Last breath (by Severi)

After the Easter holidays we began our last week at work and I had pretty much given up on the hope of getting to properly work with the cameras. Therefore I was really surprised when I came to work on tuesday and the camera-men came to me, saying that they needed our help, there was a camera without an operator on a childrens quiz-show. Seeing that we would shoot two episodes of the show at the same day, we took turns with Miko - he did the first episode and I did the second. The work itself wasn’t that challenging though. We were to keep a half shot of the host, until the end, when one of the kids would come up to the host with a piece of paper - then we should change into a two-shot. Even though the work wasn’t that difficult, I was pleased to actually getting to do something.

Set for childrens quiz show

Quiz!!!

On wednesday we got back to the basics as we filmed an episode of Dobra Ura, the daily afternoon-show. Once again we took turns with Mike, one of us following from the side while the other was working. Could’ve been worse, could’ve been better. And the came thursday. Finally we got an interesting gig ahead of us. In Kino Šiška, a great local venue that hosts a lot of impressive concerts, there would be a memorial concert for Tomaž Pengov, a well known and loved Slovenian singer/songwriter who had passed away a month earlier. We were to work on the FoH, or safety-camera in the back. The director gave us a really simple instructions for our work - we should always find a shot that could be in a cover of a magazine - keep at it ‘till he had used it and then search for another one. Simple and effective. We were even given the freedom to be as artistic as we wanted. I think it’s useless to say that it was the most enjoyable day with Slovenian RTV.

 Picture from camera

Another picture from camera

During our last day at work we did 2 episodes of Midnight Club, once again taking turns on the camera, just taking a half-shot of the host. It might not have been much, but at least on the final week we were working everyday with cameras. So even though our internship has already come to an end, I’m satisfied. I feel I’ve learned a lot on this trip - maybe not the professionals aspects that I came here to learn, but instead lessons about the world, the life and about myself. While being here, I might have even found myself a project that will keep me busy for years to come. And that’s more than I ever dared to expect from this journey.

Sports and stuff (by Miko)

Hey! Heres the next post which will cover last half weeks! Wednesday morning started out with us being with the chief editor of Slovenia RTV learning about different things about editing. They were editing some kind of documentary about theater acting, they edited it with some program I have never seen before, I can really remember what the name of the program was, we sat there for a while talking with the editor and director of the program they were editing. Then we were brought to room meant for only color correction. It was really fascinating. Then we had few hours off before we went to basketball game with the camera crew. We were taken there by bus, it took an hour to get there. We didn't get to work on a camera, so we just had to observe, when other people were working.The game itself was really exciting and tight!

 Picture from editing room

Thursday we went to virtual studios to see how blue screen worked. It was very interesting! I learned a lot about how blue screen functions. It was fun to learn what all kinds of things you can use it for, but they couldn't show us all things, because they were starting to do a program.

Picture from gymnastics hall

Friday we went to rehearsal shooting for a gymnastics world finals at Tivoli. We followed cameramen as they showed us positions of the cameras and what camera has what kind of job. We still didn't get to work on any cameras and were forced to just observe from sidelines. Today was the actual shootings and I was watching from the control room for the most of the time. It was nothing special. One more week at Slovenia left and It has been really fun, but I really hope we get to work a lot for the last week.

Picture from the control room

Getting busy (by Severi)

Last sunday we had a chance to follow the filming of RTV Slovenias most popular show, Moja Slovenia! It was a quiz-show, in which slovenian celebrities completed tasks and answered questions concerning Slovenia. As I still can’t understand more than handful of words in Slovenian, I couldn’t get that much out of the show - but the audience seemed to enjoy it thoroughly. 











And then came monday. Finally. In one day we spent more time with cameras than we had during the previous month. We filmed a children show with puppets in an neatly detailed set. Doing so, we got a taste of what it means to be a cameraman in a studio. In 10 hours we filmed 3 episodes - pretty much in one go. I don’t mind though - we finally got to do something we came here for.

