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. :)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Reflective Blog 1
A new semester, a new start! :)
Having formed my own group with Leonard, Yiying, Clare and Bree, I had some concerns as ours is the biggest group, and naturally, more will be expected from us, but I hope that we will be able to rise up to the occasion and give our very best to our short documentary. If we all contribute and do what we have to, I am sure that we will be able to come up with a spectacular end product! Yeah! :)
Individual Objectives:
Personally, I am hoping to submit our short documentary to a film festival to get some exposure, it will be a major step at taking a shot into the film industry and I really hope that it will go well because I thought of the storyboard and have a clear direction for this documentary. Hence, my hopes for this project is relatively high. :)
By the end of this course, I hope to have expanded my knowledge of what a documentary is and how to make a documentary. I also hope to improve my skills as a director as I hope to be able to direct films in the future. I also hope to improve my technical knowledge in terms of camera handling, sound engineering and post-production editing.
What I have thought up of is that because of the beauty and mystery the building seems to hold, we will take the film from top to bottom to give audiences a feel of what the building is like and we will then uncover some of the 'secrets' of the building by focussing on two or three of the studios within the building that captures our attention.
I have thought of an alternate storyline for the documentary. Although the Nicholas Building is quite old, there are surveillance cameras all around. We can interview the security guards to see if they captured anything interesting on tape or even 'ghostly encounters' that the guards have heard or seen of during their shift or on tape. This will make for quite an interesting documentary or even a mockumentary. :)
Progress so far:
After consulting with Christina, she has given the green light to use the storyboard that I have conjured up after touring the building. Clare has got permission from the management of the Nicholas Building to film at their open house and this is really important as some other groups faced a problem with wanting to film their subject matter.
We managed to obtain the right to film as we promised them that we will come with a sort of promotional video for the Nicholas Building to use in future. This I find is simply being realistic, we cannot expect people to simply help us for free, most of the time, people will only help each other for mutual benefits. Although I know that it might be hard to work in the time of coming up with a promotional video for them, I hope that we will be able to integrate it into our documentary.
We will be filming on both days of their open house, the 19th and 20th of this month from 4pm onwards. What we have decided to do, is that we will get some interviews done with the people at the open house, most likely the tenants of the place as they will have their own stories to tell about the building.
From there, if we chance upon any interesting stories, we will either shift our focus on that or we might integrate their points of interest into the documentary. You never know what stories you will hear from the interview, after all, humans are the most interesting creatures that one can ever encounter and every single person has his/her story to tell!
Documentaries are powerful, simply because they are not scripted from imagination, but happened in real life! As Shakespeare has written, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
Having formed my own group with Leonard, Yiying, Clare and Bree, I had some concerns as ours is the biggest group, and naturally, more will be expected from us, but I hope that we will be able to rise up to the occasion and give our very best to our short documentary. If we all contribute and do what we have to, I am sure that we will be able to come up with a spectacular end product! Yeah! :)
Individual Objectives:
Personally, I am hoping to submit our short documentary to a film festival to get some exposure, it will be a major step at taking a shot into the film industry and I really hope that it will go well because I thought of the storyboard and have a clear direction for this documentary. Hence, my hopes for this project is relatively high. :)
By the end of this course, I hope to have expanded my knowledge of what a documentary is and how to make a documentary. I also hope to improve my skills as a director as I hope to be able to direct films in the future. I also hope to improve my technical knowledge in terms of camera handling, sound engineering and post-production editing.
Another thing that I hope to accomplish is that I hope to build up my contacts in the media industry here so that if I am to pursue a career here after I graduate, I will be able to tap into my network and search for a job opening from there.
Idea for the film:What I have thought up of is that because of the beauty and mystery the building seems to hold, we will take the film from top to bottom to give audiences a feel of what the building is like and we will then uncover some of the 'secrets' of the building by focussing on two or three of the studios within the building that captures our attention.
I have thought of an alternate storyline for the documentary. Although the Nicholas Building is quite old, there are surveillance cameras all around. We can interview the security guards to see if they captured anything interesting on tape or even 'ghostly encounters' that the guards have heard or seen of during their shift or on tape. This will make for quite an interesting documentary or even a mockumentary. :)
Progress so far:
After consulting with Christina, she has given the green light to use the storyboard that I have conjured up after touring the building. Clare has got permission from the management of the Nicholas Building to film at their open house and this is really important as some other groups faced a problem with wanting to film their subject matter.
We managed to obtain the right to film as we promised them that we will come with a sort of promotional video for the Nicholas Building to use in future. This I find is simply being realistic, we cannot expect people to simply help us for free, most of the time, people will only help each other for mutual benefits. Although I know that it might be hard to work in the time of coming up with a promotional video for them, I hope that we will be able to integrate it into our documentary.
We will be filming on both days of their open house, the 19th and 20th of this month from 4pm onwards. What we have decided to do, is that we will get some interviews done with the people at the open house, most likely the tenants of the place as they will have their own stories to tell about the building.
From there, if we chance upon any interesting stories, we will either shift our focus on that or we might integrate their points of interest into the documentary. You never know what stories you will hear from the interview, after all, humans are the most interesting creatures that one can ever encounter and every single person has his/her story to tell!
Documentaries are powerful, simply because they are not scripted from imagination, but happened in real life! As Shakespeare has written, "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players."
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Final Blog Post for Media Industries 1
Time flies and I have now come to the end of the semester with reflections on my time spent in the Media Industries 1 course. Initially, we planned to do a research on "The rise of Asian cinema in Australia." However, after much discussion with Geoff and Christina, we decided to do a study on the "Growth of Asian cinema in Melbourne." Much work was put into the completion of the project and although there were many obstacles that we faced, we managed to finish it and come up with a good presentation that showcased what we learnt from the project.
I shall now go into the details of what I have learnt from this course in this reflective journal.
ROLE - For my role, I contacted the different cinemas, television stations as well as key people to try and find out their take on whether there has been a rise in the airring Asian films here and why this was so. Over time my position and function of contacting the relevant parties evolved and I became point of contact for the relevant parties and my group and I became the interviewer of the team as well. Whenever we conducted video interviews, I had to ask the questions and translate them if they were not in english so that it was easier for the majority to understand. Before these interviews, I had to think up of what questions to ask and if there were any key questions that we needed to ask so as to get answers for our research.
When it came to writting the final report and collating our information, I was assigned to proof read the report and making sure that everything was in order. After rehearsing for the presentation, I was chosen to do the introduction and conclusion as my group members said that I can project my voice well and speak well. :) Hence, from simply being a point of contact in the group, I was the interviewer and editor for the final report.
PROGRESS - During our research, like mentioned from the earlier blog post, I was not familiar with the media industry in Melbourne as well as the research methods that were used. Through the duration of the project, I managed to find out more about the general scene of how the media industry in Melbourne operated and was able to use the many research tools that was available to us in RMIT. The databases were very helpful and we got relevant data from the library.
