End of 1st Semester Evaluation

Hello Everyone!

This is my last blog entry. Hooray!

Today I am doing an evaluation on my performance on this 1st semester. The areas that I will be evaluating on would be Group Work, Technical Skills and my aims for the next semester.

Group Work

As there is only three of us on the course now I am happy with the people that I have worked with on the group project and future projects yet to come.

We each seem to get on really well together and are not afraid to share any creative ideas with each other along with accepting constructive criticism.

Technical Skills

I am very pleased with the skills that I have learnt as I have never focussed on sound properly before.

I feel confident in operating ProTools along with identifying the two different types of microphones that there are along with having the basic knowledge in how they work.

I would like to have proper experience with using the different microphones in order to understand the different microphone placements that there are along with improving my confidence of working with them.

I would like to learn the about the build in effects that ProTools has and to understand how to use compression along with properly mixing down a session to a near professional standard.

My Future Aims

I am looking forward to the next semester as it will be focusing in on film and camera work which is the area that I am mainly interested in.

I am feeling quite excited about making my own individual film as it is something that I enjoy doing.

My main aim this semester would be to understand the craft of script writing and develop my own ideas and use them towards my individual film.

Media Regulators

Hello!

Today I was researching on the broadcasting regulations within the media industry. The main media regulator that we looked at were Ofcom and ASA. During my research I looked into an organisation called PACT.



Media regulators are there to help protect consumers from harmful or offensive material and that programs are running in compliant with the broadcasting codes and regulations. 

Ofcom



Ofcom (The Office of Communications) is an independent regulator which monitors five different regulatory bodies:

• The Broadcasting Standards Commission
• The Independent Television Commission
• The Office of Telecommunications (Oftel)
• The Radio Authority
• The Radio Communications Agency

Ofcom deals with any specific complaints made by viewers and listeners if any offense is taken during a program.

The process that Ofcom goes through when received a complaint is that it asks the broadcaster for a copy of the program. The broadcast regulators then examine the material to see whether it is in breach of the broadcasting code.

ASA

The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) is an independent self-regulatory organisation that regulates the advertising industry within the United Kingdom. 

Their main priority regulate the contents of the advertisements by monitoring the adverts for any offensive or harmful material. They make sure that the adverts are not misleading to the public and that the advertisement are compliant with the advertising codes.

When complaints arise from members of the public the ASA deals with them by making a full investigation by viewing the material to see whether there are any rules broken. 

PACT

PACT (The Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) is the UK trading association that focuses on representing and promoting independent features including television, feature film, animation and media production companies. 

The organisation has a council whom are elected by members of PACT to ensure that the peoples interests are being  met by the organisation. 

Radio Evaluation

Hello Everyone!

This is a evaluation of our radio project which is now thankfully completed.

The areas that I will evaluate would be the group effort, time management, financial costs, and the finished project.

Group Effort

As a group we worked very well together because we each contributed our own efforts which made the work load easier and it helped us reach our deadline.

There was very good communication within the group as we sent each other regular emails to keep us all up dated of where each of us are of our tasks. We also held group meetings so that we can see where the project is at and also to set each of us new tasks to contribute to the project.

During these meetings we had each expressed creative opinions towards the project and received some positive reactions. We also each took on some on board constructive criticism and helped each other into developing our ideas and skills.

The only main constraint we had was that a certain individual member of the group didn't contribute their own efforts enough. We tried to overcome this by having a meeting with him to discuss the current situation and left it to his own responsibility.

The only main problem that we had as a group was that there was a slight confusion amongst ourselves about the idea of our radio programme and that it took us a while to finally decide on what we were going to do. This confusion was caused by the lack of general knowledge towards the subject that was easily overcome by looking into available resources of research that provided us with information towards the topic of our show. By doing this research it helped us to see more clearly of how to structure and present our show along with finally settling on our decision.

Time Management

I had found that we had a short amount of time in creating the show. As a group we had created a production schedule displaying the amount of production time that we had. Using this schedule we managed to set ourselves individual targets between certain dates in order to meet the projects deadline.

Financial Costs

Luckily there were no financial costs towards the production besides the cost of fuel for transporting ourselves to recording locations.

Another financial matter that we came across were that we could've almost paid royalty fees to music publishers as we were at the time were hoping to use christmas songs for the radio show.

As we had learnt during class lessons there is a website called MCPS-PRS where you contact music publishers to legally use their music with getting into any legal trouble.

The Finished Project

I found the finished project to be very satisfying as it turned out exactly as we had planned during pre-production.

The area that I had found disappointing is that due to royalty matters we were unable to use any Christmas pop songs due to legal issues of copyright. We had overcame this by using some copyright free music that we found on the Internet.

