fizzy nice things

Green Street / Contextual Design

2010-05-10T08:42:00.002+01:00

Continuous filming still on-going. with the most current filmings based on the eco-friendly features of the house.

first draft of the first video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpUs-eovHbw
still awaiting on 2 more interviewees to be filmed and weaved in thereafter.

On the contray I have taken on another project - helping a Senior Lecturer in Contextual and Critical Studies who speicalises in product design to film a piece of research work.
This work, although unpaid, is something I have never done and found interesting. The research itself explores 3 different types of materials on dancers and how they can react to given music.

Filming for both projects will happen on the same day this week.

PRP artefacts..done!

2010-05-04T12:31:00.002+01:00

final artefact - artefact 6

This was an inconclusive artefact.

Upon completing 5 artefacts I suddenly realised there were basic statistics I hadn't established in the first place so this artefact was in fact a general survey about how people watch TV, helping me put my previous artefact conclusions into a final conclusion.

there is no final conclusion linked to this artefact - but findings shows the following statistics (survey group size = 40)
65% of the people watch 1-3 hours of tv a day, 85% watches tv during 1700-2300.
80% of respondents owns some form of satellite tv equipment (BT/Sky/Virgin/Freeview)
and
85% of all tv viewers admit to flicking channels frequently to avoid seeing adverts
with
75% of respondents using online player more often mainly due to ease of access

now - onto the final presentation!

artefact 5

2010-04-20T18:53:00.000+01:00

following my last artefact, this artefact has been designed the question the level of tolerance general public has for product placement.

The same 5 clips were shown and a different questionaire was drawn up to see exactly where the line is.

the finding, out of 14 people, was that most people thought it was acceptable as long as it 'makes sense'. For example, it can form part of the story line and have a relevance to the storyline, but if the storyline was written for a product then it becomes unacceptable, in which it made them feel 'manipulated and cheated'

artefact 4

2010-04-16T08:10:00.001+01:00

it was time for me to change my game plan ( not that anything had gone according to my initial researh document anyway).

Since nobody picked out PPL (it was hard to test people accurately on a subconscious level), I changed the strategy by tying in a more ethical perspective - if they find it offensive and intruding.

This was 5 clip viewing with corresponding questions at the end of each short clip.

conclusion was that people DO get offended by certain types of product placement, the more obvious the more annoyance.

PhoenixPlus.co.uk presents - 'Quarter to Midnight'

2010-03-23T14:03:00.000Z

ta dah - end product of the client project. complete with menus

PhoenixPlus.co.uk presents - 'The Story So Far'

2010-03-17T13:53:00.000Z

documentary made on the real people that is the PhoenixPlus team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=iqTPqqHl4OA

PhoenixPlus.co.uk presents CNY10

2010-03-09T17:15:00.003Z

Nearly final product of the PhoenixPlus CNY10 video - still needs touching up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wSKNLyzyzA

update

2010-03-04T22:20:00.004Z

generally, because I'm so short on time, I think it is easier to update everything once a week in one post.

Client #1, PhoenixPlus - next event is on Wednesday 10th March 2010 - first video of Sam Lee will be completed by then. I have actually already completed the editing and is currently working on After Effects to get the graphics right.

Client #2, Blueprint - another filming day is tomorrow, all the interviews with the local residence, the architect and the Meadows Trusts' representative in regards to their view of the Meadows as an area and community.

2 1/2 hr meeting this morning, i remain unamused.

SPP3 got handed in on time, still looking to apply for an MA at Westminster University - will have to start looking at drafting up a scholarship covering letter soon as well.

Fundraiser - I m currently in charge of organising the fundraiser for our final year exhibition. The event is Ink hoested by MonsterMedia.

artefact 3

2010-03-02T11:54:00.002Z

since artefact 2 didn't work out very well due to direct questions, I have decided to change the way questions are asked in this artefact and showed the same clip as artefact 2 in order to see if there was a change in the way people respond.

This meant decoy questions were involved and viewers were still not informed of the purpose of the viewing until after the questionaire had been completed.

This was proven a more useful approach although people still did not respond as well as I had wanted them to.

Green Street - video I, part I

2010-02-24T23:08:00.004Z

great. so we filmed the timber frame going up for the first block of apartment.

also did some cutaways of the area - the park, the street, the river, swans and flowers. Relatively dull day, would definitely want to reshoot if I have a camera on site and the sun is out.

For now, post-production will have to be my savior.

special thanks to Atif for coming out to help!

Green Street - Location

2010-02-22T23:16:00.004Z

I popped down to Green Street today.

this is where I will be filming for the EMDA project. The strip is so bare right now!

This visit has put into perspective realistically what other cutaways I can include in the video. Good stuff. Bit cold, but good stuff.

Overview of current affairs 1

2010-02-20T13:39:00.002Z

upon the completion of filming for client number 1, PhoenixPlus.co.uk, I am now stranded with 5 tapes of footage for two videos amounting to a total running length of 14 minutes.

I have already captured the tapes - but due to the nature of my work, I am currently spending majority of my time dealing with Postgraduate directions (Sucessful Practice and Principles 3 module) and my second client at Blueprint/Hopwood/East Midlands Developement Agency with the Green Street project, revising the proposal idea.

I will be paying a visit to Green Street on Monday afternoon, thus enabling me to further enhance and wrap up the final proposal for EMDA. I will then be filming the 'timberframe' of the Green Street properties going up on Wednesday 24th Feb.

The post production war for client number 1 will soon begin. Probably last Wednesday /early Thursday that is 25th Feb.

In regards to SPP3 - my direction is likely to be for an MA in Marketing Communication. I am looking to be working in London upon graduating from MA and therefore has chosen to studying in London, allowing myself time to climatise and network whilst studying.

Personal Research Project - artefact twos' result were dissapointing, it became obvious that the way i was investigating results was not useful. I have therefore changed direction in how to reseach and find results out. Prior to Artefact 3, I had been showing clips with product placements present and asked the viewers if they recall seeing anything. This proves to provide a mental block as the question was abrupt. I have changed the research method to a group os 12 people, of which half the group will see the clip and answer a questionaire and then other half will answer the survey without viewing. Decoy questions are added in order to throw the audience off thinking too much into what the survey is actually about.

artefact 2

2010-02-16T14:25:00.002Z

this artefact followed the same testing pattern as artefact one as I continued the search for an answer to see if product placement is effective and would it change the way the audiovisual industry is funded in the near future.

This artefact was, to some extent, a fail - results were nearly the same as the first artefact although the test piece showed a significantly different type of product placement.

In hindsight it was down to two major problem - group size being small and questions being too direct.

"Green Street"

2010-02-04T23:01:00.000Z

Some time ago, a guy started 'following' me on Twitter.

Until about a month ago, this guy who followed me on Twitter began speaking with me on Facebook. It was a rather odd moment, when I got a message that had said 'Hey I'm John, I've been following you on Twitter.'

It turns out, John is a lovely guy who works for Blueprint, a joint venture between East Midlands Development Agency, Homes and Community Agency and igloo.

We met about, had a chat about stuff. He thought I was an interesting person who knew my way round multimedia solutions.

So today we had another meeting - regarding a set of videoes I will be producing for his company!

The project in question is Green Street - a new and upcoming property developed in the Meadows area of Nottingham. It's green because well, the street really is called Green Street, but also because they are very eco-friendly houses fitted with extra-thick insulating walls and solar panels etc.

The brief was given that I have to produce a video about the neighbourhood first - upon the completion for this and if video created is to a satisfactory level, i will be paid and another brief will be given.

it's all good. uber busy final year, but it's all fun and experience. Thank god I was trained to deal with Clients. I'm juggling TWO client projects now!

'Lets go to the airport...

2010-02-04T00:56:00.001Z

and pick up our guest DJ from Hong Kong'

hello DJ BeCareful, this is boring England and I'm Jay, one of the people who are going to be part responsible for your boredom for the next week.

It was a good long drive. However upon him getting off the plane, he had disagreed to getting filmed due to tiredness. To make up for that, I'll film him flying off and catch up with cutaways of arrival instead. Nobody can tell, really.

His stay will turn out interesting, hopefully.

artefact 1 - results?

2010-02-02T20:13:00.000Z

PRP Artefact one - the results.

Artefact 1 was created to test the ‘Straight forward, in your face blatant PPL’ effectiveness.

The viewing clip shown was an episode of the American series 30Rock. In this clip, the two main leads hold a conversation about a Verizon Wireless Phone - a product that has amazing signal coverage.
The clip was shown to a control group of 10 people. Viewers were made aware a questionnaire is to be filled in after the clip, but were not informed of what the questionnaire and the research were about.

This PPL occurred in a blatant manner both visually and audibly - it was expected that audience would react positively towards this type of PPL and therefore able to recall the product after viewing.
A second set of PPL, though fictional, occurs in a less obvious manner.

Upon completing the experiment, it became apparent the initial prediction and results are very different

Although 80% of the group has heard about the programme, 40% has seen the show and only 20% have seen the clip prior to viewing…

- 60% could in some form recall the female and male leads’ name

- 50% could recall a specific number mentioned.

- Only 30% could successfully recall product in question, of which 20% had previously seen the clip.

The repeated viewing linked with product in question being recalled suggests this type of PPL works best when viewed a second time.
However, the ‘less obvious’ PPL of the fictional product has a ‘link’ to the storyline and plot development, which may have helped viewers to connect with the product.
My next artefact will be showing a clip with PPL that is relevant to the story – this is known as ‘Integrated explicit product placement’, allowing me to further investigate the difference in effectiveness.

