Throughout this project, numerous skills were learned which can be applied not only in an educational atmosphere but to real world situations I might encounter in the near future. For instance, the two major skills practiced include creating an attention grabbing yet functional website, which I might need if starting a business, and writing descriptive yet informative pieces.

 

My acquisition of these necessary skills are evident in this project considering each individual blog post not only comes with a picture and video of the ethnic dish, but is also paired with a unique figurative description detailing the food and it's historical background.

 

As aforementioned, the audience of this project is directed towards those who are looking to either learn about the history of a sundry of ethnic foods or simply satisfy their sweet tooths and palates. Moreover, those who wish to learn how to cook or advance in their culinary endeavors can find this website beneficial considering there is a wide range of dishes with varying levels of difficulties such as a straightforward vegemite sandwich to chicken pad Thai.

 

Seeing as I completed this project individually, I contributed to the entire final product. The following websites, as well as my parents and my English teacher, greatly assisted me throughout the complete course of this journey.

 

Source #1: http://blog.nlp-techniques.com/2012/07/mmmmm-write-persuasive-advertising-food/ 

• This article taught me that when writing descriptions for food that you want people to be attracted to, you should trigger nostalgia. Using this language pattern to elicit this state will entice the readers of your blog.

• Additionally, this website taught me that when writing food descriptions, you cannot limit yourself to using only certain types of words. This will lead to a possible loss of a certain audience considering using adjectives with a healthy connotation can lose the support of those who are not as health conscious.

• The last thing I learned from this website is that the use of sensory details and figurative language is paramount. Although you do not want to overload the description, otherwise it will seem redundant and, a good distribution of vocabulary will be sure to grab the reader's attention.       

Source #2: http://gizmodo.com/how-to-take-a-perfect-food-photo-1531661720

• In order to take a flattering photo of any dish, I learned that you must first make sure which angle will provide a more visually pleasing picture. Photos can be taken from the top-down, extremely close, etc. In the overhead photo, the trick is to snap the picture directly over the dish, which gives you the flexibility to frame the shot with perfect symmetry. For the close-up shot, the trick is to focus the camera in order to capture every last detail on the dish. 

• In order to achieve the perfect lighting, the area in which you snap your picture is key.  I learned to make sure you snap the picture of the dish near a window below some lights, however, too much direct light will cause the picture to be too saturated and harsh on the eyes.

• I also learned that with great lighting comes a focused picture. If taking photos on a phone, the key is to hold the phone completely still and lightly tap on the screen in order to focus on the subject of the picture. Don't be afraid to mess up; the pictures you take are not set in stone.

Source #3: http://cookieandkate.com/top-20-tips-for-food-blogging/

• With this website, I learned that the number one rule when it comes to food blogging is to be authentic. Therefore, you should always post about what you love for the best possible content. However, you shouldn't let this make your blog posts too alike, as any successful website must have diversity and variation. 

• When it comes to websites and blogging, I learned that less is more. Too many words in a single post distract from the original purpose of the post, and too much going on in a single page of the website hurts the eyes of the viewer. Keep the page clean and concise. 

• Especially for food blogging, I learned that you must make sure that all the content you post is exactly what the site's visitor was looking to find. Otherwise, not only will he/she stop visiting the site but he/she won't share the site with anyone. In order to avoid this, you must make sure that you explicitly state what each blog is about and even go as far as to trying out the recipes before hand to ensure that the outcome is desirable.  

Source #4: http://www.foodbloggersofcanada.com/2012/08/how-to-make-a-cooking-video/

• This website taught me that when editing a cooking video, simplicity is paramount. Everything from the title to the transitions used between clips should be clean and basic. This is because when searching up the recipe of a specific dish online, the name of the dish is used, not some elaborate title. Therefore, if that is the name of your video, it will now be more likely that someone stumbles across your video rather than an opposing video.

• When filming a cooking video, camera angles is what differentiates you from the rest. Therefore, I also learned the importance of using two cameras to film rather than one, which allows for both overhead views of the cooking process and close-ups of the food.

• Lastly, I learned that the most important shot in any cooking video, also known as the "money-shot", is the last shot of the final product. Never be shy to get a close up of your creation in this scene for it is what brings the wow-factor and ties the video together.