Week 4 Friday January 28th 2011

For homework, I finished drawing the storyboard for my own individual idea and the content analysis. I edited the template on Microsoft Word of the ontent analysis, printed it out and watched the adverts in the middle of South Park, a TV show which I watch and it's target audience is aimed at people my age. It took me an hour and a half to draw my storyboard and while I drew it, I was reading it from my script (for my own individual idea) on the computer to stay  in the continuity of my work. These were a few tasks I should of done earlier but missed them and I had been told to do these in my improvement plan doument. The other 3 action points to improve work are what I am doing in class.

This morning, I wrote more detail in my justification document but mainly the pros and cons of everyones ideas. After doing that, I asked for help with my skills profile, mainly for the topics of "Generic conventions - styles & techniques", "editing - Capturing, logging and using the timeline" and "responding to feedback and reviewing work". As of now, 4 out of 5 of the tasks I need to complete on my improvement plan are complete. Now all I need to do is write up my journey which I will need to ask help for.

In my group, After finishing all the group work that needs to be submitted today (Because today is the pre-production deadline) we were allowed to go to Phil and book a camera. The biggest problem we have had in this assignment started today. All of the cameras have been booked up all day for Monday! Monday January 31st was the perfect day for us to film but now we will have to do it on another day, this was suh a big problem beause of all the paperwork we have done and my friend, Jason, who will play as one of the two bullies in the advert. We will try and find a time whih doesn't clash with one of Jason's lessons. So we have planned to film Tuesday morning.

Week 4 Tuesday January 25th 2011

Today, I brought in the shooting script, I started to write it on Friday and I finished it as homework, I have also asked my friend, Jason Watkin, a week ago to play as one of the two bullies in the advert. Max Akerman will play the other bully. Jason has agreed and I have given him a digital copy and a hard copy of the script. Jason lives 2 minutes away from me and we usually get the train everyday so on the day that we have all agreed to be filming, I will go to his house just before we leave to go to the train station, get the 8.50 train and arrive at Chichester at 9am. Then walk to College or Westgate depending on where we will film.

A big problem we have had today is being denied permission to film at Westgate, so we are currently negotiating and if that fails then we will film our advert at College in the hallway where the vending machines are. This would mean we may need to rewrite some of our paperwork.

Also today, we had a minutes meeting with Andy. We had to bring up all of our work that we have done in this unit so far. Andy checked through it to see what we have not done and what we need to improve on. I need to complete my journey document, I need to write more detail for the justification document like the pros and cons of each idea that everyone in my group came up with, draw a storyboard for my own idea, do the content analysis and improve on my skills profile. I set the last action point for myself, I have....sort of completed it but I need help on it so I wrote that I need help with the skills profile in the "I need help with..." section on the improvement plan sheet.

Week 3 Wednesday January 19th 2011

Today, we have all been continuing on what we had done yesterday afternoon for the first 2 hours of today. We discussed a few lines that we would use in the script. In Harry's class in the afternoon, he went through a little step by step guide on how to make and use shooting scripts, this is going to help me a lot for when I make the shooting script for my group's final idea for the advert since I chose to be the one to write the shooting script.

I have now finished writing up the script for my own initial idea that I came up with from the start which was the Kit Kat being thrown at the bullys head. I looked at the guide we got given last week by Harry that says about all the types of close ups and shorter terms for them like MCU (Medium Close Up) or LS (Long shot) or even MLS (Medium Long Shot). I also asked Phil (the media technician in the E block) who lends out the camera & tripod equipment, I asked him what time he comes into College on Mondays (mainly Monday 31st January) and he said 8:15, We will plan to book the cameras possibly this friday for Mon 31st Jan

Week 3 Tuesday January 18th 2011

Today, we had a minutes meeting, sadly, we were sharing our class with another group so we were all on one side of the class and it was overcrowded, 1 person in my group didn't get to use a computer until the other group left the class, so some of the groups moved to the other side. I just didn't feel comfortable with all these people around me when I'm trying to work and that when we were having our minutes meetings, we couldn't hear each other because we were sitting right next to another group also talking. I was glad that half an hour after the beginning of the lesson, the other group left and there was more space for everyone in our class.

We have discussed the location for where we are going to film, Max is going to phone Westgate Leisure Centre to ask for permission to film there. We have decided to film at the Westgate because it is only just down the road from Chichester College and it will make the advert look more original because it is filmed somewhere outside the college. This is because most students from either this year or any student last year films it at College and it looks like it has been done too many times.

I am almost there with my skills profile, I know there is a lot more I can write to it. I also wrote up the notes on the minutes on the computer today and will give everyone a copy tomorrow.

