Kathleen’s Corner

This PP2 class has been one that has challenged me in so many ways, I learnt so much, not only about making an ad, but also about myself and the kind of person I am and what I like to do. That sounds cheesy, but unfortunately it is true. This semester challenged me to seriously think about my future and what I am capable of, and in the process I learnt what is actually involved in the production of an ad.

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When we started researching ads oh so long ago in Semester One, I don’t think I quite knew what I was getting myself in for. If you had told me that my idea would be one that people would want to make, and that I would be heading it up… I don’t think I would have believed you.

However, that is exactly what happened. To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure how that did actually happen. One minute I was telling my idea, not really thinking it was that great and that I’d instead be working on someone else’s idea, playing a more minor role (like I’m used to). Instead, Paul wrote up my name in BIG letters on the board, and then Meenal and Nary came on board, and then all of a sudden I was in the seat of power (as you might say).

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We got started right away with the animatic, but I think we got stuck on tiny details instead of really focusing on the important things like exactly what shots we wanted (I think we went quite rough instead of fine-tuning things). I think that was where I made a pretty big mistake as far as creative vision. I wasn’t communicating what was in my head properly, but I also was getting frustrated when what Meenal or Nary suggested wasn’t lining up to the picture I had in my head. Those two things don’t mix. That was probably one of my biggest learning curves, learning that it isn’t always possible to get the picture in your head exactly, and that there has to be give and take when it comes to actually knuckling down and making this thing.

I also think we wasted a lot of time on discussions about the final look of the piece, instead of actually working towards achieving that. Although ironically I also feel that we jumped too quickly into filming without doing our pre-production properly. So basically we wasted the time that we had.

I hate pre-production, but unfortunately it is a necessary evil. To some extent our pre-production process put me off the idea of producing ads for a living, because it was so hard to get the idea down onto paper. I understand how crucial the pre-production is, all the planning makes things so much easier later on, and the shoot becomes simple to edit together and you can spend more time on the fun stuff (like effects) instead of the basics. But I still hate it a lot.

Personally, I found that time period of pre-production to be quite frustrating, mostly because I’m not really all that used to having to stand up and defend my creative idea. I’m so used to working on projects with other people who have the strong idea and I just go with it. I think it’s a pretty big weakness of mine actually – I get so worried about becoming a bit of a dictator that I step back too much and let other people manipulate me and my ideas. But, you’ll be glad to know that I found my mean streak this time and stood up for myself and the product I was trying to create. I hate putting my foot down about things, but I know that letting quality slip is not good.

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We had to stand up for that standard of quality when we realised we had to re-shoot a scene. My goodness that was a horrible day! You see, the first time we shot it, we didn’t really know what we were doing. We tried to be organised, but when it came down to it there were so many more factors involved that I should have thought of. Like how the lighting would work, and the buttons themselves (we wasted so much time trying to stick the buttons to the wall). It just didn’t work. The lighting was all over the place, and even the 5D couldn’t make it look good enough. So with sinking hearts we decided to re-shoot in greenscreen, and make the thing much more abstract.

One good shoot we had though was down in the studio with proper lighting. Those shots are all pretty good, crisp and clear. So thankfully it was only one sequence that we had to re-shoot.

I went into shooting the greenscreen stuff with too much confidence, and not enough research. You see, the greenscreen experience I have has been a bit unpredictable. The best greenscreening that I have done has been using natural light and a big piece of green fabric, and the worst was the stuff we did for Button. I went in thinking that we could do it and it’d be easy! “It’s a greenscreen studio” I thought “it’ll have everything set up properly and we’ll be good!”. I was so wrong.

Week 11 I felt like shooting myself. In my limited knowledge of greenscreen, we had managed to shoot it with the wrong lighting, and the green was spilling onto the actress’s skin. By “actress” I mean me. That was frustrating. To say the least. We were thinking through how we would have to re-shoot it, again, and I was past it. I had been there since 9 that morning converting the footage to prores so that we could use it, and I was feeling pretty cooped up in the edit suites. So I went for a walk. A nice long walk down to Swanston Street and then back up around to Bowen and back to building 9. I felt like such an idiot. And to some extent I was an idiot. But I’m a firm believer that the world would not have progressed to this point without at least a few people who felt like idiots at one stage or other (Thomas Edison perhaps?), the big thing is that we have to move forward and learn from it instead of dwelling on the fact that we are idiots.

When I came back into the suites, the situation was much better.

Hoorah for the after effects guys! They suggested making it black and white, and when we did it, it actually looked pretty good. So we didn’t have to re-shoot.