Therefore, from being ignorant about Melbourne's media industry and the research methods that were available, I managed to find out what is the media scene here about as well as know how to utilize the research database in school effectively.
STRATEGIES - At first, we wanted to conduct a survey as well and have a quantitative research. However, we decided to interview the relevant people to have a qualitative approach to the research. I think the choice to make it a qualitative research was a good one as this project was on how we could use it for our future jobs. By interviewing people in the industry, we were networking and not simply taking statistics.
In the beginning, we tried dividing the work out specifically, but as time went on we realised that some of our parts intertwined and it would be better if we collaborated to prevent doing double the work when it would be more efficient to work together. Initially, we did not set any deadlines for when we had to submit our individual parts. We later found that this could not work as we were not able to get our parts up by the next meeting. Hence, we set deadlines for when we needed to get our parts up and collate them. This worked much better and we got things done much faster.
PROBLEMS - I faced obstacles like there was no reply from most of them at all after I tried to e-mail them multiple times. Even when I called, they would tell me to wait for their reply, but in the end, I never heard from them again. This problem is the one that got to me for my role in the beginning as well as shown here.
http://revelationsofazombie.blogspot.com/2010/04/media-industries-1-indivdual-progress.html
Though we could not get companies like Hoyts to respond, we managed to get the distributor of Asian films there to talk to us about the Asian film scene in Melbourne. I also managed to contact SBS's Head of Audience Research to tell me more about the Asian film scene here. The interview can be seen here.
http://asianfilmsinaustralia.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/interview-leah-hooper-head-of-audience-reserach-for-foxtel/
The key is to not stop after some failures, but pressing in and being more determined to overcome them. One more problem that we faced was that as all the final projects were cramped up within the same time frame, we needed to prioritise our time to be able to get the report done. It helped me with my time management skills and on handling the stress of doing all the major projects at once.
CONNECTIONS AND INTERSECTIONS - The value of this course is that it is so broad and we are forced to conceive of a topic that can encompass any aspect of the media and conduct a study on it. This is similar ot what is in the working world as in life, we do not get clear directions all the time, our bosses can sometimes throw things our way that are vague and have no specifications and we are expected to solve them. This course helped improve my problem solving skills by making me perservere on and not giving up in the event of a failure, it has also helped me to learn how to work with people from a different cultural background as we all have our different work styles.
I have managed to make some connections with people in the media industry like the Asian film distributor and the head of SBS's audience research department. This is helpful to me as in the media industry, it is usually not about WHAT you know, but WHO you know that will have you clinch the relevant job as people are more inclined to working with someone whom they already know as opposed to a stranger. As I am interested in working the the film industry, I am sure this will indirectly give me a leg up when I am finding a job in the future.
I shall now go into the details of what I have learnt from this course in this reflective journal.
ROLE - For my role, I contacted the different cinemas, television stations as well as key people to try and find out their take on whether there has been a rise in the airring Asian films here and why this was so. Over time my position and function of contacting the relevant parties evolved and I became point of contact for the relevant parties and my group and I became the interviewer of the team as well. Whenever we conducted video interviews, I had to ask the questions and translate them if they were not in english so that it was easier for the majority to understand. Before these interviews, I had to think up of what questions to ask and if there were any key questions that we needed to ask so as to get answers for our research.
When it came to writting the final report and collating our information, I was assigned to proof read the report and making sure that everything was in order. After rehearsing for the presentation, I was chosen to do the introduction and conclusion as my group members said that I can project my voice well and speak well. :) Hence, from simply being a point of contact in the group, I was the interviewer and editor for the final report.
PROGRESS - During our research, like mentioned from the earlier blog post, I was not familiar with the media industry in Melbourne as well as the research methods that were used. Through the duration of the project, I managed to find out more about the general scene of how the media industry in Melbourne operated and was able to use the many research tools that was available to us in RMIT. The databases were very helpful and we got relevant data from the library.
Therefore, from being ignorant about Melbourne's media industry and the research methods that were available, I managed to find out what is the media scene here about as well as know how to utilize the research database in school effectively.
STRATEGIES - At first, we wanted to conduct a survey as well and have a quantitative research. However, we decided to interview the relevant people to have a qualitative approach to the research. I think the choice to make it a qualitative research was a good one as this project was on how we could use it for our future jobs. By interviewing people in the industry, we were networking and not simply taking statistics.
In the beginning, we tried dividing the work out specifically, but as time went on we realised that some of our parts intertwined and it would be better if we collaborated to prevent doing double the work when it would be more efficient to work together. Initially, we did not set any deadlines for when we had to submit our individual parts. We later found that this could not work as we were not able to get our parts up by the next meeting. Hence, we set deadlines for when we needed to get our parts up and collate them. This worked much better and we got things done much faster.
PROBLEMS - I faced obstacles like there was no reply from most of them at all after I tried to e-mail them multiple times. Even when I called, they would tell me to wait for their reply, but in the end, I never heard from them again. This problem is the one that got to me for my role in the beginning as well as shown here.
http://revelationsofazombie.blogspot.com/2010/04/media-industries-1-indivdual-progress.html
Though we could not get companies like Hoyts to respond, we managed to get the distributor of Asian films there to talk to us about the Asian film scene in Melbourne. I also managed to contact SBS's Head of Audience Research to tell me more about the Asian film scene here. The interview can be seen here.
http://asianfilmsinaustralia.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/interview-leah-hooper-head-of-audience-reserach-for-foxtel/
The key is to not stop after some failures, but pressing in and being more determined to overcome them. One more problem that we faced was that as all the final projects were cramped up within the same time frame, we needed to prioritise our time to be able to get the report done. It helped me with my time management skills and on handling the stress of doing all the major projects at once.
CONNECTIONS AND INTERSECTIONS - The value of this course is that it is so broad and we are forced to conceive of a topic that can encompass any aspect of the media and conduct a study on it. This is similar ot what is in the working world as in life, we do not get clear directions all the time, our bosses can sometimes throw things our way that are vague and have no specifications and we are expected to solve them. This course helped improve my problem solving skills by making me perservere on and not giving up in the event of a failure, it has also helped me to learn how to work with people from a different cultural background as we all have our different work styles.
I have managed to make some connections with people in the media industry like the Asian film distributor and the head of SBS's audience research department. This is helpful to me as in the media industry, it is usually not about WHAT you know, but WHO you know that will have you clinch the relevant job as people are more inclined to working with someone whom they already know as opposed to a stranger. As I am interested in working the the film industry, I am sure this will indirectly give me a leg up when I am finding a job in the future.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Content Producer Assignment Final Blog Post
When we first started out with our Content Producer groups, we started out clueless as to how we can come up with a project to link up with My Tribe. We thought through numerous ideas, we came up with a plan for producing a short film showing the different tribes that are out there, like bands, football, costume players and more. However, we realised that it was not easy to get hold of many groups of people to film.
