Major Project is Done!

Major Project

Mine and Maddie's Twin project is well under way now we have filmed 2 episodes already and we are scheduled to film our final episode on Friday and then we will be filming our expert the following Monday. 

We are going to need to write a script for our expert or give him topics to talk about so that we get the information from him which we need.

Everything seems to be coming together at the moment and all of the footage looks really good it is just a matter of editing it all together.

http://twinniesdoc.blogspot.co.uk/

After Effects: Puppets

Today we had to use after effects to make a still image move. This was really good for me to learn how to do as it will be really usefully when it comes to adding animation to our documentary.

After Effects: Green Screen

Today we had the chance to work with green screen again but this time it was just to help us understand how to edit it better rather than actually standing in front of the camera ourselves. Instead of using Final Cut to extract all of the green we used After Effects and we had alot better results.

With this one we learnt how to extract the green from a clip where the subject was moving.



As the subject in this clip has a lot of hair it was difficult to extract all the green but we learnt a few skills to help us with this.




With this clip we had to extract green from a clip where you could see the edges of the green screen. we had to crop around them and then extract the green.

After Effects

This week we have quite a few work shops on how to use After Effects. After Effects is a piece of software which allows you to add graphics and movement to your pictures and clips.

The first workshop we had we were just leaning how to use the basics and this is what I made.

On our second day of the workshop we played around with how to make the text look like it had been written as well as other movements and this is what I came up with.

Green Screen Practise

Today we had a work shop on how to use green screen. It was really interesting and we all go the chance to be filmed in front of the green screen and then edit our clip ourselves by taking out the green and adding a relevant background.

Here is what I came up with.

Major Project Update

http://twinniesdoc.blogspot.co.uk/

Mine and Maddie's major project is well under way now we have secured an expert to give some psychological input into our documentary and we have also arranged to film our first set of twins this Sunday. We are still liaising with the Mac Twins manager and they still seem keen to do it but they are quite busy at the moment to it is just fitting in with them and we have almost got our 3rd set of twins sorted.

We have done so much work for this project we just hope that it turns out the way we want it to. As it is going to be quite "Youtubey" we want it have lots of graphics. We are hoping that after we have had our After Effects workshops that we will be able to make these graphics ourselves but if we can't then we are going to have to commission someone to help us but luckily for us we go to a creative arts uni and so I'm sure we won't have trouble finding someone to help us.

My Dates and Roles

Thursday 31^st May – Tech Day – Live Office Runner - Call time: 10 am

Tuesday 5^th June – Big Brother Launch Night – Live Office Runner - Call time: 11 am

Friday 8^th June – First eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 12pm

Friday 22^nd June – Eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 9:30am

Friday 6^th July – Eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 9:30am

Friday 20^th July – Eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 9:30am

Friday 27^th July – Eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 9:30am

Friday 3^rd August – Eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 9:30am

Monday 13^th August – Big Brother Final – Stand In - Call time: 11:30am

Wednesday 15^th August – Celebrity Big Brother Launch Night – Stand In - Call time: 11:30am

Wednesday 29^th August – Eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 9:30am

Wednesday 5^th September – Eviction – Live Office Runner - Call time: 9:30am

Friday 7^th September – Celebrity Big Brother Finale – Stand In - Call time: 9:30am

Big Brother Duties

This was the list of duties I had to complete each live day:

·         Sweep office

·         Tea run – check throughout day

·         Check live office fridge is stocked with drinks – check throughout day

·         Change bins, recycle bin and confidential waste – check throughout day

·         Read the days papers to see if there are any articles on Big Brother or any of its contestants. If there area then cut out and place in a dated plastic sleeve

·         Prep snacks for the morning meeting - sweets, cakes and fruit

·         Prep box of drinks for the morning meeting – water, energy drinks, tea and coffee

·         Set up meeting room with snack, drinks and laptops and speakers

·         Sign out runner walkies and give out lunch tokens

·         Take lunch orders for production office crew (to be done before the morning meeting)

·         Go and get office crew lunches – REMEMBER RECIPTS

·         Collect plates and cutlery from the kitchen to keep in the office

·         Check there is enough paper in the stationary cupboard for the script run – yellow paper. When there are 2 shows then use blue and yellow paper

