Evaluation of my camera assessment

Overall I am pleased with my efforts within the summative assessment. I am glad that I was successfully able to put up all of the equipment and get my two shots filmed in time. I think that this assessment was very useful to me, as I have never actually had the opportunity to set up all of the equipment all in one shoot. Normally we are working in groups of five or six people and so when we set up the kit we are normally only responsible for one aspect such as setting up a light or the tripod. Completing this assessment has given me more confidence within my ability as I now know that I have the capability to fulfill all of the assessment objectives and there isn’t any large aspect of the technical skills we have learnt so far that I am not capable of doing.

However there are defiantly some things that I think I could improve on. One of these things being my time management. During the assessment I felt as though I was rushing to get everything done as we only had one hour to set up the equipment, film and then de-rig. Although I tried to move as quickly as possible doing each task, it still felt as though I was not moving quickly enough and as a result of this, I did go over the allocated time slightly as it took longer than I expected to de-rig and pack away all of the kit. I think that if I practice more with the kit and spend more hands on time with all of the equipment I will become more confident setting everything up, and in turn I will be able to rig and de-rig at a faster pace.

I think that not having enough time to set everything up affected the rest of my performance on the assessment. Although I was able to correctly position the Key, Fill and Back light, I felt as though I was rushing to get everything finished and was not able to perfectly light the subject and achieve the effect that I wanted. I know that if I had more time I would have been able to create a more polished and professional look for the shot.

When setting up the equipment I had no problem setting up the tripod and camera as I have now done this many times and I feel as though it is becoming much easier to do. I am also quite comfortable setting up the monitor and adjusting the chroma, brightness and contrast. However on the day I did have a small issue with adjusting the brightness and contrast on the viewfinder. However I think that it was just a small slip up and I just need to learn to identify exactly what the viewfinder should look like when set up correctly.

Two of the things that I was previously concerned about were the backfocus and setting the timecode. However after the tutorial the day before the assessment I felt a lot more at ease when completing these tasks within the assessment. I realized that the timecode is actually really easy to set and I don’t think I have any major issues with the backfocus.

Overall I am pleased with my efforts, as before the assessments I was concerned that I might not get all the kit set up in time, or I might have trouble completing one of the tasks set. However I think that everything went okay, apart from my struggle with the lack of time. Hopefully this will improve with practice and the next time I am asked to set up all of the equipment I will be able to manage my time better and will not get flustered when trying to tidy up the cables whilst de-rigging which is something that slowed me down this time.

My Monday Night

We kicked off our week with one days holiday, I took the opportunity to explore the West End of Glasgow as I have not had the opportunity to spend very much time their since coming to university. I really liked this little trip as it is such a different vibe than being in the city center and i love all the little boutiques and vintage shops. In the evening I went to see the film 'The Single Man' and Cineworld. I had seen the trailer online and thought that it looked quite interesting and unique. The trailer caught my attention as it seemed to have an interesting pace and I the fact that no dialogue or voiceovers took place really made it stand out from other trailers I have seen. When I discovered that the fashion designer Tom Ford was directing the film I felt slightly apprehensive. I did not know how well a designer would direct a film, especially because he has had very little experience with this medium within his career. However I am pleased to say that I was proved very wrong. Although 'A Single Man' was a very visual film I do not think that the narrative and character development was bi-passed. The film had great emotional depth. It seemed very character driven and true to life. I liked the fact that the film reflected such deep, strong and confusing emotions.

Colin Firth acted wonderfully within the film, and as a result won Best Actor at the BAFTA'S last night. His character seemed very complexed and really seemed like a real person, unlike some of the one dimensional characters that can often be seen on screen. I liked the fact that the film was quite slow paced at some points and showed monotonous little details of his life, that may appear insignificant, but actually revealed alot about his character. Clearly this tone and style didn't appeal to some people as they walked out of the cinema. I think that this is a terrible shame as I really enjoyed the film and I think that the people that left really didn't give the movie very much of a chance. However I can understand why they left, this film was quite different from the main stream blockbusters and had a lack of dialogue in comparison. However this did not bother me and I think I know have a better understanding about visual storytelling that Richard was teaching us about a few weeks ago.

