Hey! So just to say I have began a new blog for my second year as a Media Production student, why not take a peek?
https://grantsnaithyr2blog.wordpress.com
UNITED STATES – CIRCA 1950s: Woman with surprised look. (Photo by George Marks/Retrofile/Getty Images)
TV studio session – Tuesday 5th May
Our show was named The Geek Week and was designed as a topic a week show that would cover a specific area of Geek culture. This particular show concentrated on cosplay, its history and growing presence in modern western 
society. Our lengthy research into things Geek really paid off during the design and concept of our set which looked really good on camera with various items of Geekyness on display with a colourful couch and posters lining the walls. In hindsight I would have like to have the walls filled with a little more colour but the majority of our shots were tight and prevented the cameras from seeing the wider less populated set. Our VT’s were suitable to our project: one showing a trip our presenters took to MCM Birmingham Comic Con shortly after we had decided what topic to cover in our show and the international VT being of a trip to a large comic book store there and exploring the influences on the cosplay community. I feel these met the required criteria for our project however one of them seemed to be far too lengthy and I worried it would loose the interest of the audience. My role within the television team was Camera 2 operator, a role I hadn’t had the opportunity to prepare for as I had missed a few practice sessions due to 
international trips and the team deciding that my role should b changed, however, I found the process of camera operation simple and easy to pick up on the day. Essentially it relied heavily on floor manager and director working well together. Unfortunately, our director didn’t seem to take the project very seriously and acted rather unprofessional and as such communication between him and the floor manager were strained. I think the project would have benefited from a stronger director who could communicate clearly back and forth with the floor manager. Our director not only demonstrated a lack of professionalism in communication to the studio from the gallery but he also forgot to bring in the VT creating a large problem for us during the shoot even though we were allowed to add the VT after shoot. This meant our timing had to be really tight as we didn’t have the VT in front of us to make sure we could add it easily later. I was largely disappointed with our director in general and felt that we should have had someone else at the helm. Inside the gallery, early on in our shoot it seemed disorganised and argumentative which was a direct issue from lacking a strong central figure present. However, once we had began rolling and resolved our technical issues they co-ordinated themselves well. The auto-que scrolled a little too slowly the first run through but this was rectified for our following shoots. Our major problem on set was the audio, we hadn’t prepared sufficiently for 
recording audio in the two sections of our set which we discovered after our first take. This is something that we should have highlighted during practice but without our demonstration able to make practice we should have pretended that we had to move to a different section of the set. We remedied this by moving our mics so that one was positioned to pick up audio from the makeup tutorial even whilst not on screen and tilted the other slightly to accommodate for the interviewee. Our camera operators were organised and very aware of the schedule and timing of the show, especially camera operator one who also had the added job of operating the on set TV screen after positioning his camera into a suitable shot for the next segment of the show. We had four cameras in total, one unmanned aimed as a close up on the make up demonstration to give a constant view during the show. The Floor Manager also did a successful job of queuing the cameras and the Presenters were aware of which cameras they needed to look at during which part of the show. We had a duo of presenters who both dressed up in costume to fit with the theme of cosplay our show was following. They made for a good group but sometimes felt too scripted and seemed to be a little nervous. During one of our takes we found a gap of six seconds that needed filling and the 
presenters did a good job of filling this section with dialogue between presenter and make up artist. Myself and the floor manager also dressed in costume to add to the theme of the show and create a calming atmosphere which I think helped and showed commitment to the show. Other members of crew chose to wear Geek related items of clothing as well which showed a unison amongst the team. Reflecting upon my own performance, I feel I did so quite successfully considering I missed two rehearsals due to being away in Istanbul and had my job role changed from Presenter, to Floor Manager to Camera Operator in the last week. I would have liked to have been more aware of the blocking of the set beforehand and perhaps should have requested an image the set sent to me whilst I was aware to help prepare. With more time I also would have studied the operation of the cameras a little more in depth and was fortunate to have the assistance of the other camera operators in setting it up. I would have spoken out against the choice of director from the beginning to try and persuade the group to pick someone more capable of the role and also would have spent more time familiarising myself with all the roles in the studio and the equipment as then I would have been better prepared for a switch in set role. My feelings towards working in TV has not changed since this experience and it is still an area of Media that I would prefer to avoid. It feels far too regimented and structured and lacking in creativity and freedom to be a career I would enjoy pursuing.