In one of the earlier meetings that only Emily and I were at, I came up with the idea of each gathering different forms of media that the different tribes had and posting them up on a website to showcase what the life of their tribe was like. We later worked on it to come up with the final project title of Why Not Worship which can be seen below,
http://whynotworship.tumblr.com/
I came up with eight different poems that was posted up. However, as we were short on space that was needed for the other tribes, my poems were merged into those of a similar category. I went to Scotts Church for an audio recording of the choir on a Sunday morning, this turned out beautifully and I couldn't have hoped for more. I combined my audio piece with the poems that I wrote on religion. I wrote poems on fashion, football, music, bands and gaming as well. All these can be seen in the website.
Things I have learnt:
As I was more focused on doing the SMP project, I did not focus on this as much as I would have liked and this is a waste as I would have been able to do so much more for this project if I had devoted more time to this instead on the SMP job. This is something that I have learnt in terms of time allocation. Getting the group to contribute material on the tribes that they are covering was quite a challenge, but I think that this might be due to majority giving more attention to their individual SMP jobs and hence, not being able to devote more time to our content producing project. However, during the later part of the semester, we managed to pull up our socks and work more actively on our content producing as our SMP projects ended earlier.
Self assessment:
Although more could have been done for our final project, I am please with the contributions that each of us had spent time and effort doing despite all the other essays and final projects that coincided around the same time frame.
The first criteria that our group had for our individual assessment was attendence at meetings, this I fulfilled by attending all the meetings and contributed actively on a constant basis by giving ideas on what to do and how to go about doing them. The final idea of the different tribes' pieces is one of the ideas that I came up with.
Furthermore, I encouraged the team members when they felt that we were not doing smoothly and constantly tried, together with Emily, to get the group to meet more often to discuss and collate our ideas.
When we allocated our tasks, I did my part by taking time during the weekends to go to the different churches to see which church's choir would be good for a sound recording for the project. I also took a time to think up of poems that would go well with all the other contributions of my other groupmates and wrote them. I managed to set deadlines for the stages in our project and managed to meet them.
Finally, we managed to meet up and edit through the website together and making sure all went well for the presentation and presented with Gab at the final event.
For this project, I will give myself 84% for the effort and time that was put in. :)
In one of the earlier meetings that only Emily and I were at, I came up with the idea of each gathering different forms of media that the different tribes had and posting them up on a website to showcase what the life of their tribe was like. We later worked on it to come up with the final project title of Why Not Worship which can be seen below,
http://whynotworship.tumblr.com/
I came up with eight different poems that was posted up. However, as we were short on space that was needed for the other tribes, my poems were merged into those of a similar category. I went to Scotts Church for an audio recording of the choir on a Sunday morning, this turned out beautifully and I couldn't have hoped for more. I combined my audio piece with the poems that I wrote on religion. I wrote poems on fashion, football, music, bands and gaming as well. All these can be seen in the website.
Things I have learnt:
As I was more focused on doing the SMP project, I did not focus on this as much as I would have liked and this is a waste as I would have been able to do so much more for this project if I had devoted more time to this instead on the SMP job. This is something that I have learnt in terms of time allocation. Getting the group to contribute material on the tribes that they are covering was quite a challenge, but I think that this might be due to majority giving more attention to their individual SMP jobs and hence, not being able to devote more time to our content producing project. However, during the later part of the semester, we managed to pull up our socks and work more actively on our content producing as our SMP projects ended earlier.
Self assessment:
Although more could have been done for our final project, I am please with the contributions that each of us had spent time and effort doing despite all the other essays and final projects that coincided around the same time frame.
The first criteria that our group had for our individual assessment was attendence at meetings, this I fulfilled by attending all the meetings and contributed actively on a constant basis by giving ideas on what to do and how to go about doing them. The final idea of the different tribes' pieces is one of the ideas that I came up with.
Furthermore, I encouraged the team members when they felt that we were not doing smoothly and constantly tried, together with Emily, to get the group to meet more often to discuss and collate our ideas.
When we allocated our tasks, I did my part by taking time during the weekends to go to the different churches to see which church's choir would be good for a sound recording for the project. I also took a time to think up of poems that would go well with all the other contributions of my other groupmates and wrote them. I managed to set deadlines for the stages in our project and managed to meet them.
Finally, we managed to meet up and edit through the website together and making sure all went well for the presentation and presented with Gab at the final event.
For this project, I will give myself 84% for the effort and time that was put in. :)
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Self Assessment for PP2.
In the blink of an eye, a semester has come to a close. I attended the Directing class by Stephen Amis. We went through the techniques of how to properly direct the actors and actresses on-screen movement, which is also known as 'Blocking' which I will talk about later.
During the first lesson, we went through his background in directing and the Dos and Don'ts if we want to become a director. We should never become the Assistant Director, instead, we should just get out there and direct films of our own to build up our portfolio. We also talked about the different film festivals like the St Kilda Film Festival that we can send our films to in order to get noticed.
For the second and last lesson, we learnt how to direct our talents in the film, where we want them to be, how we want them to act and much more. We set up a camera and lighting for the scene and filmed it. We later played back to see what was good and what mistakes were made. However, due to time constraints, not all the groups were able to act out the plot that we thought up of, which was a waste.
In conclusion, the lesson was useful, but more time should have been allocated to it. As I am an international student, I am constantly trying to establish my network with the people who are in the media industry here so as to broaden my experience and perspective and how things are done here.
During the first lesson, we went through his background in directing and the Dos and Don'ts if we want to become a director. We should never become the Assistant Director, instead, we should just get out there and direct films of our own to build up our portfolio. We also talked about the different film festivals like the St Kilda Film Festival that we can send our films to in order to get noticed.
For the second and last lesson, we learnt how to direct our talents in the film, where we want them to be, how we want them to act and much more. We set up a camera and lighting for the scene and filmed it. We later played back to see what was good and what mistakes were made. However, due to time constraints, not all the groups were able to act out the plot that we thought up of, which was a waste.
In conclusion, the lesson was useful, but more time should have been allocated to it. As I am an international student, I am constantly trying to establish my network with the people who are in the media industry here so as to broaden my experience and perspective and how things are done here.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
SMP Final Blog Post.
1. Summary and evaluation of activities as a Social Media Producer.
During my time as a Social Media Producer, I have done a spectrum of activities that ties in with my role.
Firstly, for my tutorial, I have taken upon the role of a Tute Liaison, this requires me to attend meetings outside of the normal tutorial time and meet up with the other liaisons from the Online Feature tute, the Facebook tute, the 360 Broadcast tute and the Pool tute. What I will do is to update them of what is happening within my own tute; the Federation Square tute, as well as inquire what the other groups are doing for their respective areas. An example of what goes on can be referred to my blog post as it was my turn to take down notes:
http://revelationsofazombie.blogspot.com/2010/05/last-tute-liaison-meeting-notes.html
Secondly, I was also part of the Events group for my tute and was made to handle the final proceedings of the event at Federation Square. We had meetings to discuss the runnings of the event and took part in planning on how to arrange for the event at Federation Square. I took part actively by being one of the emcees, next to Brodie on the night of the event. I was a little nervous as it was my first time appearing on a public event in a foreign country, but I am glad that things turned out well. Here is a link showing me and Brodie on stage during the My Tribe, Federation Square event:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=109208215792097&comments=
Next, for my plans on getting my friends to post up their works, for my group that writes poetry and short stories, although I have continually tried to get them to post up some of their works, they kept putting it off and even until now, they have not posted anything up. It is very hard to try to get them to post something without sounding pushy at times. It is the same for my friends who do cosplay. They have not posted up any pictures. Even for my plan to involve my polytechnic back home, I never got any reply from them and hence that avenue had to be dropped.
In an attempt to get my friends to post up their works online, I have taken it upon myself to post up my own works online to try to motivate them to post up some stuff online. I have a total of 19 posts up on the Pool website. They are a combination of 3 poems, 5 pictures on Cosplay, 4 pictures of Muay Thai aka Thai Boxing, and 7 pictures of my different tribes that I belong to. These are all done in a desperate attempt to get my friends to post their works up on Pool. Here are the links to all my posts on Pool:
1. http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/ode_to_g
2. http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/angry_chair
3. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/behind_the_scenes
4. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/muay_thai
5. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/treasure_what_is_important
6. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/cosplay
7. http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/divine_insanity
8. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/tastes_of_home
9. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/glare_of_killing_intent
10. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_calm_before_the_storm
11. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/brains_and_brawns
12. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/trying_to_cosplay
13. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_lich_king
14. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/naruto_attack
15. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/final_fantasy
16. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_night_sky_back_home
17. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/take_me_away
18. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/lie_back_and_relax
19. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/couple_toilets
Although none of my friends posted up their works on Pool, I managed to get some of the people on Pool to comment on my works that I have posted up on Pool and I have replied to them, hence I feel that I have done my part as an Social Media Producer. Being a good Social Media Producer to me, means that even if results are not what I expected, I continue to push on and contribute in my won way whatever I can do. Here is a link on one of my posts with lots of comments and feedbacks:
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/cosplay
For my PP1 group project, we thought up of creating a social media platform using Tumblr to gather pictures, audio, visual and written works of the different things that people are very interested in. Spending time, effort and money into their 'object of worship'. As many people have their own Tribes, they have different things that they 'worship' within their Tribe as well. For example, a Tribe of Footie fans might worship a particular Football club. Music enthusiasts might worship a particular band, and more.
I have recorded sounds from churches as that is the most direct form of worship and have come up with many different poems revolving around the things that people worship as will be seen in the presentation later in the weeks. Here is the link to the page:
http://whynotworship.tumblr.com/
2. What I have learnt about the role of a Social Media Producer.
First of all, the job of a Social Media Producer is more challenging than I initially thought it was. First you have to think of what social media platforms there are in order to reach your target audience. Tools like Facebook, Twitter, blog sites and more can be used to interact and reach out to your target audience.
Currently, Facebook seems to be the easiest, cheapest and most effective way of reaching out to most audiences due to the sheer amount of people who have a Facebook account. There are no fees needed to set up an account and most of the people who use Facebook might stumble upon the page.
When it comes to rallying the crowd, it can get frustrating at times when you do not see anyone posting up things despite repeated sincere requests for them to get something up. This is definitely a problem that many fellow Social Media Producers face when they are trying to get feedback or contributions from people and they simply do not bother or keep on procrastinating.
3. Self assessment for my Social Media Producer task.
In light of what I have done and learnt for this task, my individual assessment mark will be 91/100.
During my time as a Social Media Producer, I have done a spectrum of activities that ties in with my role.
Firstly, for my tutorial, I have taken upon the role of a Tute Liaison, this requires me to attend meetings outside of the normal tutorial time and meet up with the other liaisons from the Online Feature tute, the Facebook tute, the 360 Broadcast tute and the Pool tute. What I will do is to update them of what is happening within my own tute; the Federation Square tute, as well as inquire what the other groups are doing for their respective areas. An example of what goes on can be referred to my blog post as it was my turn to take down notes:
http://revelationsofazombie.blogspot.com/2010/05/last-tute-liaison-meeting-notes.html
Secondly, I was also part of the Events group for my tute and was made to handle the final proceedings of the event at Federation Square. We had meetings to discuss the runnings of the event and took part in planning on how to arrange for the event at Federation Square. I took part actively by being one of the emcees, next to Brodie on the night of the event. I was a little nervous as it was my first time appearing on a public event in a foreign country, but I am glad that things turned out well. Here is a link showing me and Brodie on stage during the My Tribe, Federation Square event:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=109208215792097&comments=
Next, for my plans on getting my friends to post up their works, for my group that writes poetry and short stories, although I have continually tried to get them to post up some of their works, they kept putting it off and even until now, they have not posted anything up. It is very hard to try to get them to post something without sounding pushy at times. It is the same for my friends who do cosplay. They have not posted up any pictures. Even for my plan to involve my polytechnic back home, I never got any reply from them and hence that avenue had to be dropped.
In an attempt to get my friends to post up their works online, I have taken it upon myself to post up my own works online to try to motivate them to post up some stuff online. I have a total of 19 posts up on the Pool website. They are a combination of 3 poems, 5 pictures on Cosplay, 4 pictures of Muay Thai aka Thai Boxing, and 7 pictures of my different tribes that I belong to. These are all done in a desperate attempt to get my friends to post their works up on Pool. Here are the links to all my posts on Pool:
1. http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/ode_to_g
2. http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/angry_chair
3. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/behind_the_scenes
4. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/muay_thai
5. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/treasure_what_is_important
6. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/cosplay
7. http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/divine_insanity
8. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/tastes_of_home
9. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/glare_of_killing_intent
10. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_calm_before_the_storm
11. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/brains_and_brawns
12. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/trying_to_cosplay
13. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_lich_king
14. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/naruto_attack
15. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/final_fantasy
16. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_night_sky_back_home
17. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/take_me_away
18. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/lie_back_and_relax
19. http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/couple_toilets
Although none of my friends posted up their works on Pool, I managed to get some of the people on Pool to comment on my works that I have posted up on Pool and I have replied to them, hence I feel that I have done my part as an Social Media Producer. Being a good Social Media Producer to me, means that even if results are not what I expected, I continue to push on and contribute in my won way whatever I can do. Here is a link on one of my posts with lots of comments and feedbacks:
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/cosplay
For my PP1 group project, we thought up of creating a social media platform using Tumblr to gather pictures, audio, visual and written works of the different things that people are very interested in. Spending time, effort and money into their 'object of worship'. As many people have their own Tribes, they have different things that they 'worship' within their Tribe as well. For example, a Tribe of Footie fans might worship a particular Football club. Music enthusiasts might worship a particular band, and more.