·         Make sure walkie desk is stocked with snacks - check throughout day

·         Sign all crew walkies out

·         Put spare batteries on charge for walkies

·         Help with script run

·         Distribute scripts (Live gallery x 11, Reality gallery x2, Sound x2, Senior Cabin x2 Channel 5 Cabin x2, Edit x1, Lighting x6 running orders only)

·         Shredding when it’s quite

·         Collect dinner menu from canteen

·         Get runner dinner orders

·         Take production office dinner orders – keep checking until you get an answer

·         Place order with canteen for runner dinners to be collected at 6:15

·         Go out and collect or order dinner for production office staff and the guys in the edit – REMEMBER RECIEPTS

·         Give everyone their dinners

o   Radio runners to tell them to come and eat when they are free

o   Put production office dinners on plates and give out individually

·         Collect dirt plates and wash up

·         When show starts start tidying the office

o   Sweep the office

o   Change the bins

o   Shred the confidential waste

o   Get rid of leftover food

o   Wash up

·         Sign all walkies back in

·         Let Katie know if not all walkied are signed back in by 11

Leigh and Zoe's Wedding - Editing

We are nearly done editing the video now. We all took different sections and edited them separately and then at the end we will stick them all together and present it on a nice DVD so that it is something for Leigh and Zoe to keep forever.

 

I decided to take the ceremony as my section as I thought it has a alot of coverage and would be easy to edit. I was wrong. This section is about 35 minutes long so it has taken me along time and in sections there is alot of camera movement but there is nothing I can do about that. I have done the best with the footage we had and I think it actually looks pretty good. In the beginning I found it really hard to edit as none of the sound was synced up and so when I was cutting the clips didn't match up but as soon as all the sound was sorted it was easier to cut and it started to come together.

 

Today I sorted out the sound so that it was the best quality it can be. On the day we put a radio mic on the vicar and so this is the sound I use through out as it was on record the whole time but when the congregation are singing the hymns I up the sound from one of the other cameras so that you can hear everyone singing and not just the vicar.

 

The only thing I need to do now is colour correction so that all of the clips look the same colour wise and fit together nicely.

 

Leigh and Zoe's Wedding

On Saturday 1st September it was Dean's brother's wedding and as his wedding gift to the happy couple he asked a couple of us to film it and he would pay our expenses. I was really excited about this as I love a good wedding and as it was for people I knew I was keen to help out and enjoy their day with them.

I thought filming a wedding would be pretty easy but it was alot harder and alot more stressful than I first thought. During the ceremony we had 4 cameras recording and lucky we did as towards the end one of them ran out of memory and the other ran out of battery. This made me really panic but I had to keep reminding myself we still had 2 cameras recording so we should be alright in the edit.

The rest of the day went pretty well filming wise until it started to get dark as we didn't know how to change the ISO on the Cannons and again memory was an issue but we did the best with what we had.

As an extra bonus present for Leigh and Zoe we got lots of their friends and family to do nice messages to camera. This idea worked really well and we got alot of really nice messages as well as funny ones.

The day was beautiful even if it was stressful and now it is time to start editing.

Major Project

Me and Maddie have been working on our major project for months. We are doing a documentary on identical twins. So far we have 2 sets of twins in place and we are still yet to confirm a 3rd. We have a separate twin blog have a look at it.

 

http://twinniesdoc.blogspot.co.uk/

Working on Take Me Out

I knew that Take Me Out was in filming at the studios so I went down to check out the set and I was asked if I would be a stand in contestant for the rehearsals and as Take Me Out is one of my favourite shows I jumped at the chance. I had so much fun pretending to be the girls turning off the lights and seeing the boys rehearse with Paddy, I even ended up making it down to the last 2 girls and I had to answer one of the killer questions. My answer was rubbish but I still got picked for the date and I got to walk up the stairs and wave to the other girls before jetting off to the Island of Fenando. Well I didn't actually get to do that bit but I did have fun pretending.

I got talking to Nick the assistant floor manager and he gave us alot of good advice on how to crack into the media industry and he also explained the path he went down to get where he was today. I told him that I was interested in casting and I assumed that the casting team would no longer be involved when the show was in production stage but he said that no they were still around. I didn't get time to talk to anyone this series as I was busy with other things but Take Me Out is back in at the studios in a couple of weeks and so hopefully I will spend a bit more time working on the show and try and talk to the write people about casting.

Big Brother Is Over For Another Year

The finale of Celebrity Big Brother was on Friday and the atmosphere was amazing everyone was excited for it. I was a stand in this time so I was being one of the house mates being re-introduced and so again walking down the catwalk, posing and standing on the stairs and waving to the invisible crowd.

