Thursday 30 October 2008

(MP3002) individual project log 4

Here is my mission statement for the documentary:
Beyond the weird. We can often perceive things as weird simply because we don’t know and understand them. This documentary aims to get beneath the weird to show the people of Glastonbury, their celebrations, rituals and beliefs.

I will post the revised treatment soon...

Tuesday 28 October 2008

(MP3002) individual project log 3

I’ve just come from my initial meeting with Brian Conquer. He signed a release form for the documentary and read the treatment I had written. Going through the treatment with Brian it became apparent I’d made some mistakes that made him angry. I had gotten the name of his druid grove wrong and named other so-called druid as a member of the same grove when in fact they were not. I was able to placate him and I learnt from it. If I do present a prospective interviewee or contributor with my ideas I need to ensure I have all my facts straight and research the subject properly – that said Brian seemed to take it in his stride and put me straight on the mistakes I’d made. He also gave me feedback on my treatment and felt that it would be a nightmare to film at Stonehenge. It would be very busy there and its very unlikely I would get anywhere near, also Brian felt it wouldn’t be very authentic – that it is often quite staged and further more he wouldn’t be attending. The reasons for that are Brian’s failing health and the fact that his Grove do not attend the ceremony at Stonehenge. My idea has always been an observational style documentary on winter solstice and what I want to do is capture the real solstice I don’t want some plastic American solstice where everyone is dressed up for the camera. The angle I wanted to take was real people and real lives, pagan Britain in modern times. Now, where I went to meet Brian was the chalice well and it became apparent to me after reading their what’s on brochure that they have their own solstice celebrations so the idea I have forming in my mind is to base the film at and around the chalice well grounds and Solstice Celebrations they have instead of at Stonehenge. There are several reasons I feel this would work. Firstly Brian works there and spends a lot of time there. Secondly there would be interplay between him and his colleges. Third after talking to staff members it came out that the people who attend celebrations at the well are local characters who know each other so there is a sense of community. Fourth and finally my gut feeling is that this idea is more substantial and revolves around community and relationships whilst still keeping the winter solstice central. It seems as though there could be more of a story here!
Now the snag…there is a blanket no filming policy in place at the well, which seems excessive. I spoke to the trustee’s who have asked me to put my ideas in writing and email them so that they can make a decision on whether to give me the go ahead to shoot there.

Thursday 23 October 2008

(MP3002) individual Project Log 20 30/12/08

The idea for my individual project came about after a radio documentary that we did as a group on the subject of Ley lines last year (you can read more about that in my Blog). My research led me to an occult shop in Glastonbury called witchcraft. I spoke at length with the owner who's name was Trevor Jones. I needed to focus in on my project; the subject of Ley lines was far to big an area for a 10-minute documentary. Trevor told me about a Ley line, which ran through Glastonbury, called the Michael line and suggested I talk to Brian Conquer. Brian Conquer is Druid from Glastonbury, he was invaluable as a source of information and even appeared in the documentary. I hoped to be able to work with him again at some point. When I got the brief for my individual project I jumped at the chance to work with Brian. He is very enigmatic, opinionated and eccentric and interesting and I feel would be good as a main character in a documentary.

Wednesday 22 October 2008

(MP3002) Individual Project - initial treatment 23/10/08



After some thought, conversations with Danny and a one to one with Nic Jeune I have decided to do an observational documentary on the winter solstice for my individual project. Here is the initial treatment:

The film follows Brian Conquer, Arch druid of the Glastonbury druid grove, in his preparations for the winter solstice although should for any reason Brian be unavailable I have an alternative druid contact who’s name is Rollo a member of the same grove. We will see Brian at home during the run up to the solstice and at the event itself at Stonehenge on December 23rd. We will hear the story of Brains life as a druid and how he came to be one. It’s shot in an observational style, I will be an off camera presence interviewing Brian and offering commentary in a narrative style.

The film poses these questions…

Does Paganism have a place in modern day Britain?

Is it something we should keep alive through celebrations and rituals like winter solstice?

The connection between winter solstice and Christmas, is there one?

