Today, I decided to use Movie Maker to edit and put my music video together. I will use the app that i mentioned earlier to film it because the camera is better in quality and special effects can be done to each part of the video. I want to use Movie Maker because i feel that this is a software that i am more familiar with and i know that i can work better with this.
At the end of my video, i may have some information about depression in the end because this is part of the research. This will be presented to raise awareness about depression and state why depression is a major problem and how it impacts the victims of this problem. 

Plans for video

Today, i found an app that can create videos and i have decided to use it. I will record the piece again for the video because i have a better recording device to record it on. I will also need to split the piece in two since thr climax has a pause so the music needs to be paused there.

Planning for the video

Here are some plans I have for the video and the what each scene will contain:

Finishing the piece and adjusting the criteria

Today, I finished composing the piece. The piece came up to about 3 minutes and 50 seconds. I am quite happy with the length of the piece because it fits in the criteria. I have also decided to take out the 11th specification in the criteria. I decided to not to have it because it didn't make sense and i thought that it was unnecessary.  I have also adjusted the first specification. The edited version is in the picture. The latest recording will be posted on my Soundcloud account.

Setting the criteria

Today, I created and finalised my criteria. There are 12 specifications that I have created in order to make my product (in the images)

I decided to have 12 specifications because I thought it was a good amount and 12 should fit all the areas of the project.
I realised that making specifications for the piece was quite hard. I think it was because there isn't much to specify in the piece compared to the video.
The link for the recording is mentioned in the previous blogs.

Today, I worked a little bit on the planning of the video. I decided not to have the dance scenes in the video because it seems unclear why it should be there and if it will distract the viewers from the main point of the whole presentation. I also figured out that it would be a little challenging to create a routine that would should the subject as well as the music. I decided to leave this element out because I want to convey a message that is clear and easy for people to understand. I have also decided to have two parts to the piece. It will be in one piece, but there will be a dramatic pause in between the pieces.

 The video will start with me walking up to the piano and playing a few bars of my piece. After that I will start to walk out of the room where the piano is and onto an empty street. The music will resume as I keep walking. The whole video won't be the walking alone because there will be parts in between that will signify what a depressed person feel, how depression effects them and how they feel every day. This will be the research part of the project. Since I have also gone through depression, I will add some of my feelings about depression and how I lived with it. The climax of the whole presentation will be a scene where I will sit down and look over a cliff but then turn around. Then, there will be a sort of slide which will say "Is this the end?”. Soon after that, the hopeful side of the piece will start and from then on, positive notes will be slotted into the parts. I have not decided what exactly I want to have in the positive side of the video but this is my plan so far.

Uploading recordings

Today, I uploaded two recordings on my Soundcloud account. These two recordings are actually supposed to be the ending to my piece. The first part of this ending was actually an intro to one of my songs, but I created it to sound like an ending. I created the first recording a couple of days before the second recording. I liked the second recording better because I felt that that ending sounded more hopeful and bright. The first one sounded a little dark and I felt like it didn't convey a free feeling. I think this was because it ended on a much lower note than the second recording. When I listened to the second recording, I felt peaceful, hopeful and happy and those are the sort of emotions I want to convey at the end of my piece since that is the overcoming of depression part.

Listen to my recordings here on my Soundcloud Account:https://soundcloud.com/jane-jaikumar 

New Topic!

Today I decided to change my Personal Project topic from food to music. I felt that my goal was unclear and that i didn't have a clear reason to create my product. I also felt that I wouldn't have been able to create 5 amazing and authentic recipes within a short period of time as it takes time to create a dish and perfect it. 

    I have decided to focus on music for my project. I want to create a piano piece along with a music video. I am doing this to help people with depression and other problems that they are going through since i feel that music can express this in a very unique way. Again, my global context will be identities and relationships this piece will have a lot to do with my personal life and my experiences. 

    I have decided to create a musical piece because I feel that this is one way that i can express myself with clearly. The goal of this project is to create a piano piece along with a video that can inspire other people going through depression to stay strong and believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. The research part will be how to compose a structured musical piece and learning how to put together a music video. This is a very personal topic because music has helped me through a lot of issues n my life and I would like to inspire other people in a way that i can express it. The only instrument that will be used in this piece is the piano.

