FINALLY! I did Research!!

For this project, I researched sample documentaries and social media pages.  I will split my research into multiple posts. 

Documentary

The Netflix documentary "Explained" takes popular topics of the generation, and talks about its origin. growth, and effect on the modern era. The series has episodes that are 20 minutes long, which fits the target audiences ages 14-25. The series features numerous interviews, animations, inserts, and archived content, to create an in- depth analysis of the designated topic

I watched the episode on K-Pop, because the topic covered themes of culture, and how it spread through the world. The episode chronologically covered the growth of K-Pop, and how bands such as BTS made K-Pop popular internationally in the modern era. The episode visually displayed the growth of the K- Pop industry using timeline infographics, dates and titles, and added gray hues to certain videos. This showed the time elapse from the "start" of K- Pop, to more bright and vibrant colors, representing the K- Pop industry currently. In terms of the organization of ideas, the episode featured a major event that influenced the K- Pop industry. After, it featured numerous interviews and examples of bands that benefited from the major event in the 1990's. This format provided to the context of K-Pop, that is featured in various media, and may not have too much context behind it. Additionally, understanding the types of marketing involved in K-Pop, helps clarify how the collective identity of K-pop is created, and how it attracts to a wide variety of audiences. 

Social Media Page

Because our documentary project requires us to make a social media page, I decided to view the Instagram page for "The Social Dilemma". This is a documentary our instructor assigned for us to view, so I had context as to what the piece was about. This documentary talks about how social media has change Generation Z, and the way people perceive one another in society. The social media pages uses the same black and red color scheme, as well as the same font. This creates continuity between the documentary and the marketing tool for it, which makes it easier to market the piece. 

Next, the social media page features 3 to 5 major themes from the documentary. They feature two conflicting viewpoints related to the theme, to literally showcase the "dilemma" that occurs due to the product of tech companies. These posts can spark thought from potential audiences, who can gravitate towards the piece based on these topics. Additionally, the account features various guest speakers, that speak about issues that technology has caused in society. Some of the speakers are featured in the actual documentary. This choice can help bring more audiences to the documentary, who are fans of those speakers. Together, the social media page provides snippets of themes and content of the documentary, as well as related graphics and content, to market "The Social Dilemma" as a piece the current technology- consuming generation needs to see. 

Group Meetings

We had our group meeting today, and I got some good advice. 

Our instructor put us in virtual break out groups. to discuss with our classmates about our project. I was the only one doing the documentary project, but it was still greatly helpful to hear my group members advice. When presenting my idea, most all my group members were really responsive to it. They thought it was a great idea, and was relatable to a large majority of Generation Z people. They thought this idea was something that was feasible to do in the social- distancing circumstances, and would fit the criteria of this project. 

Some of the questions I posed to my group were based on design and marketing. I posed the question about how we could make our documentary design "inclusive", or having the color scheme representative of many different cultures. One of my group members recommended having an introduction that puts multiple flags together. This was a great idea, and is something Colin and I have discussed doing. We would want to make a sequence where we showcase flags, increasing the pace as we show more and more flags. This would help market the piece as media that involves a representation of as many cultures as possible. Additionally, another group member said to animate certain words the speaker is saying that are thought- provoking and important. I also thought it was a great idea, and is a relatively simple way to keep our piece engaging to our target audience. 

On the subject of animation, I was thinking it would be a good choice to do with this project. In our explanation of our topics concept, it would be helpful to use representations and visuals to illustrate our points. I asked my group members about some editing tools, and one member provided me some great advice. She recommended an app called Procreate, which has the ability to make a variety of simple and complex animations. Because I am new to the animation process, she gave me some tips on how to make simple versions. First, she advised to start off with a picture, and make annotations over that. It helps to have a guide for where to annotate, so the moving picture would look cohesive. Additionally, she talked about transitions between animations, and how you can use a text or slide moving feature, to make it seem like certain scene transitions are animated. 

The group meetings were very helpful, and helped me pinpoint certain aspects of the project I needed to research on more. And I promise, this next post will be my long- awaited research post. 

Schedule

Recently, we created a schedule for the duration of the project. We feel this schedule works because we both have a more concrete plan of what the final product is going to be. We came into this project with an idea of what we wanted to do, which makes the brainstorming and production time a little bit shorter than previous projects. 

We are currently on week 2, and have address numerous points in our plan. My partner and I have decided to keep the target audience Generation Z, because they are the most culturally diverse genre, and would relate to the piece the most. Additionally, Colin and I have first- hand experience about our topic, from the lens of Generation Z. Therefore, we both have an informed understanding of what the audience wants, in terms of production, marketing, and aesthetics. I want to research about production choices that would cater to a more Generation Z audience, to better inform ourselves about our audience. 

Additionally, we have decided to have 5 episodes in our series. This was a recommendation from our instructor, to have an odd number of episodes. Though, we agreed on this choice because our structure of addressing learning culture in a different country, how Colin and I relate to it, and some ways we learned traditions, fits in 5 episodes. We were thinking about defining our concept of culture and dual identity in the first episode, interview people and ourselves in the second and third episode, and address media, art, clothing and food in the final 2 episodes. I know art can include media and clothing, so that could be one episode in its entirety. 

I will continue working on research, as I am still lacking that perspective when brainstorming for this project. We received some great advice, so I feel we can come up with our idea by the end of the week, fingers crossed. 

Creating Episode Plans and gaining direction on Research

We had a meeting with our instructor yesterday, and got great feedback. 

