Personal Project:

Process Journals & Dates

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For my Personal Project, I am required to submit 10 process journals in the appendix at the end of my
report. Thismeans that I mustwrite a minimum of 10 entries(although guides have suggested around25
entries). This is something I have to do fairly regularly to insure that I have a documentation of myprocess
for my report - these entries will show not only my development but my use of different ATL skills.I will
record information such as initial thoughts, developments, brainstorms, possible lines of inquiry and further
questions raised (along with other information I feel relevant). I have decided to keep my entries on a
Pages document linked to Dropbox and backed up on my hard drive; I feel this is the best way to store my
process journals as it is portable, safe, convenient and can be accessed/edited without internet
connection, which will be my case during most of my summer break.

!The following entries are in chronological order, amongst relevant/important dates. Each entry is numbered
and the date in which it was written is also recorded; important dates are red.
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10.March.2015:Introduction at the Theatre @ 1:10PM"
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Entry #1 10.March.2015"

Possible PP Topic Ideas"

Today we had our Personal Project Introduction assembly where the almost year-long task was explained.
Several former year 10 students shared their final products as well as their experience and advice they
wished theyhad knownprior to beginning their journey. I had come into the introduction session already
with a lot of prior knowledge as 4 of my older siblings have completed this project, however I did learn the
specifics of how everything was assessed (as changes have been made since my siblings completed this
task).

At this point, I dont have a clear idea finalized as to what project Id like to embark on; as this is a fairly
long journey, I want to make sure this is something I will not only continue to enjoy in the long-term, but is
also realistic and hopefully will provide me with a new skill or apositive outcome of some form that I can
utilize in future projects/endeavors or simply in life.

I feel that Id like to learn a skill, perhaps a slightly complex computer program. Video-editing or Animation
would definitely be options as they are things I have always wanted to understand and learn. However, at
this stage, I am still deciding on my topic and a final product idea this is something I definitely need time
to think about and perhaps even research.

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31.March.2015:Meeting with Mr. Kevin Rose@ 10:10AM"
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Entry #2 9.April.2015"

Finalizingmytopic/goal/global context/product"

RecentlyI attended ameeting with Mr. Kevin Rose where I presentedmy finalized topic idea and product
idea as well as their corresponding Global Context.

The topic I have chosen for my project is Animation. Animating is something I have previously
experimented with in the past, however at a fairly low level. done at a very low level in the past, however I
found it extremely enjoyable. Since then, I have always wanted to learn how to use more professional
programs such as Adobe After Effects. I have decided that this topic, amongst the others that I had
brainstormed,is the most appropriate because the fact that it has been a want to mine for years suggests
that it is something I will still enjoy 8 months or so from now. In addition, it may become a passion of mine,
and I feel it is the most likely topic tomotivated me to succeed.

For this project, my goalis to learn how to use Adobe After Effects at a high level; this program is used for
professional projects and, in my opinion, is quite complex. These new skills will then be shown through my
final product, which will be an animation (though the topic has yet to be finalized).

Theglobal context I decided to focus on with this project is Personal and Cultural Expression. This was
very hard to decide as my topic didnt seem to fit well into any of the global contexts I had to choose from.
It ultimately came down to either Scientific and Technical Innovation and Personal and Cultural
Expression. I decided that the latter would be more appropriate, as my final product will be meexpressing
a message throughanimation, which will be a personal showcase of my newly-acquired skills; in addition,
my topic does not have much to do with innovation, though it is technical.

I have decided that the type of animation I would like my finalproduct/outcometo be is a Kinetic
Typography (as opposed to a story-based cartoon); I feel it would be more engaging in general and

therefore easier to express a strong message, which I have to decide, as it would be more engaging,
especially for a young audience. I think I would like to either have the typography follow words of a relevant
speech or lyrics to a song with a strong-message. However, at the moment, I am leaning towards the
former option as I feel it would have an actual impact on the audience.

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22.April.2015:Meeting #1 with Mr.Erik Wilensky @11:00AM"
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Entry #3 24.April.2015"

1st Supervisor Meeting with Mr. Erik"

Recently I attended I meeting I had scheduled with my Personal Project supervisor, Mr. Erik Wilensky. After
an introduction I explained my topic and what global context it corresponds with (with my reasoning) as
well as discussed possible product ideas. Mr. Erik approved of the idea and gave me points he felt would
help me through this process; which I have also listed in the Academic Honesty Form.

