June 18, 2007

Review...

“It’s a Womans World” is a short documentary, exploring the controversial issue of domestic violence, depicting the story of a 16 year old girl: Amrit Birk who had also been abused by her current boyfriend.

The opening of the documentary is a montage sequence using images of victims of domestic violence, instantly grabbing the attention of the audience. The documentary follows Amrit, which is specifically done through talking to the camera as a diary entry, also enabling the audience to identify with the character, showing the harsh reality of domestic violence.

The documentary aims to create a moral at the end, and hopes to encourage other victims to speak up, we explored the issues of domestic violence in “It’s a Womans World, while still challenging the stereotypes of woman. We ensured to show factual information by including shocking statistics such as “One in four women are abused.”

Interesting Facts:
While filming Amrit when she’s going to a “rave” we soon discovered Basrans inability to drive, as she couldn’t even move the car, stupid cow has had how many lessons?! Yeah nice one!
Also the infamous scene of Amrits talking head: it was just hilarious, and I actually couldn’t keep my laughter in, and had to hide under the bed to stop myself from laughing.


Pooja x

June 17, 2007

...ReVieW...


“It’s a woman’s world”. It’s an informative and educative documentary depicting the life of a 16 year old girl, who is domestically abused by her boyfriend. The documentary’s main protagonist is Amrit Birk, who is continuously abused by her boyfriend. We open up this documentary with a montage sequence of abused women in order to have a hard hitting effect on our audience and show its seriousness. Amrit is a normal girl who is introduced when we see her ready, going to a party. We then show her crying as she talks about how her boyfriend abused her for going out. This has been used for the audience to identify with the reality of domestic violence and how you don’t need to be a certain age to experience such aspects in life.
We conclude this situation with showing Amrit to be courageous and sticking up for herself by going to the police and reporting the abuse.

FACTS:
When we went to film Amrit’s crying scene…Pooja the little Madame would not stop laughing! We did about 50 re-takes and just when we thought Amrit’s finally being serious and were getting some were we’d hear that weird laugh from under the bed as she laughed so0o much she didn’t even realise she moved her way to being under the bed!
When we first started filming we were going to have 2 little girls saying “because were worth it!” so we get into the park with the kids making them say it a 100 times…making it perfect…spending 2 hours in the park and what happens?....we go Ealing the next day realising that we recorded over ALL of our previous filming including the park scene had gone!

xXx..BaZza..xXx

For my practical production, I worked in a group of three to produce a short documentary called “It’s a woman’s world”. It’s an informative and educative documentary depicting the life of a 16 year old girl, who is domestically abused by her boyfriend. To overlap with the theme of the documentary, we felt it was vital to name it “It’s a woman’s world”. This title enforces the fact that the target audiences for this documentary are women. With the use of, “woman’s world” and its theme of domestic violence we were able to create a sense of enigma for both our primary audience of women and secondary audience of men.

During the planning stages of our practical production we decided we would share responsibilities and collectively put forward any ideas and suggestions we had for all our strengths and weaknesses to neutralize. However, there were a few limitations to such a decision as it resulted in unequal input from a member of the group, but she soon realized her mistake and put twice as much effort into the production. A main plus point for the group had to be filming the footage and capturing it, which I became a specialist in. Nevertheless due to a vague structure and not much planning, we as a group had to start filming more footage while we were in the stages of editing. Due to this, editing became across to be a stressful challenge but we soon overcame this by researching into previous documentaries produced by GHS students along with documentaries on “you tube”. On the other hand my role in the group remained consistent when producing ideas. Filming, capturing, logging shots, looking after the equipment and editing.

The opening of our documentary is a montage, creating moral panic by the use of horrific images of women that are abused. This is then juxtaposed by images of women posing. These juxtapositions are split with a scratching sound of a CD. This juxtaposition was influenced by “Man with the movie camera” which was studied in module 2. The use of such juxtaposition was to enforce two main ideologies, the hard hitting images of the abused women are anchored by a non-diegetic sound “It’s a mans world” by James Brown. This enforces the patriarchal ideology and contrasts with the images and it being a man’s world as all the images are of women being abused. We used continuous cross-dissolves along with a white fade for the images to go slow and hit the audience. This first track also contrasts with our title of “it’s a woman’s world”. This is then followed by images of independent, smiling women which is anchored by more non diegetic sound by Shania Twain- “I feel like a woman”. This enforces the feminine ideology of how women are independent. With the use of more continuous cross-dissolves, we also speeded up the images for it to be eye catching. The opening to the documentary is structured in order to engage the audience and to enforce our strong views on such a serious issue, which also creates enigma.

The documentary is followed by a moving image of people walking to show a busy lifestyle and how people would portray a normal lifestyle to be all about work. This also includes a voiceover which states facts and a short definition of domestic violence. This is then followed by a longer definition of domestic violence, produced in our vox pops. These have been selected in order to construct the definition and create a sense of practicality. Due to the fact that the people are of all ages, this will be more appealing and will make an impact on the awareness of domestic violence.

We are then introduced to our protagonist, Amrit who is shown to be sitting at the bus stop, living a normal teenage life. We then show her being supercilious all dressed up as she is ready to go to “a over 18’s gig” and is talking while looking in the mirror as well as holding an Alize bottle at the age of 16. The continuity is then portrayed when she runs towards a car by which she will be traveling to the gig in and is continued again by showing the car zooming off.

After studying Bowling for columbine in module 2, we realized in order to create an ironic point we need something outstanding and at the same time to be assertive, we then decided to have a scene in which Amrit rings a helpline, screaming and panicking in order to engage our audience this is also done through have a black screen with subtitles of what is being said. This is also shown in bowling for columbine when real life footage of a shooting is shown. We then decide to add more documentary conventions which also shows the disequilibrium, this is the talking head of Amrit with her crying and telling the audience about her being abused, this is also emphasized by cinema Verite style footage which gives the impression that the footage has not been mediated, therefore creating a sense of authenticity.

To conform to Todorov’s narrative theory we enclosed equilibrium of amrit at the bus stop followed by disequilibrium of when she is beaten and then a resolution of when she goes into the police station to press charges upon her boyfriend. Before her police station scene we try to create a sense of realism and emotion in which we show flash backs in this non –linear narrative structure followed by vows in which a couple promise to be together “in good times and in bad”.

