Evaluation: 03/05/12

      When we began Level 5 Integrated Project at the beginning of semester two I was very sure that I didn't want a repeat of Integrated Project at Level 4. During the first year module I found myself in a group with 4 other people, none of which were from Visual Effects and therefore we ended up working on a project that was in no way related to film or visual effects. This meant that I had very little to do in this project and although I tried to help as much as I could, there wasn't very much I could contribute creatively. This meant that at the end of the semester, although I received a good grade for the module, I had nothing to put in my show reel. So this year I was determined not to let the same things happen again.

      I decided that I would talk to my fellow visual effects students and see what their views were on the project. They agreed with me in that they had little to contribute last year and that they wanted to create something they could have a bigger hand in and be proud of at the end of this semester. We therefore decided to ask Colin if we could work together as 5 visual effects students to make something really strong in our area. I was really pleased when Colin agreed to let us work together because I was sure that we could produce something really good with all of our skills in film and visual effects.

      Once the group was established it was clear quite quickly who would take on different roles within the group. We all recognise that each of us has strengths and weaknesses and we were happy to let others take the lead in certain areas which they strived in. I was named team leader as I am the most organised in the group. I also wanted to be involved in the editing of the videos as this is my strength. The other group members voiced which areas they wanted to be involved in and we drew up a document with all our roles on. I think that the roles we initially picked for ourselves held out well throughout the project and that everyone stuck to the areas they had volunteered to do.

      However there were some changes occasionally, if one group member was unable to fulfil their role at a particular time. For example Bradley was supposed to be the director on the film shoot, but he was unable to make the first shoot due to family commitments, so Ross took over and became the director. This was a really good point about our group dynamic, we were all more than willing to help another group member out if they were struggling. I think this made us a strong team.

      Although unfortunately not all group members were as committed as others, as Jason did not contribute much to the project at all, whether that be in physical content or ideas and thoughts in the meetings (which he didn't always attend). He was given the task of creating the idents for the beginning of the cooking videos as he is interested in typography and has strong skills in this area. In the end he did produce some good work and the idents looked really good, it was just a shame that he didn't want to add more to the project.

      If I was to look back at the project and change things that would make our group dynamics better, I wouldn't necessarily change how things worked within the group, but I wouldn't definitely change how the group worked with the MCP. When we were told we would be getting a manager of creative processes for this project, no one really understood what it was about, myself included. I understood that the idea of the module was to make it as realistic as possible, but I thought that when there are five people working on a project together, having one extra person to have to relay information back and forth from would be nothing but hassle and would slow the progress of the project down. At the beginning of the project I thought that my first thoughts were correct. The tasks that we were told the MCP would be doing at that time were not being done and this was hindering our project development. For example the MCP was going to ask us for information so they could produce a task list and timeline chart. However this was not done and I ended up having to do it so that we could see how long we would have to complete every aspect of the project.

      We also struggled with communication with the MCP. It was established within the group at the beginning of the project that I would liaise with the client as we thought one person would be easier than different people speaking with the client. Then about halfway through the project, just before filming I received an email from the client telling me she had been contacted by our MCP who was giving her incorrect information. I could see no reason for this as the MCP was up to date with the project as he was a member of our Facebook group where all progress was recorded. However I apologised to the client and spoke to our MCP, who apologised and realised he had made a mistake.

      After this things were a lot smoother and easier between the group and the manager. We became better at giving him the information he needed and he was better at managing from a distance and supporting us rather than confusing us! I think that throughout this module both us as a group and the MCP have learned things about working with a group and a manager and if we were to do the project again, we would all be a lot better at communicating and working together for the best results for everyone, instead of feeling as though we were hassling the other.

      Our final piece had exceeded my expectations. It took me a while to get my head around our concept and exactly what materials we were producing, but what we have produced is what we intended and more. I don't think any of the group would have said that we would produce 6 good quality, informative cooking videos of around 4 minutes in length each. I am really proud of the videos and will be glad to add them to my show reel to show people in the future. I think the fact that this was the first time we had shot on a real location, in a kitchen of all places and we have managed to produce something professional looking is something myself and Nisha in particular can be proud of, as we were both camera operators and editors. The advertising material we have produced to go with the videos is icing on the cake in my opinion. A new menu, posters to advertise the café bar and the videos and little flags to put in the food or out and about are quick pieces of work that bring the whole project together nicely.

      I think if we were to do this project again, the only thing we would change is perhaps to try and shoot the videos a little bit earlier, to give us more time to edit them and avoid the pressure, but in the end, it's all about the pressure!

