Professional Practice: Interview with Jeremy + Editing

Yesterday we were able to get our interview with Jeremy. (the Educational Officer at the Guildhall Museum) We made sure that we had a lot of coverage for our film.

Jeremy was very accommodating and polite when I asked for a few extra takes. I was using the Rode Shotgun sound mic on this particular day to record audio, whilst Ruby was behind the camera. He answered the questions coherently and clear so we left confident that the interview had gone very well.

Afterwards we went to Rachel's office to discuss when they can expect to see the finalised film edited. She suggested that she wanted to see the films edited by us separately over Easter break and then she would give us feedback closer towards the end of April once she got back. So I am going to start editing my own version of the film and see how it goes.

Professional Practice: The Guildhall Museum (Day 6)

Yesterday we were back at the Guildhall museum to get some alternate footage of Jeremy giving a short lecture/seminar to the children. The main purpose of today however was to get as much useful cutaway footage as is necessary. We also talked to Jeremy with the intent of setting up an interview that we can use throughout the film to explain what the Curriculum of North Kent (CONK) is, who are its heritage partners and what does it set out to do etc.


I was able to get some great footage of a group of the schoolchildren who were situated around the museum site. The sound was really good on this day as well particularly considering the narrowness of some of the rooms.

I would consider the shooting day to have been a success with no major problems getting in the way of filming.

This might possibly be the last day of shooting for the project besides Jeremy's interview/narrative, but we'll see what happens after the Easter break.

Professional Practice: Primary School Filming (Day 5)

On the 17th March we filmed Jeremy on a visit to a local primary school in Rochester to give a few short seminars to educate the school-kids about some historical details concerning Kent's history. Along with a few artefacts brought in especially from the Guildhall museum. 

We decided that it would be a good idea to have Ruby film Jeremy whilst I filmed the kids listening/interacting with him. Then for the next session with another class we would switch roles.

This proved to be a good idea as we were able to film their reactions in time to whatever Jeremy was talking about or showing to them. The downside was that Ruby and I sometimes got caught in the way of each others camera since we were often filming at opposite ends of each other. Despite this we managed to create a good flow of material and the kids were quite excited by Jeremy's seminar so we weren't too intrusive for them.

The day's session turned out to be quite a success, I can see a lot of great footage coming out of this and it was very easy to work in this environment. Especially as we had got filming permission for all the children so we could film in all of the available space necessary.

Using a canon was very handy on this shoot.

Professional Practice: Historic Dockyard (Day 4)

Yesterday we visited the site of the historic dockyard in Chatham, Kent. Ruby and I decided that it would be best to follow two separate groups so we could have as much footage of the different locations as possible. 



This was by quite a distance the biggest site we had filmed in before! As well as a small naval museum there were also Battleships & a submarine (HMS Ocelot) located on the site.

I was able to get a lot of footage of the schoolchildren interacting with Jane the pirate as well as their rope making factory and interacting with the outside boats and submarines. 

I was pleased with a lot of the footage that I was able to shoot, the lighting was really good and despite the fact there were a few children that couldn't be filmed the dockyard and school staff members were very accommodating and friendly. 

Despite the large setting the atmosphere was really nice in the dockyard and it was really good that we had two cameras to film with this time because the camera equipment was previously fully booked. 

It was definitely one of the biggest museums I had visited to this point.

There was even a pirate on board.

We even spotted the Doctor taking a visit to Chatham(!)

Professional Practice: 'Fire Engine' Visit/Guildhall Museum

I went to meet Rachel at the staff building at the Guildhall Museum staff building at 9:20 am yesterday. This was an important day for the education officer, Jeremy as well as Rachel because as well as a short educational seminar, an antique fire engine dating from the 19th century was being specially brought into the museum entrance for the visiting children. As mentioned in my previous post, Ruby wasn't able to film on this day due to her previous commitments for the studio production.

There was also a professional cameraman that was present to take pictures of the unique event outside the guildhall museum. Unfortunately this meant I had to manoeuvre around him and the large number of children that were present without becoming a nuisance.

I was very surprised to see just how small the antique fire engine actually was, stretching out barely five 1/2 feet in length! A local fire engine team came along in their own modern fire truck for the kids to compare the difference and for the cinematographer to take their picture with the old fire engine.

I feel that I was able to get a lot of really good footage filming on the Canon, it's compact size and the lack of a tripod meant I could place it pretty much anywhere. The lighting was really nice as well despite the fact that it had been raining the night before.

I was also able to get some really nice shots of the children interacting with the firefighters. 