It’s a woman’s world will be shown on a commercial channel such as channel 4 as this channels targets similar audiences and tackle everyday issues, such as domestic violence. We have achieved our aim of creating moral panic and showing the awareness of such incidents. However, we could have shown her boyfriend and his actions in order to create more of a panic and more of a sense of realism.

In conclusion, it’s a woman’s world serves its purpose of informing and educating its audience. Along with successfully enforcing Todorov’s theory of a narrative structure and ending it off with a message of “speak up” after a few facts with the use of more continuous cross-dissolves. Including a help line for all those who are in need of help and to free themselves from domestic violence.

xXx..BaZza..xXx

June 15, 2007

Review
It’s a woman’s world, a hard hitting documentary on domestic violence. Depicts the life of a 16 year old girl, Amrit and her struggles of coping with a young teenage violent relationship. The story of Amrit builds up with her doing things in which a 16 year old girl , would be doing but results in her boyfriend disapproving and aggressively ‘beating’ her on a dance floor. She then confides with the ‘nation’ and tells her trauma to a diary camera.After copying with the violent relationship for a short while, she decides to pluck up the courage, and call a domestic violence helpline but soon realizes she is not brave enough and hangs up the phone.

Amrit then realizes enough is enough and chooses to confide in the police about her ordeal after being afraid to step out of her house and receiving numerous threats, from her vile boyfriend. To allow the audience to see the hard hitting reality that domestic violence occurs in marriages we decided to include a scene with ‘ wedding vows’ to allow the audience to open there eyes and see that this sort of behavior should not occur in relationships especially those which are solemn .
To end her torment Amrit ends with her telling the police about her suffering after contacting a domestic violence helpline.Communicating to the audience help is available if required.
Amrit.
Yea Yea...A Grade..!!!!!!

May 08, 2007

Last Progress Report :(

Well, well, well...i bet im not the only one when i say i wont be sad to see the back of the editing suite.It's been a hectic few months and at stages and we never thought we'd get there but against the odds we made it...and i believe produced a wondeful documentary (Seeing has i am staring init.)...Eveythings been handed it and burnt on to cd,so theres no chance of Mr.Bush saying " Just a few more changes"... (i hope)..now we will just have to wait and see and hopefully get the grades we want...I just want to say a special thanks to all the mentors and Mr.Baboo..and a special EXTRA thanks to POOJA & BAZZA...where would i HAVE been without you two...and Well Done to everyone eles...!

Practical Production Evaluation

For my practical production I worked in a group of three and produced, a short documentary called ‘It’s a woman’s world’. It is an educational documentary depicting the life of a 16-year-old girl who is suffering from domestic violence. To correspond with the theme of documentary we felt it was vital to include the words ‘Woman’s world’ which will entice our target audience of young females and make them aware that a situation will be overcome has well has creating some enigma within the theme of domestic violence .
In the initial stages of planning, we decided not to allocate individual roles and responsibilities but instead share the contribution so we would have a variety of ideas. Our strengths in producing the documentary were at first filming the footage and capturing it. On the other hand the editing process became stressful for the whole group and has we struggled to make a narrative and struggled with the actual footage we had, due to not planning successfully it was evident that we needed to record some more footage which held us back from the editing process. After that, we decided to look at previous documentaries made by our peers and from that make a storyboard. All the same, within the group, we had similar roles and turns in who would edit on what day I assembled a storyboard in which we stuck by and researched and analyzing similar documentaries, which showed later on in the month. I also helped with the filming, logging sheets, looking after equipment, and editing.
After studying ‘The man with a movie camera’ in module 2 we used juxtapositions in the opening of our documentary which is a montage of troubling images of woman & children who have been abused by partners and fathers, showing patrichal ideology. We ironically played over this sequence ‘It’s a man’s world- James Brown’, causing enigma within the first few seconds of the opening, this also allowed us to grip the audience’s attention and showing the seriousness of the issue so early on in the documentary. Furthermore, we used continuous dip to white, and continuous cross-dissolves allowing people to get a ‘sigh of relief’ before seeing another image. After that we added a dj scratch to show and enforce out title that it is a ‘woman’s world’ by putting images of various girls & woman head to toe playing the non diegetic music over ‘Shania Twain- man I feel like a woman’, this also related to attracting out target audience. This was then enforcing feminine ideology into our production showing a minor dual narrative, as well has subverting the audience perceptions of the documentary.

We then added a blurred image of busy people & lifestyles with the voice over stated the definition of domestic violence and the facts. We then had the public opinion of domestic violence, which showed the harsh reality of it and toward the end one male stated with ignorance it is a patriarchal society. We specifically selected the vox pops to help create a sense of realism in which it shows everyone is aware of domestic violence. There are various shots throughout the documentary to communicate our intent and the types of ideas and values we are encouraging. There is an opening sequence to introduce the main protagonist (Amrit/Me) in which I am sitting alone on a bus top to show my innocence and me being an everyday teenager. There is then a scene in which I am talking to the camerawoman but am looking in the mirror to show me to be ignorant. I am asked where am I going, and I say to an over 18’s rave, this is then anchored by me holding a alcoholic drink bottle this could be showing that because I am acting maturely this may be the reason my relationship has also advanced.
We then have me running straight into a car with the use of continuity editing it is visible after the mirror scene that I went into the car, my young woman friend who is driving shows her zooming off this shows the young, ruthless side of teenagers.



Following studying ‘Bowling for columbine’ (2002), we realized the impact of having a phone in used. So we then mirrored the phone in and had a call from me talking to a domestic violence helpine.This was shown with a black screen and what I was saying was typed out, copying conventions of phone ins , which the sound can be distorted creating practicality. We then added a juxtaposition within this by adding wedding vows has a voice over and images of me has snap shots to contrast, we added this because this would make the secondary audience of men think about their action has during wedding vows they do not state they will abuse wives.
To conform to conventions of a documentary I did a scene, which involved a talking head this showed me being emotional. This reality of the documentary and allowed me to express my feelings and talk about how my boyfriend had abused because earlier I went to the ‘club’ in a car this helps to show the narrative, which will entice the young youthful audience. I then go according to Rabigers suggestion that a documentary should tell a good story I resolve the whole domestic violence issue by reporting it to the police we used continuity editing showing me just walking into the police station, with the help of the voice over stating I reported it to the police. However, this can be a weaknesses within the production because I should have actually spoken to a police officer, has this would help to mediate the documentary and overall be more appealing to watch.


