Jan Planned Task
Reflections and reasons for changes
1 Winter Break
2 Winter Break
3 Winter Break
4 Winter Break
5 Email film expert Mr.Hurst, on
whether or not I need any license in
order to film people or places
around Istanbul.
6 Email Mr.Carlson, asking if I will be
able to check out any film
equipment from the school that
will be favorable for my project
(drone to film my birds eye view
Notes (done, not done, issues etc).
It turned out that I did not have to
email Mr.Hurst as I saw him around
my classroom, in school. I approached
him and asked whether I need any
license to film places and the general
public, and he said that it is not
required for the filming that I am
doing, however if I film at a place like
a restaurant or a similar private
location I should get consent from
the owners.
I emailed Mr.Carlson, introducing my
project and then addressing the
potential additional equipment that I
could use. I will wait until he gets
back to me, for further instructions
 shots, and microphone to record
sound of voice when conducting
interviews with locals).
7 Rest
8 Create a document on google drive, I created a google drive document
and compose a script with
questions regarding what I will ask
the local people of Istanbul,
concerning their overall experience
and feelings on living in the city.
9 Investigate by discussing with my
Turkish friends about who I can
bring with me to conduct the
interview and translate the
questions to Turkish.
10 Carry out research on a tour guide
whom I could find to show me
around Istanbul and bring me to
the places I need to film, therefore
organizing and managing my time
efficiently. Ultimately, I will find a
on what I should do next.
with a few questions that I plan on
asking the locals. For evidence, the
link to it is here. However, the
challenge is that I still need to find a
Turkish person to help me with
translating the questions.
I talked to a few of my friends, and in
the end I finally found someone who
would be willing to come with me
and help conduct the interviews. I
made a plan with my friend Helin
who is available to help me as she
speaks Turkish very well and is also a
very good communicator.
It was very hard for me to find a
English speaking tour guide on the
internet that I could also get in
contact with, after a few hours of
browsing the internet. However I
asked around and found a fitting
 tour guide that speaks English and
could guide me with coordinating
what places I could film at, on given
days.
11 Email the tour guide asking if he is
available to meet and bring me to
the desired locations, in order to
follow through with my filming
process. In the email, include
questions about the price,
locations, and days needed to film.
person that my mom recommended
to me because of her friend. I will get
in contact with him very soon.
I went through an exchange of emails
with the tour guide and soon found
out his service would cost $150 USD.
Then, I found out that we could cover
all the locations I needed help with,
in one day (Basilica CIstern, Blue
Mosque, and Maiden's Tower).
However, later I came across some
difficulty when I was informed that he
is booked up until January 21st. I
quickly responded back and arranged
an earliest fixed date with him that
was possible. Now, I will have to
change up a few things in my plan but
I will still get all my filming done in
time.
12 Purchase a book on filming and
editing that will ultimately assist
me in the process of my project. In
the evening, study the book and
take notes on important insights.
13 Go to my friends house who lives in
Yesilkoy and go to “fly inn” to take
videos of planes going by.
When I was in the store there was a
limited amount of books on filming
and editing, in English. However, I
managed to find another store
nearby which contained more
choices. I found a book on the
management of a canon 650D DSLR
camera. This is very suitable as it
concerns exactly the equipment I’m
dealing with, to film.
When we went to “fly inn”, the view
of the planes was actually not very
favorable as it only allowed me to
document the planes from behind.
My ultimate goal was to take shots of
the planes from the bottom, this
would create a really nice silhouette.
To solve this problem, my friend and I
found a park nearby where I could

14 Go to the bosphorus in the morning I went to the bosphorus and took a
and take shots of the sea, bridge
and surroundings. Use drone.
Capture locals on tape and modern
restaurants.
15
16 Bring my DSLR camera equipment
and tripod to school and take shots
around the hallways and in certain
classrooms during SDLT time.
(getting this footage done is
essential to counter the prejudice
of “girls don’t go to school”).
film shots of the planes flying by
from a closer distance.
wide range of shots. Unfortunately I
was not able to use a drone to film. I
had a meeting with Mr.Carlson and
the only way I could use a drone was
if he came with me to fly it, as it is
part of the school equipment. When I
emailed my head of school, she did
not allow this. To solve this issue, I
asked Mr.Carlson to send me some of
his shots he already filmed with the
drone before, so I could include
those in my video and give him credit
at the end. That way I could still
implement a birds eye view shot in
my film.
Done.
17 Pick a song which I will use for my A film expert (Mr.Carlson) advised
video. me to find a aspiring Turkish band
and use their music, solving the
problem of copyrighted audio within
my video. I talked to some of my
friends and found out that one of
them has a guitar teacher who has a
band. I got his contact and texted the
musician on whatsapp explaining my
project and asking him for song
suggestions. I picked a song that
fitted my video and he sent it to me
by email, encouraging me to use it in
the video.

18 Travel to Ataturk airport and film I came across a problem while trying
set of shots. to complete this because I couldn’t
find transport to Ataturk airport. It is
far from my house and my parents
don’t have time to drive me there. I
also realized that I might not be able
to film security outside the airport,
without proper license. To overcome
this, I thought critically and realized I
could film the security around
Taksim, to create the same desired
effect on the audience. I will be doing
this next week.
19 I will go to my friends house who
lives near Wuuf Box caffe. Once I
arrive, I will take a taxi with my
friend and take my set amount of
shots in that location.
20 Meet at around 9:00 am with my
tour guide expert to take shots at
desired locations. and use public
transport to travel to the places:
Basilica Cistern, Blue Mosque, and
Maiden’s Tower. In these locations I
will take my set amount of shots
needed.
21 360 Istanbul.
I didn’t get these shots at wuufbox
cafe because I reflected on the
previous videos I took and realized I
want to avoid as much shots without
a tripod, as they make the visuals
very shaky. At wuufbox cafe, I know I
wouldn’t be allowed to film with
professional equipment like a tripod,
judging from my research. Therefore,
I will avoid taking these, and replace
the shots from Wuuf Box with future
videos I will take in other locations
with a tripod.
I couldn’t get this done because the
morning of this day at 8:00 am it was
starting to rain. I checked the
weather forecast and found out it
was going to rain throughout the
whole day, which would interfere
with my filming. To fix this, I
messaged the tour guide and
compromised on a new date to move
the filming.
I wasn’t able to get this done as it
turned out this is temporary
club/restaurant doesn’t allow filming
with a tripod, without special license.
This was not that big of a problem as