As I’m writing this, we still aren’t finished with our ad. We still have a long way to go before it is good enough, but we are getting there. I’m determined not to let it get me down because it simply can’t. We don’t have time to waste on being glum and depressed that it isn’t working, we just have to get a move on and do it. Next up for us is sound. We have a few sound effects already, but we still have a fair bit of stuff to do with it. Then we need to finalise our edit, and colour correct (and finish up whatever greenscreen stuff there is).

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I spent a lot of time in the edit suites this semester. A LOT of time. There was always more footage to convert, or more things to render in, or stuff to bring across from my computer, and so yes. Out of the three of us, I was the one who spent the most time on the project. Strangely enough I didn’t mind spending a lot of time in the suites though, because I could always see the reasons behind it. I know that Prores is the best format to edit in, and so therefore our footage had to be in prores. There was no other way around it.

Actually, this is where I probably learnt the most as far as editing. I learnt a lot about what prores means, and whether prores lite is ok to use, and how to best convert footage. It was excellent. Instead of mucking around in Final Cut Pro to convert the files, I found out that you can do it with Compressor instead, and it works really well. Thanks Glenn! I was even able to turn around and help another group with it. That was a proud moment I think.

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As far as collaboration, I have this nagging doubt in the back of my mind that wonders whether I’m actually a team player. I always seem to have a lot more trouble with team projects than the other groups I see. But at the same time I have also seen how I have been able to work well in a group. I don’t really know what it is. I think this time around, I had my idea, and I had the devotion to it to be able to spend a lot of time on it, and so I found it hard to let other people in on ‘my’ project. It was a real struggle for me to delegate tasks, and to give my team members creative input as well. Goodness that makes me sound so pretentious, but it was how I felt. However, having now been through this, I think I am better equipped to be able to collaborate more nicely in the future.

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This semester has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster really, one moment I’m feeling totally confident and happy with where things are going with our ad, the next my heart has sunk and I feel like such an idiot for making such stupid mistakes. But as Paul kept reminding me, it is good that I’m making these mistakes now, when I can learn from them without too many repercussions from the real world, instead of making the mistakes while I’m being paid to do my work. Now I know I’ll be extra careful about the planning, and I’ll do my research properly instead of just launching into things.

PP2, it was nice knowing you.

• Contribution and collaboration – describe what you did throughout the process of organising, delivering and publishing your seminar event. Describe your collaborative process and identify the strategies you used to solve any issues or problems that arose in the process.

Before the seminar, I was basically helping out with chipping in ideas and contributing where I could, but I knew I would mostly be signed on for the post-production work, so I didn’t have a huge amount to do with the initial preparation to organise the seminar.

I did help put up posters though! We didn’t know that the steering committee wouldn’t put the posters up, but that we had to, so we got a panicked Louise telling us on Wednesday that no posters had been put up. So, Louise, Daniel and I set about to putting posters up around uni to advertise our seminar.

We all got there on the day of the seminar at 9:30 to set up the room, which was, when we walked in, a total and utter mess. Chairs everywhere and random tables in random places. So Christina and I set to and gave it a sense of order, banishing the unnecessary items to a hidden corner out in the hall and setting up the proper tables for food.

Soon we had popcorn popping, and the techs were in helping us get the cameras set up and the sound working properly. Somewhere in there, name-tags were made, glasses of water poured, ice-cream scooped, pop-corn put in cups, camera’s tested, sound organised, a couple of trips to Coles, table-cloth put on the table, chairs organised for the guests, speeches practiced and guests greeted.

I was mostly helping out with the food, and ended up being the door-greeter, welcoming people in and pointing them to popcorn and ice-cream. Then I sat near the door to help people with the door as they came in late.

Once that was finished I was down in the edit suites with Daniel, watching him transfer the footage. Basically that is the nice way of saying I wasn’t really helping him with it much. However, once that was finished, that week I went down to the edit suites, and using MPEG Streamclip I trans-coded all the footage (or at least set it going) into a format we could use. I mucked up the first batch, but got it right after that. I really have to give a lot of credit to Daniel, he basically picked up after me a lot. That isn’t to say that I was slack or anything, but sometimes I simply physically could not be down in the edit suites to do any work on the edit. I was supposed to be doing the intro video, but on the only night that I had time to do it, I got a phone call about an emergency happening at home and had to leave right away, Daniel stepped up and did it for me. That guy, such a hero, seriously.

So after all the footage was in a usable state, I did the initial sound sync edit, 3 hours worth of syncing up 3 different cameras. Then it was easy for the guys to come in and cut it together. Due to time constraints I wasn’t able to spend any more time after that on MI2 down in the edit suites, but the guys finished it up and did a great job.

