This is the proposal that we wrote to show John O'Leary during our meeting on Friday the 12th December.
We have researched into what students already know about the Additional Support services offered by the college, and have done interviews with several main people who offer support - Steve Newman, Karen Mayfield, Oz Ozbourne, and Vivienne Ridpath. This has helped us to understand the service. We still have to interview some other people like Janet Waters, Bob Smith and Vera Baney.
We also surveyed about 50 students by asking them questions about the Additional Support Service. We have found out a number of interesting facts about levels of awareness of the service amongst students:
We found that over a third of students were not aware of any additional support services in the college. (60.4 % of students were aware of the student support services at the college and 39.6 were not).
More students (40%), had not seen any advertising about the services.
Out of those who had seen advertising, the majority of the students said that they had noticed posters.
We also asked what students thought would be the best way to be told about the additional support services. The majority said posters, but other ideas were the daily bulletin, on screens around the college, college intranet, emails and induction.
We also asked if they thought there were students that wanted to use the services but were too embarrassed most of the students said yes (79 %). However, the number of students that said they would seek support was more than the people that said they wouldn’t. (64%)
We asked students if they knew who to go see for different issues, and most of them didn’t know who to see.
Also most students didn’t know how to make an appointment to see any of the members of additional support.
After doing this research we started to work out our ideas for the video we want to produce. Our idea is to produce one version for the tutor programme and the internet, and another version, without sound, for the screens around college.
We’d now like to present our proposal for you, and ask for your opinion of it, and any suggestions you have about how we could improve it.
SHOW STORYBOARDS
Title screen appears with the question “Do you know?” “That your College offers” “additional support for many different things?”
Then a group of friends are shown in the common room round a table all discussing their personal problems. Camera focuses on one person to begin with, this person then tells us their problem. Let’s say they are worried about money. The camera then fast tracks to the room of the Student Support Officer, perhaps with a dissolve to a map of the college where we see a red line travelling from the common room to the office. She then explains who she is and what areas she can help with. The camera then dissolves back to the table in the common room and the person who was before feeling down tells us how the service helped him or her “Yeah, I was really in trouble but she helped me sort out my EMA and my Access application and she even came with me to the Housing Department. She was brilliant!”
The camera then focuses on another student who says something like “I wish my problem could be sorted like yours….” Then the same thing happens. We follow the same structure until we get through each person and their
individual problems. Not only does this show the effectiveness of the service but it also explains what the service offers and shows it’s not an embarrassing thing to do because the group of friends discuss the service so openly.
We have a variation of this idea. Instead of a group discussing their problems, we start with a pan around a busy room, like the common room, or the library, and the camera picks out one person, sitting alone, and we hear their thoughts in a voiceover. The rest would be the same, but this way, each person with a problem starts off alone, but then ends up in a group, explaining how college would help them. We would also be able to show the route to the right office from different starting points.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Research Graphs
These are the graphs that were made to show the percentages of the answers we got after interviewing 50 students from the college.
The Pitch Meeting
We had a meeting with John O'Leary on Friday the 12th of December to discuss our ideas about our Additional Support video. First we presented some of our research to John & then we pitched our ideas.
The first idea we had was that our video would start with a question 'Did you know that your college offers additional support for many different things?' & then it would show a group of students talking about their problems, the camera would then focuse on one student who would explain their problem & the camera would then fast track to an additional support officer who would explain what help & support they can offer, the camera then fast tracks back to the common room & the student is shown happy, talking about the help they got from the student support officer. And the second idea was that at the beginning of the video we would have the same question & instead of a group of students we would see a student sitting alone in the common room, with a voice over talking about their problems, the camera then fast tracks to an additional support officer who explains how they can help & at the end of the video the student is shown with a group of friends, talking about how additional support helped them.
I think the pitch went well, we all spoke about our ideas & asked John for his input on our ideas. Our only mistake was that at the end of our meeting we didn't ask which idea he preferred, however our tutor Sean luckily asked him after we had left. John preferred the second idea, where the student starts off alone & is later shown with a group of friends feeling happy again, & that is the video we'll be making.
The first idea we had was that our video would start with a question 'Did you know that your college offers additional support for many different things?' & then it would show a group of students talking about their problems, the camera would then focuse on one student who would explain their problem & the camera would then fast track to an additional support officer who would explain what help & support they can offer, the camera then fast tracks back to the common room & the student is shown happy, talking about the help they got from the student support officer. And the second idea was that at the beginning of the video we would have the same question & instead of a group of students we would see a student sitting alone in the common room, with a voice over talking about their problems, the camera then fast tracks to an additional support officer who explains how they can help & at the end of the video the student is shown with a group of friends, talking about how additional support helped them.
