Media 6 – Week 6

TV: A REMOTE JOURNEY

ON THE DAY

On the day of the seminar my tasks were to assist with set up, ushering guests in, still photography and to pack up. I arrived at 2.30 and helped with smaller tasks as we waited for the lecture theatre to clear out and when it did, I helped to move our set pieces in, including chairs, old tv’s and food. As we got in and set up the furniture, we also had to distribute popcorn packs to the seats as we were sponsored by the popcorn company, Cobs, as well as our programs and feedback forms. With only one stapler we managed to create a system to staple the three together and distribute the popcorn and forms in an efficient and timely manner. After this I chipped in where I could, to finish setting up the lecture theatre before setting up my own DSLR and then helped to usher in our guests and seat them.

While the seminar was running, everything was going smoothly and I began to capture photos from different angles and with different settings in order to give myself a number of options to edit and submit. Even after our unlucky evacuation, Monika and I were the first back in to help reorganise and regroup. Clean up ran smoothly as well; while some group members left early, most of us stayed until the very end to clean up all the mess and return props and set decorations to their homes.

CONTRIBUTION AND COLLABORATION

Throughout the semester as recorded in previous blog posts, I contributed to the preparation and execution of the seminar through the poster design, seminar format, helping with the promo video and still photography. With the poster, I felt like I collaborated well with Jenny as we discussed the construction of the poster going off Helena and Miguel’s ideas. I was sure to present any updates to the group in order to keep everyone in the loop and felt that this was a good approach to avoiding conflict as everyone was aware of the progress of the poster. When I wasn’t sure about a creative decision regarding the poster I was sure to seek advice from my group members and kept an open mind and accepted their suggestions and feedback before progressing. I felt that my approach to my delegated tasks and taking the initiative to ask for advice and be open to suggestions is reflective of my understanding of group work and is a demonstration of my ability to be the kind of leader who listens to my peers.

I took the same approach constructing the seminar format (discussed in a previous blog post)

I am extremely pleased with my contribution to the preparation and execution of the seminar and believe that I conducted myself in an organised manner. I led where necessary and followed instructions in a timely manner without compromising quality.

Proactive Learning: 

I found myself to be a lot more proactive in my learning throughout this assignment than I thought I would be- when stuck on technological or creative issues I always tried to seek help myself before calling on others and in turn, learnt a lot throughout my individual tasks!

As discussed in previous blog posts, I sought out resources to teach myself certain photoshop skills instead of pulling my group members away from their tasks to teach me when I had the resources to do so myself. Additionally, by sitting in on the editing sessions for the promo video, I learnt new editing skills such as ultra key and colour grading (refer to this blog post). Not only did this extra learning benefit the work I did for the seminar, but also taught my skills that I will be able to use throughout my creative life/career.

Participation

I will admit that while I did seek to engage with my group and contribute to class/group discussions, I was absent for one group meeting/class due to personal reasons but I informed my group one week in advance, and laid out my tasks, completing them by the agreed upon date. In between meetings I was sure to catch up and update my group by communicating with them through the Facebook group and through phone. I made myself easily contactable and was sure to provide constructive feedback/suggestions to my group members where applicable. I feel that I accurately fulfilled the goals I set myself in week 3 and organised myself in the way I set out to (as stated in this previous post).

Connections and Intersections

I found the seminar series extremely valuable especially at this current time leading up to graduation- Despite having studied for the last three years and trying out a range of roles and learning a plethora of skills, I am still completely overwhelmed by the number of career options this industry has to offer; the seminar is extremely valuable for all of us to help try and steer us in the right direction and open us up to the working world.