I have recorded sounds from churches as that is the most direct form of worship and have come up with many different poems revolving around the things that people worship as will be seen in the presentation later in the weeks. Here is the link to the page:
http://whynotworship.tumblr.com/
2. What I have learnt about the role of a Social Media Producer.
First of all, the job of a Social Media Producer is more challenging than I initially thought it was. First you have to think of what social media platforms there are in order to reach your target audience. Tools like Facebook, Twitter, blog sites and more can be used to interact and reach out to your target audience.
Currently, Facebook seems to be the easiest, cheapest and most effective way of reaching out to most audiences due to the sheer amount of people who have a Facebook account. There are no fees needed to set up an account and most of the people who use Facebook might stumble upon the page.
When it comes to rallying the crowd, it can get frustrating at times when you do not see anyone posting up things despite repeated sincere requests for them to get something up. This is definitely a problem that many fellow Social Media Producers face when they are trying to get feedback or contributions from people and they simply do not bother or keep on procrastinating.
3. Self assessment for my Social Media Producer task.
In light of what I have done and learnt for this task, my individual assessment mark will be 91/100.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Last Tute Liaison Meeting Notes
Here are the notes for the last Tute Liaison meeting on 27/5/10. This meeting is about what the various tutes can do or are doing for My Tribe at Federation Square on the 28/5/10.
Online Feature tute:
- Nothing to update for this week, pretty much done for PP1.
Facebook tute:
- Have a last minute shoutout for the event tomorrow on facebook.
- Continue promoting My Tribe on facebook.
Federation Square tute:
- Calvin (me) and Brodie are the emcees for tomorrow's event and will give a short introduction before screening the package.
- We will be shifting the audio equipment to Federation Square by a vehicle.
General feedback:
- Facebook will have after launch events to follow up from the event at Federation Square
- There were comments from other tutes that the comments on the Facebook page seemed kind of 'fake'
- Stacey will get onto the pair in charge of Facebook and get them to improve the quality of the facebook shoutouts.
FIN
Online Feature tute:
- Nothing to update for this week, pretty much done for PP1.
Facebook tute:
- Have a last minute shoutout for the event tomorrow on facebook.
- Continue promoting My Tribe on facebook.
Federation Square tute:
- Calvin (me) and Brodie are the emcees for tomorrow's event and will give a short introduction before screening the package.
- We will be shifting the audio equipment to Federation Square by a vehicle.
General feedback:
- Facebook will have after launch events to follow up from the event at Federation Square
- There were comments from other tutes that the comments on the Facebook page seemed kind of 'fake'
- Stacey will get onto the pair in charge of Facebook and get them to improve the quality of the facebook shoutouts.
FIN
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Postings on Pool!
Have not been updating as I have been sick for the past few weeks... I suspect my body is adjusting to the weather, hope I make a full recovery because I need to complete my projects...
It is nearing the end of the semester and although I have a lot to write on, here is a short post of what I have done these few weeks. Will post up my thoughts later...
1) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/tastes_of_home
2) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/glare_of_killing_intent
3) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_calm_before_the_storm
4) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/brains_and_brawns
5) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/trying_to_cosplay
6) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_lich_king
7) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/naruto_attack
8) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/final_fantasy
9) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_night_sky_back_home
10) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/take_me_away
11) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/lie_back_and_relax
12) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/couple_toilets
Yup, hopefully these posts will motivate my friends to post up SOMETHING, ANYTHING on Pool...
It is nearing the end of the semester and although I have a lot to write on, here is a short post of what I have done these few weeks. Will post up my thoughts later...
1) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/tastes_of_home
2) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/glare_of_killing_intent
3) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_calm_before_the_storm
4) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/brains_and_brawns
5) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/trying_to_cosplay
6) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_lich_king
7) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/naruto_attack
8) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/final_fantasy
9) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/the_night_sky_back_home
10) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/take_me_away
11) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/lie_back_and_relax
12) http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/couple_toilets
Yup, hopefully these posts will motivate my friends to post up SOMETHING, ANYTHING on Pool...
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Updates on my projects for PP1!
Here is an update of what I have been doing, what I have done, what I have been trying to do and what I have not been able to do.
In the recent weeks, I have posted up many poems and pictures on Pool and gave the links to my friends to inspire them to contribute to Pool. Felt a sense of disappointment when none of them got back to me. So far, I have four pictures and two poems up on Pool. My profile name is Nivlac. I received some feedback and this really encouraged me to post more. Hopefully my friends will be inspired enough to post something...
I have contacted my friends who write poems and short stories in Singapore. I have also contacted my friends who do Cosplay in Singapore. I asked them to post up some material that they have up on Pool and to try and get others to post as well. Unfortunately, none of them have responded and when i check back with them, I do not even get a response... Feeling quite dejected because of this, but I can take rejection(job hazard. :P). Hence my actions of posting up pictures and poems myself to try and get the community going.
The meetings with the other tute liaisons were fruitful because now we know what the other tutes are up to and we also have a rough idea of how it all comes together for the event, I recommend that we keep this system of having a tute liaison for the semesters to come. We keep minutes of our meetings for easy references for the facebook group as they change liaisons every week. I will recommend that in future, only one person is assigned as the liaison as it makes more sense to keep to a single person instead of having to pass on the information from one person to another every single week. It will minimize chances of miscommunication too.
There was once when Tasha asked for help for her interviews at Biba and I decided to help her do it as I am experienced with a camera and have worked in production houses back in Singapore. For my own group project, I have recorded down the sounds from church to use in our project. Hope the rest have got their own soundscapes as well. :)
Here are the links for my Pool posts.
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/cosplay
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/treasure_what_is_important
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/muay_thai
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/behind_the_scenes
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/angry_chair
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/ode_to_g
In the recent weeks, I have posted up many poems and pictures on Pool and gave the links to my friends to inspire them to contribute to Pool. Felt a sense of disappointment when none of them got back to me. So far, I have four pictures and two poems up on Pool. My profile name is Nivlac. I received some feedback and this really encouraged me to post more. Hopefully my friends will be inspired enough to post something...
