PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: (Lecture) Report Writing

Submission details:
50% - project report. 1500-2000. Double lined spaced
50% - updated R&D journal

Learning outcomes:
- LO1 engage with and critical reflect on a work based learning experience

- LO2 demonstrate a developed knowledge and understanding of professional practice
Understanding how the industry works, how it does its job. How it works.

- LO3 implement appropriate professional skills within an industry context whilst working independently 
Photocopies (risk assessments, shot list etc) at end of report to reference to

- Plan, research then write.
- Focus on research and they need to see a demonstration in the report of your understanding which meets the learning outcomes.
- A piece of industrial analysis regarding the section in which you are working - report can take us through your learning journey. 
- Placing what you've done within the context of the industry as a whole - demonstrate your awareness of this through relevant text and online references to data, analysis and industry expertise. 
- Imagine you are writing a piece of work which will teach someone about the sector and job you have just completed. 
 - This is not a diary but rather a critical reflection on your own experience, together with appropriate industry research and analysis. 

Museum commission 
- Online - purpose is to inform & can be on screens in the museum 
- Educational moving image on television
- Open university type content - e.g. Blue Planet
- Know who I am talking to - members of public/children
- Look at other pieces online used for education - Natural History Museum
- How other people are doing it 
- How we can educate and inform 

Methodology
- Other smaller museums 
- Bitesize GCSE 
- Open university 
- Public service - marketing up to a point

Treatment
- Two versions? one for online and one for inside museum
- Widen participation - want more people to visit
- Research the challenges facing museums - problem then find solution
- Made it come alive - feel like the audience is in it
- Identifying reasons behind it 

Structure of report
Beginning
- Contents page
- Intro - introduction to your work placement - maybe a quote from their website? about company you are working for - 200-250 words?

Middle
- Main body - critical reflections. demonstrate your use of appropriate methodology during your placement/commission by referencing methodology from research and providing examples of when and how you have/observed it in practice
- This way you will explore and analyse the 'bigger picture' by researching the sector of the industry your commission is in.
etc. refer to powerpoint on portal

End
- Conclusions
- Appendixes - risk assessments/graphs etc. (see appendixes 1 etc)
- Sources

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: Follow-up Research

http://stray-notes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/
bbc-bitesize-science-info-is-wrong.html

BBC Bitesize

BBC Bitesize is an online education tool for school pupils about many different subjects. It includes information pages and mini quiz's so pupils can test their knowledge at the end of each section. The website is easy to follow and is separated into different sections for the different subjects, and then into even more subheadings for the different topics. 

Bitesize is an online learning tool which is what my video will be once it's finished. It was good to see how it was structured on the screen which has given me a guide in how I could structure my voice over. As its shown below, the structure and layout to Bitesize is very simple and straightforward for younger people to navigate around the website to what subject they want.

BBC Bitesize 

The text is easy to read for any young children up to teenagers, which is how I want my voice over to be in my film - easy to listen to and understand. Simple words and with it spoken slowly can avoid any confusion or misunderstanding of the dialogue. I would like the different sections of my film (introduction of tool, why and how it was used and the description of the tool) to be as simple as the ones on the Bitesize website. Understandably, my video is something you would watch and Bitesize is an interactive website but the simpleness is the same as I want for my film. 

The Open University

The Open University provides the opportunity for people of any age to learn from a distance rather than actually going to a university for lectures, e.g. from home. This sort of university course would be helpful for mothers or someone who works a lot so they can learn from home during their everyday life.  

The Open University is similar to the commission I am producing work for because I can fit the schedule around my own time. This suits me because I work part-time in the evenings and it would be difficult to fit a work placement around that. I can also contact the staff I am liaising with from the Guildhall by email, therefore, I do not have to go the museum all the time. 

The work I produce for the museum is also like an Open University for the audience as they are learning something without having to attend a lecture and can access it from their own homes. This is similar to the current programmes on BBC One, Blue Planet II. This programme allows the audience to learn about the different types of animals who live in the sea. This is a beautifully shot programme which broadens the knowledge of the audience. 

http://divemagazine.co.uk/eco/7830-blue-planet-ii-preview-screening

Problems facing museums

Museums are always trying to find ways to bring more interest into them. For example, the Guildhall Museum have branched out for films being made about different objects and other exhibitions only in the last couple of years. Putting these on their website could increase the public’s interest and they may be more likely to visit. The only problem with this is that if people are viewing the videos online and a lot of the information is there, they might think they now do not need to visit because they’ve got all the information about the exhibitions online. This is very common because the internet and social media are increasing and therefore, people are looking at the relevant information on their laptop screens from the comfort of their own home, instead of going to visit the museums.