I think the pitch went well, we all spoke about our ideas & asked John for his input on our ideas. Our only mistake was that at the end of our meeting we didn't ask which idea he preferred, however our tutor Sean luckily asked him after we had left. John preferred the second idea, where the student starts off alone & is later shown with a group of friends feeling happy again, & that is the video we'll be making.
Jonjo's Interview with Karen Mayfield
This is a summary of the main points made by Karen Mayfield Student support officer in my interview with her on Friday 5th December
What role do you play in the Colleges support Services ?
my role in the college is to support students emotionally, point them in the right direction,
give them Counceling.
What sort of problems do people come to you with ?
its varied majority financial, students left home living on there own, people also come to me with relationship problems, sometimes they have no money, sometimes they feel they've picked the wrong courses.
so what financial help is available for students ?
Acces fund which is run through the college gives people money for trips and equipment. E.M.A some people are not aware they are able to get e.m.a. And Emergency fund for students who are in desperate needs.
what housing help can you offer for students ?
conexion officers speak to them people. And we sometimes take them to Burgh council if the situation is urgent and they need housing that day.
how would you commonly handle a situation such as a student becoming homeless ?
If its there choice its difficult because sometimes the state wont back them up. If they decided they don't want to live at home because of an argument theres not much they can do unless they have money to rent somewere. It really depends on the circumstances.
do you have any advice for students with problems, who are afraid to approach a member of the support service ?
My advice would be, I know sometimes it can be difficult we are seen as figures of authority sometimes. talk to your tutors and they can always come along with you to meet any of the support team and once they get through the door they will see we are only here to support.
do you believe in anyway the additional support service in college could be improved?
I do believe it could be improved, I think more money is required to get some additional members of staff to help the students as much as possible.
What role do you play in the Colleges support Services ?
my role in the college is to support students emotionally, point them in the right direction,
give them Counceling.
What sort of problems do people come to you with ?
its varied majority financial, students left home living on there own, people also come to me with relationship problems, sometimes they have no money, sometimes they feel they've picked the wrong courses.
so what financial help is available for students ?
Acces fund which is run through the college gives people money for trips and equipment. E.M.A some people are not aware they are able to get e.m.a. And Emergency fund for students who are in desperate needs.
what housing help can you offer for students ?
conexion officers speak to them people. And we sometimes take them to Burgh council if the situation is urgent and they need housing that day.
how would you commonly handle a situation such as a student becoming homeless ?
If its there choice its difficult because sometimes the state wont back them up. If they decided they don't want to live at home because of an argument theres not much they can do unless they have money to rent somewere. It really depends on the circumstances.
do you have any advice for students with problems, who are afraid to approach a member of the support service ?
My advice would be, I know sometimes it can be difficult we are seen as figures of authority sometimes. talk to your tutors and they can always come along with you to meet any of the support team and once they get through the door they will see we are only here to support.
do you believe in anyway the additional support service in college could be improved?
I do believe it could be improved, I think more money is required to get some additional members of staff to help the students as much as possible.
Liam's Interview with Vivienne Ridpath
Questions:
1. What is your role in college?
2. What help do you provide to students?
3. What sort of problems do students come to you about?
4. What do you enjoy about your job?
5. How many students do you see a week?
6. What would you want to say to encourage students to see you?
7. Is there anything that you would like to see in the video?
Answers:
1.) My role is to support students with their studies, to support anybody with a disability and students with specific learning difficulties, indeed students who are struggling anyway with their studies. If a disabled student applies to the college then they can declare their disability and we can get everything organised for them, whatever their needs are whether it is wheelchair access or visual impairment hearing impairment we can organise supportive technology and or extra support staff
2.) When students come to see me I talk to them about how they find their studies and ask them how they think I can help them. Very often extra time in exams is helpful takes a lot of stress away. I also direct them to one-to-one support if they need it and generally we discuss their barriers to learning accessing the curriculum and talk through ways of helping them.
3.) Usually students are reffered to by a member of staff, a few students come on their own. Usually it is about reading and writing, very often it is about being behind in their assignments, very often the student might have a lack of organisation, thats one thing that comes about. Very often some induviduals just feel like they are dyslexic but nobody has ever told them they just feel like they are so again, come with any problem we will talk it through and find sollutions to it.
4.) I really enjoy meeting the students and liaison with the staff.
