SUMMER SEWING!

Well I know I haven't blogged in a LONG time, but I have been so busy. During the summer I started trying my hand at sewing and textiles! I made some new cushions for my Uni room and some door hangers!

The Natural Theatre Company Interview

So, on my last day working with The Natural Theatre Company I was able to shoot a sneaky interview with two people who work within the company, Mark and Jackie. The interviews tells us about Mark and Jackie's backgrounds, what they do within the company and how the company makes money!

Apologies the poor framing and handheld wobbles!

Enjoy!

DAY FIVE - The Naturals

My last day working with The Natural Theatre Company
For my last day I met Mark at 10.30am all ready to be put to work. On Saturday the Youth Theatre (run by The Naturals) will be travelling up to Stratford for Shakespeare's birthday celebrations and to combine forces with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In preparation for this some costumes needed to be collected from Bristol Costume services. Myself and Mark went along to Bristol to pick these up. The Bristol Costume services was something I have never seen before, an absolutely humungous warehouse containing thousands and thousands of costumes used for all sorts of shows. It literally had every costume you could think of (http://www.bristolcostumeservices.com/Bristolcostume/Home.html).

We loaded up the van with what we needed and then headed back to Bath. We then unloaded the van into the props & costumes room at The Naturals. A quick break for lunch and then I was back with Mark and Jackie sorting out what else needed to packed and prepared for Saturday. In between helping them, I managed to capture a little bit of video and some snaps of them working and packing the props. I also managed a quick interview with Mark and Jackie before we had to pack up the van again with everything all ready for Saturday morning.

Once we had finished loading the van and getting everything prepared for Saturday, Mark and I sat down and discussed the week, a debrief. He was really happy with the work I had done for him and we agreed I would continue to finish the summer schools poster I had made.

Overall I have had an enjoyable week, I have liked the flexibility and freedom of what I have been doing. I have learnt a lot about responsibilities and carrying out tasks in good time. I left on the note that if there is anything else Mark would like me to create/do for the company, then to just send me an e-mail and I would be more than willing to help.

DAY FOUR - The Naturals

"Another day in the office"
Today I have spent my time researching Youth Theatres and Theatre Schools. I have produced another database for the company to use which shows a vast list of names, e-mails and numbers for The Natural Theatre Company to use.
The plan was to show the rest of the team the posters I made and gather some feedback and suggested changes. Unfortunately most of the team were not in today due to family illness and days off, but I got to show Ralph (the companies boss). He really liked them and we talked through which one looked most effective. We decided the one with the Cone Heads on was good as that image is a well known image. I had also e-mailed them to Mark who thought a more obvious young picture was perhaps needed. I will be seeing Mark tomorrow to discuss the posters properly.

Overall a nice day as I didn't have to be out in the rain!

DAY THREE - The Naturals

So my third day of working with the Natural Theatre Company consisted of hiding myself away to focus on finalising the NEETs flyer, and designing and creating the Summer Schools poster.
The changes for the flyer suggested by Mark have been made, and the Summer School poster has been sent on to Mark also. Tomorrow I will show it to the rest of the team and see what changes they think should be made. I came up with three slightly different looks for it (below)

I look forward to some feedback tomorrow!

BOOK COVERS

TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD 

IRISH HISTORIES

WRITES OF PASSAGE

DAY TWO - The Naturals

So for my second day working with The Natural Theatre Company my job was to design a flyer for the NEETs (not in employment, education or training) courses that are going to be on offer. I had already talked though with Mark the key things that needed to be featured, for example, contact details, website, what skills can be gained etc, and that it should be a double sided postcard size. So I went away and came up with a couple different designs to choose from. Both Mark and I agreed on which one was the best (below).

(Above - Front

Below - Back)

The changes I am going to make are to the font, as in some parts it is unclear which letter is used. I am also going to be changing the 'gain skills such as' to make it sound more friendly and chatty. Also, a phone number needs to be added and possibly the Facebook and Twitter sites as well.