Although I explained my global context (Personal and Cultural Expression), I had trouble with the
justification so Mr. Erik recommended I look though the descriptors listed under it, which can be found on
the Personal Project blog. After doing so, although I havent changed my product, I have adjusted the
wordingin order to make it more specific and become easier to place under the global context. I have
decided thatmy goal is: tocreate an engaging Adobe After Effects Kinetic Typography forstudents.
Specifying that the video will be engaging will give me an obligation to find and understand what makes a
video engaging/what do people enjoy watching. I have also specified an audience to direct my video, as
peoples engagement is relative; Ive decided my target market will be NIST Students so after the product
is completed, it will become easier to find whether my product was successful or not. Now that I have a
better understand of how my product falls under the chosen global context, Mr. Erik recommends that
Ialways to relate back to it throughout this process.

He also recommended I read through each criterion on the Personal Project Blog in order to get an
overview of what I will be doing and understand what is expected of me. Looking through, I have noticed
that it is similar to Design Portfolios, which I have done a few times in the past, however is also quite
different.

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In the Investigating Phase (Criterion A), I not only have to research, but prior to that I should have
an understanding of what I will be researching as Adobe AfterEffects is a fairly complex program
which will reacquire a fair bit of secondary research to understand.
Criterion B focuses on creating a rubric (similar to a design specification) that my product will be
assessed against once it is finished I also have to demonstrate how I am planning and organizing
myself.
Criterion C is the Taking Action Phase which is basically where I create my product,making sure
to document my process as well as evidence of ATL Skills that I am showing whilst doing so.
The last phase, Criterion D, is basically where I use process journals and guiding questions to write
my report wherein I demonstrate to what extent I have completed the above phases, using my
process journals as a reference.

The last point from Mr. Erik that I thought was important was to avoid doing a lot of work in aspects that
are not relevant. A lot of time and effort will be put into this task therefore it is important that I do so in
areas that are relevant.

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1.May.2015: Personal Project Workshop at NIST (8:30AM 12:30AM)"
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Entry #4 1.May.2015"

PP Workshop Summary"

Today I attended the Personal Project Workshop, during which students rotated, going through 3 activities.
The first one I did was a workshop with Cathy Berger Kaye, a service learning expert.I learned different
ways to collect information (research) a trick that will supposedly guarantee success in report-writing in
the future.

Ms. Angela went through a PowerPoint (which can now be found on the Personal Project Blog) showing
us various ways to keep organized and keep track of deadlines, meetings, tasks, etc. After this activity I
decided to make my schedule physical as a digital one is easy to avoid andwriting deadlines in a calendar
with pen, at least for me, makes it seem more permanent as well as important; therefore I have decided
to purchase a calendar with at least 9 months to help me keep organized. In his activity, Mr. Jesse went
through writing a process journal and why it is important he had us write an introduction to our final
report, which I found I have already done (see Process Journal Entry #2) for the introduction.

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Entry #5 20.May.2015"

What I need to know!

Before Investigating, I have to record what I know about my topic/goal as well as what I need to know and
where I can find the information I want. Below I have constructed a table showing questions I need to
answer before I begin this project. Most questions pertain to learning how to use Adobe AfterEffects as
this is my ultimate goal, however some questions are referencing my final product; some of the questions
are designed to help me decide on the subject of my final product as I have yet to choose one - for
example, understanding an ideal length for a video will help me limit my choices (a documentary may be
too long, an anthem may be too short, etc.).

Question

Priority

Source

Why is this Important?

What does my
target audience
find interesting to
watch?

High

Target
Market
Survey

Although this does not concern my personal goal, my final product

must appeal to the target audience I have set for it. In order to
insure this happens, I must find out what types of videos would
appeal to my audience.

What is an
appropriate
informative-video
length?

Medium

Target
Market
Survey

Id prefer my product to informative in some form as I feel like it

could actually be used and my time creating a product would yield
a benefit outside of my personal project.

High

Online Video
Tutorials

As Adobe AfterEffects is a fairly difficult program to use (as it is

used professionally), I can assume that I must possess certain
skills before attempting to learn this program. Answering this
question will allow me to work on skills I may need before creation.

Medium

Online Video
Tutorials

As mentioned, Adobe AfterEffects is used professionally and is

known to be quite complicated. The creation process, however,
will go faster if I have an understanding of the program before I
begin creating my final product.

Low

Online Video
Toturials

Based on the experience Ive had using various programs in the

past, keyboard shortcuts, although not crucial, can become very
helpful as well as time-efficient. Knowing some shortcuts will allow
me to work faster/not waste time navigating the program.

High

Licensing
agreements

I am aware that certain music has copyrights and other licenses

that would prevent me from using it. Knowing what music I can
use in these early stages will allow me to narrow down music
options/video options before the creation process.

