Alright, it is that time of the semester again for the final blog post. Honestly, I do not want to write this post due to the reason that this project ended in a really ugly manner, and no, I am not referring to the documentary.
Not a stickler to rules, I usually do not want to set up rules for people to follow, but this project has shown me the result of having a big production group with more people than what is initially stated. I feel that the idea to consolidate in groups of two was a wise one and might have been from past experience. When there is too many cooks, the broth is spoilt, in our case, some cooks even threw knives at others.
Looking back at my first and second blog post, all seemed so peaceful, until the apocalyptic outburst that took place during the thirteenth hour, it seemed to be a stalemate for me and hardly anything could be remedied. Why the Leonard and Clare did not choose to say anything face to face during the early stages of the project, I will never know.
But still, I shall attempt to analyse as much as I can using my primitive brain that failed to catch on to what the others were really thinking when they always said, "NOTHING MUCH". It is similar to a relationship between a boy and a girl. Whenever the boyfriend asks the girl what is wrong, she replies with the classic word, "NOTHING", when there really is something bothering her and she simply expects the guy to figure out what is wrong.
The guy might or might not get it at a later point in time, and his girlfriend will then quarrel with him, saying that famous phrase, "BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN...". But how was he to know when she told him straight in the face, "NOTHING". The poor guy does not have ESP to sense out what the female is really thinking and will most likely take the girl's word for it that there is really "NOTHING". Until of course the female cannot take it anymore and all hell breaks loose.
Individual Objectives:
Looking at how a legal binding email came from Clare, I guess that means she really does not want us to use the short film, there goes my hopes for submitting this in film festivals. However, as she has made the film solely her property, I feel that it is not my loss as I have gained much knowledge and experience from this situation.
One important lesson I have learnt before is, "WHY MAKE A DOCUMENTARY THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN DOCUMENTED?" I have learnt that making a documentary is not simply just finding a story and making a documentary out of it. It is always better to search for new angles or things that have not been covered before as they have a sense of novelty in them, as compared to filming something that has already been documented, TWICE.
I am still very interested in making the documentary with the storyboard that I came up with about the printing press as I really think that it will make a good story for a documentary as she is the first person that I have ever come across still doing the ancient profession of the printing press. I can only hope that I will get the chance to do a documentary on the idea.
As for editing skills, I have picked up some basic editing skills along the way, but more still needs to be learnt, I will have to get a copy of the Final Cut Pro folder that Leonard has so that I can learn from it as well, but I am not sure where to get it. Might have to go to the library and see if they have a book on FCP.
When it comes to camera handling, I have definitely honed my skills to a new level and can now say confidently that filming is a piece of cake for me. I even taught Leonard how to do the white balance before filming as white colour looks different under different light conditions. I also taught him how to control the iris effectively, not sure if he remembers any of that though.
During the interview with Ruth Cullen, I had to hold the boom microphone and pole for about 30 minutes continuously and that was really excruciating. From that experience, I really respect the boom operators as they have to constantly get good sound as well as gauge where to place the microphone in such a way that the camera will not get it in shot.
Therefore, I feel that I have learnt much from the course, even from the drama that took place towards the end of it all. There is a lesson to learn from everything.
Things I have learnt:
Throughout the course, many guest lecturers came to talk on the different aspects of what it is like to make a documentary. I learnt many new terms and techniques from David regarding camera handling and the difference between the various models. What I remember the most is Steve Thomas' lesson with the PowerPoint slides and the fact that documentaries are powerful for the simple fact that IT IS REAL! Drama scripts and real life are very different because what usually happens in real life differs from how television shows and films portray it to be.
I needed to get a shot known as the "magic moment" for the documentary but was not successful as the sky did not turn significantly enough and hence wasted an hour just standing out in the cold. Many times after that, it was raining during the time where the sky was about to turn dark. I was quite disappointed but Leonard said that it was alright as it was not important. It is really hard to get a good 'magic moment' here as I need to grab hold of a good day as well as the exact timing when the sky turns dark.
Conclusion:
All in all, I just think that it is really unfortunate that things turned out this way, but I am happy with the way the documentary turned out. However, I noticed that ours was the only group with footage used from a past source and this actually seemed like a good idea at the time, but looking from hindsight, we should have simply did an interview and make do with whatever we had.
One problem with our project was that we had TOO MUCH footage to work on and it did not seem to be focused enough as we were jumping all over from person to person. I just pray that the next semester will be better and I have learnt that I may have to take a stronger stance and say NO to others when they approach me to join my group if there are too many people.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Media Industries 2: PNR Final Report
Introduction:
Having identified the sector that I want to work in before, which is the television sector in Singapore. I have went about searching for people who are relevant in the industry to try to interview to try to understand just what it is like working in the sector and how they started out in the industry. This is vital for me as although I have worked in the media industry before, I am currently not sure of what career I want to pursue now due to the fact that I have talked with professionals from the Advertising, Corporate Communications and Marking industry.
Another factor is that I have worked in both aspects of the media industry, one being at the forefront of it all, which includes producing television shows and short films and the other, is that of working in the corporate sector of the media industry, these include public relations and marketing positions in companies. As I find that both of these industries are linked to what I have learnt so far, I am unable to make up my mind for the future.
However, as compared to the corporate side of the media industry that simply requires you to speak well and have a good head knowledge of whatever company you are working for and all you have to do is apply for the position, the production aspect of the media industry requires you to build up your reputation and do lots of work to get the relevant experience. Hence, I have decided to find out more about what this industry is really like and how the people who work in the industry got to where they are now.
Interviewees:
Initially, I sent emails to many professionals that work in the sector, these people were,
1) Low Wee Liang - An Executive Producer for numerous mandarin television series mainly about travel and food that has been shown on Channel 8 and Channel U. He does not work for MediaCorp, but works in production houses as a freelancer.
2) Ling Sock Leng - She has been the Production Manager for many big time entertainment shows in Singapore like Singapore's Chinese version of the "Idol" series that was very famous, "Project SuperStar".
3) Ah Jie - A Director originating from China, he came over to Singapore to direct television shows and has many shows under his belt. One of his most recent shows being that of a Chinese food variety show "WonderChef" on Channel U.
4) Hilary - Although she only entered the industry for a couple of years, she has managed to work with famous local (Singapore) directors like Kelvin Tong. She is a freelancer and has managed to build up her networks within the film and television industry.
5) Jack Neo - Singapore's most famous director, he started out as a comedian and even cross-dressed, which made him popular among the locals. He later moved on to directing his own films and got his big break after his movie about Singapore, "I Not Stupid".
6) David Goh - Having recently graduated from university, he went on to work in his friend's production house. He started out as a Camera Assistant and is now working as a Producer for many English and Mandarin television shows with different production houses. He has worked on shows for Channel U, Channel 8, Channel 5 and the kids' channel OKTO.
7) Lau Kan Chiong- Having worked in the television industry in Singapore ever since it started, he was a Director of Photography working for Singapore's only television company, MediaCorp but has since retired and is now a freelancer for production houses.
8) Ramesh Sivaram - A freelance director for television shows, he has worked with many production houses on English television shows and has been in the industry for four years. Some of his shows include television documentaries as well.
9) Lionel Wong - Having been a Director of Photography for years, he has worked on many productions in Singapore, some of which have even taken him overseas for the television series. He shoots for both English and Mandarin productions as well as events filming.
10) Clarence Heng - A Camera Assistant for five years, he has worked on both English and Mandarin drama serials as well as many short film shoots. Having worked on many sets, he has become quite a regular in television production shoots.
11) Loraine Chia - Having been a Scriptwriter for nine years, she has an impressive collection of television drama serials under her belt that have been filmed and produced. She writes mainly on Chinese television drama serials but has also written quite a number of English television drama series.
