My Semester

Like most projects off mine this semester has had its highs and its lows. In this final Blog entry, I shall be explaining where and how I failed and succeeded in the semester. Unlike most of my reflective writing, I am determined to stay positive about how I’ve done.
This semester hasn’t really turned out how I wanted it to. It seemed like we had so much more stuff to complete than last semester. I’ve commented on my time management more than once in my Blog’s but it is the key reason for why my work is half the quality I’m capable of. I don’t really find the work much of a challenge it’s just finding the time and motivation to do it. In this last year I think I’ve matured enough to make sure this doesn’t happen again next year.
Another challenging aspect of this semester was working in a group. I like to be in control a lot of the time, but also don’t like to upset people within the group. This is why I struggled and sat-back in the idea building process. I didn’t like how we came up with the idea and didn’t have the heart to say to people their idea was crap. Of course there are upsides to every project, I didn’t have to do any of the paperwork. However because the idea we went with wasn’t my own I wasn’t allowed to direct which I think is where most of my strengths lie. If the same kind of situation occurs next year, I will suggest that the group appoints each member to a job that most suits them rather than everyone saying “I want to be director” “I want to be producer” that way everyone knows what they are doing and someone’s in charge keeping order.

I’ve always known that the theory side to a project wasn’t my forte however since working on the group project I do believe I have a number of skills when on location. I would love to see how I would get on with a group of people I was in charge of, I think I could be quite assertive if the job required me to be. I knew the practical side was where I was strongest before I even started this year however through the duration of this course and in this semester especially, I’ve found that I’m also quite confident in front of camera. The feedback I got from a meeting with my tutor recently backed my thoughts about heading towards a career in front of the camera rather than behind it. I hope to learn more techniques which will help me if I decide to choose this path. The lessons from the first semester about using body language to get the most out of an interviewee were very helpful.

I would say I’m quite the perfectionist which is good if I have plenty of time on a project. However this is why I take so long editing. I’ve got to grips with final cut pro and feel I’m as good as anyone else in the class, however unlike the rest, I spend too much time on minor bits that may contain the tiniest of glitches. I definitely need to learn more about the techniques of editing rather than what the software can do.

As much as i may complain, i am looking forward to what the second year has install for me. i think i smart enough to know where i went wrong this year and act upon it for the next. i still have alot to learn about the industry and think i have the ability to stand out from the rest of the class next year, maybe not with my writing but with my charactor.

Round up of the semester and year

This opening year of the course hasn’t really been a good one. There are many areas in which I, and no doubt the rest of our class, think this course have failed in….so bath spa and Weston college listen up and please act upon this Blog entry.

• Studio fees - when we first enrolled at the college we were told we had to pay “studio fees” these “fees” came to £80. Now, what I’m wondering is, why do the media students have to pay an extra £30 more than the music student at the same college considering they regularly visit studios in Bristol and attend plenty of workshops. From our £80, all we’ve seen are a couple of measly blank DVDs and two DV tapes, for £80! Where are you buying these from? Marks and Spenser’s! Last year the students were given hard drives, what’s changed in this last year for us not to get one?
• Learning - I’m a bit disappointed, to say the least, with what we’re being taught. I don’t think we’ve really learnt much this year. We’re being given assignments and told to get on with them. The college hired in an “expert”, Sacha Atkinson (http://www.sacha.me.uk). He thought he was there to teach us new things on editing. Unfortunately our studio fees don’t cover that, so instead he’s just there to support us with our work and wear dodgy clothes. I think he would make a great teacher and we could learn a lot from him, which is what I thought university was all about in the first place.

