wozamasala

Final product - Half a Loaf

2006-11-08T04:51:00.003-08:00

It's OVER!!!

2006-11-05T04:58:00.000-08:00

It's been fantastic, it's been great...completely enjoyed the course and I know that everything that we've learned here will benefit us greatly in the future. Thanks Paul & Paddy! It's been a great experience. You're great teachers and no...this isn't sucking up for a better mark...it's genuine. ADIOS :)

SLAMMED!!!!

2006-11-01T04:46:00.000-08:00

So we got slammed today for our documentary and I think for the fact that our whole structure had changed in the last minute. Different from other groups, our group is the only one who had not shown Paul our final product. That has put us in an obvious disadvantages. Our technical skills were badly criticised, I can accept that there were things that we could have done in order to make sure that our thing was a hundred percent technically sound so I'm not too bummed about that one. Our whole conceptualisation was also badly hit though, and here I think we did the best we could under the pressure we were under and the fact that there were so many story lines to incorporate in a 5min doccie. The number one thing that people missed was a child's voice telling how hungry they are. We did try to bring this in through looking at a child who was benefiting from her school nutrition program. The only thing though is that she was not really lacking at home either even though she does not live in bourgeoisie living circumstances. So she did not fit in well, it was also hard trying to get children who would actually talk about their poverty, instead they performed for the camera or ran away... so it's a learning curb, we have to find a way to deal with children so you get what you want from them in order to get the statements you want for your purpose of your documentary. That's a skill I suppose we lacked. But overall, it's fine...we got a couple of A and Bs, which is a definte plus! We did try our best to put our all into the project, and we are proud with our final product!

Nearly There!

2006-10-27T04:40:00.000-07:00

Nearly there!!!! This week we have been spending nights at the journ department trying to make sure that our documentary is done on time. Was was especially great is the fact that I came down with the flu and had to be here to edit nonetheless. Because we had such little time to work on the documentary, we crammed everything into one week for editing. This worked against us since I think that we need some time to take a back seat so we can inmprove some things here and there. The final product isn't too bad though...we'll have to see what Paul says about it coz he has not seen the whole thing and we had to change the structure in order to make everything make sense. We could not fully interrogate some things that we hoped for because of time, resources and too many story lines.These aren't excuses, I'm sure with more time we could see what we can improve but this is our final product and we put our all into it, to make sure that it is something that is actually broadcastable.

Some Notes

2006-10-20T05:26:00.000-07:00

-some creativity in documentary
investigate - no scripts - no prior knowledge
- object of information

cenceptualize building blocks
viby atmosphere
scripting technique - how viewer can make sense of video
messaging - (audio) with pictures
function of script - open ended/closed
scripting - project planning process
commercial resourses, cost associated
- brief, what sells the idea.bcums contract

Written assignment
-write up impressions, research on how to approach, backing info of how and when made,google director, impact

look at impact of previous contemporaries
look at ideological satisfaction
cinema for transformation
expose to good and bad practise - look at what's crap and what's not

look at what is good about a movie and what's not
visual bulding blocks to production

Read mamnuals in week 1

Manuals + googling more info on camera and lighting

Who to interview? - experts, vox pop on streets, special interest

General shots - steadiness, framing

A camera + laptop, e.g. NGOs

Brushing up!

2006-10-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

We are brushing up on our technical skills now. We were lucky enough to get a working camera nad to get the sound that we needed on our shoot. God truly answers prayers. SAnel and I went shooting yesterday morning as we had to get our mother and child subjects shot for the documentary. It was great! The little girl was som much fun and very naughty. She was too cute. So after that we went for more shots at the pre-school and we had an interview with the two cooks of the school. They were fantastic. Everyone there is so charitable. It's amazing. We've had trouble capturing all our material, that's why we need to brush up on our technical skills. But we have found a way and everything is going to go well now...hopefully. We are having a meeting with our lecturer to moroow morning where he will crit our material and actually say whether we actually have a story there or not. We have to make this work, no matter what. The first draft is to be completed this week in any case. So there is going to be hectic editing sessions. And I am chief editor it seems. Wow...this week is going to be long and hard but it is definitly going to be worth it.