I was happy with the quality of sound but there were a few errors of unwanted background noise. This can be mainly heard during the interviews and vox pops as they're mainly recorded on outdoor location and not in a properly sound proofed recording studio. For future projects when recording on outdoor location we need to listen very carefully to any interferences that might ruin the recording.

Radio Edit

Hello!

Today we are all finally editing our final mix of our radio project. The role I played today was Editor.

The responsibilities that I had in this role was to edit the interviews that I had conducted with the Greek Restaurant and the Parish by trimming down the tracks and correcting any audio clicks that occur when listening.

I had corrected these audio clicks by zooming in closely on to the sound wave where the error occurred. Once I found the error I then corrected it by extending the track by a fraction of a second to where the sound wave reaches zero db. This is known as a zero crossing point.

After correcting these errors I then arranged the tracks into a sequence structured by the rest of the group.

During this edit session we each took it in turns as role of editor so that would help give each of us a chance to use ProTools and build up our skills in handling the software.

My Role as Editor

As my role as editor I felt very confident in handling ProTools due to past experiences of editing past projects. I knew how to operate ProTools to an acceptable standard, which didn't lead me into getting into any technical difficulties.

The area I would like to improve on is to expand my knowledge of ProTools by learning how to use and understand the different effects like compression, delay, flange and d-verb.

I can achieve this by having one to one tuition with a tutor and practice by doing set exercises by editing other projects using these built in effects.

My Interview with the Parish

Hello Again!

Today I am going to conduct another interview for our radio proggramme. I am going to have the interview with the head of the local Ecumenical Parish of Worle Revd Paul Larcombe. The interview is going to be held at St Martins Church in Worle at 11:00am.




The purpose for this interview is to get religous opinions of how commercial Christmas has become and would the recession help bring back the traditional family values this year?


The questions that I am going to ask are:

1. Has Christmas become more commercial in recent years and if so is it necessarily a bad thing?

2. Will the recession help bring back traditional family this Christmas?

Again I will be taking on the two same roles which I took on last time which are Interviewer and Production Sound Mixer.

I am sure that there is going to be a slight improvement into my interviewing and sound recording skills that I had learnt from my previous interview at the Greek Restauraunt.

I managed to book the equipment out a week in advance so that it would be ready for me to collect and to test to make sure that there isn't any technical diffuculties.

The equipment that I am going to use is the Fostex FR-2LE becuase I have had enough experience with using it before and I would know how to manually correct it if I got into any technical diffiulties.

I am confident with the questions that I am going to use as I had prepared them a week early and had run through with them with a member of the group in which they were satisfied with.

At 10:30 am I headed over to St Martins Church. As I know where the is place is I managed to arrive there 10 minutes early which was excellent as it had gave enough time to properly introduce myself to the Reverend.

After I had introduced my self to the Reverend I began to set up the equipment as he was making himself comfortable and looking through the questions beforehand.

Fortunately he has had experiences with interviews as he somtimes takes part in debates on religous radio stations. This made me feel relaxed as I knew that he wasn't going to be micrphone shy and that the interview recording is going to be at a good standard.

Before we began the interview we did a sound check the levels on his voice and at 11:00 we started the interview.


During the interview I had noticed that there was an improvement as my role as interviewer as I had seemed alot more confident in the direction the interview was going and I wasn't afraid or shy to ask any extra questions.

I also had noticed that there was an improvment as my role as Production Sound Mixer as I was comfortable in the enviroment that I was recording in and I was listening out to any unwanted sounds that might ruin the recording.

The interview had ended at 11:30am.

I was very satisfied with the interview as my Reverend had gave me some good interesting answers that would be very useful for our radio programme. He also had a very good voice for radio aswell!

My Interview

Hello!

Today I was preparing for my interview for which I intend to use for our radio programme Is Christmas too Commercial and how would the Recession affect it?

The person that I am interviewing is a owner of a Greek restaurant called The Weston Omelette & Grill, which is located in Weston-Super-Mare.

The for this interview I will be taking on two roles which are Interviewer and Production Sound Mixer.

The time for my interview was for 3:00 p.m. so I had plenty of time to prepare the questions and to book out the Fostex recorder.

The questions that I prepared to ask for the interview where:

• How important is the Christmas trade to the business?


• Has the Credit Crunch affected trades this year?


• Have you had any cutbacks to the amount of employees you take on?
  
• What are your predictions for sales next Christmas?

As 3:00 p.m. was looming I headed over to the restaurant where I managed to arrive there early and set up the equipment as my interviewee was making her self comfortable.

Before we began the interview I showed her the questions as she wished so that she could prepare her answers as she was naturally nervous. I also did a sound check to make sure that her levels we ok.