Additionally, the preparation of the seminar itself was extremely beneficial for me as I found it a new challenge to coordinate myself within such a large group of people and communicate through different parties (i.e. tutors and the steering committee) and it forced me to re-evaluate my approach to group interactions and networking. I found it both difficult but refreshing to have so much to do in such a short time frame while working with such a large group of people and can happily say that I believe I put 110% into each of my tasks and into my seminar! I am confident that the skills I have l learnt throughout the seminar series (both technological and personal) have helped shape me to become a strong candidate for whatever I end up doing in the Media industry!

 

 

 

Media 6 – Week 5

TV: A REMOTE JOURNEY

With one week of preparation left, stress levels were super high and everyone was trying their best to organise themselves. Our group leader Jess was extremely helpful and organised, checking up on each of us and keeping us in the loop with google docs and our Facebook page.

I was unable to attend this week’s lecture but my group was aware of this at the previous week’s group meeting and I made sure to outline my tasks for the week and keep my group updated through our Facebook group.

By this point we had accomplished quite a bit but we still had a long way to go; the poster had still not been finalised, we hadn’t had all our confirmed guests yet and we hadn’t had our run sheet drafted or approved yet.

I had a number of tasks to complete and began first with finishing the poster. Together with Jenny we pieced together images of the Mona Lisa, the Melbourne skyline and a remote- we altered the colour and scale of each image in order for the colours to match up as well as photoshopping the remote into Mona Lisa’s hand, which took some time and a bit of extra help! The following night I attempted to finish up the poster but realised I still had a long way to go. I added in a cartoon plane with a banner and downloaded a free font to use on the poster- This was later sent to Tiffany for our name tags for continuity and to create a more synced up, themed experience overall! The font used was unique and not recognisable and as a default word/photoshop font and in so, gave our seminar title a more creative and memorable spin!

Once the poster layout was complete, all I had to wait for was the confirmed names and titles of our guests! After receiving the confirmed names of our first two guests, I listed them with a “and more!” included in the font and posted an exported JPEG copy to the group for approval. After receiving approval I sent the copy to Monika for use on our social media platforms. When updates were given to me for the poster, I completed these including the names, dates, updated slogan and appropriate RMIT logos and forwarded copies to Jess and Monika to share with the Steering Committee and our social media sites.

While I put my name down to help with the video, I steered my focus more towards the poster instead and took a step back with producing the video. While I was present in the edit suites through most of the editing sessions, I did not contribute much to the editing process except for providing feedback to Jenny and Georgia who were much more hands on. I did contribute to the video however, by creating a background for one of the green screen shots by editing an existing screengrab from TV show “The Office” on Photoshop. Additionally, despite not contributing much to the editing process, I gained extra knowledge and skills from sitting in on the editing sessions as I was able to watch my group members and pick up the ultra-key process and how to incorporate green screen footage into a video. While this bit of learning did not benefit me for the seminar itself, it benefits me outside of the seminar and enhances my skill set for future projects, shaping me to be a more versatile future employee.

Since last week’s meeting, I used the notes I made to create a draft format. I listed all the tasks in an excel spreadsheet and people required for each tasks and left the time stamps blank as I was only in charge of layout and format, and not time management. After creating a rough draft, I shared the spreadsheet with both Jess and William; for Jess to review and for William to add the time stamps as he saw fit.

This week was extremely productive for me and I’m extremely happy with what I have achieved this week. Below is a copy of my final draft for the poster.

TV Seminar Poster

TV Seminar Poster

Also attached are before and after photos of the photoshop job from the scene from “The Office”. While the completed image still has patches on it, these patches were going to be covered by the image from the green screen, and so I left it untouched, as it wouldn’t be visible.

Jim-in-The-Michael-Scott-Paper-Company-jim-halpert-5535760-1280-720

Before Photoshop: Original Image

 

OfficeBG

After Photoshop: Image for green screen

 

Media 6 – Week 4

TV: A REMOTE JOURNEY

In week four the lecture had a heavy focus on our Professional CV assignments, so we were unable to talk too much about our seminars however, my group met before the seminar with Jess running the agenda to catch everyone up.

