TV2 Groups

It's very important to have good mechanics with your team. The machine may not be well-oiled but if the parts are still in good condition, the car'll still run.

I've been paired (Okay, not really. Alex asked me.) with Alex and her smoking buddy Bree. For the lack of an operative word, smoking buddy will do for now. I haven't seen enough of Bree in campus in the last 12 months apart from fleeting glances at her.

I worked with Alex in Broadcast Media last year and I know she's a good worker. Reported to work in the cold, sick and couldn't give a rat's ass about the assignment yet she still put on a smile and showed lots of enthusiasm. Always turned up for lab work as well. Which scores high in my books. :O

Bree, I don't know. Easy on the eye, but comes highly recommended by Alex. So, I'm taking a leap of faith here.

Less people to work with this semester. But I already have an ally in Alex. Yay.

Docu Concept

"I feel slightly more empowered than most students as I’m a mature-aged student so I don’t have to put up with all the childish teenage ways that all adults had to go through. Teenagers are too fucking concerned about what people think of them to see what the fuck is actually happening. Because I’m past that stage, I have noticed lots of interesting facets of life that teenagers fail to see."

This is an area I'm really keen to explore. When asked to elaborate, I cited the rising cost of property prices in Melbourne and young Melburnians' apathy to their empty finance as a prime example.

I've spent the last three months looking for a house and find myself slapped in the face every weekend by the steep cost of property across Melbourne. I'm almost a decade older than all my uni mates, and I'm wondering how much they'll struggle to pay off their own homes in ten years' time.

Yet, alarmingly, these teenagers are completely oblivious to that, choosing instead to spend their hard-earned casual work money on booze and frivolous stuff. 95% of my uni friends under 20 have no money in their bank, with the other 5% more 'mature' ones having in excess of $10,000. Which is good. Pity there aren't more young Australians who possess that habit.

The idea is not set in stone. Perhaps I might focus more on the the activities adults my age USED to do and what they USED to believe was cool. When I look back at the stuff I've done, purchased or committed myself into, I laugh at my silliness. I'd like to use the documentary to give teenage university students an insight into what goes on in the mind of a mature-aged university student.

Couple of good ideas I reckon.

Integrated Media 2 LMFAO

Turns out, Media students this semester are playing a fucking free and bastardised version of The Sims in Integrated Media 2.

LMFAO. It's like Seth Keen and Co. can't afford to pay monthly fees, so instead of levelling up and spell-crafting in WoW, students now have to resort to short skirts and fake jobs to get their rocks off.

Seriously, WTF? This explains why all the Media students were talking about it last week. Cmon guys, I know the men have to suck in their tummies and the women have no boobs, but surely there're EASIER ways to score an easy fuck? And online??

Geme Neverwinter Nights 2 or Football Manager 2007 anyday.

Second Life. LOL.

Dear Christine R

"Hello Christine,

just wana congratulate you on your reference to Saturday's Stage 13's time trial of the Tour de France. Some of the hairpins were indeed slippery and the race leaders lost a lot of time. As a huge HUGE HUGE fan of the Tour, it's pleasing to hear it being mentioned in a lecture of all places. Music to my ears.

Been up every night watching it till 2am btw. Not good for the heart as I get excited and cheer for the riders. As a result I only fall asleep at around 4 as I feel like I just ran 10 miles.

Great lecture btw:O "

Lecture Two post-mortem

Christine R mentioned this today:
- Documentary is an intimate conversation
- Best documentaries tells you "This is the way I see the fucking world."
- To tell something original & unique

Well this is becoming easier than I had envisioned! Just do a documentary on myself! Seriously, I'm so bloody interesting. Here's why:

a) Mature-aged student with several years work experience. You 20yo kids wana know what the real world is like, flock to Big Brother here. There's a lot from where that came from.
b) Asian editor of a white people university magazine. Herro!? There's something not quite right there! Asians don't speak English!
c) Tactless - I say things that other people are too afraid to say. What're you gona do? Swallow your pride and take it to your grave?
d) I am extremely popular in campus. It's not who you know, but how much cock you've to suck. Okay don't quote me on that.
e) I collect action figures, quote Buffy lines, listen to dance music and shave my pubes.
f) I'm not gay.
g) If I were to be stranded on an island for a year and I was allowed to bring one essential along with me, it'd be moisturizer. Can't live with chapped skin.

