Week Four at NP

What a week! Where to start?

Tuesday

On Tuesday, I was the only intern in the studio because the others were on a New Perspective shoot. Over the weekend, the others and I had received an email from the man from the organization we met with the previous week. He had scheduled our first interview, with the founder of the organization, for the next Tuesday, June 30th. We then had a week to prepare, which was good.

Mostly, I helped out the New Perspective staff with anything they needed, mainly duplicating DVDs of NP projects to be sent to clients since the DVD copier happens to be in our intern office. Then, I got a special surprise...

The founder of the organization showed up at the studio, one week early. Apparently, he had been misinformed, or had misinterpreted the date of his interview as being for today's Tuesday and not the following Tuesday (the 30th). My supervisor came into the intern office, and informed me that he was in the lobby, ready and waiting to be interviewed. As we both knew, the studio was not ready, the equipment was not set up, and the other three interns were not even there, so there was no way that it was going to happen. I was surprised, but calmly went to see him. Since we had not been the ones in contact with the founder about his interview date, I did not feel guilty about the mismatch, but I still felt bad about having to turn him away when he was ready and eager. He was disappointed but seemed to understand when I explained it to him, and he calmly left.

When my colleagues returned from the shoot, I brought them up to speed, and for the rest of the day, we helped out around the studio and observed some projects being worked on and edited. We also got our first taste of blue screen in the studio with a NP client. We helped Mike (the man in charge of the equipment) take the set down after the brief shoot. Afterwards, we asked Mike a lot of questions about the equipment, and we talked for almost two hours straight. We learned a whole lot about the camera (a Panasonic Varicam, which from afar looks a lot like a SDX900), P2 workflow, other recording formats, as well as general industry wisdom.

Wednesday

On this day, all four of us were at the studio. At one point, we sat and observed in a room where a particular project was in the final editing process. The blue screen we had seen the previous day had been taken away and the actor who had been filmed now had various pictures and graphics around him. We got a feel for the general exchange of ideas and workflow that occurred between staff members when editing a final project together, just before being sent to color correction. The process was very similar to my own personal process when I'm about to put a final project together, which was encouraging to me.

The others and I also came up with some questions and general interview information for when we would interview the founder the following week (this coming week). We then had a meeting with our supervisors at 3pm so we could go over the questions and details of how to set up the studio and how to work a successful interview. Afterwards, we decided who would conduct the interview and who would primarily run the camera (me). I should note that when we decide on specific positions, that person is the 'primary' person working that position, but turns will probably be taken with those who would like experience with that particular aspect. So on Tuesday, I might be taking turns running the camera with one or both of the other two interns. We will also be switching positions up when we interview other people and get B-roll footage at the headquarters.

Thursday

On Thursday, all except one of us came into the studio at 7:30am for a NP shoot for a medical video. The shoot ran all day, but thanks to the quality of the actor we were working with, the shoot went a lot quicker than expected. We got some more in-studio experience, and learned a little about how a teleprompter worked and was set up. We were completely finished by 4:30pm, with time to spare. We then left at 5 as usual.

Saturday

Yes, Saturday. Earlier in the week, a film shoot in a church was being planned with 3 cameras. Two NP staff had been determined, and they wanted to bring one of the interns to work the third camera. We decided among ourselves by picking numbers. I chose the lucky number, so I had my first film shoot as a New Perspective member!

Call time was 6am, so I had to wake up at 4:30am. Not very difficult for someone who often played in almost 30 golf tournaments a year, many in faraway cities. Mike, Greg, and I stopped at McDonald's for breakfast (a first for me already) and then headed to the church. Five new bishops were being ordained and we were going to film the entire ceremony. We were filming with HVX 200s using P2 cards (my first time using them, as well as HD in general). My position was in the center balcony overlooking the ceremony. My camera angle would be the go-to shot in editing if something wasn't right with the other two angles.

We were hoping we wouldn't need to change P2 cards in the middle of the ceremony, but it ran an hour longer than we expected. Luckily, we had each brought 2 extra cards (16 GB ones); and both of them got used. I changed cards twice during the ceremony, ultimately filling up three cards, and some of one. Besides not having to capture anything, what's great about shooting on P2 is that there are two cards in the camera at one time, so when one fills up, recording automatically goes to the second card, with no interruption in recording. There is also no interruption when changing cards, since you just take out the full one while the other is being recorded on.

I had filmed with 3 cameras in a church before, so the experience wasn't entirely new, but I still learned a lot and there were quite a few differences with this shoot. The choir was singing right behind me, so I didn't have much room to move around. I even got bumped a few times. At one point, a man's foot had stepped on my power cord, bending the plug backwards (the outlet was in the floor, so this was easy to do), which made me loose power intermittently for a few seconds until I could move through the sea of legs to plug it back in. I had to do that again later in the ceremony but I didn't lose power again. Other than that, the shoot was very successful and enjoyable. I didn't sit for 3 1/2 hours, and my legs kept tightening up, but I didn't sacrifice any shot and felt good about that afterwards. We returned to the studios, exchanging our own experiences on the way, then went home. I looked forward to sleep.

