Journal Week Thirteen - Cooking Show

This week a childhood friend who went into the army had his marchout at Kapooka and my family promised that we would go watch it and spend the day with him afterwards. His family who we hadn't seen for three years also came down from Brisbane and it was good to see them again. However these things meant that I wasn't able to go to this fridays class.

I'm not sure what roles I had but it was another cooking show to get our skills up. I wish I was there because people (including Steve) told me of a very funny occurence involving Steven, the Vision Mixer, and star wipes. So even though I wasn't in class I still have learnt that if you are on vision mixer, make sure that when you use the fader, check to see what fade setting it is on before you start cross fading, or you could be star wiping to everything like Steve.

I have been doing more work with Final Cut Pro and have been learning a lot more about it, I have also looked into getting some things like a Wacom Tablet and Post Production programs because I would really like to further my skills in post production.

Recently we filmed the ambulance/first aid insert which I was on sound for, and it went really well, despite the camera battery having no charge in it, luckily we had a smaller battery as a spare. I found the whole ambo side of things really interesting, and couldn't believe just how many machines and accessories and things they can fit in an ambulance. I also got some brushing up done on my CPR. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Journal Week Twelve - Research

I decided to chuck in the basic job description of the two studio roles I have in the kids show, stage hand and VT.

A stagehand is a person who works backstage on a theatrical performance. Their duties include setting up the scenery, lights, sound, and props for a production. Stagehands are often on the path to becoming a Designer or Director.

The VT Operator cues and prepares video inserts into a programme. Heavily used in sports programming, they are also responsible for action replays and quickly editing highlights while a show is in progress.

Pretty much thats the basic outline that wikipedia gives you, and it's basically what we were told by Pat and Bruce, just not as in depth.

I've also put the descriptions of the two roles I had in inserts, camera and sound.

As the head member of the camera crew, the camera operator uses the camera as coached by the director. They are accountable for maintaining the required action is correctly filmed in the frame, and needs to react instinctively as the proceedings take place. If the camera operator is also a cinematographer, they also help establish the theme and appearance of the show.

A sound engineer is responsible for making sure that audio is recorded in the desired way, and also that the quality of the audio is as good as possible. A sound engineer may also use a boom microphone in some circumstances to record audio.

Journal Week Eleven - Lighting and Sound - Student

This week the class learnt a lot more about Lighting and Sound, and we were split up into two groups, once with Bruce to learn about Lighting, and once with Pat to learn more about sound. It was good to learn the different kinds of lights, and what they were nick named, so hopefully if ever I have to do something to do with lighting I'll have a bit more of an idea, no doubt I will never forget about Bruces "Brown bums and White bums". I also learnt that if you need more light, or are going for a different look or style, you can always chuck in a coloured light, and it isn't a big deal. One thing that I never really understood until this lesson when it was presented in such a visual way, is how males can handle harsh lights without looking any worse than usual, but girls do really need softer lighting or otherwise they will look really bad, and "You never want to be the one responsible for making a woman look unattractive".

The sound lesson with Pat was also really good because I learnt more about slightly more in depth patching, and also the big scary control desk which I am still not completely comfortable with, but now I'm not fussed to sit down in front of. I learnt more about routing how to send sound out to the floor without everyone else getting it, or the opposite. Lastly I learnt how to use the computer as an alternative to the control desk which seems a bit more user friendly.

Camilla let me know that in a fortunate turn of events for me, and unfortunate for her, that she would be unable to do her sound role in shooting one of the inserts, so really we both just swapped inserts, because its the same job. Now I will be doing sound on the first aid/ambulance insert, with Ryan and Alana.

Journal Week Ten - Cooking Show - Camera and Stage hand

This weeks friday class saw us try something different, we did a show that involved a cooking segment and another ad lib interview. I was on camera for this one, and it was different then Hello Riverina because with the cooking show there were things like ingredients and bowls that you had to provide a lot of different close shots for so the audience could see what was going in the food and what was going on. Initially there was a lot of confusion over the placement of cameras, sets, and cables, and although the people in the studio knew what the problem was, we were having trouble communicating this to the director, and it wasn't until they came on the floor that they realised what we were talking about, but it was all ok in the end. I was a stagehand for the second run through, and I didn't make the mistakes that I made the first time I was placed in this role. The second run through seemed to go a lot smoother than the first.

