1.) The task was to create a 90 second short film for depict.org in which a package of some kind changes hands. We had to make sure that all shots were taken on a tripod, we had to include ONE (but only one) zoom. We could use another camera movement like a pan or a tilt in only one other shot. We had to use one eye line match to a POV (point of view), at least one match on action. We had to use one close up, and at least one extreme close up. We were not allowed to break the 180* rule and we were not allowed to use any dialogue (except where agreed specifically by your teachers).
2.) We made seven storyboards in preparation for the shoot, and also we made a prop list of all the things that we needed, like tweed jacket, a pushchair, a radio, a lottery ticket etc. I came up with the initial idea and my group liked the idea and then the group added some other ideas. We storyboard it by writing descriptions, drawing pictures, estimating how many seconds the little shots took up.
3.) The shoot went OK but there were times where I could not be bothered filming it but we got through it in the end. We shot all shots three times so we had plenty of all shots. We had to change many things from the story board. One of the things we changed was a scene with a dog where the ticket would blow into his mouth and the dog would run around with the ticket in his mouth. Also there was another scene where I come running round the corner and I collide with a woman pushing a trolley with shopping in it and I fall into the trolley and I go down a hill in the trolley. We had to take the scenes out because it took up too much time. We had to make sure that we shot every thing of the shot when we were shooting, and if we were in a location for one shot and the same for another then we would soot them shots. We worked OK as a group, there were times when we had some moments but we continued filming. Everyone got equal access t all of the equipment, Me, Jess Doolan and Sophie Dye all directed some shots, we all set up the equipment and got the film sets ready.
4.) Editing the film went quite smoothly and for me the easiest part of making the film. We had trouble with the continuity with some clips like the shot where you see the ticket floating out of the big gate at one minute exactly, we had to rewind that shot so that the ticket was going towards the camera not away from it. We had to depart from our original idea because A.) it was too long B.) We could not get the right equipment and C.) We did not have enough filming time. We chose our soundtrack carefully and we wanted to make Sean who was also the radio DJ says something that related to the song so we chose Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky” and then we had Sean saying “Speaking of luck I’ve just been given the lottery draw”. We got the Benny Hill theme music because we wanted the film to be fast forward and I thought about the Benny Hill programmes and when it used to get fast forward up when the blondes in bikinis chased the dirty old man known as Benny Hill.
5.) The first shot is a close up of my bum; we had this shot for the opening scene to give a sense of humour so you would feel relaxed. The next shot is a medium shot of me in the kitchen doing the washing up. We had this shot next to let you know where I am and what I am doing. The next shot is a close up of the radio so you know where the music is coming from (I Should be so Lucky by Kylie Minogue) and the voice, back to the medium shot again so you can see me grabbing the lottery ticket. Next shot is a point of view shot so you are seeing the ticket from my point of view, back to the medium shot so you can see me throwing the ticket out of the window. The next shot is a low angle looking upwards watching the ticket go out of the window with the camera outside. Back to the medium shot again so you can see me realising that I have done the wrong thing by throwing the ticket out of the window, a close up of me with my hands on my head realising I have won the lottery. Back to the medium shot in the kitchen, another medium shot but this time in the stairway, then a high angle shot watching me gong down the stairs. A medium shot of me coming out of the building and running off. The next shot is a long shot of the ticket blowing towards the camera, but originally the ticket was blowing away from the ticket so we had to rewind the clip so the ticket would blow towards the camera. Next shot is a long shot of Sophie playing the chav mother walking with her pram with the baby in it. The next shot was an overhead view of the pram showing that the ticket floating in the pram. The next shot is a long shot of Sophie dropping the blanket and trying to pick it up then I walk behind and grab the ticket. The next shot is a high angle of me grabbing the ticket out of the pram. Then it is a close up of Sophie’s face shouting at me and swearing. The next shot is me running and then stopping and putting the ticket in my pocket but I get clumsy and I accidentally drop the ticket on the floor. The next shot is a close up of me realising I have dropped the ticket. The next shot is a medium shot of Sean walking in and having a wee the next shot is me running past the camera which we had to flip round because originally I was running the other way. The next shot is a high angle