Cars, Cameras, and plans

I said I'd write more about that camera, Well. it's a hefty brute of a thing. I was using it on a short film called "Message" which will hopefully be on the festival circuit later in the year. It's great to get experience with new kit now and again in the hope that when the revolution comes and I actually get a job, or at least a project that I'm being paid for, I'll know what I'm doing. I think it may well be a little bit too heavy for me though, after 10 minutes or so my back and shoulders ached a lot. I think I need to work out!

In the pipeline for me, are several programme ideas to develop, actually get some kit for the cadets, and a few other things.

Ah, the cadets. Muggins here suggests that they might like to try Autotesting (as seen on RST!) The commanding officer thinks that this is a great idea. Puts it forward to the wing (a kind of squadron of squadrons), They liked it too! So this time next year we should be just about to hold a big youth motorsport event somewhere which should be fun. And I can always film it and see if anyone's interested in broadcasting I suppose.

It's a pity that at the moment, I'm not feeling well, and neither are any of my family. It's distracting me from my job hunt, and the weather has turned cold and decidedly wet. In short, It's all very depressing. My car has also heard of news of an impending new arrival, and has decided to revolt against me. A rattling noise I assumed to be a loose silencer turned out to be a broken silencer, then an oil check revealed that most of the oil had gone missing. Here's a tip cash concious motorists. Never, ever, ever ever, Miss a service. If you do it yourself, great, but do it! I wonder what it's going to do next.

Anyway, it's Rally GB time again here in lovely Wet South Wales, so what follows is a preview of the event. I'm not much of a journalist, but hopefully in the future some more media assignments will turn up. Watch this space.

I'm saying that a lot lately.

Project Management Wales 2009

The video me and Ulrich shot for the Project Management Wales Conference 2009 is now online on the University of Glamorgan Commercial Services website. I'll be putting a copy of it up online here too as soon as I can. This may be some time!

http://www.ugcs.co.uk/pmw/pmw-highlights-2009.asp

Busy times ahead

This post is almost an apology for some extended inaction over the coming weeks... but I've got a lot to do!

Firstly, having filmed the Project Management Wales conference for UGCS earlier in the year, I'm back at the Celtic Manor on Wednesday to film Supply Chain Wales. Hopefully you will be able to see the result on the UGCS website once it's finished.

The day after supply chain Wales it's off to London for a job interview on Friday, can't actually say who it's with though. Then a couple of days out in London as a small holiday, then back home to do the edit on the supply chain Wales conference, couple of weeks off, then off to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed, followed by a course in Lampeter for a couple of weeks...

So I may be going a little quiet, but I will be back. Just like Arnie

Oh yeah, whilst I remember - what was 4-10 motorsport [and is now Paul Gardner Race Tech] had a bit of a torrid time at Anglesey on the weekend with the car being destroyed in a nasty accident. Paul got out ok, but for some reason I'm glad that my camera was not fitted to the car at the time!

Yes, I'm still alive.

I know I've been quiet recently, but here's why.

Firstly I've been hard at work filming and editing the Project Management Wales Conference for UGCS. I won't be putting the results on the site though, so you'll have to keep an eye on the above link for more info. There will be more projects like that coming up.

Secondly, I've been out and about a bit with racing. Celebrating one's birthday with the traditional BARC meeting at Pembrey. Great fun it was too. There won't be any new motorsport videos for a while yet though.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I've been working on "Finding David", which is slowly driving me up the wall.

The good news is that tomorrow I get my hands on a brand new Sony Z5 camera for the weekend - Can't wait to try it out!

In other news, Mogulus refuses to upload RST-UK again. And this is after I've built a special website for the program. It'll have to wait now untill I've wrapped on Finding David though.

Oh and the small matter of this year's showreel to sort out.

busy busy busy

Race Sport Track now on-line

Latest video to hit the web is now online - you can watch it via the Mogulus player on the front page. Be warned though, it's a biggy at just over 20 minutes long. It also marks the first studio based video on this site.

I'd be lying if I said everything went smoothly. Trying to operate the studio with only 4 people and a presenter was hard, and the end result is still a little rough around the edges, but with a bit of work [and more people/time/money] I think something great can be achieved with it. Big thanks to Ulrich, who has composed the music in double quick time, Tim for turning up and generally keeping everyone stay focused, Dave for becoming a floor manager in a hurry, and Matthew for making his presenting debut with what I admit is not the easiest script!

Now, anyone want to buy a 4 part pilot motorsport magazine series?

Bizzare!

Having filmed all day at Llandow Yesterday, it came as something of a nasty surprise when I got to the interviews which I'd recorded - having set the shot up nicely, got the exposures right, Ulrich had perfected the sound, and the subject spoke brilliantly and gave great answers to our question, with lots of enthusiasm for the car we were talking about.

Which one? I'm not telling you yet!

Anyway, the nasty surprise. Dropouts. Lots of them, getting steadily worse. Starting at about 40 minutes in. The problem was with the recording, due to dirt on the heads, we think, and is totally unrecoverable. I can't even understand the interview to transcribe it. It's a crying shame.

And the cause of this? Wierdly it's the brand of tape that I use. I have been using TDK tapes in the Z1s, and only since then have I had problems. Strangely enough the little JVC palmcorder runs the TDKs with no problems at all. It's all down to the lubrication the tape manufactuers use, or more accurately, the mixing of different lubricants from different manufactuers resulting in a sticky gunk all over the record heads. Apparently Uni have been aware of this for about a year - not that anyone thought to make a notice to us about it - and with a certain electronics supplier selling 10 packs of TDK on offer recently, the problem is now more frequent than before.

