first actor read through... Live filming... update...

We introduced ourselves and had a read through. We have a problem with my section because it over ran and we didn't even read out the songs! As soon as we get the songs I will feel more at ease with it because I can sort out my timings. Other than that I am quite happy about today, the actors we have are good.
I am currently working on the sound design because we only have a rough plan so far. I hope to have completed it by Monday.
I finished filming my Live project today. There was just one last section to film which was the part where my client talks about his campaign to slot in the middle of the rough edit that we have already. Dan is off ill and Peter said he can't come in next week so it doesn't look like it is going to get edited before Christmas! But most people haven't filmed yet so I don't think it is an issue. We will have it complete by the first week back after the holidays which will be about a month before the deadline. All of my paper work is done and I have written half of my critical evaluation already so I just need to write the conclusion and the feedback from the client when Dan and Peter have finished the edit.
This means during Christmas I can work on Multicamera and keep on top of contextual studies and professional studies. I can also start researching into the specialism now that I know both projects I did a proposal for were successful!

We had a rehearsal today. I have learned from the rehearsal to get my actors to help me perform the sound check because I thought everything was set up but it peaked everytime the detective spoke. It is something that is easy to fix but because the input level is sensitive it might affect the sound on the day of the show. I made lots of PA notes on my script to help me. I really need the song though before I can complete a successful PA rehearsal. We had a meeting after the rehearsal which lasted 45 minutes and all problems and concerns were raised. We have a lot of work to do and not that much time remaining so we are going to be very busy!

college open!!!

Today was our first day back after a week off. We had a student assembly. Then Sophie, Peter Silk and I had a meeting with Darren. He is going to write the music for the musical. I told him it needs doing by the end of the week! This is because I need my actor to learn it as soon as possible. Then we went to the TV studio but we didn't have a rehearsal today. Not many live projects have been filmed yet but my editor (Dan) has already started editing my project so I am happy how everything is going for Live.

college still closed...

It was open for a few hours on Tuesday. Peter Silk put our files from my live onto an edit suite. We also listened to Peter Silk singing the musical lyrics.
We were told to leave because the roads were turning to ice and it was getting very dangerous.

We were booked in for editing all day yesterday but because the college was shut we haven't been able to! This is quite worrying because I don't know if we will get that edit time back or not and we don't know when this crazy weather will end!
We have also had to re schedule with my client. He was going to come into the college yesterday at 4pm to let us film him talking about his campaign. This had to be done in the lecture theatre because we filmed there on Saturday. We already had a lot of work to do but now the weather is starting to make things extremely difficult.

However, I have been using the time off to organise new to do lists, annotate scripts, research for other modules and catching up on folder work. So it is not all bad. But I'd prefer to be in college!

CCAD Closed

Today I was supposed to be filming Charlottes Wool Room. I received a text off Peter Silk informing me that the college was closed today. I called Charlotte and she told me that the filming has had to be cancelled. So I am just sat working from home working on my files and annotating scripts... I was lucky to have managed to film on Saturday because the weather is a lot worse now!

Production day...

A few days ago it started snowing but nobody anticipated that it would get as bad as it is now especially because the weather has been quite good for weeks. It wasn't until the night before that I had a bad feeling that the weather would affect the day. It was something nobody could control and it was too short notice to make any changes so I decided to see how it goes. In the morning when I was getting ready for a day of filming I received a text from Nadine. She confirmed what I was dreading. The snow in Newcastle was even worse and she didn't want to risk it. She was very apologetic but I assured her that it was understandable and that safety and returning home at the end of the day was far too important.
I was annoyed about this situation but it was unavoidable. I called Peter Silk my Director and explained our position. We couldn't work around it without a MOTHER character. I suggested all the possible solutions that I could think of which were to cancel and re schedule, find anyone to play the mother or to film half today and half another day. The problems I had with re scheduling or filming half another day were that we already had all of the other actors and locations in place and we might not be able to get them all for another day. Peter was in favour of re scheduling however. In the end I asked my mum if she would play the part of MOTHER and she said yes. My mum is not an actor but my plan was to see how the day went and if it didn't go well then at least we could have said we tried and then it would have went to plan B, re-schedule.