What are some

important skills I
will need for Adobe
AfterEffects?
Around how much
time will I need to
dedicate to
learning AE before
creation?
What are some
keyboard
shortcuts/tips I
colt use?
What music am I
allowed to use for
my product?

I already have an idea of what makes students interested in videos as I myself as well as my peers are
within this target market I think its really important to make the video not too slow, uninteresting, or
unenjoyable for me to watch. In terms of technical skills, Adobe AfterEffects is a completely new program
to me I have neither researched on it or touched the program in the past, I have only heard that it is
efficient and complicated from others. However, I have recently learned the basics of Adobe Flash to use
for a Humanities and English product (as a criterion specified it to be engaging and I did not want to learn
Adobe AfterEffects before doing the necessary research). I found thatmost tutorials, although helpful, do
reacquire the audience to have a basic understanding of the program. I also learned that understanding
the various functions is time consumer, however it is a passion of mine therefore I do enjoy it.

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22.May.2015:Meeting #2 with Mr.Erik Wilensky @11:00AM"
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Entry #5 15.June.2015"

2nd Supervisor Meeting with Mr. Erik"

For my recent second supervisor meeting, I showed Mr. Erik the progress I had made up to that point this included my finalized topic, defined goal and identified global context which I had changed based on
the feedback he had provided. As he recommended, I showed Mr. Erik my better understanding of the
rubric as well as my organization method for this project - a calendar that I had purchased solely for
Personal Project, complete with important dates until the end of this project.

I also showed my supervisor the researched I had conducted thus far, which took the form of a table that I
recorded in my 5th process journal entry. I identified certain questions I felt I needed to answer in order to
be successful in this project and included how important it was that I find an answer, why, and where I
could get the answer. This table is practical as it organizes and presents information that I need to know so
I can easily answer the questions when the time comes and continue on with my project.

In this meeting Mr. Erik gave me some feedback points he felt I should know in order to further improve
what I have so far. Firstly, he explained that the target market I identified was fairly broad. I stated near the
beginning of this process (in journal entry #3) that the audience for my product would be NIST students as
not only would they realistically be able to watch my video but I could also conduct surveys and retrieve
feedback fairly easily. To make it more specific and therefore more practical, I have decided to change my
target market to secondary students. I decided to aim for secondary students as opposed to elementary
students as the audience would generally have a longer attention span as well as a better understanding
of most subjects in general, which will give me a wider range of subjects to choose from when designing
my final product.
Mr. Erik also stressed the importance of collecting information responsibly and from reliable sources. In
order to insure the sources I use are reliable, I will be evaluating some important sources using the CARP
test, a method that Ive used in class. At this point I am unsure if this will be included in my report, however
I will make sure that I record my source evaluations in process journals as I continue the investigation
phase.

The last point my supervisor gave me was a technique that I could use in order to insure the validity and
reliability of any surveys I may conduct either in the investigation phase or the reflecting phase. Apparently,
many surveyors include questions in a survey designed to get information they already know - interviewees
who manage to answer these wrong are obviously unreliable and therefore their answers become invalid. I
find this technique really interesting and I will make sure to use this if I am put in this situation.

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Entry #6 27.July.2015"

Research"

During this summer, I have had limited to no internet connection, which has made it difficult/impossible for
me to conduct the research I need for the investigation stage. Now that I am back in Thailand, I am able to
beginning actually answering the questions I had written for myself in my 5th journal entry. As I have written
in my Personal Project calendar, my goal is to complete all of the investigation phase before my next
Personal Project meeting, which is set to take place before the end of the second week back to school. I
have recorded my research findings in the table below - sources that I have used can also be found in this
entry, these will soon be evaluated using the CARP test to insure reliability.

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1. What does my target audience find interesting to watch?
![Insert graph of my survey results here]
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I have found through the survey I conducted with members of my target market that in general, secondary
students mostly enjoy watching feature films, short films, documentaries and music videos.

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2. What is an appropriate informative-video length?
![Insert graph of my survey results here]
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Through my survey, I found that the optimum video length would be between 2:00 and 5:00. This,
however, is quite a long range as it really depends on how engaging the video is.

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3. What are some important skills I will need for Adobe AfterEects?
![Find answer online]
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4. Around how much time will I need to dedicate to learning AE before creation?
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Using my brother (a user of Adobe AfterEffects) as a primary source, I have found that I should dedicate at
least 3 days to learning Adobe AfterEffects in order to gain a sufficient familiarity with the complex
functions to create my video.

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5. What are some keyboard shortcuts/tips I could use?

Keyboard Shortcuts

Command + /

Insert selected image to the centre of composition (above all layers)

Command + N

New composition

Command + T

Text Tool

Command + D

Duplicate layer

Ctrl + .