My second day working for the Natural Theatre Company was again very enjoyable as I got to focus on making this flyer. At the end of the day we discussed what tomorrow will bring:
- Making the necessary changes to this flyer
- Starting to design the Summer Schools poster

I look forward to it!

DAY ONE - The Naturals

So I had been communicating with Mark Bishop (education co-ordinator & performer at the Natural Theatre Company) about a possible work placement opportunity:

Hi Mark, 

I am e-mailing you regarding a possible work placement for one week in April. Your e-mail was passed onto me by Karen Cooper, who contacted you on my behalf.  

I am currently in my second year studying Creative Media Practice, within this I have been involved with many different projects and started to build up my skills in a variety of rolls. From camera operating, film editing, organisation, researching and print design. I am now looking to further develop my skills within a professional environment. 

I have a passion for theatre, whether it be musicals, stage shows or street theatre, which is why I would love the chance to come and experience work within The Natural Theatre Company. I have always been involved in theatre, from GCSE & A Level Drama and Theatre studies to attending Stage Coach Theatre Arts School, and even regularly attending shows and concerts. 

I would be very grateful for the chance to work with you,  

I have attached my current CV (PDF and .doc) and would be very grateful to hear from you. 

Many thanks

Emma Chandler  

Mark agreed to meet up with me and we discussed what I could do for the company. We came up with a variety of different jobs: 

Interview the NYT for some nice quotes for the website.

Create a flier for the Summer Schools.

Create a flier for our NEET Course.

Research Drama School and Uni contacts and Disability Companies to build up our database.

So today was my first day of a one week placement with the Natural Theatre Company (http://www.naturaltheatre.co.uk/). 

I started at 10.30am, but was a little early so got to know some of the team over a cup of tea before I started working. Mark arrived shortly after me and after a quick chat we discussed a possible schedule. We talked through what he would like me to do, and what I would like to do for the company. We decided that today I could focus on developing a database for disabled theatre groups all over the country. I got settled in an empty office and started this database right away. I used Excel and created an extensive list for Mark to use when contacting theatre groups. 

At around 1.30pm I had a meeting with Mark to go through what he wanted for the NEET Course flier,  he sent me through some images and logos to use for when I start designing it. We agreed it would be a postcard sized flier with minimal information but the rest was up to me. I will begin working on this tomorrow. 

So after our meeting I had a quick lunch break and then got back to the database. I finished it at 5pm, sent it through to Mark and by that time it was time to go home!

I really enjoyed my first day, I felt really welcome and useful. Lets see what tomorrow brings!

Portsmouth

So I came back to my home town of Portsmouth a couple of days ago, and the sun was shinning so I thought I would take a few snaps!

(Above left) The Spinnaker tower, picture taken from Old Portsmouth
(Above right) Walking from Gunwarf to Old Portsmouth I found an old deserted bike in the sea!

Research

"A media event, as loosely defined by evolving modern usage, is an occasion or happening, spontaneous or planned, that attracts prominent coverage by mass media organisations."


This website shows some interesting different kinds of media events which I never new even happened! http://www.ukipme.com/events.htm 


This was a good website about the importance of getting media coverage for an event like ours. 
http://itsdevelopmental.com/2012/10-reasons-why-you-need-to-get-your-event-covered/ 


Another sight inwhich I carried out some research was:
http://itsdevelopmental.com/2012/10-reasons-why-you-need-to-get-your-event-covered/ 

THE MEDIA EVENT

So, after the huge build up and constant planning and organising…it was finally the day of the event! Myself, Momo and Izzie arrived at Uni at 7.30am to start setting up all the rooms and making sure everyone was ready. We started of by decorating Emma D and Izzie's room (as this was going to be used as the meeting room). We put out all of the water and the pens Momo had collected. Joe F appeared soon after us and the two of us went around to put posters in all of the rooms and on all of the doors. There was a slight change of plan regarding the rooms for the band shoot, instead of meeting in the Stable room, the downstairs room of the Gatehouse was to be used. This meant altering the timetable slightly which I did quickly before most other people arrived.

