Sunday, 8 July 2012

Report on my trip to San Francisco

Here is the report!

Everyday has been fun for me and probably as well as the others. I have learnt many new skills such as, tying cables, using the switcher which is called the TriCaster, lighting and directing. Most of the things that had been thought had already been covered, but Mr Harry or any other lecturers delved deeper into the lesson and told us things which we did not know.

Our hosts were very nice and friendly and they kept us safe from the dangers of the unknown country which is called America. The people there were also friendly, amusing, comedic and very open.

The weather there was cold, and walking around in the night ain't so bad... until you wander around for more than half an hour. (Which by then, the wind would be very cold and almost unbearable.) Even wearing sweaters or wind breakers wouldn't help! You would need extra clothing underneath, but by then, you could still feel a little bit of the bitter cold wind.

The experience I had over there could not be compared to the experience I have in Singapore. Most people would say, "Of course lah! Different country mah!" I agree, but still, you would need to compare things to see the difference of each other. The thing I would like to compare with, to S.F and S.G is that when you buy an item in S.F, the tax is not included with the price, meaning, if you by an item which costs $2, it would cost probably $2.69 or something cents later, but no less than that. But in S.G, when you buy an item for $2, it would BE $2.

Not dissing the system or anything, just wanted to point it out. The reason because America has different states, and each different states holds different tax rates. Singapore has towns... no states.

Standing in the shade in Singapore, you could still feel the heat from around you, but in S.F, you would feel nothing but the cool breeze the shade has left behind. The weather is well suited for people to do lots of different sports and games outdoors. Even if they sweat in the heat, the cool breeze would be there to freshen them back up... but they still need to take a shower though, har har.

The food there was exotic and much different than SG's. Their meal mostly consists of corn, or mashed potato for their main dish, and occasionally meat and vegetables with their main. They seldom, or rarely eat rice... I think. But one things for sure, they eat with only a fork. Yes people, just a fork. How epic is DAT?!

Also, if you try and wave to specific types of people who walk the streets, you might just get an enthusiastic wave back at you. Unlike in SG, some people would totally stare at you blankly and wonder, "Siao ah dis fella. Dun noe me still wave like eye noe him." And it mostly leaves you in an awkward situation where you'll just have to walk away and laugh stupidly.

Why try and wave at people? I don't know! Be different! Maybe a smile and a wave might give a boost to a person's day. Might is the keyword here.

Well, that is all I have for the report... for now. I might add in more if I remember more things. Thanks for reading! See ya!

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

San Francisco Report

We took almost 14 hours from Singapore to San Francisco. Mr Harry was there in the Airport to fetch us to Cornerstone Academy. Before going there, we met Mr Harry's family. Ms Li Soon, his wife and two other kids, Mattew and Nathan. When we reach Cornerstone, we were given a small tour around the place. The first two days was to let us overcome the Jet lag.

June 11, Monday. We had a classroom session with Mr Harry as our lecturer. On that they we learnt about Live Video Production. We touch on Camera Basics. What are the types of video cameras. Common tape and media types used. We had a small activity after that. We were suppose to shoot the different camera angles. Long shot, Close up, Pan shot and so on. After lunch we learned Asthetics and setup. The main asthetics consideration in video are lighting, nose room, head room, rule of third, cut off points, high and low angles, stability and energy and selective focus.

June 12, Tuesday. We learned camera and lighting. For camera. parts of the camera, lens, CCDs, recording system, white balance, filters and attachments. For lighting we learned where we were suppose to put our lights. Key, fill and back lights. We learned about the different color temperatures of lights. What type of light are best use for either key, fill or back light. After lunch we had a camera and lighting excercise.

June 13, Wednesday. Mr Toney taught us encoding streaming for web and what are codecs. After lunch Mr Harry took us to the studio to do some Chroma Keying. We set up the green screen and also the lighting. Matt was the one in front of the green screen. One click the green screen was completely keyed. It is because the way we set up the lights. The shadows were not so visible. The lights are diffuse.

June 14, Thursday. Mr Phil taught us live multi camera video production. We went to the studio to do some excercise. We tried to operate the switcher. Switch from camera to camera and also camera to video. We can do transition too with the switcher. We controlled the camera using the joysticks. And also the sound mixer. All the camera and sounds were located downstairs at the church sanctuary. We were able to control everything from upstairs the control room which is the studio. 

June 15, Friday. We had no lesson for this day. We went to downtown for a city tour. We sat a cable car, driven by the tour guide. The tour guide brought us to different places around the city. And also the most famous San Francisco bridge which was called the Golden Gate Bridge. It was very cold when we drove across it. After the tour we went to Disny Museum. The museum showed us how Disney started. From the day Walter Elias Disney was born till the day that he passed away.