I know I’m being hard but this course is costing me just over £3000 and I don’t think, so far, it’s been worth the money. Its not all doom and gloom, there are some positives to come out of this year. The people I’ve met on the course, teachers and students. The skills I’ve gained in editing. The things I’ve learnt about myself. I started the course looking to move on into a career behind the camera, but after some of the exercises we’ve taken part in, in class, I may choose to change the direction of my career path.
I’ve found it quite hard to concentrate on my work this year because I’ve been living from home which can get very distracting when I’m supposed to be getting on with work. Next year I’ll be living closer to the college and will be making a lot more effort on keeping on top of my work.

note: its come to my attention that this blog may have come across in the wrong way concerning our teacher Sacha. i dont a problem with him at all (apart from his choice in clothing) its quite the opposite, i enjoyed his lessons thoroughly! and think the college would do well to find more teachers like him!

Filming 'Beach Body'

We started filming three weeks before our deadline, and even by this time I didn’t know what the story was about. Again I had to get stupidly early to get to Weston for 9:30am on the Saturday. When we arrived at our first location, we sat around for a bit, had a bite to eat, and then started. It was a scene about a family loading their stuff into a car and heading off to the beach. Of the whole day these few shots were the most time consuming.

I was the cameraman which I always enjoy doing, it means I can direct without the pressures being the director. It was fun but we weren’t getting much done in the little time we had. From there the shots were of the journey to the beach, not to long, mostly GV’s of the surroundings. The next location was sandy beach in Weston. The wind was so strong that capturing any kind of audio was going to be a challenge, however it did create a miniature sandstorm over the beach that looked mental. Sam had her son bring along some of his mates as extras, so the first shots we got done were with them in it. This way they wouldn’t be hanging around, getting in our way, however this did become a problem when it came to food…they stole mine and Tom’s chicken sandwiches Sam had made us. After they had gone we were left filming just the family doing beach holiday stuff. It soon became apparent that this film wasn’t going to win any awards, we were just trying to get through the shots as fast as we could. The day was a bit of a bore but I did enjoy having a lot of input towards the project, as bad as it may have turned out. I think we’re going to have to spend a lot of time editing to get this film looking half decent.
Even though I think the film will turn out to be total crap, it’s not a wasted project. This assignment can definitely to used as a learning curb, when you finish any film, its not all about the outcome but what you learn from it.

East Budleigh: Football Finest

I was really gutted after finishing this documentary because it didn’t turn out like I wanted it to. I had intended for it to be quite funny using the footage of the manager, Viv, watching his team to contradict everything he says in his interviews, for example, (managers voice over)“as a manager, you’ve got to keep a cool head” then show him going mental and cursing at the game, pretty typical of this particular manager. It turns out Viv didn’t feel like being too vocal during this game, perfect timing for him to put a sock in it. It wasn’t just that, I had left myself with so little time to edit, I couldn’t add any kind of effects, filters, or music. I got some good shots and the football footage looked awesome in the rain, it’s just a shame I didn’t have more time to use it to its full potential. I also wanted to use some of the footage I got from the showers, blanking out the nudity with the players faces laid on top of it, which I think would have been quite funny. As the time I had drew to an end I had no other option but to arrange all the shots in order so it was presentable. In the end all that came of the documentary was a viewing of an average Saturday’s football match, ok if you really like to watch football, but it’s not got any story behind it and serves no purpose.

Filming of footballs finest

As always before filming, I was nervous. Nervous about not getting all the shots, nervous about getting in the way of the management or players, and most of all, nervous about what I looked liked to onlookers. I never get this nervous when playing. The day started early at East Budleigh’s recreational ground. I started filming the manager as he carried out his daily duties. I wasn’t too worried about getting in the managers way as he’s my dad. This meant that I could get him to do what ever I needed him to, anything from holding a pose to giving me the right answers to my questions. It was lucky he done these chores in the morning as it gave me time to go home after and fix the problems I was having with the crappy tripod. After sorting out the equipment, I made my way back to the football ground. It was a lot different now, people were starting to gather outside the clubhouse, asking me what I was up to. I wasn’t too rushed at this point, the only footage I needed were GV’s and cutaways. I got a bit of stick from the players as they came in because I was filming rather than playing. I think it would have been harder to film a team I wasn’t so familiar with, everyone involved in the club were very helpful with interviews and so on. When it came to the kick off, the heavens opened. There were puddles in the middle of the pitch. Obviously the camera wasn’t water proof, so to avoid breaking it I made this brilliant sheltering mechanism using a brolly, a belt, plenty of duck tape, and a cotton-bud. It was a touch of engineering genius. It didn’t make me look like the coolest fella on the pitch but it kept me dry.

