Archive for June, 2010

Content Producer FINAL BLOG

Now ,I looked back at the past  during this semester:  tears, laughs , happiness and sadness , they went through with me , which make this semester pp1 memorable. All the achievements and mistakes that I had all came together to become a page of my life. Here is my final report, but I would like it to be a part of my diary.

1 . During the process of doing my pp1 Content Pro project, we had a lot changes and improvements, Mimi is like my daughter, because I watched every steps of her growing-up.

• Baby Plan: The Mimi’s face was created on a small piece of white paper. We did not expect that she should be beautiful . but we wanted she to be unique. Like a collage from different people.  So we got a first idea about our project, which is  a collection from :” fashion”, ” music”, “friends” , “sports” and “family” , each part will be eyes, ears, mouth of Mimi.

• pregnancy : It is good start that we got a very clean plan. And David said he also liked our plan, which is interesting. So we began to prepare for it, and we made a schedule and plan to do it.    At this part, i helped to set-up Mimi,facebook account, upload friends photos and also organized   footy match’s photo & video taking with Tiana .

• Baby Birth: I was responsible  for editing our interactive project project.   And  I came up with the ideas about changing our ideas , because I wanted to create more things in our project.

—-Mimi was a very weak baby, I need to make her strong enough !

So after meeting with  David, we got more things to improve, but it seems    that we do     not have enough time, we need to hurry up !

• Growing up : During the whole process of Mimi’s process,   I did think carefully about our project, because I think there was a lot space for us to improve our project. Each part is needing me to make it better. I heard Mimi was crying at night , which made me could sleep well .   I got a  problem on the communication issue with my group mate ,  which makes me and Tiana took most of the project workload. And I was blamed that I  did not approved to use a group mate’s work. Only for this part, I was struggling with the quality or the friendship. Because I has been busy organizing  group meetings, collecting materials and editing, all for this project, I has been hoping to finish our project perfectly, I could let myself down.   After the discussion ,we decided to use a better one photo for a high quality of our group work. Though I was feeling sorry for her, because she made her effort  on changing on it.  But we were working together I kept changing and changing our project , just for a better result.

• Mimi’s grown up : I am so happy that after our hardworking , the rainbow finally came out after a big storm.  Because i did a lot to make the project have more content that can describe a real person’s life, especially for the “Food map ” part, because this idea is from me, so I  have to be responsible for it. I heard a group mate told me that we already got a lot, do need to worry about the food map part, but I told myself I never give it up, unless “Mimi Tribe” gives up upon me.  After a difficult and arduous process on finishing up the project,especially when I done the presentation of our project, I suddenly felt an urge to cry , because the complex feelings came out—- the sense of accomplishment and obligation—Thanks to those  people who misunderstood me and looked down on me, so that I could  push myself to improve and made it finally.   And I did a lot advertising on Internet and shared the link on my facebook, Mimi’facebook, and other websites.

• Now the funny thing is that I used Mimi’s facebook account  more than mine. I did not realized that Mimi is already a part of my life !

2.Extrapolate what you have learnt about the role of a Social Media Producer

To be honest, I learnt too many thing from this project.

• I began to pay attention to media environment , and be active about everything I have  found and did the advertising about what I have done.
  

• And also I know there are  a  lot things for me to learn from others. This is very important for me.At first , we did not do well, until I thought a lot  about what David told me on the consultation. I began to work a lot and because I am a kind of person that who will run faster  and further if there is someone pushing me and encouraging me .

• Collaboration: I found there are no problems that we cannot solve, I can motivate the my own potential, but how to motivate others.    The work environment is important for everyone to create a work to meet the degree of satisfaction.

• Time management: Be responsible for everyone in the group, and meet the deadline of the project, sorry for the difficulty in internet problem, but finally I solved it .  And as a lot of assignments were due in the same period , we even did not have time to breath. Finally I survived, I can breath now—breath in—–> my knowledge and experience in pp1 this class , I am happy —-breath out—–>  my effort and my own growth, I am proud what I have done, and I am clear which way I am going…. ” this is my way~~~”

3. Self assessment:

At the end, I should say I am happy with the whole process of doing this project,I did learn a lot from it. ,  I will give myself 79 out of 100,   not 80 (even I am expecting and dying for it) ,  because I think could do more and better.  I believe that 5 years later, i will still remember  2010 ’s March to June,  this 3 months, for doing PP1 Content Producer project; group mates: Tiana and Tessa ;teacher : David  ;  including  my SMP project process and people worked with me—-

thank you all !

