As the halfway mark to the year approaches it signals a time to reflect and celebrate both my accomplishments and my failures. I have already completed quite a number of large projects so there are plenty of examples of work that I can showcase. This year has taken places I never could have imagined, and I have learned things that I never thought I would have been able to. From revolutions to evolution this year has been full of surprises.
The Frankenstuffie Project
https://www.blog44.ca/loganu/2017/11/04/the-rise-of-the-frankenstuffie/
Although the premise of the project may seem comical the content is actually quite 
intriguing. It touched on many topics that have a profound impact in today’s world such as geography, and biology – specifically matter cycles.I found the geography unit most interesting. I had no idea that geography was more than just the way the land looks, it is something so much bigger. It encompasses everything about the way land is divided, what people live there, and so much more. After creating my film I felt I could have put in just a little more work, a few more small tweaks and I would have improved the product drastically
- Don’t stop when you think it is good enough. Stop when you know it is your best work
- Take more breaks when working for long periods of time
- Ask for extremely direct critique from parents/peers/teachers and make the necessary adjustments
- Use all the editing tools available to me
- Make sure your filming location is easily accessible
In the end there was a lot to be proud of during this project, but at the same time plenty of opportunities for me to get better.
Calgary Field Study
https://www.blog44.ca/loganu/2017/09/21/beakerhead-field-school/
One week into school and we were already in full swing, with a full lineup of 4 videos covering a range of topics. 
From day 1 to day 8 there was always something that could be worked on. Although I didn’t find it stressful, in fact I enjoyed the little bit of pressure and doing work outside my comfort zone.
It was nice burst of work to do to start of the year, and I feel it set the tone well for the year. It taught me strategy’s that I can use to help improve my productivity and my quality of work. It also gave large amounts of experience with different filming and editing, styles and techniques. It was certainly a week to remember both for the education and the experiences it provided.
Star Wars Exhibtion
https://www.blog44.ca/loganu/2017/12/21/in-a-galaxy-far-far-away/
Nothing like a PLP classic to cap off first term. An exhibition is something that I still enjoy but hate at the same time. 
However, the accomplishment is much greater than the hard work. This exhibition was a prime example to why knowing your topic well enough to give a confident presentation is key. As much as I felt prepared for the day, when it came to actual day I found myself at a loss of words too many times. It was good lesson to how sometimes winging it isn’t the best option. Mixing in small structure into your presentation could be very useful to make it much more powerful and insightful presentation. I believe this shows that I still need some structure when presenting in a public setting even though I had always thought that I liked as little structure as possible. In fact I’ll be trying some more structured techniques throughout this SLC
Looking to the Future
There are many parts of my education that I would like to improve but when faced with a long list of potential improvements it is easy to burn out on all of them. My goal for the next term is to focus on the little details in every project. Whether it be proofreading my work for grammar errors or editing each voiceover to ensure its high quality. I feel focusing on fine details will really help my work turn from good to great. I look forward to next term and hope I can stick to my goal.