      I think all of the group members are hoping that the Showroom Cinema and café bar are pleased and impressed with what we have produced and hopefully they will be used to advertise Simon's new menu and in the end, help to make the café bar a real success.

Editing Day 2: 03/05/12

      Today I continued working on editing the cooking videos. I was going to edit the roast chicken video  first, but when I tried to open the two piece of footage in Adobe Premeire Pro, one of the piece wouldn't work and would need to be re rendered form the raw footage. I told Nisha this as she has all of the originial footage and she was the person who cut up all of the footage in the first place.

 

      I therefore decided to work on the steak video. At first I found it quite difficult as i soon realised that it was very easy for the visuals and audio to get out of sync. I spent a good while getting the footage synced up again and applied a different editing approach. Instead of cutting up the wide footage and the close ups and then rebuilding the video from the pieces, I kept the wide footage with the audio (as the audio was recorded on the same camera as the wide shots). I then wen through the wide footage and when I thought there should be a close up I cut a slice out of the footage and replaced it with a slice of equal size from the close up footage. This worked much much better and I was able to go through the video and edit quite quickly.

Editing Day 1: 02/05/12

Today I began editing the first of my three videos. I am editing the ice cream, roast chicken and steak videos while Nisha is editing lamb, fish and pastry.

Editing went pretty well and although ti was quite difficult to match up because there is no sound on the video, I managed to get a smooth clean edit. Once I had cut up all of the clips and put the close ups and wide shots together I had to look at altering the appearance of the clips. Despite setting up the cameras in the same way, the footage from the camera that shot the wides is a little darker and slighty less white looking as the close ups. This meant I needed to alter the brightness, contrast and some of the colour channels on all of the clips to find a middle ground where they matched. This was suprisingly easy to do and I managed to match them up well.

Tomorrow I will edit the other 2 videos, which will complete my section of the project.

Back on track: 01/05/12

As the deadlines are drawing closer I realised that I needed to pull myself up and go into uni to finish all of my work or I would fail semester 2's modules. I have told Nisha that if she cuts the videos into smaller sized clips I can edit them at home, which will take some of the pressure off her (for some unknown reason a hard drive formated for use on an iMac won't copy files larger than 4GB, so the files must be this size at the largest for me to take them home to edit).

Once she has finished doing this tonight we will split the 6 videos between us and I will take my 3 home and finish editing them. Although I would prefer to be in bed resting at the moment I am pleased to be able to do my shrae of the editing as this is the area of the industry that I am most interested in and what I want to do when I graduate. This way I will be able to put the videos on my showreel and say that I co-shot and edited these videos.

A slight set back: 29/04/12

Today was supposed to be my first day of editing all the footage from the film shoot. However I have come down with really bad tonsilitus and have not been able to come into uni. I have asked if other group members will take over my part of the editing as I fear I will not be able to attend university at all this week, as I know that I am very sensitive to tonsilitus and suffer very badly with it. Hopefully I will make a recovery quickly and will be able to finish the rest of the project in time for the deadline.

Second filming day:27/04/12

Today we went down to the Showroom kitchen for the second day of filming. The day went very smoothly and to plan (almost!) We started more or less on time and this time we didn't have a faulty camera (we checked before we left the stores). However we were missing the cable that attaches the rifle microphone to the camera. When we realised this Ross went back to the stores to get a cable. In the mean time myself and Nisha filmed the first video of the day 'making icecream'. We decided we could film this without sound and could just use background music. This worked well for Lisa (the chef in the video) because she was camera shy and didn't want to talk on camera). By the time we shot this video and se up for the next Ross was back with the cable and we could continue with the shoot properly.

Throughout the shoot we filmed preperation, cooking and serving of a whole chicken, lamb breast and seabreem, the prep and cooking of a steak and the making of puff pastry (one we needed to reshoot from the previous week).

As well as shooting these different dishes, we also shot the different chefs. Simon made it clear to us int he beginning that he didnt want the videos to be all about him, but more about the food and the entire kitchen team. Therefore we have videos featuring Simon, Damion, Lisa, John and 'Rockstar' John (a nickname given to him by the chefs not us!)

We decided that we would not reshoot anymore of the footage from the first shooting day because we already had enough footage for 7 videos, which is plenty for what we need to do.

The day went really well and we all enjoyed filming (and eating!)

Second filming day: 26/04/12

Tomorrow we are shooting the rest of the footage for the cooking videos and reshooting the unusuable footage from last week. Once this is done we will have a week to edit all of the footage. I am confident that we will get all of the editing done as it is simple editing and myself and Nisha are competent editors.

