So far there are a few production stills and my CV uploaded. I hope to have my showreel soon, but this could take a little while, possibly a month or two.

You can view the site at http://www.adamcox.co.nr

I am currently editing and collecting the best footage i have shot during my last year of university, and hope to have something up within the next couple of months, as well as a transformation of this website.

Stay tuned…

I’ve had my diary since august 2008 and it has enabled me to keep track of my busy schedule over these last months. I even resorted to colour coding different projects in different colours in order for them to stand out amongst all the other work and commitments i have. This could be considered sad but i have been able to mange and dedicate the right amount of time to individual tasks appropriately.

I set mini deadlines for myself in order to break work down, so my workload doesn’t seem too huge which therefore makes the work less daunting and for me, much more attainable. Examples of when i have done this is with my dissertation and minor/major projects, giving myself deadlines when certain chapters have to be written by, or when i need to have locations or actors by.

I believe this has helped me keep on top of work. Theres only a few days to go before i hand in my dissertation. With only one chapter to just check over, i am almost finished, with several days to go before the deadline. Therefore i don’t feel i have rushed the work and i believe by managing my work and time i have dedicated enough time to each project, hopefully doing it to the best of my ability.

I shall definatly maintain this for the rest of the term for my major edit, production analysis and PDP essay, and will continue to keep a diary, as this year has taught me i need the reminders and time to set aside tasks in order for me to get them done on time.

However there were certain days (or perhaps times) where i felt i had lost all my confidence and how the scenes were going to planned out. Which was surprising since i had spent time doing several drafts of the script, storyboards, shot list, shooting schedule and camera diagrams. All this preperation and i still felt underprepared, and i find it hard to understand why.

This was the second film i directed this year, and it featured, more much more conventional drama scenes then my minor, i.e. dialogue/conversation as opposed to just action. I was also working with more actors and a child actor, again something i had never done before. So the planning and schedule of the days had to be pretty precise and planned well to achieve everything. Except for a few technical problems and things taking a bit longer than expect, the longest we over ran on any day was about an hour, which was perhaps annoying considering it had been an early start, but i felt one extra hour was quite good, considering one day i aimed to shoot about 3 – 4 minutes of film. 

Yet certain situations threw me off my concentration. For example: some of my extras were unable to turn up one day, or only for a limited amount of time, which meant i couldn’t use them as to how i planned. This meant using crew as stand ins, and for the extra that did turn up, shooting all their scenes before they had to leave. And whilst i had planned my best to as to how to film these shots, fully aware they were going to be filmed out of chronological order (its expected when making tv/film) it confused me much for so, and found when consulting my shot list, the virtually step by step guide i created was  not sinking in. I became flustered, we were over running, the crew and actors including myself, were hungry, tired and cold, and i felt i had to sacrifice the last couple of shots in terms of quality, just to get them done. Personally i am not sure i am happy with a couple of those final shots, but they had to be done. 

Furthermore, having a child actor on set was another challenge i had never faced. As soon as i yelled action, the child did exactly as i asked, but in between takes, they got easily distracted, and was another thing i had to control, and perhaps didn’t realise just how much extra hard work that would be. I have a niece and nephew, so i know exactly how children can be cheeky and how much they need to be entertained, but i guess i was just not prepared in this way, and at times found it hard to concentrate. 

I can’t help but feel that even with all my planning, i may have done too much, which perhaps confused me more, than if i had done less. I’m not sure. At times i was sticking strictly to the shooting schedule, and at other times was forced to change it, because of various situations (i.e actor had to leave, weather, lighting). When i did change the shooting order, there was less structure to the shoot and that is perhaps when things started to go wrong, and left myself and others confused.

I felt like i needed just five – ten minutes to collect my ideas and just go over things in my head, but because it was a busy shoot, and overall from collecting my kit to returning it, i barely rested. There was so much to do, even after shooting, like making sure lunches, kit and props etc were prepared the next day. I know i did this with my major, but i realise, just how much hard work five consecutive days of shooting was. I felt i was knackered before the shoot from various work, so maybe this was another reason i was failed at being a good director at times, because i hadn’t rested enough. I hadn’t relaxed and then gone over my shooting schedule, instead, i was straight into it.

I wouldn’t say this was down to bad pre-production, i had been planning for at least two months solidly, amongst other projects. But its the little things that you perhaps didn’t realise you have to do, such as getting extra batteries, getting the food, picking up keys etc, that take up time, which didn’t enable me to relax properly before the shoot. This and my confidence being slightly knocked beforehand with the results of my minor. Not a a bad mark at all, but some of the comments mentioned, were things i had not picked up on, which made me question my directing ability. Some of my focus on the later days was watching Mike Leigh films to get ideas of how natural the characters acted together. i also wanted to experiment with certain shots, and test out a few ideas, but again perhaps i left this too close to the shooting dates. Maybe i shouldn’t had done this, and used this opportunity to relax and not overwork myself. Overall i think i perhaps tried to do too much on this project.