So sometimes I feel like I didn’t do a huge amount, but I think that because there were so many of us in the group all doing our little bit then that was ok. Also, I think it should be recognised that if I wasn’t there on certain occasions (like when the posters needed to be put up, or the footage trans-coded), poor Daniel would have had a MUCH heavier workload.

• Proactive Learning – describe the extent to which you took responsibility for your own learning throughout the process of arranging and delivering the seminar series. Did you actively seek to improve your skills by extending beyond what was presented in class and what you already knew?

Ok so I’ll be honest. I didn’t learn a huge amount about how to get into the film industry this semester. But. I did learn a lot about seminars and how to set them up properly. I appreciated that the groups were so big for the seminar series, it meant that everyone could do little bits and pieces of the things that they were good at. Sometimes I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, or that one or two people seemed to be doing everything, but I guess it evened out pretty well in the end, and that is just the risk you take when you have such big groups.

I also did do a little bit of research just for myself about each seminar’s guests, about what they did and what they were involved in. I even added one of the panelists as a friend on Facebook, mostly because I realised I had some mutual friends with him and wanted to know how he knew them. Contact made! Maybe one day that kind of thing will come in handy. I hate networking (I get so NERVOUS talking to people!), but I love when positive things result from it.

I think I didn’t learn a huge amount of new skills from the seminar organisation stuff, because to be honest I did what I am good at (editing). Though I guess it did surprise me how at ease I was being the greeter at the door (usually I feel quite shy and socially awkward), but I was proud of myself for stepping up and doing it.

• Participation – describe the extent of your participation in the seminar. Did you attend all, most or just a few classes & group meetings, the event and post-production sessions? Did you seek to engage with and contribute to class or group discussions? If not what do you think hindered this for you?

I was at every class and seminar but one (due to a film shoot that we couldn’t do any other day), and I feel that I contributed well. Also, I want to point out that I was usually one of the first to class. I blame metro, but really I just hate being late, so I’m always early.

I like to take notes during lectures, and so even though we didn’t have to this semester, I still took notes. I’m very proud of myself for doing that, and I think that I remember the things that I learnt a lot better than if I had just sat and listened. I went to every seminar (except for one) and took notes on them all as they happened. I even happen to know that other people have been looking at my notes to find more details for their own blog posts. That is always so exciting I think, when you realise that other people actually read this stuff. That’s the joy of the internet for you.

If I ever had to miss a meeting or editing session, I usually had something else that I couldn’t re-schedule at all, like a shoot or an emergency at home.

I felt pretty comfortable contributing to the discussions, our tutor Christina was lovely, she made me feel totally at ease in the classroom. I didn’t feel like I was constantly being assessed or marked on my behaviour, I felt that I could be real and contribute. That was just so lovely, Christina took the stress out of organising things.

• Connections & intersections – what do you see as the value of the seminar series? Overall what have you discovered about your learning, your group interactions and your networking abilities in relation to this series? How do you see what you have learnt about yourself via the process (and via the content) fitting into your future career development and future work?

Well, I would say that the value of having the seminar series was about the same as having guest lecturers coming in. Usually the guest lecturers give advice, and they share from their own experiences how we should best tackle our futures, and that is pretty much what the seminar series was all about.

There happened to be a lot of coincidental matches in my everyday life and the seminars. The week after the gaming/digital seminar I ran into a friend of mine who works for Firemint (a company that EA Games recently bought). So it was fun talking to him about all the things that were said during that seminar.

As far as me and how the seminars impacted me? I learnt a lot. Seriously. Even if it was just information on what is out there in the big wide world!

I think the biggest thing that I picked up was that I just have to get out there and make something of myself. I love creating, and part of that creativity is displayed in the videos I make, I just have to keep going out there and making content! I guess you could say that I was pretty inspired by a lot of what the seminar guests said, partially because not a lot of it really applied to me personally. That sounds a bit odd to say that, but to me it makes sense. I still have hope that I can get out there and make something of myself because I don’t have all the depressing details about it.

However, in saying that, I also enjoyed getting details about what I COULD do with my life. There is a lot out there, and I feel at the moment pretty inspired to take it on. I think it has been successfully drilled into me about just getting out there and doing it. I love it, so why not do it!

I think I did pretty well this semester, I worked hard and I learnt a lot. Now I’m ready to graduate and take on the world!

So lucky number three is where I am getting the majority of my hours, and the majority of my extra learning from.

