The brief required us to produce a project using different forms of media that we've experienced using throughout the past two years whilst talking about something that is newsworthy or of importance to us.
Initially I struggled to develop an idea, because as I mentioned above, it had to be newsworthy as well as something I had an interest in. I decided to look at my previous work and see if there was any work I could build on or if there was anything that would spark a new idea; as it turns out this worked perfectly. I had previously written two pieces of work and recorded two podcasts on the topic of feminism, it's an issue that is easy for me to talk about because I'm so passionate about it. After some thinking I landed of the idea of 'Does Internalised Misogyny Exist in Fan Culture?' and I would present it as an article, magazine layout and a video. I decided this would be my topic as I'm a very prominent fan girl of artists such as Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Mitski etc. and whilst we're simply just existing there always seems to be a man complaining about us, who we're fans of, calling us names like 'crazy', 'obsessed' and 'emotional'. Yet in comparison to fan girls no one seems to bat an eyelid at male football fans, they get called 'passionate' and 'prideful'. Why is this? That is the question I wanted to answer. I decided to produce an article and a magazine layout as this would get printed in my college's magazine but also because writing is my favoured media, it's what I'm best at. I also decided to produce a video as I have very little video work on my portfolio and would like ton add to that as well as getting more experience with the cameras and editing software.
Throughout the project my idea did have to make a change; this was down to me producing my video work first. The principal behind the video was to interview three fan girls and three fan boys about their opinions on if misogyny existed in fan culture, this however did not go to plan. The people I interviewed were people I knew from college or my personal life, this means I already knew their views on this subject. I expected the truth to be told but I guess in hindsight that was quite foolish of me, to put these three boys in front of a camera and ask then to talk about how they don't like fan girls and all the names they've called me for being one. This resulted in my video having failed, or did it? I figured that I could turn this around by simply changing my idea. Instead of having the entire project be titled 'Does internalised Misogyny Exist in Fan Culture?', that is just what I'd call the video. I'd explain at the start of the video that I had a theory about internalised misogyny and wanted to test it out but the boys had chosen to be untruthful, I'd then state at the end of the video that since the boys had chosen to lie my theory had been proved correct and if you're not willing to say something on camera then why say it at all? This allowed me to then title my article 'Internalised Misogyny in fan Culture?' and go on to shortly talk about how yes, it does exist but mainly focus on why. If this hadn't happened the main bulk of the article would have been about whether it exists or not, but this way i got o explore why and I think it worked out a lot better.
There were several ideas that I had thought of but decided not to go with: men's mental health, homelessness and why it exists, vaping epidemic, is cinema dying?, should we abolish the monarchy?, is fast fashion ruining the world?, and should we put a maximum age on when people should be able to vote? I decided not to go with these ideas as feminism is a very personal issue for me, especially with regards to fan culture. This allowed me to passionately talk about the issue as well as produce the best work because I wasn't finding it strenuous or boring.
For future projects I feel that my idea generation could be improved on by not putting to much pressure on the process, an idea will come to me in due time I just have to be patient. I tend to stress myself out during the idea process so much that nothing comes to mind and I have to scrabble through my mind for quite literally anything. I need to relax and take my time.
To research this project I conducted primary and secondary research as well as collecting qualitative and quantitative data. For myprimary research, and my qualitative data, I contacted as many people as was possible that specialised in either fan culture or feminism as to my dismay I could find no body that specialised in both. I eventually had one reply, Dr Leora Hadas, professor at the University of Nottingham, specialising in fan studies. I was thrilled with her eager response to take part in my project, as she is a trusted source having studied this subject at length and even teaching it at university. I also, for my quantitative data, decided to create a Google forms poll to see what percentage of people believe that misogyny in fan culture exists as well as why they think it does or does not exist. This really helped me define my idea as Dr Hadas is a professional in her field and a lot of the things she was saying, I hadn't thought of.
