chapter 3 - all done

Both Brodie and Emily did a really amazing job at editing their parts. Brodie's audio piece was really enjoyable, and Emily's editing saw our footage finally joined together to create the story we wanted to tell. It was amazing to see how our piece shaped itself when put together. I'm glad I got to work in such a lovely, kind group because we supported each other through all the stressful times.

I was present for the post-production process as well, and together with Emily we did some colour-grading on the final footage & added some of the text and times we based off the footage. The text was in relation to small details about the location or the object that one wouldn't necessarily consider when walking past. The time was in relation to the time of the day we would use the particular object, starting at the morning and proceeding onwards into the day.

Overall, I'm so happy with how our piece looks. With a little bit more time and better understanding of our equipment, it would've definitely reached its full potential, but I feel like what it is now is a really great Beta that could be built upon some other time. I can definitely imagine this piece being an immersive installation when it comes to the exhibition in Hockey gallery, so I hope to pursue the design of the space we want, no matter how much time it takes, and I really do hope it all works out.

My journey from point A to point B is somewhat cleared in my Learning Agreement and my Evaluation, which I've printed out, ready to submit along the final piece and Production Pack.

chapter 2 - object, camera, ready

With our Production Pack having been signed off, we collected our equipment on Friday and this was probably the first moment we realised that maybe we were a bit too enthusiastic about what we wanted to use. The equipment was heavy and we realised it would be very difficult to carry it around.

On top of that, further into the weekend we realised that perhaps we didn't really have a good enough understanding of the use of the glidecam. It definitely swallowed a few hours from our previous shooting schedule. In the end, we came to the conclusion we should use a tripod and worry about the slow movement when we got to post-production.

Despite all this, the actual filming went past in a blur. We had quite long days of walking around and I think by the end of it we were all exhausted, but some of the shots we got we were more than happy about. The walk I had done prior to this definitely helped us find all the right spots for shooting and saved loads of time, so that was definitely a benefit.

Here's my lucky shot of the project - I was filming a bottle of shampoo when a deer ran past, chased by two dogs. I can't believe that actually happened:

My other top footage I got was of a postman walking past our mirror but that's a treat for the actual final piece! Serendipity at its best!

During the production week, I also helped Brodie record some sounds at mine - such as the kettle boiling, keys rattling, footsteps, etc. I feel like Zoom F8 now looks way less scary than it did when we were inducted, and I'm glad I could watch Brodie use it. She also wrote the first draft of our dialogue's script because I felt stuck on my own which I then tweaked with her help, and we tweaked it one last time right before recording in the foley room. When it came to recording, I listened back to my voice and realised it wasn't what I wanted, so in the end the dialogue was spoken by Brodie and Kylan, which I felt like was a much better match.

I think that's all I have to say about the actual filming & recording process. It really was a blur, but I'm glad we didn't come across any other issues along the way. I did use my DSLR for all of my parts of the footage, which made it a little easier to get the visuals I wanted.. and I also put my camera very close to this lovely stream in the middle of Farnham Park.

Overall though, I may not have achieved the level of understanding of the GH4 that I wanted, but I think it was my mistake to assume that I could learn as I went along - I should've definitely done more tests prior to the actual shoot. Due to the fact we were running out of time, we had to sacrifice the glidecam and the GH4 to trade them for the good old tripod and our DSLRs because to get the shots we wanted, we needed to be more comfortable with our equipment.

chapter 1.2 - all the decisions

Phew! I feel like I haven't slept in weeks! Maps & Networks has been a journey. This link takes you into the adventure that was my idea merging into a project between myself, Emily, Brodie and Kylan who all had very lovely ideas of their own that were linked together by what we wanted to look into and achieve. It also has all of my previous blogs in relation to Maps & Networks.

Despite some setbacks, some uncertainties, a very overwhelming start - boy oh boy am I glad we joined into a group. Despite being very tiresome, it was definitely the least stressful project in a while and I enjoyed 99.9% of it.

The 0.1% was me taking on the role of the Student Producer. If there's one thing I've always been mortally scared of, it's producing. Don't get me wrong, I like knowing what's going on, scheduling things, researching and so on, but for some reason as soon as I opened the good old Production Pack, my mind went blank.

Thankfully Kylan, Emily and I did most of the paperwork together in the time frame of one evening in Caffe Nero (this included location notifications, three separate risk assessments, a project outline and treatment, equipment list and a shooting schedule/plan). We based our three risk assessments off our original risk assessment that Brodie & I made a few days prior to that.

I then had to tweak it a few times over the next two days before it was good enough to be printed off but I can honestly say that I faced my fear (named Risk Assessment) and honestly, it wasn't that bad! I definitely learned a thing or two. After weeks of uncertainty, it was good to know that our project was going to be made and we knew what we needed to do and when.

Here's a lovely photo of us from that evening (Alex represents Kylan in this photo):

Next Kylan and I went to see Julie, booked out a bunch of equipment (we got too excited & got equipment we weren't a hundred percent sure of... this came back to bite us) for the following weekend, as well as the studio, and then it was time to breathe for a little bit.

Camera gear:
GH4 with Prime Lens Kit, Steadicam, C Stand for balancing, Tripod

Audio gear:
Zoom F8 (headphones), Pearls x2 (with leads), Two mic tripods

Lighting gear for studio:
Arri lights (300?), Extension Lead

I used the free time during the other group's studio shoot to go location scouting (perks of being the only person of Group A in your Maps & Networks group). This was actually a really good idea as it definitely helped me picture what I wanted as a DOP a little better. I noted down some places I liked and some shots I could imagine in my head already (as we didn't have a 'storyboard').

One of the visual things that inspired me was a photo I did in the summer for the summer project:

And here's some photos from that lonely walk I did: