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researching so it wouldn’t get boring – 4,000 words involves a lot of work! So, I chose something related to the film industry and my topic was how Brexit was going to affect the film industry in the UK. I also chose this topic as it relates to my future university studies where I want to focus on business law.

 

What challenges did you face with the EE?

At first, I wasn’t sure how to approach my research and how to find things out that were needed for my EE to answer the question. Also, a challenge I faced was coming up with the conclusions, because despite lots of predications it is still unclear whether the impact of Brexit on the film industry will be positive or negative.

 

How did you overcome these challenges?

For the research I tried to use reliable sources such as websites that provided me with statistics and information on the UK film industry. I used websites such as the BFI (British Film Institute) which is reliable. And for my conclusion I tried to adopt a business approach by using a steeple analysis to interpret the information I had gathered in order to make my own predictions.

 

Can you describe the EE journey in terms of how you engage with your supervisor?

My supervisor was Mr Gemmell and he was very helpful. At the beginning it was hard to know how I would draft me EE, so after choosing the question and making it specific, the first thing I wrote was my methodology. Mr. Gemmell suggested I do this, and it made the project clearer to me in terms of what I was going to write about and how to approach the topic. I’ve had many meetings with him during the EE process, and even when we went info confinement because of the pandemic he was always available and responded to emails and commented on my drafts.

 

How did your supervisor help guide your project?

Because Mr. Gemmel is a business teacher and also because he is British he was already familiar with the research area and knew quite a lot about the British film industry, so he was able to help me find sources and suggested websites for me to look at.

 

How was the research experience?

It was stressful at first, but once you actually go online and put key words into Google, it becomes easier and there was a lot of information available. The next challenge was selection. There was so much interesting information and I found it so important that I didn’t know how to narrow it down and stop, so I had to be really discriminating in terms of deciding on what really mattered to my project.

 

Did you learn anything really interesting that you didn’t know before as a result of your EE?

Yes, I learned more about the concept of Brexit and what it is. I also learned a lot more about the British film industry which I previously knew very little about and the UK’s relations with other countries such as the US and also Europe. I also found that the UK and the US have a lot of trade and they have worked together on lots of different famous movies.

 

What tips or advice do you have for D1s beginning their EEs now?

I would say first focus on finding a topic which you like and then come up with a question you would like to explore about the topic. I think it is very important to find something that you enjoy doing. This will ensure that you’re not bored. Even though it was stressful at times, I still enjoyed doing the EE because I was learning more about a topic I liked. Also, I would suggest you prepare an action plan in order to set out what you are going to write about and the research you need to complete.

 

How do you feel now that you have completed your EE?

I feel very proud of myself and when I began it I thought it was something I would never finish. But once you set some deadlines and you manage to meet those deadlines you feel like you’ve really achieved something. I’m proud of the work I’ve done and it was a good experience which I think has helped me with my essay writing skills. I have a different approach to writing now compared with before, so this was a very positive experience overall.