Onwards and upwards

What a wicked day! I'm definitely feeling uplifted (maybe it's the wine, or the amazing evening I had), but I do feel strangely focused and satisfied, even if I can't quite put my finger on the reason why.

I would like to say that after only a week of editing I have nearly finished Energy! All I have to do is check everything and put a title on it, then wait for Mike to complete the music and big badda boom, hey presto, off it can go. I'm not too sure if it's any good, but i've had a thumbs up from the handful of lovely people at AWM. I'm hoping to officially hand over the dvd to Olivia tomorrow and complete Energy (minus music), so that I can fly off to the land of Aussie's without worrying too much about filming.

That leaves me to write 10,000 words in Oz! It's all possible. I'm sure I can spend that 26 hour flight writing something worthwhile. If only I could be enthused to actually write anything. I think that is the only reason why I haven't done much yet, because it bores me. I'm tired of writing when i'm told to write. It takes the pleasure out of writing anything.

Tomorrow is my final day to do something productive before I go to Australia. I have so much to do, like change my money up and find my passport! As well as all the work I need to do and collect. I'm so excited about going to Oz, i've been waiting for April to come around ever since I booked my ticket back in September. I'm hoping that as well as having the most amazing time ever and catching a glorious tan, I will find inspiration to complete my work and have time to reflect on my life at the moment and my future goals. I don't spend enough time thinking deeply about things and nearly four weeks of little contact (my phone wont work out there and I doubt I will spend more than once a week at a computer to use the internet) will do me some good. The only thing i'm worried about is missing people and not doing work (must...think...positively).

Sweet success

This morning I met with the enviornmental team to show them my finished product of Recycling. They were over the moon about it, they couldn't congratulate me enough and said: 'This is fantastic, it does everything that we need.' They will be showing the film to the board and the Vice Chancellor, Alun Thomas, putting it on their website, having it projected at the introduction meetings for new students at the beginning of September. And for me, they will email Steve May about how pleased they are with the film and sing my praises, and they said they will speak with the head and see if they can get the films on a showreel at graduation for everyone to see! I'm going to be meeting with the enironment board to launch the films and the environmental champions in May.
It's odd, because I wasn't too please with Recycling, and the more I watch it, the more changes I want to make, but seeing the film from their eyes I could see that what I had done may not have been a masterpiece, it certainly isn't going to win any awards, but it did do exactly what they wanted it to do. I made the environment team happy, and supplied what they needed, and for me, that is a mission accomplished!

I had been finding it really difficult to get hold of any Biology tutors to speak with me about biodiveristy, but since filming Nigel, all of them want to talk to me. They've all been very supportive and provided me with a wealth of information that will enable me to start filming Biodiversity. I am a little worried about this film, as I think it will end up quite long, and because it will be more corporate I need to think carefully about the music, the effects and what to shoot. And I only have three weeks now!

Hopefully, I will finish Energy next week, it's only a short film and I have three days to spend on it. Will it be difficult and challenging? Yes. Impossible? Nothing is impossible.

Energy

After logging and capturing Energy I felt very deflated and unenthused about editing it. It was another hurdle I had to get over and seemed like a daunting task that would be near impossible. However, as soon as the rough edit was done (which took a grand total of two hours), the hurdle didn't seem so unreachable. I was, slowly, ticking off my To Do list. After the meeting, which only me, Kat, Mike and Kirsty E turned up to, I galloped through editing stages on Energy.
Energy is at current, only 15 seconds long. Quick adverts seem to be a popular choice in media web ads at the moment, they 'get in and get out' as quickly as possible, conveying the message simply but effectively. I think the snappy style of Energy will make an impact and not leave the audience bored. The message is simple: 'Don't waste energy, turn things off.' I wont be using as much voice over or text as I did in Recycling. Although there are statistics of the Co2 emmissions released from BSU, I don't want Energy to become a corporate video, discussing the good and the bad. People already know that wasting energy is a bad thing, and if we don't reduce Co2, polar bears will die, sea levels will rise, habitats will be destroyed, animals and people will become victims of natural disasters and eventually we will destroy the world (supposidly). I don't want Energy to become another film about how we are killing the planet and what will happen to it. Energy isn't designed to depress its audience. Instead, I want to portray a simple and effective message that hopefully, will change the behaviour of even a few students at BSU and make them more aware of how much energy they are wasting. It is afterall, a video for BSU's environmental web page, directed to current and prospective staff and students.
I'm not going to become 'precious' about Energy as I did about Recycling. I spent way too much time on that film and because of that, have less time to spend on Energy and Biodiversity. I will have to reduce the quality of Energy and Biodiversity, as it is better to hit the deadline (as Nic said) because in the media business, you have to produce the goods on time, excuses just wont cut it.
I'm being a little adventurous, but I reckon I could possibly have Energy nearly completed before I go to Oz and starting from now, I will be filming Biodiversity.
To Do:

• Music for Energy (Mike)
• Check voice overs, collect text
• Sound effects
• Colour correction
• Background image
• Do shot list for Biodiversity and film!

Recycling

Film 1, otherwise known as Recycling, is complete! This first film was a challenge for me, I was new fairly new to FCP and remembering how to use the other equipment was a slow process. What should have taken me three weeks, took five. I didn't manage to grade the film because I was running out of time and had to focus on film 2, Energy. I hope that if i have time at the end I can come back to film 1 and grade it. I had a lot of help from others, including Mike, who mixed and did something else (basically made it listenable) to the music, Jona, who stepped in as an actor and has been my filming buddy and Ollie and Dani, who have guided me through FCP. I feel, that thanks to them I have gained some skills that will make editing Energy that little more easier and bearable.

I have logged and captured Energy and will be coming up with a storyboard in the near future. I know that I want this film to be quicker and sharper and have a lot of effects put on it. If think the message in Recycling was a bit weak, although it does what it says on the tin, which is 'a film promoting recycling, directed towards students,' it doesn't have that edge that grabs attention. I am hoping that I have learned from my mistakes and will produce a more jazzy film 2 that grabs the audience.

Yesterday I managed to film a short interview with Nigel, one of the Biology tutors. He was great to interview, had an interesting voice and is more then happy to be filmed again. He gave me an overview of the biodiversity on the campus, and it has given me the foundations to approach the other Biology tutors and ask for their imput about the campus' biodiversity. I am hoping to find out about the species that are on the campus and give an overview of the surroundings and why it is important to take care of what is living here.

Not giving up

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hard for me, I had some pretty shitty things going on, not that they need to be mentioned, but the effect they had, was that my work and personal life was beginning to suffer. I haven't written a thing for either of my modules and my filming has been put on hold, mostly because I can't get hold of the people I need to film. I'm starting to panic ever so slightly. I have two films to film and edit in 5 weeks and 12,000 words to write in 8. But, panic I shall not, because nothing is impossible. I went to the New Forest, and although I enjoyed every second and gathered lots of material for my work, I still found myself too distracted to do anything (partly due to the arguement I had with my sister the night before going) and so came back early in the hope to catch up on some work.

Instead I listened to Bob Marley and lost myself in the world of internet, and searched for things I could do in Australia. I then found a car on Autotrader that I plan to see next week and hopefully buy if it's any good, a nice little black Golf GTI. Oh, and I made a quiche.

So, looking like i'd hugged the pillsbury dough boy, I sat at my computer and shuffled through my research papers, and what I found was: although I haven't actually written anything for two of my modules yet, what I do have is a vast amount of research and i'm now ready to put pen to paper. When I thought I was getting nowhere and achieving nothing with my writing, I realised that the whole time, I was doing work. I had read books, spoken to people who know more about wild horses than me and had been to the New Forest to see them for myself. And now I have decided not to give up, and instead, to sit at my computer until I write 500 words, for those first words are the hardest. As I write this, Bob Marley's, Three little birds starts to play... How ironic.