22 Upload all my shots taken that
weekend, safely into the folder on
my laptop. Also, back them up by
also uploading on the external hard
drive.
23 Email Mr.Carson about checking
out an external microphone for my
recordings, in order to achieve
clearer sound during the
interviews.
24 Go to my friends house whose
family owns hyatt, in order to film
there.
25 Film at Levent and Maslak with
drone.
I still have many different shots
filmed in other locations, that
counter the key prejudices.
Done.
Done.
Reflecting on the previous shots
filmed, I decided not to film at Hyatt
as I figured out I was not capturing
enough greenery. I replaced this
location with filming at a housing
compound: Kemerburgaz. I filmed
shots of the streets, houses, and the
surrounding nature.
When I talked to one of my film
experts Mr.Carlson, he informed me
that it is not possible to film the
business buildings of Levent and
Maslak with a drone due to legal

26 Go talk to Mr.Hurst about renting a
microphone.
27 Go to the grand bazar with my
parents and my Turkish friend who
will help me conduct the interviews
with the locals, in Turkish.
After filming in the grand bazaar,
head off to Taksim to film the
planned shots there.
reasons. To solve this problem, I
decided to film at the top floor of
Istinye. This area includes many high
end fashion brands, which could
serve to counter the prejudice of
“turkey is cheap” in the same way as
the originally planned shots at
Levent.
Done.
This was done; however, during the
process I faced two challenges.
Firstly, I was challenged by the fact
that my friend (who served as my
translator for the interviews) almost
couldn’t make it. To fix this, I
managed to convince my parents to
pick her up. Then, I forgot my tripod. I
fixed this by placing my camera on
my friends head to stabilize the
visuals. This was creative problem
solving and a form of cooperation. I
was also aware that I could fix this
later on, with my prior learning on
the editing program, I could process
the videos and stabilize them in the
software.
28 Meet with tour guide and use
public transport to travel to the
places: Basilica Cistern, Blue
Mosque, and Maiden’s Tower. In
these locations I will take my set
amount of shots needed.
29
30
31 Examine shots and see if there is
any additional footage that needs
to be added before editing
I met with the tour guide and filmed
at Basilica Cistern, Blue Mosque and
Hagia Sophia even though it was
originally not on the plan, it was
nearby. Instead of Maiden’s Tower I
also wanted to go to Galata Tower as
the expert informed me that when
you climb up there, you can capture a
really wide panoramic view which is a
good establishing shot.
While uploading all the shots, I
realized that I have very limited
storage on my laptop. I had to import
a lot of my previous films and photos
that I’ve taken throughout the years,
onto a external hard drive so I could
have enough space on my laptop to
freely work on this project. After
figuring out how to clear space on
my laptop, I examined the footage
was satisfied with around 90
different shots to choose from.
Feb Planned Task
1 Start uploading all the shots into
imovie and import the audio and
start layering footage.
2 Continue editing the video.
3 Finish editing video and export it.
4 Get product evaluated by experts
5 Create a Survey and send it out to
my friends around the world who
previously held prejudices on
Notes (done, not done, issues etc).
Reflections and reasons for changes
Done.
I spent a lot of time trying to figure
out how to do my subtitles because I
didn’t want to use the imovie
subtitles as I thought they were too
cliche. Eventually, I played around
with my second editing software
Final Cut Pro X and figured out a way
to import the subtitles from Final Cut
Pro X into my movie. See process
journal here.
I had to go over the ending multiple
times and cut it to figure out a way
for it not to exceed the 2 minute
mark as this would make it more
likely for it to be displayed at the
cinema or other alternate public
display.
Done.
Done.
 Istanbul to check if their opinion
changed after watching my video.
This is done as one of the steps for
testing of the product against the
success criterion.
6 Meet with Ms.Suzy during lunch to
ask her if she has any contacts with
people from school who are
associated with the film industry in
Turkey.
7 Find Sasha (student that has family
connected to film industry) and
explain my project to him. Ask
Sasha to talk to his dad about
whether it would be possible to
show my video in Akmerkez
theatres during advertisements.
8 Email the tour guide that helped
me film, with a link to my video.
Ms.Suzy informed me that one of the
students at this school has a dad that
is the owner of Akmerkez theatres
and I should go and talk to him. In
addition, after explaining my project
to her she also told me that she
would be delighted to include my
video on the IICS school website
therefore I should send her a link
when I’m finished with it. This is a
good opportunity as I can further
expand my goal by displaying my
video on numerous platforms.
Done. Sasha said that his dad agreed
to displaying my video. However,
there is no fixed date or concrete
plan so I will still need to contact his
father further.
After sending the tour guide a link to
my video, I explained him the second
portion of my project which was to
get my video displayed somewhere.
He emailed me back saying that he
showed my video to Mr.Nuraydin
Arikan from the Ministry of Tourism
and he is willing to share my video on
the Turkey Home Page. My next step
is to get in contact with Mr.Nuraydin
and let him know that I give my full
permission for this amazing
opportunity.