After the long journey of writing proposal, pitching ideas and practicing, we are finally going to film the first and only episode of Legal Highs in week 11 and 12. Ruth created a shared google folder for us so we can all put the draft scripts in. It is very interesting that the whole class will collaborate to complete one video work, and I am looking forward to seeing the final result.

In the past practice, I took charge of camera position. I spent most of time in the recording room, following director’s instruction to adjust the composition. This time, I want to go to the control room to experience different roles, so I chose GFX in the survey and got the position. I thought doing graphics was an easy task that I just need to cue the right picture to cooperate with the performer. However, the Bendigo segment actually needs a higher creative skills like photoshop — putting a blackhole on Bendigo city and etc. I tried my best to search the appropriate images and using both phone and computer to edit them, but I was not very happy with the result. In the first rehearsal, Zac helped me to improve those photoshop needed graphics and add the background to each image to achieve a better visual effect. Throughout this process, I found it really important to communicate with group members, such as confirming with writers to find the right image and learning about the Photoshop skill.

In week 10’s class, we got most graphics and put them into Xpression, a professional software. It was the first time for me to use this soft ware, so Ruth came to teach me all the fundamental usages and uploaded the cheat sheet. With help of Trista (cuz she did GFX in previous practice), I learned more practical skills, such as adjusting sequence. In the first rehearsal, I printed out the script and tried to look at it while operating graphics but I failed. There were over twenty images, so I just got lost. At the end, I found the solution that I should carefully listen to AD’s order and also look at the auto cue to avoid accidence. However, there was still a small mistake in the final video. During the recording, Darcy thought it might be better to go back to the default picture before the host mentioned next point. I checked with Anhar for changes they made but still missed one, so the wrong picture came out for a second. Luckily, I checked the auto cue and quickly cued the right one onto the screen. To solve this problem, it might be better to just leave the last graphic there or to switch to another camera. GFX is a harder work than I imagined. It requires full attention during the whole segment. I needed to focus on what the host and AD said, and operated the picture at the exact proper timing. Our group is like a clock that each part, even a tiny nail counts a lot.