Overall, I am very pleased with my completed timeline. I am pleased with the aesthetics of it, but am more pleased with the content. Due to my in depth research process I managed to include a lot of information on my timeline. I really enjoyed the whole process of making my timeline as I found it really interesting.
When I decided I was going to do my project on the history of Musical Theatre, I instantly knew I would have to include Musical Hall, as having done my LCM Musical Theatre singing grades, I knew that Music Hall played a big part in influencing Musical Theatre as we know it today. However, by choosing this topic for investigation, I got to research Music Hall in detail and learned a lot about it. For example, I did not know any information on the first purpose built hall, and nor did I know about the regulations that lead to the strikes of 1907. As I am very passionate about Opera, I particularly enjoyed researching this section. I learned about a lot of performers as well as learning about their original purpose - to impress foreign dignitaries and other royals. It was obvious that I was going to have to include West End and Broadway on my timeline. As these are very common today and I have been to both, I was already rather knowledgeable on both West End and Broadway, but I learned something new when researching the first theatres. As my draft left a gap between West End and Broadway, I thought it would be ideal to have a section between these two comparing them both. I found this section rather fun as I could combine my first-hand experience on this as well as some research. I also enjoyed researching different Musical Theatre types. I knew this was essential for my timeline as Musical Theatre has changed a lot over the past hundred years. Moreover, I was interested to see what types of Musical Theatre there were and where the cross-overs were. Although it wasn't really essential for my timeline, I wanted to do a couple of example shows for each type. With each example I wanted to give a little bit of information on the show just out of intrigue and because I enjoy gaining as much knowledge as I can on Musical Theatre in general. Also, for purely intrigue alone, I decided to conduct a social media investigation to find out Musical Theatre fans' opinions on what was more important in influencing Musical Theatre as we know it today. I expected Music Hall to win but didn't anticipate on Music Hall and Opera being so close throughout the polls run.
On reflection, I probably should have been more selective on my special subject investigation title, as my investigation was rather broad. Although I did manage to produce a detailed timeline showing the progress across time, if I had come up with a more focussed investigation title, then I could have had a more detailed piece. For example, I could have done my whole investigation on Opera, and so could have written about multiple composers and their work, a variety of different operas, or even certain characters from different operas. This would have made my unit a lot more in depth, focussed and arguably easier, but I enjoyed the challenge of trying to research such a vast point and I found it interesting piecing together all of the different parts of the puzzle.
If I were to do this project again and if I could have had more time, I would have been a little bit more in depth with all of the different sections - for example, I would include more information on the longest running shows, and just generally make my timeline bigger. The main thing I would change though, however, is that I would have made my piece interactive! I would turn this timeline into an online timeline, with just the titles of each section in the correct place on the timeline - when you click on a title, the box would enlarge and the information on the desired section would appear. I would include video clips and links on the sections as well (for example, when you clicked on the composers to find out more information on them, a piece of music written by them would start playing). Furthermore, I would also create a quiz section that is made up of a variety of different questions on any of the information in the timeline to test the readers' knowledge.
