Appendix 2 - Process Journal
#1. Research and evaluation
of sources
Notes: This first process journal entry is a
combination of two entries because one of them was an uploaded word document.
They are important for many reasons; first, because the research was the first
major step in creating the film, and second, because it was the information on
which nearly everything else in the process was based. These entries best
demonstrate my research skills and ability to think critically in order to
discern a credible source from a non-credible source.
“Because I didn't include an analysis of the validity of
my sources for the research, I am adding that information as a reflection. Many
of the sources I was using were blogs describing personal experiences in whatever
country I was looking at. For example, I used a website with a story about a
woman's cat-filled trip to Istanbul and a travel blog about strays in Greece.
While these are not the most reliable sources in terms of data/information,
they certainly provide me with a clear picture about the situation in the
different countries in a way that educational websites could not. Another
source type that I came across frequently was a newspaper article.
Interestingly, these were always either extremely against the stray animals or
very against the people who
were against the strays. They expressed, for the most part, a biased opinion,
and I found it difficult to extract much information from the articles to use
in my film. I also used a few simply educational sites, but they are not as
useful for the type of information I'm trying to gather.”
Document: Research for personal project
Countries:
Turkey, Egypt, Greece, India, Peru, & Thailand.
Random Info
· Countries
with mass dog killing programs: Russia, Egypt, Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia and
other Baltic countries
o Sochi
Russia, hundreds of stray dogs were killed to “clean up” for the 2014 Olympics
– poisoned meat
· America:
you se stray animals, dogs running around in fields without collars, a cat
slinking behind a garbage can at night, but this is nothing compared to the
issue in other parts of the world
· 1000s of
years ago cats were living in villages in the middle east
· In some
countries stray animals are caught and put into large shelters (downfalls: lack
of space leads to euthanasia), in others they are vaccinated, fixed and tagged
and released to live outside again
· Cultural
differences: some societies don’t regard dogs as pets – they’re just not
accustomed to it
Turkey
· While
stray animals are regarded as dirty, safety hazards in some parts of the world,
in Turkey many people will agree that the animals have just as much right to
roam the streets as the people do
o Some are
friends with people – wander around shops getting scraps
§ Most
people loves them – they’re not exactly feral, they just don’t have homes –
everyone sets out food everywhere – popular in many other places too, just not
western
§ “One who
doesn’t love people can’t love animals” – saying in turkey
o Why?
Muslim culture and other mid-east cultures (e.g. Greek, Rum, Armenian)
§ Tale
about a cat saving prophet Muhammad from a snake, Muhammad’s love for cats is
mentioned multiple times in lore
§ Muslim
saying “if you’ve killed a cat, you need to build a mosque to be forgiven by
God”
o Cats are
a part of the cities identities
o There
are cats living in the Hagia Sophia
· Stray
animal population increased during Istanbul’s population boom during the
mid-late 1900s
· Life is
not perfect for the cats there, though – emaciated, killed in traffic, hurt in
fights with other animals
· Also the
dogs are not nearly as respected in Turkey – thought of as unclean
Egypt
· Cats
became highly regarded in Egyptian society because of their ability to kill
rodents and potentially harmful snakes and bugs.
· They
worshipped the goddess Madfet, who
guarded people from the harm of creature like snakes and scorpions, and later Bastet or Bast, the feline goddess who guarded Egypt from harm. The image of
Basted changed over time and she became known as the goddess of family and
love.
§ She is
depicted as a woman with the head of a cat.
o This
worship of Bastet shifted the way that ancient Egyptian people thought about
cats – they began to regard them as real family members and mummified and
mourned them after death.
o Cats
were considered sacred demi-gods, and could not be owned by any human but the
pharaoh.
· During
certain time periods, killing a cat was punishable by death in Egypt
· This has
certainly changed – recently there have been mass killings of stray animals in
Egypt conducted by government officials in an attempt to control the stray
animals population
· Like in
Turkey, there are many cats and dogs roaming the city streets, but in Egypt
they are not accepted as a part of the town – people try to kill the local
strays by poisoning the garbage, drowning them, and other cruel methods.