Client proposal

2010-01-27T23:29:00.004Z

client proposal - done and dusted. I had difficulties trying to 'visualise' (i meant drawing out what I see in my head) for my storyboard. I managed in the end.

The documentary/promotional kit I will be creating for PhoenixPlus is of apx 6-10 minutes in length and will take on a casual relaxed interview interlaced with montages and graphics where relevant.

The other promotional video will be loosely based around a performance that is to happen on the 10th Feb 2010. This piece will be about 4-6 minutes long - again depending on how much content as I cannot predict what could happen, though I have a clear idea in my mind as to what shots I will be looking for.

Live Client Project

2010-01-20T12:49:00.002Z

With recent development in clearing up the artists' schedules I have been able to draw up a gantt chart - this will allow me to see how I should be progressing and therefore allow me to allocate my time efficiently and severely reduce the chance of lagging behind.

Currently under the process of drawing up the storyboard of the documentary and the video blog of the artist. Also adding a video flyer as part of the package in the running up to the event itself.

I will be meeting with collaborators of the Sam Lee party - Montana and SIZE? of Nottingham. I will be taking pictures of them and adding to a video flyer with strong motion graphics - another skill I have to pick up now!

thank god for http://library.creativecow.net and http://www.gomediazine.com!

Personal Research Project - artefact 1 and 6

2010-01-16T03:32:00.000Z

Past the initial document having been completed, the first and the final artefact have been drawn up.

The first artefact, showing a clip of the American hit series '30Rock' will include a questionaire at the end of the viewing. 'Audience' will be told prior to the clip viewing they will be filling in a questionaire upon finishing but will not be informed what the research is about.

The last artefact is a more general questionaire that anybody who knows about television can fill in - as this is a more general 'survey' i reasoned that the longer I have the more data I can collect - upon which hopefully a more accurate conclusion.

new year epic blog entry

2010-01-14T05:42:00.003Z

2010.

new decade. new term. new module.

hello, Successful Practice and Principles 3

Just a little before the holiday started I sat down and had a deep thought about what I wanted to do when I graduate. It was a shaking moment for me as it had just dawned on me that the next half a year will fly by so fast I was bound to be left breathless.

My verdict, however, was advertising and PR. I think this partly was due to the amount of research I had done for the PRP module in regards to advertising on television.

It came as a pleasant surprise when it was made clear that SPP3 was to be based around the post graduation aspect - I genuinely was and still am happy about the arrangements. I had a state of panic when the post-graduation aspect dawned on me before the holidays and had already begun researching into courses I was to apply and internships available.

The plan is to apply to study the Introductory Certificate in Marketing as a distant learner over term two and three, hereafter applying for the CAM Diploma in Marketing Communication.

research is on-going.

Personal Research Project

The tightest module there is - will definitely push me into my best shape. Although it is a lot of work, I am somewhat looking forward to this. A lot of work, but the findings should be interesting. My artefacts consist of 5 control clip viewing and 1 questionnaire. Currently in the process of gathering control clips and will soon begin drawing the questionnaire out.

first deadline is 19th Jan - I haven't got long now. Out of the 3 modules, this is the one I worry the most about - so will be working twice as hard to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Live Client Project

This module is my life-saving module as it is more flexible and dates are already drawn up. A Gantt chart has already been drawn up for this project and storyboard will be under way soon. One of my more confident module out of the three.

Multimedia Exhibition

In the process of sorting a venue out for a fund-raiser night out. Meetings and all, should be interesting.

'Planet 51'

2009-12-11T13:15:00.004Z

Took a small break away from PRP essay and went to the cinema - watched Planet 51

(accessed on 11 Dec 2009, http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/planet_fifty_one.jpg)

And even when I was having a break, I could not get away from work!

I think product placement is something I have read soo much about in the past 3 months, I can't help but look for them in movies - it kind of ruined my life.

Even in a kids movie, I saw the typical American astronaut eat a Twix bar on a different planet; hippie aliens drove round in a hover Volkswagen, and our astronaut verbally mentioned facebook.

Commercials are creeping into our daily lives and you just don't know how much of it is out there - has it always been like this or have I just started noticing?

Scary.

'Branded Entertainment'

2009-12-07T23:40:00.002Z

Another book done - ' Branded Entertainment - Product Placement and Brand Strategy in the Entertainment Business' by Jean-Marc Lehu

This book was very helpful - if gave me a brief outline on the origins and reasons for product placement (basically narrowed it down to source of finance) and its advantages. Eventually moving onto the adapting to a new world with PVR and tv online.

It has given me a very clear perspective of how and why it works.

On the other hand - I'm now past half way with the PRP paper I am writing. It is taking time, and a lot of loose end tidying. Currently under the description of proposed practice.

I believe that as long as I know my stuff good enough I will be just fine..so I'm going to keep reading now..

'The future of advertising' - Joe Cappo

2009-11-30T17:01:00.003Z

i've just finished a booked titled 'The future of advertising' by Joe Cappo.

Overall, I found this book an enjoyable read (not to say I should never enjoy doing serious work) - it worked chronologically and had all the basic details about advertising tied in. I would say it is a recommended read for a newbie like myself.

The first couple of chapters were mainly about the history of advertising and how it has always been around and the earlier years of the industry. That gave me a crash course in the area of which before now I had no idea about.

The middle chapters were all about technology and its development - how the industry was going to keep up. It gave examples of how different companies (of different fields) have walked away from their re-invention made adaptable to new media successfully or just plunged straight to rock bottom.

The middle section also began to offer insights as to how advertising on television is no longer the main source, how prime time is no longer prime time and worst of all, how ad-zapping has been made available in the past decade and how this has affected the industry itself.

The end chapters were mainly about the future of advertising (as promised by the title) - the reinvention of new media and the way we communicate.

Overall, a good read and very useful in filling in gaps.

simulated client project - wrap!

2009-11-25T19:45:00.002Z

ok, after a brief feedback session, it was agreed that minor changes should be made -
so here is the revised version.

20 Second advert...final

2009-11-24T01:45:00.001Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJugfg5tW4U

20 Second advert...final

2009-11-23T22:52:00.002Z

the Hive - 'Enterprise Extravaganza'

2009-11-18T21:55:00.000Z

I had a very productive day in the talk series the Hive at Nottingham Trent University held.

Mike Southon, the die-hard Beatle fan (more commonly know as the Beermat enterpreneur), gave an inspiring speech in entrepreneurship. He changed my views on how to run a business yourself, like totally.

Alongside many other simple bits of truth such as be local and be reliable, he stressed that if you are good at a few things, pick one and stick with it - there is never any point in trying to do everything yourself.

The other group we had was BassToneSlap - very loud performance indeed. Definitely demonstrated how thinking outside of the box is often just what we need.

Research - phrase II

2009-11-17T17:59:00.002Z

After much considerations here are the outlines of what I will be discussing in my paper

1/ establishing different ways of marketing within the audiovisual industry and how they work.

2/ the current issues and era we're in - e.g. advance of technology development, such as mobile tv, iphones and TiVo(sky+ boxes) etc...hence

3/ how and why they are developing and what effects they have on the industry looking esp into product placement (new ways developed?)

4/ moral grounds of advertising - upfront vs subversive vs sumbliminal - ethical?

5/ where will advertising go in the future within the industry - will product placement grown or die out? How and why.

the research is still on-going and still I'm reading more papers.

The latest additions are
'An Explorative Study of Testing the Effectiveness of Product Placement Compared to 30-Second Commercials' by Kristin Blonde and Irene Roozen, Vlekho-Business School Belgium

'Moviegoers' Response to Product Placement: A Mise-En-Scene Analysis' by Marco Nappolini and Chris Hackley, Royal Holloway University of London.

'Product Placement - A consultation on issues related to product placement' - Published by Ofcom

Too much reading is still never enough!

the aftermath - 20sec ad campaign

2009-11-17T17:54:00.006Z

The shoot was sucessful and went really well - It look less time than expected (which was good) and everything went very smoothly, mainly due to a considerable amount of work being put into pre-production planning.

Every shot was thought out and planned out prior to the shoot which therefore now means that apart from ading visual effects and tidying up footage (which just takes time) there aren't many uncertainties in regards to the work.

20 second ad shoot

2009-11-12T11:55:00.004Z

whens you dolmio day? today is the day!

after weeks (I say weeks, it's been just over a month) of planning and pre-production, I will now put all my hard work into action.

Checklisting items, I have all the props and paperwork (mug-shot height chart, laptops, spare cds, risk assessment, talent and location release, story board and a shooting log).

I will be having Jack Boyles and Danny Peachy on board to help with my filming.

Production stills will follow.

pirates in piracy ad

2009-11-11T23:12:00.005Z

I was helping out with Jason Bickers' shoot yesterday, we had a good laugh but it certainly reminded me of why pre-production is so important.

the first scene was of the character walking down a hallway - being a halway, it wasn't very well lit. It was obvious that little considerations went into lighting design as I was running around trying to see where the lights could go would fit in with the scene.

I ended up having to put a light on the mid-levels of the stiars.

All in all it worked out really well and was very enjoyable. We all had a good laugh, what with all the pirate costumes and that.

Client Project - Simulated

2009-11-01T15:34:00.004Z

Digital Piracy - what makes us think it's right?

it is weird to see how the world had adopted the idea of digital piracy so well -

Piracy first took off in the early 70s when cassettes became popular and people would copy tapes for their friends (Jewkes, 2006). Over the years, as internet development advanced, piracy had been spreading like wildfire and eventually spiralled out of control. Isn’t there something we can do to stop this once and for all?

In this project I will be producing a 20 second advert for broadcast on television - it will provide information on why it is illegal to share and distribute digital material without consent from the copyright owner.