With all these reasons above, I can think of so many permutations. Enough material for a three-season arc.

TV2 Errands Week Two Update

Ok. I've spoken to Paul and he's cool with me using my camera as it has widescreen and miniDV capabilities. Seriously, who would buy a 4:3 video camera!?

Also, I've attended the first two lectures with time to spare before Paul R, Dave C and Christine R started rapping their latest rendition of "Your Got To Fight For Your Right (To Party)"

Well-prepared & Punctual.

Fuck I'm good.

Theme for the TV2 Documentary is belief.

From The Free Dictionary:

be·lief (b-lf)

n.

1. The mental act, condition, or habit of placing trust or confidence in another: My belief in you is as strong as ever.

2. Mental acceptance of and conviction in the truth, actuality, or validity of something: His explanation of what happened defies belief.

3. Something believed or accepted as true, especially a particular tenet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons.

Belief is a word I hold very close to my heart. It's a word that has driven me to the ascending heights that I sit on today; without Belief I'd still be a boring Advertising Executive at the bottom end of the food chain in sterile and culture-less Singapore.

Here are ten things that I believe in. I live by it.

"I Believe..."
1) "...I have left a poorer country for a richer one. If I cannot exercise choice, there's no freedom."
2) "...I have witnessed the media manipulation by the autocratic regime. At least here in Australia, both parties get a fair go."
3) "...truth will always be a casualty in Singapore."
4) "...I can control my pursuit of truth. I can shape my own future, my own fame, my own accolades and my own destiny. All this in Australia."
5) "...I will not return to a country that practices meritocracy and considers anyone over 40yo as over the hill."
6) "...I can change the world 'coz I'm not in Singapore."
7) "...as a child, I was villified and heckled by other Singaporeans 'coz I am different. They're afraid of me. They're myopic and cannot see the forest for the trees. What do they know?"
8) "...I can practice my own beliefs, cultivate my personality, say what I want and not be afraid to be myself 'coz I'm not in Singapore."
9) "...I am fucking talented, in spite of my limited talent."
10) "...I deserve a chance to be here, 'coz Australia is my calling and I can make a difference."

"No hard feelings mate. i just thought the wrongs had to be made right again." - Lily Goh, 16 June.

None taken.

There were no wrongs in my post. All were assumptions, or has the vagaries of the English language gone out of your window lately?

Case(s) in point:

“As far as I know, ALL Prof Comm students are pursuing TV as an interest, but do not see TV as a career”

I represent all the Prof Comm students who have told me how challenging and richly rewarding it is to work with the Media kids as they get to see ideas and practices from peers. These are also the same kids who have professed no desire to work in the television industry, but only to learn the ropes. Having said that, you and I have not had enough conversations about what you - as a Prof Comm student - intend to do. Perhaps, if you spent less time knocking me for my beliefs (non-Christian, Asian racist or not), we'd be able to sort it out :) Nobody is right here, and nobody is wrong.

"...also do not find it difficult for any Prof Comm student to make input in discussions..."

You were speaking for yourself here Lily. How much feedback have you received from your fellow Prof Comm friends? As a member of the Student Staff Consultative Committees (SSCC) it is my job to check on my Prof Comm friends. I'm also speaking from the guy-about-town's opinion, as I'm quite the social butterfly in the Prof Comm circle. Or haven't you already discovered that? :O Well I'm glad that you and I do not have any problems with the Media kids. There are some out there who do. And I'm speaking for them.

"Lastly, i would just like to say that i think Bill is an amazing person and an amazing student slash team member..."

Not once did I mention Bill being egotistical male chauvinist who doesn't value Prof Comm opinions. What I said was "Perhaps he's an egotistical male chauvinist who doesn't value Prof Comm opinions..." I have not made any accusations nor have I put Bill up for slander. Look, I'm sure Bill is the bloody Messiah and the one to end all wars, but all I said was he has to put his emotions in check and realise that working in a team means to watch out for your team members as well.