12) Tan Wei Ming - A lighting professional, he has worked on many different types of production shoots, mainly being outdoor shoots and night shoots. He is a freelancer and has been working in the industry for three years.
13) Jonathan Foo - He is currently teaching television production in Singapore, but before that, he has been working in the television for 11 years. He has a Master Degree in media and has taught in New York as well.
14) Vanda Tan - She owns WAWA PICTURES, one of the leading independent television production companies in Singapore. Established in 2007, the company has produced many shows for Channel 5, Channel 8 and Channel U and is a prominent player in the industry.
These are the people that I sent out emails to try and understand more about the industry as I wanted to find out about the individual aspects of how it is like to work in Singapore's television industry.
Unfortunately, of all the people that I contacted, many did not respond, others said that they had no time, one of them did not like interviews and so she rejected me. I felt so down and out because I was afraid that I would not be able to get any interviews for my PNR. The only people who responded to me are David, Kan Chiong, Ramesh and Jonathan. Initially only Ramesh and David told me that they could do it on the 14th of October, which is just one day before the due date. Jonathan responded to me on the night of 15th itself, and Kan Chiong responded on the 16th morning. I was really thankful as if it were not for their responses, I would have been short of interviewees. I conducted phone interviews with all of them, other than Jonathan who replied via email. (phone bills exploded and I even got a scolding from my parents even after I told them it was for my project…)
Interviews:
Ramesh:
I conducted a phone interview with Ramesh on the 15th of October at home on my mobile phone and the interview lasted for 27minutes from 2212hrs to 2229hrs. These are the questions I asked him:
1) How did you first come to work in the industry?
2) How did you get your contacts in the industry?
3)What is it like working in the industry?
4) What is the most important thing about working in the industry?
He told me that when he first started out, he did not have a big circle of relevant contacts and he built up his experience by directing short films and students' projects. Later on he got into the industry through a contact he had made during a short film production and he grabbed on to the chance. After a few other professional projects, he managed to build up his own circle of contacts and got known in the industry.
Ramesh told me,
"When you first start out, grab any project that comes your way, (you) cannot be picky. Because you will need the money and the contacts. After the first few years, then can start to choose the projects that you want to work with to build up a proper portfolio."
As to what it is like working in the industry, he told me that it is "bloody tiring". "You have to wake up at like 6am to go for a location shoot and it might drag all the way until a night shoot which will only end at around 3am the next day."
When I asked him about the most important thing about working in the industry, he said,
"When you work, you have to give others a good impression about you, because they are the ones that will recommend you to others in the future and will want to work with you. If you screw up, everybody will know about it because Singapore is so small. So you have to do your best."
David:
I called David after I called Ramesh on the same night. We were supposed to talk at 2300hrs but he did not pick up his phone and smsed me to call him back five minutes later. I called him at 2306hrs and this call lasted until 2358, a total of 52 minutes. For David, the questions I asked him were:
1) Why did you want to work in productions instead of getting a corporate job after you graduated from university?
2) How did you start out in the industry?
3) How did you build up the contacts that you have?
4) What was it like working your way up from a Camera Assistant to a Producer?
5) What was it like for you to work in the industry?
6) What is the most important thing about working in the industry?
David was really honest and told me that he actually worked in a bank for the Corporate Communications department for about a year before he started working in productions. He eventually chose to work in his friend's production house, a move that faced challenges by his family as it did not seem like a good deal in Singapore. Choosing to work in a production house where the pay might not be stable as compared to a corporate desk job.
"I had a good friend from university who set up a production house and he was always looking for people to help out in his productions. We met up often and he would talk about how much fun it was with all the different types of productions, getting to work with celebrities too, and asked me to join him for almost six months."
He finally decided to join him when his friend said that he needed a camera assistant to go for an overseas shoot in Thailand for Channel 8 and he asked if was interested in joining him. He thought that it sounded like fun and after his friend told him that the pay was reasonable and that the air ticket was covered by his company, he decided to take 2 weeks of unpaid leave from my desk job to join his friend.
"Through the 2 weeks that I was in Thailand with John (his friend), I learnt that the production process was not all fun and games, it was hard work as they had to shoot fast. I had to pick up certain skills fast as I have never had any experience before, but John was patient and taught me the ropes."
After he came back from Thailand, he decided to quit his job in the bank to help his friend out in his company. However, his parents did not approve. David stated,
"My parents said I was siao (crazy in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect), choosing a unstable job over a proper job. But I knew that it was what I wanted to do, and I assured them that if it does not go well, I will find another job. Eventually, they just let me do I wanted after seeing that I planned ahead."
David told me that when he first worked in the company, he helped John as a camera assistant. Later on, he became a Director of Photography and he eventually moved up to be a producer after about two years. When he first started working in the production house, there were many things that he had to learn from John about how it was like to make a television series. He first learnt about how to control the cameras and later on progressed to scouting for locations, getting the talents for the shows and much more. John even made him a Director, but David said that he chose to be a Producer in the end as he had more interest in the job.
He finds that working in the industry is really fun and as a Producer, he takes pride in his work. As he has undertaken many roles before being a producer, he says that all the experience has helped him to take his role as a producer more efficiently as he knows what the rest of the crew needs to do.
As for the most important thing about working in the industry, he feels that,
"you need to be passionate about what you do. Because there will be many times that you want to give up, and it will be very tiring. But you need to have the passion to persevere on. If you don't have the passion for this, you will give up after awhile."
Jonathan:
I contacted Jonathan as I wanted to know what made him decide to move from being in the productions to teach instead. I wanted to call him, but he did not want to and decided to email instead. Here are the questions and answers:
Email Interview:
1. How you first started out in the media industry?
@@ I started writing movie critics for newspapers (since 1986) then I joined TV industry after my degree (though my first degree is NUS Science - major in Mathematics). I was with SBC - TCS - MediaCorp (1991 - 2002) started with English Drama, Chinese Drama then Variety Shows
2. How you built up your contacts?
@@ I applied my first full time Assistant Producer TV job from Newspapers, then as I worked for TV shows, all the sponsors and media partners come in very naturally, either I called them or they contacted me. We do keep the existing pool of contacts and continue building new ones at the same time. I normally ask around, get contacts through people, and sometimes I have to search from Yellow Pagers (in the past) and also very much through internet later
3. How was the job like back then as compared to now?
@@ Last time was less advance, very much depends on phone calls and pagers (if you do remember). Also, we have to write very formal letters to get something or seek approval instead of simple emails. However, our nature of work is very much 'standardized' - meaning everyone follow one style and same style on paper work (like the forms we used for all areas) and standard instructions given. It is less complicating compared to now where too many choices and ways of handling things, and also too many people work with different styles and different instructions. Hence unneccessary confusion and distraction occur at times.
4. Any difficulties that you faced in the television industry?
@@ TOO MANY, like the turn over is high, schemes and strategies keep changing, and more importantly, the 'culture' or 'nature' of work - in another words, the DO'S and DON'TS in your work, such as the sensitive issues like religions, sex, drugs, politics, and brandings - have to consider very very carefully before putting anything on air. Besides, the working hours are really long for TV, at least 12-18 hrs per day, may not have off days in between including weekends, and the salary is not high as compared to foreign talents or 'experts' so called.