of a closer view of Sean having a wee while the ticket blows into the wee, and then we have a close up of the ticket getting weed on, and then back to the medium shot of Sean finishing his wee. The next shot is a medium shot of me and Sean going past each other then it is a high angle shot of me grabbing the ticket that has just been peed on. Then you see me walk into the shot of me holding the ticket and walking into the post office and giving the ticket to Ellie who is the cashier then it is a side angle of me waiting for my money. Then in on the same shot you see Ellie pass me a ten pound note, and then a close up of my face in delight that I have won a tenner. Next shot is me running into shot then a medium shot of me running out of the shot, and finally you see me running into shot and clicking my heels. So all that running for just a tenner
improvments made 8th January 2009
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Monday, 15 December 2008
Proposal for The Promotional Video
Proposal
We have researched into what students already know about the Additional Support services offered by the college, and have done interviews with several main people who offer support - Steve Newman, Karen Mayfield, Oz Ozbourne, and Vivienne Ridpath,. This has helped us to understand the service. We still have to interview some other people like Janet Waters, Bob Smith and Vera Baney.
We also surveyed about 50 students by asking them questions about the Additional Support Service. We have found out a number of interesting facts about levels of awareness of the service amongst students:
We found that over a third of students were not aware of any additional support services in the college. (60.4 % of students were aware of the student support services at the college and 39.6 were not).
More students (40%), had not seen any advertising about the services.
Out of those who had seen advertising, the majority of the students said that they had noticed posters.
We also asked what students thought would be the best way to be told about the additional support services. The majority said posters, but other ideas were the daily bulletin, on screens around the college, college intranet, emails and induction.
We also asked if they thought there were students that wanted to use the services but were too embarrassed most of the students said yes (79 %). However, the number of students that said they would seek support was more than the people that said they wouldn’t. (64%)
We asked students if they knew who to go see for different issues, and most of them didn’t know who to see.
Also most students didn’t know how to make an appointment to see any of the members of additional support.
After doing this research we started to work out our ideas for the video we want to produce. Our idea is to produce one version for the tutor programme and the internet, and another version, without sound, for the screens around college.
We’d now like to present our proposal for you, and ask for your opinion of it, and any suggestions you have about how we could improve it.
SHOW STORYBOARDS
Title screen appears with the question “Do you know?” “That your College offers” “additional support for many different things?”
Then a group of friends are shown in the common room round a table all discussing their personal problems. Camera focuses on one person to begin with, this person then tells us their problem. Let’s say they are worried about money. The camera then fast tracks to the room of the Student Support Officer, perhaps with a dissolve to a map of the college where we see a red line travelling from the common room to the office. She then explains who she is and what areas she can help with. The camera then dissolves back to the table in the common room and the person who was before feeling down tells us how the service helped him or her “Yeah, I was really in trouble but she helped me sort out my EMA and my Access application and she even came with me to the Housing Department. She was brilliant!”
The camera then focuses on another student who says something like “I wish my problem could be sorted like yours….” Then the same thing happens. We follow the same structure until we get through each person and their
individual problems. Not only does this show the effectiveness of the service but it also explains what the service offers and shows it’s not an embarrassing thing to do because the group of friends discuss the service so openly.
We have a variation of this idea. Instead of a group discussing their problems, we start with a pan around a busy room, like the common room, or the library, and the camera picks out one person, sitting alone, and we hear their thoughts in a voiceover. The rest would be the same, but this way, each person with a problem starts off alone, but then ends up in a group, explaining how college would help them. We would also be able to show the route to the right office from different starting points.
We have researched into what students already know about the Additional Support services offered by the college, and have done interviews with several main people who offer support - Steve Newman, Karen Mayfield, Oz Ozbourne, and Vivienne Ridpath,. This has helped us to understand the service. We still have to interview some other people like Janet Waters, Bob Smith and Vera Baney.