We see an interview with Brian Talking about the winter solstice. He gives us an outline of the festival and tells us some of the history surrounding it. We then observe Brian as he organizes the various rituals, interactions with others and the difficulties and challenges he faces before culminating in the festival itself at stone henge.

The sub plot for the film is my spiritual beliefs or search for them and how/if they fit with Paganism, my initial skepticism and my possible conversion.


This is of course an initial treatment and more for myself to sketch out my ideas than for anyone else. I have however noted the feedback Nic Jeune gave me

If I was a commissioner and you were trying to sell it to me my two questions would be who is it for and why would you chosen audience choose to watch this. A treatment is a factual report married to a energetic sell


I will post updated treatments as I anticipate this treatment will grow and evolve as the project picks up pace.

(MP3004) Creative Writing Log 23/10/08


This morning we (the techies as we've become known in creative writing!!) went to visit Richard Wood, Technical demonstrator at the Gate House, to find out what equipment would be available to use in our project. It became apparent after some conversation that we don't have access to the kit we require or the space we'd need for recording a radio drama. I felt we found in richard a sympathetic ear, and we told him our concerns about this module. We feel that to be expected to record a radio drama each at a professional level,which is the only level worth us doing is too much to expect from us - considering we've not had any specific training on the subject! It also seems that we are not expected to produce a recording of any significant quality as the function of the recording is just for the creative wring students to hear their scripts out loud. This doesn't appear to have any value to us as creative media students looking to create quality work that could possibly end up as part of our showreel. There seems to be a gap between creative writing who want to write scripts, PLAR who want to act for radio and us, the Creative media students who seem to be in Limbo. I mentioned some of my concerns to Steve May who said he'd look into them and Richard Wood also said he would speak to the relevant people. I feel slightly better after that rant!!

(MP3001) Enterprise Project - Group meeting 22/10/08


Today we had our first meeting as a group, these were the items on the agenda:

1. Meet new team members
2. Apologies from Nic
3. Plan demonstrations
4. Dani and Ollie offer the systems re booking etc
5. Discuss Web site. E-journal, launch and brand.
6. Share contacts
7. Discuss plans and timetables for individual projects
8. Discuss plans and timetables for group projects
9. Know the industry - Web sites podcasts and journals
10. AOB

The main topic of discussion was Artswork Media branding and how we as a group feel about the website designs. I felt the initial mock ups didn't really show what Artswork Media is really about as a company i.e young, creative, vibrant, imaginative. The homepage was very boxy and the colours homogenized and banal. One group member commented that it reminded them of "more than" insurance! That is not the image we want to get across with our website. I voiced several ideas for the website, one of which was to animate the artswork logo so that the blobs shot paint splodges out of them, which then could be used as buttons.
We also talked about the e-journal and how that would fit into the website - the group seemed to think this would work best in the form of company news. The other aspect Nic asked us to think about was the links page and how the sites we link to say a lot about us, Artswork Media as a company. I also suggested we set up our own youtube channel to showcase our work. We could include this as a link and attach it to company emails so prospective clients can view our work. The idea's was well received and Nic agreed to contact the website builders to find out just how much creative input we do have in to the site.

Thursday 16 October 2008

(MP3004) Creative Writing Log 15/10/08


This morning Lloyd, Adam, Kirsty and I were to Tech op for Drama and Creative writing students - recording their scripts. I have to be honest I groaned inwardly when I arrived, There were loads of people and the equipment I felt wasn't really adequate for recording radio drama. I had bought my lap top and MBox and had planned to use that to record with. However I didn't have a mic so I went on a wild goose chase to find one! It took ages what with getting lost (still don't know my way around) and paperwork! When I finally got back the session was almost over. I hurriedly plugged in all the gear and to my horror I couldn't get it to work. I later found out the mic needed phantom power! I usually would have spotted this but I'd worked myself up into a bit of a state! Lesson learnt!
The script I was recording was set in a pub so the fact that it was quite noisy actually worked to my advantage as in a busy pub there would be a lot of noise. I did however have to ask some of the members in my group to be quiet as they were in close proximity of the recording. I felt at times some of the group members weren't taking the exercise seriously. The two actors seemed very professional and needed little direction - they also got the opportunity for quite a few read through's whilst I was off mic hunting!

