Progress+Reports

In the past few weeks, I have made substantial progress in the theory and ideas behind my project and research – but as for getting it down on paper and recorded I feel I am a little behind. I have met my goals in planning and figuring out how to research, but as I mentioned, I am a little slow with gathering my research. I believe I did not gather as much research as I would have liked to so far because I have spent too much time making my thesis and ideas have more finesse, and not enough time hammering down to find the research I need. Also, I had planned on obtaining footage for my project this past weekend, but was unable to get a camera so I couldn’t film. Before the next progress report is due, I hope to have achieved all the necessary research, obtained the necessary footage for my project, and at least started editing it. So far I have only talked to my mentor about how I should go about asking people to take part in my project. We developed a sheet for consent, and he also suggested just recording people saying that they give me their permission. So far I have not asked my topic expert for any advice as I do not know who it will be yet – although I am considering asking Dr. Dwyer as he is very keen and wise with the ways of the world and current events.
 * Progress Report 10/7**

Since my October 17th progress report, I have made much progress towards completion of my project. I have obtained footage for my video, although I would like to get more of students //and// teachers – possibly an interview with one of the history teachers at the high school. I have not met my goals of finishing the editing; however, as I wanted to have the video done by the time I started my paper. Also on the paper side of things, I have been following the paper that indicates when each of the pieces of the paper should be done; I.E. when the introduction should be finished, when the acknowledgments should be finished, and when the outline should be done. By the time the next progress report is due, I hope to have finished my video, finished editing my paper, and be started on my presentation techniques and ideas. My mentor, Mr. Meder, helped me with the technicalities of filming and getting consent from people to use their image. Beyond him, I have not asked too many people for assistance – except my good friend Charlie, who was my cameraman for the majority of the video filming.
 * Progress Report 10/28**

At this point in time, I have retrieved all the necessary footage for my video and I am going to continue the editing process (I had already begun editing footage before I finished collecting it). I have met my goals in the sense that I have retrieved all my footage and completed the rough draft of my paper, although it was missing a works cited. I am unhappy with myself in the realm of timeliness – I feel that a few different pieces of my work have been a little bit late, factors either controllable or uncontrollable. For example, this progress report is late simply because I overlooked it, a blatant error on my part. Comparatively, I was not able to retrieve a mentor progress report from Mr. Meder as he had been out of work extremely sick during the week it was due – an uncontrollable factor. Before the next progress report is done, I wish to have edited my video, come close to finishing my paper, and I hope to have improved on my own timely, or untimely, manners. My mentor has been and will be helping me with the mechanics of editing while I’m working on my video.
 * Progress Report 11/3**

At this point, since we have already finished our paper work, I am able to shift all my attention to editing my video. So far I have edited a significant amount of footage, but I am anticipating taking the editing process right up to the bar of when it is due. So far with the editing, problems are scarce, and when they do occur they are usually fixable errors. The only major setback is half of an interview with key information was cut off because the tape I was filming with ran out of space. Fortunately, the video can manage without it just fine. Mr. Meder, my mentor, has been aiding me with some of the editing, mostly providing insight of editing ideas and skills and important opinions on copyright-friendly material. Overall, I am not anticipating any setbacks in the future, I just need to make sure that I optimize my time spent editing for maximum efficiency, which will probably require some after school hours – which I am very willing to invest into this project.
 * Progress Report 12/1**

At this point in time, I have made significant progress with my project – it is finished. I have to put a few finishing touches to make it smooth, but the bulk of the work for it is done. All the cutting, editing, and sound work is done, along with text and other miscellaneous tasks. Mr. Meder helped me a lot with input on editing techniques and feedback in order to make my project better. I also showed one of his digital video classes my video for feedback, and their input is much appreciated. With my speech and presentation, however, I am a little worried. I’m not sure if I should attempt to write me speech before I work on my slides, or visa versa. I have already compiled a lot of slides and pictures, but I have not figured out what I will be saying at each slide. For the next progress report, I hope to have my speech finished, I hope to have finished my presentation, and I want to have started practicing and preparing for talking in front of everyone.
 * Progress Report 12/15**