Perhaps you have a counter-argument to mine. That's great. But do we need another Malaysia - Singapore spat here? Let our governments deal with that. Between the two of us, we have bigger fishes to fry :O

Looking forward to seeing you on Monday!

Yours sincerely,
John Ng
Catalyst editor 2007

Camera

Am all primed for the new semester. I can't wait to work with a new bunch of students. New ideas, new egos. Haha.

Having said that, I know I have to make up for the poor Credit for TV1. Armed with my miniDV camera - bought specifically to arrest any annoying camera borrowing debacle for TV2 - I'm ready to kick some arse.

Bring it on, documentary.

Credit

So I scored my credit for the semester. Am contented with the mark. No guilt, no need to lie through my teeth to justify a fake score. With the amount of work I've put in last semester across the board and working for a better resume, I'd say God Damn! the result was justified. Something had to give; can't be scoring four distinctions when you're the man about town aye?

Now, if only the rest of the students can justify their distinctions....what have you done to justify the score?

This Post Is Not For Assessment Paul! But read it as it has feedback:O

After viewing all films earlier in the evening with all TV1 students, I became acutely aware that there's a lot of talent among the students. Also, I can safely say that my group's take on Bloodhounded 2 is far, far superior to the other group's take. It's funnier, doesn't have those two lame Asians (Asians generally stick out like a sore thumb in a white-dominated media environment) who became the focus of the movie with their Asian stereotype looks, dressing and accents. For once I do not care if they are perfect casting for the movie; if you want to get an Asian, get a pan-Asian. Or an Asian who isn't an International Student. It's quite obvious those Asians aren't locals. The conventional Asian look simply distracts viewers.

But anyway, I meant to vent steam about how some of the Media students are far more advanced in technical abilities and knowledge. Paul, if you read this, remember that I have stressed several times (and I'm not the only one) that Prof Comm students pale in comparison to the Media kids. As far as I know, ALL Prof Comm students are pursuing TV as an interest, but do not see TV as a career. Many of the Media kids do see TV as an enviable career choice, and are fucking good at it.

I got home earlier and went through every student blog. Several Prof Comm students have their grievances about being paired with Media students as we are always outnumbered. And out-thought. And out-inspired.

I could be wrong, but most of the Prof Commers wish to pursue a career in PR, Marketing, Journalism or the likes, so none of us have the insane knowledge, expertise and craftmanship of the Bills, Matts, Lionels and Steves. And these people have their little posse of friends who worship the ground they step on, making it extremely hard for the Prof Commies to generate any input.

I felt extremely saddened that Ariel was told off by the Director of her group. Bill was in no position to tell her off this way. Perhaps he's an egotistical male chauvinist who doesn't value Prof Comm opinions, but no one deserves a verbal lashing. I know which day this happened, as earlier this week I saw an extremely upset Ariel in campus. She has been shedding some tears; I didn't know why then. But now I do.

I was lucky to have a group that was really friendly and chatty and had no airs about them. But towards the end differences in opinions and lack of communication soured the friendships and split the group dynamics into two, which was very obvious. And that makes me sad. I didn't come to uni after ten years in the workforce to see teenagers being bullied by other teenagers, or friendships ruined due to work differences.

Which makes me proud of the big brother role that I have been playing since Year One. Arbitrator is always better than Antagonisor.

I'm only hoping I have a great bunch of people to work with in TV2. Wish to graduate with a bang, with no enemies and lots of friends.

Have a great holiday everyone.

Looking at fine cuts

The team met up and discussed, dissected, chatted and edited the almost final cut of Hounded on Tuesday. We were extremely lucky to have Paul coming in at 10.30am in the morning to have a look as Alice (who was there first) experienced problems with the sound in our suite.

Paul ended up spending an inordinate amount of time in our suite and completely changed the structure of our film.

By the time the team (just Sam, Charlotte and I) left at 7pm, the version we'd submit for screening was vastly different from the version/s that we were all familiar with.

The team was very cut up about which version we'd love to submit. There are varying opinions on which version was best, but ultimately we decided on Paul's version coz if this is the version Paul loves, this is the version we'd submit. We were not about to submit something that Paul doesn't like just because we feel it's 'better'.

