post 1- 

With our charity studio project finally on its way, it was extremely exciting to begin work in our groups. The First task we were presented with was to complete research on a charity that we would want to focus on throughout the oncoming few weeks. My initial Idea was to focus on the Student’s Union, being the closest charity to us and likely, the most accessible. I felt that it would be a good opportunity to create a light hearted charity appeal.  I believe this would have helped our project stand out from the others as they were mostly dealing with an emotionally serious topic; such as homelessness.

However, after a discussion with my group I decided that my idea would have been extremely difficult to work with. I struggled to think of a narrative we could follow and what the appeal would be asking for. This led my decision to drop the idea of supporting the SU in this project.

Following this, we discussed further other local charities in Bath that we could possibly work with. One that stood out to us all was Genesis, a homeless charity situated in Bath city center. The appeal of this charity was overwhelming, in its convenient and accessible location, as well as the passion it evoked; myself in particular.

When the Idea was chosen we were then asked to delegate roles to ourselves. I, having previous experience, put myself forward to be in charge of sound. With the other members of the group being happy with other roles, it was fairly straight forward for us to organise ourselves in a constructive and efficient manner. 

Post 2- 

With our project idea agreed upon, it was then up to us to organise the project into completion. We began by comparing each others work schedules and working out the best times for filming etc. Fortunately, all our weekends were free so we chose to film our location shoots on Saturdays and Sundays. However, we were less fortunate during the working week as people had various commitments that restricted us from meeting up.

Although problematic, we had no other option to meet in smaller groups and relay information to one another through Facebook and emails. While it helped keep a constant dialog between everyone in the group, some things were missed this way as the conversation could move on before everyone had caught up.

Unfortunately I was absent for much of the planning for this project. I received a sever concussion that impaired my ability to work. I did however communicate with my group constantly to contribute to what ideas I could. In a way I felt me being away from the group helped in a way as they could send me things like the story bored and I could tell them if it was easy to follow for someone who wasn’t there for the whole proses.

Post 3-

The Location shoot actually went surprisingly well. Most of our shooting was done inside so we didn’t have to think about the weather too much. However, the one scene that we had to shoot outside happened to be the time it decided to hail down on us hard. Although this wasn’t too much of an issue as it didn’t last long, it did make me think about checking weather reports for future projects.

When we were shooting at Genesis we had some communication issues with the charity itself, unable to gain access to the building we needed to shoot in. However, in time we contacted a member of staff who worked there and we were able to continue our shoot.

As sound man I was faced with a number of issues on our location shoot. The biggest one was that the jack cable used to connect my mic to the camera was faulty, distorting the sound. This was an issue that was hard to compromise with as we were already on location. However, by toying with the cable I could position it in a way it would not affect the sound. Although this took a great amount of time it was the only thing I could do at this point. If I were to redo this project I would have insured all equipment was functioning correctly before taking it out of the store room.

Furthermore, I had an issue with the ambient sound in the room in which we were filming. Being a small underground room, it was hard to avoid all the little noises around us. The boiling pot was the biggest problem but we were unable to turn off as it was heating the water for the homeless who would be arriving shortly after we had filmed. To compensate for this I had our subjects face away from the boiler so the mic would also be positioned away from it, picking up as little of the diegetic sound as possible. 

Post 4- 

Although I wasn’t directly involved in the editing proses, it was still important that I were on standby for any re-shoots that would be needed. This was something I had learnt from a previous project when I had to do some re-shoots when I noticed a shot had been missed in the edit. Fortunately this did not happen to us. However, after reviewing some of the location footage I do believe it would have been ideal if we were given the opportunity to redo them.

I felt it was very important for our editor to share with us all her progress throughout the edit, which she did extremely effectively, giving us the opportunity to view it when necessary and have a slight input into its creation.When our edit was completed we then asked a number of peers to watch and give us feedback on the production. We all felt this was important to do before the studio shoot as it would have been awful if we played the footage in front of the charity representatives, and the footage made no sense to someone not involved in the creation of it. Although nothing was changed after the feedback, it gave us a reassurance that it was presenting the message that we wanted.

I feel if we had Watched the completed edit together it could have been extremely beneficial to us all. After watching it we could have discussed what we felt went well/wrong and how we could have improved. Doing this would have helped us all in our next projects and keep our skills developing as we would learn from our errors, and is something I will ensure I do in the future. 

Post 5- 

For the studio shoot I was given the position of camera man. I was already familiar with operating the studio cameras so I was confident in my role and fully prepared for the task.  The actual filming was relatively easy from my perspective because once my camera was in position I wasn’t required to move it at all. The main focus was achieving the correct camera angle that the director wanted. I learnt it was actually harder that I thought to communicate through the cans to the gallery as some of the visual queues were lost and you had to rely entirely on audible communication.

 Apart from being camera operator I was also needed to take over as floor manager for a temporary period as the original one was required else where. I found this roll extremely rewarding and I enjoyed it a great amount. The important factors involved in being a floor manager appealed to my personality as the communication aspects came naturally to me as well as organising the studio floor. I would be highly interested in having the floor manager role again but with more of an opportunity to experience it for longer.

I found the hardest part of the shoot was keeping to a time scale. Because we had so many projects being shot that day it was important we kept to our time scales effectively. I believe we did this relatively well and I believe this was due to the whole class working well as a team and strong communication between gallery and floor.

Post 6- 

Overall I believe that the project went extremely well. Although I was temporarily unavailable for some of it, I do feel that I played an integral role in the creative and practical process. It was an extremely fun project to be involved in and I have come away with a deeper understanding of what is needed in such a project.

The most important factor involved in our success was our group interaction. We worked extremely efficiently with everyone involved bringing something to the group. The proses was made relatively easy through our constant communication with on another.

I feel that the basic technical skills I had before the project were advanced greatly by the exposure to the equipment used, in the studio and on location. If I were to take part in another project I would like the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of other pieces of equipment.

If I were to improve on one aspect of the project it would be the planning of the piece. Although I did help I feel other members of the group took a lead and did much of it themselves. Although it was their right as director/producer, I would have liked the opportunity to contribute more to the group projects.

In comparing our studio project to our peers, I believe ours was of a high quality. The pre recorded location shoot looked professional and the studio shoot was run effectively on the day. When speaking to a representative of the Genesis charity she was extremely pleased with what we had achieved, something I am very proud of.