What a week and what a month it has been! I look forward to our first interview with the founder this week. I have butterflies already, but am excited and optimistic about how it will play out. I will post about how it went after Tuesday.

Areya

Week Three at NP - Part 2

Hello!
Catching up on the events of last week starting with Wednesday (June 17th):

Me and my fellow interns went to the organization's headquarters today to meet the other staff and take location pictures. It's a very friendly location and has many filming possibilities. We also met the CEO, who had many questions for us, but in the end, seemed quite impressed with what we were offering. We think we surpassed her expectations with our ideas. Then we set to work with identifying and scheduling our interviewees for the video. We left the headquarters with a lot of variables in our heads, but also excitement.

On Thursday, (the 18th), we spent a good part of the day discussing our ideas and adding to them, now that we had seen the location in its entirety. We discussed shooting and editing possibilities, as well as how we could take the most advantage of the shooting schedule we had to work with. We entered the weekend waiting for an email from the organization with some interviewing dates. (Pictures coming soon!)

Week Three at NP - Part 1

It's only Tuesday and already much has happened this week! Yesterday, my group and I met with our chosen non-profit organization for the first time, and the meeting went incredibly smoothly. We discussed who we would interview (one of the ideas was quite a surprise!) and what we wanted to target the promotional video to. We exchanged ideas, set up a date to go check out the headquarters (tomorrow), and then gave the representative a tour of the New Perspective studio. (I'm keeping the identity of the organization private for now, while we are still in preproduction.) I'm very excited about being able to post the final video in mid-August! So far, everything is going very well.

Today, I went on my first shoot with one of the NP staff! There was no video on this shoot (just photo stills) but still a very good experience and the company we were doing it for was up-and-coming and very friendly. We took individual pictures of each member of staff, a group photo, and then took many shots of the building and various equipment, all brand new.

Much of the film equipment we brought was very similar to SCAD's, which meant I already knew how to use it, which felt great. The only piece of equipment I hadn't used before was a Chimera light cover, but I figured out how to put it on the Arri light easily. Overall, it was a very enjoyable shoot experience. I look forward to the next shoot!

Tomorrow, we go to the organization's headquarters and take pictures to get a feel for what we will be filming! Until then, peace!

Week 2 at NP

This week went by a bit faster. My group set some things in stone on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, we presented what we had done so far to some of the New Perspective staff, including our chosen non-profit organization and tentative production schedule. The meeting went very well. After some minor tweaks to the schedule and calling the lucky organization, we scheduled a meeting with the representatives of the organization (for next week) and exchanged ideas and questions.

We then had a little photo shoot. All four of us had our pictures taken so that they could be added to the website, http://www.new-perspective.com/. It was very exciting, and afterwards, we each felt more a part of the New Perspective family. My pictures should appear (along with my bio) on the website soon.

Afterwards, we did our usual rounds around the building, asking various staff members if they needed anything.

On Thursday, today, we got to sit in on a major executive meeting, which was a great learning experience and insight into the inner workings of a multimedia production company. The week went by so fast! I look forward to what next week brings...

Day Four at New Perspective

Hello all! Day Three was pretty slow, but my fellow interns and I conducted our research on local non-profit organizations that deserved a free promotional video. We made a list of 6 and brainstormed some ideas for each one. I also did some graphic design work for one of the staff for a few hours.

On Thursday, Day Four, our group called some of the organizations and we narrowed our list to three. It was a lot easier than we thought it would be, we got a lot of work done, and we worked really well as a team. Afterwards, we checked out one of the DVX100 cameras and conducted a few experiments around the area, practicing with the camera's features and recording whatever interested us for about an hour. We will probably be using the Varicam when we record the footage for the video, but it was good to work with a camera I hadn't used before, and we got some great footage.

Overall, the first week was slow, but at the same time, productive. We as a group are just getting used to everyone's styles of workflow, and learning what each of us is comfortable doing at every stage of the production. We feel each other out pretty intuitively, and so far, it's going really well (which of course is essential when working together on any kind of big project).

Next week, one of the New Perspective staff is going to give us a full tour of Avid on Adrenaline, which I have worked with, but my group partners have not, so it should be a pretty good learning experience. On Tuesday, we will meet again at the studio and call the organization that we have chosen to give them the good news. We will also start setting some ideas in stone for the production of the video.

Orientation at New Perspective

Greetings! Today, I got my first taste of New Perspective. Today was my orientation. I was given a tour of the building (which looks great) and introduced to the staff and other interns. The atmosphere was very professional, but also relaxed. The environment inspired creativity and I constantly received a positive feeling from the building and the layout. Everyone was very laid-back and knew their respective positions well.

I along with two of the other interns conducted research today on local non-profit organizations that could possibly benefit from a professionally-made promotional video. We also sat in a Final Cut Pro editing session and participated in a script-reading and feedback meeting.

Today was very relaxed and slow but things should pick up speed as the week goes on. I've been told that we will have some side projects to help out on and even a film shoot towards the end of the week. I look forward to it. I know this will be a productive and rewarding experience. I hope to be able to post every day on my daily experiences, and that other student filmmakers can learn from this blog as well. Until tomorrow, peace!