AT LAST...WE HOPE

2006-10-17T03:52:00.000-07:00

We've decided to take a soft angled story for our documentary. This was simply because we did not have the resources nor the time to actually get the hard story that we were hoping for. So while we were in dispear thinking that we had no story, we decided to just change the angle of our current story since time was running out in any case. So we decided to take the Siyazama project, where the pre-school is privatised and owned by the community. It has its own feeding scheme and thte children are well fed. The grounds and education is also good and the cook is being paid while the other is a volunteer. They are happy at the school and find that things run smoothly with them. This pre-school is the man focus of the story. We then juxtaposed this with poorer government schools that are under the government's pilot program that started a few months ago. The press has been publishing articles on the short comings of the scheme. We decided to go to Pedi on Thursday and investigate for ourselves what the condition in the schools is. We were met with disatisfaction but somewhat incoherent accounts of what was happening. We then interviewed Mr. Fray who is in charge of the scheme and asked him questions on how the scheme was working out and how he planned to combat the problems that are in the current scheme. We wanted to know more about why the government had changed from the previous scheme to the pilot scheme. The answer was that they wanted to get communit members involved and that they sould benefit from the scheme. This has not worked out as Mr. Fray and co. had hoped it would. We hoped there would be some meater. The press certainly aluded to something of the sort but that was not what we found in our meetings with various subjects of our documentary. For all we know there could still be something out there but the trouble of course is that we do not have the resources nor the time for a further investigation on the subject. The problems of the government will then be set as background to the Siyazama Pre-school, just as a juxtoposition that will help question why things aren't running as smoothly in other schools or projects.

Notes

2006-10-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

Points to note:
- Perspective
- Framework
- Ethnographic Research
- What programmes it relates to

OPEN ENDED

Proposal:
- Idea
- Target audience
- Interest
- How it is to be done: "youth edge", what people say about themselves

Director's treatment:
- theoritical framework
- shoot in this area
- speak to certain people

Production schedule:
- deadline
- who to work with

Project management:
- self reflective piece: see faults, self expressive, academic, intellectual

Go to library:
- tune you into jargons

Get a good story

2006-10-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

As a journalist and story teller, one of the main things that are important when you have a project is to have a strong story that will grip the viewer. On top of this, you must know how to tell the story. This is extremely important. Whether you are in new media, television, radio or print, it is important that you grasp this concept. You may have amazing skills in creating fantastic graphics for new media and print, shooting skills for television but it all goes to nothing if you do not have a powerful story or strong content to go with your amazing visuals. I was recently sitting in on a critique of certain students’ work. While it was apparent that these students had a good handle on their technical skills, they did however, not have a good idea on how to tell their story. Because of this their work was no the best it could be. You may have a website with the best eye candy in the world, if it doesn’t have good content, it means nothing. When my lecturers first told me this I thought they were crazy, but I’ve seen it, it doesn’t work. So remember, you may have the best technical skills in the field but if you do not have good content or know how to tell a story…you may have a problem. A very big problem. People want stories, very good stories. So if you’re serious about this profession, you should know how to deliver this to your audience.

Mac

2006-10-10T03:09:00.000-07:00

I've been in the comp-room with the Mac machine. The programmes on that baby are the BOMB! Where have I been all my life? Burried in Windows? What the heck? What's that all about? I wanted to buy a laptop earlier this year. I was gonna have windows, the whole shabam. Thank goodness it didn't happpen because "I KNOW OF A SURITY, THAT THE MAC IS TRUE" (where my Mormon peops at?). Final Cut Pro is the way forward and that Garage Band software, don't forget the iDVD, honey it's crazy up in dir! Okay, am officially a techno freak. Yes Apple has a candy interface but what it can do! oh baby! I'm spending my last few weeks getting well acquainted with it. So that's me peops, my next best friend is a Mac.

Got the story

2006-10-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a long long long journey and since our last post. Debbie came to us after our last idea was thwarted into pieces. She had a lead on a story about the feeding schemes in the Eastern Cape and our angle has been to look at how the scheme has been working and why people were not delivering food to the schools. So we got right on it and went to look at newspaper clippings and surfed the net so we could get more information. We also mde an appointment with the guy investigating the scheme. So we learned that the story we were following was not entirely valid since we were looking at a pilot scheme rather than a scheme filled with corruption. Well there is a little bit of corruption but that's not the only reason why it was not working. So Debbie was on the phone making calls to people all over the place so we can get a lead on a good story. We spoke to Paddy and Alette about our story. There were various angles that we could look at. The problem is, the best angle we'd have into the story would mean some serious investigative work. So we were distraught again. Then Alette suggested the angle of looking at a child who benefits from the school. A child without much food at home or where the parents are not employed. We didn't get that kid, but we got something close to it so we're following that angle.

