Difficulty with the project.

I have major difficulties again with the editing software so I have resorted to using premiere pro by Adobe on the college computers. However, it seems that the software is extremely proffesional and therefore I need to learn the basics from internet resources such as Youtube and the Adobe help website on learning the fundamentals. I am not accustomed to the format as it is not as straight forward as the other softwares I have tried.

Editing the footage.

I've started to edit the raw footage on the go-pro studio program but the conversion of the footage is way too time consuming and I still need to learn how to use the actual software. I hope I don't have to find a different way to put the film together.
Another difficulty I'm facing is a way to put a 2000 word written report together. Though I have started it on google drive so I will be able to do it from any laptop as long as internet is accessible.

I have a great idea for the film I'm making: have someone else narrate it! Like all great documentaries, there's always one predominant factor from which the documentary itself relies on; a narrative voice. Now I plan to write out a script for this film and then I plan to record someone else's voice for the video.

The Last Few days.

Okay, so I've only been able to film a few days at the farm due to the lack of electricity to charge my gopro. Additionally, I've had seldom times to go down away from the farm because the workers there had to look out for me for any dangers that lurked, as well as do their job, so some activities I had to do was not filmed. Difficulties had risen as well due to some activities such as cooking at night by fire meant that footage was too dark and dim to even watch, and most activities like hunting would occur during night time when animals were asleep or resting. Nevertheless, I filmed a scene when 3 children were playing with spiders, because they did not have any toys to play with.

However I've acquired what seems to be adequate footage to see what it's like to live in a farm.

My next plan is too interview the employees of those in the farm and ask them about their hardships throughout their lives before being under the care of my uncle.

So I'm midway through my holiday and I have experienced what life would be like if I were a farmer's son. Firstly the term "farmer" comes under the umbrella term for "server", and it seems that all those that would be working in the farm, would be working to serve in the owners household. Fortunately, the owners are my dad and uncles. Secondly, the workers who would not stay in the farm, but stay in the household would have to do much work, which I've experienced first hand.

Everyday for the past two weeks, I would climb the forest and look for wild game such as the white-eared brown dove or also known as the "alimukon" to the workers. Or monitor lizards and wild chicken having learned how to make traps especially for them. Lastly, my uncle sends us to look for wild orchids which grow only on trees six meters and up. We would climb different peaks and summits of the forest and usually the ascent would take two-to-three hours and the descent, depending on the gradient, can range from one-to-three hours too.


Additionally, upon my arrival to the "House of Rustling Leaves" (the house of my uncle, he named it that because of its sheer size and magnitude surrounded by the forest reserve we would climb),  and already I learned how to slaughter a goat and a chicken; it was interesting.

The Longest Week

I arrived on the 15th of July, and the first thing I noticed was the heat and the humidity, what we call summer (23 degrees) in the UK was the temperature of the air conditioning in the car, whilst outside was averaging 33-37 degrees. Not only that, the second day of my dad and I's arrival, there was a power cut which left the whole neighborhood without electricity. So every night for 5 days, we would do every thing  with the aid of candle light at temperatures reaching 37 degrees. 

The lack of electricity meant the lack of wi-fi which I needed to update my blog, however my uncle who had shared the same experiences of poverty in the farm with my dad, further explained the hardships the locals went through. An example would be that, one can of sardines would be split between a family of six once every week, and the locals would scavenge for vegetables or anything edible among the shrubbery as a substitute. Additionally, my auntie had explained that the farmers would start their work at 3am in the morning and not stop till 12 noon for a break, and then resume work at 2pm and continue till 8pm to rest in preparation for the next day.

The information provided is a good example of primary research.

1 Week til Philippines

This the complete final plan I have made for my time in the Philippines. I haven't blogged in a while due to the completion of this plan as well as the PPR and the questionnaire I plan to ask my dad as well as the locals which actually work in the farm. I also have ordered the GOPRO!!So excited. I have also contemplated some things such as I don't plan on using iMovie maker to edit my video as GoPro have actually made a similar program called "GoPro Studios" which is free, as opposed to the iMovie which isn't, aprox £3. Moreover, GoPro studio offers more features such as speeding or slowing down video clips and has better frame resolution than iMovie. However, the only drawback to acquiring GoPro studio is that it requires a PC or a Mac, which I do not have the luxury of, especially if I am to live on the farm. iMovie on the other hand, can be downloaded on a handheld device such as an iPad, which I'm planning taking with me. Practical wise, iMovie is more suitable for the environment I am going to be in.


I am also on my way to complete a record of sources, all of which are secondary, for now. I haven't been able to interview my one primary resource, my dad, as he has been very busy as of late. Nevertheless, the upcoming week should give me ample time to get what I need out of him. All the sources have been useful and I have yet to encounter any that are not, and they are also reliable as I have used the learning resources such as Jstor and Jiscc, which contain many Oxford and Cambridge published documents, which are well renowned universities.