Toward the ending we had black screen with facts of domestic violence with parallel music of ‘Alicia Keys-Woman’s worth’, and when the beat kicks in we have the ‘SPEAK UP’ in capital letters. This informs the audience to follow in what Is seen has the correct way my footsteps and report domestic violence, seeing has it shown the best thing to do.

II's a woman’s world’ will be shown on a channel 4 a commercial channel, as they target the audience that we would like to reach out to and show a variety of similar topics. In conclusion It’s a woman’s world serves it purpose to inform & educate the audience about a specific subject.

..A M R I T..

May 04, 2007

Evaluation

For my practical production, I worked in a group of three, where we produced a short documentary called It’s a Woman’s World. The investigative documentary gives a brief insight into the topical issue of domestic violence, we followed a 16 year old girl who had been affected by this issue. We chose name “It’s a Woman’s World” as we wanted to create a feminist approach, juxtaposing to the infamous phrase of “It’s a mans world” and also to the whole issue of domestic violence. “It’s a Womans World also shows that we have challenged the typical stereotype of women, creating enigma, therefore appealing to the target audience.

During the beginning of the production, we agreed not to allocate any specific roles and responsibilities, therefore each member will have equal opportunity in all the tasks. However we soon learnt that the there was not always an equal input from all group members, due to differences in when each member was free and willing to do editing. Yet, my input into the group was constant, and I used all available time to progress with the production, this being the
planning, editing, and making key decisions about the structure of the documentary.

The opening of the documentary is a montage sequence using images of victims of domestic violence. In order to create more of a shock effect to the audience, we decided to use a white dissolve instead of the usual dip to black; this put more emphasis onto the images, as well as enhancing the professionalism of the documentary. The background music of “It’s a mans world” by James Brown is parallel to the images reinforcing the message of patriarchy. This
conforms to Barthes theory of enigma codes, due to the disparity of the name of the documentary; It’s a Woman’s Worlds. There was then a scratch put in between, where the music changed to “Man I feel like a woman” and consisted of various clips of girls smiling and posing. This showed a dramatic contrast between the two diverse representations of women, coinciding with Strauss’s theory of binary oppositions. Immediately the audience is made aware of the issues dealt, and identifies the primary target audience of young women.

As all documentaries, It’s a Womans World was shaped and constructed to show a certain viewpoint, and reinforce our own messages. We used the convention of the “talking head” where someone talks directly to the camera, in our case, the main protagonist Amrit. By acknowledging, the presence of the camera when she turns it on conforms to the genre of the documentary being investigative. The talking head gives an impression of authenticity and presentation of facts, because we had not edited the scene, shows that we had used raw footage,
creating a more realistic approach.

Furthermore, we paid attention to detail, by ensuring the mise en scene was a feminine colour representing a fun atmosphere, however contrasting this to the emotional scene of Amrit crying. We realised that Amrit’s talking head was a long scene, and would be appropriate to cut down to engage the audience through out the whole documentary, however we decided not to edit the scene to accentuate the authenticity. On the other hand, we then constructed the vox pops with
the aim of creating a definition of domestic violence by selecting certain words and phrases, ensuring that the information was accurate, therefore educating the audience.

To engage the audience, we constructed a phone call, where Amrit had called a domestic violence helpline when being abused, she sounded very distraught and traumatised, giving the impression of actuality, and reinforcing the seriousness of the issue. The background was also kept black to ensure the audience focus on what is being said, creating an emotional tone.
Similarly, to “Bowling for Columbine” studied in module 2, where Michael Moore shows raw footage of the shooting in the school from the fly on the wall cameras to enhance an emotional attachment to the documentary. The documentary is based on juxtapositions of various sequences, which created irony, for example the opening contrast of women, and the juxtaposition between the two ideologies of feminism and patriarchy. This is similar to “The Man with a Movie Camera” by Dziga Vertov. He used juxtaposition of different ideas and images together such birth and death in order to create more impact.

We employed Todorovs narrative theory by having Amrits story finally come to an end, where she decided to go to the police and report the crime. By doing this the documentary had progressed from the equilibrium of Amrit going out with her friends to the disequilibrium when Amrit had been abused, and then the new equilibrium, where Amrit decided to stand up for herself, which again reinforced the feminist view. This also conformed to Rabigers theory of telling a good story, which helps narrate and structure the documentary. The representation of Amrit was shown in a heroic light, which challenges Propps theory of character roles, as a make
is usually the hero. However, we did employ this theory in one aspect, by including a hero and villain, this being the boyfriend who abuses Amrit. We finished the documentary with a number of statistics such as “one on four women are abused” which brings the documentary back the to the issue of domestic violence, with non diegetic, parallel music by Alicia Keys – “A Woman’s Worth” coinciding with the focus on women. Conversely, we could have included more factual information about domestic violence, which would educate the audience and raise more awareness of the issue.

It’s a Womans World will be broadcasted on Channel 4, which is a commercial institution, who often target a similar audience to ours. It fits into this category, as the main function is to inform, thereafter education and entertain. Furthermore, it would be appropriate to show the documentary after watershed, where most young girls will watch television.

In conclusion, It’s a Women’s World fulfils the purpose of entertaining and more importantly education the target audience. We aimed to communicate to the audience the consequences of domestic violence, and encourage women to stand up for themselves. The documentary followed a narrative structure and told a good story which is essential, as said by Rabiger. We explored the issues of domestic violence while still challenging the stereotypes of woman, creating a successful and unique documentary.

Pooja x
Woo Woo!!! Well we've had our final tutorial with Mr Bush, and it looks like we're finally finished! :D What a relief ey!? Hmm well we've worked really hard on it, even though we had some difficulties with the documentary, and ended up changing the whole idea...its all good! Lets just hope that we get a good grade as well. Ofcourse, thanks to Mr Bush, Mr Babu and last but not least the special mentors!

Pooja x

April 16, 2007

Progresss Report

They think its all over.....it is nowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Well hopefully everything is done and thanks to my superb acting ehem it looks rather good....

April 13, 2007



PrOvOkEd!