5. What made you decide to teach in the end?
@@ When I decided to quit in 2002 and moved on to New York for a new life with my Master Degree I pursed. I always wanted to do or study a degree in media related, hence I went to New York Institute of Technology to upgrade myself. I love my study there and also I was fortunate that the school hired me as a Teaching Assistant after knowing that I am experienced with TV work. I took some classes like TV, Film and Radio classes for Year 1 Bachelor Degree students, most of them are local Americans. I enjoyed teaching form then on as it is a different kind of approach in teaching as compared to other levels of education. I continued working in NY for a while after I got my Master in 3 semesters (less than 1 and a half years). I got my teaching job in Singapore through a friend's recommendation from MOE some time in late 2004. I came back from NY in early 2005 to teach in NP till now. I must say I decided to teach now because I am working in the same media industry with many new faces and new bloods I encounter each day, they inspire me better than staying in the same TV channel producing the same TV show each week. My exposure is much wider, and I definitely improve more in many ways when dealing with different media partners now.
Kan Chiong:
I conducted a phone interview with Kan Chiong on the 16th of October at home on my mobile phone and the interview lasted for 18minutes from 1330hrs to 1348hrs. These are the questions I asked him:
1) How did you first start out in the industry?
2) How did you know of the industry back then?
3) What is the difference between working in the past as compared to now?
Kan Chiong explained that back then, he did not even finish studying for his Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE, Grade 6) and he started to work in the industry. Back then, people who did not have education did not have much of a choice when it came to finding jobs. Hence, when he heard that the Radio Television Singapore was starting up in 1963 and needed people, he went to work as a production assistant after his friend brought him in.
He started working there when he was fourteen, and it was only until 2004 that he was asked to retire because of his age. He left MediaCorp and started to work as a freelancer for production houses through the contacts he has built over the years.
The main difference that he stressed is that in the past, when he worked with the celebrities, there did not use to be a difference among their statuses, but currently, the line is drawn clearly between the crew and the artistes. He also states that this is also the reason why many of the older generation crew in the industry have left MediaCorp to freelance. As he said in mandarin,
"Many of the younger artistes nowadays have no respect for others."
Reflective Component:
This assignment, through all these interviews, I have found the answers to my questions, I need to really take some time to think if I have the great passion that the others had for the industry. As a freelancer in Singapore, I understand the amount of work that has to done for a production and how tiring it can be. Wrapping up an outdoor shoot at 2am and having to shoot again just hours later at 7am. That is really tiring and can take its toll on your mind and body if you lack the motivation to turn up for work.
Having found out so much more from others I feel more prepared to take on jobs that are asked of me within the media industry. I have talked to David and he has said that it is possible that after I finish my studies, he will take me into his company as a Assistant Director. But for now, nothing is confirmed as of yet.
After interviewing Jonathan, that has also opened a door for me with regard to the education sector for media. I have not really thought about teaching about media in schools but it can be really enriching as well like how Jonathan has told me over the phone,
" teaching basically is sharing to me, to share what you know and also learn from each other too. Work(ing) with teenage students really make me stay young with all kinds of young and interesting ideas."
This is true and I am now considering teaching as one of my future professions as well.
References:
Foo, Jonathan. Email interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 16th October 2010. Last viewed 17th October.
Goh, David. Mobile phone interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 15th October 2010, 2306 - 2358hrs, 52 minutes.
Lau, Kan Chiong. Mobile phone interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 16th October 2010, 1330 - 1348hrs, 18 minutes.
Sivaram, Ramesh. Mobile phone interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 15th October 2010, 2212 - 2229hrs, 27minutes.
Having identified the sector that I want to work in before, which is the television sector in Singapore. I have went about searching for people who are relevant in the industry to try to interview to try to understand just what it is like working in the sector and how they started out in the industry. This is vital for me as although I have worked in the media industry before, I am currently not sure of what career I want to pursue now due to the fact that I have talked with professionals from the Advertising, Corporate Communications and Marking industry.
Another factor is that I have worked in both aspects of the media industry, one being at the forefront of it all, which includes producing television shows and short films and the other, is that of working in the corporate sector of the media industry, these include public relations and marketing positions in companies. As I find that both of these industries are linked to what I have learnt so far, I am unable to make up my mind for the future.
However, as compared to the corporate side of the media industry that simply requires you to speak well and have a good head knowledge of whatever company you are working for and all you have to do is apply for the position, the production aspect of the media industry requires you to build up your reputation and do lots of work to get the relevant experience. Hence, I have decided to find out more about what this industry is really like and how the people who work in the industry got to where they are now.
Interviewees:
Initially, I sent emails to many professionals that work in the sector, these people were,
1) Low Wee Liang - An Executive Producer for numerous mandarin television series mainly about travel and food that has been shown on Channel 8 and Channel U. He does not work for MediaCorp, but works in production houses as a freelancer.
2) Ling Sock Leng - She has been the Production Manager for many big time entertainment shows in Singapore like Singapore's Chinese version of the "Idol" series that was very famous, "Project SuperStar".
3) Ah Jie - A Director originating from China, he came over to Singapore to direct television shows and has many shows under his belt. One of his most recent shows being that of a Chinese food variety show "WonderChef" on Channel U.
4) Hilary - Although she only entered the industry for a couple of years, she has managed to work with famous local (Singapore) directors like Kelvin Tong. She is a freelancer and has managed to build up her networks within the film and television industry.
5) Jack Neo - Singapore's most famous director, he started out as a comedian and even cross-dressed, which made him popular among the locals. He later moved on to directing his own films and got his big break after his movie about Singapore, "I Not Stupid".
6) David Goh - Having recently graduated from university, he went on to work in his friend's production house. He started out as a Camera Assistant and is now working as a Producer for many English and Mandarin television shows with different production houses. He has worked on shows for Channel U, Channel 8, Channel 5 and the kids' channel OKTO.
7) Lau Kan Chiong- Having worked in the television industry in Singapore ever since it started, he was a Director of Photography working for Singapore's only television company, MediaCorp but has since retired and is now a freelancer for production houses.
8) Ramesh Sivaram - A freelance director for television shows, he has worked with many production houses on English television shows and has been in the industry for four years. Some of his shows include television documentaries as well.
9) Lionel Wong - Having been a Director of Photography for years, he has worked on many productions in Singapore, some of which have even taken him overseas for the television series. He shoots for both English and Mandarin productions as well as events filming.
10) Clarence Heng - A Camera Assistant for five years, he has worked on both English and Mandarin drama serials as well as many short film shoots. Having worked on many sets, he has become quite a regular in television production shoots.
11) Loraine Chia - Having been a Scriptwriter for nine years, she has an impressive collection of television drama serials under her belt that have been filmed and produced. She writes mainly on Chinese television drama serials but has also written quite a number of English television drama series.
12) Tan Wei Ming - A lighting professional, he has worked on many different types of production shoots, mainly being outdoor shoots and night shoots. He is a freelancer and has been working in the industry for three years.
13) Jonathan Foo - He is currently teaching television production in Singapore, but before that, he has been working in the television for 11 years. He has a Master Degree in media and has taught in New York as well.
14) Vanda Tan - She owns WAWA PICTURES, one of the leading independent television production companies in Singapore. Established in 2007, the company has produced many shows for Channel 5, Channel 8 and Channel U and is a prominent player in the industry.
These are the people that I sent out emails to try and understand more about the industry as I wanted to find out about the individual aspects of how it is like to work in Singapore's television industry.
Unfortunately, of all the people that I contacted, many did not respond, others said that they had no time, one of them did not like interviews and so she rejected me. I felt so down and out because I was afraid that I would not be able to get any interviews for my PNR. The only people who responded to me are David, Kan Chiong, Ramesh and Jonathan. Initially only Ramesh and David told me that they could do it on the 14th of October, which is just one day before the due date. Jonathan responded to me on the night of 15th itself, and Kan Chiong responded on the 16th morning. I was really thankful as if it were not for their responses, I would have been short of interviewees. I conducted phone interviews with all of them, other than Jonathan who replied via email. (phone bills exploded and I even got a scolding from my parents even after I told them it was for my project…)
Interviews:
Ramesh:
I conducted a phone interview with Ramesh on the 15th of October at home on my mobile phone and the interview lasted for 27minutes from 2212hrs to 2229hrs. These are the questions I asked him:
1) How did you first come to work in the industry?
