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Delegation and working to deadlines

Byrichard

I love working on my own projects, where I rely on no one but myself but occasionally I’m lucky enough to have no choice but to work with other people. It’s at these moments that I learn more. I learn about team scheduling and teamwork. I also learn about delegation.

I’m not that good at it yet but I’m learning. Anyone working as a producer or director needs to learn that job and some are better than others. The recent myspace and Magician audition projects I worked on saw some good producers in charge. As a result, the project was good.

Recently I’ve had to be a co-producer with someone else and I was asked what jobs still had to be done and I had to think about it before I could delegate the responsibility. I finally found some methods of delegating responsibility, therefore, I’ll have more material to choose from when it comes to editing.

The project has to be finished by Monday because Tuesday I’ll be back in London with a three thousand word essay on technological determinism to hand in. On the Monday following that I have a presentation on digital content. I’ve been thinking about that concept and I think I’ll be able to produce a good product.

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It’s been a twelve hour day of editing

Byrichard

I’ve spent around twelve hours editing today and it’s finally getting to resemble something, as I’d like it to be. It’s involved two days of video capture of a variety of material from a number of events around Europe in particular. It’s starting to be a good edit.

Any creative person will tell you that the hardest part of the work is not the work itself but finding the inspiration and finding how to tell the story the most efficiently. If I understood the brief correctly then the edit I’ve done should be well accepted. I should find out by tomorrow morning normally.

I love the editing phase because it’s one of the more creative phases. You’ve got all the material and it’s a matter of sifting through it, finding the best and then applying it to the finished product.

If I get good feedback then I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

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An impressive personality

Byrichard

How many people have the ability to walk out in front of a crowd of hundreds and a televisual audience of several thousand? I don’t think that many, especially not with the confidence of this young girl. If I understood her correctly her name is Johanna and she is from Romania.

I was watching the footage of the Youth Eurovision song contest and when she came on stage I was surprised by the strength of character she displayed at such a young age. Of course, other people were on stage afterward to help with the show. I’ve only watched small fragments of the show but it’s amusing to see young people perform. They have such ease and freedom.

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Rag week is fun

Byrichard

I was at the Roxy bar a few days ago in central London and people were cheering. They had just seen the proper version of the Rag week trailer and they loved it. I had been asked to shoot some material and edit other material for Thursday evening when the rag review took place.

I went to two or three of the events. I went to the school disco night and it was great fun, between people dancing, others being hit by the death squad and others just being really friendly it was a really good night. I met a lot of friendly people and there’s such a contrast to my own university. When media students see a camera they’re going to be so angry at you for filming, being to used to being behind they don’t appreciate it as much. I must admit that I feel the same way.

One individual that marked me is a girl that was on crutches who wanted to dance for the camera. there wasn’t quite enough light so we don’t see as much as would make the video great fun but it’s still entertaining.

I was on a platform and three girls came to join. Sandstorm was playing so I had to dance, in memoriam of when I was a fresher back in the South West of England.

A girl took the camera from me and I danced for her so I’m going to have to include that footage in the edit as a good laugh.

Moonragger had a different feel to it, partly because I was tired from the previous night. Some people needed to look futuristic and whilst some took aluminum foil and wrapped it around others took cling film. One person was in a spacesuit but I didn’t manage to get that on tape.

Lot’s of people danced, lot’s of people enjoyed the night. One attractive girl told me to “f off with the camera” so I moved away and filmed more people. She came back and told me to f of again. It’s to be expected but what people haven’t understood is that I film movement, I film when something interesting is in front of the camera. Turn your back to the camera or stop dancing and I’ll understand you’re self-conscious therefore the camera will stop rolling. There’s no point in filming people standing around.

I went to sit down and had some nice moments with people I had only briefly seen in the past. As a guest to the university, I really liked the way people were friendly and open. They want to chat, they want to be filmed, they enjoy the camera and appreciate my company.

It’s so refreshing.

I’m going to add the video within the next few days for people to enjoy.

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First time directing a multicam

Byrichard

Directing a Multicam is easy, after being a cameraman at many conferences. it’s a matter of knowing which shots you would like to have had with just one camera but couldn’t get. It’s easy, switching from one source to another and making sure the pacing is right and that there are not too many screw-ups.

Overall it went well and I enjoyed it. It was different today as I was a simple camera operator. I had to concentrate on getting the right shot and fight away the desire to sit down or do something else.

On both days the last speaker was the more entertaining of the day.

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The FIBA 2006 is over

Byrichard

The FIBA 2006 is over and yesterday was the day where I recuperated by sitting in the sun in the morning and editing a short video clip in the afternoon. Both were nice occupations to unwind from the past three weeks.

it’s been fun and all that remains from this work is a highlights tape filled with cheerleaders. Next time I hope to be at the event in person rather than on the sidelines.

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Night shift

Byrichard

The games are starting at 10am Tokyo time but 3am Geneva time and it’s amusing getting to work. Yesterday was really tiring as I’d been woken by workers at 7am. So far we’ve seen about 40 matches and Italy’s defeat was a shame. We only have one match at a time but four of them in total so our day is 14hrs long.

The teams today are: germany vs nigeria, US vs australia, France vs. Angola and Greece Vs. China.

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One edit finished and several more matches to follow

Byrichard

It’s the fourth day of the FIBA championship so it’s the fourth day where I wake before 0400 european time. I wouldn’t mind staying in bed a bit longer.

I’m starting to understand the game better and I’ve seen that certain teams are far more entertaining to watch than others. On friday it’s a day of rest.

My dissertation research is currently stagnating as I’m so exhausted by the time I get home.

The Lebanon edit is finished for the moment so I should be less tired, at last. On the sixth there’s a projection of the full program so far.

I’ve just thought back to my Tanzania edit and how I used to have a mentality whereby making longer documentaries was better than short ones. It’s a mentality I lost when in England whilst doing my HND. I was brought up to concentrate on using screentime as efficiently as possible, forgetting that occasionaly it’s important to let things breath. In December the same documentary will be around 50 minutes long.

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second day

Byrichard

The first day was a long one with twelve matches recorded. Four matches at a time three times with an offset of half an hour between starting times in pairs.

It’s amazing how many time breaks there are in this sport.

Work continued on the Lebanon edit I’m working on.

Related links: Photos from the event

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For the next few days I’m going to be living according to Japanese time in Central europe

Byrichard

For the next few weeks I’m going to be living according to the FIBA schedule of games and it may be hard. there are going to be a few early mornings which end around 1300 CET so that’s not going to be too bad.If I had a passion for basketball this would be perfect. It’s going to be a new experience for me.