Rationale

Ben Smith

Level 3 Year 1

Rationale

In September 2018 I joined creative media level 2 at Nescot, having been at the college 2 years prior. I'd been studying IT level 1 for a year and I began to get really bored of it. I was really interested in the technical side, however I felt like my creativity was really lacking. I had a huge desire to learn how to film and edit, and decided it was time for a change. Having started level 2 in September I began finding and exploring the possibilities of where my career would lie after this course. We were taught a range of different camera and editing techniques, such as basic camera and editing set up, and an intro to visual effects. All these were very valuable for later with completing our modules such as: music video, podcast, short film and final major project, which I was extremely proud of. The whole year went fast, I made friends for life and learnt techniques I never would have dreamed of. My confidence overall has improved significantly as I was a little shy at the beginning. Having cerebral palsy, I was concerned this might impact my studies, however the teachers and students understood this making everything accessible for me. I'm very thankful for that I was given the chance to be on this course. I was given independence which I felt I was lacking. 

Having completed level 2 media, achieving a distinction level, I had the summer to relax and think about where I wanted level 3 to take me. I was excited to get back into college after the summer and learning something more and advanced as this will help me throughout the entire year. Our first module to complete when we got back was a horror film. At first, I was a bit nervous as it was a new class and I wasn't sure what their capabilities, and enthusiasm to contribute to the team would be. Thankfully there were 10 people in my level 3 class who came over from level 2 like me. Overall, this year I have learnt more technical aspects of the course. for example, how to set up an interview, how to whip pan, Vox pop and general advanced editing techniques. I feel that this year my aim was to stay organised, as last year I got very confused about where everything was located. This year I've kept on top of my work and continued to achieve better grades. 

My long-term aspirations are to get a job in the media industry, something I didn't think was ever possible, potentially as an editor or a cinematographer. 

Over the last two years, studying media, we have learnt valuable skills for a variety of different filming formats. An area we have not covered is documentaries, but hopefully we will learn about this next year. This is something I would like to try and work on. I have watched a few documentaries such as Ancient Aliens, which is a TV program on H2 (TV channel) and discusses aliens from Egyptian, Roman and modern-day times. Another documentary I have watched is called formula drift champion. As a huge car fan this is something I was interested in. Another documentary is Rob Parsons, and I have also been watching how the universe works. Also I watched The Trump dynasty, which is about Donald Trump's life and how he became famous. 

I have always been inspired by watching people's life stories, My aim is to educate people that are unware of my disability, capabilities and how I have overcome this, therefore I wanted to  share my life story. My aim throughout this project is to educate and inform people that are unaware of my capabilities. All my life it has always been about what I can't do, now I want to share with the world what I can do. 

Project Concept

I was born on January 10th, 2000. My parents were told that I would not survive the night and would be 99% brain damaged, they also told them I would not be able to walk or talk. At the age of 3 I was diagnosed with athetoid cerebal palsy. My parents feared the worse but made it their mission to allow me to live my life to the fullest. Growing up I faced a tremendous amount of obstacles such as, operations, physio and speech and language therapy. At the age of 4, I started in nursery, and spent the rest of my time in education in mainstream schools. I think even by the age of 5 I was defying the odds and achieving ambitions that everyone had doubts on. I have my parents to thank for allowing me to live my life in the most mainstream way as possible. It was never about what I couldn't do, it was all about what I could do. In this documentary I'd like to discuss my troubles that I faced, from walking to getting a job. We'd start from the moment I was born to where I am at now. Interview my parents, teachers’ friends and me. I will also be collating archive photos and footage of me growing up. I wanted to get in contact with my driving instructor to ask if it's possible to film one of my lessons. I think this will be an important part of the documentary as it's something many people think I could never do.  I will be using Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my FMP, and possibly Davinci resolve to colour grade. This will be fairly straight forward as I know the software very well from last year, therefore, I will be able to quickly put together my edit, but I'll also take my time with the effects and audio as it needs to be professional and make sense 

Research 

The way I'll be researching for my FMP will be through the internet, by gathering studies like getting information, watching YouTube videos on a simpler topic about my disability and how it has affected my life. Also, another way I’ll get my research is by watching Netflix shows to gather more useful information. I will be researching my disability and how it affects me in everyday life. Every day is a different day for me as one day I can be perfectly talking to you and the next day I will find it hard to get my words out, whilst also my walking is affected. What types of practical methods and skills you want to develop? Getting more knowledge about cameras to improve image quality. Setting up an interview will be key for my documentary as people will be sitting down in front of the camera. The problems I might face whilst researching for my FMP will be sites which might be inaccurate out of date data, and not enough relevant information to gather. Also, trying to get to the library might be a little hard because of the coronavirus causing a lot of issues in going out and seeing people. The way I’ll present the final product will be by putting it up on YouTube as it’s the most popular streaming site in the world. I also think I should put it up on Facebook as the general public uses Facebook on a daily basis. I could create a 15-second trailer to put onto Facebook as multiple people use it. The way I will evaluate my FMP will be though a blog or a Vlog style, however, this might prove to be a massive problem to the filming stage as getting the equipment will be a big problem. Another way I’ll undertake my research will be through survey monkey. This in turn might spark another possible idea for my FMP too, and give me more ideas to add.