5.) I see between four and seven, seven would be a good week
6.) If you feel that you are struggling at all with your studies or having trouble with your curriculum come and see me or tell someone do not suffer in silence.
7.) No answer
8.) I think more time aloud to support students would be helpful.
1. What is your role in college?
2. What help do you provide to students?
3. What sort of problems do students come to you about?
4. What do you enjoy about your job?
5. How many students do you see a week?
6. What would you want to say to encourage students to see you?
7. Is there anything that you would like to see in the video?
Answers:
1.) My role is to support students with their studies, to support anybody with a disability and students with specific learning difficulties, indeed students who are struggling anyway with their studies. If a disabled student applies to the college then they can declare their disability and we can get everything organised for them, whatever their needs are whether it is wheelchair access or visual impairment hearing impairment we can organise supportive technology and or extra support staff
2.) When students come to see me I talk to them about how they find their studies and ask them how they think I can help them. Very often extra time in exams is helpful takes a lot of stress away. I also direct them to one-to-one support if they need it and generally we discuss their barriers to learning accessing the curriculum and talk through ways of helping them.
3.) Usually students are reffered to by a member of staff, a few students come on their own. Usually it is about reading and writing, very often it is about being behind in their assignments, very often the student might have a lack of organisation, thats one thing that comes about. Very often some induviduals just feel like they are dyslexic but nobody has ever told them they just feel like they are so again, come with any problem we will talk it through and find sollutions to it.
4.) I really enjoy meeting the students and liaison with the staff.
5.) I see between four and seven, seven would be a good week
6.) If you feel that you are struggling at all with your studies or having trouble with your curriculum come and see me or tell someone do not suffer in silence.
7.) No answer
8.) I think more time aloud to support students would be helpful.
Sophie's Interview with Steve Newman
Question 1. What is your role in college?
Answer- I see the councilors role is to provide emotional support to both students and staff if wanted.
Question 2. What sort of problems do students come to you with?
Answer- Mainly relationship issues boyfriends and girlfriends. Workload issues especially around the college can i cope? can i get my qualifications?. It can be a bit of a step up from school at times they struggle with that. There are some other difficulties but they are now coping. People come in with self harm issues, eating disorders, low self-esteem that really does make a difference to a person and how they engage with others.
Question 3. What additional help is available for students?
Answer- Well after seeing the students if we think that there's specific help needed we might refer them to external agencies. We also have Karen mayfield who is the welfare officer who's very active within the college, who's very knowledgeable on additional help.
Question 4. Roughly how many students come to see you in a week?
Answer- It varies on a weekly basis. 20 sessions available a week shared out by three of the councilors, half of theses sessions are reguarly used. During peak times its almost like theres no spaces.
Question 5. What would you say to a student who wanted to come talk to you but felt too embarrassed?
Councilors aren't here to judge you and that we as human beings all have moments where we feel inadequate and struggle and by sharing those feelings within the safety of the counseling environment.
Question 6. Is there anything you would like us to use to promote your services in our video?
A dance troop.
Question 7. What do you enjoy most about your job?
For me it would be watching a person emotionally develop and take direction in their lives. Taking the reins of life but they dont become a victim of it. The biggest challenge is to live life and not be worn down by it.
Answer- I see the councilors role is to provide emotional support to both students and staff if wanted.
Question 2. What sort of problems do students come to you with?
Answer- Mainly relationship issues boyfriends and girlfriends. Workload issues especially around the college can i cope? can i get my qualifications?. It can be a bit of a step up from school at times they struggle with that. There are some other difficulties but they are now coping. People come in with self harm issues, eating disorders, low self-esteem that really does make a difference to a person and how they engage with others.
Question 3. What additional help is available for students?
Answer- Well after seeing the students if we think that there's specific help needed we might refer them to external agencies. We also have Karen mayfield who is the welfare officer who's very active within the college, who's very knowledgeable on additional help.
Question 4. Roughly how many students come to see you in a week?
Answer- It varies on a weekly basis. 20 sessions available a week shared out by three of the councilors, half of theses sessions are reguarly used. During peak times its almost like theres no spaces.
Question 5. What would you say to a student who wanted to come talk to you but felt too embarrassed?
Councilors aren't here to judge you and that we as human beings all have moments where we feel inadequate and struggle and by sharing those feelings within the safety of the counseling environment.
Question 6. Is there anything you would like us to use to promote your services in our video?
A dance troop.
Question 7. What do you enjoy most about your job?
