unavoidable. Another thing that
could be improved is my timing because as I
look back there are a few things that could be
improved but at the moment I have run out of
time to go back and change things in depth
so in future projects I should spend more
time on the schedule and go into it in more
depth to allow me enough time to make the
changes that might be needed.
16. How would you rate the final piece?
I think my final piece is ‘Good’ because overall I am happy with how it has turned
out and I think it is a good standard, the reason I didn’t rate it ‘very good’ is
because I think it’s lacking in continuity as there isn't a clear link between the
beginning and the end. My opinion of my piece is that I think it is good and I have
completed it to a good standard and the overall look of it is quite nice and I am
pleased with how it turned out. The most successful element is the interviews
because I have managed to put them in an order which works as well as cut them
down from 10/20 minutes each which I think is an achievement because I have
managed to cut out the less important parts and focus on the key information so it
is straight to the point and will keep the audience engaged. I like the transitions
between questions because I wasn’t sure how I was going to change between the
questions but having close ups of Melanie worked really nicely as I used the
‘wipe’ transition which illustrates a shift in time so it was clear that I was moving
onto the next questions. I also liked how I managed to incorporate the piece of
‘Melanie’ into the project as I was worried that it might not be relevant but using
images of ‘Melanie’ and asking the audience about what the piece represents I
managed to keep the piece relevant and on topic as the theme of my project had
quite a broad topic so I wanted to make sure it was applicable to the Grayson
Perry exhibition and I believe I did this.
I think overall I would rate my final piece as GOOD
Justify your rating above? What is your opinion of your final
piece? What elements do you think are successful and why?
17. How well would your design appeal to the target market?
Going into this project I didn’t know how to target a particular audience as the
theme I chose to base my project on is so broad and relatable to so many ages, as
I was researching the audience I decided not to target a specific age as I thought it
would be interesting to get the perspective of people from different ages. The part I
struggled with the most in terms of the audience is the gender because I didn’t
want it only to be for women and exclude men because the topic of beauty can be
applied to both genders. After the research I decided to go into the project with no
set audience because I didn’t know who was going to send their responses back,
as I am reflecting on the project I still don’t think there is a specific age group that I
was targeting but I believe I am looking more at targeting women as the majority of
responses were from women as the men I had asked didn’t get back to me or
didn’t want to do it. I think my project does appeal to my target market because the
responses are coming from women of different ages and at the end of the piece I
ask a question about feminine beauty and this can be applied to anyone but most
likely women so when the audience leave they have that question in their head.
Due to the responses mainly being from women the answers are a lot of things that
women might relate to more than men, and I think this will appeal to the target
audience because it’s enjoyable to watch something that you relate to as you feel
closer to the piece and it’s interesting to hear other people talk about what you
might be feeling so that’s another reason that my piece will appeal to my target
market. Something I had to be aware of is that it is going in an art gallery and there
are going to other people who aren't women so I wanted to try and not exclude
them and as I reflect on the piece I don’t think I have as the participants talk about
issues that are relevant to everyone, however overall I do think the piece is
targeted more towards women.
18. In what ways was the overall project a success?
Overall the project was a success as I managed to create what I planned to
do and this allowed me to feel more secure when making the project. I have
completed it to a good standard and I think it flows nicely and it works
together, the main success is that I have completed a project that the YMT are
happy to use as part of their exhibition even though I had to change a few
things to make it more accessible to people which is another success as I had
to change the font which I didn’t think was going to be an issue but if it is
making it more accessible to people that means I am reaching a wider
audience and that’s a success because I didn’t want to limit who watches my
project. I have also learnt a lot of new skills in terms of planning and working
with an outside source that are going to be useful in the future as I feel more
confident in my own ability to create something to which I can work on to
improve my skillset, I also have worked closely with people who take part in
the project because I haven't worked with as many people before in previous
projects so I was nervous when I decided I should base my FMP on people’s
responses to my questions so during this project I have felt more confident
chasing people up and talking to people I don’t necessarily talk to everyday
because I had to for my project and this is a skill that I am going to need for
future projects that I do at university so I am pleased I had the opportunity to
work on this during my project.
19. What elements did not go well and why?
I don't think there are any main elements that didn’t go well as I am
happy with how my project has turned out. As I am reflecting on my
piece I’m worried that it might be a little tedious as it’s just interviews
after interviews so I'm hoping people stay interested because it is quite a
long project but hopefully I can keep the audiences attention. Another
element that didn’t go well is the music because I couldn’t decide on how
I wanted the music to be as I didn’t want it over the interviews because I
don’t want to mislead the audience into a certain emotional response, I
kept it over the intro and the outro but as I am looking back on it I think I
could have changed the type of music it is because it doesn’t match with
the speed of the project as I feel like it is quite slow but as I am thinking
now I still wouldn’t know how to approach the music.
