~ Evidence of Work with Screenshots ~ Journal Entry 22

Here are screenshots that I took which are evidence of my work - I show that I took interviews and I also show the photos for the animation on my camera.

~ Timeline of deadlines and checklist for February Break ~ Journal Entry 21

Here are some of my goals for this february break and a couple of days after that. I want to have finished my product and made the corrections to my report by the end of the week, and I want to be prepared to come to school knowing how I am going to set up for the exhibition.

~ First Draft handed in ~ Journal Entry 20

On February the first we handed in the first draft of our personal project report. Before the final draft I plan to revise my report twice and have two-three meetings with Ms. Murphy about it. I did not yet do my reflection because I thought it would be better to do it once I had been closer to finishing my final product.

Below is my introduction. 

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Introduction
My personal project is a video about ‘Third Culture Kids’ (TCKs) in the form of a stop motion animation. To define what a TCK is in simple terms, it is someone who has spent a significant period of their life in a culture or in several cultures outside of their parents’ culture. A stop motion animation in simple terms is a series of pictures which make static objects look like they are moving. The decision to choose this topic actually derived from a unit that I had done in my old school about third culture kids and identity; it was remembering this unit which immediately influenced the direction I wanted my project to head in.     

    i) From Topic to Guiding Question  
 The reason I wanted to do this mainly came from my own interest and curiosity, because I myself am what is called a “third culture kid” and fit exactly into the definition of one. Whilst my mother comes from Peru and my father comes from Germany, we lived in Hong Kong (China) for over ten years yet were considered foreigners. In addition, I have grown up in a very international background in only international schools surrounded by multi-cultural/multi-lingual students, and this increased my interest to find out more about what defines a TCK and what it means to be one. By choosing a topic which I know not only I but many other people can relate to - especially in BBIS, there is a profound diversity of cultural backgrounds - I would be able to give others a better understanding of what it means by exploring it in more detail. I chose to do my project in the form of a stop motion animation for two main reasons. Firstly, because I thought it would be a great and fun way to inform people about the topic using visual images, and secondly because making stop motion videos is a passion for me, yet it is challenging and I wanted to improve and develop it as a skill. Prior to beginning research on my personal project, my knowledge of TCKs was quite limited so I was required to do a lot of in-depth research. However, on the other hand, I had already had some experience in how to make a stop motion animation because I have previously done two long-term design technology projects on it. So, in terms of making the stop motion itself, I had little research to do since I already had experience and detailed knowledge.The guiding question for the project is: How can I explore the advantages but also the Identity problems of a "TCK" (Third Culture Kid) by making an informative yet fun stop motion animation video? Once I knew what my topic would be, deciding the guiding question was fairly simple as I designed it from the global context and topic aim: I considered the components I wanted to research specifically. The question definitely requires more than a simple answer because it is a complex topic with many responses, and there are a range of different ways a stop motion about TCKs can be made. So, my main and central goal of the project was to gain deeper knowledge and understanding on the topic, and even about my own identity.         

  ii) Choice of Global Context 
The global context of my project is ‘Identities and Relationships’. The features of this context fit exactly to the topic, because the topic of TCKs is directly linked to identity, relationships and cultural beliefs. The context is clearly prominent in the guiding question because I state that I want to explore the advantages and identity problems of a TCK. Another global context which may have also been a possible option was ‘Personal and Cultural Expression’, which shares the concepts of beliefs, values and culture with the global context Identities and relationships. The reason I didn’t choose to do it is because according to the MYP the inquiry question is “what is the nature and purpose of creative expression?” Although this does relate to my topic in a way, it is too broad.

~ Contacting External People ~ Journal Entry 19

I decided that I wanted to contact other people who could help me for my project, not just people from within the school like students. The internal contact was with students, where I made the interviews. However, I didn't think this would be enough. On sunday I began sending some emails to external people who I knew would be very interested in my topic.

Firstly, I contacted a woman named Chi. In the summer of 2015 I went to an empowerment summer camp where Chi was a mentor, and the camp encouraged diversity and valued different cultural beliefs. I found this very inspirational, especially since Chi has a TCK background herself. A screenshot of our email exchange is below: - 

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The second person I decided to contact was a woman named Rachel Ryle whom I spontaneously discovered on instagram. She makes stop motion animation vines, and they introduced a different way of stop motion entirely, which I was very interested to know how it was done. Her works include miniature paper cutouts of objects and food, which she animates to make it look like she is making coffee or cooking food or something like that. She uses only these paper cutouts, which I found really interesting, and I have already developed some ideas on how I can draw inspiration from her and incorporate something similar in my video. 

I looked at her website to get a better idea and then sent her an email. She has not yet responded. 

~ Work I achieved during Winter Break pt. 2 ~ journal Entry 18

3. write script for dialogue of the first 50s of the animation
On my research google document, I also made the dialogue. It is incomplete, but covers the narration of around fifty seconds of my animation. This is an important thing for me to do! Here is what I had managed to do so far: 

4. Begin to write the first draft of the project report 
    As shown from the screenshots below, I have completed the draft of the introduction, and part of the Criterion A investigation section. However I do not think that at this stage it is important to give too much attention to the report but instead on working on the final product and editing of the video, but after doing a good chunk of work and making a significant amount of progress, then I can document this on the report.

~ Work I have achieved during Winter Break pt. 1 ~ Journal Entry 17

From the earlier post before winter break, I made a checklist of work goals for myself to complete by the end of the break. Here's what I've managed to achieve:-


1. The final storyboard with a timeline and annotations

2. around 50s of the stop motion animation -- this would be around 351 frames
Although I did not do 50s of my stop motion as I expected I would, I did around 45, which is also good. At this stage I had managed to get through four scenes - if I would add in the interviews as well it would be longer.

~ Quick Note! ~

I haven't posted in a while!

 I saved drafts of posts but didn't manage to find the time to upload them. I will be updating the blog more often now, including the posts from january which I didn't get to upload before.