Back to the studios!
I think the three of us have very different and contrasting styles to doing work. It's funny how when three people get together attempting to do 'work' all sorts of funny stuff ensues.
I'm here to give a good rundown on my, at the risk of giving away my bisexuality but what the hell I'll use the word anyway, fabulous group workers. It's nothing that has already been said, but I have to reiterate my points again as this semester would have been a disaster had it not been for them.
Alex
I worked with Alex last year for Broadcast Media and I knew she's a good girl to work with. I mentioned in a previous post that she even turned up as host when she was clearly feeling under the weather. That's devotion for ya! She has a good attitude, always turns up looking like she's dressed for a dinner-and-dance and speaks her mind. During editing she's completely switched on and hogged the fucking mouse for most of the editing period. She's too polite as well, as during our interview with Robert she clearly was trying to make Robert feel at ease and agreeing with everything he's saying when she clearly didn't care about what Robert was saying. Haha.
Alex has a very good family upbringing and it rubs off on me. Very proper and not loud. But she knows how to have fun and let her hair down. Wonderful. Let's do another documentary Alex. You're a star.
Bree
Bree's the gravy to Alex's mash potato. Bree is very breezy, very easy and nothing really fusses her. She's amazing to work with and is quite a clown at work. I think we'd have gotten our editing done a lot quicker had she (and Alex) not clowned around so much. She got all the stuff organised i.e interviews and time to film as her mom works in CAE. She only knew the FCP stuff that I had no clue about. The pre-existing relationship between Bree and Alex helped as well as they both worked together in the previous semester. And they both smoked. Haha, that's not relevant but hey I used to smoke so I know how smoking helps bonds and pulls people closer together as you waste your life away over nicotine. :O
And perhaps editing wouldn't have been so much fun had Bree not brought booze everytime we came to edit. Okay, not all the time, but enough times.
Bree's 'can-do' attitude also rubbed off on me, as I came to editing each day with joy. I genuinely looked forward to each session as I knew it was never the same, never dull, and always happy.
Me
I guessed my contribution were more obvious during the earlier part of the semester. I was more concerned about getting good shots, the technical aspect and filming everything right. As I had my own camera, I knew I owed it to myself to get some good footage for the team effort. Before we decided to use Robert as our protagonist, I had a rough idea on how the documentary will look. I'm not expert with shot making, but I think our final cut turned out quite bloody nice.
I didn't end up editing as much as I'd like as both the girls were keen on it. Having spent the entire semester editing my TV Journalism stories on FCP, I was really quite over editing so I was happy to let the girls handle it. I was more concerned with turning up and voicing my opinions about various footages as either of them would consult my opinion before a decision was made. As I was always in the CBD - despite moving to Sunshine - I ensured the three of us always had sufficient editing time by overbooking the studios and making sure we have access to Building 24. Haha.
I'm pleased with my contribution this semester. I could not have done any better than I could and I won't lie to give myself a better mark.
--------------------------------------------------------
As this is my final semester, I write with a heavy heart as I know this is probably one of the last, if not last bit of academia bit I have to do before I graduate. I'm glad I hooked up with Bree and Alex as they've made TV2 so much more fun. Unlike in TV1, where the group was seperated by trust and idea issues, the three of us were like a family.
This really is a semester of transition for me. In hindsight, I'm glad I only had to complete TV Journalism and TV2 to complete my degree. I had to juggle a lot of 'adult stuff' in the last 14 weeks and I probably wouldn't have done as well had I been working on four subjects instead. I've purchased a house, sorting out my immigration and am planning to get engaged soon. I am 28 years old and I cannot believe how lucky I am to be in this position, a position of wealth and joy. I will have a degree soon and I can start out afresh in this new country. But all this would not have been possible without all the wonderful people in RMIT and Melbourne.
And two of them are right here, close to my bosoms. Thank you girls, for making my final semester such a joy.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Egghead
It's almost the end of the semester and clearly I'm the fucking biggest dickhead of the Media course. Obviously I havn't been paying enough attention in class as I still do not know how to set the scratch discs. I've lost over two hours of editing time because I:
a) do not know how to set the fucking scratch discs
b) asked people the day before but forgot the process by the time I went back into the suite the day after
c) and this happened not once, but twice.
OMG I'm pretty decent with FCP, but the fucking external HD is killing me.
I feel like I've let the team down somewhat. Everyone's on equal footing and plays their part. I might be in the editing suite doing actual work, but I have nothing to show for it.
This is embarrassing.
It's almost the end of the semester and clearly I'm the fucking biggest dickhead of the Media course. Obviously I havn't been paying enough attention in class as I still do not know how to set the scratch discs. I've lost over two hours of editing time because I:
a) do not know how to set the fucking scratch discs
b) asked people the day before but forgot the process by the time I went back into the suite the day after
c) and this happened not once, but twice.
OMG I'm pretty decent with FCP, but the fucking external HD is killing me.
I feel like I've let the team down somewhat. Everyone's on equal footing and plays their part. I might be in the editing suite doing actual work, but I have nothing to show for it.