For me it would be watching a person emotionally develop and take direction in their lives. Taking the reins of life but they dont become a victim of it. The biggest challenge is to live life and not be worn down by it.
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Interview with Oz Osbourne
This is the transcript from the interview I had with Oz Osbourne.
1. What exactly do you do in college?
I work on the additional support team and my role is to help students with emotional help & well being.
2. What sort of help do you offer students?
When it comes to people's emotional health it can cover anything but effectively if a student is having any kind of difficulties that perhaps are not neccesarily learning related it might be due to the stress & pressure of work, it might be to do with family life or friends but anything that's causing them to be in less than good emotional help & well being. They can come along & it's just for an informal chat & we take it from there.
3. What sort of problems do students come to you about?
It really is a completely wide range. It might be that someone is struggling with their work load, but obviously tutors & personal tutors can help with those things as well so it tends to be when it's having a greater than usual effect on how they're thinking & feeling about things & their general experience of things. So I think it's fair to say that all students at times, particularly with exams, work load & coursework, can struggle with some things but I think it's when it becomes almost unmanagable that they might come along & start off with a informal chat then we see what route they can go from there to get more help & support.
4. What would you want to say to a student who wanted to talk to you but felt too embarrassed?
I think it would probably be that it's, in the time that I've been in college, it's the number of students & the range of students that come to see me, it's certainly no embarrassment to say that everybody, at some point in our lifes, however well we appear to coping to other people it's ok every now & again to ask for help. And it's certainly not a weakness & infact by asking for help you can deal with things more quickly than if you let them run on then perhaps that's a sign of strength & there wouldnt be people in the college like myself & other student support officers if a lot of students didn't need the help & support that we offer.
5. What do you enjoy about your job?
I think it's certainly the range of challenges that we have, but I guess it's just knowing that sometimes a student will come to see myself or one of the other additional support members & perhaps go on & achieve a little bit more than they thought they were able to because they were able to deal with some of the problems & barriers that may have prevented them from achieving that way.
6. How many students do you see a week?
That varies, I'm only in for about six hours a week & sometimes I'll have appointments all day so that would be a maximum of 5 or 6 students. Some weeks there's only 1 or 2, sometimes there are students I see over a long term & will see every week, sometimes students will just drop when they need help. On top of one to one sessions I also have offered work shops around exam stress so in those weeks it might be that I've run a couple of work shops & they've been attended by 8-10 people in those weeks it could be up to 20 students. But generally it's 4-5 a week on average.
7. Is there anything you would like us to use to promote you in the video?
The space we see people in because we try to make it a neautral space & things, is probably quite good. I hope that students can see that any of the additional support team look reasonably normal & welcoming.
8. Do you think there’s any way of improving the support service in college?
I think that it'd be naive to think that there werent ways of improving & I guess things like additional resources but we all know that there's so many things that colleges need to pay for & have resources for. So I think that we're all grateful & hopefully some of the students are that we're here. I think what you're doing is a good thing & lots of students dont know that we're here, the more ways to promote is good.
1. What exactly do you do in college?
I work on the additional support team and my role is to help students with emotional help & well being.
2. What sort of help do you offer students?
When it comes to people's emotional health it can cover anything but effectively if a student is having any kind of difficulties that perhaps are not neccesarily learning related it might be due to the stress & pressure of work, it might be to do with family life or friends but anything that's causing them to be in less than good emotional help & well being. They can come along & it's just for an informal chat & we take it from there.
3. What sort of problems do students come to you about?
It really is a completely wide range. It might be that someone is struggling with their work load, but obviously tutors & personal tutors can help with those things as well so it tends to be when it's having a greater than usual effect on how they're thinking & feeling about things & their general experience of things. So I think it's fair to say that all students at times, particularly with exams, work load & coursework, can struggle with some things but I think it's when it becomes almost unmanagable that they might come along & start off with a informal chat then we see what route they can go from there to get more help & support.
4. What would you want to say to a student who wanted to talk to you but felt too embarrassed?
I think it would probably be that it's, in the time that I've been in college, it's the number of students & the range of students that come to see me, it's certainly no embarrassment to say that everybody, at some point in our lifes, however well we appear to coping to other people it's ok every now & again to ask for help. And it's certainly not a weakness & infact by asking for help you can deal with things more quickly than if you let them run on then perhaps that's a sign of strength & there wouldnt be people in the college like myself & other student support officers if a lot of students didn't need the help & support that we offer.
