Long Chiu is from Hong Kong and is currently between his 2nd and 3rd years at Sussex University where he is studying Media Studies. He is interning at Nice Media for the summer to get an insight into the real world of media production.
Loading, unloading and wrapping up
My first green-screen trip is on 8/7, quite a hot day in Brighton. Filming is never easy, we can tell by the weight of the whole list of equipment. I arrived at the office myself, while Tom Hickmore, Tom Windsor and Richard Gibbons took the load of the camera, stands, lights, tripods and all to the van and drove to the shooting site.
I am pretty sure that loading and unloading could not possibly be funny to do or read, so I will just talking about the set up.
To produce
To me, setting up for the shooting used to sound easy, so simple like putting stuff to places and switching them on. But the reality is – I was way too naive.
Because of the time when I am writing this, I would like to use football team as a metaphor. Setting up for filming is like building your football team. The crew and the tools are like the players. You have to know the abilities, limits, conditions and all of each of them, and put them in the perfect spots. Before that, many tests, training and powering up have to be done to eliminate possible downsides in advance. And in the real game, adjustments have to be made by you to suit the conditions and resolve the uncertainty.
For example, with the experience, Dave would place his echo-absorbing blanket to the ventilating holes on the ceiling to obtain best sound recording. Tom would mark the standing point for the star and keep reminding of that, so as to ensure a steady position of the star in separate shots and simplify the editing. What’s more, Richard would test and observe the edited results of different settings, in order to get the best one for shooting…..some of them are routine work, but more of them are experts coming up with ideas to solve unexpected problems, like the wrinkled shirt, the not noticed glasses.
It feels to me that every single details are carefully confirmed by these professionals and eventually add up to a piece of fine work. And I am glad to be in the team and have the opportunity to see how they do their jobs. It is all of these tiny concerns that make things perfect. After a few times of shooting experience, I have this feeling that to start a video production career is much more difficult than I expected. Quality communications, skills, experiences, instant problem solving abilities and preparations seem to be only some basics for a guy in a production crew, which I would never have such a clear idea if I were not in one. That’s why I really thank NM for the great opportunities.
What it’s like to work in NM as an intern
I have not worked in a production company before, so I don’t really know what to expect. But I do perceive that Nice Media is a very relaxing working environment by all means. The office is not very large but much space is given to each of the creative people. My seat is right in front of the teas and the fridge, which is really convenient to me; and facing a line of our values of the company, ‘Work Hard & BE NICE TO PEOPLE’.
Every single one of my colleagues is lovely and nice. And they all use their own ways to offer the newbie some help, which actually means a lot to me as a student plus beginner. Starting not long ago, I have already heard quite a few compliments to NM from people we work with. It seems to me that the clients, the actors, the freelancers enjoy working with the company. This makes me proud of being in the team, though temporarily.
Another great thing I found here is that, these nice people here are all very self-motivated and dedicated to their job. Given high flexibility, they manage to make important decisions while express their ideas in a professional and independent fashion, as I observe in the office. They are all good role models for a newbie like me.
