Reflective post

Today is the third of December and the long-awaited end of the first term has come, so I decided to write a summary of the last few weeks of Digital Art. It was both an interesting and exhausting time in my life. The last 9 weeks were extremely intense, comparable only to the military course I took a few years ago in the Navy:) 

During these few weeks I gained many new skills, such as using graphic or video editing programs. I also learned how to write my own blog and create a portfolio website. This skills may be useful in the future, because both the blog and the site will be my showcase and may help me attract new customers. Furthermore, I was trying out new things at this time, like shooting and editing my own video. The experience I gained during this work will certainly help me improve my filmmaking skills in the future. And more importantly, I met many wonderful people with whom I not only have the pleasure of studying, but also of going to the pub or for dinner at the Food Village.

All these experiences helped me understand what my shortcomings are and what I need to change in the future. Now I know that I have to improve my time management and study skills, which will make further learning easier. Moreover, I have to spend more time to self-study and of course make better researches, which I will try to do next term. 

Overall, I rate this semester's activities positively and hope that the next terms will be similarly pleasant, though I would prefer them to be less intense.

Culture Shock: Final Film and reflections

 

In this post I would like to present the final result of my work on the 'Culture Shock' project. Below I present my film and my reflections about it and the process of its creation.

Reflections

The main idea of creating my film was to show the problems that international students face after coming to the UK. This topic is really close to me as I am also a student from another country. 

Initially, I intended to create a film containing interviews with three students, but over time I realised that such a format might be too boring and uninviting for my audience. After watching the movie 'Bowling for Columbine' by Michael Moore, I decided to change my design a bit. Like him, I added humorous elements, which helped my film become more entertaining. Moreover, instead of the typical interview that I planned to do at the beginning, my characters gave a short monologue about their experiences after moving to the UK, which makes the film easier to watch and more natural.

Overall, I am satisfied with the final effect of my work, but there are some shortcomings that I will try to improve in subsequent projects. 

First of all, in the future I will have to pay more attention to the quality of video and sound recordings, which unfortunately are not satisfactory for me this time. When recording outdoors, I will need to use better quality microphones and camera stands due to wind and other weather conditions.

Secondly, in the future, when recording interviews or monologues, I will use scripts for actors, because without them they have problems speaking and expressing their thoughts.

Finally, I am considering using another, more advanced video processing program that will allow me to better process the recordings and create smoother transitions between scenes.