In this meeting we were able to finalise roles for the group, and we also discussed confirmed guests, and potential guests. We tried to decide on a theme for our TV seminar but with so many people in one group it is hard to orchestrate such a focused meeting.

One of my first tasks was to construct the format of the layout. I feel (and hope) that I displayed great leadership through this process as I made a point to address the entire group first and present my initial ideas before seeking feedback. Then, in order to allow the group to carry on with the meeting, I split off with William to discuss the format further, I also asked Georgia and Tiana to join our discussion as they were writing the script and also to allow deeper and broader discussion regarding the format. I was sure to ask relevant questions.We discussed possible entrances and introductions as well as the overall format (i.e. where breaks will go, when to have activities, what activities they may be, etc.) and after taking notes, I presented my rough draft to the group for approval. I was open to change and made amendments to the layout as requested and kept William updated so that I could send him the draft to add in the running times. We still have quite a bit to work on but as we ran out of time with our meeting, we left it at that to work on at another time.

After feedback from the steering committee. Jenny and I began working on our seminar’s poster and brainstorming ideas to improve on the draft she showed the group during the week. We read the feedback and took a poll to our Facebook group to decide on a new slogan, and yesterday we began constructing the real thing! I will finish it off before next week and send it to our group for approval, then Jess will forward it to the steering committee for their approval. Only after that can Monika use it on social media. With only a week and a half leading up to our seminar, the tasks are beginning to put a bit of pressure on all of us, but everyone including myself seems to be really on top of our tasks which is fantastic.

While I am quite familiar and comfortable with Photoshop, I would definitely not call myself an expert. I was proactive in my learning and by seeking help from a friend, I was able to learn the skills to improve my work and my Photoshop knowledge.

In addition to finalising the poster, Jenny, Miguel and I booked the green screen to begin filming our promo/intro videos which will feature our host. Unfortunately due to our individual class and work schedules, I will be unable to attend the shoot but have promised to help edit and as producer will help oversee the process and keep in touch with my group members so we are all up to date.

During the week in the lead up to this week’s meeting, there was one conflict/issue between two group members. I tried to diffuse the issue within the Facebook group so we wouldn’t have to escalate the matter. I was as fair, objective and honest as possible and made suggestions to both parties that the issue be solved with the whole group present and in-person to allow a fair discussion at the group meeting. The issue eventually resolved itself before the the group meeting, which allowed the meeting to run smoothy.

Attached below is the first draft of our poster which was shared with the group (the horrible quality it because the JPEG file was too big to insert).

posterdraft

Media 6 – Week 3

TV: A REMOTE JOURNEY

Week three was my first week of classes after a long and unprecedented illness. I met with my group members for the first time and in the weeks I had missed, I had caught up and got myself up to speed using the resources available to me on Blackboard, and with the notes my classmates were kind enough to pass to me.

In this week, tasks were delegated and I accepted the task to contribute to producing the promo/intro video for our seminar, as well as helping create the poster. Additionally I put my hand up to create the seminar run sheet and format and on the day of the seminar, I will be one of two photographers. As I had taken up 3 roles for preparation but none of the day, I decided to take up a fourth task on the day to share the workload on the day and to pitch in where I can. This task also allows me to contribute through a crew role but  also help with set up and pack up.

While I feel like I may have taken on a few too many tasks to handle in addition to my other subjects, the tasks I have nominated myself for are tasks that I care about and am passionate about. This is a challenge I have set myself in order to push myself to my full potential in my final semester of Media Comms but at the same time, a challenge which is achievable.

My approach will be to prioritise my work in terms of chronological due date as well as the amount of work needed to be put into each tasks and plan out my weeks before they begin. By being extremely organised and communicating well with my group members I am confident I will be able to stay on top of my tasks and achieve a good result. I will take it upon myself to keep to schedule and direct my own learning, seeking resources myself to improve my skills before seeking help from my fellow group members.