Filmnig Day 2: 20/04/12

Unfortunately I received a text from Simon this morning to say that he would be unable to film today as a family member had passed away the night before. We are going to rearrange the last shooting day next week when he is available. This is obviously more difficult for us and will mean we will need to work really fast to edit all of the videos and finish the project but some things cannot be helped and this is a good experience for real life work in the industry.

Filming Day 1: 19/04/12

Today we did our first filming day with Simon. We filmed with him from 1.30 to 4. We collected our equipment from stores and met him at the Showroom cafe bar. We filmed the steak, the salmon, the pastry, the batter and a white wine sauce for the salmon. the filming went well and he even came up with some more ideas for the next shooting day.
When we captured the footage after the shoot, we saw that one of the cameras, the one we used for all of the close ups was faulty and had recorded everything way too dark. We therefore decided that we would need to reshoot the close ups, which was a pain! Thankfully all of the audio was recorded to the wide shot camera, so Simon will only need to quickly redo everything without having to commentate on what he is doing or play to the camera which should mean it is much quicker to do.

We are looking forward to the next shoot which is tomorrow at 11am.

Planning for filming: 13/04/12

I received an email from Simon Ayres with a list of what things he wanted to shoot in the videos. These include:

• cooking the perfect steak
• cooking salmon with silicone paper
• making puff pastry
• making batter
• making a hollandaise sauce
• making ice cream
• the herb garden

Having this list means that when we start filming we will all know what we're doing.

Filming update: 05/04/12

While in the process of planning our film shoot and working on other areas of the project it occurred to myself that we would not be able to use any equipment from the university stores for our shoot if we did it in w/c 2/04 as the stores are closed for the easter holidays. At first we thought we could still do the shoot using just one camera and tripod which are mine. However we then realised we needed a way to record sound, as my DSLR, although records in full HD, is not an excellent sound recorder and filming in a kitchen would be noisy enough to start with!
We realised that if we went ahead and did the shoot without the proper equipment, the videos would not be professional and would be a disappointment to us and the client. We therefore decided to push the shoot back until the w/c 16/04 when the university stores open again. This isn't ideal for us because we wanted to use the Easter holidays to edit the films, but we will still have plenty of time to do the editing, which is simple cutting and should not take too long.

Meanwhile we are making sure that all other areas of the project (the ident, montage layout and marketing material) are completed over the break, so that we just have to focus on the shoot when we return to classes.

Lighting test and Presentation: 30/03/12

Yesterday we revisited the Showroom kitchen to do the lighting test. We took a camera down to see if we would need any additional lighting equipment for the shoot. Luckily the lighting in the kitchen was pretty good so we thought we could shoot without lighting equipment, which can only be a good thing in a small hectic kitchen.

Today we had to present our idea and progress of our project so far. We had a meeting earlier in the week to go through the powerpoint and decide who was going to speak about which aspects of the project and to make sure all group members knew what the presentation was going to be about specifically.
The presentation went well, we covered all areas of the project and there were only one or two questions at the end. I think the presentation was fluid and we all spoke articulately and enthusiastically.

We haven't received feedback or a grade yet but hopefully we will have done well.

Timeline/task list update: 23/03/12

Today I worked on adjusting the timeline, as after the meeting yesterday we realised we wouldn't be shooting until the w/c 2nd April, instead of next week. I reworked the timeline and we do have plenty of time to do everything as long as we stay on track.

Meeting with Simon: 22/03/12

Yesterday we met with Simon Ayres to discuss our project and show him our ideas. We told him what we wanted to produce (ident for cinema, tip of the day videos, videos for menu). He told us what he wanted to portray in the video, how he wanted to show himself and which areas of the cafe bar were the most important to him. He was really nice and we all really enjoyed meeting him. He was very enthusiastic about doing the videos and helping us develop the ideas for the videos.
He said that he wanted the videos to be as professional as possible and that he wanted a lot of focus to be on the teaching aspect of the kitchen. He seemed up for some fun and we realised that we would not be able to storyboard or script the videos and that we would just capture what was happening in the kitchen and use editing to tell the stories.
Vanessa from the Showroom also attended the meeting and was really happy with how everything went and what we talked about.
We decided that shooting will take place in 2 weeks ( the first week of the Easter holidays) as this is when Simon can give us the most time.

Simon took us into the kitchen so we could see the environment we would be shooting in. We are going back down next week with a camera to see if we will need lighting, although we are hoping to get away with as little extra lighting as possible as we dont have the room for a lot of equipment in the kitchen.
Elliott and Ross decided they wanted tutor Ken Grint involved in the shoot to help with lighting, but the rest of the group felt we were capable of lighting on our own and we didn't want another crew member on the shoot. However we have come to a compromise that we will ask Ken's advice on lighting a kitchen, and he can come to the trial set up next week if he wants to advise us, but he will not attend the shoot.