This is with the awesome…. drum roll please….

Bulls and Arrows!

This has been the best, and longest work attachment that I have done. I’ll probably continue to help out there even after I graduate, and that really does tell you how much I enjoy working there.

Ok, so I got in touch with Aaron through some mutual friends that we have, and he seemed really keen to have me come and join the team there. I have my own desk there too, but the environment is so much more relaxed than the one at Make a Wish. I really really love it there.

The first gig I had with Aaron and the team was for a music festival called Forest Edge Music Festival. The best way that I can label my role was “Gopher”/Sound Recorder. I did try my hand at filming, but I felt very weak because the rig that they were using was so heavy, so I left that to the boys. I seriously need to work on my upper body strength.

I did boom pole handling for an interview with Stellar Kart (a band that I’m excited about because I actually knew who they were before the festival began). In the video below you can see me doing just that…

and here is the interview itself:

The Festival went from the 12th to the 14th of March. It was a really great time, I learnt a lot, and it was an excellent opportunity to stretch my skills.

After that, on the 31st of March I started going into Bulls and Arrows to spend more time there. It became a weekly thing, and now basically, I come in whenever I can. One thing I love about working there is that Aaron is a Media grad himself, so he understands how incredibly hectic this degree gets at times, so he is usually more than understanding if I say that I can’t make it in that week.

Ok so because I have been there for most of this year, I won’t go into what I’ve been doing each week. However, here is a list of some of the stuff I have been doing:

• Transcripts of Interviews
• Syncing sound for further edits
• Rough Cuts
• Filming
• Setting up for shoots
• Sound recording
• Gopher
• Rendering

Each week it seems like I learn something new, I’m finding that just being in such a creative environment, and with people who really know what they are doing, is such a good thing, if not the best thing I could be doing. Seriously.

This environment is giving me confidence to tackle projects I never would have dreamed of tackling even six months ago. I feel more confident about my skills in Final Cut, and I’m even starting to get my teeth into After Effects confidently.

I’m not ready to finish with Bulls and Arrows yet because it is too much fun, but I will keep you posted as to how it goes!

The second Work Attachment that I have done has been pretty incredible, probably the highest status of my work attachments because of a whole new circle of associations I was able to build through it.

So when I contacted Make A Wish Australia, I contacted them along with about a billion other charity organisations, in the idea that charity organisations would be willing to take on an intern for their media stuff (and wouldn’t have to pay me). To be honest I wasn’t expecting them to get back to me. But hey, reach for the stars!

I went in for an interview, they liked me, and what I could do, and I started there every Monday morning from 9:00-12:00.

It was all very exciting, I had my own desk, and a label above that desk saying…

It was all very official and exciting.

The reason they brought me on board was for their Laugh For Kids Campaign. Immediately after the initial interview I was given a brief of what the campaign was about, as well as general information about the brand and exactly what ways the logo was to be used. I freely admit that I felt like I had been thrown in the deep end with it all, but I managed to keep my head above water.

From the interview to the time that the video was to be done by, I had four weeks. Technically it worked out to only be two weeks because of prior arrangements like a wedding in Sydney that we had planned ages before I had even written to Make A Wish.

In that time I did the most frantic amount of filming that I have ever done, it was pretty crazy. I was filming at my church, I was filming at home, I was filming at family parties and filming at Laughter Clubs.

Filming at the Laughter Club was one of the most interesting filming experiences I have had, simply because they were so open to being filmed doing something so totally ridiculous as laughing at nothing. I’ll never forget walking through the park, trying to find them, and finally locating them thanks to the sound of laughter all coming from one place. Weird, but also very cool and a big learning experience.

I have discovered that the church I go to has some pretty cute kids who laugh adorably! A great resource, and some of my best shots came from there. However the best shot was of a tiny little baby having a big giggle, which was provided to me by the baby’s parents. I am incredibly grateful to them for that shot, because it turned into the key piece of the two videos that I produced.

So I made up the video, feeling incredibly rushed, but proud enough of the final product. I brought it in for them, they played it… and didn’t like it. I was crushed. However, that harsh criticism that was offered was one of the best things that happened to me. Mediocre is NOT acceptable. From that moment I got my act together, and made up my mind to make some quality stuff.

I guess another problem I faced was that I was there as a media kid, but they had me working in the Public Relations department. Meaning that even though Marc and Glynis were experts in their respective areas, they had not a huge amount of media/video production knowledge – which I had been hoping to pick up from my work experience. However, what I didn’t learn in media production skills, I learnt in Brand Management and music rights, and sending e-mails, and working in the office environment, and standing up for what I came to do.