We began the interview at 3:05 p.m.

During the interview I was checking the sound levels and making sure that the equipment was recording the responses successfully along with the placements of the microphone.

Fortunately my interviewer wasn't microphone shy and gave me good answers to each of my questions.

The interview ended at about 3:45 p.m.

My Role as Production Sound Mixer

I thought that I carried out this role to an acceptable standard. I felt confident with the equipment that I was handling and I didn't get into any difficulties or problems.

The areas that I need to improve on is to listen very carefully and be aware to any unwanted sounds that might ruin the recording.

My Role as Interviewer

I thought that I handled this role resonabally well. I put alot of thought into the questions that I was intending to ask and thinking about the answers that I am aiming for during the interview.

The areas that I can improve on is to be more confident in asking the questions and not to be to nervous or shy whilst conducting the interview.

Roles in the Media Industry

Hello!

Today I was researching different job roles that there are within the media industry. During my research I have learnt about the different types of roles there are and what each of them involves.

The main roles that I looked at were Film Producer, Director, Camera Man, Editor and Production Sound Mixer.

Each of these roles are mostly involved with being self employed and working on a freelance basis. When you first enter the industry your malinly working on a voluntary basis with a role title called Runner. This role mainly involves making the tea for the film crew along with doing odd jobs around the set and helping things run more smoothly through out the day.

Whilst researching on the internet I had come across several media related job emploment site called Skillset.

I found this web site to be very useful becuase it supplied me with lots of step by step guidence of how to get your career started in the industry. It gave me information of the different roles that are out there.

It also gave me a good insight of the different areas that there are within the industry like:

• TV


• Radio


• Film


• Gaming


• Corporate and promotional films


• Animation

Another website that I had been on was Freelance Broadcaster. I found this to be a very useful website because it helped to inform me of what current jobs there are in the industry including the areas of the country that they're based at.

I had discovered some other websites but had not yet investigated like:

• http://www.productionbase.co.uk/


• http://www.shootingpeople.co.uk/


• http://www.startintv.co.uk/

I managed to look into the different responsibilities that each of the roles have.

Film Producer

The role of the film producer is to overlook and supervise the project by taking care of matters like:

• The financial cost of the project


• Hiring the key people to make the film


• Marketing along with promoting the film for the distributors.

The producer is involved throughout the whole production of the film from the development through to the completion.

The producer has the ultimate complete control of the project and is responsible for everything that happens in the production.

Whilst researching this role I found that there are lots of other types of producers like:

• Executive Producer would over look the financial and creative sides of the production.


• Co-Producer would organise and provide the money to finance the project along with being involved towards the day to day production.


• Associate Producer would share the same amount of resonsibilities delegated from the main Producer.


• Assistant Producer would work under the supervision of the Associate Producer.
  


• Line Producer would overlook the budget of the film along with the day-to-day production of the project.
  


• Administative Producer would employ freelancers to work within the production.

Film Director

The Directors role is to control the creative and the artistic side of the production of the film. The Director developes a vision towards how the film should look and to take into consideration of how he wants the audience to experience when watching the finalised cut.

The Director works very closely with the film crew and actors by guiding them through his creative vision so that he could create some positive results.

On set the Director is responsible deciding and approving every camera angle, lens effect, lighting and the set design.

Besides controlling the creative side they are also responsible for the coordination and dramatic effect displayed by the actors.

During the post-production the Director also plays the key role in overlooking the last phases of creating the final look of the film.

At this stage the Director works closely with the film editor to ensure that the selected shots and cuts for the scene is sending the right emotions towards the audience. Apart from workng with the film Editor the Director also works along side with the sound production along the musical composition.

It is up to the Producer who selects and hires the Director. During the different phases of film making, the Director works closeley with the Producer where they are both responsible for the script approval, financial matters, contract negociating along with marketing to distributors.

Camera Man

The role of the Camera Man is to operate the film camera. The Camera Man is responsible for maintaining composition throughout a scene or a shot.

It is very important that the Camera Man communicates with the Director so that they can both confirm creative and technical decisions.

Film Editor

Film Editors play a very important creative part in the film making process. Film Editors are responsible for arranging the dialogue, music, pace, visual and sound effects into producing a variety of edits and then finishing with a final cut.

The Film Editor is mainly used during the post-production of the film making process.

Production Sound Mixer

The role of the Production Sound Mixer is to record the sounds and sound effects on location or on a studio set. They are mainly responsible for the quality of the sound by keeping control of the sound levels so that it doesn't peak. The Production Sound Mixer plays a big during the post-production phase. During this process the production sound mixer corrects any errors that might have occurred during the recording process.