Weekly Progress and Plan

 Here is my weekly progress for the Magazine project and also a rough plan for it.

Week	Term 2	Week	Term 3
1 (2 Oct)	Brief, Research	8 ( 8 Jan)	Development
2	Research	9	Shoot
3	Research	10	Shoot, Self Reflection
4	Proposal	11	Post Production
5	Development	12	Post Production
6	Development	13 (12 Feb)	Deadline (Monday 12th February)
7	Development	14

Week 1 & 2:

I didn't come during these two weeks due to personal reasons so I asked my friend regarding what to do. She told me that the teacher introduced us to the brief of the project and an overall outline of what to do.

Week 3: 

- Analysed 2 front covers in detail
- Started working on statement of intent 

- Planned on who to recruit as models 

Problems: I had some difficulty on trying to catch up as I missed 2 crucial lessons and had very limited time as I had to study for a math unit test and had other homeworks to finish. 

Solution: I asked my friend about what she did the past two weeks I was absent and had her help me with arranging the blogs.

To-Do: Statement of intent, finish research

Week 4:

- We learned about demographics and psychographics, and how the media targets those audiences

- Finish statement of intent and magazine research

- Learned about the Genre Theory made by Steve Neale

Problems: Although my time management was slightly better this time, it still isn't good enough. I rushed everything in the the day before the submission date and this made the result unsatisfying.

Solution: I should pay attention in class and take notes, as well as make a to-do list so that I can manage my time better.

To-do: Finish magazine development

Week 5:

- I was sick almost the entire week so I had to ask my classmate what they did as I didn't attend school.

- My classmate told me that they had theory lessons about the key concepts and also did a gallery walk in groups of 3-4

- In class, we started working on our double page spread research and development

Problems: I was rather confused in class and took some time to catch up as I was absent

Solution: When I was sick at home, I should've just asked my friend first so that when I get back in class I don't get confused

To-do: Finish double page spread research and development by next week before friday

Week 6:
- I practiced section A in which I planned a paragraph with my partner after analysing a short movie clip using media language, representation, industry, theory, and audience.

- I also learned about new and traditional media; how it correlates to each other

- I was absent on friday as I had to go to a health checkup, but my classmates told me that they started on their 1st magazine article draft for the magazine project

Problems: As I didn't attend school that day, I was rather confused in class and didn't know what to do for the article

Solutions: I'm going to ask my teacher and friends regarding what to do for the article

To-do: Start on my article 1st draft

Week 7:

- I did a checklist on the blog content and made sure I have everything on my blog for the project

- This is the end of my first semester so we are going to have a break for about a month, I will be doing my location scouting during this break

Problems: I didn't have enough reflections and I also have to revise some of my blog contents

Solutions: I will complete all the reflections and complete all the blog contents by thursday

To-do: Finish article 1st draft, complete all blog contents & reflection, and collect enough pictures of a variety of places for location scouting

Reflection: Making a weekly progress and plan, and only spending about 5 minutes each lesson to reflect on my tasks and actions have helped me stay organized and stay on track. 

Semester 2

Week 1
-     This is the start of semester 2, so I will go back to week 1 and so on, so that it doesn't get confusing. 

-     My teacher introduced the class to a new study system where we were told to make a reflective diary digitally on Google Document. In the document, my teacher will regularly assign the class questions to answer before learning about the topic so that we can reflect on it after the lesson, using more questions distributed by the teacher. Some of the questions are relatable to our daily lives, and the others are based on case studies.

-     My teacher also taught us about the 3 stages of production (production, distribution, exhibition)

Problems: I haven't really gotten any problems yet since the materials are easy in my opinion

To-do:

-     Review about the 3 stages of production once I get home

Week 2

-     I learned about media consolidation this week by vertical and horizontal integration; what they are, their advantages and disadvantages, etc.

-     We were told to make 6 rough sketches to plan out our front cover and then were given time to take pictures with our classmates to use as the front cover image

-     Our teacher also taught us about border placements, hierarchy of type, face type, and many other terms as to how they could affect and connote different meanings when adjusted a certain way

Problems: When doing the photoshoot, I had troubles with the lighting

Solutions: The teacher told us that the photoshoot was only to practice so we didn't need to consider factors such as lighting and background yet.

