L3 CMPT Final Major Project
WEEKLY REFLECTIONS
This is where you think about your FMP learning journey and development.
Dont simply describe what you did - consider what you have learnt and how this has benefitted your project.
Week 1 / 2
How has writing a concept / proposal
helped you with finalising your idea?
How did the feedback help you adapt
your idea what did you change after
feedback?
How has the research for your target
audience helped you understand your
production more fully?
Reflective Entries
This week you worked on your initial ideas and started your FMP
concept
Before writing down my concept, I had a wide variety of different ideas I
wanted to create for my final production. The songs I had in mind were of
different music genres therefore were very different in terms of narrative
and visuals, making it very difficult for me to choose one path. What I
knew I did want to create however was a music video with a purpose
much larger than itself, such as an awareness video about an issue. In a
segment of the past year, I researched into suicide being one of the main
killers among young adults as a separate project. This then inspired me to
make a music video to raise awareness about mental health. Getting this
idea then narrowed down the music genre I was to use as it had to relate
to the cause and be emotional for impact. After choosing the song and
writing about who Im making the music video for, I better understood how
I was going to go about creating the music video as I had a direct path to
go off of.
The feedback given on my brief suggested going deeper into the target
audience, looking at productions similar to support my proposal, looking
at other work produced by the artist and finally looking at other work
produced by calm. This feedback helped adapt my idea as firstly, I now
have a deeper understanding of who I may be creating my production for,
guiding me to have a more direct idea of what the content of the video will
be in order to appeal to them. Secondly, by looking at a similar
production, I was able to understand what made that video effective at
supporting the cause I myself am creating a music video for, allowing me
to know how I should make certain aspects of the video. Thirdly, looking
at work from the artist made me realise how I need to show them in the
music video and lastly looking at work produced by CALM helped me
understand how I can tend to the situation I am raising awareness for
better. After learning all this, I changed my idea to be based on one
person rather than more to help the audience fully attach to that person
rather than half attach to a variety of people. I also have the idea in mind
to have my video targeted towards the main group that CALM target their
campaign towards, late teens to young adults. I am now also possibly
taking a fully natural approach to the video as other videos created for the
same purpose as mine have done this. Lastly, I am not going to create a
video with a specific narrative anymore as many people who deal with
mental health issues arent experiencing them for the same reason,
therefore, by keeping it not story based it opens up to help more people
rather than a specific few.
This week you worked on your initial ideas and started your FMP
Research
The research of my target audience has helped me understand my
production more fully as it has given me a direction in terms of what I
should be including in my production. This is due to the fact to appeal to
certain audiences, the video needs to consist of concepts/products that
they would find appealing and would make them carry on watching. From
carrying the research out, I have gained a better understanding of what
the audience would like to see and has therefore made me more deeply
aware of what my production should be about and look like.
How did your primary research help
you?
How has researching the conventions
of your chosen genre helped you
understand what is required from you
in order to meet a distinction grade?
How has including a variety of
sources (primary and secondary)
helped with your understanding of
your medium / genre?
Primary research has helped me by giving me opinions on certain
subjects from different perspectives. I was able to gather information
through a survey on what people think makes a music video a music
video and how it could be successfully executed. I also gained knowledge
on why people think music videos are created and what they believe to be
the most commonly used content that clearly displays the video they are
watching is a music video. This again helped me develop what I should
be including in my production and how I should create it.
Primary research has also helped me by giving me a deeper
understanding of what my target audience would want from my production
and who they are most likely to be in the first place. I was also given
directions on what I should aim to have in my music video and what the
focus of the music video should be on in terms of narrative or visuals. The
primary research I had carried out resulted in being mostly filled out by
people who listen to the singer-songwriter genre a lot, therefore giving me
responses from people with first-hand experience with the genre. This
makes this research very valuable as a part of my target audience is
essentially telling me what they want.
By researching the conventions of my chosen genre, I am essentially
finding the building blocks for it. This means that if I am lacking
appropriate usage of conventions, not developing them to a sufficient
standard or lacking some conventions as a whole, my music video will fail
in terms of being classed as a singer-songwriter music video, causing
the music video to fail as a product for the artist. As other music videos
that are of a very high standard and are carried out by professionals exist
for me to locate, finding the music videos made for my genre has allowed
me to find the conventions that I need to achieve a distinction grade
piece. When looking through the music videos, there are clear and
significant trends I have recognised with the filming, lighting, mise-en-
scene, editing and narrative. These different aspects accumulate to
create the conventions of the genre, so, by me successfully identifying
them I should be able to successfully emulate them too. As feedback has
already been given on the videos I have located, I can pick and choose
certain aspects that people have said has worked and abandon aspects
that people have not agreed on, allowing me to create a production that
will hopefully have less negative criticism and be more suited to the
genre. Successfully inserting the conventions that I have discovered into
my production is essentially the only way I will be able to achieve the high
grade.
By including a variety of sources of both primary and secondary research,
I was able to gain a better understanding of my medium and genre as the
information found looked at same subject but in a different perspective.
After carrying out the secondary research for my medium, I better
understood what makes a music video a music video and the potential
they hold to be a powerful form of getting across a message, as well as
realising more how important it is for me to stick to the correct
conventions. By looking at music videos of different genres, I was still
able to find similarities within them which made them music videos
despite them being of different genres. These similarities are something I
will definitely have to include in my video as without them, my music video
wouldnt come across as a music video, an example of this, which despite
being simple is essential, is cutting to the beat of the track. The primary
research carried out for the medium helped me see what views other
people have on what music videos are and what theyre created of. I
better understood my medium after carrying this out as it helped me figure
out what the contents of a music video need to be and what people will be
looking for when viewing the music video I create.
After carrying out the secondary research for my genre, I located the
 conventions I need to use to make it fit the singer-songwriter image
through viewing other music videos of the same genre. This has helped
my understanding of the genre as I now know the values the genre has
and what it deems important in conveying to its audience, which is mainly
emotional relatability.
The primary research of my genre helped me understand my genre better
as most of the opinions given on the questionnaire were from people who
first-hand listen to the genre themselves, meaning they have prior
knowledge on what they feel should be included in the music video. From
the research I gathered specific elements I should include in my video
along with a better understanding of who would most likely be watching In
the first place based on the gender and age associations with the genre.

