Update: personal progress

Great news. I done my interview for my PGCE and it went really good. A lot better than I expected. I revised quite a bit, and it payed off. And then the following week (which was last week), I got called for another interview for my GTP teaching course. I was more relaxed for this as I was aware of how it went etc. Alongside this, I have also been doing a placement at the Nottingham Academy secondary school to help me get more experience. I am still a little confused of which to do; a GTP or PGCE. I have got a few ideas lined up for completing one of my artifacts at the school and conducting some focus groups. My decision is probably going to go for the PGCE, seen as it is more recognised in other countries.
So, I received a conditional offer for my PGCE the other day! and I just accepted it last night. I'm just waiting on my GTP decision to get back. My life's career is now slowly planning out in front of me.

SPP3 Update

So, I'm nearing the end of my SPP3 assignment 1. I have done a website to act as an interactive portfolio for me. It's not the greatest website in the world but hey. Here'e the link:

http://www.umar-hussain.com

Client Project - Filming day Two

My partner in the group let me down massively today! No call, text anything. I turned up at 9.00am at university, waited a while... few hundred phonecalls. Nothing. However, I decided to go and film myself, seen as I went to all the trouble of gaining permissions etc. And yes, I took a Sony Z1 this time, I didn't bother to hassle with the Panasonic. Although I did'nt get any more interior shots, as there was rehearsals going on for a Hamlet play (want to find out more or buy tickets to this play: http://www.em-media.org.uk/pages/news/article?2B399DD7-98AF-45E5-9A95-229DEF0AA266). I did get some exterior shots. Didn't last long. Rain stops play... The sagas continue.
















Also, used a Nikon D200 today for better picture quality and testing with ISO, shutter speed etc. This picture was taken using the Nikon D200.

Client Project - Update

I've collected the clips I shot on the test day and also the first day of filming to edit, both which were shot using the Panasonic 151. I am now faced with a problem. The Panasonic 151 exports video in .MTS files. Now, I've tried to edit using my Premiere CS3 and home, however I have now found out that .MTS files are only recognised from CS3 upwards i.e. CS4 and CS5. Therefore, I edited at university. After a few hours I got the clips to work, however they were playing at a really slow speed. I asked our uni technician to help, but after a while he couldn't also work out what was wrong and said the computer at uni we not fully capable to handle these files and it would take REALLY LONG. And yes, I tried and look how long it told me it would take...

And that was just for 2 clips.














Only other option I could think of was to convert them. After looking/asking around I was given a good .MTS converter by my friend Chris. Okay, this does work (when it wants to), but it takes soooo long to convert. I've converted about 6 of 7 videos so far. Let's see where it gets me. P.s. I'm going to use a Sony Z1 from now on!

Client Project - Filming day One

Filmed the interior of the Broadway Cinema today. Lack of lights I think was a major issue here I believe (even though I insisted to take them, but my partner decided it would be fine for his video). As it being a cinema, only small spot lights could be switched on from the ceiling. Oh yeh, there was also a guy who came in to tune the piano at screen 2, so we had to deal with constant piano key smashing. Besides that, it went fine :)









































Next stop was St. Mary's Church, and as I thought... it was big. Caretaker there was fairly friendly. I got loads of really good shots, from the south, east, north and west side of the church. I mean, I could have been there all day. I took shots of all the the windows, the sculptures, the main church hall, and various shots of the great architecture all around the building. After about an hour and a bit we finished and wrapped up. I will now gain permission from Wendy from St. Peter's Church to film again next week.

Client Project - Update

Okay, so I've now confirmed all permissions to film our interior shots at both the Broadway Cinema and St. Mary's Church. The Broadway was pretty okay, however for St. Mary's Church, I had go to St. Peter's Church and arrange a meeting with someone called Wendy. After doing this, I luckily confirmed the date the same as the filming for the Broadway, so both myself and my partner in the project can assist each other for our videos. I think there are a lot of shots that can be taken from both of these buildings, especially St. Mary's. I've been reading up about the church on the internet and it has a lot of history and seems pretty huge.
I have also fully completed my risk assessment, after being re-checked by my tutor Deborah Tuck, so everything is ready for shooting this Wednesday.

Client Project: Test Filming Day

Today we did some test shots of The Broadway, The Adam's Building, St.Mary's Church and The Galleries of Justice. It turned out really good and we collected a lot more shots than we intended. I think quite a few shots completed today can be used in our final videos. We used the Panasonic 151 camera. Oh yeh, I also got someone for our voice-over. Well, I just got lucky really. As we were filming outside the Galleries Of Justice, I noticed two actors all dressed up and make-up on. So I took the chance and walked up for a chat. Few minutes later after a brief chat, I explained what we were doing for our project and if they knew anyone who did voice-overs. It turned out that this girl Laura actually produced voice-overs for the Galleries Of Justice tours. So I asked her if she was willing to help us out with our project and very willingly she agreed. Swapped contact details. She has now sent me a voice recording of herself in the Galleries Of Justice Tour. Voice-over sorted... Bingo!