Below is the storyboard - how i intend to spread the 20 seconds.

Im now in the process of casting - location is not such a big worry to me as I require different bedrooms and already have a vague idea which bedrooms I will be using - just to type up the risk assessments now

Product Placement Papers I

2009-10-20T18:33:00.003+01:00

Evolving Views on Product Placement Effectiveness -
James A.Karrh, Kathy Brittain McKee, Carol J. Pardun

"What was once a sporadic barter arrangement for lowering film and television production costs is now a vehicle for multimillion-dollar integrated promotional campaigns. In the near future, product placement will likely become an important revenue source for broadcast television networks" (Schneider, 2002)

Questions raised in the paper includes 'Have practitioners changed their views concerning product placement?'

They began by explaining the product placement industry, stating that it is a 'paid, strategic marketing tool, began to receive greater attention...during the 1980s following the E.T. placement success'

They also began to view a trend whereby more recent product placements are relatively much larger than previously had been and the marketers are now moving in a much bolder manner looking for new ways to advertise within feature films.

It is also discussed that due to the mass injection of fund, it is no suprise that sponsor companies has, to an extent, a bigger control over the context/content in which their brand is presented - and because the producers and the marketers aims at different goals there are times whereby the marketers does not get what they want as final outcome of the feature always rest with the editor.
Audiences are also becoming increasingly aware of the blur between the informing and persuading aspects of mass media.

Surveys are also included as part of the study, results shows that 'practitioners are more confident about the future growth of placement...however, still maintain some reservation'

It is suggested by brand placement researchers that 'Practitioners...would be wise to commit quickly to research programs designed to explore, describe, and explain the relationships among brand prop exposure, audience reactions and interpretations, movieviewing contexts, and brand placement practices"
(DeLorme and Reid, 1999, P87)

They have also made predictions as to how product placement could (and sort of already has as this paper was written in 2003) take us in the future -

"In a near-future world of more interactive TV, the time lag between brand exposure and purchase opportunity could shrink to nearly zero; viewers will likely be able to 'point, click, and get more data on a product or purchasing clothing, housewares, or even a vacation right off the show'" (Ebenkamp, 2001)

PRP supporting research

2009-10-20T18:06:00.003+01:00

For the personal research project I have been preparing myself prior to term start.

A list of all the papers I got -

Practitioners' Evolving Views on Prodcut Placement Effectiveness
by James A. Karrh(University of Arkansas at Little Rock), Kathy Brittain McKee (Berry College) and Carol J.Pardun (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

You Oughta Be In pictures: Product Placements in the Top-Grossing Films of 1991
Barry S. Sapolsky and Lance Kinney, Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida

Consumer reactions to product placement strategies in television sponsorship
Alain d'Astous and Nathalie Séguin, École des HEC, Montreal, Canada

Exploring Children's Choice: The Reminder Effect Of Product Placement
Susan Auty and Charlie Lewis, Lancaster University

How the Media is a Significant Promotional Tool to Deliver Marketing Messages to Audiences
Yoon C.Cho (KDI School of Public Policy And Management, South Korea), Jerome Agrusa (Hawaii Pacific University)

Beyond the Map: Issues in teh Design of a Virtual 3D Knowledge Space for Aboriginal Knowledge
Malcolm Pumpa, Australian CRC for Interaction Design (ACID), Queensland University of Technology, Australia

I hope to do an individual review on each paper to aid ease of access.

PRP - Personal Research Project

2009-10-20T17:34:00.004+01:00

Phrase 1 - determinating the right question.

Since the end of my second year I have been considering what questions I would like to investigate.

Initially, this was going to be ' The relationshp between fashion and cinema', in the sense that they influence each other greatly and time over time certain styles have been brought back due to the movies' release. However, it soon became apparent that this was too vague but specific, and would mean I leave myself little space to futher expand on the question.

I then decided if I go the next level up and take it to the world of commerce vs cinema I may have a better chance of writing an interesting paper.

The keyword at the minute is product placement - I would like to investigate the consumerism and how it is affected by product placement within cinema and general broadcast on television.

A few of the relevant questions I have thought (that I think will greatly contribute towards the findings) are as follow...

1/ How cinema can affect ones way of thinking (control and change your state of mind) - e.g. propaganda and how its achieved

2/ The link between commercializing cinema and advertising, briefly investigating the history of propaganda and how it is linked subconsciously product placements' sucess)

3/ what is product placement and its come-about

4/ its development in the past decade(s)

5/ what are the general publics views on product placement? have they gotten used to it? do they feel like they're beign forced into it?

6/ has product placement lowered our standards on movies as it has been made so commercial? It is such an easy way to gain extra budget for movie production, has it changed the way movies and broadcasts are made and produced?

7/ different governments legislations (England Vs the States) why and how. Why the sudden change in legislation in the UK and how US went passed the legislation previously

8/ where will product placement take us next? couple of decades ago product placement was non-existent and now the government is boardering legalizing it, whats next?

9/ the general publics views on cinema, product placement and its pros and cons, also including statistics as to how influencial they think product placement in the cinema is. Effects on the community.

PhoenixPlus

2009-09-18T11:08:00.001+01:00

Previously I had proposed to make my client project a video for a previous(current) employee of mine - PhoenixPlus

This time round, PhoenixPlus has got MC Jin, the first Asian American solo rapper to be signed to a major record label Ruff Ryders.

His visit was suppose to begin on the 13th Oct and I will be in charge of producing a video of the tour, from day 1 of him getting off the plane until he leaves.
Previously I was working with my client to produce promotional videos of the event.

However, as implications developed at the immigration, Jin was not allowed into the country and we were left with the supporting act Stevie Hoang to run the show.

Frankly it worked out rather well - he took the stage and all the girls heart - the task I'm left with now is editing a decent promotional video for PhoenixPlus out of footage on only one camera.

The war will begin soon enough, it has to -PhoenixPlus has another party coming up at the beginning of November!

wrapped up nice and pretty

2009-05-22T12:20:00.004+01:00

Today calls for celebration - wrapping up close to 5 months worth of hard work.

Binding the evaluation, builing the dvd I had authored....seeing it all come together is definitely worth it.

Adobe Encore

2009-05-21T23:00:00.003+01:00

prop

is probably one of the worst programmes I've ever used!

I kept getting error messages and just as I thought I'm all sorted

it won't build the dvd properly.

I have been stuck at the following screen for at least 10 times now..and still stuck.
no matter how many times i close it and try to change something and then start it again, it just does the same!

oh my...so close to the finishing...yet so far :(

chicken a la carte

2009-05-06T18:22:00.002+01:00

this is a short film i stumbled across whilst surfing.

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

"This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people."
(direct quote from http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte)

I have never seen a short that has touched me in such a way - the way it has been portrayed etc. though I would say the only downfall is the sound, its a bit rubbish. But other than that, sincerely love it.

neave.com

2009-05-01T23:01:00.000+01:00

interactivity - ultimately the question is how do we get the audience and the user to participate, therefore affecting the end result.

I found my answer, well, a very good example of the answers.

http://www.neave.com/

On this site, we have old school arcade games, and many applications involving the mic input. Playing music and seeing some pretty balls bounce up and down on your screen, blowing a dandelion with your mic, drawing in 3-d so we can find some constructive use for our lying around 3-d glasses...

When I first found this website, I felt like a kid in a playground once more, every link was a suprise and every suprise made me realise how much possibilities are left out there still.

I'm such a happy kid now.

BCS public relations / IUFT

2009-04-16T15:05:00.004+01:00

After numerous redrafting and polishing, we're reached the 4th edit and hopefully the final edit.

I think this experience has been none the interesting as it has given me the opportunity to see for myself how things like such are done in the real world, working with a company as a actual client.

-----------------------------------------------

On the other hand, I had been speaking to the event manager of the International Ukranian Football Tournament I landed for the 17th-24th May 2009. This tournament will involve an opening and closing ceremony, with two matches each day kicking off at 6pm and 8pm. The semi-final will take place on the 23rd thus leading to the finals on the 24th. All expenses are covered and we're even getting paid (though not very much) and having a ticket going to the grand ball at the end with silver services!

I have never filmed a football tournament before and haven't been the biggest fan of football - but this will be such a golden opportunity for me to pick up another area of skill. I am very much looking forward to working on this project and working with my team again - Jack and Danny, but this time, we also have Ryan Boyle. Though I must point out, I am slightly worried by the fact that my deadline is smack in the middle of the proposed week - I'll just have to work twice as hard.

BCS Public Relations x Clippasafe

2009-04-06T20:10:00.003+01:00

this is the first draft of the video shot for BCS Public Relations' client Clippasafe. Having just had the meeting with BCS they had informed me of changes they would like to see (client feedback session) and now we're in the process of completing the second edit.
thanks danny n jack :)

alas, shattered!

2009-04-06T20:05:00.004+01:00

finally, the glass has been shattered.

It was a weird day, I had to have 3 cameras on set filming at different height.

at least it is all over now, I can finally edit with all the footage!

colour grading

2009-04-04T18:32:00.003+01:00

After having found the Active Ingredient video (and watching all the way through even the credits), I suddenly realised in the past I have never known anything about colour grading. Scary thought to be honest, to think it is such an essential part in the world of cinema and I had never given it any thoughts.

I started reading up on it. I knew what color grading is, but not in details.

This is what color grading is:

Reproduce accurately what was shot
Compensate for variations in the material (i.e. film errors, white balance, varying lighting conditions)
Optimize transfer for use of special effects
Establish a desired 'look'
Enhance and/or alter the mood of a scene — the visual equivalent to the musical accompaniment of a film.

(sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading, accessed 4th Apr 09)

Processes such as primary and secondary color grading, masks, mattes and Power Windows alongside motion tracking are all part of what is needed to achieve colour enhancement.

Very educating indeed. Learn something new everyday.

extras bits

2009-03-18T00:51:00.008Z

I've always been a great believer in practice and opportunities.

Time to do a little review.

Towards the beginning of the term, I took part in filming for the Radiator Festival - that has certainly allowed me to gain further insights into the digital arts industry.

--------------------------

I then moved on to organising a shoot for a company named BCS who were based in Nottingham - initially they wanted somebody to go down to Bristol and film a 'promotional' video, looking to give potential clients confidence through the viewing of the video - in which we would interview existing clients.
However, the dates did not work out and that sort of blew over :S

----------------------------

Couple of weeks later, I find myself helping my lecturers run a buddying scheme for New College Nottingham.
These 'kids' signed up for a crash course in how to do Multimedia and were to produce a project by the end of the 4 3hours sessions we had. They were taught the desgin process and how a typical multimedia practitioner would go through with ideas developments. They also learnt how to do script writing, project management, photoshoping and best park of all, film editing.

Through teaching and helping them, I found myself learning things by teaching them. It was suprising not only did I enjoy it, I also walked away benefitting, from explaining to them concepts I had been taught and thought I understood.

-------------------------

Soon after that, I was put in touch with local digital media company Active Ingredient to 'act'. Not so much acting, more like pretending to get on a bus and commute to 'work'. I had to get on buses for one stop just to get off at the next stop. It made me understand how hard it is for actors to have to keep repeating what they do so many time. Sure made me realise why communication skills are so essential within the industry.
For those who has vimeo, this is the video - http://vimeo.com/3816484

--------------------------

I then had the luck to once again film for BCS public relations. We had a little trouble regarding the kit but soon after it was sorted me and my crew was on our way. Filming footage for a 'demo' of a product by now is relatively easy. With more than enough material and a simplistic video the client looks for, we now just have to go and draft up the first edit.

Overall, it's been a very productive term, I think.

pilot

2009-03-17T23:48:00.003Z

40 seconds pilot

all is good, give all the documents a good old wrap and all should be well, ready for hand in on Friday.

"The Number 23"

2009-03-12T10:36:00.002Z

the title sequence of "the Number 23" has got me thinking about my title sequence - on a much more sophisticated level.

the title sequence was based on sort of 'parchment' paper, with a typewriter font. The feel is eerie, bloody splash seeping through. The jumpiness makes audience feels unsteady and almost uneasy. The number 23 and its association of historical dates of tragedies has been clearly explained through title sequence - without a single spoken word. The music starts slow but gradually the pace picks up and gets stronger, suggesting the pace of the film itself wil start slow but things will get more and more intense too.

I then started thinking about my opening (and closing) sequence.

main menu scene would be the speckles of broken glass hitting surface and resting.
different shards of glass will then be a different 'clickable' menu.
upon clicking the link to view the movie,
(and here comes the opening sequence)
Blank screen - the word 'Shattered' fades on, followed by the definition of the word.
We then see the glass rose in freefall and freezes - we see the two characters sat at either end of the dining table. (first shot)

"shattered" - how to? part II

2009-03-03T19:08:00.004Z

There is the trying to stick bits of already shattered glass into a glass rose look-alike...that sort of failed badly - for one, none of me or my mates are art sculturing students (in fact we're all audiovisual geeks)...and for two, it was(and still is...and will always be) a hard shape to mock. With the various layers of 'crystal' and the complexity as layers went on...it was impossible! All we had were superglue, hair dryer and well...many bits of shattered glasses...

We then tried using playdoh to mock the shape and make a mould. Again this was an embarassing failure. It should of occured to me much earlier prior to even trying. The shape is extremely complex and it was hard to make a mould that would fit together in the end to make a whole rose.

So after about an hour or two of gluing bits of glass (which was pretty fun) me and my beloved team just gave up!
Instead I've bought a rose online that looks similar to the real thing and I'm going to 'shatter' that instead.

It sure made me appreciate so much more the art of glass-gluing and glass sculturing. If only we had a glass melting torch gun thingeymajiggy (i know that's not a word, shut up y'all)

Conclusion - Was a good laugh and sure is a good sunday afternoon activity.

'shattered' - how to?

2009-02-27T12:50:00.002Z

the last shot of the short film has not been shot yet...why?
there was no way in hell the glass was going to shatter properly!
so instead, a few solutions came to mind

-sugar glass
-substitute/re-modelling
-ice

sugarglass - most people will know, is not extremely hard to make but very hard to mould into specific shape

subsitute - the idea being i'll smash some random glass and pick up bits that looks like it could be part of the rose and glue them all together - then i let the real rose drop onto a cushion(obviously not filming the rose) then thru editing intercut it into the fake rose falling and hitting the floor.

ice - baking playdoh mould made frm pressing the rose into the playdoh, and making ice with the mould - so it shatters easily!

still contemplating between substitute and ice...but....shall experiment soon!

ready - set - shoot

2009-02-24T23:34:00.003Z

24th Feb 2009 - the day I dreaded - my shooting day.

Prior to shoot, I prepared everything I possibly could - on set I had child release, schedule, productiong brief, the script, the shooting script, the storyboard(framforge), risk assessments...the list goes on!

The crew consisted of Danny Peachey(sound and general assistant), Adam Sumner(director), Jack Boyles(Director of photography) and Jason Bickers(Light) and myself, producing and doing production stills.

I had a really good day filming - early start and a little stressful, but everything went perfect and exactly how i imagined and planned - the schedule was really useful and fortunately we were able to stick to it extremely well - we were even ahead of schedule by 2 maybe 3 hours and wrapped everything up abotu 5pm (as suppose to 8pm in the original schedule).

I owe a big thank you to everybody who's helped me with this project - the editing war will begin soon enough.

now i'm realllllly shattered

2009-02-18T01:10:00.004Z

days on end runing back and forth

I have all three locations 'sorted' - still awaiting for the person in charge of the park to get back to me regarding location release. Other than that, all I have left now is cast the few actors and book the hotel room for shoot, book the equipments and get the right forms signed, we're good to go!

hotel room - Hotel Ibis

Park - Victoria Park

Frameforge completed - awaiting park manager to sign my form - risk assessment completed - script completed - casting still in progress, one more actor to go and i'd have finished casting, meeting with make-up artist to discuss my needs. It's all good.

frameforge rendered avi - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtJ1W8OOvME

"Play Parade"

2009-02-18T01:02:00.004Z

I went and gave a hand to a thrid year audiovisual student Bindni Karia.
She is currently doing her client project for her final year project - it sure is a lot of work - but she is very organised and we had a great half day with the kids.
her final year project is based on a company called Playworks - basically the company promotes the idea of 'play' - whilst growing up somewhere along the line we all forgot how once the world was just one big playgroud - children are then encouraged to play within this working shop, maximizing their imagination far beyond our imagination.

frameforge 3d studio

2009-02-03T23:01:00.002Z

story goes, script goes, there's no better way to show what you're trying to make but a storyboard.

A good storyboard should contain all shots in prototype so whoever reads it should be able to visualise completely what it is the writer is trying to portraite.

In order to aid my storyboard, I've opted for a shooting script first - and now that it's done, all I'm doing now is frameforging the storyingboard.

Feels like I'm playing the Sims.

script polishing 1

2009-01-22T16:55:00.002Z

Had a few feedbacks from a director and an actor -
the script is good, but the technicality gets increasingly complex. It is essential that I am able to divorce myself from the reality when continuing to polish the script as it's all to easy for me to write soemthing that I relate to and forgetting about the end audience.

I'm currently working on my character study - so I know how to develope the story better and give the character more detail.

I'm also going to start adding in series of questions and sub-script feelings in major scenes. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that since there is no sound, the narrative needs to be well delivered visually - to do that I need my actors to be able to know how to feel.

I'm working on the shooting script. I think it is essential that I don't give too much directions as to where the camera should go within the script as it is irrelevant to the actors. It will also help me straighten out exactly what I'm looking for visually, so to enable further visualizing in my small puny brain.

marital difficulties

2009-01-20T23:18:00.001Z

style - film noir / chiaroscuro
I want it to have a strong lighting contrast feel to it, perhaps a touch of elegance, just as the Baroque genre of Art - highlighting the details, but in black and white.

-------
An idea occured to me today - the idea of having several actors for the same scene and intercut during post-production to enhance the idea of loneliness - there's a bit of primal instinct in all of us, the fear of being alone.
Visually speaking, this will be messy and will require plenty of pre-planning, detailed. However, I think it would strengthen that theme I'm trying so hard to desperately explore by far.
Practically speaking, however, I think this may happen in the future instead of current. The cost and the cast management seem overwhelming - the project will be too big and too ambitious perhaps.
-------

I've spent a whole night trying to find something similar to what I'm doing - results are weak. I have no been able to find any (yet)

However, hours of research on marital difficulties have paid off - this may be weird, but its certainly worth the pain.
Through research, it has actually put me back in perspective - all the minor things that never strike you as 'harmful' towards a relationship all of a sudden were all lethal.

sites visited...
http://divorcesupport.about.com/od/canorshoulditbesaved/qt/maritalproblems.htm
http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/three_fears_haunting_relationships
http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/emotional_cheating
http://ezinearticles.com/?5-Signs-of-Relationship-Problems&id=502612

research

2009-01-20T22:42:00.003Z

Increasingly as I re-draft and re-draft, I'm finding it more and more obvious that research makes such a difference.