High Grade Tips

Research
Thorough research - include plenty of sources and detailed analysis of this information
relevant & coherent make sure your research sources are not just the same as the Media product you
hope to make - and talk about how they inform your planning
sustained continue your research throughout the eleven-week project and dont just limit it to the first
two weeks
accomplished & considered all of the above referred to in your daily/weekly reflections

Week 2 / 3 This week you will start your planning

What did you learn from your From the research I carried out, I created a Processing Findings
research? document where I went into a vast amount of detail and discussed what I
gathered from all my research. The main aspects I learnt from my
research were what my medium is and how I go about producing
something which looks like a music video, what the genre conventions
were and what I need to include in my video for it to fit that sub-category,
what the artist image is and how I need to keep consistency with it, what
techniques and editing I could use and develop to make the music video
far more interesting through inspiration from professional directors, who
my charity is and the cause they are fighting for, who I should be aiming
my music video at in terms of target audience and finally where the music
video should be aired.

How will this be useful to your
planning?
All of this research is essential to my planning as it has made me aware
of what path I should go down in terms of what to include in the video and
how to shoot it. By having all the information I have gathered, I am able to
plan the music video far better as I know what I need to be focusing on
and including in order for it to appeal to the audience I am now targeting. I
am able to think of what I am going to make the narrative of the video
along with the filming, lighting, miseen scene and editing of it now that I
have all the information I need to build it up. This is going to be helpful in
my planning as when I am creating the scripts, storyboards, locations etc.
I have an idea in mind of what look I am trying to achieve and what I need
to do to create that.

What sources of information did you
look at that were different from your
proposed project
The sources of information I looked at that were different from my
proposed projects were music videos of different genres with different
agendas. I felt this was necessary to do as I needed to figure out what
those music videos do in order to keep the audience attention throughout
the whole video and apply it to my own music video within reason of the
music videos genre.
What did you learn from your planning For the planning this week, I almost completed all my set production
this week booklet to a standard I am very pleased with. I may develop some
aspects however at the start of the next week to hopefully push the music
video further to result in a more successful idea and production. I have
successfully stuck to my production schedule and will be ready to shoot
on time. From doing the planning, I have created, learnt and studied
carefully the idea I am carrying out in order to execute it in a way that is of
a high standard.

What issues did you encounter and
how did you over come them?
Throughout the production process, there were no issues I encountered. I
am glad this is so as this shows over the past year I have developed the
skills required to create such items without consistently running into
problems, leading me to be able to follow through with my production
schedule and not be lagging behind.