I have contacted my friends who write poems and short stories in Singapore. I have also contacted my friends who do Cosplay in Singapore. I asked them to post up some material that they have up on Pool and to try and get others to post as well. Unfortunately, none of them have responded and when i check back with them, I do not even get a response... Feeling quite dejected because of this, but I can take rejection(job hazard. :P). Hence my actions of posting up pictures and poems myself to try and get the community going.
The meetings with the other tute liaisons were fruitful because now we know what the other tutes are up to and we also have a rough idea of how it all comes together for the event, I recommend that we keep this system of having a tute liaison for the semesters to come. We keep minutes of our meetings for easy references for the facebook group as they change liaisons every week. I will recommend that in future, only one person is assigned as the liaison as it makes more sense to keep to a single person instead of having to pass on the information from one person to another every single week. It will minimize chances of miscommunication too.
There was once when Tasha asked for help for her interviews at Biba and I decided to help her do it as I am experienced with a camera and have worked in production houses back in Singapore. For my own group project, I have recorded down the sounds from church to use in our project. Hope the rest have got their own soundscapes as well. :)
Here are the links for my Pool posts.
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/cosplay
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/treasure_what_is_important
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/muay_thai
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/behind_the_scenes
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/angry_chair
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/ode_to_g
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Media Industries 1: Indivdual Progress Report
After brainstorming through many possible topics to conduct a research on, we have decided to embark on our study, which is along the lines of "The recent rise of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan films in Melbourne". My other group members who have bravely decided to conduct this seemingly uphill task is Dengli, Melissa, Pei Huan and Yi Ying. We concurred on this particular topic for a number of reasons. Firstly, we all share a common interest in film and cinema and thought that by undertaking this research topic, we can find out more about the local film and cinema industry and what makes it tick. Secondly, we are all from different parts of Asia, this supposedly gives us an edge in dealing with matters pertaining to Asian cinema, hopefully. Lastly, we all have some experience with the film and media and hope to expand on what we already know, thus honing our knowledge and specialisation in this area.
Although we are all in this together and working as a group in general, we have taken on different roles which are important for this project to work. After much discussion, Yi Ying is our Secretary and her tasks include taking down the notes for our meeting to keep us all up to date with our day to day, Dengli is to be the Editor of the audio and visual pieces that we will be taking to hopefully come up with a video documentary of what we have done, Pei Huan is the Project Manager who will be vital in steering the direction of the project and making sure the project runs smoothly and finally, Melissa is the Director of Photography for all the video footages that we are going to take for our video documentary. My role in this task is that of the interviewer. I will be the one who will conduct the interviews with the relevant parties that influence the steadily rising influx of Asian films in Melbourne.
For my role, we have contacted cinemas that are located around Melbourne's city area like Cinema Nova, Chinatown Cinema, Hoyts and Village Cinemas to ask who are the relevant people who decides to bring Asian films in and if we can have the permission to conduct an interview with them to understand why they think that it is profitable to bring in more Asian films in Melbourne where majority of the population are not Asians. Unfortunately, we have not received any response from some of the companies. Furthermore, those that have responded have indicated that they are not willing to have a video interview, this might be due to them not wanting to appear on screen, or certain restrictions that are placed on them by their company policies.
The strategies that we have used are mainly careful and systematic planning for what we will do and setting a time line. That motivates us to move forward to meet our own deadlines. What we have planned for now is that we will need to contact the relevant people to request a for n interview, which we have done, begin our research and come up with surveys that will aid us in information and statistics collection for this study, checking for clearance with Mr David Carlin so as to make sure we have access to the filming equipment that we need to have to conduct our interviews and more. Lastly, we are also doing intensive research on our students' rights for copyright benefits so that we will not unknowingly break the law with regard to that issue.
Regarding the problems that I have encountered, first of all is the delayed response time that the companies have when replying to my emails. It has been about a week since I last e-mailed Hoyts, but I have yet to receive a reply from them. When I approached the Melbourne Central branch of Hoyts on Wednesday to ask them how to contact them and that if I could speak to their manager to inquire more about this, all I got from them was a direct e-mail to their office and an explanation that response to it might take some time as they then needed to request for clearance from their head office (which I have already sent an e-mail to) to grant them permission to conduct an interview with us. All this red tape is time consuming.
My next problem is my unfamiliarity with the local film and cinema industry. As I have only been here for around two months, my knowledge of the local film and media scene in Melbourne pales in comparison with my knowledge of the film and media industry back home in Singapore.
I intend to solve my problems through a variety of ways that are simple yet effective. First of all, I will call the companies frequently to check on the status of how far their requests for clearance have gone to. Hopefully, this will give them a sense of urgency and will eventually lead to them replying to us faster than before. Secondly, to improve my knowledge of the local film and media industry, I will have to mingle with more people who are working in the industry now or have considerable knowledge of how the local film and media industry is and what makes it tick.
I believe that with the direction that our study is headed, it can tie in with other research that will stem out from the Asian Media major as it ties in with how film makers in Asia are coming up with films that have more of a global appeal as considered to simply appealing to the local audience because they hope that their films will have a shot in Western countries. It can also be studied on how the rise in Asian films are changing the perceptions of people who have watched them, especially the Western perception of the East with references from what they have seen in Asian films.
It can also tie in with the Cinema Studies major as it can be used to show how the influx of Asian media in Australia has affected the local film makers. Either they can draw from the Asian directors' cinematic style and further improve on it or they can learn what elements of film Asian directors usually put into their films and try to make local productions that will have a shot at the Asian film market.
Although we are all in this together and working as a group in general, we have taken on different roles which are important for this project to work. After much discussion, Yi Ying is our Secretary and her tasks include taking down the notes for our meeting to keep us all up to date with our day to day, Dengli is to be the Editor of the audio and visual pieces that we will be taking to hopefully come up with a video documentary of what we have done, Pei Huan is the Project Manager who will be vital in steering the direction of the project and making sure the project runs smoothly and finally, Melissa is the Director of Photography for all the video footages that we are going to take for our video documentary. My role in this task is that of the interviewer. I will be the one who will conduct the interviews with the relevant parties that influence the steadily rising influx of Asian films in Melbourne.
For my role, we have contacted cinemas that are located around Melbourne's city area like Cinema Nova, Chinatown Cinema, Hoyts and Village Cinemas to ask who are the relevant people who decides to bring Asian films in and if we can have the permission to conduct an interview with them to understand why they think that it is profitable to bring in more Asian films in Melbourne where majority of the population are not Asians. Unfortunately, we have not received any response from some of the companies. Furthermore, those that have responded have indicated that they are not willing to have a video interview, this might be due to them not wanting to appear on screen, or certain restrictions that are placed on them by their company policies.