(i apologise that the video is on its side, dont know how to change it, but you get the message)


At half time I waited in the changing room for the coach’s team talk, however I couldn’t stop the camera from steaming up, so I filmed the tea ladies, Peg and Pam, instead. Second time kicked off and I had gathered all the footage I needed so it was now just a case of filming the rest of the game. I had always thought it would be an amazing job to film football matches, and dreamt of one day filming at old Trafford itself. But I found it so hard not to get involved, at one stage the linesman made a shocker so I invited the ref over to look at the replay. I could never film united or England playing, I wouldn’t get anything on camera, I would be to busy cheering. It was so hard watching fellow players battling it out without me. I hate not playing football as it is, but to be watching it knowing I could play if I wanted to, was agony.

Radio Advert

For this project, we had to come up with a comical script for an advert on a random subject that we picked from a hat. I picked ‘golf course’. I didn’t know how the hell I was going to do it, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of an advert for a golf course before.
I tried to make it sound like one of the nationwide adverts, it didn’t really work.
My first draft turned out to be a bit to complicated, it took me another two drafts to get a finished script however I was the last one in the class to finish. This wasn’t because I particularly slow, but because I was so good at acting, everyone wanted me in their piece. After completing our scripts we had to go into the TV studio to read our scripts out to a camera so we could use it in our portfolio.
I didn’t enjoy this script writing exercise, and a lot of the other adverts turned out better than mine, which made me feel great! I did however enjoy taking part in other people’s pieces, I think I’m a natural at acting and making a tit out of myself.

My Finished script:

Int. A man is at the reception desk of a golf course talking to one of the employees.

Employee: Hello sir, welcome to Cranleigh golf and leisure club, how are you today?

Golfer: yeah fine, I was wondering if I could play golf today, if that’s alright

Employee: yeah that’s fine sir. Just have to get a few details off you if that’s ok

Golfer: yeah sure

Employee: Ok…. Do you know anybody currently at the club?

Golfer: No

Employee: Ok…. Have you ever played on a professional course such as this one?

Golfer: No

Employee: Right…. Are you married?

Golfer: Yes

Employee: Ok…. Right, let me just add this up a second… right so you’ve got the
Opportunity to meet new and influential people… the new experience of
Playing on a professional course… and one day of relief from the wife…
Right, ok, well here’s your receipt

Golfer: HOW MUCH?!!


V.O: Don’t let your hobby lump you with a hefty bill. Come play at East Devon golf club, where none of your experiences will end with a bogie.




Visit the website of the golf course that inspired the advert at: http://www.edgc.co.uk

Ice Mountain

This exercise was designed to improve our editing skills, using footage gathered from a Mercedes dealership. It was some sort of promotional competition which had media coverage in the form of Star FM. The competition was to guess how long it would take for a ring to melt out of a huge ice sculpture shaped like a mountain. Remembering the first semester I started on editing the audio. This was more time consuming but I think you could really tell in the final finished edit. Most of the audio was really pore quality so finding material I could use was a challenge.
The final piece was about 4-5 minutes. The structure was pretty straight forward. The sculpture starts as blocks of ice which then transform into the mountain itself, cutting too and throw from the DJ of Star FM.
I don’t really enjoy editing, sitting down for long periods of time makes my mind wonder off task. The editing process in any project, for me, does get easier as the piece begins to take shape. This is when editing becomes semi-enjoyable, you can add different effect, filters, and maybe music. Due to copy write laws we were unable to use music without the writer’s permission. Instead, I used a continuous, light hearted, beat that I created in soundtrack pro. This was used in the background of my piece.
I didn’t have high hopes for this project and didn’t think it served any purpose. Even though I didn’t feel like I had achieved anything, just watching some sculpture being made, my editing improved a lot through the process.