Public funding is another issue that museums are facing, there is a reduction in the funding which means that the museums are not getting enough money to keep them up and running. There are donation boxes in most museums but not everyone donates money, which is what keeps the building standing. To prevent museums from this, they need to be more focused on our relationships with partners and audiences. The arts council had taken a number of measures to help the sector, including providing more support for networks, simplifying the Accreditation process, looking at ways to help museums generate new sources of income and working with Major Partner Museums on issues such as workforce diversity. 

Source: http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/10112015-darren-henley-on-the-challenges-facing-civic-museums

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: Research into other Museums

I thought it would be a good idea to research into other museums videos, to see what approach they choose to help educate and inform the public from different age groups. The first museums that came to mind were the bigger and more popular ones, such as the Natural History Museum and the British Museum. A smaller and less well-known museum I thought of included the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

The Natural History Museum
http://www.nhm.ac.uk

Natural History Museum foyer http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2015/january/blue-whale-to-take-centre-stage-museum.html

The first video that was on the Natural History Museum's website was Venom: Killer and Cure video (correct at time of research), which features a snake moving around the camera. One thing about this video in particular is that it is silent. This is so the viewer can read the text and not have any other sound in the background to concentrate on what they're reading. The video is also on a loop so it is continuous throughout the period of time the viewer is on that page of the website. 

Screenshot from Natural History Museum's website http://www.nhm.ac.uk    

Another thing I noticed about the website was that there aren't many videos at all, the majority of the visuals are photos. This may be because they change the website around a lot when the new exhibitions get shown, and maybe they don't have enough time to made new videos, therefore the photos are less time consuming. 

The quality of the shot of the snake is amazing. It is a very detailed close up of the snake slivering past the camera. It looks very creepy, especially with the black background, and would be frightening to anyone afraid of snakes, which is a good impact that the video has on the audience. The dark theme can also come across in the text 'Venom' written in bold letters, with the white writing standing out well against the black background and dark coloured snake. 

There isn't really a story to this extremely short video, but having the detailed shot of the snake and the text 'Venom: Killer and Cure' the audience can think of their own story before scrolling down to read about the exhibition. Maybe, the snake is moving slowly through the night, to get ready to pounce on its' prey. Therefore, letting the audience create their own story means it can be seen as more interactive than I first thought. 

Relation to my work
One thing I have decided on for definite is that my video will not be silent and will include a voice over. I feel this is appropriate for the type of video I want to give to the museum. I want it to educate young children and they may get bored looking at just moving images on a screen, the dialogue will hopefully help keep them interested. Unless my video gets shown in the viewing screen behind the glass at the Guildhall, then I will have to make another video, possibly silent or with text. 

The British Museum
http://www.britishmuseum.org

The British Museum website, home page http://www.britishmuseum.org

The British Museum is slightly different as they do not open with a video, more of a slideshow of photos of what is featured in the museum. It has a similar layout to the Guildhall Museum's website with artefacts and their information online for the public to browse through, however there are no videos about these objects. 

However, there is a link which says 'Search the collection, our website, our YouTube channel and our shop – all in one place'. So, instead of having individual videos on the website for each artefact, there have them all in the one place on YouTube. I had a look at some of the videos. 

Screenshot of The British Museum's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/britishmuseum

The first video I looked at was Scythians: the alternative lifestyle of antiquity (below) and it was a good educative short film about the object. The video included the curator of the exhibition on screen at the beginning and a few times throughout introducing and talking about the exhibition. There was a continuing track of music in the background, the type of music they chose gave the video a mysterious feel to it. When we weren't on the curator, we were looking at shots of the exhibition in the corridors and objects in it, with his voice still talking over the top. I was constantly interested in the video and understood everything he said. The video had a lot of content about the Scythians in it and it was all very interesting. The storytelling is good and the story is interesting, he speaks about who the Scythains were and where they originated from, and that even though they may not have lived in cities, they still had the skill and desire to live the good life.

