23rd Feb Shoot and edit short magazine piece. Today the group was given the task of creating a 5-min magazine programme with virtually no help. They spent 1 hour in a production meeting and constructed a programme format. They came up with a spoof version of Big Brother entitled "Big Bro." They had a very good grasp on formatting a programme and even got as far as making 2 short advertisements in the film. This was another very good addition to their video portfolio. Gerard Sat Mar 2nd /Sun 3rd Mar Camera Workshop I brought a local film and video camera person to take a 2-day workshop with the group. Day one involved intensive work with the whole group and day two involved working with the two people identified as the camera department. Another scene from the script was filmed with make shift setting and props on day one and the film started to come to life. The camera team was very quick to learn focus, exposure and white balance and on day two progressed to camera movements with the use of a dolly. On day two the remainder of the group got their own introductions to sound and directing as a taster for the workshops to follow. The idea of the workshops was to shoot with emphasis on camera 1 week, on sound the next, on directing the next and so on. This would help the group recognise the importance of each team member and the skills they would need to bring to the film. Gerard Sat Mar 9th Sound Recordist Workshop Today a scene from the film would be shot with emphasis on sound. The aim was to identify the importance of different microphone types, on the day recording and postproduction sound. Raymona was very quick to learn the use of the sound mixer and had no problem mixing for more than one mic. The group learned the importance of a good close mic, when a recording was compared with that of an on board mic. Sound is almost always overlooked by the film spectator so it was reassuring that the group got a grasp on the importance of sound both for mood and for narrative. Gerard The A Team Sat Mar 16th Directing workshop. A local filmmaker came onboard for an intensive directing workshop which covered everything from composition and style to group dynamics and responsibility. This I believe was one of the most important workshops as it definitely required the group to have a more mature approach to the project. My aim was to drive home the idea that although this was to be a fun project the group would also have a lot of responsibility toward delivering a good film as a lot of work and finance had gone into giving them this opportunity. The day was very productive as we had come up with a shot list of sorts for the whole script, and also tried out setting up some very well composed shots. I think by the end of the day some of the group was actually quite nervous about the task ahead of them, but I feel this was a positive thing. Gerard