After this bad start to the day we managed to get to our first location and I explained to everyone what had happened. I was recording the sound as well as filling in the production log and being a producer obsessed with my schedule. After that everything seemed to be going well. Until 4pm. This was the time we were meeting one of our actors called Becky and her dad at Teesside University Library. When we arrived the security informed us that the Library had closed and the staff had gone home due to the snow. The lady who organised the location for us did not call us to let us know. Kass and I went in the Student Union and asked if there was a room in the university that we could use because of what has happened. They finally sorted us out with another room. We went to set up. I explained to everyone that we have to quickly set up so that we continue to run to schedule.
In the end we finished about ten minutes before I said we would. Everyone on the crew mentioned that that was the most stress free, flowing production they have been on. I wish I could agree with the stress-free part! But I am really please about how the day went! And I am happy that the cast and crew enjoyed it!! It makes me feel that the hard work and decisions I made paid off.
Also we don't need to re-schedule because my mum was actually good. The MOTHER part wasn't that much of a big part so everything worked out in the end.

I don't think I could have done much to prepare for something like this. It is not often we get snow so it was a big shock. I am just glad everything ran to schedule for the first time!

Now just to film Steve talking on Wednesday. And edit before Christmas.
Thanks crew!!

filming live project tomorrow

These past few days I have been finishing off paperwork for my live project because we are filming tomorrow.
I found a Nathan. Who is now called Becky because he is now female.
Kassim has helped by contacting people for me so I could concentrate on other things. This was a big help so thank you Kass!
Everything is ready. So hopefully tomorrow will run smoothly!
My mam has kindly made about 70 sandwiches so the cast and crew of eight people are going to be very full!
I am looking forward to it but I am nervous too. I think I have prepared well enough though.

I also emailed my specialism proposal last night. I want to produce Jordans climbing documentary and co-produce Sophies film. I am hoping my proposal was good enough!

lots to do...

I have about 6 to do lists right now so I have been very busy. The good news is that everything is falling into place for my live project which we are filming this Saturday. I have all of my locations (apart from an exterior shot of a school, but that can be filmed another day). I have nearly all of my actors apart from a NATHAN. But I am working on that. I have to make the actors packs, gather all of the props and costumes, and fill out the forms such as risk assessments, location information, release forms etc. But it is looking good. Hopefully it will keep going this way.

As for multi - camera. I heard today that our main actor has dropped out! This is really annoying news but these things happen so us producers are going to have to find another actor. I know Sophie and Jess have been working hard on that today, hopefully I can help tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do for this module too but thanks to my lists I can see what there is to do and there is not a greater feeling than crossing things off my to-do list! (at this moment in time)

Contextual studies and professional studies are going okay. I am not too worried about them because I have been working on them gradually.

As for Specialism, our proposals have to be in by Friday. So I need to think carefully about this.

update

yesterday I was in college all afternoon.
This morning I had my sound presentation
I then had to leave slightly early with Peter Silk to go and meet my Live project client in Hartlepool. It was a good meeting because we got feedback, a prop and we then thought about how we could get around the amount of actors / extras Peter originally wanted.
I then arrived back at college and started looking for actors. I text Jordan asking him if his younger brother would be interested.
That is all I have done so far but its only afternoon still..........

weird week... but...

...I have emailed my live crew a Production schedule. Most of it contains work that must be completed by me as Producer but they have it. It is going to be a very tight plan, but I am confident I can do an efficient job in the time available. These next few weeks are going to be crazy but I am looking forward to it.

this week at college...