5. What do you enjoy about your job?
I think it's certainly the range of challenges that we have, but I guess it's just knowing that sometimes a student will come to see myself or one of the other additional support members & perhaps go on & achieve a little bit more than they thought they were able to because they were able to deal with some of the problems & barriers that may have prevented them from achieving that way.
6. How many students do you see a week?
That varies, I'm only in for about six hours a week & sometimes I'll have appointments all day so that would be a maximum of 5 or 6 students. Some weeks there's only 1 or 2, sometimes there are students I see over a long term & will see every week, sometimes students will just drop when they need help. On top of one to one sessions I also have offered work shops around exam stress so in those weeks it might be that I've run a couple of work shops & they've been attended by 8-10 people in those weeks it could be up to 20 students. But generally it's 4-5 a week on average.
7. Is there anything you would like us to use to promote you in the video?
The space we see people in because we try to make it a neautral space & things, is probably quite good. I hope that students can see that any of the additional support team look reasonably normal & welcoming.
8. Do you think there’s any way of improving the support service in college?
I think that it'd be naive to think that there werent ways of improving & I guess things like additional resources but we all know that there's so many things that colleges need to pay for & have resources for. So I think that we're all grateful & hopefully some of the students are that we're here. I think what you're doing is a good thing & lots of students dont know that we're here, the more ways to promote is good.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Questions to ask Oz Osbourne
- What exactly do you do in college?
- What sort of help do you offer students?
- What sort of problems do students come to you about?
- What would you want to say to a student who wanted to talk to you but felt too embarassed?
- What do you enjoy about your job?
- How many students do you see a week?
- Is there anything you would like us to use to promote you in the video?
Initial Interview with John O'Leary - Head of Student Support
Interview: Friday 28th November.
Student support is extra help apart from the help you
can get in class, the people who are involved with student support are:
Karen Mayfield is a student support officer, she works full time & deals with welfare issues.
Vivienne Ridpath assesses students with dyslexia & psychical disabilities, she works Mondays & Thursdays.
Janet Waters is in charge of literacy support & help with organisation.
Alex Spalding helps with paperwork & works Wednesday afternoons.
John O’Leary is coordinator & works full time.
Vera Baney is the exams, transport & EMA officer.
Oz Osbourne is in charge of mental health issues & works Mondays &
Thursdays.
Terri Kemp looks after deaf students.
Bob Smith is in charge of maths support.
Councillors offer an independent confidential counselling service.
Peer Supporters are students who are trained to give advice & help students who are having problems.
8-9 students are referred to additional support a week, this doesn't include students who go to see the support officer Karen or the councillors.
Literacy is the most common area for referrals.
John O'Leary, head of student support, thinks the service needs more advertising - in particular literacy & numeracy support need more advertising.
Length of video – 3 minutes, no more than 3 & a half.
Areas to focus on – get the point across that if anyone in college is struggling with their course, it is ok to talk to the support officers & they are friendly & approachable.
Do not make a video including information on different additional support needs, focus on the student support officers who are available to help.
Student confidentiality is important.
Friday, 21 November 2008
"The Lottery Ticket" 90 Second Short Evaluation
The task was to shoot a 90 second continuity sequence in which a package of some kind changes hands for DepicT! which is a short film competition that challenges budding film makers to make mini-masterpieces of under 90 seconds. All of our shots had to be taken on a tripod & we had to include a zoom, an eye line match, a match on action, a close up & at least one extreme close up. We also weren’t allowed to use any dialogue, unless it was discussed with our teachers, & we had to be especially careful not to break the 180% rule.
We were told about the task & then given ten minutes to each come up with an idea, our first idea was that a man would lose his lottery ticket & face lots of obstacles to get it back. We then developed this idea, considering what obstacles he would face & deciding that in the end he would only win £10. We storyboarded it by considering how long each shot would be & what order we wanted the shots in, before putting it onto paper. We ensured that our storyboard met the requirements by reading the brief before & during doing the storyboard & checked it when we had finished to make sure we had included all the required shots.
I think the shoot went well; we didn’t encounter any serious problems apart from occasionally breaking the 180% degree rule & having to re-shoot. We had to change several things from our storyboards, as we had written in a scene where a dog was to steal the lottery ticket however we soon realised we did not have enough time to include it. We tried to ensure that all of our shots would link up & flow smoothly by shooting everything at least three times, making sure all of the same clothes were worn & carefully thinking about where we had to shoot from if we were doing a match on action. As a group, Liam, Sophie & I, worked quite well together. I think Sophie & I got more access to the equipment because Liam acted in most of our video, but he had access to the equipment when we were shooting scenes he wasn’t in.