I thought the film was visually striking, after watching the film I really did want to live in 1962, and dance around in chic clothes in a stylish house. I felt that the music was also used well within the film and the song 'Green Onions' fit perfectly with the tone of the film when it was played. The costumes were also excellent within 'A Single Man', I expected this due to the fact that Ford is a fashion designer. However I thought he used his artistic skills very successfully in many other areas. The world that he created was stylish and desirable, I that any time that the audience actually wants to live in the world that the director creates, they have obviously done a very good job of really transporting the audience to another time or place. Nick Hoult also did a really good job within the movie, I think that it is impressive that a young actor from skins has managed to appear in a possibly Oscar winning Hollywood film at such a young age. I felt his performance was charming and he really made me fall in love with the character, and obviously Colin Firths performance was impeccable.

Overall I really enjoyed watching this movie and I couldn't stop talking about it afterwards. I really hope that it does well over award season and I would recommend going to the cinema and watching this film to anyone who hasn't already seen it. And if you have seen the film, go along anyway and watch it again!

The Secret Diary of a Call Girl

I am in love with "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" it has definatly made its way up the ranks to become one of my new favorite programs. I am really surprised that up until a few days ago I had never watched this show before. I had heard lots about it, seen adverts for it on TV, but had never actually tuned in to watch it. I think this may have been because of the fact that it is shown on ITV. I have always thought that ITV was aimed at a slightly older audience, and the dramas that are aimed at my age range tend not to be very good, so i guess I never bothered to watch it. What a mistake that was!

Andy gave out the DVD's of the program to a couple of members of our class and we decided to make pancakes and watch an episode or two. I think that most of our class had never actually seen the show before and we were all pleasantly surprised with the quality of what we were watching. The Secret Diary of a Call Girl begins with glossy opening credits featuring close-ups of Belle getting ready and putting on make-up, and combined with a catchy theme tune than had me and Kelsey humming along. After watching only one episode I was hooked. I think we ended up watching about 6 episodes that evening and I didn't want to stop watching. I was slightly disapointed by the length of each episode as they are only about 22 minutes long. I think that it would have been much better if they were 40 minutes long as they could explore each storyline in more detail.

I think one of the major reasons why 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' is so good to watch is because of Billie Piper who plays the protagonist Belle De Jour. I think that casting Billie Piper was a very good decision as she manages to play a prostitute who would not typically be considered a likable character, yet she manages to make Belle charming and endearing. I think it is important that they showed Belle to be a good person, because this is what makes the audience accept the fact that she is a call girl.

I find it interesting how the program shows prostitution in an unexpected light. Normally if this topic is featured on television it would typically show a young woman who has been forced into the trade due to desperation. However this is not the case within 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' Belle is from a middle class background and has been to university. She has made a decision to choose this career over other job opportunities. She does it because she enjoys it, not because she has to. This is demonstrated when she chooses her career over her boyfriend. I think this is a good thing as she chooses to be a call girl, she is not forced into it. Belle is not a weak person and I think in general most of the females in this program are represented as strong women. It would be very easy to make the women passive within the show, being controlled by their clients and being forced into doing things they don't want to. However more often than not Belle is the one in control and it is the male client who is nervous and anxious. Belle comes as cross as someone who is very competent in her job, she is a role model for her friend Bambi who is new to prostitution. Belle is shown to be the best girl at the agency and is obviously doing well financially because of this. She has a nice flat and an amazing wardrobe. Some people may say that the program is misleading and shows prostitution in a positive light and in some respects I may agree. It does make Belle's life look amazing, she is pretty, successful and stylish. However it also shows the negative aspects of prostitution, Belle is not able to maintain successful relationships with men because of her career. I think she also struggles slightly with her identity as she is forced to lead a double life, hiding her career away from her family and in some cases her boyfriends. In my opinion it is a good thing that the show exposes both the positive and negative sides to prostitution as it makes it more realistic and sophisticated. If it had only portrayed the message that a career as a call girl is bad it may have appeared to be stepping on a moral high ground and being to preachy.

