LEARNING REPORT

This module has given me the opportunity to experiment with multi cameras as this is an element of multimedia which I haven’t touched before. We were asked to produce a show of our choice; this was to be produced in learning teams. After much debating within our learning teams we agreed on 10 minute student meals. The reasoning behind this is because we wanted to produce a show that was distinctive and we wanted a task which would enable us to push our skills further.

At the start of this module I had no film experience, during lectures we was able to get the grasp of the multi cameras. I found this refreshing and inspiring; this was a turning point for me. From this stage I was very excited about what this module would bring. We used the multi cameras; this was a piece of equipment I hadn't used before. I thought it would be quite difficult to use, but I was surprised. My only issues were getting the right shots whilst working in camera, this was harder than expected.  However throughout this module I was able to develop my skills which were the camera movements and the thought process of a production team. These were both technical and physical. The main factor in film making is the planning, as our group didn't do much planning in the first starting tasks. These tasks taught me how to use the camera to a standard level, and made me think about how each shot would look in the final outcome, because at first some of the shots I was unsure of. These were the skills which I knew I needed to take forward for the final brief. I made sure in the final production that our group was planned and ready before we went out and filmed any shots. 

The history of multi camera is a broad subject and has developed throughout the years. “Paul Gottlieb Nipkow proposed a rotating disc scanning system in 1884, which was capable, in theory, of scanning a scene and creating a signal that could be sent electrically.” This proves how early the development of television and cameras came about which began in this case in the late 1880’s. Even though this was in its first stages, you start to understand how camera technology began to develop before this new found technology. “In 1884, the world of photography was changed forever through the invention of film. The bulky, cumbersome photographic plates which had been the standard in photography up until this point became a thing of the past as they were replaced by the much more practical film roll technology.” As cameras began to advance, using film instead of photographic plates, this opened up opportunities to take more pictures and in the future record for longer. The idea of film comes from the idea of still drawn images such as cartoon strips which were produced by a numerous artists. By 1827 the first moving image had been invented. “The original zoopraxiscope for 16 inch discs had a set of removable shutters with different numbers of slots, for producing various motion effects.” This is a piece of equipment which rotates and gives the illusion of a moving image, and the basis behind motion cameras today. It is also known as the wheel of life. Television began to merge in the late 1920’s; this was discovered by a Scottish man called John Logie Baird. “The demonstration was made by the Baird Television Development Company of London, using short-wave radio sets for transmission of the “vision sound” and the televisor invented by John L.Baird – who has also invented an instrument for seeing in the dark – for turning this sound back into vision after its ocean hop.” At this point L.Baird was able to transmit a shaky image across a few feet. He used a collection of telephone line to demonstrate his images to a range of scientists in London. When television first came about it was aimed at a very small audience and many couldn't afford a television set, hence the reason why the audience was small. Camera’s development expanded with the growth and technology of television. The first motion camera was available before World War II. “An extremely compact 35 mm movie camera Kinamo was designed by Emanuel Goldberg for amateur and semi-professional movies in 1921. A spring motor attte 1920s and early 1930 sachment were added in 1923 to allow flexible handheld filming. The Kinamo was used by Joris Ivens and other avant-garde and documentary filmmakers in the late 1920s and early 1930s.” After this had been invented camera steadily became enhanced throughout the coming years. The first broadcast which was available to the nation was the queens Christmas speech. “In 1957 the speech was televised for the first time. From 1960 the radio and TV broadcasts were pre-recorded instead of being transmitted live.” This began a new era for the television and cameras and this was a huge event which is still remembered today. From then on T.V expanded slowly over a series of years to what you see today. The future of multi camera I feel will be taken over by internet based software which enables you to stream live footage easily and affectedly. “Live multi-camera production is the last bastion of the old base-band waves. However with recent technology enhancements it looks like Ethernet may be able to deliver reliable, truly live video production. The future of live multi-camera production will see engineers plugging in less cable but building more powerful and cheaper facilities than today.” The amount of money and time it takes to produce a live show is amazing compared to on line software. Nevertheless live cameras do produce smoother outcomes, bearing this in mind I believe on line software will be improved in the next few years and we will be able to produce clean crisp footage.