2) How did you get your contacts in the industry?
3)What is it like working in the industry?
4) What is the most important thing about working in the industry?
He told me that when he first started out, he did not have a big circle of relevant contacts and he built up his experience by directing short films and students' projects. Later on he got into the industry through a contact he had made during a short film production and he grabbed on to the chance. After a few other professional projects, he managed to build up his own circle of contacts and got known in the industry.
Ramesh told me,
"When you first start out, grab any project that comes your way, (you) cannot be picky. Because you will need the money and the contacts. After the first few years, then can start to choose the projects that you want to work with to build up a proper portfolio."
As to what it is like working in the industry, he told me that it is "bloody tiring". "You have to wake up at like 6am to go for a location shoot and it might drag all the way until a night shoot which will only end at around 3am the next day."
When I asked him about the most important thing about working in the industry, he said,
"When you work, you have to give others a good impression about you, because they are the ones that will recommend you to others in the future and will want to work with you. If you screw up, everybody will know about it because Singapore is so small. So you have to do your best."
David:
I called David after I called Ramesh on the same night. We were supposed to talk at 2300hrs but he did not pick up his phone and smsed me to call him back five minutes later. I called him at 2306hrs and this call lasted until 2358, a total of 52 minutes. For David, the questions I asked him were:
1) Why did you want to work in productions instead of getting a corporate job after you graduated from university?
2) How did you start out in the industry?
3) How did you build up the contacts that you have?
4) What was it like working your way up from a Camera Assistant to a Producer?
5) What was it like for you to work in the industry?
6) What is the most important thing about working in the industry?
David was really honest and told me that he actually worked in a bank for the Corporate Communications department for about a year before he started working in productions. He eventually chose to work in his friend's production house, a move that faced challenges by his family as it did not seem like a good deal in Singapore. Choosing to work in a production house where the pay might not be stable as compared to a corporate desk job.
"I had a good friend from university who set up a production house and he was always looking for people to help out in his productions. We met up often and he would talk about how much fun it was with all the different types of productions, getting to work with celebrities too, and asked me to join him for almost six months."
He finally decided to join him when his friend said that he needed a camera assistant to go for an overseas shoot in Thailand for Channel 8 and he asked if was interested in joining him. He thought that it sounded like fun and after his friend told him that the pay was reasonable and that the air ticket was covered by his company, he decided to take 2 weeks of unpaid leave from my desk job to join his friend.
"Through the 2 weeks that I was in Thailand with John (his friend), I learnt that the production process was not all fun and games, it was hard work as they had to shoot fast. I had to pick up certain skills fast as I have never had any experience before, but John was patient and taught me the ropes."
After he came back from Thailand, he decided to quit his job in the bank to help his friend out in his company. However, his parents did not approve. David stated,
"My parents said I was siao (crazy in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect), choosing a unstable job over a proper job. But I knew that it was what I wanted to do, and I assured them that if it does not go well, I will find another job. Eventually, they just let me do I wanted after seeing that I planned ahead."
David told me that when he first worked in the company, he helped John as a camera assistant. Later on, he became a Director of Photography and he eventually moved up to be a producer after about two years. When he first started working in the production house, there were many things that he had to learn from John about how it was like to make a television series. He first learnt about how to control the cameras and later on progressed to scouting for locations, getting the talents for the shows and much more. John even made him a Director, but David said that he chose to be a Producer in the end as he had more interest in the job.
He finds that working in the industry is really fun and as a Producer, he takes pride in his work. As he has undertaken many roles before being a producer, he says that all the experience has helped him to take his role as a producer more efficiently as he knows what the rest of the crew needs to do.
As for the most important thing about working in the industry, he feels that,
"you need to be passionate about what you do. Because there will be many times that you want to give up, and it will be very tiring. But you need to have the passion to persevere on. If you don't have the passion for this, you will give up after awhile."
Jonathan:
I contacted Jonathan as I wanted to know what made him decide to move from being in the productions to teach instead. I wanted to call him, but he did not want to and decided to email instead. Here are the questions and answers:
Email Interview:
1. How you first started out in the media industry?
@@ I started writing movie critics for newspapers (since 1986) then I joined TV industry after my degree (though my first degree is NUS Science - major in Mathematics). I was with SBC - TCS - MediaCorp (1991 - 2002) started with English Drama, Chinese Drama then Variety Shows
2. How you built up your contacts?
@@ I applied my first full time Assistant Producer TV job from Newspapers, then as I worked for TV shows, all the sponsors and media partners come in very naturally, either I called them or they contacted me. We do keep the existing pool of contacts and continue building new ones at the same time. I normally ask around, get contacts through people, and sometimes I have to search from Yellow Pagers (in the past) and also very much through internet later
3. How was the job like back then as compared to now?
@@ Last time was less advance, very much depends on phone calls and pagers (if you do remember). Also, we have to write very formal letters to get something or seek approval instead of simple emails. However, our nature of work is very much 'standardized' - meaning everyone follow one style and same style on paper work (like the forms we used for all areas) and standard instructions given. It is less complicating compared to now where too many choices and ways of handling things, and also too many people work with different styles and different instructions. Hence unneccessary confusion and distraction occur at times.
4. Any difficulties that you faced in the television industry?
@@ TOO MANY, like the turn over is high, schemes and strategies keep changing, and more importantly, the 'culture' or 'nature' of work - in another words, the DO'S and DON'TS in your work, such as the sensitive issues like religions, sex, drugs, politics, and brandings - have to consider very very carefully before putting anything on air. Besides, the working hours are really long for TV, at least 12-18 hrs per day, may not have off days in between including weekends, and the salary is not high as compared to foreign talents or 'experts' so called.
5. What made you decide to teach in the end?
@@ When I decided to quit in 2002 and moved on to New York for a new life with my Master Degree I pursed. I always wanted to do or study a degree in media related, hence I went to New York Institute of Technology to upgrade myself. I love my study there and also I was fortunate that the school hired me as a Teaching Assistant after knowing that I am experienced with TV work. I took some classes like TV, Film and Radio classes for Year 1 Bachelor Degree students, most of them are local Americans. I enjoyed teaching form then on as it is a different kind of approach in teaching as compared to other levels of education. I continued working in NY for a while after I got my Master in 3 semesters (less than 1 and a half years). I got my teaching job in Singapore through a friend's recommendation from MOE some time in late 2004. I came back from NY in early 2005 to teach in NP till now. I must say I decided to teach now because I am working in the same media industry with many new faces and new bloods I encounter each day, they inspire me better than staying in the same TV channel producing the same TV show each week. My exposure is much wider, and I definitely improve more in many ways when dealing with different media partners now.
Kan Chiong:
I conducted a phone interview with Kan Chiong on the 16th of October at home on my mobile phone and the interview lasted for 18minutes from 1330hrs to 1348hrs. These are the questions I asked him:
1) How did you first start out in the industry?
2) How did you know of the industry back then?
3) What is the difference between working in the past as compared to now?
Kan Chiong explained that back then, he did not even finish studying for his Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE, Grade 6) and he started to work in the industry. Back then, people who did not have education did not have much of a choice when it came to finding jobs. Hence, when he heard that the Radio Television Singapore was starting up in 1963 and needed people, he went to work as a production assistant after his friend brought him in.