Tuesday we spent again in studio 2, filming the live broadcast of the daily afternoon show. I also got a personal lesson into using the crane in between the shots, which was truly fascinating. Got to get myself one of those, when I suddenly get filthy rich.

Student project... (by Miko)

Hey! I really don't have much to tell so this update will probably be quite short. For last three days we haven't been able to even touch a camera, we've only watched others work for few days now. Being useless makes me feel a little bit frustrated, but next week seems interesting and full of action. I hope we get to film something interesting!

Anyways for last few days we were with local student's short film project, it seemed interesting, but we didn't get to do anything at all. First we were told, that we could operate one camera, but then that offer was withdrawn, because director couldn't or didn't want to speak English. For last few days we've just enjoyed a weather, which is really good here.

This week dampened my spirit a little bit, but today when we planned for next weeks schedule, it got me fired up again!

 I say it's summer here and locals just laugh at my face...

Shooting!!!

Sorry for a short update... 

Calm Before the Storm! (by Severi)

The last 3 of our workdays haven’t contained too much action. Friday we spent observing action in the control room. While filled with top notch electronics and slightly Star Trekky interior, it wasn’t all that educational. What was being filmed was a TV-show for youngsters, though for my eyes it didn’t have too much of an appeal. That episode being the first for the director, she refused from speaking english in the command stream and so forbid us from being on the cameras. So we settled in following the proceedings in both the control room and the set itself.

Control room

Monday wasn’t much different, as we got to follow the filming of a childrens Christmas Special. Again, forbidden from the cameras we settled in sitting on the edge of the studio and watching the process. Without possessing the command of Slovenian language, there is only so much following from the sides can teach you. But I did have a few interesting conversations with the makers, such as the director who had been working in the TV since 1951, when he first appeared as a child actor.

Set of a Slovenian childrens show christmas special episode

*Swush* Behind the Scenes!

On tuesday we followed the filming of a sketch for a local sketch-show, and a very stereotypical Doctor sketch at that. 4 patients come to see the doctor one at a time. The first one has a head tingler ( you know, one of those weird metallic things that are used on your head, makes you feel all tingly and ecstatic) stuck on his head - no problem, the doctor takes care of it. The second is a young beautiful woman with a piece of dental floss stuck in her teeth - no problem, the doctor takes care of it. The third is a big man who is troubled by the fact that even though he had washed his hands with soap, they are still dirty - no problem, the doctor applies the water and it has been taken care of. The fourth patient then comes in, bloodied and holding his torn hand in his other one, moaning painfully as he goes. The doctor looks at him for a moment and then commands him to leave, as the clinic is only for serious cases. Huehue.

 Doctor scetch was filmed in the location arrow points to. (ps. pro paint skills!)

We didn't even get to see this set in use, but they said it's was for a news broadcast parody scetch

At the end of the day, we were able to change to studio 2, where we were allowed to operate one of the cameras in an afternoon talk-show, similar to what we were filming the first day at the job. Thrilling as it was, I’m far more thrilled about the days to come - tomorrow we are to work with local students on a film project. At this points that is all I can tell, but you can expect more info in the days to come.

Talk-show set... and studio camera!!

Soccer and talk-shows! (by Miko)

Hello! Past days have been really interesting! Working at the Slovenia RTV is really fun and teaching. Not to mention the atmosphere the place has. Everyone working there, that we have been in touch with, has been really awesome and have answered whatever questions we might have.

Yesterday we were at biggest stadium in Ljubljana watching a soccer match... from a control room! It was a portable control room which was built inside car of a truck. Soccer was shot with 8 cameras from various angles and some of the cameras were slowmotion cameras, so that they could replay some events as slowmotion. The equipment they had was impressive. We didn't get to shoot any of the shots, because they only had a limited amount of cameras, so we only observed the process from the control room, which was really interesting! I realized, that filming of a soccer match, or any sport is much harder than it seems. You'd have to know the rules and focus all the time on a job, that you're given. 