It is imperative to any well organised documentary production team to have clear and defined production roles these can include; Director, Editor, Camera Person, Audio Technician and Interviewer. After a discussion in todays meeting we arrived at defined production roles for one another and we briefed one another on exactly what that role meant to them and the team as a whole and what was ultimately their responsibility. Our production roles currently stand as follows:
Michael Moser – Director
Karen Jensen-Clark – Audio Technician
Chris Caswell – Interviewer
Grant Snaith – Camera Person
My role as Camera Person is to operate the camera on the day of shoot, in order to do this there are a number of factors I must master beforehand. I will have looked into the storyboards in depth and prepared a visual for each shot in my mind so that when commanded to do so by the director I can assume the necessary shot without having to double check the storyboard again. I must also learn to utilise the camera and it settings and the other various equipment associated with it (Shoulder mount, Tripod etc). This is imperative as time cannot be wasted in messing around with settings, the settings should already have been pre-determined before shoot to reach the optimal appearance for our choice of visual style and then only need slight tweaking to adjust to light levels on scene. In addition to this I should take the time to hone my camera movement skills as this is an area I have previously highlighted as a trouble zone for myself. I will be doing so by booking at a camera and shoulder mount/tripod every other day and practicing tracking, zooming, panning and other styles of movements.
1) What are we trying to say about our character?
Maurice is a fascinating person to talk to who simply has so many stories to tell that we could have honestly chosen from a hundred different subjects related to him, however the most interesting aspect is his history as a war evacuee. Our documentaries ultimate goal is to tell our audience just what it was like for Maurice at this tender age to be taken away from his parents to a strangers home who’s only motivation for doing so was money from the government. It should also be made apparent just how mentally strong Maurice was during this time in his life and how he has overcome such trying times to live a happy life thereafter. In some respects we think this is relatable to modern day society and the debate about people having children to receive funding from the government without adequate means of looking after them.
2) How will you gather and order your research information?
We are currently in the stages of research into our subject Maurice and his past as an evacuee during the Second World War. We decided that the first and best place to start was a group meeting with him without cameras and just a simple mic to capture the conversation. This took place on Monday and went really well. Not only did this help to put Maurice at ease and familiarise him with the group but we also all got a better sense of our story and we each got a better visual for the story at hand. Advancing on that we have decided to further research into other stories and the historical facts behind the Second World War evacuees and will be posting our research onto our blogs. We think this is imperative to our success as a better understanding of the subject at hand can only help us to better tailor 
our questions to manipulate our interviewee into an emotionally provocative answer. Our final piece of research will be to take a day trip out to Coalville and the countryside that Maurice was evacuated to during the war. We intend to take Maurice back here during our filming and so this would be essentially location scouting better allowing us to storyboard this section of the documentary.
3) What is the editorial hook or angel on your subject?
The emotion of this story is a key factor that we have decided to really focus on during our documentary. During our meeting with Maurice off camera there were several moments picked up on by our group and on audio recording where it was apparent that the memories were close to bringing him to tears. It was these little moments that we realised we must capitalise upon to evoke an emotional connection from the audience. We would like our audience to have watched the film and ask themselves ‘What would it have been like if this had happened to me?”. In order to do this we really want to emphasis the separation from his parents at an early age and the need to learn street smarts in order to survive.
4) Decide on a visual style for your film?
When we went to visit Maurice we all took note of how the natural light from the large windows created a warm and yet soft lighting to the visuals and we all agreed that this would be an ideal visual style for our piece. We feel that the warm colouring creates a more personal feel to the story and since Maurice is quite elderly a cold colour could create a more lonely and isolated feel.
5) What is the heart of the story that can be told in three minutes?
The nucleus of our story is the separation of child and family as Maurice was taken out to Coalville, Leicestershire during the Second World War to avoid the bombing runs. We would begin our story from the moment of evacuation to his first place of residence and the difficulties he encountered here with poor heating and little food and then follow him to his second accommodation and conclude with his return to his parents. Each act of the story will take roughly a minute of the three minute long documentary.
6) How are you organised as a production team?
See Above
7) Why would this appeal to our intended audience?
Our story is a timeless tale of the hardships of youth in the trying times of the Second World War. It is an area that many British people are aware of but rarely stop to consider the effects of and as such our documentary is centred around the principal of revealing this. We would class our intended audience in the stereotype of Middle Class parents and grandparents of an age range from 50 to 90. We theorise that younger parents would tend to be disinterested in subjects such as the World War where as 50 to 90 would encompass those who were alive during the war and had similar experiences who might wish to reminisce about the past.
Presenting our early storyboards: %5bUntitled%5d (1) %5bUntitled%5d
Heres a small video tutorial I found very useful whilst trying to get my head around using the Adobe Audition CC software that I was first introduced to in the first few weeks of my course. The software was tricky for me to adapt to as it requires a new mode of thinking; using sound rather than moving image was a new concept for me. So I hope that this can help you guys to get to grips with this useful software.
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.
I took to Birmingham with my filming equipment this weekend past to practice my camera skills at ‘ The Prosthetics Event’ as it had been quite some time since I had done so myself (longer than I care to mention!) and I had come to the realisation that to better my technical skills would take a more pro-active approach. I had wanted to take small steps at first and so booked out a simple to use Sony HDR-PJ200E Video Camera along side a Shoulder Mount for that on the move shooting style. I also had a Zoom H1 audio recorder which I trusted my friend to operate for me on my que to try and capture a better quality of sound.