The time was ticking along, and I found myself running between rooms to make sure everybody was ready and had everything they needed. Everybody seemed to be all hands on and were all set up and ready before the students arrival. Strangely half the certificates I had printed had gone missing, luckily I had some spares so I cut some more up in time. I then met up with the student ambassadors.

The time flew by and was now 9.30am. It was time for myself and Joe F to go and meet the students from the mini bus. We flagged them down as they drove up the road, it was at this point that we learnt there were only 3 students…instead of the 15 which were expected. We were told a couple more were to be arriving via bus, so Joe F stayed by the bus stop to meet them and I jumped in the mini bus to direct him to the car park. It ended up only one more person arrived, so we had 4 students now. Our hearts sank a little. We quickly came up with a plan B: Instead of having three groups of five, we would just have one group who would all circulate the activities together. The student ambassadors agreed to take part also, which was a great help.

Joe F began his welcome talk, and then passed the stage into Mark who started his ice breakers. I must admit the students were very quiet and took a lot of encouraging to join in at first…whether this was because they were in fact out numbered by us which could have been somewhat intimidating. However, after some prompting and encouraging they relaxed a little. Emma D and Izzie then began their activity which proved to be quite successful. I attended for the first half to make sure all was fine, I then disappeared and went to inform the next group (multi-cam shoot) the approximate time the students will be moving on. I also went to make sure everything was ready and had everything they needed.

The time was now 10.35am and I popped back to the Newton Annexe to warn Emma and Izzie their activity needed to come to an end (which it pretty much had) and for James F to take charge and move everybody onto the next activity. This was done, although the students again needed some prompting to follow the instructions from James.

The multicam shoot went particularly well…although the students were again a little shy and quiet, I feel Josh did a really good job in talking to them and making them feel comfortable and relaxed. They were showed how to use the cameras and allocated a job role (1st, 2nd & 3rd camera operators and a director). They did two takes of the band before having to move onto the next task. Throughout the tasks we also had one of our guest speakers, Sally, with us. I spoke to her throughout the day, trying to make her also feel involved and aware of what was going on.

By 11.20am it was time to move onto the final activity, the clay-mation sequence run by Mark and Theo. I went along with the students to the activity to make them feel more comfortable, and then as soon as Mark and Theo began I left to see what preparation needed to be done for lunch. Myself, Joe F, Izzie and Emma D took some squash and biscuits from the Newton Annexe to the SU ready for when the students arrived for lunch. We also moved everybody who had left hand bags in the Newton Annexe so not to leave them alone. I then went back to meet the students and Sally from the clay-mation activity to take them onto the SU for lunch.

 During lunch myself and Joe F went along to the main house to make sure everything was set up and to meet the technical support, we were supposed to be meeting the catering team and Sally there but they were a little late. This was a little annoying as it was impossible to get hold of people due to bad phone signal. At the last minute James arrived in his car with the catering and goody bags so we quickly took those up, shortly afterwards Sally arrived to set up her powerpoint. It ended up that it didn't matter too much about the slightly late start as there was only a small number of students who were relaxed and happy. We began the first guest speaker (Sally Murrant) more or less on schedule. I popped out half way through to meet the second guest speaker, Denise, in the reception. I brought her into the room, gave her a seat and offered her a drink and biscuit if she wanted.

The guest speakers were both extremely interesting for us, however maybe not so much for the College Students. When it came to asking questions the students remained quiet so we thought up some questions to ask. Afterwards I then asked Denise and Sally to sign their payment forms, thanked them for coming along. We thanked the students and handed out their goody bags and certificates.

The day was a huge learning curve, we had to think on our feet when things didn't go as to plan as we hoped, but I feel we pulled of an enjoyable Media Event for the College Students. I learnt a lot, that organisation is a huge part of an event and in making it work well. I also learnt that a good relationship has to be established with the audience in order for them to fully get everything they can out of the event.