I’m not sure, but i feel that these things collectively made my shoot a lot more stressful that how i would have liked it to be. And i do believe this may effect the overall film. I am constantly questioning how this film will be received, and i just wish that my shoot had gone better. I was picking a difficult issue to portray in a drama, so maybe i was out of my depth. All i know is that i have learnt probably far more from this film than the other majors i have worked on, in terms of how to improve and things to look out for in the future. A big learning curve!

The first was in November, and a came from my work experience at leopard films in the summer. One of my tasks was to help looking for a suitable venue for a press screening of a new itv drama series. I called up several possible venues, quizzed them about certain criteria and created a spreadsheet which i passed onto my supervisor. Luckily my supervisor was very nice, gave me her email address and said to contact her nearer the time of the planned event, if i wanted to help out on the day and see how it was run.

I contacted her late October and was invited to London for a couple of days to help out. It was a really good experience, as i met several nice people, had a chance to network with producers and directors as well as assisting in setting up the AV equipment and dressing the venue. I learnt a lot about the amount of effort that goes into promoting a series and how events like this were run. It was something that i really enjoyed and could be a possible way into the industry or an alternative career i would like to explore.

Because of my experience with this, i volunteered to help out the Future Shorts Film Festival night in Bournemouth. This was being organised by White Lantern Film, another company i had work experience with. This again was very educational, and a great opportunity to work with similar people and network with director of photography, a job i really aspire to do. I was able to get advice on my next major project, and was good to experience how another event was run. 

I was lucky that these two events came out of work experience, and even though i am studying hard in my third year, i have been able to keep in contact with several people, hoping that they will remember me, and possibly give me a greater chance of getting work once i finish in the summer. I feel it is important to keep in contact with previous companies, so they do remember you, and show you are enthusiastic in working with them again. So far i have not been paid very much for this type of work, but i am getting good experience which i can add to my cv, possibly making me more employable. I must try to keep this up, despite my hectic studies.

Although there is still room for improvement, whilst i haven’t received detail written feedback yet (i’m not sure many people have) there were things that i hadn’t considered which he and the other tutors felt let the piece down. The lighting in some scenes was brought up which i completely agree with. The kitchen scenes mainly had poor lighting, i think my impulsiveness in getting these scenes shot quickly, or i should say, me settling with this poor lighting, is something i am annoyed with myself and something i will make sure i will take more consideration in getting right on the next project. The paramedic scene also had quite poor lighting too. My original plan was to have the room lit up by an ambulance light i tried to recreate. We had difficulty in getting it to work effectively, and because we took ages in getting it set up, i settled for how it looked. I don’t think i was wrong in my decision to do this, i had a schedule to stick to, and i don’t think spending more time getting it to look the way i had envisaged in my head would have been a good idea, it would have drawn out the day and made decreased the group morale on my shoot.

However it is something i can think about more on my next project. I already plan to test a few lighting setups on the day i get my kit, so i can see how it will look, which will one save time and two, prepare me for any changes that i may need to do.

Another comment that was mentioned was the overacting by my actor. I did not agree as i felt he had to act the way he did, to show he was panicking, and didn’t know what to do. But i will take on board these criticism for my next film and try to make sure i tone down the performance of my main actors. it was suggested to have lots of looks and tell it through the eyes of the characters so this is something i will try to focus on getting several shots on.

Overall i am pleased with the minor project. I would have liked to have done better, to take some of the pressure of getting very high marks for my dissertation and major project, just because at the moment i have a lack of confidence in them. But i do have some things to think about which i hope will improve my directing ability in terms of directing actors emotions.

I first used advice from some of my tutors/lecturers as well as advice from my family. I also looked in books and on the internet. I then drew up a plan on paper what i wanted to include and went through several versions before i settled on the final one. 

I think the final one is quite succesful, it has a bold graphic in order to attract attention and stand out, especially if my CV was amongst a load of other candidates. I am also pleased with my profile sections which says:

Aspiring filmmaker seeking perfection in my work. I am currently studying for BA (Hons) Degree in Television Production at Bournemouth University. I am looking for a work placement to help develop my skills and broaden my knowledge. I have an industrious approach to work, keen and quick to learn, being willing to help out on anything. 

I think it shows enthusiasm and keen to get involved in any part of the television industry. I then used my covering letter in order to focus on the area i wanted to be involved and work in.

My media related experience could be laid out better. There is a lot of information there and it spans four years. I chose to include some of the earlier entries to show i have had a passion for television and media for a long while. However with more work experience i hope to discard these and replace them with perhaps more relevant and experience working in the industry but i may still mention that i have had an interest in media for many years.

The technical section just mentions what i have had experience using to show i have technical skills and have not just learnt theory. These are combination of skills i learnt at University and studying A Levels.

The rest of my CV covers my education background and my personal interest which i mentioned a range on interest, many of which included media related things.