What I mean by that last statement is that after that “we think you should try again and make the video better” meeting, they were thinking of getting me to do some of the odd jobs around the office. Sorting filing systems and that kind of thing. I was put in the horrible position of having to say “no, please can I do Media related work”. That was a big learning curve for me, and I’d say it probably helped me to gain in confidence, knowing that now I had stood up for myself, I had to prove that I could do a good job doing what I had planned to do.

Ok so, back to what I did each week. My first day at the office was on the 14th of February, and I continued there each week on Monday’s except for the 14th of March and the 25th of April, up until the 2nd of May.

While I was there I edited, and edited, and went through a bunch of archive video (with the intention of cutting together a video for their front office, but that never actually happened, due to changes in Management and time constraints), and then did some more editing.

In the space that I was there I cut together three videos. Two promotional videos for the campaign, and then one showing what actually happened on the Laugh For Kids Day (25th of March).

My job on the Laugh For Kids Day was to document the processes of what went down. That was actually a lot of fun, and on that day, I had my work shown on the big screen at Federation Square. I’m really proud of that. I know in the grand scheme of things it isn’t really that impressive, but to me, lots of people saw my work up on the screen, and it looked good. People were turning around to watch my stuff on the big screen. Now there’s an ego boost if ever you needed one. That was pretty cool.

I also managed to get some “pro” shots out of it, and I ended up for a few seconds on the Chanel 10 News story from the event, filming my little heart out.

Pretty much all the paper work and office work stress was worth it for that day.

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Overall, I’m glad I did those 35 hours at Make a Wish. There were times when I felt like tearing my hair out, times when I’d crack up laughing (one morning I walked in to find the mascot costume spread out over my desk, I found it amusing), and times when I felt so incredibly built up and worth it.

I got so much out of my time at Make a Wish, seriously. I discovered what it means to make quality stuff, what it means to have that stuff approved of or disapproved of by business people, and what it is like working in an office environment.

I don’t think I really like working in the office environment, it felt so enclosed and non-creative. But in terms of keeping you on deadlines and actually making you get things done, it was good. But I think I’ll avoid being chained to a desk as much as I can.

The thing I enjoyed the most was the Laugh For Kids day, everything just seemed to come together at that point. I had my impressive looking camera, my official Make a Wish shirt, and was set to go! I have to send out a thanks to my mum here actually, because she took time out of her day to come and help me by being my sound recordist, I couldn’t have done this without her.

Thanks Make A Wish! It was lovely to work with you.

As per usual, internet wasn’t great, so again, you get a thought by thought guide to what I thought as I put it into a word document.

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Julian is a good host – though i think he might be making his guest a little uncomfortable (Bruce Kane)

Sound is a little soft, would like to hear the guest better.

Really cool guest! (Spicks and Specks, Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight)

I really like how they have the screen set up showing the guest (good idea!)

Even though they set up who he was really well, I feel a bit confused as to why he is here, what information do they feel we can glean from him.

It’s a little weird having just one guest up at a time? Will they have more guests join them as they go along?

Bruce is turning towards Julian, and therefore away from the mic. (Something to think about)

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Andrew Maj – started out as an engineer – moved into comedy

With the sketches you just had to try it to see if it would work (sounds familiar… “just do it, the worst thing that can happen is a flat response”)

Discipline is important – you have to go and do it, you can’t be slack.

Research is good for humour too. Ad lib is important too.

Perfection isn’t entertaining – people enjoy watching things go wrong, but it’s still a finely tuned craft.

Create your own opportunities

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Patricia Edgar

Had the first film degree ever in Australia

She was always a film addict

She was/is a pioneer. Seriously.

Value of education in this creative endeavour – everyone needs an understanding of the media and how it works – and you get that from education, but also from getting out there and doing it.

Don’t go to work in a sausage factory- attempt to break the mold! Don’t just make shows that are just like everything else.

Round the Twist – Everything she did had trouble getting off the ground

She was behind the regulations for Childrens Television.

Producers at that stage only wanted to meet the bare minimum.

She got the best involved, because she wanted to make the best.

Then once they had made something of themselves (won the second ever Emmy to make it to Australia)

Paul Jenning’s books. He insisted on writing the scripts, she wheeled and dealed with him to get him down to a good compromise.

Round the Twist took off by word of mouth. Made some really wild stuff to start off with.

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PANEL

Conflicts over appropriate television – the sketches weren’t the problem, the adlibbing was the problem (uncontrollable)

The more people you had involved, the less chance you have of making what you set out to make.