FINAL BLOG/JOURNAL REPORT

FINAL BLOG/JOURNAL REPORT

Role –

as it evolved/changed throughout the project, your position and function within the group structure, the issues you faced and your part in formulating solutions.

Our topic is “ Facebook as a Successful Business Tool “ . At the beginning, we only want to find a good example to explore the social media industry, the we found facebook which is getting more and more popular. So we want to do a research about Facebook. But then we changed it into more specific area—- combine social networking and business. At the beginning, the idea came from Henrietta and me. We also found that the advertisings and fan pages actually can be very useful for business.

At the beginning of our group work, actually I was not really confident because there were only three group members to work with me after another two group members left. But then I found our group work was going very smoothly. At the beginning, I did research with Leila for finding interviewees. And then thanks to Leila’s hardworking on contact with interviewees, we got many interview footage at the beginning, Henrietta and I were responsible for the camera and sound during the shooting interviews.  Actually the process of shooting our interview footage is not easy, we have to update the availabilities between interviewees and us. For the breakfast social media group, we have to get very early to have a chat with them, also set up the equipments to shoot the interviews. And after watched the footages, we would have discussions and analysis on their interview footages. Then we made decisions about which person we want to have more deep conversations and more specific questions for them, so we would select some of them to shoot interview again, and we were still looking for new interviewees at the same time.

I also got involved in editing work. And during the research, I was responsible for the risks of Facebook.  This question was founded during our interview which we did not actually plan to cover (we were looking for positive about Facebook) .  But I think that was a really good suggestion —-we have to be critical, the research is not only about introducing our research topic and positive things about Facebook, the research on Facebook’s problems also can add more value to our research.

Progress -

in your research capability, in observing your learning behaviours; in identifying your strengths and weaknesses.

My capability is that firstly I am familiar with our research subject—Facebook, I am a facebook  user —not a heavy one, but I did pay attention to those applications , fan pages and events on facebook.  And I am curious about something I am interested but it also seems hard to find a exact answer.   And I am a quicker learner, always keep a positive to a hard situation , sometimes it may be not helpful, but my curiosity did help during the research with different when I was reading article A, the questions  from article A leaded me to find an answer so this question also could bring me article B.

My weakness is that sometimes I am too nervous and cannot present myself confidently. And I have too many requirements for everything about our project improvement, no matter I spend how much time on it, I just want it to be perfect.  But my strengths is I am a responsible person and active team worker, I always want to make our project to be good, and I have to finish my own work first at the same time, I helped with others’ task.  So during our group work we kept updating our tasks , and we had group discussion almost everyday on facebook.   We dig deeper and deeper and we helped each other , also everyone got involved in offering suggestions and ideas actively. And also I am familiar with the camera work and editing, so I helped with the interview shootings.

Strategies –

research strategies, collaborative strategies and personal learning strategies, which ones did you try, how appropriate do you think your choices were, what worked/what didn’t work?

• Research strategies:

There are a lot online discussions about facebook, but not so many are about facebook on business side, especially with responsible attitude and strict arguments. Because facebook is a new media platform, there are not many academic references.  And we cannot rely on online articles. To find something reliable and strong, we decided to find professionals to interview them as a part of our research.

• Collaborative strategies:

Firstly, Leila and I were looking for interviewees. At the start, we want to find social media professionals, academic professionals (lectures will be prefect) , and professionals who work associated with facebook or network business.   So we contacted with some of them we have found on the internet, but some university teachers are not available, one told us he is not using facebook, the other potential interviewee was not in Melbourne.  Some want to get paid for the shooting.   We were all very worried about our strengths of our research results—it cannot end up here without interview and our own research approach. But it is a good news that we have found a social media group, so that we got different perspectives from their interviews which is good.  And we explored, and as facebook is getting popular there are more and more resource about facebook, the data is updating rapidly.  And also thanks to our group memebers’ effort, each person has her/his assign responsibilities on different research tasks.

• Personal learning strategies:

At the start, I learned that how social media power interacts with commercial and business.  And the online search skills are important for our independent study, so I tried different ways to search different categories of social media and facebook.  Also the important thing is to be critical, when we want to do some research about a new and popular issue, we always think positively about it. But everything has its both positive and negative influences. So we have to think some potential risks about facebook.

Problems -

nominate a few key problems or difficulties that you faced and discuss how you resolved these.