We also surveyed about 50 students by asking them questions about the Additional Support Service. We have found out a number of interesting facts about levels of awareness of the service amongst students:
We found that over a third of students were not aware of any additional support services in the college. (60.4 % of students were aware of the student support services at the college and 39.6 were not).
More students (40%), had not seen any advertising about the services.
Out of those who had seen advertising, the majority of the students said that they had noticed posters.
We also asked what students thought would be the best way to be told about the additional support services. The majority said posters, but other ideas were the daily bulletin, on screens around the college, college intranet, emails and induction.
We also asked if they thought there were students that wanted to use the services but were too embarrassed most of the students said yes (79 %). However, the number of students that said they would seek support was more than the people that said they wouldn’t. (64%)
We asked students if they knew who to go see for different issues, and most of them didn’t know who to see.
Also most students didn’t know how to make an appointment to see any of the members of additional support.
After doing this research we started to work out our ideas for the video we want to produce. Our idea is to produce one version for the tutor programme and the internet, and another version, without sound, for the screens around college.
We’d now like to present our proposal for you, and ask for your opinion of it, and any suggestions you have about how we could improve it.
SHOW STORYBOARDS
Title screen appears with the question “Do you know?” “That your College offers” “additional support for many different things?”
Then a group of friends are shown in the common room round a table all discussing their personal problems. Camera focuses on one person to begin with, this person then tells us their problem. Let’s say they are worried about money. The camera then fast tracks to the room of the Student Support Officer, perhaps with a dissolve to a map of the college where we see a red line travelling from the common room to the office. She then explains who she is and what areas she can help with. The camera then dissolves back to the table in the common room and the person who was before feeling down tells us how the service helped him or her “Yeah, I was really in trouble but she helped me sort out my EMA and my Access application and she even came with me to the Housing Department. She was brilliant!”
The camera then focuses on another student who says something like “I wish my problem could be sorted like yours….” Then the same thing happens. We follow the same structure until we get through each person and their
individual problems. Not only does this show the effectiveness of the service but it also explains what the service offers and shows it’s not an embarrassing thing to do because the group of friends discuss the service so openly.
We have a variation of this idea. Instead of a group discussing their problems, we start with a pan around a busy room, like the common room, or the library, and the camera picks out one person, sitting alone, and we hear their thoughts in a voiceover. The rest would be the same, but this way, each person with a problem starts off alone, but then ends up in a group, explaining how college would help them. We would also be able to show the route to the right office from different starting points.
The Pitch Meeting with John O' Leary on Friday 12th December
The pitch went quite well with John O' Leary we researched all of the ideas, planned all the story boarding, finnished the questionnaire and the graphs for the questionnaire. We had been working for two weeks to get all the information and John seemed to like our ideas of the film. We had two ideas for the film.
We had idea 1. a group of people talking about their problems. Then the camera would fast track its way around college and go to a member of student support staff. The same thing would happen for all of the actors then it would have them in one room talking about the help they have recieved.
idea 2. is to have one person in a room then go to a member of student support staff and then the same thing will happen to all of the other actors then at the end all of the actors are i one room talking about the help they have recieved. They're quite similar only that the start is different.
We forgot to ask John which idea he preffered but luckily are teacher Sean asked John on a conversation which idea he preffered, John preffered idea 2.
We had idea 1. a group of people talking about their problems. Then the camera would fast track its way around college and go to a member of student support staff. The same thing would happen for all of the actors then it would have them in one room talking about the help they have recieved.
idea 2. is to have one person in a room then go to a member of student support staff and then the same thing will happen to all of the other actors then at the end all of the actors are i one room talking about the help they have recieved. They're quite similar only that the start is different.
We forgot to ask John which idea he preffered but luckily are teacher Sean asked John on a conversation which idea he preffered, John preffered idea 2.
Jonjo's interview with Karen Mayfield
This is a summary of the main points made by Karen Mayfield Student support officer in my interview with her on Friday 5th December
What role do you play in the Colleges support Services ?
my role in the college is to support students emotionally, point them in the right direction,give them Counceling.