Our final production was a ten minute film called 10 minute student meals. When we first started this production I was unsure of how we could realistically produce this given the time we had, I was very anxious. As I'm currently taking another film module, I knew planning was a huge element within the pre production. The director gave us all different job roles, personally mine was storyboarding, music and to operate a camera. I kept to the deadlines as this would hinder others in my group. These areas I felt content with so I began developing my ideas and thoughts throughout the rest of the module. We kept to a schedule which didn't fail us during the module. As we were removing the cameras from the studio we had more of a incite than other groups as we learnt how to pack and unpack a whole studio area. I personally liked this factor as I'm a very hand’s on learner, this was easy to comprehend and I soon got to grasps with the equipment. 

We had an issue with one camera however we had our lecturer and a technician to help us with any technical difficulties, so this was soon rectified. The shoot itself went according to plan; I didn't feel like we had any issues during this process. We went through a few rehearsals to make sure our actors were confident with the script. Bearing that in mind however when we had finished we found out that it had recorded in black and white, even though we was assured it was feeding through in colour. I was personally truly disappointed as I feel it now looks like a 1920’s footage. Seems as we were aiming this program at students, colour for me was a huge issue. The reasoning behind this is because colour would have made it more appealing and clearer to watch. It has also filmed rather grainy and this was another issue we tried to sort out in Final Cut Pro. However we was told we couldn't edit any of these issues I still feel disappointed as we should of made sure the equipment was in  proper working order before filming. Our original idea was to have a purple backdrop as we would put this program on E4 so we could show the type of program it was to our target audience however we couldn't get our hands on any purple gels this was a shame but not essential. During the editing process none of us had any Final Cut Pro experience which was another issue. Nevertheless we worked together as a group and we was able to edit and add the graphics as our graphic person wasn't available during this time. Me and Amelia produced the graphics in Adobe Illustrator, we kept to the E4 purple theme but we found the text wasn't legible on a dark purple background so we had to change the opacity. The rest of the group was happy with our final graphics so we placed them inside the film itself. This was the final stage in our film production. The module has been a tremendous learning curve for me and this has given me the opportunity to expand my skills and thought process to the next level. I feel I could produce my own personal film with great confidence in the future.

References

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/technology/technology1.html (by Richard G. Elen) 

http://www.bairdtelevision.com/1928.html  (The New York Times, February 9th 1928)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQoeJbP6JH4 (The race for television) 

http://www.teletronic.co.uk/tvera.htm 

http://www.pixiq.com/article/film-photography-history (Haje Jan Kamps)

http://www.kingston.gov.uk/browse/leisure/museum/museum_exhibitions/muybridge/machinery_and_equipment/zoopraxiscope.htm (Eadweard J. Muybridge) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oTPFjOobDM (Eadweard J. Muybridge - Pioneer of Motion Photography)

http://www.vanalphenav.nl/VAAV/Kinamo.html ( Kinamo Ica) 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/25/newsid_3053000/3053271.stm (Queens christmas speech 1957)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s (Queens Christmas speech 1957)

http://www.globaltv.com.au/announcements/the-future-of-live-multi-camera-production (the future of live multi camera production) 

Photos of the shoot

Opening track / storyboards

We discussed as a group that it would be good to have a opening track. I suggested this idea as other cooking programmes have a opening title taking this in consideration me and milly started producing the opening sound track. We decided to put ourselves forward for this as we are the only people in the group with any sound experience. 

We both knew the track had to be upbeat as our target audience is students. We started to produce sound in garage band as this is the software we're both comfortable with and its appropriate for what we wanted to produce. We was thinking of using a countdown as the programme is called 10 minute student meals, I thought this was a great idea. I suggested that we needed a good back beat to the soundtrack as our target audience is aimed at 18 to 30 year old's. This was easy to produce we used the drum pre-sets which are already in garage band.