Editing went well; because we had already used Final Cut Pro on our induction video we were quite familiar with it however because we had too much footage that we wanted to include we were not able to edit it down to 90 seconds so it couldn't be entered in the DepicT! film competition. We did realise that we had broken the 180% rule a few times, when The Man was running the wrong way in one scene & we pushed a pram the wrong way, however using Final Cut Pro we flipped it & it wasn’t a problem in the end. We departed from our original idea by changing some scenes & completely cutting others. We used two soundtracks, the first was Kyle Minogue I should be so lucky because of the irony as he wasn’t very lucky in losing his ticket & the second was the Benny Hill theme tune, we used this because our video style matched the music. I found the software easy enough to use, obviously because we had used it before so it wasn’t new to me. I made the movie into a MOV file & then reduced its size & changed it to a FLV file using Adobe Flash Video Encoder before uploading it to my blog. I then used Idvd to burn my movie onto a DVD.
The opening shot of our video is a medium close up of The Man’s bum as he dances, we decided to use this shot for humour. The video then cuts to a medium long shot of The Man washing up in the kitchen, as he listens to Kyle Minogue on the radio. We adjusted the audio track using the clip overlays to make the music quieter as we had a close up of the radio whilst the radio presenter spoke. It was important to adjust the sound levels at this part of our video as the present delivers crucial information. We then use several medium shots of The Man in the kitchen, & an eyeline match to a POV shot when he holds the ticket & looks down at it. We use a match on action as you see The Man throw his ticket out the window in anger & then you see it falling out of the window. We then go to a medium close up of The Man, realising he has actually won, then back to a medium shot as he runs out of the room & another medium shot of him running down the stairs & out of the building. The shot where the ticket flies in the air took quite a while to shoot as we had to leave the camera rolling & continuously drop the ticket into the shot, hoping we would get at least one useable shot. We did but when it came to editing we reversed the shot so it wouldn't break the 180 degree rule. We use an establishing shot as you see The Chav Mother walking down the street, pushing the pram before cutting to a high angle close up of her pram as the ticket falls into it, then to a very long shot as she stops to pick up her baby’s blanket & a close up as The Man rummages through the pram. We use a long shot as you see The Man running away from the pram & a close up of The Chav Mother as she yells at him. We have a long shot of The Man running around the corner, then cut to a medium close up as he realises he has lost his ticket. We use a medium long shot of Pee Man coming into pee & The Man running, then a high angle medium shot of the ticket being peed on which cuts to a medium close up of the ticket getting soaked & then we cut back to the medium shot of Pee Man peeing, this is a match on action shot. For this scene we bought apple juice to use as the Pee Man's urine as we obviously couldn't use real pee. We used match on actions for the peeing shots & We have a long shot of The Man running in & Pee Man walking out; to a medium shot of The Man picking up the ticket & low angle close up of him. We then have a medium long shot as The Man walks into the post office & another when he is in the post office, followed by a medium shot of him handing over his lottery ticket, then there is a close up of him showing his excitement as he holds the money he has won. We then have a medium close up of The Cashier as she watches Liam run out of the post office. We use a medium shot & a slow pan to show Liam running out of the post office. And then we have a long shot of him running outside of the post office & we use a freeze frame shot as he jumps into the air. To create the right mise en scène for our The Lottery Ticket we carefully thought about where we would film, we chose Liam's house for the kitchen scenes as it was close by & Ellie's Mum's Post Office for the scene where he cashes in his lottery ticket as it was also close by & it would be easy to get permission from them to film there. We also considered what clothing we wanted our characters to wear for The Lottery Ticket & what other props we might need, like the Pram & the Police Man's hat to give the idea that The Chav was pregnant, & collected them from the college's props closet.
We were told about the task & then given ten minutes to each come up with an idea, our first idea was that a man would lose his lottery ticket & face lots of obstacles to get it back. We then developed this idea, considering what obstacles he would face & deciding that in the end he would only win £10. We storyboarded it by considering how long each shot would be & what order we wanted the shots in, before putting it onto paper. We ensured that our storyboard met the requirements by reading the brief before & during doing the storyboard & checked it when we had finished to make sure we had included all the required shots.
