Weekly Journal
Regular evaluation updates are required with every unit. Please remember to
take photos and get behind the scenes footage as you film. You might find it
easier if you note down a record of what you did each day in a diary form.
Please use the following guidance to help you with each week.
Week 1
What have you been asked to
do?
What are you making your 3
production on and why have you
chosen this topic?
What research have you
completed this week and what
have you learned?
Are you on track for this week? If
not, how far behind are you?
What work do you need to
complete outside of lessons to
stay on track?
This week you worked on your idea generation and
topic research
This week we have been asked to plan and research
for a production for a factual programme for BBC 3.
As well as a factual programme we have been asked
to produce an animation and a short film on the
same topic.
The topic my group and I ultimately decided on was
mental health. This is because we believed it was the
most important and impactful of our original 3 ideas.
These ideas included: mental illness, the education
system and violence specifically knife crime. I
begrudgingly complied with choosing mental health
however I still believe that the education system
would be a more interesting topic. Even though I
originally didn’t want to focus on mental health I still
believe that it is an important topic and needs more
awareness.
This week the research I mainly focussed on was
recovery of people dealing with mental health
problems. Through this I have become aware of the
different programmes and health groups available to
people who are struggling. I have also found out that
some people are turned away from receiving help as
they aren’t ‘mentally unwell enough’ which causes
people to get worse and not get help at all. The other
people in my group mainly focussed on finding
peoples stories, different mental health problems and
statistics to accompany them. We will incorporate this
research in our questions and state statistics
throughout the video in order to get the message
across to the audience.
I believe that I could do some more research in order
to fully understand mental health as it is such abroad
topic, however I would say that I’m on track with what
we have been doing this week overall.
I don’t need to complete any work outside of lessons
although I would like to do some specific research on

Week 2
What research have you
completed this week and what
have you learned?
How have you divided your
planning amongst your group?
What did you learn from your
planning? How has it helped you
to progress your idea?
Are you on track for this week? If
not, how far behind are you?
What work do you need to
complete outside of lessons to
stay on track?
Week 3
How helpful did you find your
planning whilst out shooting your
factual programme?
What interviews did you set up
and how do you feel they have
added to your production?
What issues did you have when
filming your production? How did
you overcome them?
certain mental illnesses which I will portray in my
productions.
This week you worked on your factual programme
This week we have done a focus group in order to get
a view on our production from our target audience.
We have also analysed different types of
documentaries in order to further our understanding in
preparation for our factual video.
We have decided that one of our members will be
the interviewer while the other two members will be
responsible for the two cameras.
Planning has made it easier for me to structure my
ideas for the factual video. Also it has enabled us to
have a clearer understanding of what we would like
to produce at the end of filming.
This week I am behind on some aspects like analysing
the documentaries and the focus group.
I need to finish my analysis of the documentaries and
the focus group.
This week you worked on your production
In my opinion i think that the planning really helped us
sort out our production because it allowed us to
accurately set up our cameras and position our
interviewees accordingly, the planning also allowed us to
ask more questions and ask our interviewee's on their
statements. We were also able to film more B-roll which
had connotations to what the interviewees answer was.
We set up sit-down interviews with a psychiatric nurse
and a young person (14) who suffers from mental
disorders. I believe that the sit down interviews created a
more personal and natural feel to the production. We also
found from our focus group that our target audience was
more interested in hearing from the person experiencing
mental disorders over the psychiatric nurse, this is
because it is more realistic and less factual.
When filming with the psychiatric nurse we had originally
planned for the interview to be in her place of work but
we were unauthorised to do so, we had then intended to
film outside but unfortunately it was raining. Finally we
had to settle with filming the interview at a table and
having her bring psychology books in order to indicate her
role to the audience. A similar thing happened with our
interview with the girl experiencing mental illnesses as we

How do you feel you are working
as a group? What were your roles
and responsibilities?
How much work did you
complete outside of the lessons?
Are you on track for this week? If
not, how far behind are you?
What work do you need to
complete outside of lessons to
stay on track?
were originally going to film in her school but we weren't
able to because of exams that were going on in the
buildings, we ultimately had to film the interview at a
table again and just have her explain who she is and show
what she does to handle her disorders but since it was
dark we had an issue with lighting so she appears orange
at points.
I believe that working in a group allowed us to better
prepare ourselves for the production as we each had our
own bits to do in order for us to complete the project. For
the research we each decided to focus on a specific part of
mental health, Molly focused on how mental health is
viewed generally, Olivia focused on the different types of
mental disorders and their impacts and I focused on
recovery. When preparing to film Molly and I came up
with potential questions meanwhile Olivia was finding our
interviewees. Finally when filming Molly and I were filming
on both of the cameras while Olivia was asking the
questions.
Outside of lessons I did extra research on documentary
types and further research on mental illnesses, we also did
our interview with the psychiatric nurse outside of
lessons.
Yes
None