The Last Straw
Arrived on time and met up with Kristie, the supervisor. First up, she introduced me to Mark, who worked in the sound department. This was short-lived however as a client then came in and I was forced to head back to Kristie.
I asked if the 2D or 3D department was available, but they were too busy to take on students. So, once again, she plopped me down in tapes and left me under the guidence of Kel. I ended up sitting on a stool in the room, awaiting Kristie who had informed me it would be an hour before she could get me back into the sound department.
2 hours later, I had 4 drawings in my visual diary, and read 2 chapters of my book. Bored out of my mind.
10 minutes before the 2nd hour, one of the ladies from Facilities (Kristie's department) asked me to help her put covers into some DVD cases (basically the same process with the CD cases, fantastic!). Took me a short time, then revisited Kristie before heading to lunch.
Ate lunch and enjoyed it. Didn't have to pay for it. Mwa hahahahahaha!
Met up with Kristie again, she searched for any possible openings. Thankfully, Mark was working on sound for a DVD documentary for QSuper, and so I sat in with him while he worked.
Despite the shitty day thus far, being with him improved my mood greatly. The project he was working on was tedious and made him quite synical, despite him informing he was not usually a synical person. I didn't mind though. After a while, we began having a laugh at nit-picking the documentary from the bad acting and dialogue, to the difficult-to-understand data being explained by the actors.
I had a good time, watching as he applied sound to the project, using the program Pro-Tools which I was familair with. He applied sound that fitted the time of day and mood of the piece. This lasted up until the last 30 minutes of my time with Cutting Edge. I thanked him and departed to find Kristie.
She was unavailable however, and so I left a message with one of the ladies at Facilities and got the hell out of there.
Overall experience:
Average
Cutting Edge is amazingly focused to their task and provide top-notch quality for their clients. The facilities are beautiful, well designed and stocked up with technology no student could ever hope to afford. Their task focuses on post-production, usually with clients in the television industry and provide welcoming environments in which to discuss and show off work to their clients.
I was dissapointed that I did not get to explore a lot of the facility, except for the few people who were available to accomadate me. Would've also helped if Kristie provided something constructive (a few tasks maybe) between finding available staff, so my time would not be reduced to sitting around waiting. Or better yet, not putting covers into CD cases.
Would I want to work there? Its a potential business consideration. However, my dream is to become an animator/director of my own animation series and don't believe Cutting Edge would be interested. Perhaps they will be considered for the latter process of animation.
Total time: Approx 20 hours
Final comments: Purple monkey dish washer
Cutting Edge
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Cutting Edge - Day 2
More Work Experience
Not quite eventful as yesterday. Only met two new people at Cutting Edge.
First one I met in the morning was Justin, who worked in the Telecine suite. He worked on converting footage into tape and such, as well as colour correction. I sat in as he worked on the last half of a documentary (which felt more like a drama), correcting the shody camera lighting by editing the colour and gamma, helping it appear more consistant.
The process was interesting, but after about an hour, I found little to do. It was difficult to talk with Justin as he seemed to like his job yet NOT like it. I mainly sat back and watched, fighting to keep my eyes awake since I had travelled on a train for an hour in the early hours of the morning. My assumption that if I were to get into the industry, colour correction is not for me.
After a total of 2 hours watching (the last 20 minutes pointless due to him finishing the work then merely looking up forums on the internet), I departed and headed up to the third floor where I got some lunch. Like yesterday, I was surprised to recieve another free meal and was quite pleased.
During this time, I enjoyed the view of the upper floor and drew this:
I did another drawing while I was with Justin but these two were more refined.
After eating and enjoying the view on the third floor for an hour, I met up with Kristie, my supervisor, and she introduced me to Mark who worked in the visual effects department.
Mark used the program called Inferno, a very expensive program that provided top standard tools to editing footage to create beautiful visual effects. He showed me his various works he'd done recently, including a beautiful ad about Tourism Queensland. I was amazed at how much each scene had been manipulated to suit the scene.
Compared to Justin, he was a nice change. While I had a little difficulty sharing his interest in motorcycles, I was honoured that he allowed me the chance to use the program for a while. Since I had no formal training or any experience with Inferno, my time with the program was....amusing. I could do little with the program, but manged to draw up some text that read "Excellent", and appeared slightly interesting. Until I'm in the industry, this shall probably be the most expensive program I have ever used....if but briefly.
Soon, 3:30 came round and I bid Mark farewell, paying a visit to Kristie on the way out. I aim to ask Kristie tomorrow if I can visit the 2D animators, or if at the least, visit the 3D department, so I see how they work.
One can only hope.
Not quite eventful as yesterday. Only met two new people at Cutting Edge.
First one I met in the morning was Justin, who worked in the Telecine suite. He worked on converting footage into tape and such, as well as colour correction. I sat in as he worked on the last half of a documentary (which felt more like a drama), correcting the shody camera lighting by editing the colour and gamma, helping it appear more consistant.
The process was interesting, but after about an hour, I found little to do. It was difficult to talk with Justin as he seemed to like his job yet NOT like it. I mainly sat back and watched, fighting to keep my eyes awake since I had travelled on a train for an hour in the early hours of the morning. My assumption that if I were to get into the industry, colour correction is not for me.