I think the shoot went well; we didn’t encounter any serious problems apart from occasionally breaking the 180% degree rule & having to re-shoot. We had to change several things from our storyboards, as we had written in a scene where a dog was to steal the lottery ticket however we soon realised we did not have enough time to include it. We tried to ensure that all of our shots would link up & flow smoothly by shooting everything at least three times, making sure all of the same clothes were worn & carefully thinking about where we had to shoot from if we were doing a match on action. As a group, Liam, Sophie & I, worked quite well together. I think Sophie & I got more access to the equipment because Liam acted in most of our video, but he had access to the equipment when we were shooting scenes he wasn’t in.
Editing went well; because we had already used Final Cut Pro on our induction video we were quite familiar with it however because we had too much footage that we wanted to include we were not able to edit it down to 90 seconds so it couldn't be entered in the DepicT! film competition. We did realise that we had broken the 180% rule a few times, when The Man was running the wrong way in one scene & we pushed a pram the wrong way, however using Final Cut Pro we flipped it & it wasn’t a problem in the end. We departed from our original idea by changing some scenes & completely cutting others. We used two soundtracks, the first was Kyle Minogue I should be so lucky because of the irony as he wasn’t very lucky in losing his ticket & the second was the Benny Hill theme tune, we used this because our video style matched the music. I found the software easy enough to use, obviously because we had used it before so it wasn’t new to me. I made the movie into a MOV file & then reduced its size & changed it to a FLV file using Adobe Flash Video Encoder before uploading it to my blog. I then used Idvd to burn my movie onto a DVD.
The opening shot of our video is a medium close up of The Man’s bum as he dances, we decided to use this shot for humour. The video then cuts to a medium long shot of The Man washing up in the kitchen, as he listens to Kyle Minogue on the radio. We adjusted the audio track using the clip overlays to make the music quieter as we had a close up of the radio whilst the radio presenter spoke. It was important to adjust the sound levels at this part of our video as the present delivers crucial information. We then use several medium shots of The Man in the kitchen, & an eyeline match to a POV shot when he holds the ticket & looks down at it. We use a match on action as you see The Man throw his ticket out the window in anger & then you see it falling out of the window. We then go to a medium close up of The Man, realising he has actually won, then back to a medium shot as he runs out of the room & another medium shot of him running down the stairs & out of the building. The shot where the ticket flies in the air took quite a while to shoot as we had to leave the camera rolling & continuously drop the ticket into the shot, hoping we would get at least one useable shot. We did but when it came to editing we reversed the shot so it wouldn't break the 180 degree rule. We use an establishing shot as you see The Chav Mother walking down the street, pushing the pram before cutting to a high angle close up of her pram as the ticket falls into it, then to a very long shot as she stops to pick up her baby’s blanket & a close up as The Man rummages through the pram. We use a long shot as you see The Man running away from the pram & a close up of The Chav Mother as she yells at him. We have a long shot of The Man running around the corner, then cut to a medium close up as he realises he has lost his ticket. We use a medium long shot of Pee Man coming into pee & The Man running, then a high angle medium shot of the ticket being peed on which cuts to a medium close up of the ticket getting soaked & then we cut back to the medium shot of Pee Man peeing, this is a match on action shot. For this scene we bought apple juice to use as the Pee Man's urine as we obviously couldn't use real pee. We used match on actions for the peeing shots & We have a long shot of The Man running in & Pee Man walking out; to a medium shot of The Man picking up the ticket & low angle close up of him. We then have a medium long shot as The Man walks into the post office & another when he is in the post office, followed by a medium shot of him handing over his lottery ticket, then there is a close up of him showing his excitement as he holds the money he has won. We then have a medium close up of The Cashier as she watches Liam run out of the post office. We use a medium shot & a slow pan to show Liam running out of the post office. And then we have a long shot of him running outside of the post office & we use a freeze frame shot as he jumps into the air. To create the right mise en scène for our The Lottery Ticket we carefully thought about where we would film, we chose Liam's house for the kitchen scenes as it was close by & Ellie's Mum's Post Office for the scene where he cashes in his lottery ticket as it was also close by & it would be easy to get permission from them to film there. We also considered what clothing we wanted our characters to wear for The Lottery Ticket & what other props we might need, like the Pram & the Police Man's hat to give the idea that The Chav was pregnant, & collected them from the college's props closet.
Improved on: 5th January 2008
Thursday, 20 November 2008
The Lottery Ticket Storyboards
These are part of the planning for our second video assignment, which was to create a 90 second short film. Click on one to see it at full size.
Friday, 3 October 2008
My Continuity Clip Analysis
We had to choose a clip and analyse it to show our understanding of the continuity system - the 180 degree rule, establishing shots, match on action, eye line match, shot/reverse shot and so on.
The clip I have chosen begins with an establishing shot of New York City.