Later on at 10:30 am we went inside the Guildhall museum and I was able to film one of Jeremy's educational seminar's informing the schoolchildren on some of the different exhibits on display.

The children were enthralled with the museum pieces and I was able to get some great footage of their reactions. The biggest problem was that the camera was finding it hard at times to stay in focus but I was able to manoeuvre this as much as possible so it wasn't such a big concern.

Overall I feel the day's shooting was quite successful and we are shaping up to have quite a bit of useful footage for our film. What's more is that its made me feel more confident in my own skills as a cinematographer.

Professional Practice: Royal Engineer's Museum

Today Ruby and I did some filming inside the Royal Engineers Museum. This was quite exciting and we were lucky enough for our project co-ordinator Rachel to give us a lift to there from Rochester. (She offered!)

The front of the museum + a tank!

 The museum is steeped in historic background but it also features a lot of exhibits, although we were primarily there for filming in the large meeting room for the class of children interacting with the staff.

We were lucky to have good lighting on the date and although we only had filming permission for a small number of children we were fortunate to have some very enthusiastic kids on the film footage.

Tomorrow I am filming solo as Ruby is going to be working on the Studio Production and although I wish I could take part in Han's workshop i'm happy to help on this as I know how much Rachel and Jeremy want tomorrow's 'Fire Engine' visit to be filmed. 

Professional Practice: Shooting at Rochester Cathedral

We were able to take part in our first shooting day today, so Ruby and I made sure to get a lot of footage from the shoot.

We were working with a small group of children so we had to make sure to be as unobtrusive with our filming as possible. The downside of working in a setting like this is that if you miss your chance than you can't re-film it. We also didn't want the children to become completely distracted by the filming process. 

There was a problem that we discovered later on concerning the camera aperture. Unfortunately as the cathedral was quite dark there was some noticeable grain on the footage, I regret that this happened and in future we will know to bring a lighting kit (even if only a small portable one) if this situation re-occurs.

Despite this setback we managed to get a lot of filming done, and the kids seemed to have a lot of fun interacting with the staff members. It was very interesting to see their approach to showing them around take place and we were able to get some good footage for the type of film that Rachel and Jeremy are looking for.

Studio Production: Final Poster Design

I was able to finish work on my poster design and I am happy to say that I find it a big improvement on my previous draft.

Prototype 1

Prototype 2

This is how the final version looks, I'm pleased with the results because it fits in very well with the brand's identity as well as featuring our show's presenter Jamie Terry.

Professional Practice: Exchanging Emails

We received an email from Rachel yesterday, in which she talked about the interview Ruby and I took had with her and Jeremy on the 25th.

Here is the email:

Inbox

Friday, February 27, 2015 5:56 PM

Dear Ruby and Sam

It was lovely to meet you yesterday; Jeremy and I are very excited about working with you both. It would be helpful to have your mobile phone numbers, if you are prepared to let us have them..? Mine is (...) and you are very welcome to phone or text me anytime.

You are a model of efficiency, thanks for sending through the dates you are unavailable so promptly. I have put them all in my calendar and I will work on the basis that all the other week days between now and the end of March you are free. The only date that you couldn't do that I really wished you could manage was 11 March. If you remember we have an event organised for that day involving our newly restored, hand-operated early 18th century, fire engine! We'd love one of you to take some footage of the event we've staged, as it involves one of the CONK schools. I phoned earlier and in Laura's absence spoke to Simon. She said it might be possible for something to be arranged that would allow one of you, possibly Sam, to come and work with us in the morning on 11 March. Not to worry if you can't make 11 March but if at all possible it would be great if one way or another some footage could be captured. May I leave it with you two to discuss this with Laura and come back to me next week?

At the moment I am working on sorting it out for you to film at the cathedral on 4 and/or 9 March, and then maybe in a school on 17 March. As you know we ideally want to get you to film at all the heritage sites so hoping there will be something we can capture at the Historic Dockyard and the Royal Engineers Museum. Anyway, perhaps we can catch up by phone or email on Monday?

Have great weekends both of you, best wishes

Rachel 

This is great news as it feels like the project is really getting underway now. 

In a separate email today she also responded by saying:

If you have any queries please get in touch via email or telephone today until 3pm, or, after that, via my mobile (...). Otherwise, I look forward to seeing you both here at the museum, this Wednesday, at 10am.

I followed this up with some questions that Ruby & I had been previously curious about regarding the film:

It looks like the first location we are filming in is the Cathedral so hopefully the shooting goes well on that day!