LL - Week 5 - A Box That Isn't a Box

Week 5 – 15/10/2012

I started off this week in my interviewing techniques class where I had to prepare some questions for an interview with Joe McKinney.  I felt this went well as I was well prepared in what way I was going to act out this interview.  I wanted to keep it casual yet informative at the same time.  I also wanted to be able to pick up on the answers Joe gave and delve into that further whilst still being able to come back to the questions I wanted to put across.  I feel as though I was able to do this effectively.

In my set design class I submitted my first piece of coursework in which I had to design an object that described a mood along with a ten second video and report.  My finalised object can be seen in the picture below. 

From one angle it looks like a cuboid but from every other you can see its true form.

We were also given our new assignment which asks me along with my partner Ryan Quinn to produce a small set that falls under the tagline ‘My New Shoes’.  We have decided to go down a horror story route in which the main character takes the shoes as trophies from his victims. 

Script writing this week required me to get into a group and discuss stories in which we had or knew people who had broke the 10 commandments.  We would then pick one of these to go to write a script for a 6 minute movie.  Using stories from our real life experiences helps to keep us on track with the story and keep it believable whilst still considering effect, cause, conflict and resolution.

Movie Watch: I watched 10 Things I hate about you this week as I will be required to do so in the coming months.  I also researched the Taming of the Shrew which the movie is based on.  

LL - Week 3 - Lights, Camera, Action

Week 3 – 8/10/2012

This week Joe McKinney has been teaching us about the studio including how to set it up and what commands to use within it.  I have continued on from our work from last week as floor manager.  I feel this role suits my strengths in that I do not have a problem with speaking to people and am anything but shy.  I enjoy knowing exactly what is going on and being able to inform the other members of the studio what it is they need to be doing and when.  This makes me look forward to the week in which I will get a chance to be a director. 

In our camera and lighting class this week I had a go at rigging up the lights around the studio correctly and safely.  I enjoyed this class as I did not previously know just how important setting up lights correctly can be to setting up a scene. 

Movie Watch:  I got a few Alfred Hitchcock movies that I have always meant to watch but never got around to it such as The Birds, Rear Window and Dial M for Murder.  I particularly enjoyed Rear Window and felt the idea of a man watching a few windows is inspiring in that from a relatively simple idea has spawned many a copy cat movie over the years.  If the idea is shot and executed right then it really does not matter how simple the idea is. 

LL - Week 2 - 15 Second Film

Week 2 – 1/10/2012

This week in my set design class I have been continuing on with making a model to describe a mood.  Although I have found this class to be one of the most challenging I feel that I managed to overcome this and using my creativity skills, been able to produce an idea that I am happy with.  The real challenge will be to physically make the model I have in mind.  This leads me to believe, in the most light hearted way possible, I was perhaps born to be a star and not make one.  Things can only get easier. 

With Paul Hamiliton in my script writing class we have jumped right in at the deep end and have got into groups of five in which we have to create a script for a 15 second video then shoot and edit it all in the same day.  I really feel like I’m in my element in a task like this and felt that I took control of my group quite well and in the end while working as a team we produced a very good end product.  This can be seen below:

In film studies we have been looking at how to actually analyse a movie properly and the fact that whether I actually like a film or not is pretty much irrelevant when I will be doing a report on it.  
There appear to be a lot of movies that I have not yet watched.  With Joe’s words of “Remind me what course you are doing again, you need to watch this movie” , becoming more and more of a occurrence to me I have decided to attempt to watch as many of them as possible over the year.  Paying particular attention to the ones in which I will have to do coursework on in the future.  

Learning Log - Week 1 - Introduction

Learning Log – Andrew McComb

Over the year I will be keeping track of what I have been learning during my course in Creative Media Production.  As I have never done a course like this before, everything I do will essentially be new to me.  Therefore I will document these new challenges and highlight the strengths that arise over the next few months.
I will post about things I feel are relevant to my learning experience and how I am developing myself as a professional. 

Week 1 – 17/09/2012

This week has consisted of generally meeting my new class mates and lecturers.  I have been pleasantly surprised with how at ease the collective group put me.  The lecturers all seem very welcoming and what they have set out that I will undertaking over the next semester appears to have the right balance of being interesting yet challenging.

In my interview techniques class We were put into pairs and got the chance to interview each other.  I enjoyed interviewing but probably enjoyed the actual presenting of this information to the class more.