A TRUE story of a Punajbi woman Kiranjeet Ahluwalia who leaves India to marry a London-based guy, only to be badly abused when influenced by alcohol. She ends up in prison for murdering her abusive husband and burning him to death... This is a story of a lady who lives in Southall.. her attempt of burning her husband was not to death but just his feet so that he wouldn't be able to get up and beat her even more....She suffered for 10 years and kept quiet. Kiranjeet is one of many who is abused daily for "watching TV"..."drinking black tea" (as quoted in in the movie)..In provoked we see kiranjeet being raped, punched, thrown down the stairs when being pregnant any many other violent incidents which take place with her. Many of these were not shown due to the acts being too violent. When she was prisoned for life Southall's Black sisters helped her gain her freedom and and that's why it has been said " In prison she found her freedom!". We also witness how her mother-in-law did not protect kiran and admit to everyone how her son use to beat his wife.. even after knowing she was not guilty of her actions she accused her of being arrogant and did not allow Kiran to meet her two sons.

xXx BaZzA xXx
LAST WEEK

wo0oho0o0o we have finally FINISHEDDD oh my dayss these few months have so0o0o been worth it but when we played over the WHOLE of our documentary its like oh my God it took all these mornings and late night editing to produce just 5 minutes of work.. but i love it n its so0o wikidd and like yeah.... i so luv the ending ahaha... all that complaining about how we hate editing and blah blah welll i must admit i'm kind of missing editing and our documentaryy ..WATCH IT PEOPLEE andd you silly men think twice before raising your hand to a woman.... BaZzA...PoOjA....AmRiT well donee! haha anti-domestic violence all the wayy.... and after u watch our documentary i advice you to watch "Provoked".... omg its so0o SAD ...okay this course is still not finished still got the EVALUATION don't forget that people.. so im off to do my evaluation... and well done to everyonee...:D:D:D:D

26..03..07

OH MY DAYS..... last week and its like WOW we actually no that were going to finish it off on time and its going to be the best of our ability...yeah the groups had it's ups and downss but we've actually worked to gether and we're so lucky because mr Bush has given us up until next thursday so0o like yeah cheers for thatt ....but as for noww one shall go and do some more editing...

xXx BaZza xXx

April 03, 2007

Check List:

Hmm lets just make a little list to see what's been done, and more importantly, what needs to be done:

1. Introduction- make sure all the pics are okay and they dont have anything written on them eg copywrite!
2. Try to sort out the Shania Twaine song so that it flows and you cant hear the jolt!
3. Vox pops - looks pretty good at the moment, but could try to speed up the pace to make it more catchy
4. Fit Amrits intro (bus stop) to the whole scene (her night out)
5. Do the diary entry intro for amrits scenes! - Each time we see amrit is a new day- so 4/5 diary entries
6. Help line phone call is wicked - just make sure all the subtitles are right - no spelling mistakes
7. Need to do the vows, either before or after the helpline phone call - we'll see where it looks best
8. Sort out the last scene of amrit going into the police - could make it black and white right at the end to show the doc has come to an end.
9. Voice over - needs to be done with rupal!
10. Credits - car scene again! :D


Pooja

April 02, 2007

Make it Stop

WooooHooo! Last week of editing!!

And we're nearly donee! :D

March 28, 2007

Progress Report

26-03-07
After seeing the producvtion this week i can be slightly at ease,knowing that we;'ve got everything we need on the time line..so no more filming,capturing etc..Things have progressed leaps and bounds from day 1...which i'm happy about obviously.This week i added an ident to the beginning and i also added a 'scratch' on one of the scenes.We've arranged the voiceover with Ms.Ackermen...so hopefully all goes well....seeing has this is the last week of editing.........woo..!

March 26, 2007

Progress Report

This week seeing as i've been ill,i mised 2 sessions in the morning...so progress for me has been slow although i did my talking head scene which i was quite impressed with seeing has my acting was fantastic..if i say so myself ...this week we have also been finishing off the odd touches adding voice overs and so on..amrit

March 25, 2007

19/03/07
This week has been reallly good at first we didnt do much editing ( hmmm) buh then by the end of the week we got So0o0o0o much donee.... o0o00o0o and we filmed amrits footage again the whole talking head scene it was SOOOOOOOO funnyy pput vaseline n everyfin on her made her cry and we started filming but pooja the lil girl started laughing...well it was funnyyy.... Amrit n crying haha ..... added that to our time line and it looks wikid!...im kinda impredssed with the work our time line actuallly looks all fulll and we've managed to do quite a bit!...o0o0o n tuesday was well funnyy.. welll piss taking but funnyy.. we lost ALL our vox pops of the timeline which was horrible but then pooji wooji got a bit ticked off( dnt blame her) and she kinda had a go at Mr Babu..l. buh o welll we added it back again... next weeks the LAST weeekkkk...this is were all the stress starts ....1st bloody examzz and now the last week of editing all in one week and on top of that they set us homework.. gosh!! give us a break! anywayyyyy adios!

xXx BaZzA xXX

March 19, 2007

Self Evaluation

Amrit
Attainment-2
Effort -1 I believe i put all my effort in my work.
Punctuality -1 i believe i am always on time especially this term.
Submission and quality of homework -2 i always give my homewrork in on time,maybe could add more to it.
Ability to work independently-1 i am always able to highlight work alone and work independantly.
Quality of writing -2 i need i improve this before entering exam.
Organisation of Media folder -1 eveything is in folders and with dividers and neatly labeled.
Oral contributions in class -2 i mostly contribute to class discussions.
Quality of coursework -2
Standard of Module 3 blog-2 we add to it weekly always trying our best to keep everyone update.

targets
Improve my quality of writing.

March 18, 2007

Oooh yeahh:
another thing,

I LOVE MY GROUP:

AMRIT N BAZZA!!

:D

Pooja

Progress Report

Oooh only 2 weeks to go! :D Well this week has been pretty good, finally got the white flash sorted out, and it looks pretty good...i think it creates a more shocking effect to the audience which is exactly what we need. The opening is nearly sorted as well just need to add the finishing touches! But as Mr Bush said we need to re do Amrits scene again, with a few extra propps, eg mascara! Also, this week we shud hopefully sort out whos doing the voice over, and what needs to be said so that we can get that done as soon as possible! Cant wait for tuesdays late night editing!!! :D shud be interesting!!