 

I've really enjoyed my time on Big Brother it has been a very long production but I have gained alot of experience, learnt alot and made some vital contacts. In loved being part of a massive production especially one which I had been a fan of for a long time and always wondered how it worked.

 

Tonight is the wrap party and I can't wait to let my hair down with everyone and see what people are like outside the stressful Big Brother world.

 

Celebrity BB Finale

Today was the last day I worked on Big Brother. The atmosphere was amazing everyone was really excited but stressed at the same time as they wanted to show to be perfect. Today I was a stand in again and as it was a finale there was alot less for me to do than there was on the launches. We had to walk out waving, stand on the stairs in the correct order and then sit on a chair for 3 hours. This was another day of alot of hanging around but I knew it was important for us to be there as it gave the cameras and people in the gallery time to rehearse. I do wish that I was more involved on the last day but I am still glad that I was a part of it and I have had had an amazing experience filled summer.

CBB Eviction

Today I did all my usual office duties as well as helping the researchers with cue carding. As I was helping the researchers more today I had more time to chat to them and network and find out how they became a researcher and where they wanted to go. I also spoke to another runner and told him how I was thinking about a career in casting and he usually works on Big Brothers Bit on the Side and he said I should try and work with the audience team on that as that is kind of like casting as they need to make sure they have good speakers. I'm going to try and do this but I am quite busy at the moment and don't know if I will have time but I will definitely bare it in mind for next year.

Big Brother

This summer I have been working on the live Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother Live eviction shows as an office runner.

My duties were:
Keeping the office tidy and emptying the bins regularly
Making sure everyone involved in the show had up to date running orders, schedules and scripts
Signing talk backs in and out
Making sure everyone had lunch and dinner tokens and going out to get food for those who needed it
Keeping the live office table stocked up with drinks and snacks so that the crew could help themselves when every they came in for anything.
I had to setup the meeting room every live day for the script meeting
I had to do regular tea runs

I have really enjoyed my experience especially the days when I got to be a stand in and live out my dream of walking down the catwalk to get interviewed by Brian and then walking up the stairs and stepping into the house.

I have learnt alot from my experience on Big Brother and I have made alot of contacts and been able to talk to people in all different departments of the show. I also found it really interesting talking to the runners and seeing what they want to do in the future. It was funny to think that we are all starting off in the same job but there is so many different career paths people want to take from some people wanting to be camera operators to others wanting to be presenters. It was also good for me to see how people have moved up the ladder already going from runner to header runner to researcher in under a year.

The experience has made me excited about my future as there is so many different avenues open to me its just deciding now which one I want to take.

I've still got 3 more shifts left on Celebrity Big Brother and then I'm finished. I will miss being part of a big production like that and of course the people but I am not going to miss the long journey especially in the evening.

Celebrity BB Launch Night

Today I was again a stand in rather than office runner but this time I had more to do as it was introducing the new housemates rather than bringing the old ones back. This time I had to walk down the catwalk waving to the audience and posing for the press and then I had a short interview with Brian and then I had to walk up the stairs and into the house. Today was alot of hanging around again but not as much and again it gave me a chance to network and see the role of the people which was a change from seeing what the production team do.


This is Laura from this years normal version but this is basically what I had to do in rehearsals for the launch of the celebrity version.

The Big Brother Finale

Today instead of being an office runner I was a stand in contestant. I had to pretend to be the evicted housemates returning for finale night. There was a big group of us and we each had a different housemate to be. We had to take it in turns to walk out of the iris, down the catwalk, waving to the audience and the press and then stand in order on the stairs. Even though with this job there was a lot of hanging around for hours when we were actually doing something it was fun and exciting pretending to be the contestants. Even though for me it was quite boring because it was alot of hanging around it was an important part of the production as Brian and the cameras had to rehearse and as the actually contestants were not around we had to stand in. And as there was alot of time hanging around it gave me a bit more time to network which was a bonus.