I feel every single person was an extremely valuable member of the team and worked extremely hard to help the event run smoothly. I also think Joe Farr was an astonishingly good leader, and I don't feel he could have done a better job!

Ignoring the small hic ups…I feel the day was a success!

Media Event - Posters and Invites

I arranged with Jamie Harding to get some posters printed so we could decorate the rooms with them. He sent me the files and I arranged with the publishing lab to get them printed in A3. I also printed off some certificates for the students when they leave.

Student Ambassadors

As getting a CRB check is not possible due to the time scale, I have now arranged with Helen for two Student Ambassadors to come along to the event. Their names and e-mails have been passed onto me and I have contacted them saying the following:

Hi there, 

My name is Emma Chandler and I am part of the group running the Media Event this Friday. Thank-you for agreeing to be there as a student ambassador. 

We will need you to be there from 9.30am until around 2.30pm, however this could go on until around 3pm. If you could meet us in the Newton Annexe G03 at 9.30am sharp ready for the welcome talk that would be great. We will then either allocate you to a room, or a group of students (most likely a group so you can circulate with them which will be more fun for you!)

You will be required to oversee what is happening and to just offer support to the students. 

THE EVENT:

We are holding three activities on the Newton park campus of Bath Spa Uni. 

1. A live acoustic band shoot

2. Creating a claymation sequence (like what is used to make Wallace and Gromit)

3. A marketing strategy activity in which students will have to create and promote their own brand of headphones. 

Three groups of students will spend 40 minutes in each activity and will circulate around until they have finished them all. 

There will then be a series of guest speakers being held in the Main House. 

Please let me know if you have any questions at all. I have attached the days schedule so you can see exactly what is going on. 

Thank you again for coming along, you should enjoy it! 

Regards

Emma Chandler 

Media Event - Some Facebook Posts

Just a SMALL sample of my contribution to the Facebook group where we do a large section of our communicating. 

Emma Chandler Marketing - Izzy, Emma D, Jamie Harding, Jake Twyman, Alexandra

Organisation/Production - Emma C, James Ferris, Mark, Theo, Joe and Momo

Technical - Josh , Adam, JOE Jackson, Hannah and Leanne 

Head of groups:
Marketing - Jamie?
Production - Me?
Technical - Josh?

Everyone happy???

 February 26 at 3:48pm

Emma Chandler yeah that would be me. i spoke to him today and e-mailed him yesterday. he said it would be fine filming outside, so long as we have a risk assessment and permission from the grounds manager. so adam is working on the risk assess and i'll do the permissions. He said getting power out there would be fine. but yeah you might want to e-mail him about lighting and all that :) x

March 8 at 5:13pm 

Emma Chandler

‎Adam Ashford how are the risk assessments coming along?? I need a copy of the band one for outside the gatehouse so I can go ahead and get permission :)

March 11 at 12:58pm

Emma Chandler regarding the back up plan, i will be on it tomorrow….as I will be in uni and can have a look at the timetables for room around our rooms…so we can see where is more free, so we shouldn't disturb people with noise……if that makes sense :)

March 13 at 10:37pm

Emma Chandler

‎Joe Jackson do you know if we have booked out any lighting??

March 14 at 2:32pm

Emma Chandler the main house for the band would be out of the question in my opinion. there are a lot of rooms around that would be disrupted if we were to do it there.
newton 203 would also cause too much disruption...
it would have to be between the stable and the newton annexe....The newton annexe has a lot more room, and lots of power sockets so I'm going to put the band in there.