This is embarrassing.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Re-filming
In our rough cut screening the class and Paul himself thought that there wasn't enough focus i.e the documentary was crying out for a protagonist. The class had about 12 people and between throwing shots of the mob laughing and cutting to another shot of the girls sharing some biscuits it's rather dis-orientating. I do not disagree with them.
In hindsight, I remember suggesting right off the bat in week one or two to focus on just one character. I don't know why we went off-kilter and decided to focus on the entire class instead. But I'm not blaming everyone. It's a team effort, and Bree and Alex are just awesome.
Deciding on a protagonist wasn't going to be difficult. The only student who really warmed up to us was Robert Davies. He's always the friendliest and had a ready smile for us. I'm too polite to ask him what his learning difficulty is or what his disability is as he's VERY normal. If anything, he can pass of just as another university student, walking around campus with a group of friends.
So we schedule the interview with Robert on a day where he had classes. Pauline, the lecturer, was so nice and allowed her student time to 'cut classes'. Now that's one lecturer I'd like to have more often than not!
The interview was conducted in a quiet part of the school; Pauline had arranged a room for us to film Robert. As Bree had to work in the morning, it was up to Alex and I to conduct the interview. I really didn't do much preparation in terms of questions; Robert has always been really friendly with us and the ice was broken a long time ago. Alex and I just drew up a rough template of questions to throw to Robert five minutes he walked in. I knew it was going to be easy.
And easy it was. Robert was rather shy in the beginning, but as the interview went on he warmed up to us and opened up. I was afraid we'd have to ask him a lot of questions but he went on and on about his life. I didn't know what the structure of the documentary was going to be, but as Robert went on his spiel he began to talk about his past and how he was bullied a lot.
I realised there and then that we have an angle for the documentary. Robert became so comfortable with himself he slipped into a 'chatting over coffee' mode. We wouldn't have looked out of place in a cafe sipping coffee.
Post-interview, I lined up Robert for a series of shots along Flinders Lane. Robert was obviously not used to be in front of the camera, and kept looking into it. I didn't like it at all but both Bree and Alex commented on how that's part of his goofy nature and appeal. So I stuck to it.
At the end of the day I'm just glad we chose Robert. We couldn't have chosen a better protagonist.
Now it's time to sift through more footage. God help us.
In our rough cut screening the class and Paul himself thought that there wasn't enough focus i.e the documentary was crying out for a protagonist. The class had about 12 people and between throwing shots of the mob laughing and cutting to another shot of the girls sharing some biscuits it's rather dis-orientating. I do not disagree with them.
In hindsight, I remember suggesting right off the bat in week one or two to focus on just one character. I don't know why we went off-kilter and decided to focus on the entire class instead. But I'm not blaming everyone. It's a team effort, and Bree and Alex are just awesome.
Deciding on a protagonist wasn't going to be difficult. The only student who really warmed up to us was Robert Davies. He's always the friendliest and had a ready smile for us. I'm too polite to ask him what his learning difficulty is or what his disability is as he's VERY normal. If anything, he can pass of just as another university student, walking around campus with a group of friends.
So we schedule the interview with Robert on a day where he had classes. Pauline, the lecturer, was so nice and allowed her student time to 'cut classes'. Now that's one lecturer I'd like to have more often than not!
The interview was conducted in a quiet part of the school; Pauline had arranged a room for us to film Robert. As Bree had to work in the morning, it was up to Alex and I to conduct the interview. I really didn't do much preparation in terms of questions; Robert has always been really friendly with us and the ice was broken a long time ago. Alex and I just drew up a rough template of questions to throw to Robert five minutes he walked in. I knew it was going to be easy.
And easy it was. Robert was rather shy in the beginning, but as the interview went on he warmed up to us and opened up. I was afraid we'd have to ask him a lot of questions but he went on and on about his life. I didn't know what the structure of the documentary was going to be, but as Robert went on his spiel he began to talk about his past and how he was bullied a lot.
I realised there and then that we have an angle for the documentary. Robert became so comfortable with himself he slipped into a 'chatting over coffee' mode. We wouldn't have looked out of place in a cafe sipping coffee.
Post-interview, I lined up Robert for a series of shots along Flinders Lane. Robert was obviously not used to be in front of the camera, and kept looking into it. I didn't like it at all but both Bree and Alex commented on how that's part of his goofy nature and appeal. So I stuck to it.
At the end of the day I'm just glad we chose Robert. We couldn't have chosen a better protagonist.
Now it's time to sift through more footage. God help us.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
OMG the footage, structure and details
Between the three of us, we easily have in excess of six hours of footage. I don't know why we started, or suggested the idea of using three cameras, but I think we really wanted to capture every possible class detail. And making sure it's caught on camera. But in the process we made our editing so much more tedious.
I don't know what the other groups are doing, but surely we are the only group who're using three cameras. Paul has been very accomodating and has allowed me to use my camera, which is awesome 'coz I get to roam around the class with it and get good close-up shots of it.
I have no idea how we're gona sift through so much footage and make a 4-7 minute documentary out of it. I daresay we have enough for a 20 minutes documentary even.
