ABC Pathways – Career Choices

Why I Wanna Do It? What They Do? What’s The Pathway?

TV Show Producer

One of my aspirations in life is to become a TV producer. I am creative and love the idea of creating TV shows that could later on be turned into actual TV shows. I have many inspirations when it comes to TV Producing. Chuck Lorre, Simon Cowell, Ryan Murphy and Marc Cherry are just some of the producers that I admire and aspire to be like. I like putting things together and building a platform off of products that I have 50% of creative and directional control of.

A TV Show Producer is someone who have 100% creative control of a television show and covers all the aspects of the pre-production process. A TV producer is the person who creates all the characters, the story lines, the locations etc. They are responsible for every little aspect of the show and are judged based on the survival of the show and the quality of the show. In order to become a TV producer, you have to start at the bottom and work your way up. You would have to start out as a runner at a media company like the BBC or Channel 4. You could also do an apprenticeship which could eventually lead to you becoming a TV Producer.

Radio Presenter

Radio presenting is dream of mine that I have had since I was 10. I used to listen to Choice FM every single day and pretend to be Jenny Francis. Till this very day I still listen to the radio. My favourite channel is BBC Radio 1 and my favourite radio presenter is Fearne Cotton. Reaching out and connecting to the public is a great thing because you are keeping in contact with them.

A radio presenter is someone who discusses music, news, interviews celebrities, talks to listeners and give daily reports on weather, travel etc. They broadcast all over the country or sometimes in certain areas. Some radio presenters are often referred to ask DJ’s. In order to become a radio presenter you would need to send a demo of your voice to a radio station of your choice. Record yourself pretending to be radio presenter. Another way for you to become a radio presenter is to start out as an intern or an assistant. You will learn different tricks of the trade from being an intern which eventually will benefit you when you do become a radio presenter.

Entrepreneur/Business Woman

Becoming a business woman/entrepreneur is one of my dreams. Owning a successful business that can help others has been one of my aspirations forever. Ever since I was young, I have started developing my own company/businesses. All my life I have looked up to people like Sir Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, Oprah Winfrey, Lord Alan Sugar and Steve Jobs. They’ve all created business’ that have become successful and have helped a lot of people all over the world. I’ve been very fond of there work and have kind of based my own business plans and ideas off of there work/achievements.

A business woman/entrepreneur is someone who builds an business empire to there own standard. They make money buy creating and then selling or pitching there product. You can choose whether to be the boss of the business or whether to have someone join you and be your co-business partner. There is no right or wrong way to become an business person/entrepreneur. It’s something that you decide on your own. The process to making your business successful doesn’t require any previous experience at all. As a business person, you have 100% control of the path that you choose your business to go in.

Pathways 2.0

For my pathways assignment, I have decided to choose Film and TV. I have chosen these subjects because I feel I work my best in these two subjects. When it comes to film and TV, I feel my creativity and passion brings the most out of my ability. I’ve always had a thing for film and television. I personally think it’s expected of me to find and participate in some work experience. Gaining experience is the best thing for me if I want to be able to be good at certain things in the media, TV and film industry. When it comes to my strengths and weaknesses there are many things that I feel I succeed and do well in and then there are things that I personally feel I disappoint myself in. These are what I feel my strengths and weaknesses are:

Strengths:

Conducting Research
Creating and Producing TV Product Ideas
Analyzing Films and Television
Expressing My Creative Side Through My Work

Weaknesses:

Editing (Including Time Management on Editing)
Final Cut Pro

One of my weaknesses is editing. When it comes to editing, I sometimes find myself becoming very frustrated because I feel that I never quite understand how to operate when editing. I use Final Cut Pro for editing all the time and most of the time when I use Final Cut I end up giving up because I feel that I can’t do it. Editing and using Final Cut Pro is definitely so thing that I would like to get better at doing. I feel these are the things I need to focus on the most. For university, I have decided I want to study Film and TV. Even though I feel that I know a lot about film and TV, I want to further my knowledge on film and TV so that when I do get a professional job within the media/film and TV industries I know all that there is to know. For my final major project, I have several different ideas to do. My original idea was to do a documentary where I exploring the lives of people who work in a very popular cake shop in Victoria called Peggy Porschen however I have had to change my idea from a documentary about a cake shop to a short film about love.