March 14 at 2:23pm

Emma Chandler

Also, Jamie Imtheshit Harding are there any large A3-ish print outs of the poster...so we can stick some up in the rooms to make them look a bit nicer and interesting. If not could you send me the file and i'll get some printed :) thanks x

4 hours ago

Emma Chandler

Can everybody running their own sessions (except the band shoot people)Emma Dagger Isabell Ayres Mark Ransom please sort out some music to have on in the background of their activities please x

4 hours ago

Emma Chandler

Radio broadcast is all recorded and ready to be put on air on Wednesday morning. woohoooo

2 hours ago

Emma Chandler

‎Joe Farr regarding gathering a CRB check for someone. I have emailed that woman, and she said we wouldn't be able to get one in time as they take six weeks to come through, but we can have one of their BSU ambassadors for the event because they all hold a CRB. I've e-mailed Lesley to see if she thinks this is necessary..but just thought I would keep you in the loop. x

• 
  

SUN SUN SUN

Well the sun was out today. Took a quick little snap whilst I was at Uni

Media Event - The Latest News

CRB Check:

I have contacted Helen regarding CRB checks for this event. I already hold a CRB, however it is only for the school I worked in and would not apply to this event.
After hearing back I have learnt that it take up to six weeks to get a CRB check…which means I would not be able to get one in time, instead I am organising gathering student ambassadors (who all hold a CRB) to come along to the event.

RADIO BROADCAST:

Today myself and James Ferris went along with Jake Twyman (who got us a slot on the Radio) to record a plug in for the Media Event. We said when, where and what is happening. We also said who to contact (joseph.farr09@bathspa.ac.uk) clarifying that Farr is spelt with two Fs! It will be on Spa Life Radio on Wednesday morning!

ROOM DECOR:

I have been in contact with Jamie Harding, who had forwarded his logos and invite material. I will be discussing with Jamie and Joe Farr what we want to blow up to poster size so we can decorate the walls of the rooms we will be using. 

Bath Spa Uni

Casually making friends with a Pheasant

Media Event - Friday 9th March

Today we discussed the ice-breakers we could do at the start of the event to get everyone (the students and ourselves comfortable with working together). This is what we came up with:

-       People Bingo

-       Sorting People – stand in order of foot size/height/age without speaking, standing on chairs

-       The Coin Game – Have a coin in your palm, you have to grab other peoples coin whilst defending your own coin…without closing your palm. 

-       Human Mess – stand in a circle, hold crossed hands and untangle!

-       Body Parts – Walk around the space, call out a number and a body part, they have to get that number group and touch corresponding body parts (e.g toes!) 

We also shot our invitation/introduction film. With Joe J as our director, Josh P on camera and the rest of us acting in the film. It started of with a note being passed between each person as they walked through the Stables to the Gatehouse and then on to the forest. There were background people (myself, Izzie and Emma D (all the girls!)) shooting an interview, and Jake being a photographer. As the note got to Theo in the forrest, he opened it to reveal the words "Media Event". 

It was fun to shoot, despite me having an awful cough and it was rather chilly! We had to shoot about six takes as it took a while to get it perfect, but I feel it will look rather good. 

This is the first rough edit!

11th March - First BBQ of the year!

So we noticed that, FINALY, we were going to be getting a bit of sun. We took advantage.
Here are some snaps of our day:

Media Event

We have come up with everybody's individual tasks:

Video intro to send to the invitees or to play at the start of the session (Mark (Director), Joe J (Planner) and Josh (Producer))

Ice-breakers – Mark and James

Catering – 45 mins for lunch, bring packed lunch (state this on invite). Drinks and snacks available in between sessions. Mark and Izzie

Budget - Momo

Guest Speaker – Darren Rohammon? Film Maker, event  organiser, music videos for Arctic Monkeys. Needs to confirm  –  Kieran Obrian, X student, work works on Google. Needs to confirm -  Sally Murrant 100% available

Evaluation report and Locations – ME. Their evaluation, what did they think was good, bad, fun etc. Questionnaire for the students. Talk with Jamie. Has to have a postcode. 

Production Assistant - ME

PM Risk Assessment – One for the whole day. Adam

Scheduler – For the day and the lead up. Jamie

Outreach  -  Who else can come along to the day?

PR contacts – Press release. Coverage of the event. Marketing team.

Video Editor

Emma D and Izzie’s activity: 

For a pair of headphones (sport, commuters,professional, fashion/novelty and teen) devise:

-Tv Advert

Radio Advert

-Billboard/print design

-Slogan

-Logo

USP

Price