We had a run through of the entire script. We had a technical rehearsal. We had a few meetings which I have typed up and filed. I went through folder work and what needs to be in there. I had a meeting with Peter Silk about the script, we went through actors, locations, props and everything else. I came up with a schedule and I put dates down for filming and editing. I put it on the wall so everyone knows when I intend to film. I need to arrange a meeting with the client. We're emailing actors for multi-camera next monday. I got some feedback on my logos. I have a lot of work to do this weekend. I want to arrange a meeting with some industry professionals for primary research but I do not know how realistic it will be to get in touch with someone who will let us interview them. But I think it is worth trying anyway. Especially for the PA role!
I still need to do my contextual studies presentation. We went to the RTS awards in York on Tuesday night which was a good night!

I went to college early today, did research, some organising for Live, we watched auditions, had a script

read through, I got feedback for my logo designs, I put dates down for filming / editing live.

Logo ideas

I have been coming up with some logo designs for my company. Here are a few...

Reel Tees Productions?

I originally wanted my company to be called Zeus Productions (my brothers tortise was called Zeus) so I looked on Companies House and it looked like that name was available. However, I googled it and there was an existing film company with that name. I didn't want to risk it just because it was not on Companies House so I thought of some new names. Reel Tees was the best one I came up with and it hasn't been taken but I am still not sure. I am going to think about it for a bit before I make a decision.
I have spent nearly all day doing work for every module. I am almost caught up already which I am feeling happy about!

Contextual studies

EXAMPLES OF SOUND USED TO CREATE MEANING OR IDENTITY WITHIN THE TEXT RELATING TO GENRE
I am half way through my presentation planning. I want to choose texts that are unpredictable. Jaw's is the film people usually talk about when it comes to sound and I don't want this. I have so far a Korean comedy film, a sci-fi film and a fantasy film. The presentation is on Wednesday, we have to keep them to 30 minutes so I have to keep this in mind when I lay it out. I am thinking of making it more interesting and adding some TV series in but this isn't a definite decision yet.
I don't know if I am filming tomorrow yet. I am waiting on a phone call. I wish I had more notice and an idea of the plan but I will have to prepare for it regardless of whether or not it is going to happen.

this week...

Some of the things I have been doing these past few days... I had a meeting with my Live crew. We had a run through of the western script (I was Sound, PA then camera), we had a Technical Demonstration on Edit 7, we had the second auditions, watched the camera presentations in Contextual Studies, had individual meetings which I sat in on, had a talk about the specialisms, did research, come up with ideas for my company name and logo for Professional Studies, started on my Contextual Studies presentation, had a Multicamera meeting, spoke to my live client, typed up all of my notes and diary, filed and got almost everything up to speed. I still have a lot to do but I am happy with the progress this week.

College

It's good to be back at college. There isn't much time before we break up for Christmas and I have so much work to do. We had the second auditions this evening for the multi camera module. We had a few meetings today with Live and Multi-camera crews. Yesterday Andy and I were having a talk with someone from the Evening Gazette about BBC Blast. These next few weeks are going to be crazy but I am looking forward to it.

Last day of placement

Last night the band dropped out. I had hours to find another band. I got some contacts off contacts who gave me contacts to contacts, or something like that, and I found a band called The Rise. They didn't answer at first so I sent a text message. The replied at about 11pm saying they were interested. This was good news so I told them the details but I didn't want to build my hopes up because a few bands had already dropped out. But it just goes to show how important it is to just ask!!

This morning I was at BBC Tees for 08:00. I lost my voice so I couldn't say much which I am slightly gutted about but Lucy was with me so she said the majority of it. We met at centre square at 10:00. I made forms so I made sure everyone understood my way of organising the showcase (I was Producer and Floor Manager). I did this on top of the front of house work, filing, signing people into workshops and coming up with a new running order. It was a lot of work but I loved it! I had to take control and make a showcase from nothing which was a big challenge. The showcase started on time, it ran as planned, the audience were entertained and everything flowed. The band I got arrived on time and they were very good! We also got some young men that attended a dance workshop to do a Parkour act. We cleared the marquee where the showcase was held and they were doing back flips, side flips and other tricks that looked amazing. We had other acts too and some short films / animations. When the show was over and the compare thanked everyone it hit me that I had successfully organised my first ever live event. That feeling is the best! It is definitely going to help me with the Multi-camera module at college because I will be under that pressure and its good practice. I am going to miss placement with BBC Blast. I really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed working with the people I was working with! I have gained so much more confidence and learned a lot in the three weeks. Thank you to everyone...
Louise

Found a band!

