1. Background
Swimming has been an interest that I have been invested in since I was six-years-old. From the moment I started the sport early in my childhood, it continuously evolved into a more important aspect of my life. Most recently, in 2017, I placed fifth in a race at the Turkish Championships. My life without swimming would be unimaginable, especially considering the great quantities of time I spend in the pool developing my swimming. I spend hours upon hours training in the pool every week to improve myself as a swimmer. Though all this hard work I put into swimming seems strenuous, my ambition, love, and commitment to the sport still motivate me to continue to this day. However, to turn my personal interest in swimming into a creative project, I have linked it with another significant personal interest of mine, cinematography.
Cinematography, like swimming, has also been an interest in my life since I was small. I have always enjoyed watching different forms of cinema: movies, tv shows, and nowadays YouTube videos as well. Touching more on the topic of YouTube videos, it has become almost a daily activity of mine to watch videos on this medium. YouTube videos are practical, accessible, and diverse. With my product, I will have an opportunity to explore my video production skills and share my passion for swimming and cinematography to the public through my own YouTube channel.
To specify my knowledge of these interests, the fact that I have been swimming on a competitive level for more than seven years has let me accumulate extensive expertise in relation to the techniques and intricacies of swimming.
In respect to the topic of cinematography and video production, I also have a substantial amount of knowledge. I know that cinematography entails the art of camerawork when producing films. I am aware of cinematographic techniques like angle use, camera handling, and framing. I also know how to use editing software such as iMovie, and have previously produced videos on it for other school projects. However, I will be using a more advanced software in this project, as I will use Final Cut Pro. This software will allow me to produce far better quality and more professional-looking videos. Both iMovie and Final Cut Pro are similar and are both created by Apple, but I will still have to familiarize myself with Final Cut (Cox).
The goal of my project to produce a swimming-inspired YouTube channel and a website to accompany this channel. For my YouTube channel, I intend to create eight videos and use these videos to develop the healthy living message of my website. Three of my videos will be vlogs that showcase how I live a healthy life as a student-athlete. Four videos will be swimming tutorials that teach my audience a useful form of physical activity for their daily lives. Finally, my longest video will be a mini-documentary investigating the state of swimming at my school, IICS. This point of this documentary is to argue why the school should have a pool on campus, and how a pool will encourage more students to exercise. The goal suitably fits the Global Context of Identities and Relationships, which tackles the concept of who we are. This context applies to my project, as I will be exploring physical health, and how it develops good habits and self-efficacy. The ultimate aim of my project is to explain how students (and adults) can maintain a healthy lifestyle and explain how it helps them achieve self-efficacy. My website and videos are not separate products since I will embed my videos throughout my website to strengthen the message of my website.
While it may not be Global Context that I am focusing on for my project, my goal simultaneously fits into the Global Context of Personal and Cultural Expression due to the fact that I am producing videos. I will be studying and developing cinematography techniques (use of angles, transitioning, camera handling, mounting, etc.), and express my learnings through my videos. My mini-documentary will probably have the most cinematographic emphasis.
My goal to create a YouTube channel and a website will be highly challenging since I will be testing my time-management and video production skills. Firstly, my project will require me to develop efficient time-management skills, as I must successfully complete my detailed, expansive project in the considerably short amount of time given to finish it. Moreover, I will also challenge myself by using the Final Cut Pro editing software, as this software is advanced and unfamiliar to me. I will need to develop my editing skills to ensure that I am capable enough of producing videos that will be appealing and presentable to my YouTube audience. Adding on to this, I will need to learn the specific styles and attributes of the videos I will be making. As I will be making vlogs, tutorials, and a documentary, I will need to observe the differences in these distinct video genres and implement my observations during the editing. For example, I will need to edit my vlogs in such a way that I emulate the fast-paced nature of this video type.
2. Research
To guide my research, I brainstormed a set of key questions to answer.
To guide my research, I brainstormed a set of key questions to answer.
From the key questions, I created a Coggle mind map where I developed my brainstorm. Find it here.
3. Identifying Sources
The investigating section of the Personal Project developed my skills of differentiating good and reliable from poor and unreliable sources. Throughout the research phase, I found numerous trustworthy and relevant secondary sources that improve my understanding of video production, my understanding of cinematography, and my understanding of healthy living. In addition to my secondary sources, I also interviewed a credible primary source—my swim coach—in order to learn the exact instructions of every swimming technique for my tutorial videos (entry 1). My notes from this interview can be found on the Appendices page.
During my research, videos were an especially useful style of source that I used frequently in the project. One video that I analyzed was a tutorial on how to use Final Cut Pro (entry 1). David A. Cox, the publisher of the video, is highly credible and his narration throughout the video is very comprehensive. This source was especially useful because as I watched it, I was able to open up Final Cut Pro and try some of Cox’s tips and instructions in a practice video. There is a process journal that discusses my practice video but it is not included in the final report (see Appendices). The tutorial will be a great guide when I start producing my final videos during the Taking Action section.
To see more of my evaluation of primary sources, look at process journal 1; for my evaluation of secondary sources, look at process journal 2.
The investigating section of the Personal Project developed my skills of differentiating good and reliable from poor and unreliable sources. Throughout the research phase, I found numerous trustworthy and relevant secondary sources that improve my understanding of video production, my understanding of cinematography, and my understanding of healthy living. In addition to my secondary sources, I also interviewed a credible primary source—my swim coach—in order to learn the exact instructions of every swimming technique for my tutorial videos (entry 1). My notes from this interview can be found on the Appendices page.
During my research, videos were an especially useful style of source that I used frequently in the project. One video that I analyzed was a tutorial on how to use Final Cut Pro (entry 1). David A. Cox, the publisher of the video, is highly credible and his narration throughout the video is very comprehensive. This source was especially useful because as I watched it, I was able to open up Final Cut Pro and try some of Cox’s tips and instructions in a practice video. There is a process journal that discusses my practice video but it is not included in the final report (see Appendices). The tutorial will be a great guide when I start producing my final videos during the Taking Action section.
To see more of my evaluation of primary sources, look at process journal 1; for my evaluation of secondary sources, look at process journal 2.