It is interesting to know that 'The Secret Diary of a Call Girl' is based on a book written by a real call girl. This is why the show can get away with showing the positive aspects of prostitution, because the author of this book has experienced them first hand. When watching the program I find my self wondering which stories and clients that Belle deals with are based on real situations and people that the author actually had to sleep with. One of the great attributes of the show is the comedy that many of the scenes possesses. This comedy often comes from the weird and outrageous situations that Belle endures in order to adhere to her clients fantasies and fetishes.

I think that the program manages to portray a good portion of Belle's life both inside and outside work. However some of the most successful drama can be seen when the two very separate lives collide. Many episodes show the internal struggle that Belle's character goes through and I think that many audience members would empathize with her character and root for her to be happy.

Overall I think that 'The Secret Diary of a Call Girl' has all the elements necessary to be a success. I think that the choice of music within the show, it is emotive, contemporary and not always your typical pop song. The use of costume is also great, female audience members would aspire to look like Belle and I am sure many male members would dream of dating someone like Belle. The show has a very contemporary feel, like a new edgier version of Sex and The City, the difference being that Belle gets paid to have sex and write about it and Carrie and her friends just sleep with many different men for pleasure. Somehow the latter of the two seems to be more acceptable and I think that this shows how the television industry has evolved from Sex and The City and has changed to please a more open -minded and modern audience. I am really pleased that I have found a British Drama that I enjoy so much as I often find myself drawn to watching American dramas. Now that I have started watching 'The Secret Diary of a Call Girl' i am totally hooked. Within a matter of days i have watched all of season three, most of season two and am really looking to watch season one. I am sure I could go on even further and talk about more of the reasons why I like this show so much, however I think that I have talked for long enough. What I will say is that I would recommend this program to anyone who has not watched it yet as I think it is fantastic.

Television and the small screen - My reflective statement

Speaking as an individual, I can safely say that I have always been captivated by television. I can remember so clearly the television programs I watched as a child, and as I grew up my fondness of television has always remained. One of the key factors that drew me to this course at the RSAMD was the fact that it would give me the ability to study and create not only film but also television.

This course has defiantly increased my knowledge of the history of the television industry. Before this module I was slightly unaware of how television has evolved over the years. However I can now see that it is extremely important to look back at the successful TV programs made in the past in order to create and fully appreciate television made in the future.

It has been interesting to explore the important role television has on the individual and also society as a whole. The debate that took place last week was a great method to explore the importance of TV and the powerful effects that this medium possesses.

This module has made me think about the television industry and the objectives that should be achieved my each and every program shown on the 5 core channels, these being to “Inform, educate and entertain.” It is also interesting to learn about the role TV plays in modern life and they ways in which television is evolving to keep up with the modern viewer, such as iplayer and sky+. I appreciate this module as I have been opened up to many genres of programs that I would not typically have watched such as The Shield, I Love Lucy and most recently, The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and for that I am very grateful.

Overall I think that this module has really highlighted the significance that television has on our lives. It is an easily accessible medium that can be enjoyed by almost everyone. It is an extremely powerful tool that should not be considered second rate in comparison with cinema.

term 2, week 5

We started off Monday morning with Kim's lesson. I think that this was my favorite class of the week. We had all been asked to submit an idea for a character that could fit into one of the four main soap operas. I chose to create a character for Coronation Street as I know the characters and felt as though if we were asked to write in the style of our character I would be able to do a better job writing for Corrie than I would for a program like River City which is set in Glasgow. I really enjoyed this task and I love the idea of creating new characters to fit into and interact within an existing program. In the end I came up with two separate characters for Coronation Street and submitted them. The first being Shandi Granger, Becky's younger, more chavy, pregnant sister who sleeps with Becky's husband. The second being Troy Cropper, Roy Croppers evil twin, decked out in bikers leathers and on a mission to torment Roy to know end and seduce his wife Hayley. It was enjoyable to think of how my characters would fit into existing storylines and I could just picture Troy riding up the street on his Harley with Roy peeking through the cafe window in his anorak, and Shandi getting into some hair pulling fights with her sister and causing an uproar amongst the locals. It was also great to hear everyones ideas and see how they would imagine an interesting new character coming into Corrie.