The name I have decided to give my piece is 'The Darkness Fades into Daylight'. I want my piece to have this name because it describes depression and overcoming as the darkness means Depression and the Daylight means overcoming it. 

In my video, I want to be able to have three personas. I made this decision because I want to express what three different people might experience when they are going through depression. I also wanted to show how they might recover from this same problem differently. The first person will be the pianist (myself) and the second person will be a dancer. The third person has not been decided yet. The video will start of with the first person playing the piano and later, the dancer will come in. This is what I have decided for my video and piece so far. 

Sunday 13th September, 2015

Today, I have decided to expand on the idea of the Deconstructed Apple crumble. Instead of poaching the apples, i plan to bake them. I think baking the apples would be better because it will keep the crispiness of the fruit and will keep its shape. If i were to poach the apple, then the apple would lose its texture and become soggy. The sogginess would soften the crumble base and the dish will lose its crunchy element. Also, if i bake the apple with the cinnamon, it will retain the flavor of the apple. The idea of the pear ice cream will be kept. I have also decided to have little meringues at the sides because it will make the dish look more appealing and presentable. The idea of this dish is inspired by Georgia Barnes "Blood Orange and Chamomile Tart". I have taken the idea of the presentation of the dish and the cream piping (little meringues in my version) from her dish. To add a fresh finish to the dish, i have decided to garnish the dish with a few small mint leaves. The dish will now be called-

Deconstructed Apple Crumble with Pear Ice Cream and Petite Meringues 


Georgia Barnes' Blood Orange and Chamomile Tart









Work Cited:
Ten, Network. 'Blood Orange And Chamomile Tart'. TenPlay - Recipes. N.p., 2015. Web. 13 Sept. 2015.

Friday 11th September, 2015

Today, I have a brief plan of the two out of three recipes that will be presented in my Christmas section of my recipe book. These recipe are-

1. Mini Christmas Tarts (White chocolate and brandy Ganache with a dry fruit topping)
2. Deconstructed Apple Crumble (Crumble base with Cinnamon poached apples and Pear Ice Cream)

The inspiration of the Christmas Tart comes from my mother's Christmas cake. She makes this cake ever year and is a tradition. Some of the ingredients such as the brandy and dry fruits is taken from my mum's cake. I have decided to take make a tart because tarts are also made for Christmas and I favor chocolate tarts.

The inspiration of the Deconstructed Apple Crumble comes from my cousin's apple crumble. This is a rather new recipe in our family because this cousin is a few years younger than me but I remember making this with him last year and it brought back a lot of good memories. My spin on this is to deconstruct it by using the crumble as a base for the cinnamon poached apples and the pear ice cream will be a new addition to the dish. The recipe of the ice cream is taken from my mother and I thought this would be a new and creative addition to the deconstructed crumble.

These two recipes will be presented in the Christmas section of my recipe book. The next recipe in the Christmas section will be in the next post. 

Tuesday 25th August, 2015

Today, I planned out the beginning of my recipe book. These contents will be the first few that are presented in the recipe book:

1.Intro
2.Family history some pictures, how food was a part of their lives
3.Some of the desserts from the past
4.Some desserts that are still made and are traditional to our family

In between some of the information and history, there will also be a few pictures based on the information. The rest of the contents will be presented in the next post. 

Tuesday 11th August, 2015

Today, I decided the title I wanted to used for my recipe book which is "Share the Love with a little Sugar". I decided to have this as my title because i felt like it would summarize my topic into a unique title. I also used it because it was one way that i could say it was about my family, my relationships with them and how food is a big part of my life and my family's life. Since I mentioned the word 'Share' in the title, I wanted the recipe book to share my experiences of food and family to an audience. Food is something that has been very prominent throughout the generations in my family and so it is very special and meaningful to me. I specifically decided to focus on desserts because the desserts are particularly my favorite part of the meal. My family also has quite a few traditional and modern dessert recipes. Lastly, this is my very first step to making my own recipe book to keep our family dessert traditions alive.