1. As I mentioned before, two of our group members has been through changes-–two has left our group for another topic, which means that each of our group member had more workload. But the lucky thing we made it without lower our requirement level   and the quality of our work.

2. There are not many academic references for us to do the research. Luckily, we found a good interviewee —-Keith De La Rue,  as a lecture, he had a good explanation on the business and communication sides about facebook.

3.The key problem for me is not confident for our presentation. Because during the class we had a practice on our presentation, as I was so nervous and did not prepared for it, so I did not well for our presentation. After class, I did some research about how to do a good presentation, and I practiced before the actual presentation and I added some notes on our power point file. But anther problem happened during our presentation: one of my group mates did try on the screen during the break before our presentation, to see whether if only I can view the notes that audience would not see it. When four of us were standing on the platform, I cannot view the notes, and we did not have enough time to fix it up. So I have to bite this bullet —- to present without notes. By telling myself to be relaxed and be confident, I found I did well during the presentation surprisingly. Without reading the notes, I could speak in my words that could explain well. Even though some I forgot to mention, but I did not spend time to think. But At the conclusion, I got a chance to explain. Thanks to this presentation, also thanks to Geoff’s encouragement, I changed the thought about that I am not suitable for ‘presentation person ‘, in another way, everything I can do it better if I try.:)

Connections & intersections –

what do you see as the value of this course, what have you learnt overall about your problem solving skills, your learning, your group interactions and your networking abilities? How do you see what you have learnt about yourself via the process the content of your research fitting into your future career development and future work?

From this course, I learnt a lot on my personal study skill and communication skills:

• It has improved me with the research skills: how to use database and online searching, looking for some useful and powerful references to strength what I have got. And also the critical thinking is needed during the research.By doing interviews, I have known some very interesting people. I got a deep inside view more about social media network and media industries.  And it also helped me with communication skills.Remember to always to bring myself questions —because asking will bring inspiration.Be positive to solve problems: like my presentation, it teaches me that never to be afraid what you are not good at, oppositely, I have to thank to all the difficulties, because all of them give me a chance to change it.  Because I learnt to how to face it , and I am not bad at it anymore!Group work: I like the environment of this group work; I learnt to how to work with different types of people. Some people are good at organizing, some are good at technical works, and some people are good at researching. So how to evaluate others and myself is very important.All I learnt in this course is very helpful for my future work; especially the problem solving skills will help me in my future career development. And familiar with social media will helped me with my future career in media area, the operation and corporation on the social and business sides.

Mimi tribe

group discussion—on facebook lol

This is  our strategy !

Why facebook can be a good communication tool?    please look at here :

This is our group discussion picture, we can organize our group meeting ,upload our the resources we have found. yeah , that proves that facebook is a successful communication tool.

FOOD map

this is my drawing for our food map building, Tiana said that she likes  the second one.

Actually I changed the colour and it was just for fun, but it turned to be a surprising way.

And I changed my previous plan : if you click on the google map- like picture, you will actually get on the google website, so you will know how to get there , though I put on the address besides it.

And I think I will put the comments next the each food photo, to make it more like “personal” 

p.s

Sorry the second one looks a little blur, because i made it smaller before I uploaded it to my blog, so do not worry about the project, it will be much clearer than that .:)

shutter love

it is a very touching story. I think even people cannot understand the language of the video, they still can  understand the narrative.

it is  a story about a mobile phone whose owner already died. but the owner’s girlfriend found that she was in his mobile phone’s photo album.  So she saw him by searching those photos in his phone. Finally she met him, and those were last photos that she took with him. And her good friend was controlling the photo album– which photo she is viewing, the girl will be at that photo’s scene. At the end, the girl wrote—”shut down” on her hand , and she put her hand to the camera. So her good friend shut the phone, that the girl will stay with her boyfriend.

I think shooting this kind of small story does not need high-qualified skills on CG or effects. Just need the talent. It is very important for people to create a short film.

Just like this one, it only uses a sound effect to transfer the location, others rely on the performance and the connection between the photos and footage.

anyway, it is a good example for me to analyze

SMP final report

1, Summarise and evaluate your activities as a Social media producer.

In social media production, I belong to the Federation Square Screening Advert team. During our SMP work, we made two promotional videos.

1.my tribe

2.what is your tribe

And I worked as DOP and director. Also equipment booking & carrying, filming, organize the location selecting, refined & changed ideas, completed our shooting plan, and helped Melissa Lee with the editing work.  I enjoyed the whole process of our work.  And I shared those two videos on my facebook page and twitter, received some useful feedbacks and suggestions.