(Sorry no pictures from the soccer match, because i'm really bad at remembering things...)

Today we went to Tv-station early in the morning to film a talk-show called Midnight Club. It wasn't a live show. The show will be shown at midnight on Fridays. We got to film with only one camera. We shot two episodes of it. First I was on the camera for the first episode and then Severi filmed the second one. We were given a camera, that only takes a close-up on a host, so we didn't get to do anything special, only panning the camera so the host has room at the line of sight. Length of one episode was 70 minutes, so that makes it over an hour. It was actually pretty numbing to take only close-up for over an hour, but I'm not complaining. It was fun nevertheless.

And then... Pictures! (Yes I remembered to take couple of pictures from the studio)

Wide shot of the studio where we shot the Midnight Club Talk-show

Camera, that we used (This is a bad picture)

I... I don't even know what this is... but everyone loves cats right?

(I did not take this picture)

First days on a job (by Severi)

The first days with the cameraman-crew are now behind and I suppose it’s time to reflect upon them. On monday we had a chance to follow the shooting of a live news broadcast as well as sports broadcast done in a virtual studio. The camera-work in on itself wasn’t anything out of an ordinary, except for the uncomfortably large headroom that is a norm here. I was later explained that it was because of the live feed - people might move far more than expected and with a narrower headroom it might look uncomfortable. Later during the first day we had a chance to do some camerawork, as we were following the live broadcast of a weekly talk-show. The director agreed to speak english on the command feed and things went without a problem. I immediately fell in love with the smoothness of the studio cameras - they move ever so lightly and the drives you could potentially do with them… well, imaginary is the only boundary. We were also allowed to play around with the crane during the breaks from the show, which was great fun as well. We started the second day early in the morning, as we went to follow the broadcast of a daily morning show. It was done with only three cameras, but we had our chance to bump in and assist the cameramen in their duty. Compared to the day before, it was nothing special, but all new experience is necessary. After the daily morning show we had an hour and a half for lunch break before observing the news-broadcast later in the afternoon, after which we were free to leave for the day. Tomorrow we are going to see a local football match, which is said to possible contain a lot of hooliganism, should be an exciting sight to behold.

Two-man job!! (by Miko)

It's time for a blog update huh? This update won't have any pictures neither, but I'll make it up to you with a video, which is actually our second assignment at the education centre. The equipment we used for the film was Sony-A1 camera, tripod and small attachable boom-mike and for editing we used Premiere and that's it.

Our assignment was to make a shortfilm with some kind of story. It had to have a one or two twists. We had five days to complete our task. For three days we planned it carefully and went through our filming locations and tried to get actors, but the actor part turned out unsuccesful. We didn't get any actors, except for the antique shop owner who was really a great person! So the film was made by just the two of us!

We started filming at thursday noon and everything went really smoothly, we were on schedule until we realized that we forgot to recharge cameras batteries after last assignment. Well after we solved that problem we then shot a few chasing scenes at the city and then went to a forest which was our last location, but then it got too dark to film, so we decided to wake up early in the morning and go film the last shots before we go back to education centre. After getting the shots we got some breakfast from bakery nearby, got some stuff from the hostel and went to the bus stop. When we arrived at the education centre, we first met with the head of the camera team, that we will be joining next week. He was a really nice guy! After that we went to edit our material in the edit room.

I'm actually proud of how it turned out in the end. Actually our mentor didn't believe at first that we made it just with the two of us. Sounds are nothing to be a proud of though, but we would have needed a proper sound guy on our film to get the best sounds possible and more time at the edit room, but otherwise the film was very succesful in my opinion, but that's it for now. Sorry about the lack of blog updates, but we haven't had a lot to talk about, but when we start working with the camera crew, the updates will probably come almost daily. Anyways... enjoy the film!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmnJxxCPPs&feature=youtu.be

First assignment (by Severi)

