Week 5 (1-10-2008)

So today is my final day at Open Channel. Catherine and Dan were both there this morning to let me in.

My day started with putting data of Framed 2008 evaluation forms into a Excel spreadsheet, which was a pretty easy task. As I did quite a few spreadsheets over the course of the 5 weeks.

After finishing up the spreadsheet Catherine then asked me if I would like to clean the desk next to me for a new employee that was starting next week. I had no problems with the cleaning up as I wanted to get away from the computer for a while anyway.

Once I got the desk sparkling clean, I got given some photocopying jobs to do. These were of peoples receipts and contact information.

When I was down photocopying sheets, Trav showed up to do his work placement as well. It was good that Trav showed up because it meant we could share the jobs and get a lot more done during the day.

There was a bit of rearranging going on in the office, Dan and Catherine wanted a meeting area so Trav and I had to move a desk into the main shed. Dan helped move it down the stairs with Trav as it was an OHS issue.

Getting back from the moving of the desk, I got set a new task of creating another spreadsheet which contained data from evaluation forms from the Young Filmmakers Holiday Workshop.

After lunch there was a class being run by Brandon Campbell who is a freelance first assistant director. Dan asked if Trav and I would be interested in sitting on the class. It was pretty exciting to be able to sit in on his class as he had worked on Underbelly, Ned and Ghost Rider. Sitting in on the class was interesting and taught me a lot about the film and TV industry and what a first assistant director does.

After the class Dan asked me to finish my day off with sending emails about the Sound For Screen class that was taking place at open Channel. Once that was finished my day and Work Placement was all done at Open Channel. I had the best time being there and got to meet some really nice and great people.

Week 4 (24-09-2008)

Today was quite a busy day. I got here early once again, Dan was here this morning to greet me.

Dan gave me some tasks to do. The first task was to edit and send a contract to a tutor for a course that is coming up in the following weeks.

The second task was to rearrange and add course information in an industry led course guide, it got a bit tricky trying to slot each bit of information into the right sections of the chapter and follow the same type of format as the previous pages. I tried my best, but also asked Dan to double check it.

The third task was to figure out a rough booking schedule for a young film makers course which is taking place over a 15 week period, that needs certain equipment in different weeks. I went from talking to Dan to talking to Pete. Pete is associated with the booking and lending out of equipment, so he helped me with dates and with what is available.

The fourth task was to finish off the Open Channel DVD Log before lunch, which i started last week and didnt quite finish.

After getting back from lunch Catherine asked me if I would be interested in taking some photos of the young filmmakers course. After getting a digital camera from Pete I found the course which was in one of the editing huts which was in the big shed. I managed to get some good images of the young filmmakers creating a scene.

Week 3 (17-09-2008)

Today I caught the train to workplace, which is better then getting a lift with my dad, because i get there later and don't get there early like the past two weeks.

The day started with bounding course books for Daniel. I only had to do 6 books, which didn't take all that much time to complete. After I finished binding the books I helped out with an Excel spread sheet for 'When I Grow Up I Want To Be White', which is a short movie written by Agatha Yim. The spread sheet was for a breakdown of props that will be needed for each scene.

The next thing on my to do list was putting Open Channel tapes into their archive container which is in the main shed of Open Channel.

Once i finished moving the tapes into the archive I had to look after reception as everyone was busy for a little a while. Only had to take one call, which was good because I'm not a big fan of answering phones.

After everyone got back, i went on my break and walked to Telstra Dome to get some Subway.

When i got back Catherine gave me my last job to do for the day which was to catalogue videos made by students from training courses from over the past few years. It took me quite a long time to complete as there were heaps of videos, I have a few bags to complete next week because i didn't quite finish them all.

Week 2 (10-09-2008)

This week at Open Channel (10-09-08), I got there early again because I got a lift in with my dad. I basically picked up where I left off, which was putting short courses into envelopes and sending them to libraries and art centers around Victoria.
After finishing off most the envelopes. I added courses onto Screen Hub that Open Channel are conducting from the September through to November.
Catherine was also having difficulties with one of her blogs. The text was much larger then it should of been. I had a go at trying to fix it but I think because it was copy and pasted straight from a web page, the html code has gotten muddled up and wont allow for the size of the text to be changed.
Catherine also had me do some data entry of results from evaluation forms from "Framed #07 NOISE - Putting It Together". The data was entered into Excel, which is a program I wasn't to familiar with. Catherine was nice enough to show me the basics of the program. I entered about 50 something pages of evaluations, which did take quite a while, but i enjoyed doing it. Half way through doing the spread sheet I had a break and went for a walk to Breadtop bakery where I had lunch. After lunch i finished the spread sheet and that finished off my day.

1st Day

So today is my first day at Open Channel. I arrived 40 minutes early because i got a lift in with my dad who works near Docklands, luckily Catherine (my supervisor) was there to welcome me and show me around.

So far today I have met:
Catherine Leos - Marketing and Development Manager.
Martin Renaud - Executive Director.
Vanessa Steinberg - Short Course Coordinator.

Catherine has set me up in the main office on a computer where todays jobs so far include finding 10 bookshops to send out flyer's about film and film makers short courses. I had to find bookshops on Brunswick St, Smith St and St Kilda. Unfortunetly i could not find any bookshops in Smith St, but I did find a few in Brunswick St and St Kilda.

They are:
Brunswick Street Bookstore
Artisan Books
Grub Street Bookshop
Bookhouse
Chronicles Book Shop
Readings
The Grotto
Eastend Booksellers

Once i found the bookshops, i then had to ring them and find out if they would be interested in distributing the flyer's.
Catherine also asked for the dates of the last Thursday in Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct and Nov of 2009 which I emailed to her. These dates are for a short course next year.
After those two jobs I was then asked to put labels on envelopes and put the short course flyer's in them.
So far the day is going good, I'm having a good time and everyone is really friendly. Im just a little tired because i had to work till 10:30 last night and I'm not really a morning a person ;)

The rest of the day consisted of putting letters and flyer's into envelopes which would be sent out to Library's and Art Centers around Victoria.

Work Placement Dates

I will be doing work placement at Open Channel on Docklands. The dates i will be there are September 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and October 1st.

Work Placement

I'm pretty excited about work placement, Open Channel should be really good, If i get it. I'm not sure what to expect though. Hopefully I learn a lot about the industry and gain some new skills I can use down the track.