Week 5, Monday - Lesson 13

During today's lesson we discussed the importance of statistics as they are essentially going to support the entire documentary. Without them, it is quite difficult to portray the argument effectively as there is no evidence. When I receive my draft back I will be adding more statistics and tweaking or changing whatever I should to ensure that the planning process is perfect before starting my documentary. I will be working with Holly and Kartya for the group aspect and we will begin planning next lesson to work out what, when, how we should execute this task. We all focusing on body image and mainly with the participatory type which makes this process easier in the initial stages. The final writing section of the assignment is due on Friday and we aim to begin filming our documentary in week 6 and 7 to then be editing during week 7. The sooner we film our footage we can then spend time on editing to ensure that the message is effectively communicated to this audience. As documentaries tend to be bias and manipulated the editing process is crucial so we must ensure that we correctly do this.

Week 4, Friday - Lesson 12

The media treatment and three-column script was due today. Yesterday, I received verbal feedback on how I can improve my treatment so far. This was extremely helpful as it allowed me to change and critic some of the minor problems including what gender I was focusing on and how to appropriately set up my appendices. I am yet to add a credible source for the documentary e.g. a well known person who speaks on this idea of social media affecting body image, I will be looking at this over the weekend and add it to my treatment over the next few days and lessons. I will receive my draft back sometime next week and this will allow me to change anything I need to. I want to make sure that it covers everything so I can begin my documentary in the coming weeks.

Week 4, Wednesday - Lesson 11

I have completed my draft to hand in on Friday. I just need to finish off my 3-column script which I will do before Friday for drafting. I have been writing that I will be doing an observatory documentary but in fact this documentary will actually be considered as a participatory genre. Although, it is observing how people respond, it is participatory as the interviewer (myself) is involved in the filming element and may be in some shots.

I am finding this unit extremely interesting and I am excited to start and film and see what people's responses are to this hot topic. Media can easily be manipulated, especially if one is trying to portray a certain message or persuade an audience. If any of the girls end up answering differently to what is expected and needed to make the message work, there will be other girls that will answer the way the director needs hem to. As this is the case, some girls will end up being cut as during the editing process it is crucial to choose the people who answer to fit with the message.

Week 4, Monday - Lesson 10

Today’s lesson we explored our ideas for our documentary. I will be focusing on the effects social media has on the youth’s perception of body image. An observatory type would be interesting to see how social media has constructed an idea of the ‘perfect’ body or look. I would firstly like to interview a few girls in the senior school asking how they believe social media has affected their thoughts on body image. I would then like to find two images of girl’s bodies, one being an underweight, skinny girl and the other being someone of a healthy weight. These images will then be shown to girls in the junior school asking which one they believe is beautiful. As they are of a young age, they have not been exposed to, as much social media and hopefully this experiment will have them choosing the female of the healthy weight. It will be interesting how they react to the images. Then, many students from middle and senior school who are consistently open to social media will be able to answer the same questions and the responses will probably be different. This will be done to see their initial view of body image then to really put it to practice when asked who is beautiful? Or which one the prettiest? The comparison between the two will show how social media effects one’s perception of body image. I will now begin writing my treatment and 3-column script.

Week 3, Friday - Lesson 9

In this lesson I confirmed that I am going to be researching and delving into the topic of how social media affects the youth's perception of body image. This is broad but it needs to be to cover all elements of it's affects. The main part will be observatory so I need to continue brainstorming how I wish to execute that. Currently I am unsure but over the weekend I will continue to think how it will be possible to do this. I haven't started my treatment yet as it is quite different to our previous treatment as their is no characters and not a main plot. Next lesson I will be asking how to complete this correctly as it is due on Friday!

Week 3, Thursday - Lesson 8

Ideas - Documentary Assignment

I would love to do an observational documentary as it would be interesting to incorporate some sort of experiment or interview. Majority of the documentary would be expository with an element of observational as an entire observational style would not portray the message to the full extent.

The documentary I will be writing a treatment for will be exploring the implications social media has on the body image, particularly how the youth of today view the consequences. With the increasing amount of people using social media, it is becoming more apparent that these platforms are taking a toll on our lives.

I will be brainstorming how I would want to execute it. Currently all I know is that I will be taking the angle of body image for the assignment. Over the next few days I will be researching and taking notes as well as thinking of a creative way to include some sort of experiment to include the element of observatory.  

Notes: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/4/800

• Social media is among the most common activity's of today's youth.
• It provides instant communication, social connection and even technical skills.
• The past 15 years have seen the amount of preadolescent and adolescent increased dramatically.
• The limited self-regulation and susceptibility to peer pressure, youth are at risk. These problems include cyber bullying, lack of understanding of privacy issues and sexting. 

Week 3, Tuesday - Lesson 7

Social Media Discussion

During our lesson today we discussed what everyone had found out about the different media platforms. Many of the answers were similar with cyber bullying/ stalking being the main negative of social media. Several of the answers were from a teenage perspective, it is crucial for the assignment that we look from other angles to answer the question to it's full potential. I am yet to decide what angle I would like to take for the assignment. I am interested in researching and reporting the effects social media has on a person's body and self image. It definitely takes a toll on how people view themselves as they are exposed to so much.

 Research on WhatsApp

WhatsApp messenger is a cross-platform client for smart phones. It has the ability to text message, images, videos, user location and audio messages. In February 2016, it was concluded that the app had up to one billion making it the most popular messaging application. In 2014, it was purchased by Facebook and rakes in a total of US$ 19.3 billion. As this is such a large platform it would be important to include some information or statistics for the documentary.