There are at least four versions of Hounded

1) Paul's version - scenes of the two boys were not as convulated as our version. Music was presented in a headphone-style way and utilised both the instrumental and rockish music.

2) Alice, Lily and John's version - this version utilised the instrumental music Lily's friend provided and scenes of the boys dressing up were short and staccatoed.

3) Sam and Charlotte's version - this version utilised the rockish vocal music that Charlotte picked. Scenes of the boys were almost similar to 2), but the music was drastically different. Paul made a comment on this version and said it looked and sounded like a Year 10 production and looked liked someone had just chucked in a track to expediate the process. I don't agree completely; the music is rather suitable, but I felt the music took focus away from the film.

4) The team's original version - In this version, the scenes were more like 2) and 3), but the music was the original track that Lily's friend provided. Lots of people liked the music and said it provided a lot of finesse to it. I felt the music was really good too, but some parts of the music didn't fit certain parts of the film.

In the end, the team was just extremely happy to have completed the assessment. It really has sucked the energy out of the team and I'm just looking forward to TV2 as we get to do documentaries on miniDV cameras.

I knew I bought my miniDV camera for a reason. :O

Baz Luhrmann's Australia

I've always wondered why the hell we've got to do so much 'pre-Action!' stuff before the directer screams 'Action!'. The team may have wrapped up production with Hounded and I am aware of the roles each member of the crew plays, but I still think it's unnecessary. Why can't we just say, "OK I AM READY! JUST FUCKING FILM ALREADY!"

Until I saw and heard this audio and visual reel from The Age. I'm quite a history buff, and old iconic scenes and wars interest me a great deal. So imagine my surprise when the reel took all my doubts away and convinced me that all the 'camera ready-slate in-bullshit' was really worth my while.

I know it's stupid, but hey it took something that interests me to be convinced about set etiquette. People learn things their own way and at their own time, and I've justified that reasoning.

Now, get the fucking slate in! LOL.

Off topic, I'm extremely keen on this movie. I'll be keeping a look out for the number of non-Anglos in the movie. Fast forward a century and a half, and Australia today still has traces of the White Australia policy in the form of white supremists. No doubt Pauline Hanson will be flocking to watch this movie.

Somebody needs to tell these people, that pre-2000 was all about colonialization and white people. Post-2000, it's the rise of the Asians. In several decades time the sight of an Asian man in a 'white' country would no longer raise eyebrows. No more asexualised Asian man in the media, and the Asian man will win the girl's heart.

Okay I really am straying away from this television blog.

Last Tute - I'll take the Credit

Have you ever had one of those days where you can't please anyone? I thought honesty was a much valued trait that humans honour; seems like people much rather lie through their teeth to please others or themselves. I just can't.

I cannot justify giving myself a Distinction. Then again, I don't know. I'm the only who gave myself a Credit in class, and I found some of the self-assessed marks from my peers rather suspicious. Some really do deserve their marks, no questions asked. But hey, such is life isn't it?

I've never felt so uncomfortable before. I'm always Mr Know-It-All in classes; TV1 just brought out the ugly monster in me. I could always go in a self-assessment tute and give myself a High Distinction with no objections. Just like how Matt did it. Confident, without blinking and cocky. But today, I felt objectified.

Strangely, I felt like one of those losers who don't turn up for all the lectures, all the tutes and relied solely on their project mates to carry their fucking ass to pass. One of my group mates in Broadcast Media last year comes to mind. Lecturer still passed him. Are you fucking kidding me?

Anyway, what's done is done. I have justified my score, but my actions and words are perhaps somewhat unwarranted. It just came out the wrong way.

Then again, how many International Students juggle a full-time load, maintain a Distinction average in the first two years and run a university magazine? Last I checked, it's just me. Seriously, try convincing a 19yo kid to do that, and he'll laugh at my face. Right. Coz wasting money on booze, casual sex and partying is more fun that going home, completely exhausted with uni work and magazine. If anything, I deserve a High Distinction for effort expended this semester alone across all four subjects.

LOL come to think of it that's pretty much what I do all day. I do need to devote more time next semester. Geez. I don't know how I'm going to pull that off. This semester corrupted my physical and mental health. But two semesters?