I think there must be a fine line between worrying about being offensive and actually making quality programming.

We have a whole new set of opportunities, but also with them come a whole different set of challenges in today’s market.

Liftoff was up against Sesame Street.

Jess asked about Australian Sitcoms – the “Friends” equivalent. – Basically there could be, but no one wants to touch a big studio, multicamera production. You’d need strong characters to build it around.

Someone asked about skills shortages in Australia. There used to be a big training structure, now that’s gone.

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Patricia Edgar is the coolest TV person. Ever. Seriously. We were very fortunate to have her come, because she has such a wealth of experience to offer to the rest of us, and I personally found it to be quite insightful, because shows like Lift Off and Round the Twist were some of my first media influences. I think the programs and films I make are very much influenced by the inner child within me, which I quite like.

It was a little depressing, because our chances of getting into the TV industry are, to be honest, quite slim. But. There are growing opportunities in the online world, which is not so depressing, because that is where I want to be.

In an ideal world, I would create a kids show for the internet, without it being crude, but also not being sugary sweet and vapid and void of any real message or character. Something not based around marketting but around an actual and brilliant idea. Something that not only little kids would enjoy, but also adults. I believe that they call this good wholesome entertainment. That would be the best.

But yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this seminar, they had obviously put a lot of thought into the running of it, and though there were bits I didn’t like as much, it still worked really really well.

Again, the internet wasn’t brilliant, so it was a word doc this week again.

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Our guests for today are:

Cameron Lee

Michael Woods

Ariel Katz

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Intitial Notes is that the intro video was really cool, but perhaps a little bit long.

There is feedback in the mics at the moment, at least at the start. Not sure why. Its really annoying.

It is also REALLY cold in here.

They also have the desk and set on an angle, not sure I like that.

Good guests – they seem to know what they are on about… but they seem a little bit underprepped actually. Haven’t been told to talk into the mic. They seem uncomfortable with the mics (all the people on stage, not just the panel)

Michael Woods is probably the best/most relatable person on the panel.

Not really sure why the blogger is on the panel.

Blogging as professional? Being tied into Fairfax Media helps keep the level of professionalism up.

Looking for amateurs? Yes, but no as well. They look for ‘hardcore hobbyists’ – in the work environment they hone their skills and

They look for the ability to be able to close a project, and having lots of good supporting material.

INITIATIVE is a key skill that employers look for.

Lesson I’m personally picking up is “You’ve got to do it because you love it”

The money comes from the USA

Though Australia is one of the best test markets. Australia is in a pretty good position.

The online/digital market is a really easy place to put advertising – you can get your product out there.

REALLY good talent is hard to get.

Michael did RMIT stuff. It provided him with resources that he could use then to springboard into other stuff. You don’t need good scores, you just need to learn what you need to learn.

You don’t look at the scores, they look at the content we’ve produced.

Foundational work.

Confidence. Michael has confidence in who he is and what he does.

As a Junior, they WILL test you, and if you can do a little bit of everything then it works a lot better.

There is space for people from the media course in the games industry, but not so much in Australia.

So while it is good to have a broad skillset, if you want to go overseas – it is better to be able to specialise.

Facebook and the online space/i-phone games are the new space.

“Not all new technology is good technology”

Not just telling stories – you are giving an experience.

Facebook is your autobiography. We are all telling stories, whether we like it or not.

It’s a good idea to have a presence in a lot of different sites.

You need to market yourself, which can be annoying, but if you are putting out an interesting feed, people respond in a positive way to that.

Crossmedia Lab

Facebook is a HUGE tool. But then facebook becomes professional. LinkedIn is really good for professional networking.

BRILLIANT moment when Naidin added Michael on Facebook, and he accepted, right in the middle of the seminar. BRILLIANT.

And then the skype interview. To be honest, I didn’t hear a WORD of what he said. I found it hard to focus on him.

And I tuned out for the second part too. Oops.

ADVICE FROM THE PANEL

Be positive, set a goal and chase it. Be a sponge. Show initiative. Get involved in professional groups. Get yourself out there.

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This advice from the panel was really really good, and actually, cheesy as it sounds, did inspire me. It may have been more game focussed, but I got a lot out of it in terms of online video production, an area I’d really like to get more involved with. What the panel said really backed up what I have been learning in my PNR report so far, that the world of online media production isn’t going to come to me. If I want it, I have to go get it and chase it.

Basically it helped me to solidify in my head what I want to do next year. My plan currently is to build up a body of work for myself (one video per week kind of thing), while also applying for work. The benefits I see to this are that it’ll improve my video making skills, it’ll show that I love doing this, it will be an opportunity to learn and try new things, which I’m looking forward to.