I'm also beginning to find it really difficult to have a 'structure' (for the lack of a better word). In the first semester it was really easy as a short film has a start and an end. In a documentary however it's entirely up to the footage that we capture. That also hinges on the subject's willingness to open him or herself to the camera. I'm glad we have such a great class of students to 'study', as they're really chummy and have, after repeated visits, began to warm up to us.
I can't say I'm looking forward to editing, 'coz between trying to find a 'structure' and finding appropriate shots, it's gona be a lengthy process.
Between the three of us, we easily have in excess of six hours of footage. I don't know why we started, or suggested the idea of using three cameras, but I think we really wanted to capture every possible class detail. And making sure it's caught on camera. But in the process we made our editing so much more tedious.
I don't know what the other groups are doing, but surely we are the only group who're using three cameras. Paul has been very accomodating and has allowed me to use my camera, which is awesome 'coz I get to roam around the class with it and get good close-up shots of it.
I have no idea how we're gona sift through so much footage and make a 4-7 minute documentary out of it. I daresay we have enough for a 20 minutes documentary even.
I'm also beginning to find it really difficult to have a 'structure' (for the lack of a better word). In the first semester it was really easy as a short film has a start and an end. In a documentary however it's entirely up to the footage that we capture. That also hinges on the subject's willingness to open him or herself to the camera. I'm glad we have such a great class of students to 'study', as they're really chummy and have, after repeated visits, began to warm up to us.
I can't say I'm looking forward to editing, 'coz between trying to find a 'structure' and finding appropriate shots, it's gona be a lengthy process.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Editing
So you see, we don't really spend much time editing in V3 at all. Instead, we like to fool around. Or come to uni dressed in similar clothes. And sunnies. Shit we're like twins.
Clearly, she wears the pants in her relationship. *chuckles at his lame attempt at humour*
Then on other days, Alex decides to form the word 'YMCA' with her hands. The rest of us decided to get in on it.
So you see, we don't really spend much time editing in V3 at all. Instead, we like to fool around. Or come to uni dressed in similar clothes. And sunnies. Shit we're like twins.
Clearly, she wears the pants in her relationship. *chuckles at his lame attempt at humour*
Then on other days, Alex decides to form the word 'YMCA' with her hands. The rest of us decided to get in on it.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Television Two & Television Journalism
Almost by coincidence, the only two subjects I have to exert my concentration on happens to be television-related. Which also means, camera-related. That also represents a large part of my uni hours interacting with Paul, who teaches and tutors both subjects. Hi Paul :O
One of the great strengths of a Prof Comm student is his/her cross-subject skills. By the time we reach third year, we'd have spent two years touching on cameras. In my case, I find my familiarity with Final Cut Pro, audio and camera work a boon as my team mate in Television Journalism has no background in it. While she directs, writes the news story and more often than not, learns how to shoot, I work on the camera troubleshooting, editing and sound/vision work. It's perfect. It might be more stressful if we were both Journalism students.
And, after spending two weeks in the Journalism editing suites working on our first news story, I move on to Television Two. The girls Bree and Alex have completely forgotten about the finer details of Final Cut Pro, so it kinda works out well.
I'll be spending the entire semester practicing my FCP skills, and having lots of usage with my camera as well. Which was the exact reasons why I joined TV in the first place.
Stranger things have happened. But I guess sometimes things do work out.
Almost by coincidence, the only two subjects I have to exert my concentration on happens to be television-related. Which also means, camera-related. That also represents a large part of my uni hours interacting with Paul, who teaches and tutors both subjects. Hi Paul :O
One of the great strengths of a Prof Comm student is his/her cross-subject skills. By the time we reach third year, we'd have spent two years touching on cameras. In my case, I find my familiarity with Final Cut Pro, audio and camera work a boon as my team mate in Television Journalism has no background in it. While she directs, writes the news story and more often than not, learns how to shoot, I work on the camera troubleshooting, editing and sound/vision work. It's perfect. It might be more stressful if we were both Journalism students.
And, after spending two weeks in the Journalism editing suites working on our first news story, I move on to Television Two. The girls Bree and Alex have completely forgotten about the finer details of Final Cut Pro, so it kinda works out well.
I'll be spending the entire semester practicing my FCP skills, and having lots of usage with my camera as well. Which was the exact reasons why I joined TV in the first place.
Stranger things have happened. But I guess sometimes things do work out.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Dinner with three beautiful girls
Completely un-TV2 related. So yesterday, I had dinner with beautiful Alex, sexy Bree and sultry Stephanie over at Bree's place.
Too much food, good company and so many secrets. Oi what we said stays within those four walls ya?
Btw, still love that lingerie you were wearing Stephanie. Ooooh I wana change into my shirt and pants ensemble now.
Completely un-TV2 related. So yesterday, I had dinner with beautiful Alex, sexy Bree and sultry Stephanie over at Bree's place.
Too much food, good company and so many secrets. Oi what we said stays within those four walls ya?
Btw, still love that lingerie you were wearing Stephanie. Ooooh I wana change into my shirt and pants ensemble now.
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