listen to star fm on http://www.star1077.co.uk/

Maida Vale

At first I didn’t hold up much hope for the Maida vale trip, the studios are used for producing music and radio shows, both of which I had no interest in what so ever. The day started at a ridiculous time in the morning as we had to make to London for about 11am. When we arrived at the studios we were split into two groups, music students and our group of media students. We were told that we were going to be sitting in on the Mark Lamar show, watch the Zutons mix a couple tracks, and watch a radio drama being produced. Of all of these, the only one that really interested me was seeing Mark Lamar. My group, the media students, sat in on the radio drama to start with. It was actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would be, I had no idea of how many people it took for a radio drama to run smoothly. The actors themselves were brilliant. Next up was the Mark Lamar show. We were led into this room with a huge mixing deck, and through a window was Lamar. This, for me, was the best part of the tour and is the only aspect that could tempt me into working on any kind of radio production. I had obviously been aware of Lamar previous to this visit from such shows as ‘Shooting Stars’ and ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks’, and was always a fan of his. I was really impressed with his ability to think off his feet, he is genuinely a funny, fast, and intelligent guy. He had a singer and her band in with him. They were from America and on tour playing some kind of country music. I was quite surprised with how well they took some of Lamar’s jibes, (after finishing a song) “that was Laura Cantrell and the testosterone underdogs”, they had obviously done their research on British humour. From there we went to see the Zutons which bored me quite a bit. I don’t really have much of an interest in music, so for me it was just a case of seeing a famous band. To be honest I can only remember two of their songs, Valerie, and the track that follows on that same album. To finish, our guide took us to his department where we were to learn a bit more about the unbelievably boring world of archiving. We were taken through the different stages and each one of us sat in on one of the professionals. I got to edit some of the material, but to honest anyone could have done. To me the job came across as one which requires you to sit in front of a computer logging times and numbers all day. I couldn’t think of anything worse to do. Apart from the boring end, I found the tour of the studios very interesting, however I don’t think the radio industry is right for me. The day was topped off with a glorious United win over Barcelona with a great goal by the ginger king himself….Paul ‘the carrot’ Scholes

On the set of saline

Being on the set of a film was, on the one hand, exciting but on the other, mind numbingly boring! The film was being shot near the peer on the beach of Weston-super-Mare. We only found out about the film a couple days before they were due to start recording. I think our presence on location also came as a surprise to the other members of the production team but they still made us feel welcome.
On the first day of shooting we arrived at the beach at mid day. With not much to do, we stood around observing the equipment that was going to be used for filming. After a while we were asked to carry out some of the duties that are required of the runners on set. These duties involved such things as running messages to the actors waiting in the near by hotel, moving huge polystyrene sheets from the equipment truck to where we were filming (they were to be used to reflect light from the sun), and those strong enough helped hurl a gigantic dolly across the beach to the tracks on which it was to run along to capture different panning shots. There were delays with filming due to the fact they didn’t have a camera on set that was operable so they were waiting for a replacement. However this replacement was coming from London and didn’t make to the set on time for us to see any of the action.
The next day started a bit more promisingly. We arrived at the location with all the cast and equipment already there. It was warmer than the day before, which was lucky for me as my job for the day was to patrol the peer answering the public’s questions about the production and also asking them, politely, if they could resist the urge to stop and stare at the filming (it wouldn’t look to professional if, in one of the shots, there were an elderly couple looking and pointing towards the camera). As important and responsible this job sounds, I really didn’t have much to do, plus the filming was going on to far away for me to see anything. I didn’t get to see how the director works with the actors, how the cameraman works with the director, or how that dolly that was such a pain to move even worked.
All in all I don’t think I gained anything from being involved in this production, apart the understanding of how time consuming and knit-picky filming a film is. It hasn’t put me off film altogether. I would love to see how different it is on higher budget productions….with more money involved precautions are taken to prevent hiccups that occurred in productions such as this one.