CIT MMS Internship Week 15

This week marks the beginning of Faculty Research Day. The goal for FRD is to go around to different colleges and interview professors who have recently won awards for their work. This is difficult because there are up to twenty participates who must work around our schedule as we work around theirs to travel and handle this interviews (as well as B-Roll). This year however we decided to host the interviews in our studio under a green screen.

The first participate came along and we finally got to test out the green screen. Keying was a great improvement after the lighting wasn't so harsh but the white balance was off making color grading a hassle. We'll work around it hopefully, just another lesson learned.

I also got a chance to use the 5D more with headshots made for a new faculty member. They turned out great and it was good to work with still photography and know how essential it is to a lot of jobs in the media world.

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Hours logged: 9

CIT MMS Internship Week 14

This week at MMS was a lot of cleaning up and calibrations. When projects are at a bit of a standstill, we like to do this to keep all our stuff tidy. As well as faculty research day coming up, a huge feat MMS pulls each year, this clean was necessary.

We began by cleaning out the computers by running OnyX & a disk cleaner. It didn't seem to cause many issues & was done in a jiffy. We also cleaned out the studio and organized things like the battery charging station so we had a clean rotation. I also was able to move a spot light on the ceiling back a bit because it was creating a hot spot on the green screen shoots.

We also shot some calibration clips with the EX3s, Panasonic and Canon 5D. Our goal is to develop a LUT so that color grading in post wouldn't be such a hassle.

At the end of the week Cody & I took a couple interns out to shoot some with the different cameras to understand how they worked. It's always good to get some practice in.

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 13

This week more representatives from Athletics brought in another athlete for the same commercial spot that we did for OJ. Lauren Beers is a gymnast for the University and pulled off the shoot perfectly. We fixed the eye issue had with OJ by placing the prompt directly under the camera so her gaze looked natural. It was nice figuring this out and helping out the team solve an issue. This job has taught me a ton about the importance of avoiding corrections in post.

I keyed and edited Lauren's 30 second spot and had it ready by the end of the week. Much quicker than OJ and it felt good to run a project from beginning to end.

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 12

This week we held a meeting to further discuss the Brazil project. I love meetings like this because it helps stir the team environment and discussions bring forth more creative ideas. It helps the entire progress of the project and I almost wished we did it for every project.

Basically Dr. Castilho's interview ran for a little short of an hour. Our goal for the next week or so is to cut up his interview and start pasting it into the master timeline. This means evaluating who explains concepts better between Dr. Castilho, Dr. Periera & Dr. Cribelli when discussion intertwines. The goal with the Castilho interview was to boost the story telling elements into a lecture like timeline. We finished a rough draft on Friday that we feel is heading in that direction.

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 11

This week I spent fixing the audio a little more in the meditation podcast. Sean & I had to take out popping noises from lips touching each other after an effect to get rid of the room tone accentuated these. They appeared every time she took a moment to stop speaking and the entire clip is roughly 45 minutes long. While I did learn a lot about how audio EQ works, fixing minor issues like these drove me up the wall. It's part of the job, oh well.

 The break is coming up so not much else was going on in the office. I took a couple days off to prepare for a shoot scheduled this weekend.

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-1

Hours logged: 8

CIT MMS Internship Week 10

Dr. Castilho's interview was this week. We set the studio up with a nice grey background & two EX3 angles for the shoot. Figuring all this out required a bit of effort for determining angle, space, wiring, & lighting so that both shots look good. I was not here for the interview but those who were said it went great & I'm going over the footage now. Meanwhile, a professor came in who wanted to do a couple of audio recordings for a meditation audio guide. This is tough because you need to eliminate as much room tone as possible from the monologue & the audio room is in not so pristine a condition. This requires going in to Audition to clean the audio, a task that takes a while. At least I feel calm & relaxed after doing so.

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 9

This week went by fairly slowly with not a lot going on. Sean & I went out with the 5D to get some professional shots of Dr. Cribelli for her website. We shot in Woods Quad & although it was a fairly simple shoot I always enjoy working with a DSLR. Cody & I are working on questions to ask Dr. Castilho when he comes to town. This requires going over all the footage we already have from 3 1/2 hours of interview & finding the gaps or parts in the interviews where we feel could be explained better. He is coming in a week & Brandon would like to get him the questions before so he can review.

In addition to Dr. Cribelli's headshots she also brought us a diorama that her students made and wanted us to take pictures of it. We agreed but in the studio it was difficult to get everything in focus so we took separate pictures of small pieces and stitched it together in photoshop. I was proud of this when it turned out looking not half bad!

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 8

This week we have finally cleaned up all the projects on the board we were working on. The Writing Center has been color corrected & ready to be exported, both commercials for OJ & Chandler have been completed & keying worked out well. Everyone seems to be satisfied. Meanwhile the interns have finished their small individual projects so Brandon can get a scope of where everyone is at & now they are working on training videos for future interns on how to use the equipment in the studio. Cody & I are helping along but this is the first time they are working together as a team. The Brazil project is back on the table now. A new interview subject is coming down from Vanderbilt for a series of lectures & we're going to spend some time getting our own from him for the project. A meeting was held on Friday. 

