YR2 – ORGANISE AN EVENT – FACEBOOK PAGE

After clarifying all the major stuff that had to be done, we turned our heads to things that would get us extra marks. So far, the only promotional material we had were the banners and posters designed by the graphics department. So we got to thinking about other ways of getting the event noticed.
Taking into consideration the world wide phenomenon that is the internet, we decided to create a Your Media, Your Future website to educate potential event attendees. Now, why stop at just a website…the biggest thing to come from the internet since the discovery of Paris Hiltons bedroom antics, is of course Facebook. As it was my idea to create a Facebook event, it was up to me to set it up.


It didn’t take up much of my time, and it felt good creating something that would progressively get better with the help of contributors pictures and videos. Although we were effectively inviting a load more people to the event, we understood that many of them wouldn’t be interested in attending and that we couldn’t seat them all if they did. The aim of the Facebook event was purely to build on our portfolio and show we were thinking of other forms of promotion.











I’ve tried to loads the page with as much material related to the event as possible. There’s a section containing the videos we’ll be showing at the event. There’s also a short brief of the event, which is actually our press release that Katie wrote. And finally, “the wall” is the section in which people can leave comments and add anything about the subject. In this section, I have added what exactly the event will include, who will be speaking, and details of the time and location of where it will be taking place.
Even if this site doesn’t attract any more people, it was still fun to make and see it grow week by week. Hopefully it will serve as a good way to get feedback from the people who attended.

YR2 – ORGANISE AN EVENT – GUEST SPEAKERS

Obviously, one of the main attractions to our event was going to be the guest speakers. Not only were they going to be interesting to hear from, but would also be a good opportunity to get chin wagging with media professionals. We knew that Kim would be getting the majority of guest speakers from her contacts within the industry, but were encouraged to try and find some for ourselves. I happen to know of someone within the industry. His name’s Warren Smith, he started out working for TwoFour studios as a researcher and has moved up through the ranks to assistant producer on such programs as Boozed Up Britain and the Extreme series on LIVINGtv. He’s a mate of mine I know through my older brother. He got me work experience at the studios a couple years ago and is quite an interesting, young character. Seeing as he fit the criteria, I though I would invite him along…

Adam Jones
Sent: 28 March at 19:36

Alright fella.

I was just wondering if you had any plans for the morning of the 5th of May. My group on my course are organising a "media event" in Weston Super Mare, and have two spaces left for guest speakers. We pay £25 per hour plus mileage. Each speaker will present for 20 minutes but will get paid the four hours the event will last (I think).

There’s no pressure mate, just wondering if you were interested.
Let us know. Hope you're well.

Warren Smith
Received: 31 March at 22:23

Thanks for the offer mate, but I am really busy working on a show at the moment and will be until august. Thanks for thinking of me though. Hopefully see you over Easter weekend. Good luck with the event.

So unfortunately, I couldn’t contribute to the guest speakers list. I’m not too concerned, we already have some great speakers. I’m particularly looking forward to hearing from and speaking to James Holmes. He’s currently directing my favourite TV program on TV at the moment, Extreme Fishing with Robson Green. He should have a lot of interesting experiences to share. The series follows actor Robson Green travel from continent to continent fishing for a variety of fish the the worlds rivers and oceans to have to offer. Although I don’t really have any interest in fishing, it’s the travelling aspect of the program that’s so appealing to me, the kind of program I would like to be involved with in the future.

YR2 - WORK EXPERIENCE - CASE STUDY DAY 1

I was first made aware of the opportunity to take part in this project by my tutor, Kim. She presented the class with a bunch of projects that that clients were looking for. What originally drew me to this project was the possibility of getting paid, and to tick off some of my required days for which I need work experience. All I knew about the project was that it was aiming to promote the college through a promotional video.