Lauren who is the director wanted the soundtrack to last 15 seconds, so we made sure we kept to this time range when producing. We needed a countdown so we searched through all of the pre sets, this took a while as there are so many. But finally we found one that worked nicely. Milly felt the countdown should be at the start however I expressed my opinions on having it at the end and she felt this was the better idea.

My next role was to produce story boards for the shooting script which Milly had already produced. This enabled the group to visualise what the final film would roughly look like. As we have a Facebook group which we've used to keep in contact throughout the weeks, we have been able to discuss ideas and upload what we had produced. This was helpful and convenient for all of us. 

Final filming

Yesterday we had to go into the studio and pack all of the equipment for the shooting today. This was a huge learning curve as I have never done this before. However I got to grips with it easily. Our team worked well, helping each other when others was struggling. We had help from the technicians throughout this process and the multi cameras are very expensive. After this was done we was ready for our shoot the next day. This became very real and exciting.

We agreed that we would meet at 8 the next morning to move all of the equipment to the cooking room. We all turned up on time and worked together to move all of it. The guys in our group took the heavier items and us girls took the rest. Luckily we had our lecturer and a technician to help us set the equipment up as I had forgot how to do some of it. We began re arranging the room to how we needed it. As I was a camera operator I began putting the camera up. This proved to be more time consuming than I first expected, however with help from members of my group I was soon back on track. I helped others with the other two cameras as I set mine up quicker than some of the others. We had a issue with one camera as the tilt was messed up. We had to sort this out using the gallery equipment luckily this worked as we would of struggled with only two camera. After we had set up the equipment, Rob had to sort the lights out. Sadly we couldn't have any purple gels for our E4 theme. This was a real shame as we have lost that element in our show.

We was finally ready to start shooting at roughly eleven. Because the other group had booked the studio out on the same day as we moved it all to the cooking room, we needed to be as quick as possible. We had some friends who was going to be our actors coming in at 1 so we asked the other group if any of them would be willing to step in and be actors. They was happy to do this. So at eleven we began practising, this was very important. We gave our actors a few minutes to look through the script and explained what the programme was all about.

The director sorted out all of the camera positions. We had one camera on the food at a low angle, one with a static shot of the presenter and chef and one camera that captured facial expressions and pan when they put items in the oven. This was the camera I was operating, so I had to adjust my pan to move quickly and smoothly because I didn't want to miss the shot when I was directed. As we didn't have an actual gallery the director had to whisper through the mic because otherwise it would of been heard on the film itself.

We did a few practices first so we could get used to the shots and so the actors could gain confidence, these practices were really good. So as a production team we felt we could go ahead with the final filming. We produced some real nice shots without the show. However we decided to do another one so we could pick and choose which one we would like to use for our final film. However when we was trying to put the film on the computer we noticed the film was in black and white. This truly gutted me as the rest was so good.

Overall I felt that we worked well within our own learning team and helped each other greatly during the final filming. Everyone was able to have a opinion about the look of the film. And I had great fun being a camera operator. Even though at first I thought taking the studio to another room would be too much but I feel it was all worth it as it looks really good at the moment.

Webcasts

A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the internet using stream media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners or viewers. This can be live or on demand. The largest webcasters include radio and t.v stations who simulcast their output through online TV or online radio streaming as well as a multitude of internet only stations. The term webcasting usually refers to non interactive linear streams or events. Eg Iplayer, Radio one etc.

Webcasting is also used in commercials for investor relations presentations such as annual general meetings In E learning and for related communications activities Eg of this is Skype. However webcasting does not bear much, if any, relationship to web conferencing, which is designed for many to many interaction.

The ability to webcast is usually cheap and accessible technology that has allowed independent media to flourish. There are many independent shows that broadcast regularly online. Often produced by average citizens in their homes talking about interests and topics.

We was shown three websites and apps that able you to upload and edit your webcasts for three on the internet.

