Cookingggg good times!

"Eating healthily is a challenge but doing it on a budget makes it especially difficult."


Our assignment was to create a 3 minute video on cooking healthily for cheap, aimed at students and "funky." It should be under £6, entertaining and memorable.
I was in a group with Ed, Keiran and Mandy.


we decided to use two Panasonic cameras, for different purposes. One was used for a Wide Angle shot, in which we captured most of the "action" from the presenter. We used our other camera in order to get the Close Up shots. We thought this was very important as we could cut and change between cameras to get our desired shots, and I definately think it works.


We also decided upon using a presenter as our secondary subject, (the food obviously being the first!) We thought this gave some character to the piece, making it more watchable and relatable.

I was assigned the role of presenter for this project, and I really enjoyed doing it, (don't ask why I'm australian!) I really got a feel of what it would be like

on the other side of the camera and really liked the buzz. I did have some difficulty, however, talking to the right camera, for example there was a camera set up for close-up of the food and I'd accidently talk to it, leaving the WA camera a shot of me talking to something else- so we couldn't use that particular shot.

We picked a delicious healthy meal which came to about £5.80 (perfect!) And it was actually really tasty... the reactions for our end are not fake!

We filmed the show at Keiran's flat as we thought the breakfast diner and overall structure of the kitchen worked really well with the shots we wanted to get. After filming, Mandy took it home and edited some of it.

We played back what she had edited on the Friday and it was hilarious! Only problem was that it got to about 2 mins 30 and i hadn't even chopped the onions let along cook the meal. So Mandy and I started again and decided to really tighten up the shots.. short and sweet.

We also decided upon mostly CU's Eg CU chopping the Veg, CU of the cooker etc. The main reason we thought of this was because it seems to flow a lot better, and also so I can do a Voice over when the editing's finished. I'll try and stick to what I said there and then, but recording over the images straight into final cut will make everything seem a lot more "polished."

So for our rough draft I thought it's definately coming along nicely. We'll edit it more with Ed and Keiran, add some music, title sequences etc. However we liked the footage so much, we're going to do an extended version, so we can make it how we really want it without having to cut it down quite so much. Watch this space...

But for the purpose of this blog; are 3 minute edited version is below!...

(I accidentely saved it onto Tom Charnley's Vimeo account...)!!

Sandra's Kitchen DELIGHTS from Tom Charnley on Vimeo.

I thought the final version was really good. Mandy, Ed and Keiran were wicked on the camera's and found it all flowed very smoothly and we got on really well as a team. The voice over works well over the images which is what we were after. The only problem with this version is that we had trouble uploading it onto our assessment Wiki as the file was too large, which then resulted in us compressing the piece down too much so (as you can see) the shots are quite distorted. But I loved this task!

...And the Sweet Potato Veggie Curry was delicious! (Slight changes in ingrediants compared to ours but still good!)

Kirsty interviews Mike! Practice makes perfect..

Interview with Mike and Kirsty! from Rachel Sowden on Vimeo.

At the beginning of this year, one of our first tasks in Sound and Vision was to practice the standard interview shots. It tends to be 5 shots;

Wide shot (to set the location for the viewers)

MS of both Interviewer and Interviewee (to introduce to the viewer who we will be watching)

OH of Interviewer (when asking questions)

OH of Interviewee (their response)

"Noddies" (the interviewer nodding along to what the interviewee is saying)

Performing this task has made me become more aware of the interview technique and you can see it apply in any interview situation, whether it be a news feature or more informal. I thought this was a fun way to jump straight into the course and be introduced to all the equipment.

Since then we have tried another interview shoot quite recently, in which we had to familarise ourselves once again to the shooting style and what is acceptable in this genre of filming.

We were split into groups and on the spot had to set up an interview, shoot it, ensuring all the factors around the subject were correct, i.e everything set up properly on the camera/ light exposure in the room etc.

Our guinea pigs were Kirsty and Mike and thought they did a really good job! We also worked more with the audio, using the rifle mic to capture the audio. Using this piece of apparatus meant we had to concentrate on the position it was taking in the room; You wanted it close enough to record the sound but didn't want it in the shot. So we had a few slip ups where it poked into shot, but nothing major.

I had a go editing the interview, and found it quite challenging. Becuase obviously we stopped and started as we changed positions, some of the footage didn't match, and about 35 secs in there is an obvious cut where I've tried to cut the question and answer to make it work.

I do, however, think there were parts in it that were pretty funny; some of the anwers Mike was giving were so funny, I had to put them in. If it was a reals new piece, however, I would have cut it down even more and only put in what was needed.

I think this has helped me become more confident with editing down footage; finding the shots and placing them together so they work and something which creates an interesting story for the interview. It's all well and good getting in the whole interview but if it's someone just droning on, people will drift off; using different shots cuts the answer up and gives the viewer something to focus on, as well as what's being said.

Alice in Wonderland's interview with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton is a good example. The beginning obviously introduces a clip of the film and goes straight into the interview. The camera cuts back and forth from the interviewer and interviewee just as we've been taught.