He started working there when he was fourteen, and it was only until 2004 that he was asked to retire because of his age. He left MediaCorp and started to work as a freelancer for production houses through the contacts he has built over the years.
The main difference that he stressed is that in the past, when he worked with the celebrities, there did not use to be a difference among their statuses, but currently, the line is drawn clearly between the crew and the artistes. He also states that this is also the reason why many of the older generation crew in the industry have left MediaCorp to freelance. As he said in mandarin,
"Many of the younger artistes nowadays have no respect for others."
Reflective Component:
This assignment, through all these interviews, I have found the answers to my questions, I need to really take some time to think if I have the great passion that the others had for the industry. As a freelancer in Singapore, I understand the amount of work that has to done for a production and how tiring it can be. Wrapping up an outdoor shoot at 2am and having to shoot again just hours later at 7am. That is really tiring and can take its toll on your mind and body if you lack the motivation to turn up for work.
Having found out so much more from others I feel more prepared to take on jobs that are asked of me within the media industry. I have talked to David and he has said that it is possible that after I finish my studies, he will take me into his company as a Assistant Director. But for now, nothing is confirmed as of yet.
After interviewing Jonathan, that has also opened a door for me with regard to the education sector for media. I have not really thought about teaching about media in schools but it can be really enriching as well like how Jonathan has told me over the phone,
" teaching basically is sharing to me, to share what you know and also learn from each other too. Work(ing) with teenage students really make me stay young with all kinds of young and interesting ideas."
This is true and I am now considering teaching as one of my future professions as well.
References:
Foo, Jonathan. Email interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 16th October 2010. Last viewed 17th October.
Goh, David. Mobile phone interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 15th October 2010, 2306 - 2358hrs, 52 minutes.
Lau, Kan Chiong. Mobile phone interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 16th October 2010, 1330 - 1348hrs, 18 minutes.
Sivaram, Ramesh. Mobile phone interview between Singapore and Melbourne, Australia. 15th October 2010, 2212 - 2229hrs, 27minutes.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Media Industries 2: Self Assessment
Contribution and collaboration:
I felt that I did what I could to contribute to the group, as nobody was confident in being the host for the seminar on week 9 and everyone was stressed as the guest speakers were not confirmed until the very last minute, I felt that I should step up and undertake this task as I am a freelance host and emcee for major events back in Singapore and thought that this would be good for my area of contribution.
My group was the only group that did two seminars for this assignment. Unfortunately, our group left things to the last minute and because of that, I do not think that we had ample time to prepare for the seminars. Fortunately, Shu Shu, Liane, Tiana, April, Emma and Dengli managed to secure our guests for our seminars. Shu Shu did a good job of keeping us updated and managed to keep things running smoothly. Frankly, I think we did a relatively good job for both seminars, especially week 9's seminar, considering we only put together the guests 3 days beforehand.
Proactive learning:
As Rachel told me on the last day, "I felt that you missed out on many opportunities." I have to admit, this is true. Due to my part-time work that I have undertaken this semester, I have missed out some classes as the work the day before involved mainly manual labour and I was worn-out from it, hence I could not wake up on time for Friday's morning classes. However, I made it a point to go to the seminars to see how it was organised and what the guest speakers wanted to share with us.
However, it is through this hectic and busy schedule that I have learnt how to better manage my time. Unlike many international students who can afford to come here to study as they are from a well-to-do family, I am not one of them. My father simply works for a public transport company as a Bus Captain and does not make a lot every month. The fact that I am able to study here is nothing short of the good Lord's blessing. However, my family then has to scrimp and save back home. Finding a part-time job here helps to ease my family's financial burden. I really have to thank Rachel for being patient with me as I came late to her classes. :)
I managed to contact Steve Thomas and Stephen Amis that I found could really contribute to our seminar as Steve has make many documentaries and Stephen is a director who has made feature films. I thought that the both of them would be able to share with us their experience and thoughts on the ethics and trends of film and TV. However, I did not get them to come in the end as it was preferred to contact people who had not come to RMIT in the past.
Participation:
Through the weeks, I scouted for people that would be relevant to our seminar on Film and TV. I managed to get the email of a famous professionals like Steve Thomas and Stephen Amis. I got Steve's email through asking Christina, who asked Christine if she could give his email to me. I thought that Steve could really give a clear and concise message as he gave me a lecture on what making a documentary was like and he even had many related clips and PowerPoint slides to show us.
As for Stephen Amis, I got his name card after a 3 session intensive workshop with him on what directing was like. As he had made many films before, I knew that he would have many experiences with how to survive in the industry as he started out by making many short films and eventually got his big break.
I asked the both of them if they would be interested in attending our seminar and both of them were kind enough to oblige. However, I did not ask the both of them to come down for the seminar due to the reason that we wanted to establish new connections with other professionals.
I attended 3 out of the 4 meetings that were held to finalise the details of the seminars. For week 9, I was the host for the seminar and I also did the guest bios. In week 10, I did the bios as well and for this week, as the speakers went over time in answering their questions in the previous week, I was assigned to stay close to Daniel and keep him informed of how much time has passed so that he could lead the guests onto the next question and not stay on one question for too long.
I volunteered to be the host for the seminar as that was one of my strengths and it would be good to contribute in this aspect. I emceed on that day only introducing the guests in general first and wanted to do a more in-depth introduction after the break. This was one of the styles of hosting where the host can maximise interaction between the guest speakers and the audience. Furthermore, the information on the guests were clearly written on the leaflets given out to the audience, the in-depth introduction was only done to get the audience prepared after the break and to give the speakers time to settle in as well.
For my role as the host, I received mixed reviews. Some people were not used to this style of hosting and hence did not like it, others found that it was good as it allowed the guests and audience to interact more and many people went up to the guests to continue asking them questions. When the guest speakers came up to me and said they liked the way I hosted, and that I did a good job, it was like a pat on the back and I was glad they enjoyed themselves in this seminar.
Connections and intersections:
I have also learnt many things about the media industry here and in general through all the seminars and I will certainly put the knowledge to good use. An example of networking here with the professionals is that I have managed to get to know Ruth Cullen as I have worked with her on my documentary as well and I have really learnt many things as to how to to go about doing documentaries in future.
One of the harsh realities of the industry here is that international students are not given priority for jobs and many of the professionals that were invited to the seminars were honest about it. That is one of the things that I am upset over as Melbourne is a really nice place to work in, and if possible, I would like to work here for a couple of years to get work experience abroad.
All in all, my networking skills have improved over the semester but I need to improve my time management skills now that I have a part-time job, this is one thing that I still lack and need to improve.
I felt that I did what I could to contribute to the group, as nobody was confident in being the host for the seminar on week 9 and everyone was stressed as the guest speakers were not confirmed until the very last minute, I felt that I should step up and undertake this task as I am a freelance host and emcee for major events back in Singapore and thought that this would be good for my area of contribution.
My group was the only group that did two seminars for this assignment. Unfortunately, our group left things to the last minute and because of that, I do not think that we had ample time to prepare for the seminars. Fortunately, Shu Shu, Liane, Tiana, April, Emma and Dengli managed to secure our guests for our seminars. Shu Shu did a good job of keeping us updated and managed to keep things running smoothly. Frankly, I think we did a relatively good job for both seminars, especially week 9's seminar, considering we only put together the guests 3 days beforehand.
Proactive learning:
As Rachel told me on the last day, "I felt that you missed out on many opportunities." I have to admit, this is true. Due to my part-time work that I have undertaken this semester, I have missed out some classes as the work the day before involved mainly manual labour and I was worn-out from it, hence I could not wake up on time for Friday's morning classes. However, I made it a point to go to the seminars to see how it was organised and what the guest speakers wanted to share with us.
