Project timeline (update)

EPQ

Progress so far

By the end of October I had hoped to have:

- picked my question

- picked which films I wanted to research

- picked which books would help me rate historical accuracy

- have watched and evaluated the films

- made case studies on each

- estimated whether I thought they were accurate or not

In reality I have fallen behind due to other work projects and applications needing to be completed, I have achieved some of the criteria though, I have:

- picked my question

- got an idea of what films I want to research

Although this may not seem like much when I wrote the timeline plan I failed to account for how long it would take me to decide what I actually wanted to investigate in my EPQ and all the small details I would need to decide on. Now I have structured what I want to investigate it is simply a task of finding the materials and evaluating them before I am back on track with my planned timeline.

Film, TV or both? (planning the project)

EPQ

Film/TV/Both?

Initially as many of my university courses include both film and TV it seemed better to try and include both into my investigation, as further research has proven though it may be harder to include TV in an investigation about historical accuracy than first though.

There are not that many TV shows to choose from that are related to specific historical events (such as films are) rather than simply set in certain time periods. Although this may have been a factor that put me off slightly what put my off the most was the realisation that to gain an accurate representation of these shows I would have to watch at least on if not more episodes of each series. This would be quite a long task and as well as just watching I would have to analyse, also just choosing to watch a few episodes does not give me a true insight into how historical events are portrayed in the show, for some episodes (such as finales/season premières) the event may be over dramatised for dramatic effect and so by only watching thee beginning and end of a season I wouldn't gain a true understanding of how events are portrayed (arguably this could be a topic I come back to another time to write an essay about). 

To watch all of a season would need time I don't have and so it seems more effective if I choose to just focus on  films where the event is condensed into a few hours viewing so I am able to watch it all from start to end and make a far more well rounded judgement on it.

Picking my question (developing a title)

EPQ

Question

After deciding my topic and the rough outline of my question I now need to finalise the exact wording, what I'm going to investigate and how I'm going to go about investigating it.

Topic: Historical accuracy in film, study of director, narrative/character theory

Question: ??

Historical event: WWII/Titanic/WWI/Holocaust

Director: James Cameron/Steven Spielberg/Quentin Tarantino

Include narrative/character theory: Yes/No

Investigate: 

- How accurate historical events are in films (over dramatised or true to events?)

- How historical events are portrayed by directors (accurate or falsified?)

From doing this planning I have found it may be quite hard to incorporate narrative/character theory into this essay, not only because it will seem like a bit of an add on but because I will almost certainly struggle to fit all of these 3 aspects into the 5000 word limit. Therefore I have chosen to cut this part and (like with editing and filming) focus on it later in the academic year in a separate essay that I will complete to further my knowledge and practice my writing rather than as part of the EPQ.

After losing the narrative.character theory part my question becomes all the more easier to structure without sounding so wordy. After some planning and rewording the first draft of my question is:

How accurately do writers/directors portray historical events in film/tv?

After I have completed some more research I should be able to narrow down which writers/directors I wish to discuss and which historical events in which film/tv shows.

Picking a topic (final)

EPQ

Topic

So far I know that I want my investigation to be into something media related, preferably linked with either TV or film. Since thinking about my initial ideas I have decided which topics/projects I can rule out and which one I want to do for my EPQ.

Unfortunately I have chosen to rule out making a film, although I would thoroughly enjoy making it and it would be an added practical piece of work I worry not only about whether I would have time to complete it to as high standard as I would like to but mainly about what I could investigate. The creative side would require a lot of planning but would be achievable but to include a research/investigation element requires more time, whilst also trying to film a A2 media trailer and assist in a AS media opening two minutes I worry I will not be able to achieve something that truly showcases how much I love film and media. Therefore I have set it as a summer task to complete some practical filming work when I have more free time to dedicate to it.

I also chose to rule out editing something, again for reasons that I am unsure what to research/investigate although for this project it would be easier I am mainly worried about copyright - could I borrow scenes from famous movies/tv shows to edit or does all the work have to be of my own creation? If it is the latter, which I fear it is, then again I would be in the situation of lacking time and resources to be able to make something of high quality. Another reason why I am choosing not to do editing as my project, and making a film as well as I am not daunted by the prospect of having to write a 1000 - 5000 word long essay and feel it would be something extra to add to my media portfolio.

Having ruled out the two practical projects I am left with three choices:
- historical accuracy in films
- study of famous director
- narrative and character theory in films

I am quite keen to combine history and film as they are two of my favourite subjects, especially 20th century history but I also like the prospect of learning more about directors (a subject I know fairly little about). Narrative and character theory in films sounds incredibly interesting but I'm apprehensive that I would be able to write a good essay about it.

In conclusion I feel my best scenario is to merge these ideas together, I will do my investigation/essay on the study of a famous directors historical accuracy and representation of characters in film. Although I am yet to decide which part of history to analyse and which director I will probably choose Titanic, the 1997 film about the event and the director James Cameron.

Signing up teacher to over see

EPQ

Teacher to monitor progress

After evaluating my initial ideas and deciding I wanted to investigate something media based I had to sign up a teacher to help oversee my process and help me if I ever got stuck. It only made sense to sign up a media teacher as they would have more of an idea as to what I was investigating and hopefully be able to help me more. I chose my media teacher Mr Thornton to oversee me as I see him often and will be able to get advice from him if necessary and he has the knowledge in media to help me if I get stuck.

Project timeline

 EPQ

Timeline (Plan) 

Sep 15 – picked my question, picked which films and books I wanted to use to research

Oct 15 – evaluated the films, made case studies on each (estimate if any of them are accurate, no real evidence for/against yet though as haven’t studied the facts)

Nov 15 – looked at the historical side of the question, researched online and in books facts and figures about the era of the films and looked to begin to evaluate whether the films were accurate or not in depth

Dec 15 – cross examined historical events and films – took into account their purpose and whether or not they stuck to the facts

Jan 16 – began to plan/write my essay after I had gathered together all my information

Feb 16 – finished essay and moved onto evaluating product and planning presentation

This is a rough guide to what I hope to achieve throughout the months and how much work I need to do each month to keep on target, the workload is spaced out evenly to I can complete it to a high standard without it interfering with my other studies and meaning It isn't rushed.

Initial ideas (Part II) - Evaluating my project idea

EPQ

Initial ideas (Part II)

To begin my EPQ I had noted down all the possible ideas I have for what to base my project on, from there I evaluated it would be most beneficial to do my EPQ on something media related as those are the sort of courses I have applied to at university (film/media arts/creative writing/tv production). From there I came up with 5 main rough ideas of what I could base my investigation on and wrote pro's and cons for each: 

• Make a film?
• Edit something?
• Essay on films?
• Study of famous director?
• Narrative and character theory in films?

1) Make a film

+ something extra for my show reel

+ gain extra practice in creating media

+ relevant to the practical side of the media degrees I want to do at university

- a long process

- how could I tie in a research element

- what would my question be and how would I present this in a film

2) Edit something

+ something I enjoy and a specific part of media I hope to be involved in when I'm older (good practise)

+ something more unique and different (using digital media)

+ more diverse than just an essay

- how to include research element

- what could be my question

- how could I use editing to investigate something

3) Historical accuracy in films

+ something which interests me 

+ easier to think of question and how to include research element

+ example of written communication

- not very diverse

- very theory based, nothing to add to my practical work

- could be too simple

4) Study of famous director

+ interesting, providing me with new knowledge

+ related to university courses I'm interested in

+ could include new media as well as essay (more diverse)

- what could my question be

- too narrow (film/tv, couldn't do both)

- not something I'm as interested in (directing)

5) Narrative and character theory in films

+ something I'm very interested in

+ more original and diverse

+ good example of written communication

- too challenging

- hard to include digital media

- how to narrow it down, what could my question be

Over the next week I will evaluate these 5 options and choose one before beginning planning my question and starting my research into the topic I choose.

Initial Ideas

EPQ

Initial Ideas

The first task of my EPQ is too choose what I want to investigate, so far I have a few ideas and below I will list the pro's and con's of each:

1) History and film
+ two of my favourite subjects, would love to combine the two
+ something interesting and lots of resources to choose from
+ essay would be another piece of writing to add to my portfolio
- may be hard to incorporate digital/new media
- not specific to what I want to do at university (media but not history)

2) Behavioural patterns (Psychology)
+ very interesting
+ unique and specific
- what could the question be
- could be too advanced/scientific
- not relevant to what I want to do at university

3) Making a film
+ digital/new media
+ something to add to my portfolio
+ unique, different to essay
- long process (would need lots of work)
- how could I include research
- what could my question be

4) Writing
+ something which interests me
+ great to have more examples of my written work
+ something different
- what could I research (how could I make it an investigation)
- what would my question be

5) Design a website
+ digital/new media
+ different/unique
- what could I research
- what would my question be

From this I can evaluate that I will do something media related as although the others are interesting ultimately I wanted to choose a topic that is relevant to what I intend to study at university. Therefore I can exclude behavioural methods (as its psychology based not relevant to film), designing a website (too broad, more to do with digital media rather than film/tv) and instead choose between the other three. In another post I will look over the different options I have for investigations to do with media and then decide which topic to choose from there.

Why I have chosen to do an EPQ

EPQ

Why?

An EPQ (extended project qualification) is something I was keen to do once I found out about it for many reasons, most prominent of all may have been the added UCAS points but that is rather an added incentive rather than the core reason for me doing it. Not only is it an extra qualification and something extra to put on my personal statement but it is a way for my to do something extra in my free time and actually get graded on it and have it hopefully benefit my applications to universities.

From it I hope to gain a better understanding of which ever aspect I choose to investigate (probably media) and have an extra piece of work (written or digital) to add to my portfolio and show evidence of my writing/practical work.