Teachers TV

Teachers TV filming crew came to our school and observed and filmed us. They asked us questions about the course. They asked us things like what our favourite part of the course was and would we recommend it to people. I said my favourite part of the course was the fact that we went on a lot of trips. I think this is a good because it's not just sitting in a classroom, which I find helps me loose concentration a lot quicker, but it is getting outside of the normal school environment. It was really interesting watching the professionals do what we've been doing all this time and to see how it really works. In the lesson we were doing prints of Barack Obama and ourselves. They filmed us working from many different angles before asking us questions. I found it difficult not to look into the camera when we were supposed to be working. I found it off putting trying to act normal when they were so closely observing us. If we said something in a way they disliked they would ask us to repeat is again and just change things. It was interesting to see how they operate behind the scenes because on the TV you only see it once through you don't see all the "bloopers" so it was fascinating to see how it operates.

Graphic Design

Last lesson we interviewed Andrew Walker from Thin Martian about his job for inspire. He was a graphic designer. We were told to ask him about literacy and numeracy and how it is used in the work place. We got into groups and shared out roles. In my group i was the interviewer, Gina was the camera man, Kubra and Kai were directors and Ann-Marie was the sound man. We asked him the questions once or twice from different angles but from different camera angles. I think it went well because he was nice and pleasant to interview so that lifted the mood. However I also think that people began to get restless and snappy so it became difficult to work in that atmosphere. But I think that Andrew was very nice about it so it was ok.

Kitty

Art-Clay

Instructions:
1.Get a wooden stand.
2.Wrap two pieces of A3 paper around it to form a basic head and neck shape.
3.Add small pellets of clay over the paper until completely covered.
4.Add details eg. chin, nose and ears but remember proportions.
5.Firing-Take the clay off the wooden stand and place in a Kiln*
6.The paper will burn away and you will be left with a firm shape.

Facts:
1.Once the clay is joined into a sphere it becomes a strong 3D shape.
2.The red clay we use is called 'Terracotta'.
3.The clay piece can be cast or fired.
4.Casting-Make a plaster mould then pour bronze* into it.

Keywords:
*Kiln: A Kiln is a an oven that goes up to 1000 degrees which is a great deal more than a normal household oven which reaches a mere 250 degrees.
*Bronze: A liquid metal.

Kitty

Drama-Woyzeck

Last lesson we carried on with our study of 'Woyzeck'. The first thing we had to do was, in our groups, brainstorm different settings and stage set ups that we would like to perform our play in. We soon after went into more detail and started to talk about lighting and props. Our group decided that we would hold our performance in an amphitheatre. We also thought that instead of having a pit for the orchestra we would have a balcony so that the audience could watch the orchestra as well as the play. We also thought we could Strobe Lights to make things go in slow motion, for example, when he kills Marie. We agreed that large screens would be put around the theatre so that when someone does a monologue everyone would freeze (apart from the character) and their silhouette would appear on the screen of them acting it. After we came up with these ideas the class had a group discussion and we fed back our ideas to the class. Then , in our groups, we started to act out our scenes. I was in a group with Kai, Marley and Alex. I was Marie, Alex was Woyzeck and Kai and Marley were both the drum major. Kai would shout abuse at Alex when there was silence so that Kai voiced the inner thoughts and flashbacks Woyzeck was having. Marley did something similar only he was my inner thoughts and flashbacks. We rehearsed and then performed it to the class. Kitty

My Interwiew at the BBC

When I went to the BBC I interviewed many of the employees about their jobs. Then me and Yasemin edited the footage to create a short documentary. We watched it back as a class and we all agreed that The Camera shots were good. We also thought that My voice was clear and easy to understand. However, we also said that next time we needed to improve a few things. For example, the cuts could have been spread out evenly instead of one after the other because this would be more effective. And that maybe we could shorten the length of the interview making it short but effective. I think that maybe next time I shouldn't be in the shot. This is because if I keep on moving people focus on me and get distracted from the interview itself.
We also watched Cheyenne's and Gina's interview. I think that their's was very good. They used a variety of shots and also had steady camera work. However, I think they could of improved their interview by having an establishing shot at the beginning and possibly made it slightly longer. But apart from that t was good. Overall I think it was a good film and the editing was smashing.
Kitty

BBC 2- Interviewing Skills

On the 13 November 2008 I went to the BBC. I went there so that I could test my interview skills on real people. When we got there we were put in groups and given cameras, booms and microphones and were told to find people to interview around the building. It was very fun. I found not only did I improve my interview skills but I learned a lot about jobs in the media industry. Each person that I interviewed was asked the same questions:

What is your job?
What does that mean?
Do you enjoy your job?
What is your favourite part of your job?
What is your least favourite part of your job?
And what is your favourite ice-cream flavour?

The last one was just for fun. I found that all the people at the BBC that I interviewed really enjoyed their jobs. I also learned that a lot of them started of in a small job and worked their way up. It was really interesting to see how much goes on behind the screens because there were so many jobs that didn't include filming or being in front of the camera. Or even anything to do with the media aspect at all. It was also a really good day to visit because it was the day before children in need.
So we got to interview a few people from outside the BBC about their jobs to. And we actually saw Pudsy!


Overall it was a really enjoyable experience and I would love to work there when I'm older.

M&CSaatchi Workshop

Today we had a workshop with Rob from M&CSaatchi. It was a very interesting experience. We had to design an advert in groups. My group came up with the idea of spray painting stenciled people all around London. This was inspired by artist Banksy. The theme of the advert was road safety. We brainstormed as a group and tried to decide what we thought would reach us most as a advert. We thought that by having the graffiti everywhere it would remind people wherever they went of road safety. I personally think this was a brilliant idea because I know that this would speak out to me. Rob asked us to sketch out our ideas then present them to the class and the best idea would win Zavvi vouchers (although sadly now, those are useless). I think everyone elses ideas were really good aswell. I particularly liked Emine's group. Their idea was an advert with a boy chatting up a girl from across the road then moving over to her and getting hit by a car on the way. However, as good as everyone else's was, my group won. At the end of the lesson I interviewed Rob about his job. I found it really interesting and would definitely consider going into that business.