During class, I participated in discussion, and wrote down my feedback about others’ works . After class, I also pay attention to good works on ” my tribe”–(eg.)

And on ” My Tribe” , I also get involved in commenting on others’ works. And shared them on my facebook and our content producer’s group work’s blog.    And I shared and recommended others good works on the  facebook also. So I got a lot attention and many friends were excited when their works were put up on “my tribe” and screened on Federation Square Screening.   I am also happy that I built up this bridge between excellent works and the publicity.

My SMP blog posts :

1.

First Draft

2.

second draft

I uploaded my own photography works and showed the way of searching inspiration for my community.  Every single picture hides a story.

1. Sunset

2. where I am

3.Hey.

4.red lantern

5.waking alone on the time

6.footy

7.Kid , I am not kidding

8.Kid , I am not kidding (2)

Also I got  5 contributors :

1. Asuka :

zombie

2,Asuka:

zombie2

3.Chitra

A Girl—- contributed by Ananda Chitra

4.Chen Shing

Kid , I am not kidding (4)

5.Moo Moo Oo

Kimino

6.Steve Lee

relationship issue

My comments on others’ works

1.My Father

2.My lomo Collection 3

3.http://www.pool.org.au/image/ssa6789/contributor_1_sam_0

4.Michelle Packwood – Takka

5.Michelle Packwood – Death of Vegas

6.http://www.pool.org.au/image/tiana_tang/solitude

7. http://www.pool.org.au/video/shortieproduction/asian_tribe_0

In the first draft of my job plan, it was not clear enough to demonstrate the community practice, and it is not powerful enough to call for people to get involved in.  And the strategy part was done with misunderstanding — it is not a team to shoot films, it is for community to communicate and share, and it is a better way for the whole community development. So I changed this part a lot in my second draft, I think I did several changes for it, and improved it a lot on the details about the description and the schedule. Then I looked it back at my personal goals, I think I achieved most of them, like meet the assignment criteria, meet deadline, connected to other subjects  (I found what I am doing actually is connected with Media Industry and my major —cinema studies) ,  critical and with my own special thoughts , good time management and to get   a lot attention,  But there is one thing that I regret I did not do well is that to find a professional to help. Actually I could get the change to ask her to help, but she was busy, I am not sure if it is already late to ask. I already contact her already though , hoping to get the reply from soon.

2, Extrapolate what you have learnt about the role of a Social Media Producer

The first thing I have learnt about the role of the social media producer is that corporation is really important for community, individuals always need to get encouragements, advices and feedbacks from both inside and outside of the community.  People can invite others to get involved in without limits, in order to get more and more attention on this community.

There are many useful tools to attract people’s attention on the Internet, it is an economical , environmental and rapid way to spread messages in modern society . Be smart to use the communication tool

The second thing is that we have to be critical about our own work and the whole environment is by every small steps to improve and the whole community won’t grow up if it only got positive feedbacks and praises. And we cannot ignore every single person’s power.  Even a small drop of water, but if a lot small drops of water get together, they will become a river, the river will become into the sea someday. So we need to pay attention every small part in our media environment. Every contributor’s work is needed to be highly evaluated.

So what I have learnt is actually a lot to talk about, but the most important part is that to pay attention of every step and every single day while building a community, thinking highly of every single person and single work involved in this community— because they are the basic to build up our community.

3, Self assessment for your SMP task

About the process of SMP, honestly, I did not do well at the very beginning, because I was over confident and lack of hard working. But I did think every thing through and decided to start over , and did a lot effort to catch up, then finally  achieved my goals at the end, I think the works I have done is deserve a Distinction.   So I will give myself 75 out of 100. I did enjoy the single steps I have done for SMP, and I do appreciate for everything I have learnt. Hope I still can do more for SMP ,still be contributing to it.

PP2 & SKILLS WORKSHOPS

Task description One – Studio Research and Development

1. Video 1

2.Video 2

3. Video 3

4. Video 4

5.Video 5

6.Video 6

Task description Two – Advanced Skills Workshop

The workshop I attended is producing . It is very interesting to learn the  way of practical thinking. As before I only knew a few about the role of producer. After the workshop I learnt that  only relying on imagination or the talent of art is not enough to become a producer.  As producer  work for achieving the same goal for the whole production team, it is like an administrator and guide in the team. You have to be accurate and forecast what will happen , and what you have to do next. Be active and intelligent.

The first thing I have learnt is how to complete the schedule . It is very important for the quality and the cost of the whole production.  You have to be sensitive about the requirements about concepts and the script .