Harry Potter Tour

Back in April I went to visit the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Tours I was a bit worried at first as I didn't know what to expect and I had only seen the first 4 Harry Potter films and the 4th one I had seen in Germany so I didn't really know the whole story. When I got in there there were hundreds of massive Harry Potter fans dressed as the characters and crying over the experience and this was just in the queue to get in. I kept thinking why am I here. But once I got into the actual tour I became quite excited at what I was seeing and loved learning about all of the hard work which went into creating these huge blockbuster films. Where as some people were excited about seeing pieces from their favourite films and being close to the characters and the story I was excited thinking about how I would like to be part of a project of this scale in the future. The experienced opened my eyes to so many jobs I hadn't ever considered and made me start thinking about what it was I wanted to do in the future.

I would definitely recommend the tours to anyone. It is fun for everyone from someone who has only seen the first film to those who have dedicated their lives to HP.

Networking on Big Brother

On Big Brother I networked with alot of people and as I was in the Live office all the time I spent alot of time with the producers, script writers, researchers, production co-ordinators, the production manager, the production secretary as well as the other runners. I spent alot of time talking to the researchers, runners, production co-ordinators and secretary and learnt how people got into their jobs, what path they were on and where they wanted to end up. I didn't spent too much time talking to the producers and script writers as they were always very stressed and busy. I also spent time talking to the guys doing the editing and watching what they were doing. I also spent time talking to the on site medic and the health and safety officer and found out what their jobs entailed as they were both roles that I had never come across on out little projects.

I spent alot of time talking to the other runners and it was interesting to hear about what direction everyone wanted to go in. We were all doing the same job and starting off in the same position but everyone seemed to want to go off in a different direction, some people wanted to be camera ops where as others want to become producers or directors. I spoke to a few of the the runners and told them that I was interested in casing and one of them suggested that I ask to work on BOTS helping find the audience. I think I might try and do this but time is running out, I will definitely try and get on the audition tour next year and try and work with the casting team on that as I think it will be really interesting to see how they whittle down the thousands of applicants to the little group of people who actually enter the house.

I have made some really good contacts on this project and I will definitely continue to talk to people to try and get even more of an understanding into what goes into a massive production like Big Brother. 

My Summer So Far...

This summer I have been fortunate enough to work on the Live Big Brother shows. I am an office runner and so my duties are making sure everyone has a copy of the script, running order and camera script as well as making sure everyone in the office and on set are fed and watered at all times. I am also in charge of signing talkbacks in and out. I have learnt alot about how the show works already and have met some really good people.

I have also spent the day with a man called Stephen Ellis who is a freelance editor. I spent the day with him at a post production house in Soho to see what he does and what he was working on. The documentary he was working on was about a story I had seen in the newspaper a couple of months ago. It was the story about a girl who dressed up and pretended to be a boy to seduce her 2 best friends. I found this story really interesting when I read it in the newspaper and when I found out that was what the documentary was about I was really excited and intrigued to find out the whole story. The week before I went to see Stephen he had watched through all the footage and had started to fit the pieces together so that when I got there we watched through everything he had pieced together and we started to build a story together. He kept me quite involved asking me what I thought of each section and characters and if I understood what was going on. I really enjoyed spending the day with Stephen I was able to learn alot more about documentaries and was able to see how Avid software works and how you edit with it. I was also really lucky that the documentary was on a subject which I was interested in and I can't wait to see the final product on Channel 4.

Another thing I have been doing this summer is developing mine and Maddie's major project idea. We have had a couple of production meetings and the idea is really coming together now. We have been developing this idea before we even came to uni. We have always been fascinated by twins and in the beginning we wanted to make a show were we fight twins against each other in physical and mental challenges to see who the better twin is. We were going to use this idea for our AS Live project but when we found out we couldn't work together we decided neither of us were allowed to use the idea for this project and we would leave it for our major project. We have developed the idea and have decided to change it into a light hearted documentary series where we will interview the twins and set them a simple challenge to compete in. We have began blogging, writing down all our ideas, research and casting avenues we have been down.
http://twinniesdoc.blogspot.co.uk/

Big Bro Another Eviction Night

Friday 6^th July – Eviction – Live Office Runner

Call time: 9:30am

Today I was on the early shift office runner so I arrived at the studios nice and early and as soon as I got there I began my office duties as normal.

It was then time for the script run. We had new printers in which didn’t jam and Katie (the head office runner) had already printed out the schedules, camera cards and running orders the night before, so all we had to do for the meeting was the scripts. We managed to get these out to where they needed to be within 20 minutes. The scripts were read as usual in the morning script meeting and changes were made so we had to do the final script run with the new changed script.