Might need a shrink.

Rough Thoughts on Rough Cut

'Sam' - Lionel, Jen, Brendon and Matt

- Remarkably clear and crisp visuals
- Liked the stabbing shot via reflection
- The relationship wasn't clear for about 3 seconds as the chick went on and on about this faceless picture
- Seriously, who sits on a chair when he's stabbed? <--- Okay, I'm not meant to do this, but lol
- THAT dolly shot (wow)
- Continuity with the blood on the mouth, I noticed it immediately
- Liked the way the focus was on the bloodied face, and everything behind was out of focus

'Pharmacy' - Susan, Gabrielle, Tim, Brett and Mr Harbour, eh, Marcus

- I c-o-u-l-d n-o-t s-t-o-p laughing. Hilarious
- It's just me and my chip on my shoulder, but I found the ninja reference rather racist, as it looked like it was directed at Ying Ma
- Gentleman who came (lol) is a crackup
- Who would go out with that chick anyway? She's quite hideous <--- again, not meant to do this
- While many struggled with the red heads and box reference, I got it immediately. I do think it has to be changed to something more tv/film generic so Random Joe can understand it
- I wasn't aware that the 'pharmacist' and Ying Ma were in fact looking at their script. I was wondering what they were looking at.
- Which justifies why the 'Gentleman who came' got so upset, as they were reading the folder but failed to find anything

'Hounded' - by my crew. Woohoo!

- I really like the music done by Lily's friend. Had a build up and mirrored the anticipated 'build up' of the date
- Something has to go between the build up track and the second track. Silence is too jarring
- Charlotte's music was great, but I felt it wouldnt go with the footage as people will be hard-pressed to focus on both lyrics and visuals
- It'll go really well in the credits
- I suggested this to Alice, that one of Charlotte's tracks go in right off the bat in the front. We might have to put in something cheesy like 'Miramax Pictures Presents' and some extra scenes, to justify the extra track as cutting it off too soon will spoil it

Last week of the semester

We received an email from Paul last week on reflections and self-assessments and I've decided to give it a go at answering it right now.

- SELF ASSESSMENT IN TUTE
In the tutes next week we will be doing your self and peer assessments. If you cannot attend could you contact your tutor beforehand and we will organise another time to do it.

I've decided to give myself a CREDIT. I missed a couple of lectures and only one tutorial and was always in class, learning and understanding the big bright world of television. I feel that I am far behind to many Media students who can see themselves as a Media professional in the years to come. I only take Media as a learning subject as I'm mildly interested, and my enthusiasm, while great, cannot compete or compare with the Media students' knowledge and expertise. Many of them have been dabbling with little tv projects since their Year 9 days. Geez.

Technically, I feel that I have learnt a lot in the last 13 weeks, even though most times I still feel like a tame little church mouse who asks too many questions. I cannot give myself a DISTINCTION as my group mates understand, did and performed better than I did, and it'll be unfair to myself or them.

- ROUGH CUT SCREENING IN TUTE
This is a really constructive preview screening. Each group will watch and critique each other’s rough cuts. Last year this proved to be an invaluable process. As you know it is easy to get yourselves in to a situation where you can lose objectivity. It is terrific to hear the great suggestions that your fellow students come up with.

Sam and Charlotte gave us a headstart and came up with a good rough cut of Greg and William, which laid the foundations for Alice and I. Which brings me to Alice.

She has been phenomenal in this aspect. The two of us met up on Friday for editing, and expected to stay in the suite for only two hours. But somehow the next class didn't turn up, we ended up staying past two hours and we spent a total of seven hours in the suite. Okay, I stayed for only an hour-and-a-half, but Alice was a champion. As we had the luxury of filming a week or two weeks before many other teams, we did not rush with our editing and were lucky to have booked in the editing studio with no one else in sight.

I really am glad that this team is dedicated and are keen to do work. So many horror stories have been heard and seen with dodgy group mates who do no work and expect you to carry their fucking asses (last year's Broadcast Media come to mind).

- BLOGGING ON THESE SESSIONS
These sessions should generate a reflective and analytical blog post on yours and your other tute members films.

