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13th of July Today Mr. Arnold and P.G introduced us into the 'Negotiated Study'. As they were going on about it we were reading the booklet of possible things that I could do. And an idea developed in my mind of something cool that I could do. I remember my friend from the mainland did an English report and uploaded it on the net. And I want to also do a film review of a movie my cousin wrote and starred in called 'Erskineville Kings' which came to the State Cinema a couple of months ago. So I will join those two ideas together. I have a bit of experience in web pages, but it will be hard to make it as cool as I in visage it. I will email him and check out that it is okay and he might have some ideas. I will also email Trent to ask him about uploading the site (which he has done) with out paying and going through somebody like geocities.com. I'm doing that tonight. I'm planing on watching the video that we have a copy of and using Front Page Express to produce the web page. I'm really excited about it.

16th of July I have been thinking about what I want to do a lot and decided that I really want to do the web page part, but as a backup I've decided I could fall back on PowerPoint. But I hope I can cause I have registered my site with geocities.com, www.geocities.com/okaythen123. And now, at v3.com, I have registered a re-direct URL that leads to the geocities.com site. So my address that would get typed into my browser is http://surf.to/okaythen. That is way cooler than the other one. And I have found lots of stuff about html, I only know a bit, and have already practiced the codes a bit. There is an advanced HTML editor at geocities.com and I'll use that and upload it at the end. It is good because I can view what it looks like on a browser as I work on it. So it is all set up ready to go. Can't wait. .

28th of July I finally negotiated with MA today and it was good for my progress. We discussed the presentation I'm doing, and its okay, but I'll need to be careful that I don't get to caught up with that and so I don't do to much work on it and not the content. He said he would be happy for me to do what I planned, but he agreed that I'm not quiet sure of what exactly I'm doing on the film. The talk was good I think because by the end I had a much better idea about it. I will need to/want to make it much more concentrated on the Australian aspect of the film. And to do this MA suggested a comparison between another Australian film, with similar ideas, called 'Patrick'. And also talk about the aspect of the idea of the story, without being a big budget film. I think I might, as well as, do a film review, i.e. Camera angle/movement, sound/Music/effects, filter/colour etc. This wont be the main part but I think it will help to have done this (I will include it on the site as well) when I do the comparing and judging of the ideas. So tomorrow I'll go to the video shops and try to get that film, and watch it and Erskineville Kings over the weekend. MA said that he thinks it could be good and I'll need to keep referring to MA throughout the 3 weeks. To make sure I don't sway from the film and what we've decided I'll do. I think that will be good, because that would probably happen knowing me.

31st of July Yesterday (Sunday 30th) I watched Erskineville Kings. I had already seen it, but it was about 6 months ago, so I was watching it a bit from the point of view of being entertained with the story. Even though is there isn't a lot of it. But I was conscious about it and I tried to ignore the fact that Martin was in it and watch it as a film, about two brothers and their mates, and their conflict resolution within the family. Also about the soundtrack and the other aspects that made it Australian. Because as I watched it I knew that it was defiantly an Australian film, not a big-budget American film with actors earning $20m. The film's whole budget was only $750,000.

1st of August Last night I hired out, and watched the film that MA suggested as being a good film that I could probably compare with Erskineville Kings. It was called Malcolm, not Patrick, or Tim and it isn't rated R. It had Colin Freils in it, and it was a weekly comedy. I enjoyed it. It was quiet similar yet different. I noticed that there were parts that were very similar to Erskineville Kings, like there was defiantly parts where there was no dialogue, but the movie told me a lot about Malcolm. This occurred in Erskineville Kings a fair bit. Also, being an Australian comedy, it was a classic comedy that only Australians could write, and understand and laugh at. There were a lot of similarities between the two. Like them both being set in the inner city, yet different cities.

11:53 am 4th of August Being a third of the way into the allocated time, I have maybe just pretty well spent the first week beginning. So I might be slightly behind, but by mid next week I am aiming to have the 200-word review and at least a page on Cinematography.

7:10 p.m. 4th August I have fixed up my web page so it runs smoothly now and the pictures actually appear. That is good the get out of the way. I have also done a 215 word general review of Erskineville Kings, after reading a few reviews out of 'The Age' and just looking at how they are composed. Next up, cinematography.

8:46 a.m. 11th August My plan has developed more over the last four sessions. I have spent a lot of time thinking and reading other peoples film reviews, and some sheets that MA gave Dino and I, that have info on cinematography. I have cinematography for Erskineville Kings almost done, I think. So by the end of today's 2 sessions and homework, I want to have it finished and have Malcolm's well underway. What I have been swaying towards and what I will probably do is a review on each film, than compare them.

10:55 p.m. 11th August MA made us do a work journal today, and I' only doing it because I only have 8 entries. I have nothing to report, except that I have worked on my Malcolm cinematography, and that I want the review and 2x cinematography done ready to do the comparing by Monday.