Between now and the shoot in 2 weeks, between the group and Simon we will decide what dishes and techniques Simon wants to show in the videos, so when we get down there everyone knows what we are shooting.

We are really looking forward to the shoot and think it will be a lot of fun!

16/03/12

In today's class I worked on the activities list and time plan for our project. I wrote down everything that needs to be done, who was in charge of doing it and when it was going to be completed. When I had put everything in order it was easy to see exactly how long we have to complete the project and when we need to be hitting retain deadlines in order to finish the piece. Doing this was really helpful and focused our ideas so we all know now what we are doing, whereas before things were still a little confusing.

I also emailed the Showroom chef Simon Ayres to arrange a meeting for Thursday next week. He emailed back over the weekend confirming the meeting and asked us to choose a time, which at the moment seems to be 2pm. We are now going to work on some questions to ask Simon and some things to show him in the meeting so he has a clear idea of our intentions.

Group meeting: 14/03/12

Yesterday the group met to discuss where the project was going and make some final decisions such as exactly what we are going t produce, who is going to work on which areas and how we are going to go about producing these things. We also talked about the budget aspect of the project and decided on how much we would charge for our services if other teams wanted to hire us to help on their projects. Elliot our MCP had given group member Ross a list of things he would need to create the action plan for us, so we also discussed this, as well as how we would communicate and share ideas which will be through Prezi.

I also received an email from our client Melanie yesterday confirming that chef Simon Ayres is willing to meet with us, so we are in the process of confirming a meeting date and time to show him our plans and ideas and get his input.

Meeting with client: 07/03/12

This week we met with the client, Melanie and Vanessa from the Showroom and Workstation. (Meeting was at 2.30pm in the Workstation offices).
We all attended (group of 5 and MCP Elliot).
We discussed our ideas and the client told us what they thought and what they were looking for. The meeting was really positive and helpful and we were able to establishment more of what the client wants and where they see the project going. We were able to establish a time when we could meet with Simon Ayres to discuss our ideas with him (Thursdays seem to be the best), although we haven't organised a meeting yet.

Today we finalised our ideas and Elliot helped us create the timeline for our work.

Roles: 02/03/12

This week I worked on the presentation for today. I created a powerpoint to display our ideas and research. We then presented today and got really good feedback.

We also met our MCP Elliot and arranged a meeting with Melanie the client- next Wednesday afternoon.

We decided on the roles we are all going to undertake.
Hannah- Manager/Director
Nisha- production/cinematographer
Brad- post production/editing
Jason- post production/editing
Ross- MCP liaison/ web, QR coding

It was decided that I would be the manager of the group because I am deemed the most organised. I am also in charge of contact with the clients Melanie and Vanessa, and the chef Simon. Again I think this job has been given to me because I am an organised person and that the group are confident that I will be able to keep all of the group and the clients up to date with what is happening in the project. I am happy to take on this role as I like to know whats going on.

Update on Ideas

During the last week we have begun refining our ideas and developing 2 ideas to present to the client on Friday 2nd March. This week we are going to shoot a demo of the cooking videos, presenting one more serious, factual clip and one comedy clip. We are also going to research the ideas more and create a presentation to present.

An idea we had last week was to chalk the QR codes onto pavements as a way of promoting the Showroom, an idea we are going to look into more this week.

First Post: 17/02/12

Class 1: Looking at the brief, writing a profile so other students could see our skills.
Class 2: Pitches from the 4 clients; SHU international centre, Showroom/Workstation, Site Gallery & Cultural Industries Quarter. We started thinking about rough ideas for each client to feed back to them.

Between class 2&3 I began thinking about the module and decided that I didn't want to work on something that I couldn't contribute a lot to, as this had happened in Level 4 Integrated Project, working with games and animation students. I knew I wanted to work on something I could have in my portfolio at the end of my degree, and so spoke to another 2 people on the visual effects course, shared my feelings and decided we would try and work together on something film related.

Class 3: Myself, Brad and Ross spoke to Colin about working in a group of 3 from the same course, fully expecting him to disagree and have a problem with us not working with people from other courses. However he was very understanding and gave us the green light.

Once we had established our group, we picked a client, the Showroom cinema and Workstation and began discussing ideas. Colin told us the client wants a number of 1 minute cooking videos to promote the new chef Simon Ayres, so we have decided to do this for our project.
We will continue working on our idea and researching next week.