Today I had to help Bonita (the researcher) with sorting out the prompt cards for the rehearsal. We had to make sure the script on the prompt cards was exactly the same as the main script, print out each bit of the script on stickers and then stick them on the back of the prompt cards. The prompt cards were needed in the rehearsal and so if there was any changes made we had to quickly re print the relevant card and run it over to set.

I continued my normal office duties and then it was time for my long train journey home.

The First Eviction

Friday 8^th June – First eviction – Live Office Runner

Call time: 12pm

Today was the first eviction. As usual I began my day by signing out my walkie and starting my office duties. Then the script run began. The printer was still not fixed and so we had to use the printer down in BOTS again. We managed to get the scripts out quicker but they were still not on time. We had loads of runners helping run them round to all the places they need to go to.

After the script run was done it was time to get back to my runner duties.

This week it was extremely windy and rainy and therefore we were told by health and safety that because of the weather conditions the set was unsafe for us to use tonight and therefore the first eviction had to take place on the Bit on the Side set. Brian presented the whole show from this set and instead of the evicted housemate walking down the stairs to the audience she was quickly carted off from the house to BOTS whilst the show was in the ad break.

Once the show had finished it was home time.

Launch Night

Tuesday 5^th June – Big Brother Launch Night – Live Office Runner

Call time: 11 am

Today was launch night. I was really excited to get stuck into the whole atmosphere of launch night. Once I got to the studios I signed out my walk and got to work with my office duties – signing out walkies, doing tea runs and changing bins.

Once I had done all of this it was time for the script run. As it was the launch night it was important that we got all of the schedules, scripts and camera cards out as soon as possible as they were needed for the meeting and rehearsals. Again the copiers kept jamming and we solved the problem my taking a load of paper and a copy of all of the documents down to the Big Brother Bit on the Side (BOTS) offices to use their printers. The script run still took us a long time but by using the printers in BOTS the time it took us to do it was minimized.

I then carried on with my office duties – getting dinner orders and going out to collect them, making sure the office table was stocked up with drinks and snacks for the crew to take as they signed out their walkies and collected their dinner vouchers.

At 9pm the show began and the girl on the early office shift had left. I began tidying up the office – sweeping, changing bins, shredding and putting snack away whilst being able to watch the show in the office.

Once the show had finished all of the crew and runners began making their way back to the Live office to sign walkies back in. Once all the walkies had been signed in it was time to go home.

My First Day on Big Brother

Thursday 31^st May – Tech Day – Live Office Runner

Call time: 10 am

Today was my first day working on Big Brother. This morning I was really excited about getting stuck into the job and meeting the people I was going to work with but at the same I was very anxious, this was a really big opportunity for me and I just didn’t want to mess it up. When I first got to Elstree Studios, after my long train journey, I went over to the Live cabin and this is where I began to meet the other runners and the rest of the production team I was going to be working with. We all signed out our assigned walkies and made our way over to the Reality cabin to get our security passes which we would use for the run of the show. We got taken into a runner meeting to run through what was expected of us and what each of our individual roles were. We then had a whole crew health and safety meeting on set and then we were taken outside for a tour of the site. When we arrived at the Big Brother set I couldn’t believe how small it was. It defiantly looked 10 times bigger on TV and it made me realise even more the magic of cameras.

My first task was to help with the script run. We had to print schedules, camera cards in different sizes and scripts. We had lots of problems with the photo copiers as they kept getting jammed and the script run ended up taking us 3 hours. As it was the tech day we didn’t worry about it too much but it is definitely something we need to solve for the first live show.

For the rest of the day I did various office runner jobs like tea runs, booking out walkies and giving out dinner vouchers. I also had to take dinner orders from the production team and go out and buy or order whatever they wanted. I had to get money from petty cash from Penelope and make sure that I kept all receipts.

Later on that evening I got the chance to be a stand in contestant and walk out of the orbit, down the catwalk posing for the cameras, get interviewed by Brian and walk up the stairs to the house. This was like a dream come true as I had been a massive fan of Big Brother when I was young age. As there is going to be a twist on launch night I also had to be a stand in for that. All of the stand in contestants were sat on chairs behind the orbit with blind folds on, blankets over our heads and sound cancelling head phones on to see what we were aware of so that they knew what the contestants were going to be able to hear and see.

After this cars were called and it was time for us to head home.

I had a really good first day, everyone seems really nice and I just can’t wait for Tuesday for the show to actually start.