As my script will have no conversation, it is therefore essential that I have to prep it well. There may be no 'sound', but as my lecturer pointed out, there is no such thing as silence.

Even when there is no sound, you still hear your blood pumping through your body - that is not silence, that is a moment of quiet. Just because it has no conversation, if anything it makes the sound design for the script even more important as it should I have to make silence speaks, a discomfort, and how I may go about achieve that.

There is also the 'awkward' element that needs to be portrayed through sound. Visually speaking, however, it is important that I should be able to capture the essence of the deteriation of the relationship.

proposed research areas include:

problematic relationships - causes and consequences
the experience
the body gestures, the minor details that makes a visual difference, an impact
a common factor - something the audience can connect with in terms of their personal past relationship experience(s)
gender issue - how male and female may react differently to problems - established or not

polishing my diamond

2009-01-19T00:10:00.005Z

I've re-drafted my script 3 times so far, having had different people read through it, the feedback had been good in general, storyline is apparently clear and simple, but scenes have had to be changed as I re-draft.

Polishing and polishing, despeartely wanting that diamond to outshine the moon.

For example, originally, there was a scene of the couple sitting at a cafe sharing a sundae on a mid summer day. That was the perfect scene for me, the perfect day out for a young couple.

Then I got feedback that perhaps I should take account of cultural references - and my friend was right - if they are British, why should they be sat at a French style cafe sharing a sundae?

So the alternative I'm considering, is either a walk by the river, or simply a picnic in the park whilst playing scrabble. It's a tough call to be fair, I'm trying to take into consideration all that is associated with the action.
I want to be able to portray the same feeling of 'sharing a sundae with a sweetheart at a cafe on a summer day' but do it British style - which involves perhaps a 99p flake cone.

but the practicality is I won't find an ice cream truck near a park(with relatively less people around it to make it more believable that it's in a park). I'm filming in winter, have to accept that grim bit of life.

It's a new thought, I think I'm going to sleep on it.

"shattered"

2009-01-11T21:43:00.003Z

My story is called Shattered.

I wanted to explore the idea of loneliness, but as I started writing the script I realise that was hard to do. It's a script, it doesn't have to have a plot, but it does need a storyline for time to pass through.

So I thought, if I come up with a beginning and an end, the rest will fall into place easily.
The one thing that definitely contributed towards my lonely childhood was divorce, that struggle between my parents. Conviniently, I needed a story, so a married couple who're driven apart over the year it is.

I'm trying to go an abstract way, the movie, behold, will have no conversations.
and will mostly be in black and white.

Script

2009-01-09T17:35:00.003Z

Further to reading the Rabiger book regarding story ideas development, I have come to realise that every single script has its' own soul.
To a certain extend, reading a script is like getting to know a person. There is so much you can tell from a script - the style, the atmosphere, the theme - it's all part of the writers' experience and history, where he's been and what he's done.

In my script, I want to discuss and explore the theme of 'loneliness' - the idea that people 'pretends' but emotions are often much deeper and there are always reasons and justifications behind actions.

I came up with this idea as I feel it was soemthing I could connect with - it's hard describing something you don't feel and you can't connect with.

what is story?

2008-12-23T00:03:00.004Z

it's hard - I don't have a story to tell.

Story telling has never been something i find interesting, more the reason why I've spent 20 years of my life without creative writing, except once.

There isn't anything I connected to - and then I remembered there is one thing that won me a round of praises back at GCSE creative writing - divorce.

It is strange to say, one can portray the term in so many different ways it is almost like untouched diamond ore, all it needs is polish over and over.

Who knows? It's something I did want to expand on when writing the story.

I have no experience in script writing or story development (and I'm not going to start pretending I do) so to aid the objective I'm currently reading this book called Developing Story Ideas by Michael Rabiger.

(I found this book when researching about his other book - Directing - film techniques and anesthetics.)

The book is useful and guides me every step of the way as to how I could get that imaginative brain of mine to start working magic.

I found myself asking the same question from day one

what is story?

here's the perfect answer I found

'"Art", said the French realist writer Émile Zola, "is a corner of nature seen through a temperament." By deliberately seeing through your own vivid and particular intelligence, you give us the causes effects, injustices, and beauty of a world that nobody else has seen in quite your way...' (page 17 - Developing Story Ideas by Michael Rabiger - accessed on 23rd Dec 08)

reassuring - I'm starting to get excited about this, it feels like an untouched mine - so many unforeseen opportunities, each and every one of them unique.

lovely orange production

2008-12-14T14:05:00.002Z

the final product of the 4 minute documentary

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EKCG0ZZ5mkE

little end of term review

2008-12-14T02:20:00.004Z

right, another term gone, time to do a little review so I dont forget where to look when I need to reference.

Mainstream lectures and seminars
all lectures and seminars this term had been based around the project - 4 minute non-fiction documentary production. I found all the lectures and seminars really helpful as it reassured me that I was on track doing the right thing, and to be fair, not much chance of going off track and going wrong at all!

Voluntary group meetings to aid project production
those were fun - it helped put into perspective what it is like working as part of a team - especially from a producers' point of view. Prior to this term I had little knowledge of what the role of a producer is. Sure I knew what they do, but I didn't know know what they do if you get me.
I had always thought it was pretty easy but turns out it was a demanding role - so much so I felt I was smack in between the directors' orders and the rest of the team who're disagreeing to the director.

External amatuer jobs
for PhoenixPlus.co.uk - two videos this term for them - however I will no long be violating music copyrights as all videos for next term will use music from a different source.
I felt I have benefitted from the external amatuer experience - though it may not be the real deal, it is still practice and improvments happens with practice and reflection.
this will be an on-going battle

Books I've read to aid study

1/The Technique of Documentary Film Production by W.Hugh Baddeley
a useful book for me as it put into perspective how a production of a documentary is managed. Though some details are slightly out of date(such as sycning audio with visual) the basics are evergreen and fundamentally they will never change.

I thank god for this book - this was my Bible for the term - this was the book that kept me a step ahead of the game and kept me organised, whilst raising questions that otherwise nobody else would've ever thought about. Key to my sucess this term I think.

2/Lighting for Digital Video & Television by John Jackman
an extremely technical book explaining all the physics I once aced in back at college but have forgotten. Volts, Watts, basic Physics theories like the Kevin scale (which to be honest I have never thought about prior to encountering the chapter in the book). Real useful technical background stuff that just fills all the gap in your knowledge and all that I've ever wondered about lighting and the science attached to it.

In the duration of reading this book, I had many 'ahhh I see now' moments.

3/Making Short Films by Clifford Thurlow
Lots of useful resources, plenty of 'reflection' sections at end of each chapter and in between to aid self learning - such as '10 things you should ask yourself when writing a script'.

Personally I found it a pretty general book of how it's done, but there is not much on how to do it.

I've just started out on a new book too
In the Blink of an Eye - A perspective on Film Editing by Walter Murch
awesomely interesting - made me realise things I never thoght about before, bringing me a brand new perspective of how to look at it. So far so good. A full review will be included at the end of all this definately.

Pretty good term i think. Productively fun and actively enjoyable.

Writing for Screen Media

2008-12-12T13:34:00.003Z

Lecture by Jools

Recognizing the versatility of script, difficulty of creative interpretation and speaking to the audience.

BUBBLES
transitory - energetic - beautiful - collaborative - engineered

The development process involves three key stages -
ideation/idea development
story development
story editing

all of which essential and needs to be repeated and repeated and repeated to gain perfection.

It is suggested that we should download and read scripts - something new i have never done apart from for theatre productions. It comes to me like a stranger, an interesting stranger. Something I want to find out about.

imsdb.com / scriptorama.com / www.celtx.com

"and the end of Romantic Modernist notions"

2008-12-12T13:26:00.003Z

Lecture by Simon Perkins

Summarizing the lecture, I have walked away with the following:
truly original=if nobody else understands it i.e. they can't relate to it as it is brand new

I think that is an essential, lost gem of the true meaning of 'originality'.
People over-exploite the word 'original' nowadays - it's been so commercialize in such a way 'originality' has become the spokesman of 'old school'. Well it aint.

Modernism is about the truth, and post-modernism is all about lies and arguments. Theres logic in trying to find the truth, but its mainly about the process of getting there.

to take things out of context, see problems from a different perspective - its an idealistic opportunity served to you on a gold plate - and it can't get any better than that. By strategically coming up with a solution, it means an advantage, in blatent terms sucess.

Once again, we visit our old friend Schön - the all time great theorist of the reflective learning.

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm

The book, Reflection in Learning and Professional Development: Theory and Practice by Jennifer A. Moon, is once again useful. Now i understand why the book is useful.
However, I have yet to finish the book since I've started last year, still.

a b s t r a c t

2008-12-12T13:22:00.004Z

abstract?

I had no idea what it is - so I researched it.
Most of what I found was similarly irrelevant
They were all teaching you how to write a businese abstract - and I saw nothing in common between all of them.

then I did find something -
http://research.berkeley.edu/UCDay/abstract.html

so I based my networking essay on this format.

