We received our grade for our PB3 projects the other day, and so it seemed a good time to reflect on the project as a whole with the mark and feedback in mind. I got an OK mark – compared to all of my other classes, my marks baffle me as I am sitting at a High Distinction level in all the others yet can’t seem to hit that standard in Media One. I’m unsure if the marking is harder or the assessments different, but it’s been disappointing to have put in a lot of effort and not achieve what I consider to be a standard (80% or above is where I usually sit, and would like to stick to this). However despite this second round of disappointing marks, realistically I’m not that far off a HD grade with this Project Brief – 7% to be exact. It’s a step up from the credit grade I received for PB2 – which I will always consider as the first reality check of university and the first time I began to question whether this course was truly right for me – by quite a bit, so definitely an improvement. Audio and the blogs were my biggest let down, though I do wonder how the blogs ‘relevance’ can really be assessed. Anything media, film or university related is technically relevant. That’s what this course is about. So, to be told that many posts weren’t relevant is disheartening. I find marking something so subjective and unique is also pretty pointless and needs moderation – one person could hate my blog style while another might find it fascinating. It all comes down to the marker, and in this regard I think the marking might be a tad unfair. But I digress, as this isn’t an analysis on marking accuracy and fairness or an excuse making post. I know that my blogging could be better. I was, before deciding film was for me, a staunchly devoted budding journalist. I blogged a lot, both semi professionally and personally. I wrote gig reviews, food reviews, editorials/opinion pieces, diary style entries, stories, poems. You name it, and I probably wrote it. This is second nature to me, but I’m just not trying as hard as I could because I just find myself lacking the drive.
In regard to the audio; it was awful. My shotgun microphone during the first interview did a great job of picking up even the smallest sound, like the wind howling, birds screaming or children generally making a ruckus. Unfortunately, that kind of noise does not a good video make, so I went for a second interview. My microphone had a tiny piece of sand stuck to the jack that plugged into the camera, and as a result absolutely nothing recorded the second time. Luckily, I had decided to record on my phone also for safekeeping – so professional. I ended up using audio recorded mostly on my phone, and Maddi’s phone at my request, which lead to the blips in sound and ambient buzz that makes audio sound grainy and terrible. There wasn’t much I could do to fix it once it had been done due to the timeframe, with my first interview with mad taking place less than two weeks before I was meant to have a finished product. Room for error was not made, something I have learnt to do for next time. Checking audio before continuing with a whole recording is another lesson learnt, and finally I have come to worship the zoom microphone and all its powers.
If I’m honest, the reason I didn’t hire a zoom mic was because I was scared of the AV loans man. When I returned the (awful) Sony camera, I hadn’t placed everything exactly as it should be and he sure did let me know, and his passive aggressive lecture made me reluctant to ever return. Even throughout this current Project Brief, I’ve made my team members go to hire things in fear of encountering him again. Had I not been so terrified, I would have avoided such terrible audio. But unfortunately, you can’t change the past, or the AV loan man.
On a positive, the way I approached the interview and the topic and person I chose was great. I needed more variety in shots (which would come with giving myself more time) but otherwise visually it was quite good.
All in all, another disappointment, despite me being quite proud of it. I’d be tempted to re record the audio on a zoom to edit it and have something I was 100% happy with, but then it would be more scripted and I would have to edit the visuals more, which I wouldn’t want to do as I’m happy with how it looks (beyond diversity of shots). I’m not really getting the hang of this whole marking thing in Media One as I can’t quite reconcile the vast difference between it and my other classes, and to be perfectly honest it fuels my disdain for this course as a whole. If I keep on this trajectory of receiving not so great marks I’m definitely going to consider changing universities, as I’m trying my hardest and not getting results or really learning much. Live and let live, I guess.