In respect of preparations for the Kids Show, people are starting to talk about having large group meetings to make sure everyone knows everyone and our respective roles, which I guess will be really beneficial if we do have the meetings because we really do need to prepare for the Show. I have been working with Final Cut Pro a lot during time off to acquaint myself with it better, and get used to using it. It's good becuase I'm beginning to learn a couple of cool tricks with it, and I've also found out that it can do a lot more than I initially thought it could, such as super-imposing and altering images over footage, and a lot of complex colour corrections and things like that.

I still haven't found out whats going to happen with the insert that I missed, a couple of guys were talking about possibly reshooting it, which would mean that I could just do my original role, but people are pretty busy with the Kids Show at the moment, so I don't really know if we'll be able to find a time that is suitable for everyone.

Journal Week Nine - First Week Back - Hello Riverina Recap

This first week back and the ninth week of keeping this journal has been pretty busy. The kids show preparations are starting to take shape, its almost time for all of the inserts to be filmed and edited, and we're getting some marks back. I was meant to be doing sound for one of the inserts to be shot at Forum Cinemas, but I only found out the day before so I couldn't get work off. Camilla ended up filling in for me, so I'll probably have to swap that role for one of hers. We also shot another insert for the Christmas show out at a reindeer farm. I got lost on the way and ended up 40 minutes out of Wagga in God knows where, but it went well in the end, and I can't wait to see what it looks like.

I didn't go to this weeks friday class due to a family commitment, and I guess that although it was just another Hello Riverina episode, it would have been good just to re-accquaint myself with the studio and the gear. Now I'm just making sure I'm going to be ready for the Kid Show episodes that I'm in, and trying to find out what I'm going to do about the insert role that I missed.
I will have to research my roles a bit more just to make sure I know what I'm doing, for Video Tapes, and Stage hand, at least due to earlier experience with the latter, I'll know what not to do.

Journal Week Eight -Assessment #4 - Eighththth time in the studio - Interviewer

Well, it was with feelings of, "9 is really quite early" and "I can't believe its not butter", and lastly "I can't believe this is already the end of my first uni semester", I walked into the studio (about 1 minute late). Bruce was all like, "Yo yo my brotha you be trippin interviewer style". From this I gathered I was the interviewer. I was glad because I really hadn't had much sleep (I did have breakfast though Pat) and wasn't feeling my best.

My favourite thing about this show was that we did something we had never done before - we were told there would be a surprise, but I never expecting a plane crash, death, paris hilton (unfortunately not paris hiltons death) and live crosses. It certainly added excitement and a whole lotta fun to Hello Riverina, which was great because as I'm sure we'd all agree, it can get slightly repetitive, especially the 'Daddy, Daddy, come and look' song. Grrrr..... damn ernesto pineapple. So, what are my thoughts on the last assessment, and the last day of semester one?

THIS WAS THE BEST AND MOST FUN SHOW EVER!!!! OMG LOLXOR LMAO IT WAS SO COOL!!! PLANE CRASHES! LIVE CROSSES!!

It was totally awesome!

Everyone performed so well, we really were on the ball and we had lots of fun, and in the end produced the best effort we ever have and with awesome results! The show was awesome!

Journal Week Seven - Assessment #3 - Seventh time in studio - Stage hand

Ah.... well..... where to start. I was a cable basher/stage hand, which I thought would be a cushy job that was a bit boring, slow, and wouldn't require too much effort, but..... it didn't go that good, because as it turns out I was wrong. A stage hand must always be doing something, and as soon as they finish doing something, they have to check camera cables positions, make sure everything is right, move it if its not, and then move on to doing another job. It is a very busy role to be in. In my opinion, the two hardest jobs a stage hand has is cable bashing, especially when cameras have to do fast, or complicated moves, and also angling the cards for the cameras so they get the best light possible (it can be hard to hold the card constantly still).

Well, my performance was ok in the record and there weren't any problems, but before that in the final rehersal, right in front of Bruce, while I was helping one of the camera persons, one of the other camera cables I was watching fell out of its cradle holder thingy and the camera person on that camera moved the pedestal and ran over the cable.

Twice. (right in front of Bruce)

Then Bruce got medievil on my ass, oh the shame. My main thoughts (in order of size to me) are "OH MY GOD I SUCK AS A CABLE BASHER" and secondly, "That was a good show!"