Week 2 Friday January 14th 2011

Today, I have completely finished my treatment. I felt that it needed more info in it so I wrote more stuff. In my group, we had a minutes meeting and decided which idea we should go for. In the end, we decided to go along with one of Hannah's ideas that was loosely based on my idea. My original idea was to have the Kit Kat buyer throws his Kit Kat at the bully. This new idea which we are planning to do now is similar to that story but a very different plot/direction. I also started and finished a justification document about why the winning advert won. In the minutes, we also discussed our skills profiles and what we achieved as a group in our skills which was to make sure everyone is involved and don't make anyone feel left out, we're successful in a team, we work efficiently, and that the things we need to work on is when we want to bring up issues at the right time.

Week 2: Video Prod. Wednesday January 12th 2011

Today I finished my treatment for my own idea and checked through my research, which I finished as homework. After the first 2 hour lesson, we got told what groups we are in for the next 4 weeks. I have been put with Shona-Lee Wood, Max Akerman and Hannah Bowering.

In the afternoon, all of us in my group came together and started to disuss what all of our ideas were. Hannah's was to have a woman that is stressed and working all day and would go to a vending machine to buy a Kit Kat with the slogan "Have a break, have a Kit Kat".

Shona’s idea was that in a house, a boy has invited his girlfriend over but realises he doesn’t have any deodorant, he looks everywhere and panics because his girlfriend could get here any second. He does find some but it is no good and throws them all away, as the doorbell rings, it is his girlfriend and as he runs to the door, he notices a can of Sure deodorant in the hallway, so he uses it before he answers the door. The slogan in the pack shot says “It’s SURE to be a lifesaver”.

Max's idea was where someone buys 2 chocolate bars from a vending machine, one of them is a Kit Kat but the buyer leaves it behind and takes the other chocolate bar, so the next bit is animated and the Kit Kat gets up and follows the woman who left him behind in the vending machine. He hops back in to her bag and the pack shot says “Kit Kat. It’s your friend, not just chocolate”.

Skills profile for Video Production

My skills profile is my blog post where I say about the skills I have which are relevant to this current assignment. I am currently doing a video production assignment where I need to film a 30 second advert for a brand. I have chosen Kit Kat.

Last year, I did First Diploma in Media which was a 1 year course and this had two video production assignments, one of them was the same, or similar, to this assignment, film a 30 second advert for a brand. The other one was to do a 60 second video about anything you want, for the 60 second clip, I did a video blog (Or as I like to call it, a vlog) about a joke-conspiracy that Jesus is Aquaman. I mainly learned a lot from doing the 30 second advert a year ago and I know how to be more organised in pre-production and production (When we film).

I did very well last year in the post production for both the video production assignments. I always use Windows Movie Maker to edit movies/clips. When we were going to use it last year for the first video production assignment, we were given a tutorial about how to use Windows Movie Maker, however, I already knew pretty much absolutely everything about how to use it. I also look forward to learning how to use Adobe Premier. I have heard from the teachers and my peers that it is very good.

Time management:

I have had experience with having to use time management for previous projects, such as making my DVD menu earlier this year and numerous assignments I did on First Diploma in Media last year. We have all been given production schedules for what we are supposed to do every week. This is useful to us so that each week we know what we are doing and what we could be behind on. It is also useful that with my group we have meetings at the beginning of every lesson so we can all discuss what we need to do and what we haven’t done yet which needs to be done.

Group work:

On First Diploma in Media, the media course I did last year, I had been put into a group for making a project similar to this, so I have had experience with being put into teams/groups. I’ve also worked on other assignments in teams as well. I believe that I can’t always work with a team but I do try my best to make an effort whoever I am with, I am just not that great with my social life. I try my best to not argue in a team and I am liking my team right now.

Production of documentation work – designing and planning, industry standard documentation:

In projects which I have done in the past, such as my DVD menu assignment, I have had to do a lot of planning before I get to just start making the DVD menu. The planning meant I had to make a lot of rough notes, rough sketches, brainstorms, mood boards about my final idea. I also made a PowerPoint presentation to pitch my idea for my DVD menu.

Research methods:

In all of the assignments that I have done in the past, I have to do research for all of them, the most common research method I use is the internet. I do however use books for some research in the library and reference it in a bibliography. Earlier in this assignment, I did need to do some research to find out more information about the brand I am making an advert for, which is Kit Kat.

Graphic/Animation production e.g. image manipulation software:

In the DVD menu assignment I did,  I made some animation using Adobe Photoshop and uploaded it into Adobe Encore. The animation I did was for the main menu of my DVD menu where there was a floating object from out of the screen then disappears off-screen.  Although, I don’t think that we will be using any animation for the editing stage of this assignment. I am also good at graphics.

Camera & tripod:

Last year when I did First Diploma in Media , I was allowed to use the cameras and tripods the college provides twice that year. Before we did get to, Phil, the media technician gave us a tutorial on how to set up the cameras and tripods. We all went up to set up the camera and tripod ourselves. Andy monitored every student to see how well they did. The way he was marking us was for each step there would be one of three boxes he ticked, first box was “completed step first time” the second box was “completed step after second attempt” and the third box was “completed it with assistance”. And we have also been told that we are going to use those same camera and tripods this year. I presume that Phil will do what he did last year and show us again how to set them up and make us take turns.