Another feature I really liked in the British Museum's video was the opening title and how they made it appear. Each letter appeared differently, and it looked really effective. This is probably a feature just for their videos but I would like to experiment with different effects on my titles to see what I can come up with. 

Screenshot from video Scythians https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFVqVF4kh28

Relation to my work

The structure to this film with the shots of the object and the voice over is the same as what I want my video to be like. This person however, is talking about the objects and is on-screen, whereas, I was just thinking about having a voice over. Although, having someone on screen is not a bad idea, I could get Steve to talk to the camera about the Fly Tool but he will be there primarily to help us and maybe wouldn't feel comfortable on-screen. Another option is to get Katie (who I am using for my voice over) to be on-screen and pretend that she works at the Guildhall Museum. However, as this video is factual, it wouldn't be right to have an actor pretending to work at the museum. 

The shots of the artefacts look aesthetically pleasing which is how I would like my shots to look of the Fly Tool - good lighting and positioning will play a part in this. I also have never thought about putting an underlying sound track throughout the video, researching into this has led me to want to incorporate an music track throughout my video. I will try this out in the editing process to see if it effects my video positively or not. There were no pauses or long black screens which helped it flow well all the way through, this is what I want my video to be like, I need good transitions from one idea into the other to prevent any pauses or the audience getting bored.

The story of the Scythians starts with how they came about, then he goes back to the exhibition and what objects to do with the Scythians they have at the museum and then back to the Scythians in general. This can be applied to my work with a similar content layout. I start by introducing the Fly Tool, then go onto how it was used and then back to the tool to describe it. I think this is a good layout to follow and makes sense for young children to follow. 

Dulwich Picture Gallery
http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

As the Guildhall is a small museum, it would make sense to have a look at how smaller, less well known museums promote their content visually. One museum I found was the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Although, this museum mainly contains paintings rather than historian artefacts, it's aim is still to educate and inform, which is the same aim for the Guildhall. 

Dulwich Picture Gallery https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/187472-dulwich-picture-gallery

Similarly to The British Museum, the Dulwich have videos on YouTube but they also feature them on their website. I watched one called More than Moomins: Tove Jansson at Dulwich Picture Gallery which had similarities to The British Museum's videos. The More than Moomins video also has someone on-screen talking about the exhibitions but she is walking around which brings more life into the video, it can help the audience feel like they are there at the museum without actually having to be there. 

The storytelling of the exhibition is good and very interesting. It is clear to see what objects/paintings the dialogue is talking about with the lady standing at the specific objects/paintings. The camera work is very different to the other videos I have looked at, the camera swings around the paintings and the woman in front of them. The camera also doesn't focus on a painting like the other museums when the camera would sit on an object while it gets spoken about. The Dulwich's video has text which pops up with a star rating that the museum has been given from popular newspapers and media platforms. This is a good idea to promote new visitors, if the online audience can see that it has been rated 4/5 stars then they are more likely to want to go. 

Screenshot from More Than Moomins video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoB90oCyHdQ

This idea gives the video an animated feel to it, which would be good to promote towards schools and their pupils. The camera work is all very quick which to me, maybe a bit too quick. It doesn't give you time to see the paintings on show because before you know it the camera has turned to something else. 

There is a lot of content to the Dulwich Museum's video for 59 seconds and explains a lot about Tove Jansson, the novelist and painter, in the More Than Moomins video. Similarly to the camera work, the information is released rather quick and a lot is said in the 59 seconds. Apart from the star rating animation-feel, I don't think this video is particularly aimed at young children and more towards adults. 

Relation to my work

This video has very nice lighting and looks aesthetically pleasing, which is a feature I would like to have in my own video. Both videos are also very short, with The British Museum's being 1'41'' and the Dulwich's being 59 seconds. It was helpful looking at these videos to see how much information they include in such short videos. Mine should be slightly longer than these but shouldn't exceed 2'00'', so I may be able to include even more information in mine.

I wasn't keen on how quick the camera work was so my video will not be as fast and will hold for longer on the different shots. However, I did like how they promoted their star rating but I'm not sure if that is something Rachel and Steve would want in the video - I will have to check on this. I am hoping to make the voice over slower than the Dulwich's video and easily understood by younger children, as they are my primary audience and main priority when thinking about the content and structure for my video.