Sony HDR-PJ200E Video Camera
I booked out this particular camera for several reasons real, firstly it is very simple to use especially since I have had previous experience of using it, it is a simple open and click. Its small size as well is ideal for shooting on the move as I thought I would be for the majority of the event, it seemed like the most obvious choice. On reflection now I would like to advance further and experiment with a better quality of camera. The small size of it didn’t particularly lend itself to the professional appearance that I am chasing and its image wasn’t as clear and crisp as I had wanted. I also quickly ran out of space on my memory card and had to resort to hastily deleting footage I felt wasn’t going to be a good as the event picked up pace near the end, in hindsight I will be taking a spare memory card and a fully charged laptop ready to unload footage during breaks between shooting.
Shoulder Mount
This was my first time using a Shoulder Mount having booked it out on my tutors recommendation to help steady my camera work better, especially whilst one the move. I could certainly see the appeal of such a piece of equipment, it presents itself as sturdy and professional and has the obvious advantage of mobility over a standard tripod. However, I found that my hands were not too steady, my knees were wobbly and neither was my shoulder which presented me with a few moments of shakiness. It is important to note however that for a lot of shots I was actually sat down in a lecture theatre for hours at the far reaches of the room meaning that I had to be almost fully zoomed at most times, in hindsight a small tripod might have been better for this situation.
Zoom H1
I had not yet used this piece of equipment either however I found it rather simple to use, a rather straight forward point and click with a few bits of advice picked up from a friend of mine who did Sound Technology at university thrown in for good measure. It did capture a lot better sound than the camera as you would expect, however being so far back meant that it really didn’t capture as well as I had hoped, and there was a lot of surround sound interference from the audience.
As many of you may have read, I had the chance to venture into the world of the weird and wonderful this Sunday at ‘The Prosthetics Event’ held at the Aston Conference Centre and descend into the world of movie make up, animatronics, body casts, dentures and more! I went alongside two of my good friends who worked on ‘Conflicted Mind’ with me and will be working with me on future projects, Kirsty McNamara and Natasha Cleverley, who are both talented make up artists.
Now I bet your wondering to yourself, why would someone who wants to be a Director/Producer want to go to an event about the art of make up and prosthetics? Well, in my mind originally it had been to simply get a better understanding of this particular department of the film industry; its limitations, its advantages over cgi and simply to see if I could gleam some inspiration. It then rapidly evolved into a little side project after I booked out a camera and with the help of a tutor and my friends assistance, I gathered a shoulder mount and audio recorder. It was an ideal time to practice my camera work and later my adobe premiere editing skills (stay tuned for a video!). But then, as I travelled my way through the masses in the conference centre I quickly discovered that it had so much more to offer than I had expected.
They were all joined at the event by Spencer Wilding, well known for his acting work in films and TV shows such as The Wolfman, Batman Begins, Game of Thrones and most recently Guardians of the Galaxy, the latter being a heavy influence on the events proceedings. He talked particularly in depth about his experiences on the set of The Wolfman and how his first test make up session took between 9 to 10 hours. He discussed how the amazing work created by people of the trade really helped him to zone into the character he was playing, so much so that he literally felt that he was the Wolfman, and told of how he prowled the set sensing the fear of the crew. I tried to find a video of Spencer behind set on one of the films in which he was in make up but all I found was this scene of him in the film Green Street 3.
We also were treated to a lecture from Chris Clarke who works as a Animatronics specialist and has contributed to films such as Alien vs Predator, Resident Evil, Harry Potter and War Horse. He spoke to us about the sheer detail that has to go into the design and concept of these sometimes gigantic animatronics, in particular he showed us a number of examples from the film war horse and detail that had to go into the design of the horses nuzzle to give it the realism the film required. He was then joined by an actor who was put into a large orangutang suit with an animatronic face and lips that he could control from remote. The orangutang then proceeded to terrorise the audience and staff alike. This was perhaps the field I knew the least about and was quite interesting to learn about, below is a video shown to us of the workings of the horse.
We were also treated to a live demo by host to the event Neill Gorton of a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ themed prosthetics application accompanied with a talk about the use of dentures and another about the use of contacts for film use. This was actually a really interesting talk as the three present spent a lot of time talking about their experiences of working on film sets and the very real dangers of the use of make up in films. I was particularly captured at some of the names of projects they had worked on and were currently working on, such names as; Star Wars VII, Dr Who and Saving Private Ryan really revved my engine and it was so painful to hear them say that they really couldn’t disclose any details about their current or future projects. The end result of Neill Gorton’s make up design took a little over an hour and despite him stating that the design was by no means an examples of his full talent, looked absolutely sublime. The day was rounded off with a really nice interview with David White who is a really brilliant established make up artist famous for working on so many projects such as Captain America: The First Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Maleficent, Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade II and Walking with Cavemen. The interview was a really nice round up to the day that opened up into a Q&A session. The interview really highlighted the inner working of the make up department of the film industry and its relationship with other departments within the business. Overall I could write on and on about all the amazing things I have seen, but surely you’d rather wait and see the video, to behold the bizarreness with your own eyes. Watch this space!
The Journey Begins 