· They
have almost no protection from the law
Greece
· History:
In ancient Greece, dogs were commonly associated with the deities Hades
(Cerberus), Hecate and Artemis
· Believed
by ancient philosophers to have superior intellect and loyalty
· Street
dogs mentioned in the Odyssey – Argos, Odysseus’ dog
o Described
as emaciated, flee-ridden, old
o Sadly
you can still see dogs like Argos in Greece today
· Situation
is similar to that of Turkey, but with the dogs instead of the cats
o Not
everyone can take on into their home, but most people provide the dogs with
food and attention
§ The
animals are friendly, they live on the streets and are looked after by everyone
· However,
there are still many sick, starving stray animals in many parts of the country
who have not been fortunate enough to find a loving caretaker
o The
recession/economic troubles of the country has made it more difficult for the
government to provide sufficient animal welfare services and for many people to
take care of the local strays
§ There are
a variety of accounts of animals being abandoned by owners who are too
overwhelmed to take care of them any more
· The cat
population flourishes because they are able to feed off of the scraps left from
the fishing industry
India
· Not just
cats and dogs, but cows as well
o Cows are
in India as cats are in Egypt – revered and protected by tradition and law
§ In this
case, the religion protecting cows in Hinduism.
o One can
sometimes see cows roaming the streets, holding up traffic
· India
has a very large number of stray dogs – over 35 million in the country
o Quite
controversial – many people consider them to be a nuisance or a danger
o System
of TNR but not very effective
o Illegal
to kill strays
o They
feed off of garbage left outside
o Dogs in
airports, subways, etc.
· Animals,
both strays and actual wild animals, roam onto the airport runways, often
blocking planes and causing delays
Peru &
South America
· Very
different views on pet ownership (based on article written by a Peruvian)
o Against
spaying and neutering: inhumane, akin to circumcision
o Keeping
animals as pets is cruel – they should be free
o Killed
instead of spayed to control population – pounds electrocute them, hazing
ritual for police is to kill a dog and eat its heart
No
matter what the ethical considerations may be with regards to spay/neutering
animals, the reality is that this perspective has allowed the stray animal
population in many south American countries to grow out of control, forcing
many pounds to resort to mass killings
Haiti*
· Here the
stray animal situation is mostly affected by natural disasters and consequently
financial troubles instead of cultural traditions
o From bad
to worse after the earthquake – with thousands of lives destroyed, how can
people care for their animals when their lives are basically ruined?
o Just as
people lost their homes, many animals (pets and livestock) lost their main
source of protection and food
§ Thousands
of stray dogs found after hurricane
o Nation
so focused on rebuilding the country that there are almost no animal services –
in 2012 considered the poorest country in the world
*I did research on Haiti thinking I was going to do a section on that
country but I decided I did not have enough info
Thailand
· Seems as
though the situation in Thailand is just as bad as everywhere else, but, like
in Turkey, the animals have some source of protection in the form of religious
beliefs.
· Buddhism,
Hinduism and Jainism – eastern Asian religions
o Beliefs
about treating animals as sentient beings, closely related to humans. Also, bad
karma if you kill an animal
o Animals
part of the cycle of reincarnation
o Belief
called ahimsa – doing no harm towards
any living creature
· Many
strays in Thailand are rounded up and brought to the temples, where the monks
try to care for them
o One
temple shelters 700 dogs and spends 1,500 US dollars a week to care for them
· However,
stray animal overpopulation is a large problem in Thailand – it’s estimated
that the country is home to more than 10 million stray dogs, many of which are
not fortunate enough to find protection at a temple.
· Another
issue is the dog trade from Thailand to Vietnam, where they are eaten
o Dogs are
stuffed into tiny cages and driven across the border – they are not fed nor
given water during the trip, and many die. When they arrive in Vietnam, they
are force fed rice to fatten them up. There is a false belief there that
torture causes the dogs to release adrenalin, which tenderizes the meat, so
often the dogs are beaten or burned before being painfully killed.