The First and Only Unsigned Live

Heres the first and only Unsigned Live episode. We all worked really hard in our individual roles.

What I Have Learnt from doing AS Live

I have learnt a lot from doing this AS Live project. I have learnt that when producing a VT I need to produce a good solid shooting script which makes sense and tells the viewer everything they need to know in 1"30. I need to make sure that I get as much useful footage as I can so that I have enough GVs to cover my edit.

I have also learnt that even though I enjoyed the experience of being the Vision Mixer in the gallery I have realised that this is a very stressful job and I would much rather be on the floor with the talent and the action. On the day I had a lot of fun with it and tried my very hardest to do the best I could and I hope that I did a good enough job to make the show look amazing.

AS Live VT: Editing Continued

Today we have added the footage from last night and begun editing again. The VT has changed from being a gig guide to a VT about the Maidstone Fringe Festival. The whole thing is cutting together nicely but we are running a bit over time and finding it hard to cut it down. We will try our best to get it to time but if we can't then we will have to ask Lauren' the producer, if we can have some more time.

AS Live VT: Helen's Oppinion

Today we showed our edit to Helen and she gave some very constructive criticism. She told us how she thought the VT should be laid out and gave us some advice for future shoots such as the subjects need to be set up and so we need to get a sequence to show who the subject is before we start seeing them speak/ interview them.

We are re-shooting a few things tonight and hopefully what we film will change our VT and make it a better.

As Live Vt: Re-shoot

We had planned to re-film over the weekend but the camera was not working properly and so there was nothing we could do about it. We wanted to re-record the interview, some of Jess's pieces to camera and a few voice overs. Luckily have been able to get Jess on board to re shoot one of the PTCs and the voices overs on Monday once we have a different camera. We won't have time to re-shoot the interview so we will have to deal with what we have.

The content of the footage isn't bad its just the picture quality which lets it down a bit. The shots and music we do have fit together nicely and I think we have done a good job with the clips we have got.

AS Live VT: The Edit

I put all the footage on the computer today and for some reason it is all quite grainy and I'm not sure why as it was on low gain. I have also realised that the lighting on Zoe in the interview is not excellent which is really annoying as her answers are so good.

Abbi and I will try our best to edit the footage the best we can but hopefully we can arrange to re-shoot at some point.

AS Live VT: The Shoot

Yesterday we had a shoot inside and outside Earls which I think went pretty well. Jess, the presenter, was really easy to work and get along with and was very professional. We shot a few pieces to camera and I also shot a few acts performing.

Today we had a shoot at the Style and Winch and again Jess was very professional and easy to work with. We filmed a few pieces to camera, GV's, shots of the bands and an interview with Zoe explaining what the fringe festival was all about.

Tomorrow I am hopefully going to upload the footage and start editing.

Being a Vision Mixer

Watching this video really helped me understand my role as vision mixer even more. I found it so helpful.

AS Live: Email

Today I had a meeting with Helen about mine and Abbi's Madistone Gig Guide VT. We decided that we need to have a bit of an interview in there so that it made the piece more interesting. We realised that there was a contestant on the Voice who lived locally and thought that we might be able to get an interview with her. I emailed her manager to ask if being a part of "Unsigned" would be something she would be interested in.

I am that they get back to me within the next week

I was also talking to Lauren Woodfall and she said that she knows a women called Zoe Sparkle who organises alot of the music events around Maidstone and she is also a very good talker. I think she would also be good to interview to get more information on the Maidstone music scene.

I have drafted up an initial shooting script which I will show Helen to see what she thinks.

Finished Fiction Adaptation

Here's my finished fiction adaptation on Lewis Carroll's famous Jabberwocky poem. I'm really proud of this video and defiantly is my best work to date.

My Storyborards

Here's my story boards and shot list for my fiction adaptation. I'm not an artist but I know what I'm trying to show which is the main thing.

Scene 1

 Scene 2

Fiction Adaptation Shot List

AS Live VT: Presenter

The production team auditioned a few presenters and decided that this girl, Jessica Cootes, would be perfect for the VTs. After seeing the video of her audition I would have to agree she is very good at presenting and interviewing she has a good clear voice and a friendly expressive face. I've started to think of ways we can use her in the Gig Guide VT to show the variety of music venues Maidstone has to offer.

