Self Assessment

So the seminar was a great success, thanks to all the team who pulled together and put on a fantastic event. However, part of the assessment to this series is self reflective. So this is all about me.

Contribution and collaboration:
Was consistently active in contributing to group discussions both during meetings and via social media. Helped to shape the seminar as far as guests, theme and execution. Committed substantial time in preparation before, during and after the seminar with respect to emailing potential guests, set-up of theatre and handling of guests on the day (in my role as PA) as well as editing photos and contributing to video editing. My collaborative process was to be inclusive with everyone to assist them to contribute towards the seminar, identifying strengths and using positive feedback. This was helpful as issues of members joining late meant only a few people were speaking up. (22/25)

Proactive Learning:
Took a large responsibility to self-direct my learning as far as researching industry contacts, liaising with professionals and using social media which I had not previously done before. As well, I took it upon myself to learn about sound recording and introduced myself on the day to the AV technicians to find out how the sound desk was set up and operated. Also learnt more about video editing and working in event management. (21/25)

Participation:
Attended all of the classes and seminars, the event and our group meetings as well as consistently participated via the group’s social media and helped with the post-production editing session. Was always encouraged to engage and contribute to the group which made my efforts satisfying. (22/25)

Connections and Intersections:
I feel that the series was both inspirational and insightful as to gaining employment but also helpful to map out possible careers. The networking aspect has been particularly beneficial to me as this has been a weakness in the past. I have learned that given a problem, I can work through it to find a solution; which will be important in my role as a media practitioner. (22/25)

Overall mark: 87/100 (HD)

Post

With the seminar complete, we had some great footage to go through, which Simon and I picked the highlights. Unfortunately there were too many good moments (pearls of wisdom and funny anecdotes about magazines and pancakes) to use so we just hoped to capture the feel of the event. Which was quite positive from the feedback we got on the day. The sync seemed to drift as time went on which overall didn’t cause a problem when chopping up the footage to small grabs. It looked and sounded great which is credit to the guys on lights, sound and cameras. Sent off some photos of the event to the steering committee to use on the website and had one of the guests do a call out (via our newly created network) for a intern to help with her film. Be nice to think that although the series is finished, some connections and opportunities may come about from it.

On the line

And so we come to the final seminar of the series … online jobs.

Three digital guests (Beatrix Coles – Screenherd, Anna Horan – TheVine and Steinar Ellingsen – MelbourneWebFest) spoke about the realities of working and more importantly, surviving financially in the emerging online environment. As there is so much content out there already, with anyone able to start up a blog or upload videos, it comes down to either finding your voice and more importantly an audience for it or going down a different path of curating rather than creating.
Beatrix spoke of the film industries’ difficulties in understanding the online landscape and the perils of the echo chamber where your film peers are not your core audience. Social media should be used to reach out to as many people as possible with select online contributors championing your media projects.

The content was very relevant to the audience and quite informative as to capitalising on social media skills already practiced as well as offering both practical and sensible advice as to internships and freelancing (HD).
The approach was coherent and engaging, with questions asked throughout the seminar rather than a Q&A and the end. Perhaps this could have been explained at the start as I felt some people were reflecting on what was said and would ask a question at the end (D). The theme of ‘The Matrix’ was quite clear and executed with style and originality (HD). The staging was quite professional with good integration of background music, eye-catching slides and confident presenting from the hosts (HD).
The promotion was timely but could have been more varied as I only saw a couple of social media posts and a poster in the stairwell outside the theatre (D).

I found this seminar particularly useful in introducing me an achievable media practice of online content producer, which can complement other aspects of writing work and content creation I wish to pursue.

