LIFE in general :)

Hi there, My name is Gemma- louise and I am currently studying at South Devon College taking a degree in Performance Practice and Events Management, with a view to hopfully take my third year at 
Plymouth Uni. 

I am passionate about writing songs and singing is basically has been my life since I can remember. Its that one thing that gets you through that hard day... :) 




Things that make me happy are things like having hotels on Mayfair and Park Lane in Monopoly!! :D 

ABOVE: HOTELS ON MONOPOLY! :D

-to having my food put into silly faces by my dad :D

Along with everything else I'm pretty much easy to please.

ABOVE: THE FACE OF BREAKFAST!

"its breakfast and it happy to see you":D

We are currently undertaking 'Work Based Learning'. The reason why I am currently updating my blog with up to date sessions. Sessions and placements are for my benifit to make contacts, learn new things and to have experience.

If you would like to ask me anything please comment. 

Comments = More things to mark so please do!! 

Thanks 

GemmDave
♥

Short Film Productions- Rob N Keiron- Pornography: 'A Cockumentry'

PART ONE...

PART TWO...

PART THREE...

PORNOGRAPHY 

: A Cockumentary

2009
  

  This is definitely not what you may be thinking... Ever wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes of a pornography? Well, now is your chance to get a Directors point of view. 

ITS NOT ALL GLAMOUR, ROCK 'N' ROLL... 

I assure you!

AIM:
To be able to come across clear and direct when playing different characters, to become open to things going wrong and take on roles and responsibilities throughout the process. 

OBJECTIVES:

To be confident with my lines, though I have a script.

Try things outside my comfort zone.

Learn and understand the process of what goes into the making a short film.

Not to be afraid of the camera.

Hello followers :) 

I am Sarah Carter.I am the script writer within Pornography: A Cockumentary. (PAC)

I have previously worked on Rosemary and Thyme.

"After rehab I was obviously out of a job and the Horse Tranquilizers lost me the use of my right knee. I was in a bad financial place, so I did the honorable thing and sold my body for money. 

Whilst working a street corner, a young man- which happened to be Mike Pounder pulled up to me. I did what i had to do. But just as I was about to hit him over the head with my pocket mini dictionary, he commented on my good work. 

We got chatting and I told him about my script writing ability. I took him back to my flat and showed him my work. He loved it, and offered my a job- Everything was fab...

So I finished what I had started in the car, not the beating- the trouser friendly kiss. I began writing for them both ever since." 

I was asked to play the part of Sarah. C, I can tell you I had no idea what was going to be involved all I got was

 

"got a character, she is doped up on Horse Tranquilizers and bathes in Jack Daniels you'll be good for it" 

Rob told me exactly how to come across to the camera which was really helpful and previous drama experiences helped. 

I have never taken part in a short film until now. I have to learnt that different parts do not have to be recorded at the same time or in order. I went from recording the first scene to the middle scene, this was difficult as in the two different scenes my character was in a different frame of mind, so jumping from one to the other was a hard task changing emotions etc... The jump didn't phase me as knowing everyone around helps with confidence but as it was a complete change it took a few takes to get it right. 

A really important factor I have gained is that even though you may not finish filming in one day, you have to  look EXACTLY the same the next day clothes, makeup, and hair shoes. This i learnt is so when the film is edited together is seems in sequence and normal.  

I had a very closed attitude before I began filming, I thought having this as a school project was out of the question as there are some parts that are past the mark. Yet are really amusing, which will draw in an audience. It is also up to me to become my character to make it realistic throughout. 

I have a better understanding if I were to do something like this again, as we were on set for a long time,and doing something a little bit different. I would be more prepared for anything in the future. 

I have another chance to develop my knowledge further as I have another short film on the 8^th 
February.

I can take my skills that I have 
learnt from this recording to the next short film. To make the 
process easier, from that

I will be able to make new goals. See my knowledge develop further with this experience as my previous knowledge.

click here: 20 Feet 

This has really helped me in opening myself to the camera the follow on blog link to this is here.It shows my developed found skills from this placement. 
click here to see music video 
or below...


It was an amazing process from start to end, I felt like I had become my character Sarah when we had finished, I felt an emotional connection with her and felt like I couldn't let her go.I felt that I could become her as I love to be quirky and different (NOT SO DIFFERENT -that I want to take horse tranquilizers or throw my television out of my window. Just to clarify) 


For te future I would like to become a character that is NOT in any way shape or form related to me, somthing more reserved, I fell if this is the case it would be more of a challenge.


Personal:I love short films. 


GemmDave
♥

Recording different microphones (studio tests). 25th January 2010

25th January 2010: 9.30am

  Today for the CDM (thats creative digital media)students, I had to prepare a song with a backing track for them to record for there assignment.

AIM:

To put into practice and reinforce the knowledge I have gained in the past and build on it to develop for future purposes. 

OBJECTIVES:

• To be professional in every aspect and to do what is expected of me (the artist) within the studio.
• Get involved within the recording process as much as i can.
• Ask necessary questions widen my range of understanding.

Hello followers :) 

I had a chance to be in the studio for a take of 'Beautiful' by Christina.A. But I didn't know they wanted me to do a lot more than I had anticipated. Such as studio tests on microphones.

Their assignment task was to record many different samples through as many different microphones as they could to get the best sounding takes and to reason with each other why this was...

Seeing as I was doing the song Beautiful, they decided that they were going to take snippits from me doing a 10-20 second take from the beginning of the song. 

This helped me relax into the environment and become accustomed to everything that was going on around me. It also gave me a lot of time to warm up as it was the morning you wouldn't think that there was much time to practice!! WELL your WRONG!.

