Media Industries 2 Final Assessment: Self-assessment Reflection

Self-Assessment Reflection

In my final blog entry for media industries 2, I would first like to state that it has been an interesting experience for me throughout the entire media industries course. It was certainly different from that of media industries 1. Although it was a step towards building better research skills in future projects, media industries 2 works towards my area of interests – production. I shall begin with firstly, the media industries day event. I’m glad that the event that was held on the 21st of September at the Trades Hall was a complete success. Being a part of the production group, I helped to set up the equipment on the day before. With the help of Nick and other production group members, the equipment was transported to the Trades Hall. Then, the setting up process began. The lights and audio aspects of the event were tested and set up, cameras were mounted and all ready to go. Additionally, backdrops and tables were arranged for the event. Everything was good to go!

On the actual day of the event, I arrived at the Trades Hall and was happy to see that everything was going as planned. I was in-charge of the event’s lighting, along with Ed for the second session. Each session lasted two hours; the second session began at 1pm and ended at 3pm. In the event’s third and last session, I took over as one of the event’s camera operators. Being the second camera operator, my main focus was a wide shot of the three industry professionals. When the event ended, I also helped to have the equipment packed, backdrops taken down and have the seats arranged back to its original setting. The equipment was then sent back to the techs. That marked the end of a successful Media Industries Day. Upon its completion and after the hard work that we have put into this event, I am thankful for the co-ordination that we had as a group.

Another good point that has come out of this event is the understanding of the future of the media industry in Australia. Having almost completed my degree, the discussion was a real eye-opener for me. It has enabled me to plan for life after the completion of my degree. With regard to the showcase screening, I joined the technical team. Along with the rest of the crew and Paul, we are arranging the technical aspects needed for the showcase. We went down to the Capitol Theatre to scout its surroundings and how the setup of the screening would go.

All in all, in my opinion, I have put in as much effort in this course as I should. I have learnt a lot of skills from this course. On the overall, I feel that I have achieved the target levels of goals set out for this course. Media Industries has really taught me skills and the importance of networking. The personal networking report is a very good example of such a networking attempt. Interacting with the various industry practitioners is an important stepping-stone for me. Understanding my interests in production as well as post-production, I have made my future career path more evident to me. In the context of the effort that I have put in for Media Industries 2, I have been committed to tasks set out for this course. Hence, here, I give myself a Distinction.

Production project 2: snapshot 5

It’s finally all over now. And this is the last time that I will be saying it. The entire group have put in lots of effort in this project. We started as a four-member group in Production Project 1 to a five-member group with the addition of corzy. Bringing with her loads of enthusiasm and fresh ideas, our group has really come a long way. I’m really glad that it’s all over now. I’ve learnt a lot from this production. In addition to learning how to improve on my technical skills required for a production, I have also learnt the real importance of group co-ordination. Working on this project for 2 semesters, we’ve had our ups and downs. However, looking back at them, I am proud to say that we’ve made it.

One of my group’s main problems was the uneven distribution of our individual workloads. To be completely honest, it was tiring and straining at times. However, looking back, all my effort and time has been worthwhile. Although the story is very different from what we had proposed during our pitching session in production project 1, it has really taken its own shape to our advantage. The countless brainstorming sessions on how our story could be improved and the long hours spent in the editing suite has really put everything into perspective.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I have had a great time while I was working on this project. Although it was tough at times, I am really lucky to have supportive group mates. All in all, “There Was A Crooked Man” was a blast to make and I’m really proud to have been a part of it. Woohoo! We’re done!

Production project 2: snapshot 4

Well production project is at its last stage. All i can say is that its been a great experience for me. I have to say that cordelia and zoe have a done a great job. We’ve done it! We found some children songs and realised that our project could really work with them in it. It worked especially well with the way our character David walked. We found the nursery rhyme “There was a crooked man” and it just works!!! That makes our project suitable for a G rating.

With all the time and effort that zoe and corzy has put in for the last lap of this project i have to say that it has all worked out well. During our meeting with stephen, we were really happy to know that he was happy with what he saw. We just needed a couple of adjustments here and there but all in all, its working well. Its great to know that we’re almost there. 1 more week and it’ll all be locked, done and dusted. I can’t emphasize my enthusiasm any more than i already have. Right now, the things that are left to be done: color grading & sound. We’re almost there guys!!! ALMOST!!!

Here’s a tast of what the crooked man is all about:
There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Production project 2: snapshot 3

Its week 9 and the production process is all done and dusted. Hopefully it stays that way. Because it’ll mean a re-shoot. we shot on the 27th and 28th of august. The shoots went smoothly. We were really lucky to have such great actors. They made the process easier for us. We to stay on schedule on both of our shoot days. However, when i viewed the rushes after the shoot, and saw the mistakes that i made during the production. There some shots that were out of focus and the shadows casted in an indoor scene were obvious. Other then that, i think the shots could provide us with the coverage that we intended.