It sums up the idea of an abstract into 4 main points
1/ Motivation/Problem stated
2/ Method/Procedure/Approach
3/Results/Findings/Products
4/ Conclusion/Implications

using the four points I above from my research, I was then able to expand and go on to summarising what the 'paper' is about. Pretty useful stuff.

this is the end

2008-12-11T14:03:00.002Z

wrap everything up day today, its not as hard as could be - seeing as we've been quite organised with things since day one.
We've also had to do a self evaluation - I found it really helpful as it helped me pin-point exactly what I found difficult and what coul dbe done better next time round.

n.e.t.w.o.r.k.i.n.g

2008-11-29T16:43:00.004Z

'What is the meaning of this?'

ouch

I don't know about other people but I'm actually finding this essay not too hard.
Apart from the fact that it's a little boring to do it's not actually too hard.

oh well, the essay won't write itself, better get back to it.

there, a lovely saturday afternoon, gone, just like that.

editing sesh 2

2008-11-28T21:26:00.006Z

day two of our eternal struggle

we've done pretty well today actually
I started at 1130 to sub-clip all the footage from scratch as the computer crashed yesterday and everything was lost.
(lucky we had just started yesterday)
People started turning up and soon everybody was sat and discussing over clips and what not, only thing we've got on top is we've taken sound into consideration more today

we got up to about 4 minutes of the 10 for the rough edit, looking great! but shall not be giving anything away just yet...more editing tomorrow... :'(

editing stage 1

2008-11-28T00:08:00.004Z

its awful.
its insane.
its driving every single one of us up the wall.

3 hours of raw footage, excluding alternative angles (another 3 hours on top)

So far we've just chopped the big clip down to subclips of specific action and angles, generating a first edit with the rough footages.

At least then we know where we want which clip when...thereafter it should just be a matter of condensing it down to its finest essence.

"China's Stolen Children"

2008-11-25T23:12:00.007Z

this is a documentary broadcasted on Channel 4 (again) - the voice of documentaries and home to alternative programs.

The story follows a detective on his job - trying to 'rescue' children who've been snatched and stolen off the streets of China and traded for money.

It involve a desperate couple trying to retrieve their beloved son; another couple who's desperate to get rid of the new born girl as she's without a birth certificate; a detective, a buyer and one of the trafficker.

As the documentary goes on, the audience slowly realizes, that human trafficking is a result of the 'ever-so-right' One Child Policy - which is now the major underlying problem of the policy.

Facts and figures are being thrown at us whilst at the same time we follow the personal stories of these people who are all somehow intricately involved in this process of trafficking.
However, the 'addressing the actual problem itself' doesn't happen til right at the end - without obvious jumps, the director has managed to build the emotive jump for the conclusion.

It's very factual and informative - almost as if the producer was trying to make a point.
I learnt things I didn't, and I took away a lesson of treasuring loved ones.

That, means its a good documentary - not only was it moving and convincing, the audience was also able to walk away remembering a lesson that was taught through the medium of a documentary.

capturing...AARRGHH

2008-11-25T18:47:00.003Z

capturing is any editors' nightmare if the camera guy filmed too much.

Because we went away on a day trip to an unfamiliar place - it was best to have more on film then less just so we have more choice.

So, my mini dv JVC gave me two tapes, and the Z1 gave us 3 tapes.

It's a nightmare.
Me and Mr Director will be capturing the 3rd tape tomorrow.

I have started editing the JVC tapes, freehand and behind the scene.

Raunds? Raunds!

2008-11-19T23:31:00.005Z

its late at night (got back at 10.15pm), and im tired, but I'm so excited still!
we did it.

Having nowhere close to enough sleep, we started working away at 7.30am when Liam had to get up for school.

It was a long day, and yes very hectic - but the fact is, I'm happy with what we had managed by the end of the day. It was good fun and we all enjoyed it.

Because I'm too tired right now, pictures will have to follow tomorrow or over the weekend. I have photos to upload and tapes to capture.

(for a few more - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48147&l=ce960&id=501853784)

Post production war has begun, yikes.

preping the filming day

2008-11-17T18:19:00.004Z

so, the day before shooting, we called a meeting to make sure everything that needs doing is done - we're off tomorrow, the remain checklist is here

schedule - event log needs printing out
call sheet updating with hosiptal info and first aider - and printing
storyboard needs printing out after scanning and shrinking
interview questions updated and printed
shooting log needs printing
expenditure log needs printing
all the battery charged for camera and mini dv

bought some spare tapes - thought we better be safe than sorry just incase the one tape we have 'doesn't work' and last minute we'll have to spend the whole day running round trying to get another.

we will be travelling down to Raunds tomorrow evening and will start filming on the Wednesday morning bright and early when Liam gets up to go to school.

"director&producer small talks - sshhh"

2008-11-13T19:55:00.005Z

throughout the so far preproduction process, I'm required to have small talks with my director frequently, making sure we're on the same track and acquiring his views and so adapting them to make his vision real.

so we had another small talk - sat down and discussed a list of things that needs doing -

checking train times, availability and prices
doing recce, release forms, risk assessments
detailed shooting schedule
draw up logs such as shooting log, continuity log and event log
shrinking and tidying up storyboards
delegate who does what during the shoot

so I'm gonna go now, and do all the above..

"Shot Design"

2008-11-13T19:23:00.004Z

(source - filmcity.tv/miseenscene)
shot analysis The first thing that caught my eye was the source of light on the right - this is because for one there is an obvious break of pattern but more importantly it is much brighter than the rest of the image - contrast. My attention was then drawn towards the characters face - this was done with a piece of 'string' - a physical(though minor) connection - and the placement of his arm, leading the attention away from the fence but towards the body. The face comparatively is not as well lit - but contrast has done it again as the character has relatively darkish hair contrasting with the paler skin.

(source - filmcity.tv/miseenscene)

Very different from the previous shot - much brighter. However though the shot is very well lit, the black uniform against the white background makes the situation almost cynical (despite the obvious expressions carried by the actors).
Very deep space and feeling very enclosed - as if you can't run away from the situation.
Diagonal lines suggests tension and the position of the black uniform males are above the 'victim' suggesting power over him.

"The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off" - Patrick Collerton

2008-11-12T23:50:00.003Z

The story follows the last days of a man, Jonny Kennedy, who has a rare genetic disease dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa - who eventually became diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The documentary was very gripping - in such a way I almost felt it was so bizarre it can't be true.

To start the documentary, we see Jonny in has casket - v/o done prior to his death telling his thoughts. We then start on a journey where we follow his last days and sharing his mixed emotions with him.

There were a few specific things I picked up on regarding techniques involved -

music was very mellow and calm, overall it was almost soothing and soul calming to watch - this was a twist as you would most expect the audio to be sort of sad and well, not comforting to say the least - this re-emphazises how much a difference audio makes
have the character being engaged in a conversation - trying to hard to tell your viewers what the character now seems to me like a 'i don't know what to do, so i should play safe' type - let the audience decide and judge your character
when talking about the background, it could be useful sometimes if montages of photos were used

The documentary sent me on an emotional journey as we see his ups and downs that he has to deal with on a daily basis. Roughly about half way through we were given details on change of dressings on his back and we see him in a lot of pain - and for the first time in the whole documentary we see our character with his head down being in so much pain.

That was a twist, a really big twist.

Somehow you knew the weaker inner self is there, but the positivity is so strong (up to this point) it then becomes almost unbearable to watch our heroic character being in pain - that is contrast very well done. You set them up high, and get them down low.

Being an inspiring documentary, the mood soon gets picked up again - tending towards the end, music were not only mellow and soothing, the beats actually started to pick up - almost as if metaphorically making the undefiable death as a relief as we find out more about his dilemma on the views of trying to stay alive.

Right at the end, the funeral was shown, and we all attended, having Jonnys' favourite music played - Queen-Don't Stop Me Now - which again, a total mis-match for the occasion.

But that again, is the contrast card that will ensure this story will stay in your heart now and always.

All in all, it was a well shot documentary, and I as the viewer had been taught a lesson I won't forget - treasure what you have.

http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/B/boy_whose_skin_fell_off/index.html

Producer - thats me

2008-11-11T17:55:00.004Z

it's true what they say - everybody on the team is as important as everybody else, but I think being a producer is a very big responsibility.

according to skillset, a producer is....

'responsible for identifying and specifying an interactive media product' highlevel requirements or purpose, and ensuring that its business objectives and creative vision are understood and maintained by everybody involved in the project'

to be honest, I have no idea why they say it like that apart from making it look 'professional' because i don't understand that.

but from what I've learnt and what I know, to my own definition I think being a producer simply means you have to be very organised -

it's all about organisation and communication

Scheduling, call sheets, organising meetings, doing all the bit of paperwork, location release and shooting permissions, making sure everybody knows what the meetings are about, coming prepared and participate, at times (and to be fair most of the time) running the meetings and keeping everybody focused and not side-tracked, and most of all making sure everybody is ON TIME...its a pretty tough role but its all worth it.

I just hope everything turns out right because if they don't I am probably the one to be blamed.

documentary group meeting # 5+6

2008-11-11T17:49:00.005Z

the proposal

ouch, thats tomorrow, a bit nervous to be honest

Anyhow, we had two meetings of similar nature and since it was based on the same thing I thought I'd just blog it together.

The two meetings were based on the proposal that needs to be pulled together - although we are all very clear as to what it is we're trying to achieve, it was essential that we have it established on paper so there won't be arguments lateron, something to fall back on and to keep us focused.

We sat down and talked about all the shots and have gone deeper and more detailed, planning every shot and transitions - this is much like the shooting script that would usually exist if you work on a film set but we have a small team and we have a clear objective(and a storyboard) it seems hassle to write a script.

The group proposal is all done now - thanks to the 3 hours of locking ourselves in - but now, I'm turning in to do the personal proposal on the role producer.

new video

2008-11-08T16:51:00.003Z

copy right should've been an issue but I'm not re-producing to make money so..

recently i went partying with my fellow friends and i managed to take along my dv - so heres the result after the mayhem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nk-h93TNBU

book research etc

2008-11-08T16:07:00.010Z

I've been reading up on producing documentaries and related topics - here are the first two books I found relavant -

1/ Technique of Documentary Film production by W.Hugh Baddeley

About the half the book wasn't relevant to what I was doing - as its a very old book, it had parts involving how to sync sound and tape etc. There were also parts involving budgeting and shooting overseas which to be fair, could have been useful but not for now.