After a total of 2 hours watching (the last 20 minutes pointless due to him finishing the work then merely looking up forums on the internet), I departed and headed up to the third floor where I got some lunch. Like yesterday, I was surprised to recieve another free meal and was quite pleased.
During this time, I enjoyed the view of the upper floor and drew this:
I did another drawing while I was with Justin but these two were more refined.
After eating and enjoying the view on the third floor for an hour, I met up with Kristie, my supervisor, and she introduced me to Mark who worked in the visual effects department.
Mark used the program called Inferno, a very expensive program that provided top standard tools to editing footage to create beautiful visual effects. He showed me his various works he'd done recently, including a beautiful ad about Tourism Queensland. I was amazed at how much each scene had been manipulated to suit the scene.
Compared to Justin, he was a nice change. While I had a little difficulty sharing his interest in motorcycles, I was honoured that he allowed me the chance to use the program for a while. Since I had no formal training or any experience with Inferno, my time with the program was....amusing. I could do little with the program, but manged to draw up some text that read "Excellent", and appeared slightly interesting. Until I'm in the industry, this shall probably be the most expensive program I have ever used....if but briefly.
Soon, 3:30 came round and I bid Mark farewell, paying a visit to Kristie on the way out. I aim to ask Kristie tomorrow if I can visit the 2D animators, or if at the least, visit the 3D department, so I see how they work.
One can only hope.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Cutting Edge - Day 1
Work Experience
Arrived at Cutting Edge at 8:15am via a train to South Brisbane, and a 10 minute bus. Met up with my supervisor, Kristie, and she gave me a guided tour of the building.
Was quite amazed at the many suites and technology available. I was introduced to Dan, one of the sound designers. She left me with him for about an hour, showing me his work station and what he does.
A bloke by the name of Damien showed up and together with Dan, used the audio booth and recorded some voice over dialogue for television ads and radio for BCF (Boating, Camping, Fishing). It was quite a privilage to see a professional voice actor at work.
After a while, another guy showed up. Dan introduced him as Peter, an editor. Went with him up to his editing suite and observed him at work on the same audio track which he applied to the video. He was a good friendly bloke and we got along quite well. I observed and asked questions regarding the program, called Avid, and generally about client work.
During this time we had lunch, at which I was able to eat free amazingly. Apparentally when employees are booked into rooms to work on projects, the cafe upstairs provides meals without cost. I felt kind of bad for having a free meal despite being only a work experience student.
Peter said don't worry about it. So I didn't.
After 2 hours with him, he transfered me down to the tape library, looked after by Kev. The place felt like out of a movie: machines all around intended for converting video into tape or vice versa. Stayed with him for a while, though I didn't get to spend much time observing the technology. He put me to minor work on putting Cutting Edge covers on some blank cd covers. It was....not....really.....that exciting.
After a while, Kristie showed up and offered to introduce me to someone else. She introduced me to Anthley, who worked with the program called Smoke. Turned out to be quite an amazing program, capable of adding in visual effects to video and such. I stayed with him for the rest of the day, asking questions and observing.
After about 3:20, I decided to head on home. I talked with Kristie, discovering my time schedule for the next two days, being from 9:00am till 3:30pm:
Works for me. Then I departed and headed home. Huzzah.
Arrived at Cutting Edge at 8:15am via a train to South Brisbane, and a 10 minute bus. Met up with my supervisor, Kristie, and she gave me a guided tour of the building.
Was quite amazed at the many suites and technology available. I was introduced to Dan, one of the sound designers. She left me with him for about an hour, showing me his work station and what he does.
A bloke by the name of Damien showed up and together with Dan, used the audio booth and recorded some voice over dialogue for television ads and radio for BCF (Boating, Camping, Fishing). It was quite a privilage to see a professional voice actor at work.
After a while, another guy showed up. Dan introduced him as Peter, an editor. Went with him up to his editing suite and observed him at work on the same audio track which he applied to the video. He was a good friendly bloke and we got along quite well. I observed and asked questions regarding the program, called Avid, and generally about client work.
During this time we had lunch, at which I was able to eat free amazingly. Apparentally when employees are booked into rooms to work on projects, the cafe upstairs provides meals without cost. I felt kind of bad for having a free meal despite being only a work experience student.
Peter said don't worry about it. So I didn't.
After 2 hours with him, he transfered me down to the tape library, looked after by Kev. The place felt like out of a movie: machines all around intended for converting video into tape or vice versa. Stayed with him for a while, though I didn't get to spend much time observing the technology. He put me to minor work on putting Cutting Edge covers on some blank cd covers. It was....not....really.....that exciting.
After a while, Kristie showed up and offered to introduce me to someone else. She introduced me to Anthley, who worked with the program called Smoke. Turned out to be quite an amazing program, capable of adding in visual effects to video and such. I stayed with him for the rest of the day, asking questions and observing.
After about 3:20, I decided to head on home. I talked with Kristie, discovering my time schedule for the next two days, being from 9:00am till 3:30pm:
Works for me. Then I departed and headed home. Huzzah.
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