These were:

• http://www.ustream.tv/new
• http://www.telestream.net/
• Collabracam

These were interesting as I knew that you could produce your own webcast online but I never realised that some of the sites are free. This is something I would love to develop on in the future

Thoughts..

I thought I would produce a second script, as a back up. As my role is camera women, I feel that my input into the pre production is a little weak. This is why I have took it upon myself to produce scripts and a logo for the program. 

I have designed a logo which I have named student seconds, as this is a quick cookery show aimed at students. I didn't want to over complicate the logo as we will be using it on our film. As we are doing a program which will be aired on E4, I have kept the purple colour theme to reinforce this factor. I felt typography wasn't exciting enough so I wanted to remind the viewer that it was a cookery show so I added a old fashioned egg timer. I feel this brings the composition together nicely. I will be showing this to the rest of my group to see what they think of it. 

The script I've produced is light and humorous is some parts. My original thought of this program when we come up with the idea was light, airy and simple as I wanted to make it clear to all kinds of viewers. As a group we all discussed that we would do a pasta dish and this is popular along students. I have asked friends and family if they feel the same and they all agreed. I decided to use a recipe that I eat regularly, which is a tuna pasta bake. I chose this one as all the ingredients are cheap to buy and will last for a long time in your cupboard. The list includes pasta, onion, tomatoes, sweetcorn, tuna and cheese. I went shopping the other day and I added the price of all these ingredients and it came to roughly four pound. This is reasonable for a student budget. Another reason for picking this recipe is that its quick and healthy. The perfect match for a lazy student. 

My only issue when producing the script is the time length as I don't want the film to be too short, however I reverted to looking at the cooking shows I had previously watched and there was a lot of shots of the food itself. So this element should bulk up our list of shots and time. 

Script for cookery show

"Hello and welcome to student seconds and I will be showing you how to cook cheap, healthy easy meals. As all you students know it's hard to stay healthy on a budget. We have been keeping a record of all the recipes you have sent in at home, so if you want you're recipe to be on next weeks show send it to us at StudentSeconds@live.co.uk. and keep watching to see you're recipe has tickled our taste buds" 

"So what have we got on the menu today? Well it’s a simple yet effective pasta dish which was sent by Sam Hill from Derbyshire. Pasta is an ingredient that keeps for a long time, so there's no worry of finding any mold in this goodie bag. However this is a great dish to impress you're friends and family with and the amount of ingredients can be easily changed to allow for more hungry mouths." 

" This will be the list of ingredients which you will need for two people. You can buy these items cheaply from you're nearest supermarket." 

250g pasta 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes 1/2 tin sweetcorn 1 tin of tuna  1 onion chopped into pieces 100g grated cheddar cheese (optional) 

"Right the first step is put some oil in a frying pan, olive or vegetable oil it doesn't matter which and fry onions until there soft and golden brown. Whilst this is happening add boiling water into a saucepan of pasta and keep stirring as you don't want the pasta to stick to the bottom of the pan. That’s the worst thing that could happen, however if you add a little bit of salt to the water this helps the pasta from sticking. One of student seconds sneaky tips." 

"As you can see the onions are nice and golden brown so this is when we add the chopped tomatoes, sweetcorn and tuna and give it a good old stir. By now the pasta should be cooked and ready to be drained so use a colander for this. Some people like their pasta el dente if this is the case, drain the pasta a little sooner. So we throw the pasta into the frying pan with all of the other lovely ingredients, give it a good old mix up, making sure you cover all of the pasta with the sauce" 

"If you're a big cheese lover like myself you can transfer the pasta into a oven proof dish and top with cheese and grill for several minutes until the cheese has melted nicely, oozing between all the pasta. I recommend you add a side salad or if you're really hungry some garlic bread" 

"That concludes today's episode, I hope you have founds Sam's recipe inspiring. Try this recipe out for yourselves at home and share with your family and friends. And remember keep sending in your own recipes. See you tomorrow"