Plan for this week:

• Film something for either Energy or Biodiversity.
• Log and capture anything I have.
• Write some of my 'Wild Ponies' project.
• Start to pull together Energy film.

Oh what a day!

Today started pretty stressfully, but ended pretty damn good. As soon as I write this i'm off to the cinema. Whoop. What can I say? It's the simple things in life that please me.

I woke up with my To Do list sharing my pillow with me. It's become the last thing I look at before I go to sleep and the first when I wake up. And all it does is remind me that I still haven't ticked off the important things to do. I have actually started writing stupid things like: make lunch, just so I have something to tick off for the day. It's lame and it doesn't get my work done.

I then went into Artswork Media and had a little rant about how much work I had to do and how little time I had. It didn't solve my problems, but I felt so much better aftwards.

I then did a food shop and was subjected to the worst chat up line ever: 'Do you come here often?' In which I answered: 'Only when I need to buy food.' Within two minutes I knew his job occupation, what car he drove and that he was conveniently single. WIERD!

I then had a seminar and talked with my tutor, Jonathan, about my work and how I felt like it was going nowhere. His answer was: 'Don't worry, you'll do it, you just gotta find it in you.' Yes, well, that's easier said than done. But, I do feel strangely better about my work since talking to him, and it reminded me that, even though work stresses me out and deadlines creep ever closer, somehow, I manage to land on my feet and hand everything in on time and of a quality that I am happy with.

The day ended pretty damn good because I managed to network with Sophie Cole from the BBC and she has given me a golden ticket!! I will let you know what that golden ticket was if it all goes well...

But for now, i'm off to the cinema.

Where do I start?

I've given up trying to avoid writing a blog. It turns out that I have to do one as part of the assessment for Creative Enterprise.

Assignments: An artefact (Eco Campus). A blog or diary (otherwise known as the critical commentary and bane of Creative Writing. Except now i'll have to log weekly). Appendix (photocopied notebooks).

And so it starts: my blog, a boring reflection on what I am doing for enterprise. Maybe i'll add a few personal entries here and there just to make it more interesting.

So, where do I start? I guess i'll have to kick off from where I am at the moment, because there is no way I am back logging all that I have done so far. Which isn't really that much. I've filmed (with the help of Jona) and edited the first film for Eco Campus: Recycling. Filming in the snow wasn't the best fun i've ever had, my feet actually went numb. The actor, who isn't really an actor, but a first year student who lives in my block, saved my skin. The actor I had originally asked to be in my film dropped out at the last minute (the morning of filming) and thankfully Josh agreed to be filmed. Vanity sure is a useful sin. Jona too was a saving grace, I don't think I would have remembered which buttons to press if it wasn't for him. Filming went well, even if we did nearly get attacked by swans. But am I happy with the film? No, not really. It didn't turn out the way that I wanted it to. It's not as quick, sharp or fast paced as i'd have hoped, the plot isn't exactly thrilling and when showing a group of first years at university the film to get some feedback, the only response I had was:

'Who's the guy in it? He's cute.'

Hello, people? It's a promotional film about saving the world by recycling, and all you care about is the blonde? Kind of says it all doesn't it?

It has taken me five painstakingly long weeks to finish Recycling, I have spent day after day, staring at my borrowed MacBook Pro screen, hoping that Final Cut Pro will grow a conscious mind and help me finish the film. I am no longer precious about Recycling, and will glad to see the back of it. Tomorrow will be the last day that I will watch it and make some edits, and then that's it. I wont open it, edit it or even watch it, not until the other two films are near completion. I am beginning to think that completing three films by May 13th is about as likely as, I don't know, something unlikely. I'm starting to think that going to Australia for nearly a month, in the middle of the second semester in my final year at university wasn't the best decision i've ever made. How am I ever going to do all that I need to do in seven weeks?

Plan for this week:

• Finish filming Energy (film 2),
• Log and capture footage,
• Gather notes and make texts and voice overs.
• Possibly do a rough edit?