After finding out the band we were going to use couldn't make it we were left to find another at short notice. I had been given the role of producer because it will benefit me the most because of college. When I arrived home from placement last night I spent a few hours searching. I found a good local band that are expecting to write their album early next year. They are desperate for gigs and when I got in contact with the guitarist he was really excited and said yes before I finished my sentence! This is what we want! So I am pleased that all the hours calling people for contacts paid off. BBC Blast main event day two today. I am supposed to be on front of house all day, I enjoyed it yesterday so fingers crossed today runs as smoothly!
Louise

main event! BBC Blast

Yesterday we went to the site where the main event is and met the team. We went through everything we need to know.
Today was day 1 of the main event. It went really really well! I was on front of house until 14:30. At this time I was put into the songwriting workshop so that more than one adult were with the teenagers at all times. The workshop was run by Carl Pemberton from Journey south. It was really interesting. The idea was to write the beginning of a song and record it in just two hours.
John was pleased about how the day went.
I am looking forward to tomorrow!
Louise

Saturday... and last week of placement monday week 3 tomorrow

I can't believe that two weeks have already gone and it is nearly over!

Yesterday on the BAT van was successful. It was very cold and it was raining at first but as town got busier, the temperature raised and it stopped raining, we had a lot of interest and people signing up!

Today was our day off so I have been relaxing and doing some research on sound design for my multi camera module. I found some example paper work on the internet that might be useful!
Tomorrow Andy and I have to go to three Boro Buzz events and promote BBC Blast. We're going to Prissick Plaza in the morning, Albert park for a kmx bike race activity then Hollywood bowl later in the day. Now that the BAT van has finished it is just about promoting it further as much as possible. We also have the showcase to finish planning!
Louise

Today we were at CCAD then at Eston Park School. Its been a fun day, it's getting easier now the more we do it. Now to do some college work then sleep. Tomorrow should be fun! We are going to be in town all day on the BAT van.

Interesting day

We were at Oakfields this morning, the pupils were very curious when they saw the van. They seemed to enjoy themselves and we did really well promoting the main even! After we finished at that school we went to St Marys college. We had our dinner and set up. Then we went to spread the word about the van and got lots of people to check it out. One of the groups that were organised to come down were a media group. My old media teacher came down with them so I was talking to her. She offered me a work placement observing and helping out in her lessons! I have emailed her about this and I am just waiting for a reply. It was nice to see her again because every time she came to CCAD I was out filming or doing other tasks.
I went on the two talks that I volunteered to do for John. It didn't take long, just a bit of extra promotion work. He told me that the bookings were really really good today so I am very happy!

first day of workshops BBC Blast

We met at Nunthorpe school at 7am this morning so that we could spend all morning training. The team went through everything we needed to know and then after lunch we started. I enjoyed teaching. It's challenging, fun and rewarding! The pupils looked like they were really enjoying themselves and some of them wanted to find out more about the events so I am pleased about that!
Now I am doing some blast work and ccad work before an early night for an early start again tomorrow. I am looking forward to it though!

weekend / live / placement

This weekend I have been soooo busy with so many projects / modules / placement tasks to think about. not that I am complaining though, I love it... I also managed a little bit of time to re arrange and change my room so this year I can be super organised! My live client is really excited about the project, he intends to do big things with our finished short. I am going to be a bit of a perfectionist and hopefully won't annoy my crew too much! same with other modules of course.
I am at placement in the morning so I better get some sleep anyway!
Lou,

day 5 update

I spoke to Steve from the bully campaign today and told him that my pitch was chosen. He is very happy and has made it clear that if I need anything he will do his best to help. I have explained to him that I am currently on placement but that I will have a meeting with him the first week in November. I am going to call my live crew later today after the email I tried to send them failed and I lost it!
I have a meeting with Andy and Lucy at Starbucks in town at 3pm to start planning the showcase we're organising. I have volunteered to go on radio Tees on the morning of the showcase to promote it! I have also volunteered to do an extra event next Thursday. I don't think I have ever been this busy in my entire life! but its great. Really enjoying it!
I have also been thinking about next year. I am considering something but I don't know if it is possible yet so I need to think it through and get as much advise as possible!