I give myself a CREDIT for my blog (barely). I havn't been diligent enough to blog consistently, or talk about television aspects of lighting, scenes or things that interested me on film or television. Looking at fellow students' blogs - Lionel's come to mind - it's frightening how enthusiastic they are about television. Posts were regular and consistent and were always interesting (even though I had no fucking clue what Lionel is talking about some times).

I'm so blessed

I've spent the last 30 minutes looking through blogs of other students who haven't had the fortune of shooting their short movie last weekend.

Many of them are panicking, some have difficulties with casting. Others have not found the right location and more have all of the above problems.

If you walked into this mess on your very first day not knowing what to expect, you'd be very scared.

I feel so blessed to be part of a good team. Because the team took the initiative to do pre-shoots several weeks in advance and our actual shoot last weekend, we're using this week to catch up on other subjects.

Yes, we do have other subjects.

And in my case, I'm spending this weekend working on issue 4 of Catalyst. My only fear now is the actual footage isn't good enough. Namely, out of focus, bad lighting, sound's all awry. Eeesh.

Good luck everyone.

'Hounded' - Behind the scenes

I had to iron these two yellow tee shirts the night before. While everyone brought a heap of props, I was charged to bring these tee shirts and some other minor stuff.




On the day of the shoot, Big Sam picked us up at RMIT. As Charlotte made her own way to Brighton, she isn't in these shots.

Big Sam


Alice (eh, this shot lacks exposure :O )


Lily


We began to dress up the first bathroom and bathed it with every fucking red object that we could lay our hands on from the house and stuff that we brought.



Alice smudging the mirror with toothpaste. Coz real homes have smudges on their mirrors. Last I checked, my mirror doesn't have any smudges. Haha.



Red bottles. Red vials. Red, red, red!


Shooting's not yet commenced, and the Director's already monkeying around.


Sam taking a shut eye as Lily 'looks on', unimpressed.


The Chinese believe that the colour red bring luck and prosperity. If anything. this bathroom looks like it could scare any Chinese away.





We moved upstairs to a different bathroom and dressed it up in yellow this time.






Sam found a stack of National Geographic periodicals. We cracked up laughing. Charming, how yellow!


We didn't notice it at first, but Sam pointed out that the clown on the right's rather obscene.


Nothing was spared in our hunt for yellow products...


We even raided the musty-smelling storeroom for knick-knacks that may come in useful.


Our actors have arrived, and are busy re-reading the last minute changes that Alice had made. Alice was busy too, putting the actors through their motions.


"So, remember not to stand on this floor tile. It'll explode if you do."


"What was that again? I have to rinse my mouth with Toilet Duck!?!?"


In character


This is the only shot that John's in.


Sam brought this funky toothpaste and toothbrush holder.


"Do I put my hands these way?"


Paul and the tech staff told us never to leave the equipment lying around unattended. Yeah right.


Lily taking a rest, deep in thought.


'Greg' and 'William', taking a break.


Planning and planning and more planning...


"Cmon, we wana see your man muscles!"


Charlotte, looking like she's just about to strike Lily unawares. Scarrry...


A funny moment


Camera lying around unattended again...


Lily doing a good job dressing up our 'cinema staff'


We had to dress up the Kaleide Theatre too

'Hounded' - Thoughts and reflection

"Cut! Good job guys." Alice croaked.

And then it hit me. Hey, the day's finally over.

When we wrapped up shooting of 'Hounded' at RMIT Kaleide Theatre at 6.30pm on Saturday, it was a culmination of a month of planning, travelling to location, pre-shoot planning, lots of drawing, production and sourcing for the appropriate actors.

Arriving on location in Brighton at 9.15am, our roles were well defined and all of us knew what to do. Truth is, by the end of the day, all of us ended up doing a little bit of everything. When time is pressing, the actors are annoyed, some ideas are needed, everyone chipped in and somehow everything worked out fine. Starting out, we were:

Alice - Director
Sam - Camera
Charlotte - First AD
Lily - Sound
John - Camera Assistant

This was a first for me, being on set on any location. It felt really professional, with all the wires and expensive equipment at hand. The team was really raw, but I could feel everyone was up for it and trying their best.