What sort of problems do people come to you with ?
its varied majority financial, students left home living on there own, people also come to me with relationship problems, sometimes they have no money, sometimes they feel they've picked the wrong courses.
so what financial help is available for students ?
Acces fund which is run through the college gives people money for trips and equipment. E.M.A some people are not aware they are able to get e.m.a. And Emergency fund for students who are in desperate needs.
what housing help can you offer for students ?
conexion officers speak to them people. And we sometimes take them to Burgh council if the situation is urgent and they need housing that day.
how would you commonly handle a situation such as a student becoming homeless ?
If its there choice its difficult because sometimes the state wont back them up. If they decided they don't want to live at home because of an argument theres not much they can do unless they have money to rent somewere. It really depends on the circumstances.
do you have any advice for students with problems, who are afraid to approach a member of the support service ?
My advice would be, I know sometimes it can be difficult we are seen as figures of authority sometimes. talk to your tutors and they can always come along with you to meet any of the support team and once they get through the door they will see we are only here to support.do you believe in anyway the additional support service in college could be improved?I do believe it could be improved, I think more money is required to get some additional members of staff to help the students as much as possible.
What role do you play in the Colleges support Services ?
my role in the college is to support students emotionally, point them in the right direction,give them Counceling.
What sort of problems do people come to you with ?
its varied majority financial, students left home living on there own, people also come to me with relationship problems, sometimes they have no money, sometimes they feel they've picked the wrong courses.
so what financial help is available for students ?
Acces fund which is run through the college gives people money for trips and equipment. E.M.A some people are not aware they are able to get e.m.a. And Emergency fund for students who are in desperate needs.
what housing help can you offer for students ?
conexion officers speak to them people. And we sometimes take them to Burgh council if the situation is urgent and they need housing that day.
how would you commonly handle a situation such as a student becoming homeless ?
If its there choice its difficult because sometimes the state wont back them up. If they decided they don't want to live at home because of an argument theres not much they can do unless they have money to rent somewere. It really depends on the circumstances.
do you have any advice for students with problems, who are afraid to approach a member of the support service ?
My advice would be, I know sometimes it can be difficult we are seen as figures of authority sometimes. talk to your tutors and they can always come along with you to meet any of the support team and once they get through the door they will see we are only here to support.do you believe in anyway the additional support service in college could be improved?I do believe it could be improved, I think more money is required to get some additional members of staff to help the students as much as possible.
Jess' interview with Oz Osbourne
This is the transcript from the interview I had with Oz Osbourne.
1. What exactly do you do in college?
I work on the additional support team and my role is to help students with emotional help & well being.
2. What sort of help do you offer students?
When it comes to people's emotional health it can cover anything but effectively if a student is having any kind of difficulties that perhaps are not neccesarily learning related it might be due to the stress & pressure of work, it might be to do with family life or friends but anything that's causing them to be in less than good emotional help & well being. They can come along & it's just for an informal chat & we take it from there.
3. What sort of problems do students come to you about?
It really is a completely wide range. It might be that someone is struggling with their work load, but obviously tutors & personal tutors can help with those things as well so it tends to be when it's having a greater than usual effect on how they're thinking & feeling about things & their general experience of things. So I think it's fair to say that all students at times, particularly with exams, work load & coursework, can struggle with some things but I think it's when it becomes almost unmanagable that they might come along & start off with a informal chat then we see what route they can go from there to get more help & support.
4. What would you want to say to a student who wanted to talk to you but felt too embarrassed?
I think it would probably be that it's, in the time that I've been in college, it's the number of students & the range of students that come to see me, it's certainly no embarrassment to say that everybody, at some point in our lifes, however well we appear to coping to other people it's ok every now & again to ask for help. And it's certainly not a weakness & infact by asking for help you can deal with things more quickly than if you let them run on then perhaps that's a sign of strength & there wouldnt be people in the college like myself & other student support officers if a lot of students didn't need the help & support that we offer.
