The Studio

Well here we are again, lots of new things to talk about this post. The weekend was pretty spiffy, we cracked out the timeless Gundam Wing and watched a whole stack of them. Other than that it wasn't very eventful, worn out after the week of learning!

Yesterday (Monday 23/01/12) was our first full day of our Technical Studio Recording module. I took to this far easier than I expected. There was a lot of things that I already seemed to know, or picked up very quickly. Very logical to me I suppose, to record 'x' put the microphone at 'y'. It seems all those years of live music gigs actually taught me some things without me even realising it! I know the difference between condenser and dynamic microphones and how to mic up a drum kit, guitarist (from acoustic to bass) and even bongo drums.

We did a bit of recording too, as a group, spearheaded by Liz and myself mostly. An advert was formed about a Zombieproofing firm, I was democratically pointed at to do the speaking. After that most of the class went off to do things, Kristin and myself stayed back to play around with the recording, adding in a soundtrack. We tried a few different ideas, from Tubular bells to Muzak. Eventually Kristin had a genius moment with suggesting pan pipes, so currently we have a recording for a Zombieproofing company backed to John Lennon's Imagine played on panpipes. It's very odd but really interesting how serious it makes it sound. I'm sure it will be posted here once a bit more work is done.

I'm in my E-portfolio class at the moment (I hate the word portfolio.....). I'm trying to make a website using googles 'Sites' tool. Having 0 luck at the moment. It wont accept any kind of URL name I try, seems I'm not the olnly one having issues. Blogger is great, but so far sites is a pain in the rear!

Well that's about it for now, I'm getting along with everything pretty well. Talk to you soon!

The Second Week

So we are drawing our 2nd week of study to a close. Firstly I would like to say, check out Coleg Harlech (Harlech College for the non Welsh). I'm a full time resident student here, so I live and study on site. For adult learners this is a great place to get a new start on academia in a relevant and practical way. Great tutors, great people, 3 meals a day. It needs to stay open because already a world of opportunity has opened up to me and that's just in 2 weeks!

So whats been going on? Well last night I got involved with Hovercraft club, the objective being to assemble a kit build Hovercraft and then ride it around! Sounds fun and looks fun so far, I'm looking forward to really getting stuck in to the building side of it all. There was also a Student Union meeting that set out what we need to do to start accessing Union funds. I will be running for President next Wednesday, so watch this space.

There is an event of some sort in the pipeline for the end of June, the exact details of this event are not set yet, it began life as a fashion show but could end up being anything from a talent showcase to a summer fair. We need people to stand up and get involved to see something happen, fingers crossed that we do!

We had a game of 'Scene It' last night at the house, there were some very tough questions but much fun was had. Prior to that I was messing around with bits of a Hovercraft that we are working on. There is a separate blog about that at hoverdaft.blogspot.com please do visit, I've tried to keep it entertaining and there will be pictures and videos to come.

My Multi-media project module is moving nicely, I don't want to give too much away on that one, but it will be somewhere between dire and genius (just to cover all angles).
 


This week also saw our first full Core Theatre lecture. We were introduced to the different lighting concepts and equipment as well as a trip up some ladders into the roof space and back.
I can't wait to get to know this subject more, theatre lighting wasn't something I was particularly looking forward to. Having said that it looks very interesting and there is few opportunities for learning in that sort of space, with the kind of equipment we have access to.



Overall a very exciting time, hopefully by the end of this course I will have a real direction to go in with all these new skills that I will have.

The Return of the Student

Ok, so begins my voyage into the so far unknown possibilities of Blogger. At times this journey may be hard, confusing or dangerous. But I am prepared to see how this goes. All the bits of work and thoughts for the next year while on my Creative Technologies course will be posted here.

Week 1
Lots of new faces, and lots of new concepts. Had an overview of all the things that we will be doing this next year. Term 1 will be focusing on:

Media Project - This is a choice of briefs including, Suspense, Weird Day and Documentary of Dishonesty. We have to create a media based piece of work that fulfils whatever brief we choose.

Technical Studio Recording - Bit of mixed info so far, what it seems is that we have to record a 1.20 piece of audio work. Being marked for the technical side of things, at the moment I am thinking of doing a voice acting piece.

E-Portfolio - Despite my hatred for the P word, *shiver*, it looks like this module is going to be very useful. I have never ventured far into things like blogs and such, but I think this could be of use to me in the future. (Watch this space)

Core 2 AKA Theatre Stuff - So far we have had a quick tour of the Theatre facilities and briefly explained what we will be doing. Firstly being electrocuted haha. Anyway, we will learn the ins and outs of what makes a theatre tick. Lighting rigs, sound boards and all that sort of gizwizardry.

PPD - I have to go now, because that's what I am doing. I will explain all this later.

Farewell for now, may your travels be full of jelly beans and other such joyful yet animal friendly confection.