20. What would you do differently in the future and why?
In future projects I don’t think I would do anything differently as overall I am
happy with how it has turned out. I think there are a few things that could be
improved such as the people in the project as I think I could have included
more men in it to balance out as it is female orientated but to do this I could
send out the questions in advance so people have more time to it, this way I
could avoid looking biased especially if I do future documentaries that are on
a universal topic it is important to get an opinion from everyone to include
different genders and social groups so this is something to remember when
filming in the future. Another aspect that I would do differently is put a little
more thought into the introduction and the outro because I had to re-do my
introduction a few times because I didn’t know how to begin or end the
project and if I had put a little more planning into it I think there might be more
of a correlation between the beginning and the end so it gives it more of an
arc. Apart from these few things I've mentioned I wouldn’t do anything
differently as it has all worked out and I haven't had to rush any part of the
project and it has turned out good.
21. What knowledge have you gained that would help you in
the future to improve your project? Also, what knowledge
from academic literature and professionals has helped and
why?
I have gained a good amount of knowledge over this project especially
working with the YMT because I now have worked with an outside source
and this has educated me into what the industry is going to be like. I’ve learnt
more in depth about the software that I have been using and I feel more
confident using this software compared to being in the first year, especially
with After Effects and Audition which is going to be beneficial moving forward
into future projects and progressing onto university. I have also had the
experience of working with different equipment an example would be when
recording my introduction I used a microphone and recorded it through an
audio recorder which is something I haven’t used before. We also had to
create a promotional video and for this we had to interview some other
students and we used a camera which I didn’t have any previous experience
with. Overall I have learnt new skills in terms of using the equipment that are
going to be beneficial in future projects. Working with Sarah from the YMT
has been a good learning experience as I have had to make amendments to
fit with what they wanted and I might not have necessarily thought about
those changes but they improve the piece and this is something that will
happen in the future so it’s been a good learning experience being able to
communicate with the client to get the best result.
22. Feedback 1
I really like the stylistic use of getting the interviewees to shoot their own
footage and it all comes together like a wonderful patchwork duvet. I also like
how each response is individual and different to everyone else's. I like the
range of ages and it was interesting to hear a range of different opinions. I like
the music as it adds tonally to it and it helps create emotion. I also like the
close ups of Melanie throughout the piece.
Feedback 2
What I liked about this piece is that it starts a conversation about an important
topic and it does this by adding a question at the end to the audience. I think
there is a good selection of responses and I like how it starts and ends with the
same music as it feels like we’re at the beginning but this time informed by
what I’ve seen. There seems to be an overlay slightly which I like as it ties all
the clips together which gives it a nice finish rather than having them all
different colors. I don't think the piece is too long as the transitions make it feel
like we’re moving on to he next stage so it doesn’t spend too long on one
question.
23. This piece was interesting to watch because it was eye opening to listen to
other people’s opinions on such a broad topic. Overall it works nicely and
everything flows together, I think there could have been a broader selection of
people such as another male point of view but I understand this could be
down to the pandemic. I liked the music and I enjoyed how it wasn’t all the
way through and only at the beginning and the end because this way it feels
like there’s a smooth ending. I also like how there is a question at the end for
the audience because it sends us away with a question in mind so then we’re
thinking about the piece once it has finished and that’s a nice touch. I like the
font and it reads clearly however I think there could’ve been a more
interesting font that has serifs on it to add a classic touch but overall I really
enjoyed it.
Feedback 3
Feedback 4
Overall I liked the piece, I think the interviews were done well and there was a
good range of people and it was interesting to watch and see people’s opinions.
I thought the movement between the interviews worked well as it gave an
insight into the piece Melanie. I think the music worked well over the intro and
the outro but it avoided persuading an emotional response from the audience
so it worked well.
24. My response to feedback
It was interesting to read through people’s feedback, I think the main
response I go back was that people enjoyed it which I am leased to here
because I wanted this piece to appeal to people because it’s something that
everyone can relate to. There was a mention about the music not going all
the way through and I am happy to hear that it worked well as this is
something I was worried about because I didn’t know if it should just be at
the beginning and the end or the whole way through. I added music
because this is something that was wanted when I analyzed the responses
to my survey so adding it in was the right decision. Another person
mentioned that there should have been another male point of view which I
agree with however due to the pandemic and the restrictions at the time of
filming there wasn’t anyone interested so I only had the one. Lastly there
was a mention of the font change and that it could have had a serif font to
add a classic touch to it, I did have a serif font but due to accessibility
reasons I had to change it and I think it works better because it also
matches the font at the art gallery. Overall I am happy with the feedback and
there are a few things people picked up on but I’m not going to act on it as
the main feedback was that they enjoyed it.