In the meantime, I now have to find a way of getting a 6 minute feature from what I've got left.

p.s. If anyone knows anyone who can lend me a motorcycle/motor racing driver's crash helmet for a couple of days to do a film shoot, please send them my way. It's not essential but it would be nice! Thanks in advance.

Update : I went to see my lecturer in Uni, and about half an hour after I told him of the problem, there was a notice up on Blackboard [a system my uni uses] warning other people of the problem! Amazing how quickly things get done if you talk to the right person isn't it?

Wanted

Okay, I have discovered very quickly that running a studio takes more than 2 people. In fact it takes closer to 8. Minimum.

This is a bit of a problem when you've got a plan to make a TV show in a studio, and, err 2 people.

Whilst I have to use current students to actually do the technical bits, which whittles down the options somewhat, the choice of presenter is a bit freer. So If you're in the Cardiff area, don't mind doing work for absolutely nothing but experience, and you want to be, or are, a TV presenter, preferably with an interest in British Motorsport, please get in touch!

I can't give too many details about the program away. Well more accurately I won't give too many details away. It's mine, and I'd like to keep it that way, so I'll use my favourite phrase.

Watch this space.

The results of the Time Lapse Experiment.

I think with hindsight, The concept of timelapse is sound, but could do with a bit more work - for a start making sure the computer doesn't shut off [hence why there's a big of a jump in time]. Rather more alarming, the car moves after it's been parked. I didn't move it, so why did it move... somewhat unnerving.

I had thought about getting the dogcam out for a snowy drive, but all the snow has gone now, so I can't.

Tuesday was the most snow we've had for some time, certainly. you've probably seen it on the news, and if you're one of my European based friends, had a good laugh at how pathetic we Brits are when it comes to snow. It was probably the daftest thing I've ever done, but I chose to go into uni for my weekly Studio session. Well one of them anyway. I do enjoy these sessions. Studio work up till now has definately been lacking from my life - and I seem to be settling into two distinct roles. Sound mixing and floor managing [haven't done vision mixing yet though].

We'd got the set and lighting planned, the script was being written, and then Andy our lecturer walks in and explains it's snowing quite heavily, so if any of us had to go any great distance, it might be an idea to go now.

I call home, and yes, it's snowing quite heavily. Best to head back then.

30 minutes after I left, Uni was closed, so I missed nothing. about 5 minutes before I arrived back [surviving a slightly slippery moment on a nearby roundabout] It stopped snowing completely, and about 10 minutes afterwards me and Dad went for a lovely walk in the sunshine. I even had my sunglasses out!

They do say there'll be more snow on Thursday. I'm not missing Friday's studio session for anything! Last week we had a mock Police news conference. Which went from our technical view, very well indeed. Well other than one of hte 2 radio boom microphones dying on us, and the talkback system failing. The Journos also enjoyed it. finding holes in the police students stories, picking at them, hammering wedges into them, then going for the kill. I don't have any video to show you, but suffice to say my music technology degree is working wonders. People listen to me when I say what needs to happen on the sound. Joy.

Oh yes, and I'm still blanking out those number plates.

Crikey! Snow!

What with it being snowing and all that, ['s funny, it's just stopped] I'm trying out something a bit new. Time Lapse. I've got a software called Gawker, and I'm trying to get it to take a photo every 5 minutes so I can strng them together afterwards. I wonder what will happen...?

In case you're wondering, I'm still editing all those number plates from last week! And I've had a press conference in the TV studio at Uni, which went well. I also appear to have found that sound mixing and floor managing are roles that seem to suit me. Wonder why.

The results of the time lapse will follow.

5000!

5000 views for one of my videos! Hurrah! Curiously though it's not the one I was expecting...

click here to see it

Auto-tested

Sunday was a fun day's filming. As part of a series for Wheelnuts on the lesser known motorsports, I spent the day at Llandow filming the Bridgend Automobile Club's Autotest event. The filming itself went very well indeed. and after lots of editing [most of which completed by Sunday evening] I recorded and added the voice over to it on Monday, and it should be up later on Today. Probably in the early hours of Wednesday. 

A big thanks to Dean, Tom, Chris and Tony for helping out with participating in the filming by the way!

A new skill I managed to pick up in the edit is that of being able to blank out number plates, or indeed anything. It's somewhat time consuming, but the effect looks good, and is certainly not that bad for a first go.

Until the video arrives then, here's a pair of screenshots. You'll get the good stuff soon, honest!

Interesting, but worrying news.

I found this story on the BBC News page today.... and it doesn't make for nice reading when you are, like me, trying to get into the media and live in Wales.

Mr Davies [MP for Blaenau Gwent] said: "We have seen a haemorrhaging of media jobs at ITV Wales, at Trinity Mirror, with Northcliffe papers, in commercial radio.

"Wales is becoming a media wasteland in which only the publicly subsidised BBC and S4C seem secure. This is very, very worrying for democracy.

It's interesting that the article also says that BBC Wales is in a program of job cuts, especially when I have a job application form for a job at the BBC in Wales on my desk in front of me! Still, I get the feeling that it's going to get even harder to get a job in an industry where it was already hard to get a job. Interesting times indeed.