International has LANDED

Last Friday saw a great group of guests impart a lot of really useful and insightful knowledge about working overseas.
I started at 8am to source furniture and set up tables for food and registration. A small group of us were there bright and early for the television studio opening to grab couches, lamps and cushions as well as over to Building 8 AV for sound equipment, speakers and Building 9 AV for microphones and stands. But where do you find that great stage that others have used in the past? Finally we went further afield to Building 94 AV where the stage in question was there and ready to use. Just to wheel it down the road on a couple of trolleys and carefully through buildings 9 through to 5, via a small lift.
Once back at the lecture room, helped bump in stage, furniture, and speakers. With the help of the AV guys we bumped in audio, while the cameras and lights were expertly set by the group. Listened in on the sound desk set up with Tash and as well as setting up house lights and music through the lectern console.
A late minute change to the hosts meant that possibly only one person would be on stage with our guests and I offered to step in if need be. However, this wasn’t needed so I would look after the guests upon arrival and during the break (PA) as well as take the opportunity to take photos from the front of the stage area and be the sound desk’s eyes and ears for any problems arose. As the guests arrived we were ready to go with sound checked (big issue in the past) and a big audience in attendance.
The seminar itself was informative, fun and a thrill to be a part of.
We had some great in-flight entertainment with our friend on the piano and delicious food on offer.
Some excellent feedback was passed on and the group celebrated briefly before having to very quickly pack up and return everything back to its rightful owner. A huge day but it everyone departed with a great sense of achievement.

The countdown is on

Got together last Friday with the group and went through a checklist for our seminar. Everyone had there roles worked out (mine PA, stills photographer, audio assistant and whatever else needs doing on the day.) Brought in the transit lounge wav files which we’ll play via a portable speaker to add some atmos to proceedings. We’ve been having some ups and downs with our guests. One really important comment to came up was that as we’re seeking out international media practitioners, they’re all overseas. And obviously unavailable. STOP PRESS – We’ve got our three guests locked in (Elloise, James and Jane).
Our sophisticated transit lounge theme is coming along nicely with paper planes, martini glasses and purple scarves/handkerchiefs. Went through the technical aspects of producing, staging and recording the seminar with sound a big issue to iron out. Previous weeks have usually some sound/mike problems that we can hopefully overcome. We will have one of the tech guys help with the set-up. One of my roles as roving photographer will be to listen out for any sound issue with the guests and work with Tash on the mixing desk.
Have had to dip into social media a bit more than I usually do to keep up to date with the group and always try to make any face-to-face meetings to offer support and ideas. Of course I’d say this but I think our group works really well together.
Posters are good to go and the word has already started to spread.

Film – Reel Crimes

What a difference sound makes. This weeks seminar was dealing with film.

Content was relevant and informative (D) and the approach was coherent and engaging (D) however the theme wasn’t really clear (C) and the staging with respect to the mikes and presenting a seminar that could be enjoyed was lacking (C). The promotion as always was adequate with last minute email and social media. (C)
The three guests were a good mix of film people being director (Nadia Tass – Cascade Films), producer (Trevor Blainey – Cut Snake 2014) and script development (Veronica Gleeson – Screen Australia). Between them they had a good wealth of industry experience and showed a real interest in emerging talent.

There was a great discussion about vision and storytelling that I found quite interesting. Not so much new practical tips as to working in film (make your own – the ever present theme of the series) but where Veronica mentioned that due to budget constraints, a film being financed through SA was asked to “cut five pages” of the script. Nadia questioned what this did to the narrative of the film and could savings be made some other way. This casual comment of compromises I feel goes to the heart of what is wrong with the Australian film industry and why people don’t take to them. A film is not a product that a 5% reduction in production (being pages in the script) can just be expunged like a balance sheet to tick some boxes. As Nadia argued, what happens to the film when you change a story for monetary reasons alone. Like a puzzle with a piece missing, it doesn’t work as a whole. The complete narrative that has been crafted over many years will suffer.

The speaker issue almost overshadowed the whole event but some great troubleshooting during the break saw the problem fixed.
Overall the seminar was interesting but it dealt more with producing (more than likely in concert with the guests) rather than from a creative point of view or how we could approach producers who do the job of ‘producing films’ in partnership with filmmakers.