#2. Writing out the narration and audio/video
script
Notes: This marks the next
important step in the process of planning the film. When writing out the
script, I brought certain links together and drew conclusions from the factual
information that I had gathered while doing research. As such, this phase
involved a great deal of critical thinking on my part and was a major step in preproduction.
“Over break I have been
writing out the script for the film. I started by taking all the info and research and writing it out
in paragraphs. This is what the narrator(s) are going to be saying. Then, I
split the writing into 1-3 sentence chunks and beneath it I described the
footage, image or animation that will accompany the audio. Later I will write
this up as an audio video script in Celtx, which is a software program for
writing sreenplays, but now it is just in the form of a word document. I am
almost finished with this step; I only need to write a short conclusion for the
film. This was one of the more difficult parts of the process thus far because
I had trouble writing everything as narration instead of in an essay-like
style. Also, I have not looked into what stock footage is available and what
types of animation I can produce, so it was impossible to flesh out the video
part of the script very much. The next reflection will include the shot plan
that I have created. It is the first draft and many parts are quite rough. My
next step will be to edit this document and make a list of shots and imaged
needed.”
#3
& 4. Finding video clips
Notes: These entries
are included in the appendix because they provide evidence of the planning
process. Although gathering images and footage was by no means the most
interesting or significant step, it is necessary to show all stages of
development in the process in order to provide a better picture of the work
that went into the film’s creation.
“This week I focused on
compiling images to use in the film. Based on the screenplay-like document I
created at the beginning of January, I formed a list of all the different
photos I would be using in the film. For each image on the list, I found 2-6
similar images and downloaded them to a specified folder on my computer. The
multiple image choices will be very helpful during postproduction in case I
need to change the dialogue somewhat, substitute and image for a film clip,
etc. Almost all images were filtered by the "large" designation in the
search tools. There were a few important photos that I needed that were only
around 400x400 pixels, so when editing them into the film, I will probably make
the size smaller and have them surrounded by a black border. Almost all the
images I needed could be found on the Internet, although some were stock
footage that I may have to buy. I'll have to see if I can find other free
photos to use instead.”
“Last week I started working on the next step on my to do
list, which is finding online footage of strays to use in my film. At first I
thought I would use mostly footage from the stock sites like Pond5,
shutterstock, or Canstock, but the clips are pretty expensive there, so I
started downloading videos from YouTube. There was a large selection there and
the download process was easy. At the end of the film I will credit all the YouTube
users whose footage I borrowed. My plan as of this weekend is to find as much
footage as I can on YouTube and to get the rest from the stock footage sites. I
might end up emailing the companies and asking if they have student loans if I
need to buy more than a few clips. I have a list of all the shots I need to
gather, and currently I'm about 1/4 of the way through that list. My goal is to
finish collecting all the shots that will not be filmed by around the 10th of
February. After that I will start working on the AfterEffects animation part.”
#5 & 6. Self-Management
Notes: The following
two entries show my self-management and time-management skills, although there
is evidence in other passages, as well. I mostly used the to-do list to set due
dates for myself, but I have referenced those goals and other time-related
issues in these two entries.
#5
“Today I achieved my goal of getting all the footage
needed by the beginning of February. It was actually much easier than I thought
it would be to find usable footage. The last thing I need to do is buy two
short stock videos for shots that I couldn't find on YouTube. I am glad that I
only need to buy two, though. Compared to how I thought it would be in the
beginning, it's a pretty good compromise. That will be my next step, along with
looking at AfterEffects tutorials.”
#6
“Right now I have finished the Egypt section and am about
half way through editing the Thailand part. The issues that I have been
encountering are pretty similar to those that I faced when editing the first
part. I had overestimated the amount of narration I could it into a single
shot, and, as such, I didn’t have enough media to fill the country's entire
section, and I had to search for more, which made editing take much longer than
I had anticipated. Additionally, it was difficult to edit out certain mistakes
in the audio (places where the narrator had messed up) because the pitch would
change and the continuity would be broken.