Also funnily enough, I added Michael Woods on Facebook, and discovered that we have a couple of really random mutual friends. Brilliant stuff.

Ok so the internet doesn’t ever work brilliantly down in the seminar room, so I wrote down what I felt in a word document instead, and have since copied that post into my blog here. I like the initial reactionary nature of it, so I’m leaving it mostly as I wrote it. Enjoy!

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Ok – initially, I can’t see all the guests, I think having them more toward the center of the stage would have been better.

I liked their intro videos- I thought that was a really good idea, the only thing that was wrong with it was the flow, even having them all in three short clips would have been better than flipping between windows.

Matt Bate is brilliant, I can hear him and he’s got a lot of great information.

I like that the interviewer keeps throwing it back to Natalie.

The lolly bags are good… but having them in rustle-rustle paper bags maybe wasn’t the best.

Computer screensaver/background was really distracting (more because it kept getting bumped and re-setting)

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Some points of note from what the guests said:

Steve- “Ok, here is the STORY, where do we go from that, and then from that?”

Make documentaries out of curiosity.

You can’t just parachute in and expect to get in depth – you have to build a relationship with your subjects.

You need to get beyond the “pat response”

Natalie – Bring in different interviewers for the same subject, to get slightly different responses from.

Interesting that the three panellists all seem to have a belief in the “fate” of things.

Giving a voice – STRONG THEME

Dennis Smith – in trying to get someone to open up, and give information in a different way, he would act stupid.

Steve – don’t ask the big questions up front. “Don’t be a bulldozer”

Matt -  Investigative Documentaries are scary stuff – Story about death threats. WOW.

Dennis – The first thing that you need to establish with your subject is whats in it for them. Get to know their ‘tribe’ too.

Steve – Fresh insights are good – careful planning, careful shaping can lure people in to watch your documentary.

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Skype Interview:

Never liked actors

Truth stranger than fiction

Naturally nosy

Quirky sense of humour

Crowd-sourcing – (though he didn’t know it was a technique at the time)

He likes collage documentaries and work. But he likes to mix styles  -he likes seeing different things, different techniques.

When filmmakers are given freedom to DO what they want, to make the things they want to make, it can often work out to success.

(I think I want to see “Shut up Little Man”)

How do you make a film about an audio recording? Facing moral dilemmas.

They think it’s unethical. Personally I think it’s just filmmaking.

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Natalie – She just went and did it out of her own pocket for a while, ended up getting post-production funding.

Jdocs initiative. First Shot (new name)

Steve – Team up with people who have a track record. But people are getting wise to that technique now. Target producers carefully.

Natalie – Producers can tackle the accounts.

Steve – How many ‘hats’ do you really want to wear? Having an experienced editor there is really good, and can be really encouraging. Having that outside perspective.

You need to be honest with yourself about your skill level in Final Cut/any other software. Be honest about your skill-set.

Natalie- she would have gotten a mentor along

Dennis – you don’t have to make the RIGHT decision, just make a decision. Just go with it.

Dennis – Open Channel. Enterprise Companies.

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I think the biggest thing that I picked up from this seminar was that if an opportunity comes up for creative work, TAKE IT! Get out there and DO. I really like that. Also they encouraged us to make our own opportunities, really they just want us to get out there and do what we love to do. Which, as far as morals of the story go, is a pretty good one. Do it because you love it, but most importantly actually get out there and DO IT.

New Honours Program – Adrian Miles came and spoke to us. We should be getting letters soon encouraging us to do Honours and with more information about it.

There are three research areas/themes that you can do. At this point, a girl with rather a lot of big curly hair came and sat down in front of me, so my ability to see the board was changed significantly.

Oooh apparently you can get HECS for honours – thats a nice bonus.

There will be information sessions to attend if you want more information.

labsome.rmit.edu.au – all the previous years projects.

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300 word entries summarising and reasoning the marks you gave the group.

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Resume and CV stuff – Due the 21st of October – Encouraged to do it as a website.

Showreel -

Blog interface is tacky and annyoing

make sure all the LINKS work

Make sure that there is a HOME button on each page

CONTACT INFO should be incredibly easy to find

DON’T USE copyrighted music – unless you have permission

Make sure that all the details are there for each clip – Name and Date, Producer, Director, what you did

PROFESSIONAL

They want us to use ALL of our work. If we can.

