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!"

Journal Week Six - Assessment #2 - Sixth time in studio - Sound Assistant

I was the Sound Assistant, and I liked it. At first I think being in that room can be a little bit intimidating, due to the size and apparent complexity of the desk, but really what you have to do in a show like Hello Riverina isn't that difficult, but like all things in the studio, it's best to give it your full attention and make sure that you're doing everything that you can and be as accurate and fast as you can be while doing the job well. I tried to watch what the person on sound was doing, so if ever I do get a chance to be in that role, I will at least have some idea of what to do when I start. I think the most important things to do is to make sure you know what channels things like the boom and lapel mics are on, and to make sure that you put them at the right volume level, and to make sure you fade up and fade down the right things at the right time.

I've always liked music and sound stuff and hanging around the desk is cool. Granted, I did have an easier job because I was the assistant, and the soundcard doovalakki broke or something so I didn't have to chuck in any cool SFX, but I still reckon that we in sound coped well and did a good job.

The show overall, I think it was good. I think there were one or two minor mix ups, but I think it was really good.

Journal Week Five - Assessment #1 - Fifth time in studio - Camera

First assessment.....

I was nervous, very nervous - as Damien could tell you....

Then it happened, I was given the role of camera man, CAM 1 as it were. Well, my back was and still is wrecked so in practice I was finding it really hard to move the tripod around. People started getting a bit frustrated with me because I wasn't doing the moves as fast as they would have liked me to do, so I told them about the back situation and in the end I swapped onto CAM 3 which had less movement, so that was good, although afterwards I had to lie down and give the 'ol back a rest.

This was the first time I really did any in shot movements with one of the tripods, I was told to 'ped' across in one of the shots in the interview, and I did find it a little bit tricky at first, but I got the hang of it in the rehearsals.

I think that we all performed really well and it was a good show of 'Hello Riverina'. I did think that the last run before the record was better than the actual record, especially with me. This was probably due to nerves I guess... maybe luck... I'm not sure, just things like my ped movement seemed to be rougher in the record then previously, which was a little bit disappointing, but oh well.

Overall though I think it went well

Journal Week Four - Fourth time in studio - Newsreader

Number four saw me become the Newsreader/Interviewer. I was talent! I loved doing the Interview, it was good fun, especailly snapping the pencil and swearing. Reading the news got a bit tedious after go number 4, but Rod putting in Paris Hilton and Anthony Mundine into the teleprompter brightened things up. A lot of television production students don't seem to enjoy being in front of the camera, but I know a couple, myself included, who love the chance to be on the other side of a camera for once. The only issues I think you could have being in front of the camera is if there is a problem with the Teleprompter, or if you can't read a word or something. The lights can also make things a bit hot sometimes, and also make it hard for you to tell if the red light on the camera in front of you is on or not, but just keep going and she'll be right. Watching myself on the screen afterwards, I noted these things...

1. Don't wear a hat when you read the news
2. Unless you have a makeup team, get more than 4 hours of sleep before reading the news or you will look like crap
3. Snapping pencils is still as fun as it was in kindergarten
4. My back really hurt.

Loved it.

Journal Week Three - Third time in studio - Vision Mixer

Third time lucky = Vision Mixer or VM. I loved this job. Vision mixing is basically choosing which camera or VTR goes to air, but the Director makes the decision, not the VM. You have buttons to preview cameras, or ready a camera to be the next to go to air, after which you press the cut button, which puts it to air, and you can also use buttons which immediatley cut and put the corresponding source to air. It can get pretty hectic your first couple of tries, especially in ad lib sections of a program because you have to be as alert and accurate as possible, but overall, it was awesome fun. Bruce clicking and swearing at me, I love it. Nah seriously my all time favourite job. It was fun to be in the 'control room' and be able to hear and see everything thats going on, and sit down at the same time. I really enjoyed it and I don't think I made a single mistake in the record run through. Bruce thought I did, but as it turned out, he said sorry, he was in the wrong etc.... it touched me. Does he owe me a beer?

note - I did make a few mistakes until the record

I think it was a really really good episode of 'Hello Riverina' for us, I think there was one minor hiccup, but it was schweet.

Journal Week Two - Second time in Studio - Teleprompter

My second time in the studio was as the Teleprompter dude. TP? TPD? Teleprompter probably isn't the most exciting job in the studio, because all you have to do is make sure the script has been typed out correctly, and keep up with whoever is reading off one of the teleprompter monitors. The only hassles you can really have is if the script isn't there, or if something goes wrong with the computer, or if the newsreader or someone can't read a word, and then you have to slow down, or they get nervous and start speaking faster, so you have to speed up etc etc..... Anyway, it was good fun, there's just something about making naughty words and funny phrases pop up on the screen of the teleprompters and having the talent read them. Oh yes, good times... So yeah, I felt that it went really well, I had fun, and I think that was a pretty good episode of 'Hello Riverina'.

Journal Week One - First time in Studio - Camera

My first real crack at studio work was as a camera operator, or CAM. I was pretty nervous as it was my first time in the studio for 'Hello Riverina', and I found steering the massive vinten tripod around pretty difficult. I know you're meant to take total responsibility for any hassles, difficulties, mistakes etc you make, but I do have a back injury that did add to the difficulty of moving the tripod. Also, I think the monitors on the top of the cameras make it hard to tell if theres any bad shadows from booms or cameras, and also checking to see if you have perfect contrast, due to the stark black and white contrast of the monitors themselves. The rehersals went ok, when it came to the record though, things started getting hectic. In my haste to get to the next shot, I broke away from my previous shot, saw there were cable bashers behind me, and in my attempt to get around them, I hit Mikah, one of the other CAM's in the side of the head with the teleprompter on my camera. It was a complete accident, and I felt really bad all day. I blame Osama Bin Laden. All in all though, it was a good learning experience, and I had fun.