Now in its editing stage, the shots have been logged. Zoe and cordelia are currently in the process of editing it. At the same time, we are also looking fop suitable music for our project. Cordelia suggested looking for artists on myspace. I’m also bringing in my friend’s album to see if it will be suitable for our project. We’re meeting stephen on monday to further discuss the editing aspects of our project. So far, thats the progess we’ve made.

Media Industries 2 Contribution Contract Part 1

Media Industries Seminar Day

Date: Friday, the 21st of September
Time: 9am to 5pm
Location: The Council Chambers at Trades Hall

For the preparation of the Media Industries Seminar day, we divided ourselves into four different groups – session scheduling, publicity, Production and Design. The group that I will be working with is the production team. At the group’s first meeting we broke ourselves into groups according to the roles that we wanted to play during the production. The groups are camera, lighting, audio, editing, still photography and vision switching (added in the second meeting). The role I signed up for is that of the camera and lighting crew. It was decided on the second group meeting that we would be doing a live recording and would be making use of two cameras. As the group has increased in number, we would be working in rotating shifts so that we would also be able to attend the seminars that we are interested in. My involvement in this event would mostly be in the pre- production and production stages of the event. This includes the group meetings needed to get everything in order, practice set-ups etc.

I hope that my interests in camera and lighting would be essentially useful to both the group and myself. Although the setup of the lights would probably remain the same throughout the seminar, it would be interesting to try to find new ways of making the recording process more interesting. On this note, I think that my contributions to the seminar day would be more evident then that of the showcase screening. However, I’ll see how things go. I would hope to be able to provide the equal attention to both of my roles in the events but I have to admit it would be quite taxing. Therefore, my conclusion –work out what has to be done for the showcase screening which will be further discussed in next week’s MI meeting and I’ll start working from there.

Showcase Screening

Date: Thursday, 15th November
Location: RMIT Capitol Theatre

At this stage, not much has been planned or discussed in relation to the technical team involved in the showcase screening. I believe we will be working with Paul on this in the next meeting. I’ll have more details after next week’s meeting… For now, these are the people in the technical team.

Technical Team

Kitti, Amanda, Sisi, Irene, Charlie, Indi, Jade, Fergus and myself

Production project 2: snapshot 2

In relation to the progress that my group and I have made, we as a group are running rather behind. However, I’m trying to remain optimistic about it. Although things going fairly slow, its picking up and we’re moving ahead well. Castings were done on the 8th and the 15th of august respectively. These casting sessions went smoothly and we’ve successfully casted our actors for the roles “Mr and Scott”. With casting done, we have one less thing to worry about. Now for the most important thing- LOCATION!!!

At our meeting with Stephen this week, he suggested contacting several motels, as they would serve as ideal locations given the look of the project that we’re trying to achieve. Jacquiline suggested making use of her friend’s apartment and will be sending us pictures of it. If all’s well, we’ll make a trip down. With the script on its way to its final draft, we have one less thing to worry about. As of now, our shoot dates are locked on 27th of August to the 30th of August.

We’re having a group meeting on Friday to finalize the problem of our location and at the same time, get everything that is left to be done sorted. My priorities now are to have the necessary paperwork organized to keep things going. As time is not on our side, keeping things going smoothly is very important. On my role as the DOP, I’ll be checking the equipment out to familiarize myself with the equipment and work on the necessary documents needed to make our shoot a smooth sailing one. I’m confident that we’ll pull through as a group to make this production work.

Alternative Location Websites

Pathfinder Motel
Address: 380 Cotham Road
Cnr Burke road and Cotham Road
Kew VIC 3101
Australia
Pathfinder Motel Website

George Powlett Motel Apartments
Address: 30 Powlett Street
East Melbourne VIC 3002
Australia
George Powlett Motel Apartments Website

Ramada Inn
Address: 539 Royal Parade
Parkville VIC 3052
Australia
Ramada Inn Website

Melbourne’s Princes Park Motor Inn
Address: Corner Royal Pde & Park St
Carlton North VIC 3054
Australia
Melbourne’s Princes Park Motor Inn Website

“Habitat” Email address

Our Email add is habitatproductions@hotmail.com .
Woohoo!!

PP2 Message Board

Habitat’s message board up and running.
“Habitat” Message Board

production project 2: snapshot 1

Another semester has begun and it’s time for the production process to begin. It feels like it was just a while ago that we submitted our funding application. Now, it’s back to work. The script has gone through several changes since then. Changes that in my opinion are definitely for the better. Although our story may seem relatively simple, it took several revisions for it to be what it is now. We solved several problems that we had with the story and decided to trash the parts that really needed to go.

My personal learning goal for this semester would be to brush up on the skills required to make the production process a breeze. As the scriptwriter and dop, my focus points would be to ensure that the script is right on track. At the same time, keep myself up to speed with the technical skills needed for myself to carry out the role of the dop successfully.

Although this would be my first time taking on the role of a dop, it is an area that I am really interested in. Throughout this production, I would be thinking of how the shot can be further perfected. The way an image is shot or lighted can bring many meanings to it. Creatively, it would be great to be able to experiment with the various shots in mind.