June 16, Saturday. We had a long ride to Santa Cruz theme park. We met two singaporean girls who were working there as part time workers. Deborah and Stephanie. They showed us around the theme  park. I had lots of fun there.

June 17 Sunday. It was a sunday and people were coming into the church to worship the lord. We were all upstairs in the studio preparing for it. The session will all be recorded and would be live on uStream. Finally the session ended. We all did a good job. It was a new thing i did. I really Enjoyed it. After lunch we had our own free time to go anywhere. We went downtown to buy some stuffs.

June 18 Monday. We leaned about Camera, Crew positions and roles. For crew positions we were taught on who are above the line and who are below the line. Above the line are Executive Producer, producer, scriptwriter, director, director of photography and editor. Below the line are camera operators, sound recordist, lighting gaffer and production assistant. After lunch we learned about sound. There were different types of microphones displayed on the table to let us see. There are dynamic mics and condenser mics. And also the different connectors used. XLR, 1/4inch and RCA.

June 19 Tuesday. My Harry showed us how to do story structure. Hero's Journey. How the main actor goes from the ordinary world to the special and then back again. Later we had a visit to ITVS. ITVS is place where they broadcast documentaries.

June 20 Wednesday. Ms Li Soon took us to Expression College of Digital Arts. To go there we have to go across the Bay Bridge. The facilities they have there is amazing. They had a very big green screen studio, A place for 3d motion tracking. The different sound studios they have. I have never seen such a school before. There were displays of different character models made by the students there. It was beautiful.

June 21 Thursday. There were not much things to do on that day. We just covered a little on lighting by Mr harry and discuss on our short film project.  Mr Harry, Mr Phil and Keith help to come up with the stories too. Mr Harry also help us to do the Scripting.  Afiqah is busy drawing the storyboard. She is very hardworking. She slept for only about 2 hours. Hope that our hardwork comes to a pay.

June 22 Friday. We went to Mac Building where all the mac computer, iphone, ipad was born. We manage to go in and have lunch thanks to Mr Wing Kong. His from Singapore. His job is to fix the keyboard or mouse. Then we went in the Mac shop. Mr Kean, Ms LiSoon and Fadli bought thier stuff for 15% off. All thanks to Wing Kong again. After that we went to the Computer History Museum.Where all the computers have evolve through the days. From the first computer ever invented till now the present. I was fascinated by all the computer used years ago. Some were use during military war and some were calculators. Big Calculators. I guess Mr Kean was into computers. He was in the museum for a long time taking photos of all the computers. When we were suppose to leave, we could not find Mr Kean. His Phone was left in the car so we could not call him. 

June 23 Saturday.We went to Gilroy Outlet. Its a place for shopping. Its very big. They have four sections. Each sections have different stores. Most of the shops there have discounts. Fadli bought a bag for just 20 dollars. The original price was 70 dollars. I bought shirts there too.

June 24 Sunday. Same thing we went for the live production in the studio. But this time we switch. I did the switcher. Fadli the camera and Afiqah doing the sound. I was not really good with the switcher. I am still not so comfortable with the buttons. We went to eat Vietnam food later on. Mr Harry's family bought us there to eat lunch. It was delicious.After lunch we went to prepare all the props we needed for the shoot. There were 3 stores found in the prop room. We took it out. It was a challenge to bring those 3 stores up. One of the wheel came of and Mr Harry had to fix it. Finally all the props was gathered and was ready. Actors was also decided. Fadli typed out the shots list.

June 25 Monday, 26 Tuesday. We did two days of filming. It was tough bringing all the heavy equipments around. The temperature there was cold so i did not sweat that much. Finally the shooting ended on 26 June in the afternoon. We went to the studio to injest all the footage in. Me and Afiqah rename all the shots and did a rough cut. Fadli did the scene which needed to track a holograph into the phone. After that we went to the launch of Adobe CS6 road show. They showcase all the new features added into some of the Adobe CS6 products. We headed back. We edit some more shots before going to bed.

June 27 Wednesday. Same thing edit and edit the shots. Mr Phil did the voice over with a Hong Kongish Accent which was funny. Then later we went to visit Autodesk. It was a small gallery. Inside were the things made by Autodesk. After visiting of course went back to the studio to edit again.