The strategies that we have used are mainly careful and systematic planning for what we will do and setting a time line. That motivates us to move forward to meet our own deadlines. What we have planned for now is that we will need to contact the relevant people to request a for n interview, which we have done, begin our research and come up with surveys that will aid us in information and statistics collection for this study, checking for clearance with Mr David Carlin so as to make sure we have access to the filming equipment that we need to have to conduct our interviews and more. Lastly, we are also doing intensive research on our students' rights for copyright benefits so that we will not unknowingly break the law with regard to that issue.
Regarding the problems that I have encountered, first of all is the delayed response time that the companies have when replying to my emails. It has been about a week since I last e-mailed Hoyts, but I have yet to receive a reply from them. When I approached the Melbourne Central branch of Hoyts on Wednesday to ask them how to contact them and that if I could speak to their manager to inquire more about this, all I got from them was a direct e-mail to their office and an explanation that response to it might take some time as they then needed to request for clearance from their head office (which I have already sent an e-mail to) to grant them permission to conduct an interview with us. All this red tape is time consuming.
My next problem is my unfamiliarity with the local film and cinema industry. As I have only been here for around two months, my knowledge of the local film and media scene in Melbourne pales in comparison with my knowledge of the film and media industry back home in Singapore.
I intend to solve my problems through a variety of ways that are simple yet effective. First of all, I will call the companies frequently to check on the status of how far their requests for clearance have gone to. Hopefully, this will give them a sense of urgency and will eventually lead to them replying to us faster than before. Secondly, to improve my knowledge of the local film and media industry, I will have to mingle with more people who are working in the industry now or have considerable knowledge of how the local film and media industry is and what makes it tick.
I believe that with the direction that our study is headed, it can tie in with other research that will stem out from the Asian Media major as it ties in with how film makers in Asia are coming up with films that have more of a global appeal as considered to simply appealing to the local audience because they hope that their films will have a shot in Western countries. It can also be studied on how the rise in Asian films are changing the perceptions of people who have watched them, especially the Western perception of the East with references from what they have seen in Asian films.
It can also tie in with the Cinema Studies major as it can be used to show how the influx of Asian media in Australia has affected the local film makers. Either they can draw from the Asian directors' cinematic style and further improve on it or they can learn what elements of film Asian directors usually put into their films and try to make local productions that will have a shot at the Asian film market.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Posting on Pool!
Ok, I have embarked on my own journey on Pool in a bid to encourage my friends to post up their works too. I made two poems and posted up a picture and linked my friends to hope to spur them on.
Here are the links:
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/behind_the_scenes
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/ode_to_g
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/angry_chair
Alrighty, I shall work harder to get more contributions. Took pictures of cosplayers!!! Shall post it up on Pool to get my cosplayer friends to contribute too!! I'm going to make this work!! God bless me!! :)
Here are the links:
http://www.pool.org.au/image/nivlac/behind_the_scenes
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/ode_to_g
http://www.pool.org.au/text/nivlac/angry_chair
Alrighty, I shall work harder to get more contributions. Took pictures of cosplayers!!! Shall post it up on Pool to get my cosplayer friends to contribute too!! I'm going to make this work!! God bless me!! :)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Post Production Post for Week 5
I went to the Animania Festival 2010 on Saturday, 10th April to try to get some pictures of cosplayers. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get a lot of pictures, but I heard that there will be another event this Sunday, 18th April that will have lots of people going to join. I shall try to head down and snap more pictures to contribute to My Tribe.
I went for the Victoria Inter-University Taekwondo Championship on Sunday, 11th April and after fighting my heart out, got a SILVER (woohoo!) for the sparring matches. :) I have not been practicing for about 2 years plus, so I am quite happy with it. Need to work more on my fitness though. It occured to me that the many people doing martial arts form their own tribes as well, I will snap some pictures and post it up for My Tribe too.
I went for the Victoria Inter-University Taekwondo Championship on Sunday, 11th April and after fighting my heart out, got a SILVER (woohoo!) for the sparring matches. :) I have not been practicing for about 2 years plus, so I am quite happy with it. Need to work more on my fitness though. It occured to me that the many people doing martial arts form their own tribes as well, I will snap some pictures and post it up for My Tribe too.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Post Production Post for Week 4
We were supposed to have a meeting on Wednesday at 10.30am to review City Nights and see which content is good and can be used for either a trailer or the launch of Pool on Federation Square.
However, only Emily and I were there for the meeting. We were quite disheartened, hence we decided to discuss on our own PP1 project. I am glad that we made good progress during the discussion. :)
It seems hard for my own SMP plan as not much seems to be getting contributed. I guess I was overambitious during the plaaning stage and expected too much from my friends. Well, aim for the stars and at least catch the moon. :)
However, only Emily and I were there for the meeting. We were quite disheartened, hence we decided to discuss on our own PP1 project. I am glad that we made good progress during the discussion. :)
It seems hard for my own SMP plan as not much seems to be getting contributed. I guess I was overambitious during the plaaning stage and expected too much from my friends. Well, aim for the stars and at least catch the moon. :)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Post Production Post for Week 3
So far, my friends have not yet contributed to Pool yet. I have checked back with them weekly and most of them tell me that they have not had the time to come up with material to contribute to Pool.
Disappointed that there have not been much updates and contributions, but I am going to take some pictures at the Animania Festival 2010 that is going on at Rydges Melbourne on the 10th of April.
The worst thing that can happen is that my digital camera is spoilt... Things are simply not looking up for me at the moment...
Disappointed that there have not been much updates and contributions, but I am going to take some pictures at the Animania Festival 2010 that is going on at Rydges Melbourne on the 10th of April.
The worst thing that can happen is that my digital camera is spoilt... Things are simply not looking up for me at the moment...
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Post Production Post for Week 2: Presentation for Poetic Soundscapes
Had to present during lecture today as Gab was not around. It was a very last minute decision and so i was a lil nervous but things turned out well. The feedback from the panel was useful too. We never thought that there were some restrictions if we are going to record sound from certain scenarios like those involving kids and such.
Really appreciate the panel's advise and questions as they made my group think deeper into this project. :)
Really appreciate the panel's advise and questions as they made my group think deeper into this project. :)
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Post Production post for Week 1
When I first attending PP1 lecture, I was thinking, "What is all this?!" I was seriously confused because I had no idea what all of it was about. The endless mind maps with super confusing arrows that led to everywhere.
It seemed intimidating, but after a month of delving deeper into it as well as being aided by further explanation by David(hello! :p ), it became more comprehensable. The readings on convergence media was refreshing and changed the way that I used to view traditional forms of media.
When I was back in secondary school in Singapore (I think it's the high school equivalent here), I used to watch television all the time as compared to when I was in primary school and radio was what I tuned in to most of the time. I did not register both of them as being linked. For me, radio was radio, and TV was simply TV.
Back in my poly days, I came to find out more about the media industries through my mass communications diploma and boy was it fun! As we did advertising projects, we found out that the most effective way to reach the masses was by all 4 main forms of media, namely print, radio, tv and the internet. That was where we realised that these different forms actually work together as a single powerful tool!