To-do: 

Week 3

-     This week, I learned about cross media convergence, where companies work together in order to achieve a mutually benefited outcome. 

-     On wednesday, the teacher gave us the whole session to continue our project 

       - We had to continue making the thumbnail sketches, and develop them digitally

Problems:

-     I had some difficulties trying to convert the thumbnail sketches digitally as my Ipad was dead at that time

-     I also had troubles in trying to come up with a good looking layout

Solutions: 

-     I immediately charged my Ipad after school at home and continued the tasks that I didn't finish in class

-     I did some reflection and asked my classmates and teacher for feedback

To-do:

-     5 feb tuesday unit test media industry (synergy)

-     deadline project 19 feb thursday 

-     remember to listen to teacher's feedback in the excel

Week 4

- This week we started on our critical self reflection where we had to start brainstorming our answers to the guideline questions in our reflective diary. Then, we were told to start making the actual presentation after we finished brainstorming and i made the presentation on Canva. 

- We were also told to finalize the front cover of the magazine

- I started developing my magazine front cover where I had to use 4 thumbnail sketches and photography practice, i chose 2 of them and developed them digitally, then choose 1 from those and tried to experiment on it even more while creating evidences of all the changes I made.

Problems: 

• I was confused with the questions for the critical self reflection at first as I had completely forgotten about it

Solutions: The teacher re-explained to us about it and then I asked him some more questions just incase I misinterpreted any instructions given

To-do:

• finish critical self-reflection
• finish taking photographs and designing the front cover for the magazine
• start designing layout for double page spread and contents

Week 5

- We started on our thumbnails and layouts for the front cover of our magazines. I continued developing my magazine front cover and tried using Canva to design. However, this time I started creating the final drafts with the real pictures I took and not the experiment ones. 

- My teacher also has been teaching and reminding the class about the use of borders and typographies

Problem:

• I honestly kind of struggled with the deadlines as well as confused with how to apply the borders for my magazine

Solutions:

• Next time, I should start making to-do lists and stop procrastinating so I can stay on track and my assignments for the project doesn't pile up
• The teacher explained to us how to apply borders and the instructions were very clear so I was able to do it

To-do:

• Finish front cover

Week 6
- This week we started on our content page as well as our double page spread research and development

 

Problems: 

• there was a ceremony near my school, which caused heavy traffic so our class had to be postponed, the class time got cut off to half due to it.

Solutions:

• I did everything at home instead.

To-do:

• Finish double page spread and content page
• Align the orders of the posts on the blog
• Add in additional touches to the blog posts that are missing finishing touches
• Make sure to write a reflection on every one of my posts

Week 7:

-     This week is the finalization week where our due date is on Thursday in which our project will be marked on our school report cards

-     I had so much homework, tests and exams this week, also from other classes, so I could barely make time for media, further explaining the lack of time but I somehow still managed so that's an improvement

-     The teacher gave us the whole week of sessions where we are given time to completely finish our magazines without any additional theory lessons. During these classes, he went around class and gave students feedbacks on what to remove, what to add, how to improve, etc.

-     He also taught us many other things, such as how to input a border on Canva (again), as well as how to layout our blogs, etc.

-     I added two more blog posts to my Blogger as the teacher told us to do, which were the critical self reflection and the final outcome of the magazine

-     I had so much unfinished work this week due to the compiling assignments that were present due to my procrastination

Problems:

• Again, I struggled with the deadline as I had to stay awake until 5am in the morning to finish all my tasks before the due date.
• I had troubles trying to find a good flip book which lets you embed it but I couldn't find a good one 

Solutions: 

• I just have to learn to fight my laziness and again, make to-do lists (I texted my friends meanwhile doing this task which kept me awake so that I don't fall asleep while doing this.)
• I searched on YouTube as an alternative for flip book app/website recommendations and then went to it.

Reflection: I honestly disliked doing weekly progress so much in class as I felt like it was a waste of time and was useless as I could've been doing anything else but the more time I spent doing these, the more I realize how this weekly progress and plan has helped me concentrate and keep me from going too off-track as I have to-do lists.