We were then asked to split into groups and come up with a more detailed character and an outline of how their characters storyline would play out. We decided to explore Ada's idea of Jackie a lesbian police officer who comes into the street to work in underworld as she had to leave her job in the police force due to her affair with a convicted criminal. I really enjoyed this lesson and i think that a job within the soaps or as a storyliner may be something that I am really interested in. In the afternoon session we split into our groups and had a tutorial with Andy concerning our debate on television. This was quite useful and I think that our group had a good plan and were working well together as a team.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Ray on three point lighting. We had previously submitted some research on this topic and because of this prior knowledge I learnt whilst researching I think I was able to pick up the concept with relative ease. I enjoyed the afternoon session as we all had the opportunity to be the DP and set up, light and record another member of the class who was modeling. I liked doing this as it was very visual and you can see instant results. It seemed easier to me as you dont need to adjust the light by pressing a little button, you can physically move the light and see an instant result. I really enjoyed this lesson and I am impressed by the difference three simple lights can make when creating the atmosphere on set, it suddenly makes everything you shoot look so much more professional. We were also told that we have an assessment coming up which I dont feel totally confident about, we seem to have a lot to do in such a short period of time. However I am planning on booking the camera out with a couple of other people this week to get a little more experience with the camera. After all, practice makes perfect.

On Wednesday and Thursday we had sound class with Cammy. I found this lesson easier than expected as Cammy explained everything in detail and with lots of clarity. I liked the fact that he passed around each piece of equipment and let us plug in the appropriate cable/ wire. This meant that by the time we were asked to put all of the equipment together we all had a better idea of what we were doing as we had all done this individually. I also discovered that I will need much stronger arms if I am ever going to operate a microphone/ boom.

We also had a creative beginnings talk from Richard Holloway on Wednesday. After some of the failures of the other creative beginnings talks I did not have particularly high hopes for this one. However I was surprised when the talk turned out to be interesting and quite inspiring. Holloway simply oozed intelligence and really made me thing. He approached the question 'Who's culture is it anyway?" In a very interesting way and I really enjoyed listening to him. This talk was followed by the class debate which seemed to go down well. I enjoyed the actual debate but thought that it may have been better if we were given more time to challenge the other teams argument.

The week came to an end with the screening of 'Singing in the rain'. I enjoyed this film, I am not a huge fan of musicals in general, I like Mamma Mia and Moulin Rouge but in general im not crazy about them. I thought that 'Singing In The Rain' was one of the better musicals I have seen. Although it was my first time watching the film, at several points i realized that I had heard some of the songs before. I like the upbeat nature of the film and some of the songs were very catchy. The leading actors were strong and it was a nice film to watch. It felt refreshing to watch a film with sound and colour as I had gotten used to Friday screenings being in the silent era. After the film ended I went back to halls and went on line to access my weekly dose of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, back to back and fresh from the USA. Now what could be better than that?

All the way from LA!

I had been looking forward to this week for a while now, this was the week Richard are script writing tutor was coming all the way from LA to teach us. The day started off with an exercise where two members of the group had to stand up and be directed into a freeze frame position. The rest of the group then had to write an idea for a short film based on the image in front of us. I am always really surprised how successful this task is. I think it is a great way to come up with a variety of ideas and seeing an image in front of me and working my way back from that in terms of a story is a method that really works for me. What I like about this task is that the inspiration for the idea is right in front of you. I think having this inspiration instead of going looking for it helps me to think of ideas quickly, instead of spending hours musing over one short film, I am able to think of ideas at a much faster pace.

Later on we went over some of the topics that we had learnt before Christmas. We refreshed our memories of the three act structure, a concept that seems simple enough. We also discussed 'theme' something I think most members of the class were having trouble with. At first the idea of a theme seems simple enough, but when you really think about it, it is actually really hard to identify what one message the director is trying to convey to the audience, or to pick out only one thing that the character learns. At the start of the class we were all suggesting that the themes for our films were Love or Friendship. However after being questioned by Richard and his infamous phrase "Is it?" I think we all began to think a little deeper about the themes within films.