She showed us a few examples – John Brawley (I liked his use of graphics and pictures to guide the viewer – it made it seem more professional )

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RESUME’s and CV’s

What sticks out to me about the “Preparing for the Task Ahead” sheet is that this is all very self motivated, you can’t just start scrolling through job websites and think that you’ll stumble on a job you love… you have to really go looking for specific targets and goals. Which I think is something I struggle with. Fully determining where I stand and what I want to do in life… those are hard questions to answer.

“If you don’t employ me, you’re an idiot” – thats the bad way to tone a CV.

Self Confidence, not arrogance.

The resume MUST be tailored to each employer. Adding irrelevant information is not a good thing. You need to only include the most important attention grabbing stuff. If you get through, your INTERVIEW is where you elaborate on stuff.

If they are looking for specific information – you should answer that in your cover letter. (I think)

Employers want to see Referees ( Not “Referees available on request”)

KEY SELECTION CRITERIA

• Knowledge
• Skills
• Experience
• Personal Attributes

Often these are divided into “Essential” and “Desired”.

FORMAT AND LAYOUT – this is on the sheet they handed out

2-3 Pages

Bullet points and Bolding can be used to point out good points.

Basically it should LOOK amazing, but still very professional

DON’T write “Resume” at the top – they know its a resume

DON’T put your age on your resume. Do put your citizenship on there, but not your nationality.

Make sure you are clear about WHAT YOU CAN OFFER TO THEIR ORGANISATION

Bachelor of Communication (Media)

Professional Associations – Even if it is student memberships- put them in. Australian Screen Editors Guild (Student Member ) 2011.

Top 4 Key Skills than an employer in your industry would be seeking.

List these as sub headings – and you must PROVE that you have the skill.

Things that the Media course promises to teach- have a look at that list and use it in a re-worded way.

You can include things you learnt in subjects. (I recieved a High Distinction for the Subject)

EMPLOYMENT – Use headings and divide things

Dates of employment are aligned to the right

Dates

Position Title

Company Name

Bullet Point key responsibilities – and give more than just two worded answers.

It is definitely a good idea to show RED FROGS on my resume. Under COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

REFEREES are definitely a GOOD idea. People who know you in a professional environment.

Interesting question that employers ask – is a weakness you have. So it might be good to think of that too. What your strengths and weaknesses are.

Last thing- Production Credits

• Title (italisised)
• Year
• What it is (Documentary/TV/Format) Running time
• Name of Producer/Production Company
• Your Role

Key Action Words – It is important to include them through your application

www.disweb.rmit.edu.au  – Creative Media Career Guide

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At the moment, I’m totally freaked out by the media industry. It isn’t a very friendly looking world. Very competetive and very intense.

I have a new plan for next year. Instead of trying desperately to get into a bunch of media work, I’m going to build up my portfolio, build up my bank account and not stress out about it, because there is no point to that.

Tutorial stuff with Christina.

We want 4 guests. Daniel Scharf is confirmed. David has a couple of contacts overseas.

David knows Adam Elliot. It would be excellent to get him to come along.

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Personal Networking Report

All basically in the Course Guide.

All about us.

I want to talk to editors and visual effects people – because I’d really like to end up exploring what that all entails. I enjoy editing, but I’m not sure how that will all work out.

Aim to interview 6 people.

How long does the thing have to be? Final thing is 3000 words…

Draft (1000) is about who we want to interview, why, what we think we can learn from it.

Seminar Schedule

Week 5 – DOCO

Week 6 – Alternative/Digital (Rachel)

Week 7 – TV (Liam)

Week 8 – Distribution/Marketing (Rachel)

Week 9 – Film (Christina)

Week 10 – Sound (Maria)

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Establishing Peer Assesment Criteria

FACILITATION/RUNNING

ORGANISED – Calm and Orderly. Everyone knows what they are doing.

GUESTS – Appropriate for the topic. Well Briefed (Release forms, making sure they know exactly what they are getting into). With something relevant to contribute to the discussion. Guests should feel comfortable and well taken care of. Guests should be able to banter/converse with each other and the interviewer (should know who else is going to be there).

FORMAT – Well run. Directing Conversation.

TECHNICAL – No glitches (well rehearsed). Making full use of the technical resources available.

FOOD – “Hungry men are angry men”

AUDIENCE – Involving the audience. Plant questions. Accessibility of the content.

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PNR (Personal Networking Report) – First Draft due in THREE WEEKS!!! Totally intimidating.

Some updates from the Steering Committee . Then some more updates on what happens with the guests (as in what gifts we give them and such)

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Lochie came and talked to us about the technical stuff, all the mics we can have – he recommends only having 2 cameras for filming. Pretty straight forward.