Design and Content

Photo: Don Serapio http://loungeguide.net/wiki/u/Image:Zrh_lx_swiss_lounge_bar_area.jpg
Had a productive meeting this morning where we locked in the idea of transit lounge for our theme. Spoke about other seminars, what they did well and not so well. A benefit of presenting later on. Sound and microphones keep coming up. We’re thinking a couple of hand mikes will do the trick and not make things to complicated. Need to raid TV studio for props and furniture as well as think about lighting. Point about lighting to include audience in the discussion is a good one.
Still working on guests, with the consensus that we need to keep looking to complement the great guests we already have. Catering looks like cupcakes and some sandwiches with some lolly pops as well. Black, business attire was suggested to tie into theme.
I’m looking at a airport soundscape to add to the transit lounge feel.

Femme Fatale – Women in Media

This week’s seminar was Women in Media with a femme fatale theme. There was a raised stage and fairy lights to accompany some very nice mini cupcakes. The guests Jenni Tosi (CEO of Film Victoria), Brodie Lancaster (Writer/Editor of Filmme Fatales) and Elizabeth McCarthy (Producer/Presenter 3RRR) spoke about their experience as a woman in the media industry.

After a brief introduction from the panelists as to their current roles (the context was good but perhaps that information could have been presented an a more succinct manner) the presenter talked about feminism. The atmosphere that was quickly fostered in my opinion was one of a combative and fairly pessimistic nature. As such, I felt the seminar was not all that relevant or informative to what the programme had outlined. As a man, much of the seminar appeared to exclude myself and even for women looking for current opportunities in the industry, little in the way of useful information was shared. This was perhaps due more to the framing of questions and the structure of the seminar than the quality of the guests.

Jenni Tosi did impart some good advice regarding being entrepreneurial (which has come up many times already during these seminars) as well as being passionate and confident in your work.

However, it is important to recognise that the group’s topic was always going to be hard to present impartially. This may be more the nature of presenting a seminar where you are concentrating on one sector of the class, spending time reinforcing the commonly known challenges women face in the media, rather than uncovering valuable career advice.

As for the seminar’s assessable components, the content was not that relevant or informative (C) but considerations should be taken as outlined above. Similarly, the approach could have been more coherent and engaging (C) with questions asked appearing to distance the audience and not being more directed towards concrete answers towards getting a media job. The theme was well executed (D) and professional staged (D), however there seemed to be a consistent problem with mikes that didn’t work. The promotion was adequate (C) with similar to other weeks, a class email and social media ad sent  a few days before the event.

Reaching out

Been working with the group to come up with our international-centric guests. We’ve tried a few local people who are busy and I had recently contacted someone in radio but they were also unavailable. Discussed questions and the group is determined to have a wide mix of people to speak. Meanwhile our design and catering team are hard at work. Checking in regularly on social media to stay in touch as well as some outside hours meetings. Will be taking some stills on the day, which I’m looking forward to.

TV – Breaking in

With a highly theatrical beginning, this week’s industry seminar explored breaking in to TV. Befitting a TV studio, the lecture theatre was decked out with couches, bookcases and a rather attractive tablecloth. A game show that took a lighter side to the serious business of television. Or should that be the serious business of business (i.e. money). Time and time again the panel reiterated the commercial imperatives that particularly the television networks face and the reluctance to back an unknown. Even the option of free work / interning is now not so much of an option with insurance and it appeared a fear of exploitation claims. 

The take home lesson:

Do your own thing and keep knocking on doors until someone notices. 

All the panelists had a wealth of experience, primarily in non-fiction, with producer Lucy MacLaren (Renegade Films) looking after more TV fiction and documentary. The others, EP Anna Gregory (FremantleMedia) who works on Grand Designs Australia – quite envious actually, love Grand Designs – and LP Jeff Shenker (CH9) whose worked on the Logies and Millionaire have worked through the ranks while Senior News Director Ron Frim (ABC) completely changed career direction (allied health) to where he is now. 

The theme and staging was very well done (HD) and made the seminar highly engaging. Guests were put at ease and the seminar was executed in a professional manner. However I felt the content and approach was somewhat lacking. Perhaps too much energy was spent with the set up of the game show/breaking in theme rather than directing the guests to discussing practical tips to getting a job in TV. As well, it would have been good to hear where the jobs are and some roadmaps as to where to start from. The promotion consisted of some Facebook messages but I didn’t find any posters about (D). 

Knowing the right people was brought up but what is equally important is having the right skills and a level head for working  in a high pressure environment.