Lara McEvoy - 319311
Unit 13: Final Major Project
week 1: 6/2/24 - 9/2/24
Tuesday: 6/2/24
My initial reaction to FMP 2 is a lot different to last year as I don’t feel as stressed about which is quite weird when this time it means something and has an impact on what I go on to do next. I think because I knew it was coming and have thought about what I want to do for a month or so it doesn’t seem quite as daunting. We were walked through the entirety of the brief today which is really helpful as I can see how much work there is to do giving me time today to prepare and organise myself ready for this.
I started out by creating a to-do list, on Microsoft To-Do, where I have written down everything that I need to do. Now this isn’t in huge detail however it is enough for me to understand what is needing to be done until I get to completing it, which is when I will add more detail and notes as I will have a better understanding of what it is exactly that I am wanting to do. Along with this, unlike last year there aren’t ‘set’ deadlines for work to be completed by. What is meant by this is that I have a rough guide of when my lecture’s think work should be completed by, but it doesn’t have to be exactly to this. There are some deadlines which are there and need to be met, such as proposal being done, as I will then have a meeting with my mentor (Danny) who must approve it before I can move on any further.
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As a whole I feel a lot more prepared for this FMP compared to FMP 1, however I know there is going to some challenges thrown my way which I am ready for.
Wednesday: 7/2/24
Today I made a start on ideas development, so this involved creating my initial ideas mind-map and a documentary idea one. Creating the initial ideas mind-map allows me to see which medium of media is going to be best for me to produce, and to explore other ideas such as music video and short film. To the right is a time lapse of me completing the initial ideas mind-map, I found that putting my phone up on a tripod and creating a time lapse means that my phone is out of the way and not a distraction for me.
After the time lapse I then moved onto creating another mind-map which was solely focused on my documentary idea, this was done because I decided that from the initial ideas mind-map the ideas I had for a music video and short video weren’t the best or realistic for me to be able to create within the timeframe and my own limitations. So, creating a mind-map for the documentary ideas will allow me to explore them further before looking into 3 in detail tomorrow.
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Personally, I feel as though I am a lot more stressed today that yesterday as I already feel as though I am behind, but I know I’m not as I checked when the deadlines are set by college and I am on track for the timeframe I have been given. So tomorrow I am going to work on developing the three ideas by creating mind-maps, mood boards and a SWOT analysis for all 3 main ideas.
Thursday + Friday: 8/2/24 – 9/4/24
On Thursday and Friday I worked on writing up the three ideas in more detail, creating a mind-map, mood board and SWOT analysis for each. Doing this allows me to assess the ideas and see which one I am wanting to choose for my chosen idea. With idea 1 I found that though this is the idea that I am leaning more towards, I have less though for content on my mind-map in comparison to idea 2. I feel as though this is because I have thought about idea 2 before so have a rough plan of how it would work/be structured, whereas with idea 1 it’s a newer idea so I haven’t thought about it as much. Because of this I am going to go back to idea 1 after writing about the other 2 and see if I can use blue sky thinking to get more ideas down. Blue sky thinking is where you write down whatever comes to mind, no matter how over the top or unrealistic it is, it’s ideas which can later be adapted if I want to.
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Focusing on the completion of idea 1/2 took up a lot of my time on Thursday and Friday, meaning I had less time to write up my journal, however I planned out to write it on either Sunday or Monday, so that it gets done and doesn’t start to pile up. So far, I have found that through breaking down the project brief with deadlines has allowed me to realise that the work I must do is doable within the time frame given. I just need to work at my own pace to ensure that the work is done in time frame, while keeping up the quality of work to a high standard. Next week I am going to complete the ideas development stage of the project, including the first draft of my project brief, if this is done then I can start to work on the research stage of the project.