Right now I have to focus on editing everything together
as quickly as possible, because I am getting increasingly behind on schedule.
The final film should be done around April 15th, which gives me 13 days to edit
4.5 sections and add text effects.”
#7.
Changes
Notes: Somewhere in
the beginning of production (i.e. when I began gathering footage), I decided to
remove the Peru section from the film. However, I later added it back in, and
this journal entry justifies that choice and describes how I came to realize
that the film would be stronger with that section included. This paragraph
primarily demonstrates my work in creating the film, and the critical thinking
that had to go into that process.
“When I was writing my report on criteria A and B, I
mentioned my decision to take out the Peru portion from the script. When I made
that choice, I thought it was a very good idea because I didn't have enough
information. However, I mentioned to my mom that I was not doing a section on
Peru, and the conversation that ensued made me realize that there were actually
some fascinating religious/cultural connections that I had not seen before that
actually were really important. During the research section, I learned that
Latin American culture is very anti-spay/neuter. When my mom asked me if I had
found any religious connections, the connection between the Catholic views
about birth control and views about sterilizing animals became obvious,
although it hadn't been on my radar at all before. The more I thought about it,
the more I realized that the film would be incomplete without it. In most of
the other sections, the culture has a positive impact on the lives of strays,
(or at least an impact that was neither good nor bad). This section would
provide a new perspective by illuminating a negative way in which religion has
affected the situation for homeless animals.
The primary reason why I was so glad to get rid of the
Peru section was because it would be a major time-saver, and I need all the
extra time I can get. To make matters worse, I was having a very hard time
finding footage. Now that I am going to include it, I need to significantly
increase the weekly amount of work I do on the film. Luckily, I have the first
draft of the script that includes Peru, so will not need to rewrite the entire
section. This is an important lesson that I have learned recently: never delete
any of your work, even if you think you will never use it again.”
#8, 9 & 10. Development of film
Notes: These three
entries focus on my work in the second half of production and the beginning of
post. They recount the challenges I faced, the choices I made, and the goals I
set for myself (in terms of due dates for editing) during the creation of the
product.
#8
“I had planned to begin recording voiceovers during the
long weekend, but I encountered a technical issue with the microphone that
prevented me from recording anything. The problem with the mic was that the SD
card was full, but there were barely any files in the folders when I looked at
it on the computer. Any files I deleted did not affect the space available on
the card. I was hesitant to clear the entire thing in case there were important
files on the drive, but when I talked with my supervisor it turns out that is
what I should have done. Now I know for the next time that I use a microphone
(or school camera, for that matter) that I can format the SD card if it is
filled to capacity.
However frustrating this issue was, it actually opened up
another option for me. I realized that I could just as easily have used the
voice-recording app on the iPhone to obtain audio files. I am not sure how the
quality of an iPhone 5 or 6 recorder would compare with that of the field mic,
but when I was experimenting with the latter I became aware that there was a
lot of static that I wasn't sure how to deal with. Because I couldn't actually
record anything on that mic, however, I do not know if the static will show up
in the final audio files or if it was just an issue with playback. I am planning
on having the speakers record four takes in total, two on an iPhone and two on
the field recorder. That way, I can chose the one with the best quality after
listening to and analyzing both.”
#9
“During the first part of spring break, I focused on getting
the rest of the audio files necessary to begin editing. The primary issue that
I encountered in this process was finding a suitable location to use as a sound
stage. I needed somewhere extremely quiet and uncrowded that had good acoustics
(in one of the classroom buildings, for example, sound echoes quite easily).
For two sections I ended up using a car as a sound stage, which actually
worked much better than I thought it would, considering that there was
construction going on in the parking lot. When reviewing the audio files, I
realized that almost no sound from the construction work was audible, even
though it sounded loud while the narration was being recorded. The audio files
were essential because I cannot begin editing without them, as the visual part
of the film will be composed based on the narration.”
