So unfortunately today is my final day as I have to head back to Bath earlier than first planned. The staff at Eden have been very understanding though and it seems such a shame to be finishing the placement. Although it has only been 5 days, due to the mass bank holidays it has been spread over two weeks so it feels like I have been here longer.
While they have expressed an interest in me coming back over the summer, I do hope they stick to their word because I really enjoyed it. Even the early starts, waking at 6am and not getting back home til 8pm, it has still been incredible. Although I think that the long hours made me a little quieter than I usually am, but perhaps that is a good thing?
Anyways, today I grabbed the footage that they wanted me to put graphics on. For some reason the Macbook was taking a very long time, which was an absolute pain. I wanted to portray myself as an efficient worker but the computer was really slowing me down. Next time, I will probably book out a better Mac!
Friday, 20 May 2011
Day 4
Today I was asked to film an exhibit up in the visitor centre called 'The Plant Take-Away'. This is basically a 5 minute piece that plays on repeat, with a typical living room set-up. The exhibit asks, what would happen if we had no plants? And gradually everything starts to deplete, no books or paper, no chairs, no food etc. So I decided to watch it through and take notes of each caption. Then decided to film each part. Luckily it plays on a continuum so I was able to change shot between each sequence.
This was filmed to start planning a bigger film process on the exhibition so it was great to be able to help in the pre-production stages.
There was also a team meeting today. It was very interesting to be a part of that and to here what everyone on the team had been up to. Particularly the graphics team. While I have never really been into graphics it was interesting to here exactly how much effort goes in to the tiniest details.
They also asked if I could sort out some of the graphics on the "Freaky Nature" videos which I was happy to help with and could continue doing that on my final day, tomorrow.
In the latter part of today I went down to the biomes and took photographs for the website in their 'My Day at Eden' section. Armed with a DSLR and release forms I tried to capture unplanned moments as I noticed that a lot of the pictures on the page were quite posed. I feel as though I got some really nice shots and hope to see them on the website soon.
This was filmed to start planning a bigger film process on the exhibition so it was great to be able to help in the pre-production stages.
There was also a team meeting today. It was very interesting to be a part of that and to here what everyone on the team had been up to. Particularly the graphics team. While I have never really been into graphics it was interesting to here exactly how much effort goes in to the tiniest details.
They also asked if I could sort out some of the graphics on the "Freaky Nature" videos which I was happy to help with and could continue doing that on my final day, tomorrow.
In the latter part of today I went down to the biomes and took photographs for the website in their 'My Day at Eden' section. Armed with a DSLR and release forms I tried to capture unplanned moments as I noticed that a lot of the pictures on the page were quite posed. I feel as though I got some really nice shots and hope to see them on the website soon.
Day 3
Today I negotiated with Lisa Cronin regarding an interview into her "Rubber Sandals" and to also learn about what she does here at Eden.
Looking at some of the previous blog posts that Eden have put out, they take a very relaxed approach in a friendly manner, so we decided to meet informally over a coffee. Like the other staff I had met at Eden, Lisa was incredibly friendly and an interesting character.
While not wanting to sound like a scripted interviewer I tried to approach it as an informal chat, which seemed relatively easy because she had such interesting stories to tell and I found I was never searching for the next question on my notepad, it all just rather flowed.
While not describing herself as an artist, Lisa does describe herself as genuine with a real passion for people. Having worked here at Eden for 3 years, her previous travels across the globe, in particular in rain forests, have made Eden seem like a home from home.
Working as a "Pollinator", Lisa orchestrates educational and inspirational ways to hook the public into asking questions. While she would never go out and lecture anyone, she feels that using this is better because it gives people the opportunity to approach her instead.
On her latest 'hook' to gain the attention of the public, Lisa has been making sandals using disused car tyres. "Westerners are consumed by things we don't need; No pair of shoes over here is going to last as long as a pair of sandals from the Serengeti."
While not out to make any monetary gain, Lisa is attempting to show people how other cultures get by. While using old rubber for soles is often connected with poverty, they are actually far more practical and will last a lifetime.
"People ask, do they smell? No! Do they make your feet black? No! Are they comfy? Yes!"
It was very inspirational talking to Lisa and it seems as though she has really found her muse here at Eden. She is very engaging and has a great manner about her which is why she makes the perfect 'pollinator'.
I am currently writing up this interview to be transcribed for a blog post on the Eden website.
Looking at some of the previous blog posts that Eden have put out, they take a very relaxed approach in a friendly manner, so we decided to meet informally over a coffee. Like the other staff I had met at Eden, Lisa was incredibly friendly and an interesting character.
While not wanting to sound like a scripted interviewer I tried to approach it as an informal chat, which seemed relatively easy because she had such interesting stories to tell and I found I was never searching for the next question on my notepad, it all just rather flowed.
While not describing herself as an artist, Lisa does describe herself as genuine with a real passion for people. Having worked here at Eden for 3 years, her previous travels across the globe, in particular in rain forests, have made Eden seem like a home from home.
Working as a "Pollinator", Lisa orchestrates educational and inspirational ways to hook the public into asking questions. While she would never go out and lecture anyone, she feels that using this is better because it gives people the opportunity to approach her instead.
On her latest 'hook' to gain the attention of the public, Lisa has been making sandals using disused car tyres. "Westerners are consumed by things we don't need; No pair of shoes over here is going to last as long as a pair of sandals from the Serengeti."
While not out to make any monetary gain, Lisa is attempting to show people how other cultures get by. While using old rubber for soles is often connected with poverty, they are actually far more practical and will last a lifetime.