For my secondary research, which consisted only of qualitative data, I researched different interviews of women talking about my subject. I first found an interview with Taylor Swift on YouTube talking about the different language used for men and women in the music industry, I then found a TED talk by Yve Blake speaking about the fact that she used to judge fan girls but now understands them and feels very protective of them with the verbal abuse they receive. These both were reliable sources as Taylor Swift is speaking from personal experience, being a woman in the music industry and the language she has had directed at her in the tabloids and by fellow men in her field. Yve Blake is also speaking from experience, very passionately. Yve has released several other TED talks of a similar nature which makes her reliable as you know she's passionate and it's close to her heart. They both helped me to define my idea as it's an issue they've either both experienced or conducted lot of research on; this allowed me to gather a different perspective of what it must be like for women in the music industry and not just their fans, such as myself. I then took it upon myself to research different definitions of the terms 'fan girl' and 'fan boy' to see how they are described on different websites. The definitions I ended up using in my article were from Urban Dictionary, a website that allows anyone to upload a definition of popular slang. I decided to go with this website as with it allowing any one to upload a definition it showcases what the general opinion is on a fan girl and fan boy and how differently they are perceived. This may not seem like a trusted website for definitions; however for what I used it for, I find it very reliable as it does show the public consensus of what a fan girl and fan boy are, which is exactly what I needed. This helped define my idea as it showcases what the general opinion is of these terms in Gen-Z, as that is who the Urban Dictionary is for. My article is aimed at Gen-Z so it was perfect for me to understand exactly how others in this generation view us as fan girls.
I ensured that I used a variety of sources were used by contacting as many people as possible, but also by simply researching things as simple as definitions of terms. I wanted to have a large amount of sources in order to pick and choose different aspects of what I want to use. The most reliable and useful part of my research was my interview with Dr Leora Hadas, as she shaped my article and it also a professional in the field so she knows what she is talking about. I drew one main important conclusion from my research, that yes misogyny does exist in fan culture. For future projects my research could be improved by simply reaching out to more people, even though I did reach out to a lot of people this time round. I now see the importance of reaching out to mass amounts of people because of the many I contacted only one got back to me.
My planning process was quite intense, I knew from the start what I needed to achieve to try and strive for a distinction and with that comes a rigorous timeline of events to do the most work possible to the best of my ability. I first decided to conduct a mind map of all the possible ideas for my project, this really helped to have it all in front of me and being able to pick and choose different aspects of different ideas that I liked and disliked.
For this project I had decided to conduct a tv segment, article and a magazine layout. I decided to film my tv segment first as it gave me something to do whilst I was waiting to hear back from people I could possibly interview for the article. I booked the tv studio as soon as possible and contacted people from college and my personal life to star in the segment. Once I had the studio booking and guests confirmed it was time to plan what I was actually going to ask my guests. I developed the questions by simply asking if they thought it existed, why is that? etc. The questions were fairly simple and straight to the point which is exactly what I needed from this segment, to get to the root of how to men and women think differently when misogyny is brought into the conversation. I then went on to plan the questions I would ask Dr Leora Hadas, I did this by first thinking of six broad topics and then I started thinking of specific talking points within those topics. This helped me a lot as I was able to narrow it down to specific points that would shape my article, instead of asking meaningless questions that I don't end up using for my article. I then conducted a fact sheet for my article which was mainly secondary research as well as qualitative data, this was very important as I need to know exactly what I'm saying is true and that I'm providing people with reliable sources. I created my fact sheet in a very similar manor to how I planned the questions I would ask Dr Hadas, I first thought of three topics I wanted my article to target and then researched facts within those topics.
Fortunately, I did stick to my agreed timeframe of when everything would be completed. I made my timeline when I was creating my pitch and gave myself a strict schedule to follow of when everything needed to be completed by. This really helped me in terms of being organised as it allowed me to be prepared for everything, nothing caught me off guard and I had my questions and facts ready for every stage of the process. Completing my tv segment and interview so early on in the project definitely allowed me to spend time on other crucial parts of the project, allowing my work to be the best of my ability. My planning could be improved for further projects by allowing myself time to breathe, having something planned for everyday of every week was very stressful. It was worth it in the end when seeing my finished product come together, but I think it could have still been achieved if I was less intense and had taken time to breathe and step back.