(MP3001) Enterprise Project - Group Meeting 14/10/08


So here we are then, our first time at Paintworks in bristol - and what a place it is! The paint was still drying on the brand new Artswork media premises, my new home for the next 9 months. I have to say, I was impressed. Not just at the facilities and equipment (all top quality) but also with director Nic Jeune and technical staff Danni and Ollie. They showed us around and gave us a rough outline of what to expect over the coming months. Steve May was also on hand to help clear up some of the confusion around assessment criteria and although he did help I still wasn't crystal clear on things. I need to contact him for more information. I also had an initial 121 with Nic Jeune to introduce myself and outline my thoughts for my individual project (I will outline in another post). My feeling is that it's a good team and i believe I will work well here.

Thursday 9 October 2008

(MP3004) Creative writing Log 08/10/08


So here we are in week two of the semester! It has felt as though we've been thrown in at the deep end as far as creative writing goes, and I know that I at least have had some experience at script writing and still have a sense of inadequacy around third year creative writing students. That said, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with the exercises that we've been doing. I have found that although my writing may not be to as high a standard as the third year students when we workshop radio plays and analyse them I have a good insight into emotion and plot.
We were asked to eavesdrop on someone's conversation as homework, which we'd then transcribe and read in class. I have to admit that I didn't do this homework and it wasn't out of laziness. I found it extemely uncomfortable being asked to eavesdrop on people, almost as if there is something really bad about doing this - or perhaps it's the thought of being caught by some angry member of the public! Maybe its some moralistic view point i have gotten from society that people have a right to privicy. If i'm honest it's probably a mixture of all the above. I will and must, find a way to override these feelings, this is an important exercise for me and has uncovered some areas that i need to work on.
I have decided that although I will be taking the second assessment option, that is my role as a producer within the creative writing class rather than the script writing assessment option. I will for my own personal development write and develop a script based on an eaves dropped conversation. After all option one involves a 7000 word eassay! who wants to do that if they have a choice.

Thursday 2 October 2008

Advanced Project Planning Log 02/10/08

We began today's lecture with the time honoured tradition of reading through the course handbook! We were asked to introduce ourselves to the group and talk about our idea's for a project.I have to admit to finding myself a little on the spot as I'm still unsure what I want to do for my project's. I would like to do a documentary and possibly a drama, I'll keep you posted on that one! One of the other students had an interesting idea around the healing properties of crocodile blood (I kid you not). I felt I might like to work with her on it. As a student coming to the course from Weston College I found it interesting meeting the other students in the class and glad to get it out of the way!
With project management in mind we were asked to consider our where our strengths and weaknesses lie. We split into groups to discuss the topic. I found this exercise helpful in get rid of some of the anxieties I have around whether or not I can cope with university workload. I have all the skills needed to manage a project successfully!

(MP3004) Creative writing Log 01/10/08


We began by the lesson by discussing radio scripts. We looked at format and structure, and how we might exploit their boundaries. Here a general description:
Opening
Set the scene and hook the audience during the First 2 minutes. This is widely acknowledged as the amount of time a writer has before the listener could lose interest.
Development
In this phase you need to present your characters or at least the first 2. Look to establish a sense of conflict, relationships, character arcs, emotional connections, and tension. Tease; make the listener want to listen. This art of the script should outline the engine of the plot.
Argument/apex
First the Initial apex then 20 minutes in a further apex then main crisis then resolution. Arguments are often used to create tension in Radio Plays. You can also use quiet held down arguments.
Resolution
Plot thread gets tied up. Relationships resolved. What they’ve learnt.
Ending
Endings can be about a State of rest, new state of balance. Think about the ending you would like. Satisfy the listener emotionally.
We were also put into pairs and listened to a story then we told that story to the class with an emphasis on the person’s vocabulary, accent and intonation. I felt I did well at imitating my partner’s persona and his blushes confirmed it!