Pooja x

Self Assesment

Attainment: 2 – i would say that I have generally done quite well, and learnt a lot of new aspects of media within the first term, however I feel that in certain lessons I do not learn as much.
Effort: 2 – I try to put effort into all my work, especially homework. However, my class work could be a bit more detailed in terms of note making.
Punctuality: 1 – I make sure that I come to lessons on time, and I’ve attended all the lessons for both teachers (when I am in school)
Submission and quality of homework: 1 – I always hand in my homework the day it was due, and I put effort in all my homework, ensuring that both presentation and content of the work is at the best of my ability.
Ability to work independently: 2 – I think I work fairly well by myself, with out other students and the teacher, however I could try to get to work straight away, making sure I do not waste any time.
Quality of writing: 2 – most of my work is detailed, and is completed to the highest of my ability, however I could improve by taking more detailed notes in all the lessons, which would be more useful for revision.
Organisation of media Folder: 1– all my media work is in a media folder, however some of the work is untidy, and so I could neaten up my notes, and certain handouts given by the teachers.
Oral contributions in class: 2 – I sometimes contribute in lessons, however I can improve this by contributing in all lessons, with both teachers.
Comments & contributions to the Macguffin blog: 3 – I add comments for homeworks, however I do not add any other comments. I could also try to add more detailed comments for the home works.

Targets

Try to contribute more in lessons.
Make sure that all my work is presented well, and is put into my media folder.
Put more effort in the work set on the macguffin blog, to ensure it is of high standard.

Pooja

March 17, 2007

12/03/2007

ThIs week has been hard work but hey if u want a A its gotta be done... We've started off well and most of Pooja's stress has gone seen as the thing she wanted most of all in our production was a white flash and im glad she did because it makes our work look WIKID....Thnxx pooji!..we started off well with getting images of abused women..urghh man they are welll scary! and the music too that is just so0o kool and then we decided to go off and film WOMEN posing for us to show the contrast between the abused women and the independent women! our vox pops are well kool aswell and o0o0o one main thing thanks a billion to POOJA n AMRIT are production wont have got far wivoutt the team work wo0oho0o0o got plenty more to do and just 2 weeks left s0o0o lets get working a bit moree and were all looking forward to tuesdayy.. eyy gurlss..stayin skool till 7 GOSH... i hope Mr bush has got my food ready! thnxx to the mentors and Mr Babu and all them people who give us good ideas :D we appreciate it alot! anywayyy... lets get on wiv it!

xXx BaZzA xXx
SeLf EvAlUaTiOn

# Attainment= 2


# Effort= 2
I tend to put alot of effort in everything i do...especially now seen as ive been moved away into a corner with all quiet people who don't talk..apart from rohini! so i have no choice but to work!

# Punctuality= 1
VERY punctual..

# Submission and quality of homework= 1
ALWAYS handed in on time...no matter what...but its not always 100% right...

# Ability to work independently=2
I can work independently but that does get boring at times so i enjoy group work aswell

# Quality of writing= 3
That needs to be improved i guess...but Miss jones will make that happen :D (my english teacher/ media teacher)

# Organisation of Media folder=2
yeah its all up to date...just need to file the work on that silly man *Hitler* and "man with the movie camera" work

# Oral contributions in class=1
i ALWAYS say something in class...

# Quality of coursework= 2
yupp its getting there...started off a bit hmmm butt were confident that its going to turn out to be WIKID!

# Standard of Module 3 blog (Year 12s only)= 2
i enjoyed it....could of warned us on some scenes in "man with the movie camera"... editiingss goin gooddd by the way but yeah this modules going good...

what to improve on:
1) Qualityy of writing
2) PUNCTUATION!

xXx BazZa xXx

March 16, 2007

Progress Report

This week ‘luck’ has been on side. Seeing as we found out how to do the white flash finally! I added some music over the montage sequence, which pooja finished off and we all worked together in producing an opening sequence. This week has been calm, because more things have been added onto the time line which makes us calm knowing that we are not to far behind.WFeedback from Mr.Bush means that we will reshoot my talking heasd scen with a bit of mascara and a few tears to make it look authenitc.. Just 2 weeks to go now and we need all the time available so we shall be in the editing suite whenever we can! Thanks to the mentors. & Mr.Baboo for helping us … Amrit x

March 13, 2007




It's A Womens World....?????

March 12, 2007

.. 5/03/07..
Finally this week things have been getting 'done'.We started plotting things on our time line after logging all out footage and filming is nearly all done !We have collected information on womens abuse and opur prouction looks like we;re getting some where...Than ks to all the mentors who have helped us and given us ideas and paths to go down..where would we be without them?...Hmmm anyway its been hard getting up xtra early and going home late but hopefully i won't fall back on any work ! 3 weeks down...3 to go..x
Amrit xx

March 06, 2007

Progress Report...

Wednesday 26th February:
Well we got started in the editing this week, and have captured all the footage which i must say was extremely tedious! but uhmm yeahh got that done, well we had to familiarise ourselves with the software, but i think we've got the hang of it now... also made a couple of storyboards, trying to figure out the actual structure of the documentary. We've also got all the music that we may want to use, so thats sorted. Next week we will start the actual editing.

Week beginning 5th March: Oooh well we wanted to edit the archive footage, however then found out that we couldnt just get that straight from the internet (bbc) so we then had to go and film that another time. But we've got started on the editing and have got some of amrits scene done...took awhile as we have loads of footage to cut, and we have to be really precise with the cutaways...but looks pretty good!

Pooja
5..03..07
o0o0o its been a pretty hectic week going into the editing room and having no were to sit (couldnt you have made the room any smaller?).. well we've done ALL the capturing of the footage and erm yeah we've just started off the introduction of the documentary and just exploring Adobe premiere and fingers crossed we should have the introduction finished by the beggining of next week if not the end of this week... oh n by the way thnkkss to our mentorss...RAMNEET:D n BUSHRA:D xXx



23..02..07

WeLlL this week we started editinggg... Mr Bush gave us a bit of a insight of how to use the software ( not dat hard). So we started editing and well its good apart from waking up EARLY n coming school for 8...and when we get on the bus Mr Babu's always on it so we know we can never be late :)... We've strtarded capturing all our footage so far and see how it goes on monday morning....

xXx BaZzA xXx

March 05, 2007

Progress Report

23-02-07
This week was the first week of editing , we had a lesson with Mr.Bush on Monday talking about how to use ADOBE 2.0.After that it was in our hands to add all the Necessary editing for our production.So far we have been to a few sessions after school and before school which means waking up xtra early!Thanks to the mentors, they have made our lifes easy by helping us and giving us the needed ideas... esp Ramneet x
Amrit

March 03, 2007

Domestic Violence

To show the audience what other aspects our documentary will be dealing with, i thought I'd add some extra information!! :D

Domestic violence is the power of men to control woman by physical force. Because it takes place behind closed doors it is extremely difficult to measure and document. Many woman fail to report violence because they feel they may not be taken seriously or because they are afraid of the repercussions. Acts such as kicking and punching are easily recognized, however behaviour such as threats, verbal abuse, psychological manipulation and sexual intimidation may not be necessarily seen as domestic violence.