June 28 Thursday. Went to studio and edit. We finish putting all the shots together as one with the help of Mr Harry and also thanks to Fadli doing the sound and the ambiance. I had difficulties doing the color correcting. No matter how hard i adjust i just could not manage to match the color to the other scene. Finally the film was almost done. We went to the baseball stadium to watch the Giants play. It was cold that night. Fog was coming in. Giants won the game! All the people in the stadium were all cheering. It was something new to me watching baseball players play in an actual field.

June 29 Friday. Afiqah woke up very early to touch up abit on the sound. Then later i rendered it out before going to Lucas Film. We were given a tour around Lucas Film. The guide was very nice. He explained some of the work there well to. There were models displayed which was used in some of the films. Like Jurassic Park and of course the most famous movie which is Star Wars. Back at the dorm we were packing our stuffs before going down to the sanctuary to show our film. Sadly not many people know the weakness of the actors. But its okay, it was our first full time film project. We can do better next time. We went back into our dorm packing again when Mr Kean told us that our flight was not tonight but tomorrow night. Everyone was quite happy, we can stay another day.

June 30 Saturday. We went to watch a movie called Prometheus. After the show we went to Mr Harry's house to do some barbecue. We played Nerf guns with Nathan. It was fun. We ate our dinner together with Mr Toney and his wife. It was time to go back home to Singapore. I was sad leaving San Francisco. We gave Ms Li Soon and Mr Harry a thank you card. Mr Harry send us to the airport.

Staying in San Francisco for 3 weeks was a good experience for me. Muhammad Yunos and Joshua was right, They said that it will be fun. I have also learn a lot. I am gonna miss San Francisco and all the people there that i know. Thank you Mr Harry and Ms Li Soon for taking care of us and also Thank you Mr Kean for bringing us there. Good Bye San Francisco!!!


Saturday, 30 June 2012

San Francisco (:

It's been a great experience in San Francisco. From our first to last day, there's always something for us to do. From the city tour to site visit and Cornerstone itself, we learnt new things and gaining new experience out of it. The Sunday live taping was one of the best experience for me. I managed to try the switcher, cameras and audio. Our project was challenging but we managed to complete it. Thanks to team who helped us out. Other than that, the baseball game was really fun. The Giants won when we were there! :p Oh and Thanks to Mr Harry, Ms Li Soon, Mr Phil, Mr Tony and Matt during our stay here.

Most of all, thanks to Mr Kean for bringing and staying with us here. It's really nice here in San Francisco. (:

Last week in San Francisco.

We did production and post production this week. On Sunday afternoon, we started preparing the props needed. We borrowed a couple of items from the props room. We also managed to print out the signs needed for the shoot. We started shooting the next morning. Mr Phil brought his kid's clothes and toys. We used it as the vendor's items.

During the shoot, I wasn't far away from the camera. I was helping out with the sound so I hold the boom mic. I made sure that I record each scene clear enough. The outdoor scene was pretty challenging but since it's a directional mic, it was alright. I made sure that my mic wasn't facing the wind.

I find the scene in the workshop and boiler room were interesting. We had lasers and smoke machine used in that scene. We managed to complete most of the shots on our first day of production. On the second day of production, we were left with only 5-6 shots. Mr Phil did drive Douglas and I around so that we record the traffic and ambience.

We started our post production that night right after we came back from the Adobe. Douglas and I started do the rough cut. The renaming of scenes,shot and takes really helped us a lot. We were able to find the scene and shots easily. While we were doing the rough cut, Fadli started doing the vfx for one of the scene. It was really nice. We all went back to room before midnight.

The next day was similar to the previous day. We spend the day editing. Mr Harry came to take a look at our rough cut. I wrote down the shots that needed to be edit. Most of the shot need to be cut short. Mr Phil and his daughter came to the studio. Mr Phil helped us out. We recorded his voice for a couple of scenes. It was nice. We went to Autodesk that afternoon. We continue our post production when we came back. We managed to finish editing the entire sequence that night. We went back to our room later after we decided to do the Color correct and import the scene that Fadli have been working on.

The next day, Mr Harry and Mr Phil came to the studio to take a look at our work. We started on editing the audio. Fadli and Douglas did the audio. Went they are done, I continued to editing the scenes. Mr Kean and Douglas did the ending credit. After Douglas had import the video, I got to readjust the volume for the scene. Mr Harry and Phill was there to point out which scenes were too loud. We stopped at 5pm and had our dinner. After dinner, Mr Phil took us to the baseball game. It was really awesome! The Giants won!! :p

The next day, I woke up earlier. I went to the studio at 6am plus to finish up readjusting the volume and reimport the new end credit that Douglas have re-render. Mr Phil and his daughter dropped by around 7plus. I went back to my room at 8plus. I told Douglas that I'm done editing and asked him to take a look. He went to studio and render out the video when everything was okay.