The first week in Ljubljana has been hectic. Or that’s what I would like to say. Actually it has been quite the opposite. We received the instructions for our assignment at education centre and we continued to work on it on a two day shooting - one day editing schedule. One the first day of shooting we started to work on our first idea, which was soon dropped as we started doubting its validity. It seemed too avant garde for the purpose. Instead of finishing the shots for it that day we decided to use the rest of the day thinking of a more solid idea. While pondering on the subject we might have enjoyed a beer or two, which might have had an effect on the final result.
On the second day of shooting we carried out our plans from the day before, even though we had a few setbacks. Finding actors in a foreign city can be an agonizing task. However, as we returned to our hostel late in the evening, we could be certain that we had all the material we needed in the editing room the next day. It tooks us a mere 3 hours to get the editing done on the piece (granted, it is only 1 minute long), and we received a few well chosen words of praise from our mentor. Where as he congratulated us on the good sense of continuity and framing, he did also remind us that what we had created was not short movie in on itself, but merely an event. This is mind we started to work on our second project, with which we should correct the mistakes we did in the first one. While we are still working on the second film, it would be foolish to say it is all we have been doing. The timetable for our second project is far more forgiving and we’ve easily managed to find time for exploring the city and enjoying our stay. So far I have no regrets.


Our first assignment (Sorry for bad quality. We had problems with exporting.)

Flight, Ljubljana and getting started (by Miko)

Good Evening!

First flight is behind me and now I've been to total of 4 different countries. Finland, Estonia, Germany and Slovenia. Wow... they keep stacking up don't they? Even though I don't think German counts, because I've been only to the airport of Frankfurt.

Photo taken from the airport of Frankfurt

My image on flying was way more exciting than it actually was. It was like one of those disappointing cool looking amusement park devices everyone's been to, but it was fun experience despite that and I can't deny the fact that view from the plane is cool even after seeing tons of those photos taken from the window of the plane, where you see one of the wings, sun and clouds.

Finally we arrived to Ljubljana after hours of travelling and waiting at the airports. We grabbed a taxi, which played same crappy hit songs I heard dozens of times in Finland, it took us to our hostel where we will be staying for next 6 weeks. First when we entered it had this Arabic theme to it, like in the Disney movie Aladdin, you know, the movie everyone has seen in their childhood or at least should have seen. At the reception window there was this owner, who gave us all the info we needed, from the hostel rules to bus timetables. Everyone so far has been really kind and customer service has been much better compared to Finland.

Staircase in the hostel Aladin

We threw our luggage into our hostel room and went out to explore the city. It was pretty interesting, but the most suprising thing was that the city was so quiet. We walked few kilometers until we got to the center and it was so quiet compared to the Finnish cities. After sometime we heard music in distance and went to investigate. We found out that at the square there was somekind of music performance. There were a lot of people watching it.

People at the square

Monday we arrived at the education center to get our first assignment from our coordinator. After we had done our contracts we then went with one of the mentors to get a cup of coffee and at the coffee we got our first assignment, which is to make a video about our impression of Ljubljana. Then our mentor showed us around in the SloRTV main building after that we went to have another cup of coffee, talked a little and then we started planning our project. We have this week to make our project and we will make our best to make it as good as possible. Now I'm out, thank you and good bye.

More than motivated! (by Miko)

Heyo!

I'm Miko and this is my first blog entry and this blog is about my and Severi's (my senior in the North-Karelia college) trip to a country named Slovenia. This blog will have a ton of pictures in the future posts, but for the first post you'll have to manage with reading my boring text-only post.

I'm leaving for Slovenia tomorrow morning with Severi. The thing is I've never been to a plane before, so that makes me kinda nervous. Actually I've never been anywhere farther to Finland than Estonia (Estonia is a country just next to Finland). How does this trip make me feel? Well... excited of course, little bit nervous, but most of all I'm more than motivated to go!

Now I'll go to sleep, or at least try to. Next post (which will probably be a little bit more interesting and varied) will appear in a near future. Thank you and good night!