Feminists beleive that domestic violence is a problem of patriarchy, and the violence may be an attempt to re-exert and maintain power and control.


  • Although domestic violence is chronically under reported, research estimates that it:
    accounts for 16% of all violent crime.
  • Has more repeat victims than any other crime (on average there will have been 35 assaults before a victim calls the police)
  • Costs in excess of £23bn a year.
  • Claims the lives of two women each week.
  • Is the largest cause of morbidity worldwide in women aged 19-44, greater than war, cancer or motor vehicle accidents.
  • Will affect 1 in 4 women in their lifetime.

Pooja...

February 26, 2007


Progress Report

The week started off pretty slow, but we actually got alot down! Firstly we got Amrits scene sorted, we were supposed to use the Mini, however this got canceled, but thanks to Basrans lovely friend, we borrowed his car and got the scene filmed! Took quite a few shots as Basran has difficulties driving...haha but yeahh its all good cos we got it done and it looks good! But i think we're gna need to dub over it, because the music didnt come out loud enough! We also got Amrits scene done after her "party" which looks really good!! We filming Pam aswell, she was great, and spoke really confidently, therefore we chosen her to be our second protogonist... we filmed an interview with her, where she spoke about her life and acheivements, which she gained WITHOUT A MAN!! :D and then we filmed her salon while she was working , looking ver professional. We also got some shots of the actual salon and her awards which will look great for the cut aways!! However we have not completely finished filming.... Sir wanted a certain student in the production, however he no longer comes to ghs, so we have to organise a time with him out of school, which may be abit diffcult! We also need to re shoot the interview with Ms Jones, however we couldnt do that during school, as she was busy... so all will be done this week! We have also done all out logs sheets, special thanks to bazza! :D

Pooja x

Progress Report...

Before half term:
Uhmm well this week has been disgraceful! We have not done anything at all! All out interviews seem to getting canceled, we got some footage but this was not suffecient enough! Lets hope we get everything else done next week!!!
Pooja

February 24, 2007

..19-02-07..
Well this weeks just been WIKID...well at first we were really behind and upset because all our plans were getting cancelled...butt our praying helped ha ha because that day we got hold of my cousins car..came all the way from uni just to let me drive his car ha ha.. he was actually REALLY worried finkin i'd stall or crash it so i was so careful with it driving all slow but then Amrit complained how i should be fast so i had to go fast lol but that day was one mad Day....o0o0o0o and the most important thing of all we found our second protagonist PAM SURI...a well known beautician (who gets her lot to do her make-up for her while she sits back n relaxes WOW) she was really polite and good so0o we decided to keep her and were going to go back to her to get more :D...well so far so good but theirs more to get but that's all going to be done when we get back to school!



..12-02-07..

hmmm well this week was alright i guess...didn't get much done.. a few vox pops...went Ealing and did abit of filming but eyy look on the bright side we always got the half -term to fix up on and get filming BIG tym so0o0o ere goes...


xXx BaZzA xXx

February 23, 2007

Progress Reports..

..19-02-07..
Final week...this week is the last week of rrecording so this half term has been hecticcccc,we've done a few more vox pops to finalise them.We also started recording scenes with me...these being a few shots of me running into a car and bein a drukard...we got these done afta all thhe odds were against us...we also found a better 2nd protangonist which is the partically famous 'Pam Suri'..she has helped us alot in our production and then we felt miracles really did exsist...now all we have to do is edit...wooOohOoo Filming is over.

..12-02-07..
This week progress has been slow( how suprising), but we got done a few vox pops during mr.bush's media lesson and we went to ealing to get some images of women working and doing daily chores.Let the half term roll on..

February 16, 2007

Test Screening Feedback


1. MCCAT:

  • Media Language (A-E)------: B
  • Conventions (A-E)-----------: B
  • Creativity (A-E)--------------: C
  • Attention to Detail (A-E)---: C
  • Technical Proficiency (A-E)-: C

2. Positive comments

  • (cinematography?)---: "it was good"..."camera work was steady"... "marvelous"..."very good"..."good shots & angles"..."some steady shots"..."good location"..."good angles"..."good shots of people"
  • (mise en scene?)---:"good"..."girlish stuff in the background"..."relevant settings"..."shaky camera-authentic for the documentary"..."bazza's g/m background was good-red knitting, red sofa" ( i didn't even realise dat 1 ha ha shows you were watching our footage carefully!)..."good to show your grandma knitting"..."good shopping centre setting"..."in the town- good setting"..."very good"..."fantastic"
  • (lighting?)---: "absolutely fabulous"..."good"..."very good"..."good lighting"..."good lighting in shopping centre and at the house"
  • (sound?)---: "sound was clear at some points"..."good"..."good in some interviews"...
  • (conventions? matching audience?)---: "towards women- shows good conventions"..."good"..."using different ages/genders- mainly women"..."mainly women showed which is good"...

3. Constructive criticism

  • (cinematography?)---: "bad"..."more close ups"...
  • (mise en scene?)---: "mise en scene at some points was not good"..."bad"..."the mise en scene of the vox pops"..."some backgrounds need to be changed"...
  • (lighting?)---: "a bit dull"..."bad"..."fair lighting"...
  • (sound?)---: "it was a bit loud at times"..."bad"..."sound is low when doing vox pops"..."talking needs to be made more clear"...."sound needed to be higher"...
  • (conventions? matching audience?)---: "bad"..."needs to relate more to women's views"...