Health & Safety issues:

When I was talking about using a camera and tripod last year, we additionally got shown some health and safety tips when we set up the camera and tripod. We also got given “risk assessment” sheets in case of emergency’s and accidents that could happen on set. In this assignment, I will get another risk assessment section to do. It says it in the production schedule and we will do it next week.

Legal & Ethical considerations:

In my last assignment, the DVD menu work, we looked at legal and ethical considerations for making a DVD menu. This meant that I had a chance to learn and look at things like copyright infringement, anti-piracy and no racism or offensive content put in it. In the advert we make, we must make sure we do not do any product placement stuff. This is where there is another product being used or seen, mentioned or shown in the advert. When I did video production assignments last year, I edited the rushes using Windows Movie Maker. I found this easy to use and I already knew about how to use Windows Movie Maker long before I came to college.

Generic conventions – Style & techniques:

In past assignments, I covered things like what we have looked at, been shown how to format certain files, such as when we make a Photoshop document, we set the resolution to 100 and what size to put it as, and what format we should save it in, like JPEG or BMP. We should save it in BMP if we plan to print it out and put it in JPEG if we will share the file over the internet. And save it in GIF format if it is an animation or a company logo. I covered linking genre’s to conventions in my DVD menu assignment when we were studying existing DVD’s with the theme, colour etc.

Editing – capturing, logging & using the timeline:

In the video production assignments I did last year, I used Windows Movie Maker for both of them. As I have said earlier, I knew everything about it and about using the timeline in the program. The timeline was to show how much time there is and when a lip starts and when it ends. My advert cannot be less or more than 30 seconds long. I also learnt last year about when you film something on the college cameras, it is not in the correct format to be imported into Windows Movie Maker so after we have filmed the footage we needed for our assignments. We give the camera and tripod back to Phil and he edits the rushes by converted the files into WMV format making them compatible to be imported into Windows Movie Maker.  He then lends us a hard drive with the files on them.

Responding to feedback & reviewing work:

Last September when I handed in a piece of work for DVD menu’s for our first assignment. We all did a “peer assessment” task, this was where all the students swap work and we all marked each others work. My feedback was very bad and I did a massive improvement over the weekend and resubmitted it the week after. The responding to feedback helps me very much because it says about what  I need to improve on for resubmissions. Improvement plans also help me a lot because it helps me keep track of things that I need to do in the current assignment. Like small worksheets or tasks I forgot, missed out or didn’t do. Last year, although it was only a First Diploma course, I got merits and one distinction on all of my assignments. I got a pass on  one thing but the only reason why I got a pass was because there was one missing worksheet, and the only reason why I never submitted this worksheet was because the teacher never gave us that worksheet. So despite that being a First Diploma course, unlike this one which is a National Diploma Level 3, I did not need to resubmit anything except for that one worksheet.

Week 1 Friday January 7th 2011

Today, I had to come up with my final idea and choose the brand, as this was my final chance to choose, I am now stuck to Kit Kat for the next five weeks and I cannot change to any other brand. However, I am ok with sticking to this brand as I have thought of a very good idea for it. I also started to do some research about Kit Kat and I have learned some interesting facts about Kit Kat so far. Did you know that they were originally called "Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp" and was renamed to Kit Kat after the Second World War? I have also finished writing up my "treatment" in Simon's lesson. Simon also told us again about the differences between treatments and proposals.

NEW ASSIGNMENT: VIDEO PRODUCTION! Week 1, Wednesday January 5th 2011

I have now started a new assignment which is video production. In this video production assignment, I will be put into a group and will go through the process of making a 30 second advert for a certain brand. We are allowed to choose from either 4 of these brands: Diet Coke, a phone (Any phone), Sure (the deodarant) or Kit Kat. I have chosen Kit Kat.

For 1 of my ideas, I play in the advert as a character who buys a Kit Kat from the vending machines in Coasters, when I take my Kit Kat out the vending machine, a bully happens to be walking towards my way and sees the Kit Kat in my hand. He suddenly runs into me, snatches the Kit Kat out of my hand and knocks me down on the floor. But what he doesn't realise is that  I bought two Kit Kats and the other one is just coming out the vending machine, my character grabs the second Kit Kat, runs outside the doors and shots at the bully "STOP! FIEND!". I throw the Kit Kat and the Kit Kat knocks the bully on the head making him fall down unconscious. Then there's a pack shot that says "Kit Kat's. You want two."

Today, I developed these ideas and looked at adverts made by people who did this course last year. I was put into a group of three and we all discussed what we thought of the adverts made by previous students. Because we analysed them, I learned that I could see the flaws they made which I could avoid. I also started my treatment and learned about the difference between a treatment and a proposal.