Proposal

[insert text]

Research:

History Behind Producing (Historical Context)
Favorite Producers (Individuals)
Questionnaire on TV & Film
Videos about Producing

(Historical Context)

Television Producer

RESEARCH TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_producer

The primary role of a television producer is to oversee all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking. It is often the producer who is responsible for the television show’s overall quality and survivability, though the roles depend on the particular show or organization.

Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acceptance they focus on business matters, such as budgets and contracts. Other producers are more involved with the day-to-day workings, participating in activities such as screenwriting, set design, casting, and even directing.

There are a variety of different producers on a television show. A traditional producer is one who manages a show’s budget and maintains a schedule, but this is no longer the case in modern television. Currently, the producer and writer are usually the same person.

Film Producer

RESEARCH TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to the film studio or other financing entity, while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed. Many film producers also obtain competency in other fields (directors, screenwriters, actors) but that is not always the case.

The producer is often actively involved throughout all major phases of the film-making process, from inception and development to completion and delivery of a film project. However, an idea or concept for a film can originate with any individual, including a screenwriter, a director or a producer.

(Individuals) – Television Producers

Seth MacFarlane & Ryan Murphy

I have chosen two TV Producers; Seth MacFarlane and Ryan Murphy whose work I admire and take inspiration from.Seth MacFarlane is the creator and producer of Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, Ryan Murphy is best known for creating and producing television series such as Popular, Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story, and The New Normal and Chuck Lorre has created and produced TV show hit sitcoms like Grace Under Fire, Cybill, Dharma & Greg, Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Roseanne and Mike & Molly.

(Questionnaires)

As part of my research on film and TV I decided to conduct a questionnaire which asked several questions about film and TV. Some of the questions included ‘What is your favourite genre of TV to watch’, ‘What is your favourite TV show’ and ‘How do you prefer to watch your films’?. I plan on handing out this questionnaire to my college peers as well as the general public to get some feedback for my research.

Editing

FINAL CUT PRO

Research
My Personal Study

RESEARCH TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editing

Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete work. The editing process often begins with the author’s idea for the work itself, continuing as a collaboration between the author and the editor as the work is created. As such, editing is a practice that includes creative skills, human relations, and a precise set of methods.

I chosen editing as one of my weaknesses for my pathway because I know within myself that I am not that good when it comes to editing. When it comes to editing i’m not quite sure what I am doing especially when it comes to putting all the footage together and making a video that looks good and is understandable. I would say right now that I am still at entry level when it comes to using and working on final cut pro.

Plurality Trailer

To try and improve my editing skills, I was given a chance to edit and produce a 1-minute trailer of my own out of the short film plurality. Firstly, I started this process by watch the whole short film through and basically understanding what the film was about so that when it came to me making my own edit of the film I could find a mini plot that my trailer would be based on. I started my editing process by chopping up the scenes and extracting bits that I thought was interesting and bits that I wanted to use in my trailer. After this I started putting all the clips that together and started pitching the beginning of the trailer. The trailer starts off with establishing shots of New York City from the movie. The next couple scenes include the two main characters running through New York City and when you watch it looks as if they’re either chasing each other or running away from something. I decided to go with that because I wanted the viewer to think/make up his or her own ideas of what was happening.

Research on Editors

Robert Richardson

Robert Bridge Richardson, ASC (born August 27, 1955) is an American cinematographer. He has won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography three times, for his work on JFK, The Aviator, and Hugo. Richardson is and has been a frequent collaborator for several directors, including Oliver Stone, John Sayles, Errol Morris, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese. He is one of two living persons who won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography three times, the other being Vittorio Storaro.

Michael Ballhaus

Michael Ballhaus, A.S.C. (born 5 August 1935) is a German cinematographer. In 1990, he was the Head of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.

Sally Menke

Sally JoAnne Menke (December 17, 1953 – September 27, 2010) was an American film and television editor with more than 20 feature film credits. She had a long-time collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino, having edited all of his films until her death. Menke was nominated for the Academy Award for Film Editing for Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, of which Variety’s Todd McCarthy wrote, “Sally Menke’s editing reps the definition of precision.”

VIDEO RESEARCH:

EXAMPLE OF SALLY MENKE EDITING

Michael Kahn

Michael Kahn (born December 8, 1935) is an American film editor. His credits range from TV’s Hogan’s Heroes to feature films directed by George C. Scott (The Savage is Loose) and Steven Spielberg, with whom he has had an extended, notable collaboration over more than thirty years.