After lunch we had what can only be described as the most funny lesson we have had all year. We did an exercise where we had to complete 13 different stories we each filled out one line of information so we had all contributed to each story. We had to write about the character, the inciting incident and the characters fatal flaw along with many other things. We sat in silence working hard for about 30 minutes. When we were all finished Richard told us to go round the circle and each read out the story in our hand. Chris was the first to read a story out and i couldn't believe how funny it was, by the time three or four people had read out the stories most of the class were literally crying with laughter. I just could not believe how we had all taken the task seriously and it had amounted to a story that was far fetched, unrealistic and so badly structured. I think that the main problem was that we had not read each others ideas closely enough, we all wanted to make our mark on each story so maybe we weren't thinking how it ties in with the idea written previously. I think people were also were trying to obstruct or resolve the characters goals too quickly. Things were happening that were unrealistic (but also very funny). I think the best had to be the submarine driver that didn't know he was claustrophobic until he was in the middle of the ocean in a submarine. When he discovered his fear he went and had a panic attack in a toilet cubicle (which is one of the last places you would actually want to spend a lot of time in if you were actually claustrophobic!) However all was resolved when he realized he was the most capable man on the ship and he could simply direct the submarine back to dry land and everything would be okay. I feel by this point Richard was seriously worried by our lack of talent and was most likely considering getting straight back on the plane and jetting across to LA, where I am guessing there are no submarine drivers with undetected fears of enclosed spaces.

However I think that we redeemed ourselves slightly on the second day of Richard's stay. We started Tuesday morning by working on visual storytelling. We were split up into small groups and asked to plan out a visual sequence about a man who sees his father again for the first time in 13 years. We were instructed to use as little dialogue as possible and to really focus on the action. I found this to be quite an enjoyable task which seemed to come quite naturally. I really liked the idea that we came up with and i could really see it becoming a short film. And after all we have learnt on the course so far I can now understand that sometimes using no dialogue can actually be more powerful than when the characters talk. Emotion can sometimes be portrayed better visually, and this can often produce a more natural and organic scene. After all, in the silent films we have watched with Andy, I never found my self thinking "My god i wish they would just say something." I think in some of the films we have watched, using dialogue may spoil the effect. For example the Chaplin film 'City Lights' that we watched on Friday did not need dialogue to make it funny. I also felt that the final scene in 'City Lights' would have been totally spoilt if the characters had spoke to each other. Sometimes a gesture or subtle facial expression is enough to satisfy the audience and tell them everything you need to know.

Anyway, back to tuesdays lesson. We were asked to pitch the two premises we had written the night before. I really like it when we do this activity as I love to here other class members ideas. I was also happy with the fact that people in the group seemed to like my ideas. Talking about them as a class really made me want to go away and transfer my ideas into a script. After a really detailed discussion about several of our ideas, i really began to understand just how difficult it is to make a story that is interesting, fits inside the time frame and works structurally. As we discussed our ideas many seemed to fall apart slightly, however we have all been instructed to go away and write an outline and in turn a short film based on Sam's premise. This should be quite a challenge but I am looking forward to it.

In Wednesdays lesson we had to talk about three things that we do not like about ourselves. It was quite a strange experience to write down these things on paper and i was surprised by how many things I could think of. It was interesting to here the things that other people do not like about them selves, many of which i could identify within myself as well. I can see how this task was useful, being aware of our flaws and in turn, flaws within the characters we write about will help us to be better writers and portray truthful and universal flaws that an audience can identify with. We also discussed conflict and tension within this lesson, which was followed by a tutorial discussing our scripts. After everything I had learnt within these past three days I have to say I had no trouble identifying what was wrong with the script I had written and I can think of many things which I had learnt in the past three days that could improve it.

On Thursday we said goodbye to Richard and hello to John York. This lesson was very fast paced and within it, John introduced us to the 5 act structure. Something that to me made a little bit more sense than the three act structure. It just seemed as though the five act structure went into more detail and would make it easier to construct the middle of the story. In the afternoon we had a lesson with Andy on the History of cinema and I think he hooked our attention perfectly by saying that this class would contain the one thing it would be vital to remember within the three years of this course. Pretty important stuff. Friday finished with the our final Chaplin screening of the term, City Lights. This is an great film, possibly the best Chaplin film we have seen so far, and the ending was just lovely.