However, it is through this hectic and busy schedule that I have learnt how to better manage my time. Unlike many international students who can afford to come here to study as they are from a well-to-do family, I am not one of them. My father simply works for a public transport company as a Bus Captain and does not make a lot every month. The fact that I am able to study here is nothing short of the good Lord's blessing. However, my family then has to scrimp and save back home. Finding a part-time job here helps to ease my family's financial burden. I really have to thank Rachel for being patient with me as I came late to her classes. :)
I managed to contact Steve Thomas and Stephen Amis that I found could really contribute to our seminar as Steve has make many documentaries and Stephen is a director who has made feature films. I thought that the both of them would be able to share with us their experience and thoughts on the ethics and trends of film and TV. However, I did not get them to come in the end as it was preferred to contact people who had not come to RMIT in the past.
Participation:
Through the weeks, I scouted for people that would be relevant to our seminar on Film and TV. I managed to get the email of a famous professionals like Steve Thomas and Stephen Amis. I got Steve's email through asking Christina, who asked Christine if she could give his email to me. I thought that Steve could really give a clear and concise message as he gave me a lecture on what making a documentary was like and he even had many related clips and PowerPoint slides to show us.
As for Stephen Amis, I got his name card after a 3 session intensive workshop with him on what directing was like. As he had made many films before, I knew that he would have many experiences with how to survive in the industry as he started out by making many short films and eventually got his big break.
I asked the both of them if they would be interested in attending our seminar and both of them were kind enough to oblige. However, I did not ask the both of them to come down for the seminar due to the reason that we wanted to establish new connections with other professionals.
I attended 3 out of the 4 meetings that were held to finalise the details of the seminars. For week 9, I was the host for the seminar and I also did the guest bios. In week 10, I did the bios as well and for this week, as the speakers went over time in answering their questions in the previous week, I was assigned to stay close to Daniel and keep him informed of how much time has passed so that he could lead the guests onto the next question and not stay on one question for too long.
I volunteered to be the host for the seminar as that was one of my strengths and it would be good to contribute in this aspect. I emceed on that day only introducing the guests in general first and wanted to do a more in-depth introduction after the break. This was one of the styles of hosting where the host can maximise interaction between the guest speakers and the audience. Furthermore, the information on the guests were clearly written on the leaflets given out to the audience, the in-depth introduction was only done to get the audience prepared after the break and to give the speakers time to settle in as well.
For my role as the host, I received mixed reviews. Some people were not used to this style of hosting and hence did not like it, others found that it was good as it allowed the guests and audience to interact more and many people went up to the guests to continue asking them questions. When the guest speakers came up to me and said they liked the way I hosted, and that I did a good job, it was like a pat on the back and I was glad they enjoyed themselves in this seminar.
Connections and intersections:
I have also learnt many things about the media industry here and in general through all the seminars and I will certainly put the knowledge to good use. An example of networking here with the professionals is that I have managed to get to know Ruth Cullen as I have worked with her on my documentary as well and I have really learnt many things as to how to to go about doing documentaries in future.
One of the harsh realities of the industry here is that international students are not given priority for jobs and many of the professionals that were invited to the seminars were honest about it. That is one of the things that I am upset over as Melbourne is a really nice place to work in, and if possible, I would like to work here for a couple of years to get work experience abroad.
All in all, my networking skills have improved over the semester but I need to improve my time management skills now that I have a part-time job, this is one thing that I still lack and need to improve.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Media Industries 2 Seminar Critique: Alternate Pathways
In this seminar, the group in charge of this week brought in a panel of guests from a range of different media industries, namely; advertising, sports media, public relations, gaming as well as a cool 'Jack of all Trades'! (who was late for the seminar unfortunately...) This week's seminar focused on the different career paths that we might take after graduating. I thought this seminar was quite engaging but lacking in some areas. I gave this seminar a Distinction.
Guest Speakers:
This guests for this week were very relevant as they were each from different fields and each still managed to link back somewhat to what we were learning about in school. Although Leah, Beth, Damian, Eugene and Fran were all relatively experienced in their own fields, they did not seem to interact much with each other, or network with each other after the seminar, I thought that this was a waste as you should always grab the chance to network with other people from similar as well as differing fields of work as you will never know if you might work with them one day. However, the speakers shared with us many relevant experience in their fields of work and told us how it was like in their daily work life.
Facilitation of session:
The host for the session was good at leading the panel of guests and she asked relevant questions with regard to the individual guest. However, the host did not look like she was confident enough to lead the seminar, but I felt she did a good job nevertheless. It takes courage to step up and take upon the role of a host/emcee and not just anybody can do it. Unfortunately, one of the guests was late (Fran) and that caused the seminar to start late, but it did not affect the seminar much. There seemed to be some feedback from the microphones and that was a small problem.
For this particular seminar, I felt that no one was dominating the discussion and all of the guests had an equal opportunity to contribute in the discussion. This is different from the scenario as compared to the past two seminars that I have attended in the past weeks. The PowerPoint slides were well done as well.
However, the answers that the guests gave was too generalised and they simply stressed on how to communicate well and persevere in their jobs. This was nothing new to me as it was similar to the points covered in the past two weeks. Thus, I found the Q and A session rather disappointing.
Relevance to my areas of interest:
In this area, I have quite a deep interest in the alternate careers that are available as I have worked in many areas that that not directly linked to TV and Film, which are my areas of interest. Other than the standard Production Assistant, Producer, DOP, and Director roles that I have done, I have worked as a Corporate Communications Assistant, a Human Resource Assistant and many other linked but not directly related to the media industry jobs before.
Hence, I am curious as to how these professionals handled their roles. All I learnt from them was that one had to be passionate and press on in whatever jobs we did. This is a general formula to succeed and this left me high and dry for more in-depth answers that were unfortunately, not given.
Looking forward to have a good seminar for my group's two weeks! :)
Guest Speakers:
This guests for this week were very relevant as they were each from different fields and each still managed to link back somewhat to what we were learning about in school. Although Leah, Beth, Damian, Eugene and Fran were all relatively experienced in their own fields, they did not seem to interact much with each other, or network with each other after the seminar, I thought that this was a waste as you should always grab the chance to network with other people from similar as well as differing fields of work as you will never know if you might work with them one day. However, the speakers shared with us many relevant experience in their fields of work and told us how it was like in their daily work life.
Facilitation of session:
The host for the session was good at leading the panel of guests and she asked relevant questions with regard to the individual guest. However, the host did not look like she was confident enough to lead the seminar, but I felt she did a good job nevertheless. It takes courage to step up and take upon the role of a host/emcee and not just anybody can do it. Unfortunately, one of the guests was late (Fran) and that caused the seminar to start late, but it did not affect the seminar much. There seemed to be some feedback from the microphones and that was a small problem.
For this particular seminar, I felt that no one was dominating the discussion and all of the guests had an equal opportunity to contribute in the discussion. This is different from the scenario as compared to the past two seminars that I have attended in the past weeks. The PowerPoint slides were well done as well.
However, the answers that the guests gave was too generalised and they simply stressed on how to communicate well and persevere in their jobs. This was nothing new to me as it was similar to the points covered in the past two weeks. Thus, I found the Q and A session rather disappointing.
Relevance to my areas of interest:
In this area, I have quite a deep interest in the alternate careers that are available as I have worked in many areas that that not directly linked to TV and Film, which are my areas of interest. Other than the standard Production Assistant, Producer, DOP, and Director roles that I have done, I have worked as a Corporate Communications Assistant, a Human Resource Assistant and many other linked but not directly related to the media industry jobs before.