Thursday, day 4

The first task of the day was to give an assembly at Tollesby school. I picked up Lucy and we got there for the 8:50am talk. It was quite a small group and because I did an assembly the other day I felt comfortable and more relaxed. After we spoke to the pupils about BBC Blast we went to meet everyone at BBC Tees for a meeting. A new girl was there called Natalie. While the others had things to do that Lucy and I had already done, we went to collect flyers and passes and we went to the uni to give out flyers. I suggested we moved from the uni to Middlesbrough college, because people in that area will be more likely to be our target. We didn't go on the college property because we didn't have permission but we stood where all the students walk into town. We completely ran out of leaflets within ten minutes and people were genuinely interested. After this we set off to Oakfields to give another assembly. This was definitely the best assembly we have done. It flowed really well, we were both relaxed and enthusiastic about the events. At the end a lot of pupils came over for leaflets and to ask questions! Very pleased with that.

Now I am home and doing more college work!

Jess met me yesterday so that I could give her my budget money, crews have been sorted for the live project and even though my to-do list is almost two sides of A4 it is manageable and I am really enjoying it! I just have to catch up on technical demonstrations and workshops when I return from placement. 

LOU

day 1 and 2 BBC Blast placement

On Monday it was my first day on placement. We spent the first few hours introducing ourselves to each other and talking about what is going to happen over the three weeks. I found out that well over 100 people applied and only four of us were given the opportunity. John is the team leader and is from BBC Blast, Andy is on my course at CCAD, Lucy is a student at Teesside studying TV and Film and Helen studied graphic design. We found out what needs to be done then did a health and safety course on the BBC network. After this we went to meet the people from Boro Buzz who we will be working with. It was a long day but it was interesting and I am excited about what is to come!

On Tuesday I picked up Helen and we made our way to Oakfields Community College. We arrived a few hours early so that we could prepare and practice. I used to attend this school so it was exciting to be back and see my old teachers! The assembly went well. One pupil came up to us after to ask some questions so the assembly must have interested them. I was nervous but now that I have done it I am not nervous about Thursdays assembly because I know what to expect!
After I dropped Helen off, I went straight to college in time for the auditions! I asked a few people to turn up and I created the Facebook group a few weeks ago but only 4 people in total turned up. however, I wouldn't say it was unsuccessful because I think I have found my actor for the musical section! I asked Grace to attend but I was amazed at her confidence and talent during her audition!


Today I did my research that John asked me to do, did some catching up on college work and dropped off some posters at a school. Its been a busy day. I also found out that my pitch for the Live project was chosen so I am happy about that!

BBC Placement

About a month ago I applied for BBC Blast Middlesbrough. I was short listed and asked to attend an interview. I was offered a place on the placement which involves planning, promoting and running an event for 13-19 year old in my area. The aim is to inspire young people to be more creative and learn new skills.

Today will be my first day and I have to be there at 0930. I am very excited and wonder how the day will unfold! It is going to be a challenge alone just keeping on top of my modules while I am away for these three weeks but I am confident I can do it if I keep in touch with everybody!

I also put an event on Facebook about a week ago advertising the auditions for the Multi-camera project. In just one week it had been passed to more than one hundred people. This proves it could be an effective way of promoting an event!! But on the other hand, not many people agreed to attend. At least it got a few people interested!!!

Lou

Professional Studies

Today in Professional Studies we were encouraged to set up a blog which will give us the opportunity to track the progress we make on the course and as a way to communicate with each other if we have any problems.

Louise