High Grade Tips

Planning & Production

effective planning, organisation your FMP Workbook will explain what you need to do in the next few
weeks to make sure all of your planning is completed, and also how this will help you
efficient production against timescales your FMP Proposal will clearly identify how you intend to
create your project before the deadline in May
commitment & subject engagement all of the above referred to in your daily/weekly reflections

Week 3 This week was the start of your production process

What practical work have you done
this week - and how helpful was your
earlier planning
For the first day I worked on the final stages of my pre-production work,
this being the clearances and confirmations, contingency plan and
tweaking of the shooting script. This was to prepare for the filming I was
going to be doing on the 2nd day of this week. As I had an operation on
the 3rd day which meant I had to stay in hospital for a while and recover at
home, it was important for me to have the planning down to a tee as I
simply would not have the chance to shoot again. On Tuesday, I shot the
entire music video in the single day as that was the time I allocated to the
production. The earlier planning I had done proved to be crucial when it
came to the shoot day as it meant we just about finished within the set
times allocated for people and didnt run over. The detailed shooting script
I had created alongside the storyboard showing the angles and framing of
the shot allowed me to replicate and quickly create the perfect shots
without spending time thinking about what to do.

How will this be useful to you as your
production process continues
As my production continues, the aspect the preproduction will now
massively help (now that the music video has been shot) is the editing
process. This is because I am able to look at what is in the descriptions of
the shooting script and storyboards and edit the clips accordingly to
match. By having this guide, it saves me a lot of time having to decide
what goes where and how it should look, so, it is really essential in terms
of efficiency.
Upload and pictures you have taken

Production image

Backstage image

What issues did you encounter and
how did you over come them?
During the production, the main issue we came across was achieving the
directly overhead shots. We overcame this issue by locating a step ladder
in order for the camera operator to stand on. To prevent the camera
operator from leaning over and injuring himself, I attached the camera to
a tripod to which he then used essentially in a manner an overhead boom
mic would be. The camera was tightened securely in place however we
still did some test shots without anyone underneath the camera to make
sure it will stay in place and not fall off (I used a bag as a softening
mechanism if the camera did fall off to prevent it from breaking). Another
issue was achieving close up shots during the first segment of the video.
As both lights were turned on, the camera operator couldnt stand close
enough to my face as he would block the lights and cause a shadow. To
overcome this, we positioned the camera carefully so it was not
obstructing the lights and made the camera operator stand behind the
lights holding out his arms and using full zoom on the lens to achieve the
look.

High Grade Tips

Practical Skills & Presentation

Considered and capable demonstration of processes very detailed documentation of your
production process - such as still images, and annotated Screenshots of your specific production and
editing process including what and why, not just how
skills and knowledge used to develop alternative ideas evidence of different ideas developed for
more than one version of your Media product