VIDEO RESEARCH:

Thelma Schoonmaker

Thelma Schoonmaker (born 3 January 1940) is an American film editor who has worked with director Martin Scorsese for over forty years. She has edited all of Scorsese’s films since Raging Bull. Schoonmaker has received seven Academy Award nominations for best editing, and has won three times (for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed).

VIDEO RESEARCH:

Film Editing Techniques (Effects)

Research
Effects on Films
People Responsible for Effects in Films

RESEARCH – FILM EDITING – RESEARCH TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA

Vsevolod Pudovkin noted that the editing process is the one phase of production that is truly unique to motion pictures. Every other aspect of film making originated in a different medium than film (photography, art direction, writing, sound recording), but editing is the one process that is unique to film. Kubrick was quoted as saying: “I love editing. I think I like it more than any other phase of film making. If I wanted to be frivolous, I might say that everything that precedes editing is merely a way of producing film to edit.”

Edward Dmytryk stipulates seven “rules of cutting” that a good editor should follow:^[6]
- “Rule 1: Never make a cut without a positive reason.”
- “Rule 2: When undecided about the exact frame to cut on, cut long rather than short.”^[7]
- “Rule 3: Whenever possible cut ‘in movement’.”^[8]
- “Rule 4: The ‘fresh’ is preferable to the ‘stale’.”^[9]
- “Rule 5: All scenes should begin and end with continuing action.”^[10]
- “Rule 6: Cut for proper values rather than proper ‘matches’.”^[11]
- “Rule 7: Substance first—then form.”^[12]
According to Walter Murch, when it comes to film editing, there are six main criteria for evaluating a cut or deciding where to cut. They are (in order of importance, most important first, with notional percentage values.):
- Emotion (51%) — Does the cut reflect what the editor believes the audience should be feeling at that moment?
- Story (23%) — Does the cut advance the story?
- Rhythm (10%) — Does the cut occur “at a moment that is rhythmically interesting and ‘right'” (Murch, 18)?
- Eye-trace (7%) — Does the cut pay respect to “the location and movement of the audience’s focus of interest within the frame” (Murch, 18)?
- Two-dimensional plane of the screen (5%) — Does the cut respect the 180 degree rule?
- Three-dimensional space of action (4%) — Is the cut true to the physical/spatial relationships within the diegesis?

Murch assigned the notional percentage values to each of the criteria. “Emotion, at the top of the list, is the thing that you should try to preserve at all costs. If you find you have to sacrifice certain of those six things to make a cut, sacrifice your way up, item by item, from the bottom.”-Murch

EFFECTS WITH/ON FILM – RESEARCH TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA (INCLUDING VIDEO RESEARCH)

The illusions or tricks of the eye used in the film, television, theatre, video game, or simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual world are traditionally called special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, SPFX, or simply FX).

Special effects are traditionally divided into the categories of optical effects and mechanical effects. With the emergence of digital film-making tools a greater distinction between special effects and visual effects has been recognized, with “visual effects” referring to digital post-production and “special effects” referring to on-set mechanical effects and in-camera optical effects.

Example of My Experimenting with Film Techniques (Effects)

My Dream Sequence Created By Adobe Effects for David:

An example of me experimenting with film effects is the work that I had to produce for david in Adobe After Effects. I had to create a 30 second video based around dreams and dreaming by using Adobe After Effects. I was given a select number of videos to feature in my dream sequence. I had to choose which video I wanted to feature in my dream sequence. When I first started preparing for my dream sequence video, I have to admit I was completely lost and didn’t understand what was needed of me in this video. I started off by creating a composition. Then I selected the videos that I felt was acceptable to using in a dream sequence. I had to remember in mind that it was a dream sequence; which made it harder for me when choosing the videos. The first video that I picked was the EW Senses Loop. I decided to use this video because I felt that out of all the videos that I was given; this video seemed the most acceptable to use in a dream. Even though the EW Senses Loop video was good, I felt that it was missing something so I decided to add the AB White Puffy video.

Bibliography

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000841/?ref_=sr_3#Editor

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0579673/#Editor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Menke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_producer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_producer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editing

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0724744/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Richardson_(cinematographer)