After reading the article on research journals, I realised that my journal for this year will take 2 forms, being both a literal notebook and this blog, where I will scan in certain parts of my literal notebook to showcase my creative processes and research. I also established that this journal is not a place of simply reflection but also a place where I can take sporadic notes and later reflect. When looking at some past projects I wanted to get a sense of the form they took and what they included in their projects in terms of the facets and what they outlined. I chose to look at projects where the subject was interesting:
Name of project: Perceptions of Australian film
Form: blog (wordpress) also a downloadable pdf format
About page: outlines the intention of the project: what was causing the negative perceptions of film in Australia? Research Brief- background, aims, scope, research questions, outcomes, timeline. Authors. Synopsis. Research Process.
Navigation: The blog has numerous different pages that allows clear navigation with a home page, about, findings, interviews, case studies, statistics, what is your perception?, links, pdf. There is also vertical navigation where each of the above sections are opened to view what is in each category, who is interviewed, what are each of the individual case studies, etc. In the about section it is outlined the different ways you can navigate the site.
Name of project: The Future Notes
About page: Can’t seem to find one there seems to only be an archive and no clearly defined catagories. Their question which is presented in their final post is: “How can record companies and signed artists better utilise the online music market to make money?”
Navigation: lacking it would be very difficult to find a certain aspect of the project, such as an interview as their doesn’t seem to be any device such as tagging, categories, etc.
to be continued…
This semester has been my best semester of blog engagement most definitely because I was most interested in this course. I feel that in the second half of the semester I have really worked on reflecting and blogging about the project itself, group work and resolving issues with our project, which I think was lacking with previous blog posts. I also think I have made every blog post worth it, none of the posts are rambly, well maybe a tad but they all are significant in terms of reflecting or sorting out information or just finding better ways to do things and actually thinking about what I have learnt, which I think shows my engagement with the course. As for that digital dossier it went very unnoticed and I regret that I didn’t make a conscious effort to watch some of those documentaries and was simply due to a lack of time and also my need to be really focused on our own project and our own editing that I got very wrapped up in this. In hindsight it probably would have been really worthwhile to step back from our project and see something else to get some editing inspiration or maybe something would click. However, I think I made a really big effort to use the screening and apply this to documentary on a general basis and my own preceptions of it. I think it is important to make the most out of everything you see or do and that does mean critically reflecting on these things because they do mean something. I also think it’s important to use your blog as a reference point, which shows through some of my more dull posts which just outline things we have to do or dot points about what I am thinking about. It’s good to write things down so you don’t forget and I did use my blog to do these kind of note taking exercises, though probably did not indulge into these further and explain them later in following posts. I also feel that I made a really big effort to reflect and spend the last week after our film was finished to really try to figure out what went wrong and right and what I would do better next time and also what I have learnt about my own filmmaking and what I enjoy or don’t enjoy. Therefore this is definitely my most personal blog because at times I almost feel that I am trying to find myself through writing, which I really enjoy and therefore I actually loved blogging. I articulate myself much better in words than talking through it so I also used my blog as a way to communicate with my group sending them links to posts because my blog got to the heart of what I was trying to express. Overall I got a lot out of blogging this semester in terms of cementing my ideas and sussing out if they are fading or solid ideas that can tangibly be brought into our documentary, which I am really happy about. On one final note: Documentaries are much more enjoyable to make than drama and I think in comparison to last semester that really shows through my blogging.
Since, our blogs are due in tomorrow I thought I would do a brief reflection on my reflexive practice so far. This semester I feel much more engaged in the course and feel that my blogging reflects this. I blog on a range of things that fit but aren’t limited to posts on lectures, tutorials, readings, making our documentary and various forms of research, which include watching documentaries and reflecting on those.
I feel that after completing True Lies I have a bigger grasp of this subject and aren’t afraid to reach out and explore things beyond the lectures, tutes and readings. I really enjoy watching documentaries to gain inspiration and have watched many that relate to our own documentary.
Even though I have missed a few of the readings I feel that I have engaged with the one’s that I have read and am determined to get on top of the rest. It is quite challenging to find time to read the lengthier readings, yet I should make a more conscious effort to read the ones that I haven’t as I feel that lots of the readings have really directed my next move and channeled how I approach things in terms of our own documentary.
Another area that I have not focused on is the Digital Dossier. I think this is mainly because I have been trying to focus my watching on documentaries that directly target homelessness as they will be more useful to our project. Also we have access and watch great snippets of documentaries in our lectures and now in our tutorials, which I have made a concerted effort to reflect on throughout. However, I probably could make the time to watch and reflect more on the documentaries from the digital dossier.
I also think I could reflect more on our group work, however this remains in Google Wave where we communicate quite regularly. I feel that I need to make more of an effort to blog on the progress of our group and outline meeting notes, etc. on my blog.
Overall, I feel that the quality of what I have written this semester has improved enormously since last in terms of engaging with the material. Even though there are a few black holes I feel like nothing that I have blogged about has been skimmed over, but explored in depth. For the rest of the semester I will work on blogging more on our ongoing group collaboration, the digital dossier and finishing off those readings.
Image reference:
Foxtongue, I’m Blogging This, flickr, CC-Attribution, http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/24720422/
I thought I would quickly, since our blogs are due today reflect back on this semester so far and talk about what I’ve done, and hope to achieve, improve, etc. This semester has been really busy and I have found it incredibly difficult to keep up to date with my work and I feel like there’s a giant amount of work colapsing on my head. However, this really isn’t the point. The point is my development in this subject. Throughout this semester I have blogged reflectively and consistently, averaging on about four blog posts a week and attempting to connect readings, lectures and things that I have watched or seen. This I don’t think has been as successful as I would have liked because once I start connecting all these things my blog posts become extraordinarily long and rather dull. Therefore I attempted to seperate these aspects, connecting them via refering to previous blog posts. I have tried to vary my blog posts in terms of different aspects of this course, including posts on the lectures, readings, production progress and things that I have seen and relate to the course. I have liked using my blog to build my thought process in terms of production work by using short films and other examples to build from in terms of finding examples and applying them in terms of what I have or more what we have to achieve as a group. I believe strongly that you learn from experience so by being able to reflect on my experiences within this subject I have understood different aspects of this course.