#10
“Here is an outline of my progress by the end of spring
break:
All audio recorded
except Thailand section
Map edited in Photoshop
to use in film
Rough draft of Intro
completed
Rough draft of Turkey
almost completed
During the process of compiling the footage and narration
into a documentary, I realized that I had completely underestimated the amount
of work needed to go into editing of the film. For one, I could not follow the
draft of the product that I had made in December, because the pacing was wrong,
so I had to spend a large amount of time rethinking the sequence of shots, how
the film will flow, which shots to use for which parts of the narration, etc.
When I wrote the A/V script a few months ago, I had each shot/photo last for
much too long - the pacing was too slow. Now I have to add in more than I had
previously believed, which involved much more work. However, I had gathered
more footage and photos than necessary to fulfill the shots needed for the
initial draft, which was lucky because I didn't have to go through the process
of downloading more media.
Another thing that made the editing process more
complicated was the fact that the filmed shots and still images didn’t go
together as well as I’d hoped. In order to avoid the jarring transition between
a video clip and a photo, I applied some sort of motion to the stills. Most of
these were tracking or panning motions, which are easy to animate in Premiere
Pro with keyframes. Nevertheless, it can take quite a while to get the speed
and other settings to a point where they blend well enough with the surrounding
footage.
My next step is to compile the rough draft of the Egypt
and India sections, which I hopefully will be able to complete by the end of
the week, in the best-case scenario. I am also hoping to get the Thailand
narration in the next few weeks, although it is difficult to find a time when
both me and the person who will be narrating are free.”
#11 & 12. Finalizing
Notes: Once I finished
the first edit, there was still a great deal of work that needed to be done,
and these entries describe this process of finalizing the film. Not only do the
paragraphs provide evidence of my work in making the film, but they also show
my social skills (in getting useful feedback from people) and my communication
skills (in using the “film language” and manipulating footage to visually
impart certain emotions)
#11
“Right now, I have almost finished the first edit of the
film. Because it is the first draft, it is a pretty rough cut and still
requires a great deal of work. Primarily, I have to go through it and clean up
the editing style, make it seem more purposeful, fix any mistakes, etc.
However, in addition to that general task, I have made a more specific list of
things that I need to/should do to make the final product better:
- Color grading &
other effects to enhance visual quality of the film
- Take out shots/photos
of worse quality and extend the duration of the better-looking visuals
- Get feedback from
friends and family - this is a very important way to find out what I need to
work on!
- Numbers - text
animation - need to watch tutorials!
- Edit out certain
sentences of narration, because at some points it becomes repetitive (Especially
India)
- Credits - all video
clips from YouTube
- Add royalty free music
(http://incompetech.com/music/,
https://vimeo.com/musicstore)
- Animate passage from
the odyssey against blurred picture of dog in After Effects (for Greece
section)
- Add
more advanced transition effects for some photos (religious symbols in India,
statues in Greece, etc.)”
#12
“Once I finished the first edit of the film in the middle
of April, I went through the completed draft myself and gathered some
preliminary feedback. With that information, I was able to formulate a list of
everything that I needed to do in order to complete the project (this is
outlines in detail in a previous entry). During the past few weeks, I have been
attempting to finish these tasks, which has involved a great deal of work and
has presented me with numerous challenges. The first task, which was to cut out
unimportant or repetitive sequences, was difficult for me primarily because I
don't like to delete scenes that I have spent so much time editing together,
and also because the narration often didn't flow well once a part is cut out.
However, I was able to overcome these obstacles at times and ended up deleting
passaged from a few different sections.