Player audio from point

Scale selected layer

Keyboard Shortcuts
P

Position selected layer

Rotate selected layer

Adjust opacity of selected layer

Create anchor point for selected layer

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qlJmOEo7fA (I went through this tutorial and noted down

various techniques).

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What music am I allowed to use for my product?
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Using music without a license is not considered illegal, but could result in YouTube/Vimeo muting or even
taking down my video. In order to prevent this from happening, I have found a YouTube channel with
Royalty-free music; the channel owner creates to audio and allows audiences to use it for any purpose
as long as they are credited. Because the music I will be using is royalty-free as opposed to a copyrighted
track from a popular record company, music videos/lyric videos are no longer options for a final product.
The royalty-free channel can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/user/RoyalTrax

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Entry #7 16.August.2015"

Evaluating my Sources"

Although the information I collected would unlikely be false and couldnt contain any bias, I still feel it
important to evaluate some of my sources. For this, I have decided to conduct the CARP test on the
sources I feel are most likely to contain information that may possibly be false.

In each source evaluation, I made sure to include a column showing whether the source passed each
stage of the test. Boxes marked green show that the source passed, boxes marked in yellow mean that
the source was unable to pass. More than one yellow box would mean the source is not reliable enough to
be used in my report.

Source 1:

Pass?

Currency

When was the

information published
or posted? Is this an
appropriate time?

Authority

Is the author stated? If

yes, are they qualified?

Relevance

Does the information

relate to your topic or
help answer your
question?

Purpose

What is the information

meant to do to the
reader? Could the
author have a bias?

After evaluating each of my sources using the CARP test, I can conclude (with evidence) that the sources I
have been using are reliable. This means that the research/investigation phase is complete - I dont have to
alter my research table or any information I collected due to the source being unreliable.

Entry #9 13.August.2015"

Creating a Design Specification"

Function

Specification

Justification - Why is it important?

When needed, the public should be able to easily access

my product films can be found effortlessly with these 2
websites in particular.

1.1
1.2

Performance

2.1

My film must be able to

be uploaded to YouTube
or Vimeo

Target Market

3.1

My film must appeal to

secondary students

Specification
4.1
Aesthetics

Justification - Why is it important?

As I have a more mature target market (secondary

My film must be of a high
students), a more professional-looking film would be more
camera and sound quality
appealing and therefore more effective.

My film must be well-lit

4.2 and have a somewhat
modern aesthetic
My film must be
5.1 convincing as well as
informative

Properties

The information in my film

must be fast-paced but
5.2
clear and concise (to-thepoint)

As I found whilst surveying my peers, fast-paced films that

are to the point are more appealing videos that are slow
and drag on are not.

My film must contain a

variety of angles and
5.3
creative editing
techniques

My film will include a variety of angles and creative elements

(such as time-lapse and stop-motion) as it engages the
audience and makes the video appear more professional.

My film must be
5.4 synchronized with the
chosen music

I have found that music videos easily engage my target

audience although my film is not a music video, my
editing will suit my audio as if it were one.

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21.August.2015:Meeting #3 with Mr.Erik Wilensky @7:00AM"
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Entry #8 21.August.2015"

3rd Supervisor Meeting with Mr. Erik"

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Meeting points:
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I have more than 6 process journals - currently on my 8th
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I am mostly done with my research

There is still more to do as I lost a lot of time
Id like to add to my research
I have to evaluate sources

Research Ive done:

Identified what I need to know
Why it is important/how knowing those things will be useful when I take action
Found out what I needed to know
I need to evaluate my sources to check reliability
I started my measurable criteria to rate the success of my product/outcome
I also decided to make an informational video about Bangkok
Scenes will be shot with a camera and text will appear displaying information
Simple, landscape shots
Showing interesting facts
I have an understanding of the planning phase
I will finish developing a criteria
I will show self-management skills using a detailed plan
I will record development
By the next meeting:
Ill have my research done
Ill have my criteria done
Ill have a detailed plan to manage my time
I may have started my final product

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Supervisor Feedback Notes:
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when look ing at specs, say on each band that if met, u would have gone through my process
not too difficult criteria. does it match my goal. realistic. top criteria marks = successful journals
show a variety of videos and see which one my target audience enjoys most
avoid disconnects between research and rubric - u should be able to track it back

 is it a complete circle? planned out well? end product in mind?

forward thinking
makes it easy to write report

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11.September.2015:Meeting #4 with Mr.Erik Wilensky @2:30PM"
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Entry #9 11.September.2015"

4th Supervisor Meeting with Mr. Erik"