Sixteen seconds into the clip, there is an eye line match shot between Big & Carrie.
Thirty three seconds in, there is a shot/reverse shot between the women as they talk in the bedroom. There is another shot/reverse shot at one minute & five seconds in.
Two minutes & ten seconds into the clip there is a match on action shot, as Carrie is shown throwing her arms around Samantha, Miranda & Charlotte from one angle & then shown from behind continuing to hug them.
The clip I have chosen begins with an establishing shot of New York City.
Sixteen seconds into the clip, there is an eye line match shot between Big & Carrie.
Thirty three seconds in, there is a shot/reverse shot between the women as they talk in the bedroom. There is another shot/reverse shot at one minute & five seconds in.
Two minutes & ten seconds into the clip there is a match on action shot, as Carrie is shown throwing her arms around Samantha, Miranda & Charlotte from one angle & then shown from behind continuing to hug them.
Monday, 29 September 2008
Induction Evaluation
Explain The Task.
The task was to work in a small team to create a 1 minute video product, with a working title of ‘Growing Up I loved…’
Describe how you came up with your idea.
I thought carefully about the things I loved when I was younger, the obvious choice was Barbie, but as Sophie had already decided to do that, I chose trolls. This was because I had collected them from a young age & it wouldn’t be a problem to get hold of them because I still had quite a few at home.
Describe how you planned your project.
I planned my project by thinking of ideas about what I wanted to happen in my video & then writing those ideas onto paper. After I had done that, I filled in a shot list so I had a general idea of what shots I wanted where.
Explain what you learnt about using cameras and tripods.
I learnt things like using angles & instead of using zoom, going in close to get better shots. I also learnt that it’s imperative to use a tripod, for steady filming.
Explain what you learnt about editing using Final Cut Pro.
I learnt a lot about editing from Final Cut Pro, as I had never done anything like that before… I learnt how to cut unneeded bits out of my video, how to arrange my shots on a timeline, how to make credits, how to use transitions & how to put music onto my movie.
Explain about uploading the finished project to your blog & creating a DVD of it.
I made the movie into a MOV file & then reduced its size & changed it to a FLV file using Adobe Flash Video Encoder before uploading it to my blog. I then used Idvd to burn my movie onto a DVD.
Evaluate the product, saying what you think works well & what you think doesn’t work so well.
I think the troll animation & the music work well, though I think I could’ve picked a better place to shoot it. I think my talking could’ve been better had I planned the interview more, I felt that I wasn’t really paying attention as I spoke.
Sum up what the main learning experience has been for you.
I think everything has really been the main learning experience for me as I’ve never done anything like this before, such as using a camera to make my own video, editing that video to make it exactly how I wanted it to be & uploading it to my own blog.
The task was to work in a small team to create a 1 minute video product, with a working title of ‘Growing Up I loved…’
Describe how you came up with your idea.
I thought carefully about the things I loved when I was younger, the obvious choice was Barbie, but as Sophie had already decided to do that, I chose trolls. This was because I had collected them from a young age & it wouldn’t be a problem to get hold of them because I still had quite a few at home.
Describe how you planned your project.
I planned my project by thinking of ideas about what I wanted to happen in my video & then writing those ideas onto paper. After I had done that, I filled in a shot list so I had a general idea of what shots I wanted where.
Explain what you learnt about using cameras and tripods.
I learnt things like using angles & instead of using zoom, going in close to get better shots. I also learnt that it’s imperative to use a tripod, for steady filming.
Explain what you learnt about editing using Final Cut Pro.
I learnt a lot about editing from Final Cut Pro, as I had never done anything like that before… I learnt how to cut unneeded bits out of my video, how to arrange my shots on a timeline, how to make credits, how to use transitions & how to put music onto my movie.
Explain about uploading the finished project to your blog & creating a DVD of it.
I made the movie into a MOV file & then reduced its size & changed it to a FLV file using Adobe Flash Video Encoder before uploading it to my blog. I then used Idvd to burn my movie onto a DVD.
Evaluate the product, saying what you think works well & what you think doesn’t work so well.
I think the troll animation & the music work well, though I think I could’ve picked a better place to shoot it. I think my talking could’ve been better had I planned the interview more, I felt that I wasn’t really paying attention as I spoke.
Sum up what the main learning experience has been for you.
I think everything has really been the main learning experience for me as I’ve never done anything like this before, such as using a camera to make my own video, editing that video to make it exactly how I wanted it to be & uploading it to my own blog.
Friday, 26 September 2008
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