2:07 p.m. 14th August Monday. Week three. Tones to do. This week I have a bye in basketball, and no debating speeches to work on, so this week I am really going to get stuck into things. I've got to organize everything that I've done so far and than chop and change and edit so the 2 film reviews are okay. Then I'll need to concentrate on the page or so of the comparison. And I need to really get everything into one place. At the moment I have typed publications all through my home folder. It wont take long to pull everything together I think. What I have done is I've typed in Word, so I can chop and change and edit, than copy and paste it all into my web page.

7:12 p.m. 14th August Since 2 o'clock I've organized everything and all the publications are in suitable places, and the web page is set up and it flows and all the links work in-between each other. I've also changed the colour scheme of the site as well. It now flows and looks better. I also know, having done this, what I need to do. For the rest of tonight I'm going to work on sound and lighting for Malcolm. Than tomorrow I'll finish those than work on Language for both. I have a few notes for language in my book. Also I'll get, hopefully, a decent start on the general film review of Malcolm to put at the top of the page.

10:08 a.m. 15th August Organized everything so I now know what I need to do over the next week. Okay, I'm wasting time writing this thing. (I'm only doing it because I only have eleven entries.) I'm now going to do work. I suppose.

8:42 a.m. 16th August Last night was a fairly productive night. I got quiet a few more things ticked off on my to-do list. I've just got 3 more subheadings to do. Tonight and this session, by the end, I really need to have these finished. So I can than get on with the 5 paragraphs on the comparison. When I do that I need to remember to focus on what makes each film Australian. I have also sorted out all the latest work on to my site. I need to ask Rini what HTML would allow for a menu bar down the side. Hang on. He just said to do it as a background. Which makes sense. The bar I draw will repeat itself down the page. I'll need to make sure the top and bottom line up with each other to allow for the repeating.

7:57 p.m. 16th August I have eventually got on to my NS this afternoon and it was a good session. I have got done what I wanted to get done. So know I can finish reading the I.T. section out of The AGE, and watch the cricket. Tomorrow, though, I can't slack off, I'll need to get a wriggle on with the comparison. I have one and a half hours of basketball tomorrow so I'll need to get a decent portion done at school. It is coming along well I think.

11:58 a.m. 17th August I've had an awesome idea. To do with my web site. Tonight I'' going to do a chunk of the comparison, because I have spent this session speaking to Asher about my idea. Than I will get on with this idea. At the moment my web page has three pages, all linked together and I'm going to add a fourth for the comparison. My idea is to make a contents/home page. I have a cool plan for it as well. I will make the four text headings, and than make each one separately curved around a circle in the center. In this circle I'll shove my logo. It will be cool.

5:02 p.m. 21st August Thursday afternoon, I sent Asher a picture (the one on the Negotiated Study Home page) and he made the four text parts into links for me. He said it only took 5 mins and it was great of him because it would've taken years using HTML, and also as I don't have FrontPage 2000, which is the only program that can do that special feature. It has made the site way cooler. On Friday I had the day off and got everything ready for the basketball on the weekend, and got a far bit of my Negotiated Study done as I knew I wouldn't get any done over the weekend. Which was true. So today I was a bit panicky, as I knew it was due tomorrow and I had a bit to do. But come to think of it there isn't all that much I need to do, but I rang Asher 5 mins ago and he told me that it isn't due until first session Wednesday. That is real good, as it will guarantee that I get every thing done I want/need to do. I might get time tomorrow to make a few aesthetic changes on the web site, because it is okay but it is a bit plain.

4:54 p.m. 22nd August During this session I have made myself up a schedule for this afternoon. It is something I should've done more of during the 3-week period. It has the task and what time I'll do it and how much time I've allocated to each. I'm looking forward to when the site is up and working and finished. That will happen at 6:00 p.m. I'm not that far away really though. In tonight's program I've got half an hour dedicated to the editing of the writing I've done. That is fairly important I think. Throughout the NS 3 weeks I haven't used a great amount of resources. The only ones that I've really used are the two videos that have worked and had no troubles with. I think I've succeeded in what I aimed at achieving from the beginning in the presentation aspect. The web site is plain but functional. I maybe could've spread out the work over the 3 weeks rather than having a rush in the last 10 days. I'm actually a bit concerned that I might not have enough writing. Apparently some people have over 30 pages. Mine barley makes 6, not including work journal. However I am pleased with what I've done and I believe that I couldn't have really done any more on what it was exactly that I set out to do. I would have had to re-negotiate to do more, other than just focusing on the Australian aspect of the film. But that might've been a bit of a struggle to make sure I stuck to English resources, and an English based result. I have thought about what I'd like to do next year and I have started to think along the lines of an autobiography. I think that would be pretty interesting. The main thing that I'd recommend to anyone else doing an NS is that that they choose something that interests them and that they want to do. Other wise it will seem boring and will go on and on