Whilst i am happy with my CV now, i feel by the end of this year it could change again. I will have a new term address as well as new entries from work experience this summer to record on my CV. I have also learnt new equipment from the camera/lighting workshops. Because i will have new information i may have to reconsider the layout and possibly remove the graphic at the top. Whilst it is aesthetically pleasing and bold i’m not sure how much it helps in securing me a job so i may ask tutors and lectures for advice on ways to improve my CV, especially when applying for a job.

I think we covered as many aspect as we can in as much depth as we could. Obviously things such as budget we could not go into too much detail, mainly due to the people we asked did not know much about the subject and Lime’s unwillingness to divulge such information which is understandable. I think to find out this type of information, we would have to be regular freelance or employees for Lime.

Also our pitch for a new program could have had more research into how much it would cost to make and expected audience figures. We did this to the best we could using the available data to calculate estimates but us not having any experience for budgeting big documentaries, our estimates could be inaccurate. This is down to our inexperience with this subject matter but i think for the presentation it was fine, due to only having 10 minutes to present and 3 minutes to pitch an idea. We were only able to get across the basic facts about the program, which i don’t think is entirely realist to pitching in the industry, mainly because we don’t have to tell the production company their history. However it was good practice to speaking in front of our peers and presenting information as we do not get to do this regularly. It has helped me in communicating ideas to a large amount of people instead of just a small group of people, what i have been use to the last two years. Whilst this exercise has certainly benefited me, it is something i would not care to do in the future as a job as i prefer the more technical, hands on side of television production.

The actual presentation itself went well, we had created a showreel and mood board so there was enough visual entertainment in the presentation to keep the audiences attention. I had created a logo for our hypothetical company and again used this in the presentation as well as on the back of our cue cards in order to seem professional. I think we paced ourselves well, especially since we had a lot of information to talk about and the fact we were dressed smart also helped to give a good impression. I hope we get a good mark for this as we put a lot of effort into the information, layout and overall presentation of it all as well as practicing it many times to fit it all in in 10 minutes. We shall have to wait and see.

I had organised two weeks work experience at Lime Pictures on Hollyoaks through my brother. However i did not rely on him to get me work experience, i needed a good cv and covering letter to convey i was interested in working at lime and that i had previous experience and skills that i would be able to offer them. (more details on my cv will be featured in a later blog).

Obviously having my brother working already at Lime Pictures did help as he was able to give my CV straight to Human Resources which possibly put me towards the top of the list of the many applicants they receive. I was happy to find they gave me to weeks work experience and i knew i had to work hard and prove myself as getting my foot through the door so to speak was quite easy.

I was assigned to the production department as a runner and shadowing 3rd Assistant Director. I was also on the same block of episodes which gave me a variety of different sets, actors, set ups that i could learn from, as well as allowing me to get familiar with the crew members which made it easier to ask questions and get involved with other tasks.

Whilst i had the opportunity to work on other directors shoots which would have possibly given me more to do and maybe learn new things, i decided not to as i felt it was more industry like to stick with one unit of crew and experience the best and worst parts of the job to give me a much better experience of the entire operation.

I first had to watch a health and safety video which seemed pretty standard for any organisation and so therefore some seemed pretty irrelevant to the nature of work i was doing. However the idea of tieing down cables and how to use a work area safely was something i took away from the video and observed througout my time at Lime which i thought i can consider much more when it comes to do my major and minor projects in my 3rd year.

I also had to sign a confidentiality agreement so i don’t reveal upcoming storylines on Hollyoaks and how certain thing how the business operates. Therfore i will talk aout things i learnt at Lime without revealing too much.

My main tasks were to report to the 3rd and 2nd Assistant Director. I made cups of tea, handed out biscuits and all the other jobs i had heard runners do, which i didn’t mind at all. It gave me a chance to get to know the crew and ask questions about their jobs and the work they do. I didn’t see this duty as below me as it gave me more opportunities to go on set and see what was happening, something i didn’t take for granted.

I also reported back to the 2nd Assistant Director on the location of actors and getting them to make-up, costume and set as well signing in extras. I was busier inbetween takes then during. This sometimes became slow but i tried to utilise this time to again ask questions and observe the way the director, director of photography and camera man interacted, something i specifically said i wanted to see on my CV.

I also learnt a lot about the lighting, much more then i already knew, about setting them up, different types and how certain affects were achieved which i wasn’t aware of. It has given me much more interest in lighting and is something i want to continue to learn throughout my specialism workshops and future career. Being a camera-lighting man is something i would like to seriouosly persue, as much as being a director. This has made me realise i need to have a far greater technical knowledge of the equipment and something i hope i will research further and continue to learn about.

Overall, whilst i have only explained briefly a few things that i enjoyed and worked on at Lime, I did learn a lot. I realise that you learn far more on the job then reading a book. I have learn much more about individual roles and how a large production company like Lime works and my experience here as certainly helped me in ways of working on future projects, making me more prepared as well as giving me my enthusiam back about Television and Film, something i was beginning to loose slightly, so i have a lot to thank for working at Lime Pictures.