Week 4 This week was the second week of your practical production

What did you learn in your sessions
this week
During my recovery, I continued to work on editing my music video now
that I had filmed it, however, this was not done in sessions but carried out
in the hospital and at home. This week I learnt that premiere pro has the
ability to link specific or bulk clips to an after effects composition, which
shows the effect changes in real time on premiere pro despite clips being
edited on after effects. This is excellent for me as it means I dont have to
individually edit a clip in after effects, export it and then import it into
premiere pro, saving me masses amount of time.
Have you tried anything new this
week - if so, was it a success
What feedback did you find most
useful verbal or written
How will this be useful to you as your
production process comes to a
conclusion
What issues did you encounter and
how did you over come them?
High Grade Tips
One new thing I tried this week was the link between premiere pro and
after effects. Using this link proved to be a success as it allowed me to
edit much more efficiently and effectively. This link allowed me to carry
out visual effects on the superior software for effects (being after effects),
whilst still allowing me to do the simple editing on the superior software
for doing this (being premiere pro). Another new thing I tried this week
was using the Film plugin in after effects. This plugin was very clear and
straight forward to use but still was a powerful tool in terms of what it
could achieve. In my case, used trial and error and tested out different
settings before settling on one which most replicated the look I was going
for, making the use of this plugin very successful. Another new thing I
have tried this week is using the HSL adjuster on Colorista III. I had not
used this part of the plugin before but when I stumbled across it and got
to grips with it, I was successfully able to use it to bring out the bruises
and cuts in my production and make them stand out more.
As I was not in my sessions, I had no way of gaining feedback of the
editing as all the files etc. were on my own laptop with myself. Although
this may be seen as a drawback to most people, I believe this was a
challenge for me that motivated me to do a better job with the music
video. This is because due to having no feedback, I had no choice but to
give the video my all and apply all the skills I have learnt over the past
year when it comes to editing to produce a high-quality product which is
successful without the teachers input or opinion. This I believe put me to
the test and really pushed me to achieve the best I can. What I did keep
in mind however was verbal feedback given to me on improving my skills
with cutting to the beat of the music in previous productions, therefore,
this has been the most useful feedback
As my production comes to a conclusion, the path of choosing a non-
feedback route could possibly end unfortunate. However, I am very
confident that what I have researched and applied to my music video and
how I have gone about creating it I have done so to a very high standard
and to the best of my ability. If the video proves to be successful, it has
shown my skills have matured and I am able to produce an effective
production without (starting from the pre-production work) regular
guidance from a teacher. It displays my skills of taking initiative and doing
so correctly, making the finished project a true display of what I am able
to achieve with the current skills I have, as there is still a vast amount I
have yet to learn and master over the course next year and beyond.
The issues I encountered werent necessarily issues but were more trial
and error due to utilising certain tools I havent used before. As I was new
to some of the plugins I used, the issue identified would be not knowing
how to use them. To overcome this what I did was essentially play around
and suss out what switch effects what on the image and from there
precisely adjusting the switches to achieving the look I want. This trial and
error formed different versions of my media product as I went along and
edited the music video as I kept going back and making tiny detail
changes to get it exactly how I wanted. There arent print screens of this
occurring as before settling on the look I wanted, the looks I explored
were based in the trial and error duration of the plugin. As this was
repeated several times, I hadnt thought of print screening as I felt I wasnt
actually deciding on a set look due to it being trial and error, which now
looking back on it I was and should have print screened. What I did show
was how I implemented artist inspiration which would have formed my
original concept but then how I developed it in order to not copy it and
have my own further developed idea.
Practical Skills & Presentation
Considered and capable demonstration of processes very detailed, annotated Screenshots of your
specific production and editing process including what and why, not just how
skills and knowledge used to develop alternative ideas evidence of different ideas developed, and
more than one version of your Media product
Week 5
What feedback did you find most
useful verbal or written
What did you learn in your sessions
this week
How has this helped you meet your
targets - see FMP Workbook
How helpful did you find the pitch
what feedback did you get?
How did your peer feedback help
This week was your finishing off week - for both your edits an
written work
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend any of the sessions this week
either due to medical reasons. Despite this, I persevered at home and
continued with my work to finish it on time. No assistance was therefore
given to me when it came to the final edit of my production, nor the
evaluation. I had to trust the skills I have developed over the past year to
produce a high quality product and a strong evaluation.
During the evaluation, I feel I better came to terms with how to identify
specific key moments and be able to analyse those in more detail than I
had before. Verbal feedback I had been given from previous evaluations I
had done was to improve in picking out precise details and talking about
them rather than being broad, which I believe I have successfully
developed the skills for and done in this evaluation. Other than this, I did
not learn anything new that I wasnt already aware of previously.
Looking at the FMP workbook, I have been given a descriptive pathway in
what I need to do in order to achieve my targets and to what quality of
detail to achieve the highest grade. It has helped me through the project
by giving me a base guide of what to work with and what needs creating.
From this existing, I was able to keep looking back at what I need to do
for my project to be successful and to reach the grade I want to achieve
and will hopefully achieve. As there is descriptions for each section of
work I needed to carry out, I made sure it was something I specifically
revisited to compare my work too and develop if the standard I aimed for
my work didnt correlate to the grade descriptors. This guide has made
feel secure in what I am creating and gives the right amount of
information to successfully finish the project with a successful product.
The work guide not being restrictive also helps as I was able to utilise my
creativity and create what I wanted to instead of a concept being forced
upon me.
The pitch was very helpful with demonstrating and advertising my idea to
the audience. I was able to confine my idea and put it into a 10 minute
slot which clearly explained why I was creating the video and who for.
The feedback I received on my production was very positive which I am
very glad about. Almost all the responses on the survey I created said my
music video was successful for the genre, the content was suitable for the
audience, the narrative did fit the genre, the technical aspects were up to
a high standard, the video did maintain their interest and the video overall
was very impactful.
The feedback I gained from my peers was very helpful. The reasons as to
why they felt aspects were successful was written and matched with the
intentions I had in using those techniques in the first place, meaning my
creative abilities were successfully tailored. What also helped vastly was
them not being afraid in listing negatives about the video and whether
they disagreed with certain qualities, this criticism is very constructive and
is something I can use to further develop my skills. Most of the problems
that were pointed out I personally did end up agreeing with too and would
improve if I had to produce this production or a production of this sort
again.
What issues did you encounter and I encountered no issues during this week as it was mainly just
how did you over come them? concentrating on gathering up and evaluating my work and preparing a
pitch.

High Grade Tips

Evaluation & Reflection

reasoned decisions and inform the development of ideas both your evaluation and the weekly
reflections above will clearly show both how and why your ideas developed throughout the project
demonstrating clarity in thinking all of the above plus very clear links between your research,
planning, idea development and the production of your poster and film trailer