I found this book quite useful in terms of getting my self focus so I know exactly what shots I would need to achieve the effect I'm looking for. it also contains diagrams where it was too difficult to be explained in words and be clear at the same time.

A good book full of essential fundamental. I found that stuff in the book I knew most of it in theory, however there were tips and it was useful in such a way it fills the gaps that nobody ever told you about(or that I never found out).

2/ Making Short Film by Clifford Thurlow

Comparatively this book tells you all the theory and has a LOT of history as to how the film industry started in the first place - it has sections of useful tips and bullet points, list of websites and names of organisation - useful book to gain an understanding of the industry.

documentary group meeting # 4

2008-11-08T15:51:00.010Z

In this meeting we took the liberty of brainstorming - in order to create a list of questions that c ould be used for the interview.

We devided the thinking process into three key stages - past, present and future.

Seeing as we are trying to add more 'energy' into the documentary, we figured one of the two ways to achieve this would be through questions - with the other being audio.

After some discussions, I've taken all the brain-storming diagram and narrowed down to about 15 questions - we are expecting to improvise questions from answer that will be given for questions from the list.

We briefly considered the need for a shooting script - however as the nature is documentary and nothing has been planned to the detail in terms of reactions(which we cannot possible guess what they would be) we thought the storyboard was quite enough - we will however be doing a lot of cut-aways and extra filming to ensure our editor will have what he needs.

documentary meeting # 3

2008-11-04T16:04:00.001Z

we took out a study room at the library at 11am...

we were all half dead, tired and worst of all, not up for any detailed discussions on anything.

the aim was to draw up the basic story board and if time allows fit in the list of shots we would like filmed. After some 15-30 minutes of settling down, we've managed to start working.

Seeing as we are actually filming in Raunds, Northampton, we cannot allow for mistakes and had to be very clear on what we were trying to achieve as we will only have one chance to get most of it right (we will probably get it all right but always leave room for errors right). It is crucial that each and every one of us in the group has a clear understanding as to what we are aiming at - we've decided to let the documentary flow as the day goes by(it will happen in the daily routine sequence)

intro shot
dad at home composing - what he usually do during the day, a few questions thrown in: informal interview
montage with interview answers as audio
pick kid up from school, play in the park
'chips on bench in park' as dinner - to show emotive caring side of fatherhood
dad gets changed at home whilst kid gets interviewed - informal
on the way to gig - more casual interview
gig
aftermath of gig

all of the above WILL be filmed however not all will be in the final edit - it's important we have more than enough clips so to allow options as to what the final edit will be.

we have a vague idea of what audios we would like but nothing has been decided and set in stone yet - we have agreed that for the final credits we will be asking Tom(our single dad) to play us a version of his songs on acoustic guitar allowing us to use music that is not only relevant, but most importantly will save us trouble with copyrights etc.
- however due to the nature of how our documentary is filmed at a travelled location we will try and concentrate on alllowing more time for the editing (hence the possibly excessive amount of footage that will be shot).

we shall conquer, watch this space

documentary group meeting # 2

2008-10-31T17:09:00.001Z

31st Oct 2008

Since we will be filming at Raunds, Northampton, pre-planning means the world to us as we have no room for mistakes.

we have yet to find out the dates our interviewee will be free and his gig schedules - before that is established, there is little we can do about booking equipments and a confirm date that we will be filming.

(Adam if you're reading this, find out now...!!!)

Meanwhile, we have established the list of equipments that we shall be taking with us on the trip and the long day of doing storyboard. We have booked a room at the Boots library on the 4th Nov to start the storyboard and build the basics.

I realize a storyboard cannot be done in a day and will require adaptations constantly - so we will be building the fundamental idea first, the basic rules that we will all abide by, which will take the longest, then add to it accordingly - hopefully there wont be a lot we need to change afterwards.

Me and Kez will be deciding on the list of shots as the storyboard is built - so we know exactly what we get and this will save us time on both filming useless shots and ingesting the aftermaths.

So before the next meeting, each of us will be writing 10-15 questions we would like use in the interview - these will all then be handed to me and I will then condense and organise the list of questions and make them into doubles. I think this will help us stay focus and not easily be side-tracked as we will have a clear aim and direction.

documentary group meeting # 1

2008-10-31T17:01:00.002Z

this happened back on the 20th Oct 2008 but I forgot to type it up.
(so i'm doing it now before i forget again)

In this meeting the 5 of us established the roles we would like to participate in the making of this documentary.

initially, we listed the following roles -

director of photograhy
producer
director
sound and editing(post production)
script writing and storyboard

after some 20 mintues of discussions we found out that actually everybody on the team is up for doing anything and everything, so we each took a title - I shared mine with Kez, being the sound and editing post production team.

"4 minute wonder - daddy in a rock band"

2008-10-22T16:59:00.001+01:00

For our second year, the first project we have to do is to make a documentary -
our documentary titled "Daddy in a rock band"

Behind the glamourous life of being a rock star whose career is starting to take off, 25 year old Tom Robin is more than the average joe who happens to be successful - he holds another identity - a single parent to a 4 year old boy.

The documentary will attempt to identify the struggle between the two contrasting aspects of his life and how he manges to juggle with the two extremes.

After initial discussions, the theme and the general feel of the outcome has been decided(and so will be steered towards that direction)

It will fall in the categories of an observational biography
the two persona will be emphasized (the caring parent and the rock star within)
so to enable the amplification of the 'struggle'/how he manages - the conflict that exist and ways to have them co-exist
it will be narrative based with mostly open questions (so to save the crucial few seconds spent when questions asked have to be put into the final outcome)
slow beat, mellow background tunes to bring out the more emotive side - the "awww" factor
both fly-on-wall and upfront technique will be used to show normal day-in-day-out and the attachment between father and son
will be shot at 3 - 4 locations, with them being the park(for a bit of football perhaps), the gig venue(where the kid will also be present), the kitchen and the living room of Toms' house.

editing

2008-10-13T17:18:00.001+01:00

A new academic year, and my internet is down again.
Good start that, but then over the summer holiday I've saved up and bought myself a little treat - a camcorder.
although it's a Mini DV with the old fashion tapes etc, I like it - in fact I do prefer tapes, it's easier!

Anyhow, I taped my cat for an hour or so, and then something hit me.
Out of so much recording, when you start editing most of the clip becomes 'throwaways' simply because when viewed by a second person they don't need the whole clip to understand what is being said.

That's why I love editing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDa_fJxz-yQ

here's the link to the cat video.

I've been asked by a friend to video a student night party in town, including the aftermath editing - so now I'm working on ideas and concepts, hopefully it'll be good fun.
(though it means no alcohol for me, and walking round a club risking being splashed at by pukes or more alcohol)

coldcut / ninja tune

2008-05-30T00:29:00.001+01:00

after some heavy clicking on the net, I found somebody else

Coldcut

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=730284

English DJ Matt Black and Jonathan More - the founders one of the most popular mixing program VJamm, also owes a second record label called Ninja Tune.

Ninja Tunes leans strongly towards electronic, abstract hip hop, instumental hip hop, nu jazz, drum and bass and chillout music (sourced http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Tune)
After looking into the companies' style I think it's good - I'm a person who begs to differ and has a strong liking for unique 'things' in general, be it music, interest or even just food.
I do have a strong preference in music leaning towards drum and bass / metal, personally I think it allows for much more interpretation visual-wise. Often with the help of no lyrical element involved therefore the music sets the mood and is open for endless interpretation.

More and more I've been looking into the matter of audio-visualization which to me now literally means translating the sound into something people can see and understand.
(if you're at all interested it used to just mean 'combining sound with videos')

I look forward to winning my MIDI keyboard on ebay, hopefully!

it's all about VJs

2008-05-28T23:19:00.001+01:00

BOPA / Ne1co / Eclectic Method Bopa is a she... began her career as vj in 2001 - pretty much developed a growing interest in the combination of club culture and the art of the moving image

Her style is subtle, often packed with colour and like work done by most other vjs it flows with the beat of the music.
Her work includes adverts for Vodafone and Bacardi -

http://www.bopa.tv/samples3.html
http://www.bopa.tv/samples2.html

She now works in connection with Ne1co

Ne1co, agency opened by VJ Anyone, is a hybrid startup fulfilling both duties of label and agency for selected audiovisual artists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM64qxBtdn4

Associates inclueds Ecletic Method -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xarca1AFAHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwWsbNL9xXE

i know I'll lose important notes like these so I thought I'd make a reference point like above.

what next?

2008-05-28T22:29:00.001+01:00

I know I have no interest in animation and virtual enviroments so I thought audiovisual would suit me best

As I've looked further and further into the topic audiovisual I found myself shocked.
There are jobs out there associated with audiovisual yet it's never hit me that they are

for example, a VJ

"VJ -video performance artist" someone who creates moving visual art (namely video) on large displays or screens, often at events such as concerts, nightclubs and music festival, usually in conjunction with other performance art. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VJ_%28video_performance_artist%29)

it interests me that audiovisual is so different from each other yet they coordinates with each other so well that we're even allowed to blend audio and visual into one word.