4.
  • What else would you (or the target audience) like to see in this production? (scenes? sequences?)
"more creativity"..." various views"..."better sound"..."more updated music"..."show a range of different points of views"..."basrans mum"
  • Suggestions for post-production/editing (music? voiceover? cutaways? montage? cross cutting? titles? slo-mo?)
"voiceovers are needed on basrans g/m"..."more close-up shots"..."more zooms"..."cleare lighting"..."a better voice over"..."use sound and voiceovers"..."music"

xXx BaZzA xXx

February 14, 2007

'Myspace,

February 12, 2007

WhAt ArE YoUr ViEwS On OuR BlOg?

1. What do you think of our blog?
  • What do you particularly like about it? What's especially impressive?
  • What could be improved? What's missing or could be added?
2. Based on what you've read on the blog (and maybe seen in test screenings in class) what suggestions do you have regarding what we could do to make our Practical Production really successful?
  • What other things could we include in the production?
  • How should we go about filming any remaining scenes or editing the footage during post-production (+ suggestions for music, etc.)?
...BE NICE...
xXx BaZza xXx

Progress Report

This week:
Well we havent really got much done this week which is a shame as we planned to get some of the main scenes done.
Firstly, we accidently recorded over our filming, which was soo annoying because it was the scene with the little kids!!! We will need to plan another time to re shoot this scene.
We then went to ealing to finish off our vox pops, which actually went really well as we got some really good people.
On the bright side, Basran filmed her gran, asking about her past life and how woman were back in the days... which is perfect!!!
We also need to re shoot the interview with Ms jones, as when we looked back onto it, this scene did not look right due to the mise en scene, and it did not look professional enough!!
Overall this has been quite a disappointing week.. we did not get enough donee

During the next week
We will definatly re shoot Ms Jones interview
Also film an interivew with amrits mum!!
And Hopefullyyy organise when we can film amrits scene ( at a party)

Pooja

Progress So Far...

This week the progress of our practical productio0n has been..Slow.We had to re shoot some scenes and re-do a few of our vox pops.We also got some new footage of Basrans grandma..But we nweed to be in a rush because basrans grandma is sadly leaving for India so the scenes need to be at thier best before Tuesday!
Plans for this week:
Start shooting my scenes again
Follow Miss Jones about getting in & out of her car.
Finalising outr vox pops and making sure our lighting and camera work is at its best.

AmRiT

February 10, 2007

PrOgReSs RePoRt On WeEk 05/02/07

This week has been the WORST week so far..lets start with the negative points and work our way up to the positive.. so here goesssss.....
* well firstly when we had to show our footage to the class, we couldnt hear any of the footage so we had to go back to Mr Babu to chek if iit could be heard on ADOBE and it did work...PHEW!
*secondly, we went Ealing on the 6th Feb and realised towards the end that we had recorded over ALL our footage we had filmed so far...yep we were going to cry in the middle of Ealing :(! "were the "bozos" of the class" as Mr Bush would say!
*Most importantly we recorded over our "professionals" part so0o we have go film that footage again! o0o0o n my favourite footage of this boy in year 8 got deleted... it ws well cool!
LESSON LEARNT?
well we now learnt that before we start to film something we will always make sure the tape is at the right place..

well there were the good parts to this aswell like erm...
* we interviewed many people in ealinggg so we were successful
*i interviwed my gran just before she went back to india and got information on how the life of a woman was in india back in her days... it was a good time to film her as she was sittin there knitting away. This footage is all said in punjabi and we will be adding subtitles to this in our original documentary... this is one of the documentary conventions we will be using!

xXx...BaZza...xXx

February 07, 2007

IMPORTANT WOMEN THROUGH HISTORY...

Susan B. Anthony:
1820–1906

The 19th century women’s movement’s most powerful organizer. Together with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s right to vote. She was also very involved in the fight against slavery and the temperance campaign to limit the use of alcohol.

Cleopatra:
69–30 B.C.

Queen of Egypt and the last pharaoh. She was 17 or 18 when she became queen. Cleopatra was a shrewd politician who spoke nine languages. During her reign, Egypt became closely aligned with the Roman Empire.

Marie Curie:
1867–1934

This physicist was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize — she actually won it twice — and the first woman to earn a doctorate in Europe. Her investigations led to the discovery of radioactivity as well as the element radium.

Ella Fitzgerald:
1918–1996

Considered one of the greatest jazz singers of all time, Ella Fitzgerald was the winner of 12 Grammy Awards and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Indira Gandhi:
1917–1984

As the leader of India, the world’s most populous democracy, Indira Gandhi became an influential figure for Indian women as well as for others around the world.

Helen Keller
1880–1968

A childhood disease left her deaf, mute, and blind. Helen Keller became an expert author and lecturer, educating nationally on behalf of others with similar disabilities.

Mother Theresa:
1910–1997

Founder of a religious group of nuns in Calcutta, India, Mother Theresa devoted her life to aiding sick and poor people throughout the world.

Rosa Parks:
1913–

When she refused to give up her seat to a white person on a crowded bus, Rosa Parks set in motion the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a cornerstone of the civil rights movement. She has since been a strong advocate for human rights issues.

Dr. Sally Ride:
1951–

The first American woman in space was also the youngest American astronaut ever to orbit Earth.

Margaret Sanger
1879–1966

Founder of the birth control movement in the United States, Sanger also started the organization that became the future Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Margaret Thatcher:
1925–

This politician was the first woman in European history to be elected prime minister. Known for her conservative views, Margaret Thatcher was also the first British prime minister to win three consecutive terms in the 20th century.

Harriet Tubman
1820–1913

This abolitionist was born a slave. She eventually became a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad — a system developed by a secret group of free blacks and sympathetic whites to help runaway slaves get to free northern states. Harriet Tubman led more than 300 slaves to freedom.

Oprah Winfrey:
1954–

An actress and the host of a highly successful talk show, Oprah Winfrey has won several Emmy Awards. She has started her own TV production company and invested in media projects. She has also been a spokesperson for women's health and family issues and for the prevention of child abuse.

Victoria Woodhull:
1838–1927

First woman to be nominated and campaign for the U.S. presidency. She was nominated by the Women's National Equal Rights Party. Woodhull and her sister were also the first two female stockbrokers on Wall Street.

xXx BaZza xXx

WoMeN...?