The second is about budget. It determined the agenda of producer.  The limits may help producer to finish the work while it also will bring problems for the production, it is like the rules we have to follow in case of unexpected things happening.  But I like the challenging that producing brings, that producer will be the center character who work within limitation , but also beyond it by making decisions and finding solutions. Like the transportation, you have to be aware of the fines and permission from government. For equipment , you also need to be careful , responsible for it,because if you make it too loose , the cheap equipment might influence on the whole quality of the  production.  Need to be both tight and flexible.  And there are still a lot to think about : such as security , insurance , parking, shooting locations, electrical check ( for lighting), and neighbours (people around).

The third one is “selling dreams” —pitch.  It is the key to sell  your movies. During the class, we also had a drill on the pitch.    The budget is of course a premise. So setting up a good budget will help you to get a good money. Also you need to look at what resources are available, like: who much you need ?  who will you ask for money ?   So during the pitch you have a good idea of the schedule, locations, film crew memebers, etc. the thing is than you need to be honest to people

And producer also need to organize the whole team as a communicator. Not only hire the crew , also work with them. You have to create a good working environment and the team spirit is necessary .  And producer has to have communication skills because he/ she needs to work with different departments, and corporate with others.  Like  with writer , you have to work together on the synopsis/treatment after selecting script source. With investors/studio/council, you also need to submit the screenplays to them, and have a further discussion. With cast, you will review their footage after the shooting.   with director,  the producer will approve the work together after the final cut.  If something missing, producer also need to be make a new plan.

For our Prod! Studio , we will make three online videos which have to be translated from poetry.  At the first, I am very interested in this kind of creative production. And I am happy to do the producing work as there are not many classmates doing producing as me.  I suddely feel the responsibility on my shoulder. However,  it is not big production, but it is a big issue as a good experince before we graduate. I will do my best on the corparation within the whole team, making plans, other works in the whole system of production.  I believe I can fly ~  I will be proud of my Prod! studio project.

Self-assessment  (8 /10)

• Quality of the writing and responses to the online video
evaluation questions.

I am happy with the videos I have selected, but I think I need to practice more and think more about the ideas and the skills that the online videos have.  And I need to make more connection to the poetry we have chosen. Overall  the quality is average.

• Overall critique in relation to thinking about the notion of
online video aesthetics.

I chose 4 stop motion online videos, 1 scenery video and 1 long-shot music  video.  Each of them has an impressive visual effects.   The use of motions and the long-shot shows a kind of reality and excellent.but some of them lack of narrative,  one of the stop motion video video  is too simple. And the one with beautiful scenery is good , but it does not show a extrodinary  editing skills.

• The quality of the writing and the evaluations made between the workshop and the studio.

First of all,  I think there might be some grammer mistakes in my writting, but I am happy with the whole quality of my writing about the workshop and the the studio. Because I do like the role of producer, and the writing and evaluation reflect what I have learnt during the workshop in details , also I referred some pratical examples might happen during the production.  And also I related it to my future Pro! Studio production project and my feature job.  So I think I did well for this part.

• Participation in workshop critiques and discussions

For the participation,  I attened most of the workshops . I think I did not do well during the pacitipation — I missed the class of pitch . But I did research about it.   And before I attended a producer ’s workshop (she is working internationally) ,  so knew a little basic knowledge about pitch already.   And I also be sensitive about other roles –like director and cinematographer, I also read my friends’ blogs who attend those workshops. In order to work well with them in the future.

So the overall i gave myself ‘

8 of 10

critique on others work on the pool—-Audio: LOVE IN THE CLOUD

critique on others work on the pool—-Audio: LOVE IN THE CLOUD: the 100 dates online dating project

Here is my favourite piece on the pool—  Love In the Cloud (pool)–>

100 dates Rose Paton (mp3)

the start is already interesting, in an old style, no one would like to judge the sound qualitym , in the other hand, it makes people feel really good. and this kind of feeling continues to the next interviews.

And the contrast between the sound of moderm when you get on the interenet , and the sound of slow jazz music.  It maybe suggest us that love never change when time changes.

and it also has the contrast of young people talking about dating with old people’s “key words” .

but the one I do not really like is the repetition of “grown up” , it sounds unique , but feel annoying when you really want to know what is the next. i think twice is enough, and volume it down will be better.  ( just my personal opinion)

our MI presentation ppt

http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3207456/blog2/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/PresentationA.pptx