I originally thought my role in the project would go no further than edit material that had already been filmed. This is what I spent my first day doing. However, the footage collected was really poor quality. Interviews were recorded without the aid of a microphone or consideration for the room ambience from which it was filmed. So I tried to make best of what turned out to be the outcome of bad preparation and execution by the filming crew before me. The only bit useable were the interviews with the media students, but even that material lacked extra footage of cutaways, which made things harder for me to allow the sequence to flow.


In my first meeting with Abby Dobson, effectively my boss, I showed her what I had managed to edit already. As much as she liked what I had done with the footage already gathered, it wasn’t really what she was looking for. She showed me the promotional video that the college are using at the moment. It was basically an archive of clips of the college and its pupils, with a cheesy backing track to break up the audio. As bad as it was, the original video did give me more of an understanding of what Abby was looking for. So we made arrangements to collect more interviews and footage. No deadline date was established, just that it needed to be completed as soon as possible, but not so that it effected the quality of the finished product.

if you're interested in the courses Weston College has to offer, visit the website at: http://www.weston.ac.uk/

YR2 - WORK EXPERIENCE - ACROSS THE POND PART ONE

I was offered the chance to be part of the crew by my classmate Sam Simmons, whose boyfriend had flown all the way from the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, to film here in the most super of mares, Weston.
At first I didn’t know what my role was to be, I was thinking it was going to be something basic, like running. Though, seeing how much of a dab hand I was with a camera in the past, Sam bumped me up to Stills Photographer, which was great! I didn’t have to worry about things the director wanted from me, I just had to take pictures and make the cast and crew look like they were being professional. It wasn’t going to be used in the film itself, just to document each day. I do have an interest in photography. I’m always taking photos, and have my own SLR camera, so this would not only be fun for me, but I was probably the most qualified there for the job, which made me feel a lot more professional and appreciated.
My first day was a really early one, so early I woke up as my housemates were returning from a night out. It wasn’t the best of starts to my day, having to get a train from Bristol, not knowing what I was going to be doing the rest of the day. The freezing temperatures didn’t help raise my mood. I arrived at Sam’s, had some breakfast, and met the rest of the crew. It was slightly weird being in a room with so many Americans, wearing my “Founding Fathers are Fairies” t-shirt was a big mistake!
After breakfast I was introduced to the camera I was going to be using, the Olympus E-410. I was really impressed by its fast shutter speed, its responsive auto-focus, and its great picture quality.

We headed off to our first filming location just after breakfast. The weather was really nice and sunny, not too warm though. I was glad to have a camera with a long zoom lens, it meant I could keep warm without being heard by the camera filming everything. I managed to get some great shots, the sun was lighting up the crews faces perfectly. Though being so far away from all the action meant people would come up to me and ask what we were filming, and to be honest, at first, i didn't know what to tell them, so i just went with "they're just a bunch of Americans filming some low budget film".














After finishing the filming at our first location, we moved on to our next. It was someplace in town, outside a small B&B. the problem with this location was the road going through it. This meant we had to block it off everytime we were going for a take, which didn't go down too well with some of the drivers. The main problem concerning myself was the sun being blocked out by the buildings, that mixed with the wind gave my hands a mild touch of frost bite.
Our last location of the day was in Westons bus depot. There weren't many shots to be had, but the use of a bus and some pain in the arse kids, held things up a bit. One of the bus drivers offered to help out and drive his bus through some of the shots, which was nice of him, considering he wasn't getting a penny for it, just his face on camera. Though half way through filming,


we came into contact with some of the filth that seem to roam Weston constantly. They hung around asking stupid questions, asking to be involved, making fun of some of the crew. I was truly embarrassed that these Americans got to meet the scum of British society. After a while they got bored and left, leaving us to film the remainder of the shots.


After finishing, we made our way back to sams to view the footage and look at the photos i had taken. Though i missed everything because i fell asleep as soon as i hit the sofa. It was a good first day. view all the photos of the cast and crew and each days progress by visiting:

http://picasaweb.google.com/acrossthepond.pilot

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.