5. What do you enjoy about your job?
I think it's certainly the range of challenges that we have, but I guess it's just knowing that sometimes a student will come to see myself or one of the other additional support members & perhaps go on & achieve a little bit more than they thought they were able to because they were able to deal with some of the problems & barriers that may have prevented them from achieving that way.
6. How many students do you see a week?
That varies, I'm only in for about six hours a week & sometimes I'll have appointments all day so that would be a maximum of 5 or 6 students. Some weeks there's only 1 or 2, sometimes there are students I see over a long term & will see every week, sometimes students will just drop when they need help. On top of one to one sessions I also have offered work shops around exam stress so in those weeks it might be that I've run a couple of work shops & they've been attended by 8-10 people in those weeks it could be up to 20 students. But generally it's 4-5 a week on average.
7. Is there anything you would like us to use to promote you in the video?
The space we see people in because we try to make it a neautral space & things, is probably quite good. I hope that students can see that any of the additional support team look reasonably normal & welcoming.
8. Do you think there’s any way of improving the support service in college?
I think that it'd be naive to think that there werent ways of improving & I guess things like additional resources but we all know that there's so many things that colleges need to pay for & have resources for. So I think that we're all grateful & hopefully some of the students are that we're here. I think what you're doing is a good thing & lots of students dont know that we're here, the more ways to promote is good.
1. What exactly do you do in college?
I work on the additional support team and my role is to help students with emotional help & well being.
2. What sort of help do you offer students?
When it comes to people's emotional health it can cover anything but effectively if a student is having any kind of difficulties that perhaps are not neccesarily learning related it might be due to the stress & pressure of work, it might be to do with family life or friends but anything that's causing them to be in less than good emotional help & well being. They can come along & it's just for an informal chat & we take it from there.
3. What sort of problems do students come to you about?
It really is a completely wide range. It might be that someone is struggling with their work load, but obviously tutors & personal tutors can help with those things as well so it tends to be when it's having a greater than usual effect on how they're thinking & feeling about things & their general experience of things. So I think it's fair to say that all students at times, particularly with exams, work load & coursework, can struggle with some things but I think it's when it becomes almost unmanagable that they might come along & start off with a informal chat then we see what route they can go from there to get more help & support.
4. What would you want to say to a student who wanted to talk to you but felt too embarrassed?
I think it would probably be that it's, in the time that I've been in college, it's the number of students & the range of students that come to see me, it's certainly no embarrassment to say that everybody, at some point in our lifes, however well we appear to coping to other people it's ok every now & again to ask for help. And it's certainly not a weakness & infact by asking for help you can deal with things more quickly than if you let them run on then perhaps that's a sign of strength & there wouldnt be people in the college like myself & other student support officers if a lot of students didn't need the help & support that we offer.
5. What do you enjoy about your job?
I think it's certainly the range of challenges that we have, but I guess it's just knowing that sometimes a student will come to see myself or one of the other additional support members & perhaps go on & achieve a little bit more than they thought they were able to because they were able to deal with some of the problems & barriers that may have prevented them from achieving that way.
6. How many students do you see a week?
That varies, I'm only in for about six hours a week & sometimes I'll have appointments all day so that would be a maximum of 5 or 6 students. Some weeks there's only 1 or 2, sometimes there are students I see over a long term & will see every week, sometimes students will just drop when they need help. On top of one to one sessions I also have offered work shops around exam stress so in those weeks it might be that I've run a couple of work shops & they've been attended by 8-10 people in those weeks it could be up to 20 students. But generally it's 4-5 a week on average.
7. Is there anything you would like us to use to promote you in the video?
The space we see people in because we try to make it a neautral space & things, is probably quite good. I hope that students can see that any of the additional support team look reasonably normal & welcoming.
8. Do you think there’s any way of improving the support service in college?
I think that it'd be naive to think that there werent ways of improving & I guess things like additional resources but we all know that there's so many things that colleges need to pay for & have resources for. So I think that we're all grateful & hopefully some of the students are that we're here. I think what you're doing is a good thing & lots of students dont know that we're here, the more ways to promote is good.
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