PRACTICE THAT IS AVAILABLE TO YOU WHEN YOU ARE A SINGER: 

• TO YOUR ALARM CLOCK (IF MUSICAL)
• TO/IN/FROM THE SHOWER
• WHISLT WAITING FOR YOUR TOAST
• ALONG TO THE HUMM OF THE MICROWAVE
• IN THE CAR TO THE RADIO/TRACK
• WHEN YOUR AT THE STUDIO YOU SHOULD BE READY AND WARMED UP!! :)

So this extra time was really good for my voice. 

A HELPFUL TIP:

Oh did you know..

DON'T:-

DRINK COKE 
EAT CHEESE 
CONSUME BREAD

before singing it tightens your vocal chords making you sound schreechy and different to how you would like to sound. It takes 3 hours to ware off so think prior to studio sessions what you consume.

Some of the testings were really interesting for me, whist they were looking for the best sound they could get I was focusing on dynamics in which mics and levels and were they all correct. This can helf me in the future as I can speak to the engineer to say what I know and have a conversation about what sounds best and the most important factor.. WHY!


 Some takes were glitchy in places but I think thats the sensitive microphones and me being to loud. In a recording session you wouldn't be there for 2.5hours just testing to see if your mic is okay. This session showed me how intricate things can be. Spending that long on tests is a long time, but the outcomes were good and you can see a real difference between particluar microphones if you know what your looking for e.g.- depth, range, ambience, all round feel. 

This session was boring as it was the same thing for 2 and a half hours- yet informative. I have learnt to explore different techniques that I can use with different mics such as the placement in relation to myself, as they al have different pick up patterns.  


Mic 1. CS5; Studio Projects (Pjt)
Mic 2. XM18005; Behringer
Mic 3. T97; Multi-Pattern;Studio Pjt.
Mic 4. T3; Duel Triode; Studio Pjt.


The tube microphone was left to warm up for an 1.5hours.




:) 
GemmDave

♥

Incorporated Music Video- 25th January 2010

  25th January 2010: 9.30am

Today for the CDM (thats creative digital media)students, I had to prepare a song with a backing track for them to record for there assignment.

Hi followers :) 

Today I was able to help the CDM students in completing their assignment, killing two birds with one stone as they say. They had three tasks and I managed to do all three in a morning.

The tasks were:

1) To create a portfolio of work from testings of microphones and which worked best and why?

2) To make a music video with a song

3)To record the song for the music video.

From this I managed to decide on what I wanted to get out of doing it, as it is for the benefit of someone else.

AIM:
For mike to have a successful outcome, by producing a video for the cover of 'Beautiful' by Christina Aguilera. To gain more knowledge that i can use for the future.


OBJECTIVES:

To be professional in every aspect and to do what is expected of me (the artist) within the studio.

• Get involved within the recording process as much as i can.
• Ask necessary questions widen my range of understanding within making the video

This section of my blog is about the Music Video.

I did not know anything about the video before I started helping them it was a... 


"Oh and by the way we have to shoot a music video too do you think you can do that"

I felt a little uncomfortable as anyone would to have that thrown at them. As i wasn't dressed for a video... etc...

But then I thought [LIGHTS GO ON!!] that I can pull it off because its going to be a video showing my progress to that point of when its finished! Using black and white, stills and slow motion. It can look really effective in a video. I have been told I have a wild sense of humor and love to make people laugh. I didn't think much about it but after the video had been done I looked over and reflected on the facts and it is true. The video shows the real me! I thought this was going to a hard task but half way through I forgot about the camera and carried on.

I can say I am a bit of a nightmare when the camera is rolling. Well whether on or off, (you should always have it on when I am about!)

I can imagine how much footage is of me laughing or making practical jokes, I think I would be a lot more conserved in another recording studio where I don't know anyone. The more comfortable I am the more I am myself. 

For the video they wanted to "capture the real me" this was quite hard but after the practice (for me) and the microphone tests (for them) I totally for got about the  camera, so the end result when I eventually see it will be a captivated me!!

SCARY THOUGHT!

My end product of singing was not to bad but we didn't have the studio for long and we had to do it as quick as possible. If I had more time I would have liked to sort the ending it feels weak and I did not quite reach the note as it was done in one take. 
I need to learn to say that I am not happy with something,  I find his really difficult, I think this won't only help me in these situations but in real life as well. 

I find myself, that I really pick out the bad points rather than the good parts throughout the song where as most of it is in tune and is a good take.I should be proud of things that I achieve yet I have come to the point where these points are overlooked. 

:) 

I have reinforced skills I have learnt at KEVICC- recording with Rob and Kieron at KEVICC for Pornography: A Cockumentry. I feel more comfortable in front of a camera after working with them. 


EVALUATIVE TIPS I HAVE LEARNT OVER THE COURSE OF THIS WBL...

· Don't look at the camera directly (unless directed to) 

· Learn - lines. 

· Understand the impulses that drive your character

 

· Respond to the impulses and then… · Do the thinking 

· Understand the impulses of the character to whom you are playing (even in a monologue or singing)

 

· If the characters to whom you are playing are imaginary you must still allow them to confirm or surprise your expectations 

· Understand the nature of the space your character is in 

· Be aware that your audience is always listening and watching from the auditorium 

· Relax – it’s only life. 

· Remember that (because of the adrenalin in your system) what seems a long time to you will be a short time for your audience 

· Slow down 

· Allow time to think 

· Experience and enjoy

GemmDave
♥