Apart from a tape debacle that threatened to ruin our schedule, the shooting was smooth and pleasant. We were extremely tired by the end of the day, but no one was complaining.

Alice
Our director had bent over backwards ensuring everything was done and in sequence. She had planned all the shots, the storyboarding and was always available at our beck and call. Our emails were spammed by her incessant barrage of updates and emails. Ultimately, it was worth it as her hard work ensured shooting on Saturday was smooth.

Alice was patient and was never once bossy with the actors. It was hard to get a couple of 15 year olds to cooperate, let alone listen to them. There were a couple of times when 'Greg' wasn't too pleased with what he had to do, and I thought Alice was trying too hard to get the shots done. I understood the schedule we were on, and although Alice could have been more patient, we got our shots and everyone was happy.

Sam
Big Sam was custom made for the role of camera man. He's easily half a head taller than I am - I'm 179cm - and has big strapping shoulders that accomodates the massive camera. Sam was also charged with driving us around as he was the only one with a car. Thank goodness he had one of those 6-seater SUVs; we might have to rethink our mode of transportation had he a smaller car.

Sam was patient and cool as a cat. Commenting on the extra trip he had to make to RMIT from Brighton AFTER just arriving from RMIT, he sounded amused at the number of trips he had to make to the city and Brighton and back. Between shuttling the crew, the actors home and making the extra trip to RMIT to sort out the tape debacle, Sam must have drove up and down six times.

The team also appreciated Sam's sense of humour. By late arvo we were clearly hungry, tired and needed more than a Red Bull or two. Sam somehow kept everyone going with some appropriate humour at inappropriate times.

Charlotte
Our First AD's hasn't been around much lately. Between a trip to Thailand and an illness that necassitates prolonged-rest, she somehow turned up. Though she was still sick, Charlotte was clearly up for it and tried not to let her illness affect the team. In fact, when I commented that she looked 'sick', she wasn't too pleased and put me back in my place. Yikes!

Charlotte had many ideas as to how a certain shot could be done. Although Alice was calling the shots, Charlotte ran her ideas aloud to all of us, suggesting if things could be improved. I liked her candidness and ideas; not all of them were used but surely we could have done with some input.

Charlotte and Lily took turns holding the boom pole; I thought it was quite funny. Both girls are rather slight, and the boom pole was easily twice their height.

Charlotte also had to keep the 15-year-old actors company and happy. Throw me a straightjacket and let me eat my way through; I'd rather do that than entertain some juvenile delinquents :O

Lily
Lily was really enthusiastic and was constantly communicating with Alice. She, like Charlotte, had lots of ideas. Lily's voice was also an ever-present facet during the shoot; she's either commenting, suggesting or laughing. Believe this, but when you have Alice thinking and deciding, Sam's humour, Charlotte and Lily both talking at the same time, it's clearly a positive environment to shoot our short film.

John
I started the day really enthused, keen and pumped up. Somewhere between holding the slate in for the 200th time and going hungry for seven hours, I kinda lost it and became more reclusive. Charlotte picked up on it, and said she's never seen me more quiet. Well something had to give isn't it? I get moody when I'm tired.

However, I definitely did not slack off and felt I contributed more than my fair share. My role wasn't too important in the shoot, but I worked closely with Alice as she planned her next shot. While reading the roles of any position is one thing, seeing it blossoming in front of your eyes as everyone of us performed our roles was another. I learnt so much just observing what each member of the crew is doing, and felt everyone had a part to play. Nobody was unimportant and everyone worked together to their best potential.

I do feel that there's so much more I could learn and do. I would like to get my hands dirty next semester and try the director role. I've mentioned many times that I do not like following people and every project I've been involved in I was the leader. With only two subjects to clear next semester, I'd definitely have more time on my hands to try storyboarding, casting and planning.

TV1 Test

Ten weeks of TV1 classes, tutorials and readings paled in comparison to a fascinating chat learn-as-you-go session with a fellow Media student. I learnt more in 40 minutes than I did in ten weeks. Oh the powers of listening.

I passed the test. 42/54. Was a lot easier than I thought. I was a little unsettled by the deadline; and from previous post, it's obvious I'm not knowledgeable on TV1 theory at all.

But all's well ends well.