Editing

I've begun editing and it's looking quite good so far there are a few shots where I've left props or the tri pod in the background but I've been able to work round this. I've found a voice over which I am going to use and I have filmed my other scene but I am not very pleased with it so I am may re shoot it if I have time. I also need to find a video for my ending. I want a heart rate monitor which flat lines I thought that would be easy to find on Youtube but I'm finding it quite hard.

My shoot

My shoot went really well the sun was shining so I had nice lighting and I knew exactly what shots I wanted to get. I had my shot list and I got all the shots I wanted on that as well as getting some extra ones which Dean suggested to me. I'm really pleased with the material I got I just need to film my first scene now but that won't take me to long. But for now it's time to start editing.

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Work Experience

I have been really lucky so far with how much work experience I have been able to get at the studios so far. This is an article I was in for the UCA website talking about my work experience with Take Me Out and Frank Skinner.http://ucreative.ac.uk/article/35724/Students-gain-major-TV-experience

The programmes I have worked on:

Take Me Out


This was a days work experience where I was able to watch the rehearsals and chat to some of the crew to find out what other shows they had done and how they got into the industry. I also helped to prepare for the show by doing different admin jobs. I was able to get alot of in site into what goes into a big production like Take Me Out and was able to get some good career advice from people who have been in my position.
Frank Skinner's Opinionated


This was a proper runner job where I had to look after the crew and the celebrity guests as well as setting up the dressing rooms and doing any tasks the production team needed me to do. I really enjoyed this job it was hard work running around all day but it was good fun.

Biggest Loser UK



With this job I was helping out in the studios preparing for the show by doing different admin tasks. I also worked with the production team helping them to look after the contestants and audience once the show had finished.

The Store with JML

For this job I was supposed to be a cable bash which I did do quite a lot of but I also got the chance to go into the gallery and do some logging as well as working with the runners to help prepare products and look after the audience and crew.

Each production has been completely different and I have different roles to play on each and I have thoroughly enjoyed them all and it has just given me a little taste of whats in store for my future. I am going to try and gain as much work experience as I can especially over the summer.

VT Locations

Today we went round to all the pubs in Maidstone to find out if they did music at their venue and whether it would be a potential place for us to film our VTs in. The places I liked the most were Earls and The Druid Arms. The landlord at Earls was very enthusiastic about the whole things and was telling us all the different things we could film such as the set up, sound checks and we could interview the bands after in the room they keep all the bands equipment. He was also suggesting camera angles we could get. The Druid Arms had a nice stage outside in the courtyard which we thought would be a nice contrast to the indoors stage in Earls. Again the manager at Druids was enthusiastic.

Here are some pictures of the venues we viewed.


We also found out that there is a music festival in Maidstone at the beginning of May where there are different bands playing each day at several different local venues. This might be a good opportunity for us to film some pick ups as it will show Maidstone as a busy music location.
http://www.maidstonefringefestival.co.uk/

I'm the producer of the Gig Guide VT and I have already started thinking of some good ideas after looking at these locations.

Adopt A Pickled Onion

A family friend of mine as started up a new business called Adopt a Pickled Onion. It's a fun young silly gift idea where you are able to adopt someone a pickled onion and you receive a certificate of adoption and a back story just like you would if you were to adopt an in dangered animal for someone. I manage their twitter account and was also commissioned to make an advert for them which they can send to people and advertise on the Internet through their website and Facebook. We decided to make the advert like a charity appeal and were able to film at an actual fish and chip shop.

Here's the final product I hope you like it and please spread the word we really want this to take off we just need to get it out there. Oh and please adopt these onions need you!

Fiction Adaptation Practice

For this practice we had to choose a song and create a new 30 second music video to it by using clips from Youtube. I chose to us Rock Mafia's "Big Bang", initially I want to have a girl being stalked and then bumping into someone at the end but then I found a clip in another music video I really liked and then began making a new idea.

This is the footage I found it was from Cherry Ghost's music video for their song "People Help The People" I thought I know some footage where a women is walking into an underpass from the other direction and so I sourced that and started to edit them together. I really liked how it was looking but I didn't have an ending. I wanted the ending to be the 2 people meeting in the underpass but obviously as the 2 clips where from different places and already shot I had no footage of them meeting and so I decided to have an explosion in the tunnel.

Here is my final piece.