The first feedback we received related to our documentary topic. My partner and I have agreed on our topic about learning a culture, while not living or being born in its place of origin. Though, we were unsure about how specific or general to be in the 5- minute excerpt. We had established a structure of defining our concept, how the concept relates to my partner and I, and ways we achieve the concept. In our case, we want to define what culture is, and what it represents to people, Colin and our families and friends experiences about learning culture, and how did they learn their new culture. Our instructor liked our idea, and said it was applicable to a wide target audience. She also recommended we focused on Generation Z and I wide range of interviewees. This would make our concept more relatable, and reasonable to conduct. We agree with this, and decided to research our topic under this parameter's. 

In terms of the episodic order, we are utilizing our brainstorming structure, to create episodes for the documentary. Our instructor recommended we do five episodes, based on her knowledge of documentaries with our distinct topic choice. We decided to take her advice on this part, because we already made the starting research for it. We did not need to start over with new ideas, and can use our previous structure for brainstorming, as a way to organize our episodes. Also, our instructor recommended that Colin and I be more the documentarians, instead of the people being interviewed. This would make our excerpt more versatile, by using experiences of learning culture, outside of our personal experiences. My partner and I agreed with our instructors point there, and have decided to expand on the concept part, related to Colin and I's experience about learning culture. We want to include family member's and friends, who have varied experiences. This makes our excerpt more relatable to our target audience, and help gravitate audiences towards our piece. 

In terms of research, it has been difficult for my partner and I. There are not many documentaries that are popular, with our topic or something similar to that. Our instructor recommended Netflix and Amazon documentaries, that have a similar format, or are independent production. Also, she told us to look at social media pages that advertise documentaries, to better understand the length and scope of certain documentaries and their episodes. With our topic affecting Generation Z the most, we decided that they would be the main target audience. Therefore, some documentary production choices we are planning is keeping the episodes short and having flashy components. Because Generation Z target audience has a shorter attention span, these choices would cater to the Generations liking, and hopefully produce a decent following for the film. 

I will continue tor research about the aspects discussed in our meeting, and plan to come back with copious research and a definite outline for our excerpt. Also, we will be having group meetings next class, which will help Colin and I gain insight from our peers, about our project idea and overall progress. 

Getting Somewhere

We had our second group meeting on Friday, and we found potential specific topics for our project. 

From initial research, the definition of a documentary is a non- fiction motion picture, who's purpose is to be used for instructional or historical use. It was important for us to identify a definition for this project, which helps limit the scope of our idea. From our previous meeting, we wanted to explore how people born in America learn about a culture they originate from in a different country. Based on that topic, I researched how streaming services like Netflix categorize this type of documentary. Based on my research, I came to the conclusion that the idea falls under the social and cultural documentary genre. 

With our preliminary research, we decided to look at past students A- level projects. Luckily, our instructor provides a website where students can view past A- level projects, to better understand how the final piece should look. We viewed 3 different documentary projects, and realized that we needed to narrow the scope of our topic. Because the project is a 5 minute- excerpt, our original idea will not be depicted in its entirety. We will have the opportunity to cover the beginning, middle, or end of our topic. Because our topic is multi-faceted and needs context, we decided to focus on the beginning. 

Additionally, from watching these documentaries, I started to see a common format. The projects I saw started with a concept or current event, that was explained in depth. Secondly, the project provided examples that correlate with the concept, and showed how the concept affected the person, place, or thing. Lastly, if the concept is an issue, the piece showed how to solve this problem, and provided a final resolution. This structure was something we utilized to further brainstorm, and come up with a more specific idea. 

We decided our potential concepts could people who have two different cultures, American and international, experience some sense of Americanization. When learning about a persons ethnic background from a place where culture does not originate, the traditions and values can experiences many forms of Americanization. Also, I thought we could focus on Generation Z in our concept, because they are considered the most culturally diverse generation. Therefore, they would be the people to experience learning about traditions and values of a separate culture, from an American perspective. For the part about providing examples, we decided to use ourselves as the examples. My partner and I are both Americans, that have learned about our ethnic background, traditions, and values, in America. Additionally, as we are both part of Generation Z, we bring an informed perspective that helps explain our topic better. Lastly, we wanted to cover how we learned about our culture and ethnic background,  such as through movies, food, clothing, and much more. 

We realize that we will not be able to cover all these topics and parts of the documentary. Though, we felt it was best to over plan and brainstorm more, in order to make a cohesive idea in terms of the episode and series. I will continue to research specific examples that talk about our topic, though it has been hard for me to find this. We are planning to speak to our teacher about our idea, to get her further input. 

A- Level Introduction Post

 This is the introduction to the A- level project. 

With the last few months of senior year, my goals for this project is to make something that is memorable and proud of. This year has been difficult in terms of being on tasks and motivated. Therefore, I want to utilize this project as a way to motivate myself for the next three months, and practice skills of time management and organization. 

I decided to work with Colin, who I worked with for my AS portfolio project and numerous class project. Due to the circumstances of online learning and social distancing, I did not want to work with someone new. Through our time working together, we have developed a great synergy, and really respect each others ideas and brainstorming processes. Therefore, I am confident that we will work together well, and recover from potential setbacks well.

We had our first discussion, where we decided to do the documentary project. We had some previous ideas in brain storming sessions, that we felt we wanted to use for this project. One of our ideas is about culture, and how that is expressed through food. Colin and I had a similar opinion about this, as both of our families value food teaches us value and traditions of our culture. Additionally, I thought about honing on the topic of culture, talking specifically about the generation of American kids, that originate from different countries. It is difficult to teach culture and tradition, to a child that is not born the original country of said culture. Colin and I understand this situation first hand, making this topic a bit easier to produce. 

We will have to research more into the genre, examples, and ideas for the 5 minute documentary excerpt. Also, we are working on making a schedule, that will be featured in our next blog post. But, we got a good start with todays discussion, and will continue to research to develop this idea more.