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 7

This week is still tons of editing. Getting through the keying on OJ worked out well & is finally off the board. Cleaning up Chandler Dare's lighting is a bit of a task but not too bad, she didn't seem to cause us many issues. Cody is still going through keying the University Representative's hair but is making progress & we're both learning a lot about keying in both Premiere & After Effects. We've also been putting in the b-roll shots onto the Writing Center project & cutting old ones out. It's harder than it sounds to rearrange clips and we're struggling with hiding cuts. Moving along though so that's good. The bottom part of a background screen in the studio tore off & I had to replace it. Not a crazy wild job but it's the little things. 

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 6

This week we had a small shoot with the a representative of the University to include in the athletic grad video. Setting up the green screen shoot has become ordinary this semester & even the new interns are beginning to pick up on it. This issue with this shoot was keying her hair in post, a process that I & Cody have begun on. The b-roll shooting of the Writing Center went well & now begins the process of editing it down. 

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 5

This week was fairly slow in the office. Plans have been made to work with the Writing Center, an on-campus group, to work on a "commercial spot" for them. We've already gone in and shot interviews & conducted b-roll throughout the summer but new renovations required us to go ahead and reshoot some shots. They also held a booth in the Ferguson Center so I took two of the new interns with me to get some shots with the EX3. All in all a slow week, still tweaking with OJ's eyes as well. 

Tues. 11-4

Wednes. 10-2

Thurs. 11-3

Fri. 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 4

Last week at MMS went by pretty soundly. The issue that surrounded me most of the time working is fixing OJ Howard's eyes. In the studio we had a large screen that showed the script that OJ & Chandler Dare were to read. The screen was about fifty inches and stood to the side of me. When Chandler spoke, she made sure to keep her eyes on the camera but when the tight end came up for his turn his eyes were turned away and glued to the screen.

Tuesday, 11-4
Wednesday, 10-2
Thursday, 11-3
Friday, 10-2

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 3

Last week at MMS went by pretty soundly. The issue that surrounded me most of the time working is fixing OJ Howard's eyes. In the studio we had a large screen that showed the script that OJ & Chandler Dare were to read. The screen was about fifty inches and stood to the side of me. When Chandler spoke, she made sure to keep her eyes on the camera but when the tight end came up for his turn his eyes were turned away and glued to the screen.

So I had to crop out his eyes on a shot were he was looking at the camera and painstakingly key frame them into every frame with a few exceptions. I used the face tracker on after effects to help but the process still involved tweaking what AE had attempted to begin. I finally finished it Friday and it's prepped for Bryant Denny.

Hours logged: 17

CIT MMS Internship Week 1 & 2

Classes have started back but I didn't feel much of a change in the office at Multimedia Services. Ran by the University, MMS Videography helps document & share research work and other related tasks being performed by individuals at UA. I've just pasted my 15th month on the job here and am still so thankful for the opportunity and to be part of such a close and productive team. 

The story of the summer was the Brazil project and that has now bled into the fall. Starting back in the Summer of 2015, the Brazil project is an (for now) untitled documentary on the history and struggles of the Afro-Brazilians. Partnered with a history professor on campus as well as researchers in New York City Rio de Janeiro & Nashville, our goal is to make a product that can explain & lend attention to a very under reported & endearing social issue in South America. We are currently four extensive interviews in with two more lined up to complete the story and are in the process of stitching together an outline with the interviewees, clocking in around forty minutes. 

So much of these first couple weeks has been slowly inching closer and closer to being able to implement b-roll into the story. This in itself is a task because much of the b-roll is illustrations made by European travelers in the 18th and 19th century, heavily secured by copyright claims over the Internet. Finding loopholes to grasp these precious materials has proved to be a struggle but not totally out of the question. It helps that the university supplies hubs of archives as well, an opportunity that MMS has taken advantage of. 

This past Friday was a bit of an exciting change when Alabama tight end OJ Howard & softball player Chandler Dare came into the studio to shoot a TV ad for Alabama's grad school program. 

This week will be patching these up & preparing them to be showed on cable (at times) as well as at games in Bryant-Denny & potentially bowl games, hopefully ones that stretch into the new year.

Hours logged: 26

Thursday, August 18th: 12-3p.m.
-worked on getting b-roll for Brazil project
-worked on opening segment for Brazil

Friday, August 19th: 10-2p.m.
-b-roll
-worked on opening

Monday, August 22nd: 10-2p.m.
-b-roll
-worked on opening

Tuesday, August 23rd: 12-4p.m.
-b-roll
-worked on opening

Wednesday, August 24th: 10-2p.m.
-b-roll
-worked on closing segment

Thursday, August 25th: 12-3p.m.
-b-roll
-worked on closing
-touched up writing center project before finalizing

Friday, August 26: 10-2p.m.
-b-roll
-worked on opening