The readings on convergence media further elaborated how the conglomerates were each trying to grasp the key to maximizing their own form of media. Those readings were good in helping me to have a clearer view how convergence works. :)
It seemed intimidating, but after a month of delving deeper into it as well as being aided by further explanation by David(hello! :p ), it became more comprehensable. The readings on convergence media was refreshing and changed the way that I used to view traditional forms of media.
When I was back in secondary school in Singapore (I think it's the high school equivalent here), I used to watch television all the time as compared to when I was in primary school and radio was what I tuned in to most of the time. I did not register both of them as being linked. For me, radio was radio, and TV was simply TV.
Back in my poly days, I came to find out more about the media industries through my mass communications diploma and boy was it fun! As we did advertising projects, we found out that the most effective way to reach the masses was by all 4 main forms of media, namely print, radio, tv and the internet. That was where we realised that these different forms actually work together as a single powerful tool!
The readings on convergence media further elaborated how the conglomerates were each trying to grasp the key to maximizing their own form of media. Those readings were good in helping me to have a clearer view how convergence works. :)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Job Plan:
1) In order to get more people to contribute to Pool for My Tribe, I have decided to try and get my friends and some other people from my network to participate in this assignment. First of all, I will get my circle of friends from Singapore who actively write poems, prose, short stories and songs to come up with content and participate in Pool. Some of my friends back in Singapore have been writing poems and short stories. They either put them up on their Facebook account. They have been finding places to properly post their literary works and I think that this will be a good opportunity for them to be able to showcase their talent. I will encourage them to post their works and refine them whenever they to so that they can present their works to others and they can also try out different styles of writing.
Next on my list will be my friends in Singapore who compose songs or are able to sing well. These group of friends are keen on getting their songs and performances seen or heard and hope to be talent spotted so that they may get a chance to become professionals in their respective fields. These are the people that I can really appeal to with Pool as they will be able to showcase their works and hopefully be superstars one day! I will encourage them to post whenever they can and keep watch on the feedback that is given so that they can further refine their skills on their individual craft. This particular group will also be the ones who will be hoping to get recognition for their works and even get talent spotted.
With many people being interested in Japanese animation and manga, I can try to get my friends to contribute their pictures to Pool just to showcase the nice costumes from the animation or manga that they have made themselves and let other people know what their tribe is about. These can be veterans at their art who just post their pictures to let others who are interested in trying out being costume players have an idea on how their costumes should look like. They can also be amateurs who are trying to get constructive feedback on how to further improve their costumes so that it will look good.
Lastly, I can try to get videos from will be from Ngee Ann Polytechnic's very own production house, CTV (Campus Television). They are well-known and experienced as they are Singapore's first television production house within a school campus. They will be interested to collaborate with a RMIT and ABC to come up with shows for either Pool or for the screen on Federation Square. I have been in contact with the teacher in charge and he can further spread the word about Pool and Federation Square as he has his contacts in Singapore's media industry.
2) I am in the Federation Square tutorial group and I am interested in becoming the liaison with the other tutorials to keep them updated of what we are doing as well as to keep my group informed of how the other groups are planning for the launch of the event as well. I will be working with other members of my group to create content that will be shown on Federation Square during certain times of the day to spark interest for the main event on the 20th of May.
3) Schedule
· March 20 - Send invites to all my friends to get them to contribute to Pool for My Tribe.
· March 22 - Come up with a proposal and discuss it with my poly lecturer the possible contribution from CTV
· April 10 - My Tribe launch
· May 17 - Written Report Draft
· May 26 - Submit Written Report
4)Personal Project Goals and Self-assessment criteria
· Attend all lectures and tutorials
· find out more about Australia's media industries
· establish a network of contacts within Australia's media industries
· blog every week to keep track of what I have learnt
· make the event at Federation Square a SUCCESS!!!!! :)
1) In order to get more people to contribute to Pool for My Tribe, I have decided to try and get my friends and some other people from my network to participate in this assignment. First of all, I will get my circle of friends from Singapore who actively write poems, prose, short stories and songs to come up with content and participate in Pool. Some of my friends back in Singapore have been writing poems and short stories. They either put them up on their Facebook account. They have been finding places to properly post their literary works and I think that this will be a good opportunity for them to be able to showcase their talent. I will encourage them to post their works and refine them whenever they to so that they can present their works to others and they can also try out different styles of writing.
Next on my list will be my friends in Singapore who compose songs or are able to sing well. These group of friends are keen on getting their songs and performances seen or heard and hope to be talent spotted so that they may get a chance to become professionals in their respective fields. These are the people that I can really appeal to with Pool as they will be able to showcase their works and hopefully be superstars one day! I will encourage them to post whenever they can and keep watch on the feedback that is given so that they can further refine their skills on their individual craft. This particular group will also be the ones who will be hoping to get recognition for their works and even get talent spotted.
With many people being interested in Japanese animation and manga, I can try to get my friends to contribute their pictures to Pool just to showcase the nice costumes from the animation or manga that they have made themselves and let other people know what their tribe is about. These can be veterans at their art who just post their pictures to let others who are interested in trying out being costume players have an idea on how their costumes should look like. They can also be amateurs who are trying to get constructive feedback on how to further improve their costumes so that it will look good.
Lastly, I can try to get videos from will be from Ngee Ann Polytechnic's very own production house, CTV (Campus Television). They are well-known and experienced as they are Singapore's first television production house within a school campus. They will be interested to collaborate with a RMIT and ABC to come up with shows for either Pool or for the screen on Federation Square. I have been in contact with the teacher in charge and he can further spread the word about Pool and Federation Square as he has his contacts in Singapore's media industry.
2) I am in the Federation Square tutorial group and I am interested in becoming the liaison with the other tutorials to keep them updated of what we are doing as well as to keep my group informed of how the other groups are planning for the launch of the event as well. I will be working with other members of my group to create content that will be shown on Federation Square during certain times of the day to spark interest for the main event on the 20th of May.
3) Schedule
· March 20 - Send invites to all my friends to get them to contribute to Pool for My Tribe.
· March 22 - Come up with a proposal and discuss it with my poly lecturer the possible contribution from CTV
· April 10 - My Tribe launch
· May 17 - Written Report Draft
· May 26 - Submit Written Report
4)Personal Project Goals and Self-assessment criteria
· Attend all lectures and tutorials
· find out more about Australia's media industries
· establish a network of contacts within Australia's media industries
· blog every week to keep track of what I have learnt
· make the event at Federation Square a SUCCESS!!!!! :)
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Testing Testing
Tis entry first,
To test thy thirst,
Of knowledge obtained,
And minds that are stained.
To test thy thirst,
Of knowledge obtained,
And minds that are stained.
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