I like it when you go clubbing and you see the massive screen, usually behind the dj booth, flashing with visual elements that flows with the music, giving so much more vibe and brings the house alive.
If you haven't tried it already, go to gatecrasher down town.
In conclusion though, I think drum and bass music makes great bases for sucessful vj-ing

Starbucks Coffee

2008-05-02T00:03:00.001+01:00

http://www.starbuckscoffeeathome.com/

Simple layout, easy to use, simply Starbucks offering more of what they do best online!
It reflects the brand identity flawlessly, a perfect website for it. Colour-themed with earthy tones and that exactly heart-warming feeling you get when you go into Starbucks, and buy a hot chocolate(with marshmallows and creme) on the coldest day of winter.
It's not scary, its not dramatic, its not overly complicated, its what starbucks being themselves.
It also reflects the company's brand philosophy - its the image that they environmentally friendly, organic coffee, honest people who makes coffee with honest ingredients.

The site itself was also highly interactive - in terms of how the user gets to intereact, not only does the user find stuff out (which is what they want to show you, as a customer caring company), after what you've found out online, you can go into their shop and buy that exact product that you found on their online quiz would be 'most probably suit your taste'.
That is clever advertising.

now thats starbucks you can serve yourself at home - another successful but lesser known advert campaign

walkman - 'like.no.other'

2008-05-01T23:43:00.001+01:00

http://www.walkmankomiks.pl

oh my god its polish!!

nevermind, its a nice flash site anyways.
It was nice to see during 'loading' right at the beginning - a story unraveled itself.
I found it hard to navigate round mainly of a language barrier but if i was Polish, I think it's a pretty awesome site - it's flashy, colourful, done with cartoon characters and what makes interesting is that it has a storyline to it - people want to find out what happen next and thats us being caught out by the curiosity.

Common layout within all pages, easy to navigate round, hassle free site to be truthfully honest(apart from it being in Polish)

I think it reflected the walkman range identity fairly well - because I think they'd be aiming at the teenage market - and cartoon is a perfectly good connection with teenagers that I myself would make too.
Plus, it's part of the 'like.no.other' campaign promoting its uniqueness and that special experience that you and only you will encounter is unique, in comparison to other products you may have tried before.
That, is some serious good advertising campaign.

In terms of the flash interaction design element I think it's well thought out - it works, its interesting, thats the simplest basic that some company fails to achieve.

To me, I think as soon as the user closes the browser(from viewing a page) immediately that page has failed because it hadn't been able to keep the user engaged.

So all in all, another job well done.

got milk?

2008-05-01T23:00:00.001+01:00

http://www.gotmilk.com/

this website has awesome layout.

the one thing i can associate with milk the most is probably the milk carton. On entry, when you're waiting for the flash to load(into the home page) a milk carton popped up and twirled itself, on each of the 4 sides having different prints and by the time the first side comes back around again, it's a different print again!

possibilities are endless here.

anyway, I manage to get into the website, and the layout was very interesting indeed. It took me some time to find out exactly what I was doing - a lot of hidden buttons and i had a lot of fun playing round.

I wouldn't say its the easiest site to navigate round with - it was sophisticated, both good and bad. From a design point of view, the site was well built, very well managed and layout-ed. The themes from one page to another matched and coordianted flawlessly.

From the usability point of view, if I was no clever cookie who worked well with computers, it is total internet nightmare. I can imagine it being a hard to navigate round site for people who are unfamiliar with online environments(but thats hard to achieve these days).

Content-wise, it was rather confusing to be highly critical. Upon hovering over a logo that said 'Bone Chilla', i clicked and entered it not know what to expect. I then realized to my surprise I was expecting something - certainly what turned up on screen! I was expecting some form of information page or perhaps an advert campaign (i.e. Sony Bravia - Colours like no other) but what i got was an interactive game.
Which is thinking out of the box - I didnt get what I expected.
I then moved onto trying out other buttons but it turned out they were all games :'(

And I just found out, whoever designed this website must have been a total idiot!
After all that time spent getting confused over why there are only games on a website that promotes milk, I found out why I was being led to think that way.

Half the menu you will NOT see unless you scroll down
like this!

So i take whatever I've said back - and its suddenly now become a very fun site to go round!
It had recepies, news and events(recent updates etc) and even a shopping cart!
But what it also has, is a branch of the site dedicated to the brands' identity - the got milk? brand. How it came about, why it came about, and even with people gradually growing out of the line 'got milk?' how they come to refreshing the brands image without going to far removed from its original tagline.

Basically, it has taught me stuff, I participated and gave them a hit, they in return has given me new knowledge and a good time mopping around on it.

Very good interactive website - apart from the scrolling down and finding out theres some much more to the site!

something facinating

2008-04-19T00:26:00.001+01:00

Oskar Fischinger

Many may not have heard of him before...and it took me a while to find his name - but it's all worth the while.

To me, he was the true founder of Visual Music - whereby a 'conceptual design that might be formulated in one's mind when listening to symphony' and classical music are blended together, giving not only the pleasure on the ears, but the exhilarating experience of visual impact synced with the music.

Some of his more famous works includes 'Komposition in Blau'(Composition in Blue) - and this won him the Brussels and Venice Festival of 1935 - bringing attention of the Hollywood directors.

I like his work a lot and the reason is simple because of its uniqueness - there's nothing (not anything that I've encountered in the 20 years I've been around) quite like it. The way it works so flawlessly and it all just seem to fit together so well - I'm absolutely bewitched by his talents and imagination.
It's hard to describe what his style is as there's nothing that I can compare with.

To me, he's one of a kind that has such a big impact on our current techniques that to some extent, I honestly don't think film making could be where it is today without him.

Although you may argue that he's more of a 'animator' than 'videographer' I still think there is a strong relationship between his style and influences and the way we shoot films/videos today.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=C30ekGqY6Mg

"James Wakefield"

2008-04-15T10:24:00.001+01:00

exposed

Choices

James Wakefield, recent graduate under Manchaester Metropolitan University, has to me shown great depth of talent and thoughtfulness in his work.

His interesting choice of scenery has led the viewer to finding it almost hard to bear the loneliness one may experience. His work albumed 'Urban Decay' has brought about great trails of thoughts.

And i feel that is what a photograph is suppose to do, get feelings across to you without the use of words. Its a feeling from within that cannot be decribed merely by words.

looking ahead

2008-04-15T10:17:00.001+01:00

For my second year, I had to make a decision as to which pathway I wish to specialize further in.

Out of Audio-Visual, Web-Enviroment and Virtual-Enviroment, I went with Audio-Visual.

I feel that the Audio-Visual path will enable me to fully express the way I feel perhaps?

"Paul Politis"

2008-04-15T09:53:00.001+01:00

I admire his work.

Most of his work are B+W based and holds a level of details and thoughts behind it.

He's done series of photos on different themes on a wide variaty - the more recent one being urban photography

I've always been a great fan of photographs taken of the city espeicailly in B+W as i feel it futher punctuates the loneliness one may feel within the towns of concrete. To me, the above photo shows the absolute pin-point of how dramatic the feeling really is when one is perhaps depearate for help from within and cannot be reached because he's gone just so far into the oblivion of loneliness.

the 7 happy peas

2008-03-06T00:46:00.001Z

the 7 happy peas

1/ happy
2/ artistic
3/ friendly, loving and kind
4/ a dreamer
5/ outrageous, adventurous, wild and crazy
6/ outgoing and fun
7/ best cook in the world

there are perfectly good reasons behind each of the personalities I've chosen.

but a shot of what they now look like :)

'the happy peas'

2008-03-06T00:37:00.001Z

the second self

it took a long time to come to conclusion as to what i'd rather be

though i'm not happy in my current body, i'm very appreciative of what i already have

so then i thought, I'd like to be a pea

a happy pea with no worries of mortgages, how to get through life without money, always looking forward to pay-day so you can get your bills out the way

and the cycle goes on and on and it never ends, like the call it in 'Poor dad, Rich dad', the rat race

I've decided to make 7 individual peas, each representing a personality I'd like to have
As suppose to making myself a superstar, a model, a guy, another human being altogether, 'cause it means nothing to be shallow like that

it's the depth of personality that matters the most in my views

e.n.c.o.u.n.t.e.r

2008-02-20T00:16:00.001Z

the journey all of us took to get to where we are today

we all went our different ways and made different decisions - yet we still manage to be here, together, at this moment in time

so different, but how come such different experiences and decisions in life allowed us to now be together at this moment in time?

how did it happen?

well, beginning with objects seen on the floor, many may not think twice about its history and how it came about being there at the moment in time when you walked by - but objects like that, in an interactive way of thinking, must have belonged to somebody at some point in time.

it ended up where you saw it either because the owner dropped it by accident or left it there because it wasn't wanted - now whatever the reason maybe the point is at that moment in time, you and the 'object', be it a piece of trash, a toy, a fiver or an earring, you and the object shares one thing that is unique - the encountering of each other, because you're both there at that single moment in time - and the experience can reactions can never be the same

so then it wasn't a piece of trash on the floor anymore, it's now a person - nothing changes, it's the same theory - meeting different individuals gives you different experiences - and can never repeat itself exactly(though it could be alike it will never, ever be the same experience)

asking somebody the question 'so tell me something interesting about you' could lead to awkward silences as most people find it hard to do so - it's such a vague question and i hate it
but by asking the right question, most people will show more involvement and be more engaged in the conversation

this, ladies and gentlemen, is what interactivity is all about

'asking the right question'

by doing that, it could even be easier to share your experiences, feelings and perspectives with a stranger
it works better than the person closest to you asking the wrong question, if asked at all

it all tends to unravel itself - after all, all of us aren't that indifferent and somewhere along the line, even the most unthinkable and unrelated people would share to some degree experiences that are alike

it's all interactivity