We were given a participation cert by Mr Harry and Rev. Lau. (: right after that, Mr Harry and Ms Li Soon took us to Lucasfilm! Ryan gave us a tour. He's a really nice person. We walked around to see the work done/ used in film. The matte paintings were all very nice. I love it. (: We had a farewell lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It was nice to have lunch with them.

We went back to Cornerstone at 3pm. We cleaned up our room for a few minutes. We were told to head down for our short film screening (: it was great and it feels good to see our work. At the end, we were given an award and baseball bat xD Thank you Mr Phil and Mr Harry. ((:

We went back to our room and packed our luggage and cleaned our room. Later, Mr Kean told us that our flight is tomorrow. LOL. I spend the rest of the day taking a short nap before Mr Harry and Li Soon took us out for dinner. (:


Sunday, 24 June 2012

23 & 24 June.

Went to Gilroy outlet yesterday. Mrs Li drove us there for about an hour. There are 4 different sections. I walked around to see different outlet. We went to McDonalds for lunch. It's really different from the one we had in Singapore. In terms of menu n service. At the 3rd section, I finally bought something. I got each of my family member at least a souvenir.
We head back home around 5 plus. I had my dinner and went into my room to finish up my storyboard until 1am.

I woke up at 6:30 today. We went to the studio at 9:15. We did another live taping today. I was controlling camera 1-3 during the Cantonese session. After that I did the audio during the English session.
We had our lunch at a Vietnamese food outlet with Mr Harry and his family. I had beef noodle and a cup of coffee. It was nice. (: We went back to school right after that to pack our thing for tomorrow.
Firstly, we to the prop's room to grab all of the items that we need for tomorrow's shooting. E.g: basket, sword, rose, plants and ropes. Oh and moving the stall was a challenge. One of it was broken before we can pushed it up the slope. The wheels came off. While Mr Harry went to grab his stuff to fix the stall, we pushed the 2 other stall up to the entrance. We came back to the broken stall to help out. Mr Harry n Mr Kean fixed it. After we had gather all the props, we went to the studio to do all of the cutting n pasting for our signs etc. Fadli typed of the shots list. Later, Douglas and I went to gather the equipment for tomorrow. We had most of things done for now. Hopefully we'll manage to complete the production tomorrow.

Saturday, 23 June 2012

22/06/2012

22/06/2012We went to the Apple building to meet with Mr Wing Kong. He gave us a sticker with our name on it and showed us around. Most of the people there uses MAC. He brought us straight to the cafeteria and we had lunch there. I had salmon sandwich, which was quite tasty and a coke zero for my drink.

Mr Wing Kong had  to attend a meeting, so he dropped us at the apple store and let us look around or buy stuff until he's done with it. I bought a hat for my uncle and a key chain for my auntie. Mr Wing Kong helps to gives us discounts. Thank you MR WING KONG!

After that, we went to the Computer History Museum, the world's largest history museum for the preservation and presentation of artifacts and stories of the Information Age located in the heart of Silicon Valley. The computers were used in many different events such as wars, space programs, marketing, games or simple daily equipment such as a car's breaking systems and or phones.

After the view of the museum, I went to the gift shop to buy yet another key chain, for my self, and a necklace for my sister.
We lost Mr Kean in the museum, so we went to search for him. We found him, but we lost Douglas next. When I found him, I told him that Mr Kean had already been found. I hoped it wouldn't be an endless loop cycle of missing people and to my relief, it wasn't.

We retreated back home, safe and sound. Had dinner of some very delicious fried rice. Packed them for tomorrow's breakfast and then went to rest in my dorm.

Second Week Friday

We went to Mac Building yesterday. Where all the mac computer, iphone, ipad was born. We manage to go in and have lunch thanks to Mr Wing Kong. His from Singapore. His job is to fix the keyboard or mouse. Then we went in the Mac shop. Mr Kean, Ms LiSoon and Fadli bought thier stuff for 15% off. All thanks to Wing Kong again. After that we went to the Computer History Museum.
Where all the computers evolve through the days. From the first computer ever invented till now the present. I was fascinated by all the computer used years ago. Some were use during military war and some were calculators. Big Calculators. I guess Mr Kean was into computers. He was in the museum for a long time taking photos of all the computers. When we were suppose to leave, we could not find Mr Kean. His Phone was left in the car so we cannot call him. Thats all. We went home after we find Mr Kean.