Our first story ideas

2006-10-06T04:07:00.000-07:00

Sub-cultures - more of a topic rather than a story...too broad
Foreign students - find a hook, led to muslim students &..."no story"
- difficulty 4 foreign students to understand English and no
support base at Rhodes (investigate if worthwhile)
Muslim students - no story
Fairies - crazy lady
Dagga guy - still a possibility
Big Issue - have to create something out of nothing, risky
Pre-School - have to get subject, not sure if there is a story of stigmatization
Peaches - too expensive

Digging up the story

2006-10-06T03:45:00.000-07:00

So what are we going to do? Critique #2, our new topic is apprantly going to be quite easy to "mess" up since we would be creating something out of nothing, says our lecturer. So bugger, says Debbie. It seems like we are going to have a tough time coming up with a good story. Ironically enough, we were supposed to have started shooting already but obviously enough, we havenothing to shoot. another week has passed and there it is. This is a slow process and there is no time to be slow about it. time is running out. In order to show that we are good journalists we ought to know and get our story immediately. Our noses are supposed to sniff out the good story. So there we have it. We have only a few days to get a good story. GOOD LUCK 2 US!!!

NEW TOPIC

2006-10-05T07:49:00.000-07:00

So we have been wodering about our topic whether it will make a great story or not. Luckily for us, our lecturer validated the fact that it was pointless. Don't know what we would have done without that. So we have decided to take a different turn. We have a contact who has been trying to launch The Big Issue in Grahamstown and we'll be doing a story around that. It sounds interesting and fun. We just need to find a vendor tho. APparently it's very hard, which is quite interesting since there are people who actually need jobs. And there is only one place here you can actually sell lots of magazines here so, any hoo. We have that challenge, but it's gonna be fun. We'll keep on blogging on the developments of the story. Right now we're trying to get as much infromation as we can on the subject and people to interview. Will be back with more info on what is happening on that frontier.

Understanding functions of Scripts

2006-10-04T06:16:00.000-07:00

When coming up with a documentary make sure
that the abstract ideas have concrete images inorder
to create interesting visuals. the visuals must be
prioratised in order to sustain unterest in the piece.
Provide a hook at the beginning to make the story
'hot'. Build up to a climax, possibly 3/4 way through?

Process 1
Introduction: intro to body
Body : bits to substantiate material
*May take a breather (optional)
Punchline

Phase 2
Abstract - Concrete
e.g. Expression - clothes

Pictures - shooting script informed by 'abstract-concrete'
Lighting, contacts, weather, name of people - get correct spelling, dynamics

Phase 3
Concrete shots
Editing

Phase 4
Edit script
- keep track of where that shot is exactly on the tape

Idea for documentary

2006-10-02T02:33:00.000-07:00

We get a Muslim student, preferably female and international. We will be looking at the Ramadaan experience though her as a visual narrative to exploring deeper political issues. Our main question will be the How life has changed for Muslims post-911.

Questions for the student:
- In August there was a plane bombing scare that tightened security on airlines and the whole
Lebonan and Israeli war. How have those international stories affected your life?
- Do you think that Muslims on campus are being affected and if so are you doing anything about it?
- If you are, how are you being affected by it and how are you dealing with with the effects if any?

We'll have voxpops on what other students on campus think on the issue. Peter Vale as a possible expert and Gary Baynes as another.

Peter Vale's questions:
- is there enough being done to bridge the gap between "east" and "west"?
- After 911, any change in interaction between Muslim and non-Muslim students on campus?

- What stand is Rhodes taking in the "East vs West"

Visuals

Archival pictures of coverage of 911 and other "terrorist" attacks
Ramadan rituals and festivities [a day of fasting from dawn to dusk] - how much is Rhodes providing a space to do so.
Culturally specific places e.g. Mosque
General shots of campus for contrast incl. voxpops that vary in opinion from main subject, possibly seek out 'muslims' who aren't fasting and don't participate in ant cultural things but are still being prejudiced against.
Shots of the dining hall - westerners and easterners eating

We've got a crew here!

2006-09-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Crew members: Megawati, Debbie, Sanel, Spyke

Each crew to pitch idea:
- blow minds of audience
- visualise and should be appropriate for TV
- blow by blow account of what happens on the screen

Last by not lest, USE YOUR HEADS!

- story
- simple
- depth with journalism
- interesting with visuals

2006-09-28T05:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Woza Masala, we will be posting all the need to knows about our television intensive. we are Rhodes students, South Africa, currently focusing our last weeks of varsity into television making. We'll be posting our notes, video, crits etc. on the site so we you can follow through on what we are up to!