While I was going through and attempting to cut out
certain parts, I was also doing color grading/correction. Looking back, I
realize that this was not the most effective method, because often I would be
too caught up in looking for scenes to cut that I would forget to pay attention
to color, or vice versa. I now realize that it would have been better to go
through the film twice and focus on each aspect separately. Despite this, I
believe the addition of certain effects, such as gamma correction, curves,
contrast, three way color correction, etc. really improved the visual
experience for the viewer. I had learned in film class how certain colors and
lighting patterns had different effects on people, and I put some of that knowledge
to use during this process. For example, if there was a part of the voice over
that was meant to evoke sadness or pity, I would emphasize that response by
tinting the video/photo blue and decreasing the saturation. I also tried to use
the sharpen and contrast effect on smaller clips to disguise their poor
quality, but this didn't work nearly as well as I'd hoped.
One of the most important pieces of feedback I got was
the suggestion to add music to each section that was native to the country on
which that portion of the film was focused. I liked this idea a great deal, and
so I set out to find music from each of the six countries, and some generic
folk music for the intro and conclusion. This did not prove to be too
difficult, although it would have been had I limited myself to music with a
creative commons license. However, as this is not a commercial endeavor, I
thought it was an ethically sound decision. Now that I've added the music, I
have realized how much of a positive effect it has had on the film as a whole.
It increased the coherency and fluidity and helped to smooth over some awkward
audio issues that I'd been struggling with.
The last important part of this final stage in the
process was the text animation. We had learned in visual effects class about
motion typography, so I was very well prepared to do this work, and it ended up
taking much less time and effort than I had originally believed it would. For
each piece of text I wanted to animate, I would create a new composition in
AfterEffects, use the type tool to write out whatever number or phrase I
needed, and then chose the animation preset from Adobe Bridge, which has a very
wide variety of options for motion typography. Once I knew how I wanted the
text to enter/exit, I would give it a certain color and adjust the animation
settings to make sure that the timing of the motion fit with the timing of the
narration. In some cases, I would use keyframes to change the opacity or
position of the text as it moved, which created an interesting visual effect. I
think that these additions were vital to the film, as they provided a break
from the almost-constant footage/photos and gave a visual indicator of how
large the population of stray animals in these countries actually is.”
#13. Evaluation of final product &
reflection on learning
Notes: This is perhaps
the most important of all my process journal entries. I wrote it as a
conclusion of sorts to reflect on the film as a whole and what I got out of the
project. It addresses some of what I talked about in the report for criterion
D, including my evaluation of the product, what I learned from it, and how it
has helped me develop as a global and IB learner.
“This weekend I finally finished the entire film. I've
watched it so many times now that it is weird for me to view it in its
entirety, but also very interesting. I noticed things that I didn't see when
compiling each specific section. Overall, I have a mixed opinion of it. On the
one hand, I think the editing was relatively well done, there are surprising
and compelling shots, and the topic itself is fascinating, but I also have
realized that the narration that is meandering and awkward at times, and there
are many repetitive parts. I think that this has to do with the fact that I
wrote the narration well before I gathered any video clips or started editing,
so I didn't have a clear vision for the film yet, and as a result the voice
over seems unfocused. The problem is, I could not have gathered shots without
having a script, but I also needed shots to begin writing the script. I think
another reason why I don't feel as satisfied with the product as I should have
been was because I didn't film almost any of it myself. I know that it would
have been impossible given the global nature of the topic, but I still feel
like the film isn't truly my own creation, because I didn't have the artistic
input that comes during the actual production process. However, once I chose my
topic, I was stuck with it, so I set out to make something original out of other
peoples' footage, and I think that I have succeeded in achieving that goal. I
brought a wide variety of media from a wide variety of sources together to
document my story, and I think it is still unique because it looks at the issue
of animal overpopulation through a very specific and uncommon (for this
particular topic) lens.
Putting aside my thoughts about the film as a whole, I
can see that I have learned so much from the project. I improved the obvious
skills, like time management, perseverance, and hard work, but I think most
importantly I was able to investigate the very interesting link between culture
and animals and gain a newfound respect for foreign perspectives and
traditions. Overall, making this film made me a much more globally aware and
accepting person, and gave me new knowledge about religions and history that I
might not have learned from anywhere else.”