My planning process was a crucial part of the project, it really helped me get everything done on time to a sufficient standard.
I acquired a lot of new knowledge for this project as going in it was just what I had personally experienced but after researching I was able to learn so much more which made me angrier about misogyny in fan culture, which overall I would say lead to the article becoming quite a passion piece for me which is what made it so great. An example of something I learnt is that the word 'hysterical' derives from 'hysteria', the Greek word for womb. There is an association between women's health and hysteria that is still in use today within the term hysterectomy. A hysterectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the womb (uterus). I found this fact when I was researching for my article fact sheet and it angered me a lot as I have been called hysterical for being a fan girl, hence why this project turned into a passion piece for me. I was also able to take on other view points from people like Taylor Swift having experienced it as the singer and not the fan, Yve Blake once not liking fan girls to becoming defensive of them, and seeing the definitions of fan girls from people that don't like us. I feel this knowledge helped me a lot as I was able to speak whilst taking in all of the different perspectives.
Throughout this project I developed a few new skills through using Adobe Premier Pro, Canva, and Adobe InDesign. I edited my tv segment on Adobe Premier Pro and this wasn't the easiest task. I have used this software once before so I'm not entirely familiar with it. In particular, using sound effects and text effects. At first I found this difficult but after watching a YouTube tutorial a few times I eventually grasped the hang of it. For the intro of my tv segment I needed a logo so I went on over to Canva and decide to make one myself. I found a template and then messed around with it for 20 minutes as it as unfamiliar software. Eventually I created my logo and was able to put it on the intro. I feel that both of these helped my tv segment to look more professional and aesthetically pleasing. I then went on to edit my magazine layout on Adobe InDesign which I have only used once. I followed the tutorials provided to me by my tutor and everything ran smoothly. I had to play around with the font and colours in order to make it look aesthetic and match the aesthetic of my tv segment.
The knowledge and skills I have adapted will definitely be used in future projects as I have learnt the importance of aesthetics, without them people are less likely to read or watch. After learning how to do them I see that they are fairly easy to get a hang of meaning that I will be happy to use them again as well as learn other skills. I have also learnt the importance of research and knowledge, by researching I was able to discover facts I did not already know. This made me more eager to write my article to tackle the issue at hand. I will be taking these researching skills to future projects.
This project helped me to develop as a journalist by having me push myself out of my comfort zone and use software I wasn't too familiar with. This is important because in the world of journalism employers aren't looking for someone to do just one task but dabble in a bit of everything. This means that I will feel more comfortable when going in to my future career. I also feel more confident in myself to tackle things that I'm not too familiar with.
Overall, I am very happy with my final outcome. I put a lot of work in to all aspects of my project and seeing it all together makes me feel very proud and accomplished. Compared to my previous final project from last year I feel that this worked out a lot better. My projects strengths are that the tv segment and magazine layout are both aesthetically pleasing, the tv segment gets straight to the point, and my magazine has pictures that I organised myself. These strengths make my project stand out, they make it nice and easy to look over instead of a long video with a long article that gets boring quickly. My general strengths in the project were my time management and preparedness, I managed my time efficiently and because of that I was prepared for everything. My projects areas for improvement are that the tv segment could be longer with more angles, and the magazine could have more colour. Originally I didn't add any of those because I thought it would be slightly overkill but I now think looking at my final piece that it would have added a certain flare. My general weaknesses are that I was too rigid with myself throughout this project and I wasn't able to stand back and enjoy what I was doing. I was purely in the mindset of doing whatever I can for a distinction.
If I were to do this project again I would be less strict with myself as I do believe I could have achieved the same result if I had taken a step back to enjoy the moment and breathe. I would have made the tv segment longer with more angles. I would have also made my interview with Dr Hadas publishable, I only used it to create a transcript even though it was filmed on cameras in the tv studio. I just felt that my time could be spent on something more valuable but I now realise it could have been good to edit and upload it. Other than that I don't see any other things that I would change as this is a project that I genuinely put my heart and soul into and I am very proud of the outcome.
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