Hence, I am curious as to how these professionals handled their roles. All I learnt from them was that one had to be passionate and press on in whatever jobs we did. This is a general formula to succeed and this left me high and dry for more in-depth answers that were unfortunately, not given.
Looking forward to have a good seminar for my group's two weeks! :)
Media Industries 2 Seminar Critique: The Write Way
In this week's seminar, the group brought in guest speakers who were mainly involved in the writing aspect of media. This was because this week's focus was on people who sought a career in Journalism as well as anyone who wanted to become an accomplished writer. They gave many interesting insights as to how to let your voice be heard. I gave this seminar a HD. I will explain why below.
Guest speakers:
This week's guests were excellent! They were extremely relevant to this week's seminar as Catherine, Jo and Paul had heaps of experience under their belt and the way they shared their thoughts to the audience was nothing short of entertaining and enthusiastic. Tom's talks on how he had to shamelessly promote himself was impressive and I found that it might be a good way to promote yourself when you are just starting out in the industry and need to get recognised because no one knows about you. I love how the guests spoke plainly, using vulgarities every now and then, like how Catherine stresses the importance of stuff like Twitter. The way they shared their stories with us was frank and they shared that what we needed to do to get heard, is simply to do lots of stuff, this mainly meant working for free.
Facilitation of session:
The host did a relatively good job and led the discussion quite smoothly. However, he did not seem confident to be on stage and that was quite obvious as he stuttered a little at times. Another point to note was that although there were microphones for the guests, it did not seem to capture their voices and it seemed like they were projecting their voices instead of using the mics to speak. One thing the host did well was to give both the audience and the speakers breathing space in between questions and this helped the audience to relax after some intensive sharing from the guests.
Throughout the seminar, Catherine seemed to be the dominant speaker and thus the others did not get much of a chance to speak more. This is a similar scenario as for the one last week, where Dwayne did most of the talking. I guess this is inevitable as some people are naturally more outspoken as compared to others. This is one area where the host could have helped facilitate better.
Relevance to my areas of interest:
As I write poems every now and then, I was interested in how these people really put in loads of effort to get their careers up and running. The one thing that really struck me about this seminar was how all the guests have their own approach to life and their views on how to make things work.
My favourite analogy of how to get people to notice your work came from Jo Walker. The way she says to treat the editors of magazines or newspapers like 'monkeys behind a typewriter with ADHD', how you have to not just give them a banana but 'mesh it up and play the aeroplane game and put it in their mouth'. This meant having a good knowledge of publications that you pitch to, short pitches to not put them off reading long lines of stuff, and having done all the work for them.
As Jo says, editors are 'not humans, but primates with short attention spans, very little time to spare and a hugely overflowing email inbox'. This really gave me a clear insight as to how I should grab the attention of editors should I ever decide to become a journalist or a writer.
Guest speakers:
This week's guests were excellent! They were extremely relevant to this week's seminar as Catherine, Jo and Paul had heaps of experience under their belt and the way they shared their thoughts to the audience was nothing short of entertaining and enthusiastic. Tom's talks on how he had to shamelessly promote himself was impressive and I found that it might be a good way to promote yourself when you are just starting out in the industry and need to get recognised because no one knows about you. I love how the guests spoke plainly, using vulgarities every now and then, like how Catherine stresses the importance of stuff like Twitter. The way they shared their stories with us was frank and they shared that what we needed to do to get heard, is simply to do lots of stuff, this mainly meant working for free.
Facilitation of session:
The host did a relatively good job and led the discussion quite smoothly. However, he did not seem confident to be on stage and that was quite obvious as he stuttered a little at times. Another point to note was that although there were microphones for the guests, it did not seem to capture their voices and it seemed like they were projecting their voices instead of using the mics to speak. One thing the host did well was to give both the audience and the speakers breathing space in between questions and this helped the audience to relax after some intensive sharing from the guests.
Throughout the seminar, Catherine seemed to be the dominant speaker and thus the others did not get much of a chance to speak more. This is a similar scenario as for the one last week, where Dwayne did most of the talking. I guess this is inevitable as some people are naturally more outspoken as compared to others. This is one area where the host could have helped facilitate better.
Relevance to my areas of interest:
As I write poems every now and then, I was interested in how these people really put in loads of effort to get their careers up and running. The one thing that really struck me about this seminar was how all the guests have their own approach to life and their views on how to make things work.
My favourite analogy of how to get people to notice your work came from Jo Walker. The way she says to treat the editors of magazines or newspapers like 'monkeys behind a typewriter with ADHD', how you have to not just give them a banana but 'mesh it up and play the aeroplane game and put it in their mouth'. This meant having a good knowledge of publications that you pitch to, short pitches to not put them off reading long lines of stuff, and having done all the work for them.
As Jo says, editors are 'not humans, but primates with short attention spans, very little time to spare and a hugely overflowing email inbox'. This really gave me a clear insight as to how I should grab the attention of editors should I ever decide to become a journalist or a writer.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Media Industries 2 Seminar Critique: Making it in Melbourne
For this seminar, the group invited a panel of guest speakers from different fields of the media industry to talk on the competitiveness of Melbourne's media industry and how to be successful. They also shared with us their invaluable experience in their areas of expertise like television, digital media and events. I gave this seminar a Distinction. Below is my justification for the mark that I gave the seminar.
Guest Speakers:
The speakers for this seminar were relevant to the topic of discussion and each managed to give an elaborate account of how they had to work through the good and bad times in the media industry. All the speakers also agreed that nothing short of hard work and perseverance is one of the essential keys to success. The way they went about discussing about the topic was engaging for me as they interacted with each other as well as the audience. It seemed to be a small discussion among the guests as well, and that kept most of the conversation going and through that, they raised many interesting points on their work life.
Facilitation of session:
The host spoke well, but was distracting at times as he moved a lot throughout the discussion and did not engage with the guests or the audience much.
It seemed that Dwayne Thompson, Promotions Coordinator for Future Entertainment, a company that focuses on youths, was the person who engaged with the audience more as compared to the other guest speakers. He was also the one who impressed me the most as he has accomplished many major projects for his age and thus I found him inspiring.
The PowerPoint slides were well done too, with the exception that the colour combination used for the words and the background did not go well and made it hard to read. There was not a lot of refreshments available too, and I thought that there should have been more drinks as they were gone pretty fast. It is always better to have more refreshments than not having enough.
The question and answer session was good too and the guests shared their many views with us that was really relevant to the topic discussed.
Relevance to my areas of interest:
However, one problem that I had was the way that Dwayne handled one of the questions asked by a fellow international student with a Singaporean or Malaysian accent regarding the possibility of international students making it here in Melbourne.
Although it seemed that Sabrina Jansz, a Production Assistant in Sportsbrand, had more experience working with internationals, only Dwayne managed to answer. He stated roughly that in order to succeed, we needed to do a lot of research and networking and share our ideas of how we will go about getting things done. What he shared did not really answer the question on how international students could make it here, he only gave a general formula on how to succeed.
Being an international student myself, I know that international students do not priority when it came to getting jobs here and hence I looked forward to getting a good idea on what should be done. Dwayne's answer was disappointing. He also assumed that the student who asked the question came from India. Although he might look like an Indian, he might not be one and it is always better to check with him instead of assuming as the student might have found it offensive. In Singapore, we have Chinese, Malays, Indians, Europeans, Caucasians and many people whose parents are interracial. Thus, asking where the student was from would have been better.