"People ask, do they smell? No! Do they make your feet black? No! Are they comfy? Yes!"
It was very inspirational talking to Lisa and it seems as though she has really found her muse here at Eden. She is very engaging and has a great manner about her which is why she makes the perfect 'pollinator'.
I am currently writing up this interview to be transcribed for a blog post on the Eden website.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Day 2
Today I decided to start editing the footage from the Southbank Centre. This is where a team of volunteers created a rooftop garden in London . The stories were very compelling but the footage was rather shaky and poor but I decided to try my best. The footage was an MP4 format that I found FinalCutPro was having problems with. So I decided to convert them using Quicktime to Mov files as this would work better in Final Cut. Unfortunately though, this did not solve the problem. So for the next hour or so I emailed tech support and looked around for answers on google. Apparently, the flipcam that they used to shoot the footage was quite notorious with having problemsin Final Cut. This was a real shame as I felt that this would have been a good opportunity to show my editing skills to the team at Eden.
However, today I met freelance camera operator, Shayne House. Tom Trinkle suggested that I accompany Shayne as he films down at the biomes to capture the "Ant Plant" or Myrmecoda, as part of their Freaky Nature exhibition.
Here is a clip of the finished product.
This was really interesting as I got to see how a freelance cameraman works. While walking around the biomes there seemed to be so much that would be worthy of a one minute viral video. Much of the staff that I have met, especially down on site have been very interesting characters, welcoming and interesting.
That afternoon we also had another filming opportunity with the Nofit State Circus. This is where we met Dan who gave us a juggling demo to create hype for the Labyrinth show that will be over the summer at Eden.
Given that it is only within recent years that the media department at Eden has been able to expand, their equipment is still very sparse which I found surprising considering the global scale of Eden. Tom and I spoke regarding me coming back in the summer to film the circus shows, using equipment that I could source from the university.
Here are the couple of finished videos that we filmed on the Nofit State Circus..
However, today I met freelance camera operator, Shayne House. Tom Trinkle suggested that I accompany Shayne as he films down at the biomes to capture the "Ant Plant" or Myrmecoda, as part of their Freaky Nature exhibition.
Here is a clip of the finished product.
This was really interesting as I got to see how a freelance cameraman works. While walking around the biomes there seemed to be so much that would be worthy of a one minute viral video. Much of the staff that I have met, especially down on site have been very interesting characters, welcoming and interesting.
That afternoon we also had another filming opportunity with the Nofit State Circus. This is where we met Dan who gave us a juggling demo to create hype for the Labyrinth show that will be over the summer at Eden.
Given that it is only within recent years that the media department at Eden has been able to expand, their equipment is still very sparse which I found surprising considering the global scale of Eden. Tom and I spoke regarding me coming back in the summer to film the circus shows, using equipment that I could source from the university.
Here are the couple of finished videos that we filmed on the Nofit State Circus..
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
Day 1
It was a very early start for me today, my train I had to catch from Penzance to St Austell left at 7.40 am. Giving plenty of time to get to the Eden Project for a 9.30am start.
I was genuinely surprised at how friendly and helpful everyone was when I got there. I would have had to walk from the main entrance of Eden Project to the Foundation Building where I was due to be working, but thanks to the efficiency and kindness of the staff there, a ten minute walk was replaced with a mini bus to come and pick me up.
Before I started any work I was shown around the Foundation Building by digital content manager, Hannah Bullock. I then was introduced to the rest of the Digital Media department and also ICT Technician, Janette Peckham. Janet went through validating my log in details for the computer system and email.
My first task was to research instructional videos on how to perform basic circus skills. This is because in the summer the award-winning Nofit State Circus will be performing their 'Labyrinth' show at Eden Project. Tomorrow, they are going to be demonstrating the basic skills as they will also be running workshops during their stint at the venue.
While researching online I came across many videos on YouTube of "How to juggle" or "How to hula hoop" etc. However, I noticed that many of them were filmed in an amateur fashion and were often fronted by children. While talking to Digital Content manager, Tom Trinkle, we discussed that we wanted it to be informative and quite fast-paced as a lot of the current videos online were a little long and filled with endless written instructions. They didn't appear to be very fun and seemed a bit more like a lecture.
We decided that we could possibly use a variety of spoken instructions and graphics layered over the footage. I was also asked to search for music that would be suitable for this. I was surprised to learn that they source their music from an online database and not music from bands or artistes local to the area. It is understandable that as it is still a rather small media department for such a large company it is quite difficult to take the time to source out local bands that may be suitable. However, Tom told me that this is a potential direction they could go down. I feel that Cornwall is an incredibly patriotic place and anything that can help publicise local acts, and on a global scale, should definitely be done. I know for sure that there would be many local acts willing to allow their music to be used and for free.
Tom also informed me that they were looking to do an introductory video for the website. So I decided to research that type of video for different tourist attractions to see what worked and what didn't.
Hannah Bullock also informed me of a lady named Lisa who is a pollinator at Eden. Pollinators are on hand to provide the public with interesting and fun ways to learn about the environment and currently Lisa is making flip flops out of used car tyres. This would be a great opportunity for an interview and blog post. So I had to arrange a meeting with Lisa for sometime in the week.
So I decided to draft a few questions I could maybe ask her:
- What is your main job at Eden?
- Where did you get the idea to make the sandals?
- How important is it to recycle rubber?
- Do you plan to sell the sandals?
Given that I had borrowed a macbook from uni for the Easter I said that I could edit some footage they had filmed at the Southbank Centre. I decided I could get on with that tomorrow.
I thoroughly enjoyed my first day and am really pleased with how friendly and welcoming everybody was.
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