Who Would Want to Work With People?

Once again I find myself in a position of conflict within the groups structure, but this time perhaps more so as half of the group seems to have decided to take up arms against the final product that myself and another basically produced alone. So as you know if you’ve been keeping up to date with my posts regarding raw 105MC documentary our myself and a lad named Oliver stayed up till the early hours of dawn to finish off the video to the best of our abilities and meet the deadline of 10am hand in. I went to sleep that night feeling naively happy with what I felt was the best outcome from the limited filming we had gathered.

Oh was I so wrong, the editing process had basically been between myself and Oliver despite us opening it up to everyone to come along and have their say and input, they just didn’t seem interested. Yet this morning I wake up to a text from Oliver saying “Don’t think the rest of the group liked the video”. Immediately my eyes rolled in my head and my heart sank, I was reminded of Project 160MC and the troubles my group then had encountered during the editing process (something about the editing process just brings the devil out in people). I went onto our Facebook group page and was reading comments like “This isn’t uni standard” “They can tell its not organised” and all of this from the two people who had the least input into the project itself. They had all been given clear dates and times for filming, for editing meetings and for reviews of the footage before uploading yet they seemed unable to steer away from the lures of student life.

I am by this point furious if you couldn’t tell that for the second time (and likely third by the time I get round to reviewing my most recent 160MC project) that I have felt like we have dragged someone along in the group only for them to turn around and say its shit when it is simply too late to do anything about. I don’t know if I’m just choosing the wrong people to work with or if every group is encountering these problems but frankly all its going to take is for one of ‘these people’ to say the wrong thing to me and I will simply find myself speaking my mind.

Yey! Its Ready!

And that is that! We have finished editing our documentary entitled “East meets West” and are now uploading it onto Vimeo ready for tomorrows hand in. Keep an eye on this space for the documentary review!

If its a Question of Dedication

So here I am at the very end of the 72-hour challenge, with 7 hours left before everything must be complete and uploaded for assessment. Our documentary is receiving its last minute editing touches before it can be uploaded. Me and Oliver have been hard at work in constant communication as he edits and I review and suggest amendments where needed. If this module was based on dedication myself, Oliver and Madeline would be getting the higher marks whilst the rest might not. Our newest member, the one I had been so excited about since his first grand entrance, fell ill from a hangover that seemed to have incapacitated him from showing up or even commenting via internet to assist in the editing process.

It has once again been a gruelling climb up a steep cliff in this project and the worst of it is that after this we have our collaborative book to produce in which everyone must contribute else the group fails. Im not sure how to feel about that? Will the group simply not do the work because they are lazy or will they pull their fingers out because they know there isn’t anyone else to carry them.

I am absolutely shattered now having been at work on this editing since 9am this morning with Oliver and knowing I need to be up and out the door again at 8 is so depressing, but I have to keep pushing forward. I misjudged Oliver at first, I thought he was the kind of lazy and laid back attitude without motivation but when he’s editing he seems to be in the zone and with push and guidance from a director pulls it off. Together I’m confident we can finish this documentary on time. Come tomorrow….

Concepts and Designs

Once again I’m busy at work with 105MC about to give us the 72-hour challenge any minute now and my steampunk team firing on all cylinders with concepts and narrative suggestions. The most recent update comes from my ‘Steampunk Brothers’, the new nickname for my group/project. Carl Packer (http://carlpackart.wordpress.com) has once again created some master works of art to depict more concepts of the airship being piloted by our main protagonist, The Captain.

The project is really starting to shape up, I have another meeting taking place tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss the final concept arts, the character profiles and in general finish polishing off the design of the world our Captain exists in. From here we can move on to defining a clear narrative within this setting and begin to plan out storyboards. I am most excited to bring this idea before my technical tutor Becks and learn more about green screening as this is something I have not used before, especially combining film and 3D animation. Stay tuned about this project, I really think its going places. I am currently playing around with concepts for characters appearances, i’d love to hear feedback from you guys on what you think of these particular items.