Guest Speakers:
The speakers for this seminar were relevant to the topic of discussion and each managed to give an elaborate account of how they had to work through the good and bad times in the media industry. All the speakers also agreed that nothing short of hard work and perseverance is one of the essential keys to success. The way they went about discussing about the topic was engaging for me as they interacted with each other as well as the audience. It seemed to be a small discussion among the guests as well, and that kept most of the conversation going and through that, they raised many interesting points on their work life.
Facilitation of session:
The host spoke well, but was distracting at times as he moved a lot throughout the discussion and did not engage with the guests or the audience much.
It seemed that Dwayne Thompson, Promotions Coordinator for Future Entertainment, a company that focuses on youths, was the person who engaged with the audience more as compared to the other guest speakers. He was also the one who impressed me the most as he has accomplished many major projects for his age and thus I found him inspiring.
The PowerPoint slides were well done too, with the exception that the colour combination used for the words and the background did not go well and made it hard to read. There was not a lot of refreshments available too, and I thought that there should have been more drinks as they were gone pretty fast. It is always better to have more refreshments than not having enough.
The question and answer session was good too and the guests shared their many views with us that was really relevant to the topic discussed.
Relevance to my areas of interest:
However, one problem that I had was the way that Dwayne handled one of the questions asked by a fellow international student with a Singaporean or Malaysian accent regarding the possibility of international students making it here in Melbourne.
Although it seemed that Sabrina Jansz, a Production Assistant in Sportsbrand, had more experience working with internationals, only Dwayne managed to answer. He stated roughly that in order to succeed, we needed to do a lot of research and networking and share our ideas of how we will go about getting things done. What he shared did not really answer the question on how international students could make it here, he only gave a general formula on how to succeed.
Being an international student myself, I know that international students do not priority when it came to getting jobs here and hence I looked forward to getting a good idea on what should be done. Dwayne's answer was disappointing. He also assumed that the student who asked the question came from India. Although he might look like an Indian, he might not be one and it is always better to check with him instead of assuming as the student might have found it offensive. In Singapore, we have Chinese, Malays, Indians, Europeans, Caucasians and many people whose parents are interracial. Thus, asking where the student was from would have been better.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Reflective Blog 2
Halfway into the semester and with much filming done, it is really good to see the progress that our documentary is making. Despite all of us having our other commitments, I like to think that we have all contributed to our project in one way or another. :)
Individual Objectives:
Through the week, looking back at what I first set out to do, I feel like I have really come a long way. From not knowing much of how to start making a documentary, I have learnt of how to capture the necessary moments of life that makes a good moment in a documentary.
I believed that I have also improved my skills in how to direct a film while working with my other group members. Through the lessons of how to use the cameras more effectively, I have added on to my knowledge of how to better handle a camera. However, I have been using the Sony PD 170 all the time so far. I know that if I choose to use another type of camera, I will have to train myself in how to use that camera again as the different types of cameras might have various functions not found in the older cameras.
I have also learned how to get clear sound more efficiently through trying out the role of a soundman in our numerous shoots that we had. One aspect that I still need to learn more about is that of post-production editing. Leonard is good in this area and I hope to learn more from him. :)
One point that I was really upset with was the fact that despite trying to contact the lady in charge of the printing press studio many times, there was no reply from her. I was really looking forward to getting the printing press studio interview as part of the documentary as the lady that teaches the art of printing books, Carolyn Fraser is the only person I know that is a letterpress printer. It can be said to be a dying art, something like what the Nicholas Building is.
However, looking at how the documentary is currently, I believe that Vali Myers deserves all 4-7 minutes of our project as she is really underappreciated in my own view. How can one as brilliant as her not have been noticed more in Melbourne??? O.o Is it because she did not 'fit in' with the other mainstream artists and hence was denied a place in the pages of history?
Getting back to our documentary, we have unanimously decided to focus our documentary on Vali and hope to present a good documentary on how life was like for her when she was in the Nicholas Building.
Progress so far:
We have gotten loads of footage to work with, eleven tapes in total. One tape has roughly 50 minutes worth of footage. 11 x 50 = 550 minutes worth of footage. We are so screwed in terms of how in the world we are going to condense all our footage into a 7minute short documentary.
Looking on the bright side, we have our promotion video for the Nicholas Building and simply need to finalize what we want to have on our documentary. One of the best interviews that we have right now would be the interview that we had with Ruth Cullen, she made two documentaries on Vali Myers before, "Tightrope Dancer" and "Painted Lady". After watching the two documentaries, we got to know more about how Ruth did her documentaries as well as how Vali Myers was like as a person.
Areas for improvement:
Although we have all contributed to our project, Bree has faced some difficulties in coming for meetings and editing sessions due to her boss being difficult. However, she was here for our first filming session at the building and did the interviews for that day. She has also contributed the soundtrack used for our documentary.
Due to our different timetables, meetings can be hard to organize and it is hard to hold discussions as well. I guess this can't be helped and that we will have to work around it more often in order to keep each other updated as to what is going on. :)
All in all, I am satisfied with our progress so far and should be able to have a solid short documentary due to all the footage that we got. :) Looking forward to our final product. :)
Individual Objectives:
Through the week, looking back at what I first set out to do, I feel like I have really come a long way. From not knowing much of how to start making a documentary, I have learnt of how to capture the necessary moments of life that makes a good moment in a documentary.
I believed that I have also improved my skills in how to direct a film while working with my other group members. Through the lessons of how to use the cameras more effectively, I have added on to my knowledge of how to better handle a camera. However, I have been using the Sony PD 170 all the time so far. I know that if I choose to use another type of camera, I will have to train myself in how to use that camera again as the different types of cameras might have various functions not found in the older cameras.
I have also learned how to get clear sound more efficiently through trying out the role of a soundman in our numerous shoots that we had. One aspect that I still need to learn more about is that of post-production editing. Leonard is good in this area and I hope to learn more from him. :)
One point that I was really upset with was the fact that despite trying to contact the lady in charge of the printing press studio many times, there was no reply from her. I was really looking forward to getting the printing press studio interview as part of the documentary as the lady that teaches the art of printing books, Carolyn Fraser is the only person I know that is a letterpress printer. It can be said to be a dying art, something like what the Nicholas Building is.
However, looking at how the documentary is currently, I believe that Vali Myers deserves all 4-7 minutes of our project as she is really underappreciated in my own view. How can one as brilliant as her not have been noticed more in Melbourne??? O.o Is it because she did not 'fit in' with the other mainstream artists and hence was denied a place in the pages of history?
Getting back to our documentary, we have unanimously decided to focus our documentary on Vali and hope to present a good documentary on how life was like for her when she was in the Nicholas Building.
Progress so far:
We have gotten loads of footage to work with, eleven tapes in total. One tape has roughly 50 minutes worth of footage. 11 x 50 = 550 minutes worth of footage. We are so screwed in terms of how in the world we are going to condense all our footage into a 7minute short documentary.
Looking on the bright side, we have our promotion video for the Nicholas Building and simply need to finalize what we want to have on our documentary. One of the best interviews that we have right now would be the interview that we had with Ruth Cullen, she made two documentaries on Vali Myers before, "Tightrope Dancer" and "Painted Lady". After watching the two documentaries, we got to know more about how Ruth did her documentaries as well as how Vali Myers was like as a person.
Areas for improvement:
Although we have all contributed to our project, Bree has faced some difficulties in coming for meetings and editing sessions due to her boss being difficult. However, she was here for our first filming session at the building and did the interviews for that day. She has also contributed the soundtrack used for our documentary.
Due to our different timetables, meetings can be hard to organize and it is hard to hold discussions as well. I guess this can't be helped and that we will have to work around it more often in order to keep each other updated as to what is going on. :)
All in all, I am satisfied with our progress so far and should be able to have a solid short documentary due to all the footage that we got. :) Looking forward to our final product. :)
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