When we speak of women’s work we initially think of the work that women do at home, their unpaid domestic labour. The old catchcry ‘women’s work is never done’ refers to the hundreds of household chores for which women are assumed to take total responsibility. However there is also another sort of ‘women’s work’ – the work done by women in the paid workforce, which is characterised by the fact that it tends to be done only by women. Although the work women perform at home is itself invisible because it is always done away from the public eye, women are seen by society as housewives and mothers and not as paid workers. Women’s unpaid domestic work is seen as primary and paramount, and their workforce participation is therefore reduced to apparent insignificance and social ‘invisibility’.

The social invisibility of women’s paid labour is used to justify paying women lower wages than men. Underlying the conception that housewifery and motherhood constitute women’s primary role is the assumption that they are dependent on fathers and husbands. Thus when women enter the workforce they are not seen as needing the same remuneration as men because they are already ‘sharing’ a man’s wage. Women as individuals are also rendered vulnerable to accepting low wages because they themselves see their paid labour as less significant than their primary task of home-making. As Juliet Mitchell says in Woman’s Estate, ‘Their exploitation is invisible behind an ideology that masks the fact that they work at all – their work appears inessential.'

Thus as long as women are seen primarily as unpaid domestic workers their suppression and exploitation in the paid workforce continues unhindered, since their work has no ideological existence. This ‘invisibility’, in fact, ensures its continuation. Hence it is vital that the real significance of women’s paid labour to society is fully understood, for without this understanding it will remain invisible, and women will remain vulnerable to exploitation as cheap labour.

xXx..BaZza..xXx

..Women Who Make A Difference..

Amrit x

February 05, 2007

Progress Report 29/01/07...
This week has been a frantic week, in which we have had quite a few delays firstly our camera was being 'adjusted' and this took 2 of or periods of wednesday.After that our interviews got rescedule twice which made us yet again delayed.Then pooj & Baza went to Ealing in thier free periods which went to wastm,seeing as the infamous 'unclejee',which i have yet to meet was busy....Although when we finally got filiming we shot a few clips of our vox pops,and on Sunday 04/02/07 we filmed our two budding actresses (Nimrut 6 & Palvi 5),shouting out 'BeCaUsE wE'Re wOrTh It' But what we did achieve was our scene in the park,altjhough because we did not like our mise-en-scene we changed into another park..and finally got the tape rolling.
This week we aim to record more footage & vox pops.
Start shooting our scene with involves me..So I'll let out the kate winslet inside me...
Amrit

February 04, 2007

Progress Report...

Week beginning: 29/01/07

Well our first filming day was supposed to be on the 31st, but Mr Babu decided to take a good couple of hours sorting out our camera... and then we realised he didn't even do anything, he was just checking it... never mind...

It was abit of a disappointment as our interview was canceled, as she seemed to be abit too busy, however that has been rearranged for some time next week. Hopefully we will get that done as soon as possible, as it is essential for our documentary

We then attempted on getting some of our vox pops done as well, and we did actually get some good footage from a few students. One of the main problems we faced with that was the setting, as we did not know where to film them ( as the mise en scene is also very important) Another problem with that was i think we were taking too much time with the filming, and some people we wanted to question would take their time with answering, or even jus deciding whether they wanted to answer the question at all. It was quite irritating to be honest...

The filming of the little kids actually went really well...even though they were quite annoying at times, and didnt do the scenes properly! (ohh well, they're just kids i guess..) We had to change the background setting, as the first park didnt quite look right: the background was too busy therefore there was no focus on the girls and it looked really unclear! We then took them to another park, taking shots in various places. We will pick the shot that looks the best when we start the editing.

Oh yeahh, and we went to ealing, but "unclejee" was also abit busy, so we should be going back there next week to catch an interview with him aswell.. and yes basran you didnt have to say that...but okay i bought a top... and i also made her walk from ealing to southall..! Pretty good though :D

  1. During next week:

    We need to get all our footage for the vox pops sorted out... that shouldnt be too much of a problem.
  2. Hopefully, we will have our interview with our professional..and also a couple of other interviews with some students, ( and unclejee) Oh and it would be pretty good if we got some interviews with the Birk family eg amrits mum and her sisters..!!
  3. Amrits scene.... (acting)

Pooja

PrOgReSs RePoRt fOr 29-01-07


Welll it's been one hectic week and so farr we've ermmm:

*interviwed a few people
* did some of our vox pop poks fingy
* filmed a clip in which were going to have a few kids shouting and screaming the words "because were worth it!"... we took the girls to the park but the small park was not a good place... so we decided to take a trip to the bigger park in which we filmed many shots... funny day out to the park!
* we wasn't really successfull in interviewin the professional as she was really busy and to arrange another time (just shows how popular she is..so lucky to have a professional!)
* went ealing aswellll but the person we wanted to interview was like come back on monday so0o yeahh.. and then pooja was tempted to buy something so0o she got herself a TOP! and then made me walk ALL the way home from EALING!!!!

xXx..BaZzA..xXx

January 30, 2007

...Take One...

This week 29/01/07 we are going to be shooting out first few clips, and starting to put together our production.We have so far,learnt how to use the equipment this being the camera,tripod and microphone.So theres nothing left for us to do but let the tapes roll...

  • First of all we will be
    interviewing a professional, who will talk about feminism, and the role of
    women! This interview will probably be about 5 minutes, but we will edit it
    later on to get the best bits!
  • We will also be interviewing
    other people (students) to get their view as well. Again, this should be
    about 5
    minutes long, as it will be linked to the first
    interview...
  • Also we might try to film our
    vox-pops...

AMRIT X

January 29, 2007



...Balancing Work & Family....
..Margaret Thatcher..

Margaret Thatcher had had twins before starting her political career. She found it very difficult to be able to work and look after her children - she described how she had to be very strongly motivated to do so.
"Children alter your life completely, you never know how much until you have one. I had twins, they were prematurely born and so in the early days it really required a great deal of attention, and they tug away at your heart strings, and I remember thinking if I don't make arrangements, I will never do it. It was hard and you must be strongly motivated to do it."
Involvement in politics requires financial backing, and Thatcher also needed to fund childcare so that she could work as an MP. Haleh Afshar believes that the support available to Thatcher contributed to her success.
"In terms of success, Margaret Thatcher had the backup, in the sense that she had a man who was willing to pay for her very expensive campaigns but also pay for the childcare that was needed, so she could enter politics as a man and that was very important."
If She can do it..Why can't we...
Amrit x