As Live Workshop

Today we had a chance to set up the studio with 3 cameras and a microphone and link them up to the gallery. We were then all able to get into our job roles and practice the jobs we will be doing on the day and so I quickly jumped in the gallery and took my position as Vision Mixer. I never realised how much creative input the Vision Mixer had but now I know that if I see a good shot then I can cut to it without the Directors say so and I can also compensate for a shot not being ready by cutting to something else instead. I really enjoyed getting the practice with the mixing desk and even though on the day it maybe stressful as long as we've rehearsed and I concentrate I know I can do a good job.

VT Practice

We all got into groups of 4 and we had to make a specially shot VT working to the brief:

"Maidstone is a thriving commuter town within easy reach of major motorways to London and access to europe via Dover"

Before we went out filming we wrote a script and thought of locations we wanted to film at. We also thought about specially shot sequences and GVs we could use in the VT.

When we got out on location we realised we had forgotten a tripod so to compensate for this we made sure alot of our shots were moving so that you couldnt really notice that the shots were unsteady.

We recorded a voice over for the VT and gathered some archive and then began editing.

Here is our final cut.

We learnt alot from this project and so now we can make sure our VTs for the show are perfect.
What we learnt:

• Always take a tripod
• Always take a wild track
• Make sure every shot is in focus and exposed correctly
• Make sure moves are smooth and follows the action
• Make sure the shots are intresting and framed nicely

VT Research: How we want the VTs to look

Lauren has said that she would like the video to be point of view as if the camera is a person going to a gig. We have also discussed what we want the final VT to look like. We want the video to be quite fast passed and and exciting. Dean showed us this music video to give us an idea of what the end VT should look like.

VT Research: We've Made Some Phone Calls

Today we rang all the possible music venues to see if we could film there for our Gig Guide VT. 

I phoned The White Horse and I spoke to the landlord Lee and he said that he would be happy for us to film and we can go and visit the venue whenever we like to make sure its suitable. He said that on Saturdays he has bands playing and on Sundays it's more a Jam/ open mic night. 

The White Horse

46 London Rd  Maidstone, Kent ME16 8QL01622 752141

I also phone Pizza Express and they said that they would be happy for us to film but we would have to make sure it was alright with the customers on the day and to ask the bands in advance whether they would mind being filmed. I was speaking to the manager and she told be to contact the Pizza Express office in London as they are the ones who deal with the booking of the bands. We know that one of the bands we are interested in, Soundcasters, are playing at Pizza Express on 19th April and so this may be good to film.

Pizza Express Maidstone
32-34 Earl Street  Maidstone, Kent ME14 1PF01622 683548

Contact for Pizza Express Head Office:
Charlie - 08456027017

When we go to visit the venues we will have to talk to the landlord/manager to see if there is any interesting stories about the venue which we could talk about in our VT to make the venues more exciting and make the VTs more interesting.

Location, Location, Location

For the first part of my story where the girl is taking drugs I want her to be slumped against a wall in a room with plain walls for this I will use my bed room as the room is quite big and has plain walls and I have already started positioning the actor and the camera in my head.

For the main part of the story where the girl is transported to the world of Alice in Wonderland I want to use a woods and there are a few near where I live. There's one which I used for my A Level Media project and so know the area well and again have started planning shots and positioning in my head.

For the last bit I wanted her waking up in a hospital but I think I am going to have to fake this as I wont be able to film in an actual hospital. I will either find somewhere else to film it or take inspiration from Lauren Woodfall's sound project and some how fake it using sound and a still image.

Who's Going to Play the Part?

I have been able to rope my friends into helping me in this project by being part of my cast and crew.

Dan Baugh will be my Mad Hatter.
Maddie Ireland will be my Alice
Abbi Hubbard will be my Queen of Hearts
Dean Ross will be my right hand man helping me with ideas and the camera.

I will be shooting Tuesday 27th March as my costumes and the camera will be available on then and it will also give me time to prepare.

I Need Costumes

I've given myself quite a big job with my idea for fiction adaptation just for the fact that I need to source alot of costumes. I know that the characters I want for definite in my video are:

• Alice
• The Mad Hatter
• The Cheshire Cat
• The Queen of Hearts

and if I can I will also have:

• The White Rabbit
• The Door Mouse
• Some Playing Cards
• The Caterpillar
• Tweedledum and Tweedledee

I am going to ring a few fancy dress shops and costume warehouses next week to see if they could help me at all.

I know that I can make this video look really good as long as I have good costumes, if I can't get the costumes then I will have to think of a new idea which I'm really hoping I'm not going to have to do.