Time Management

Time Management 

In order to effectively manage my time around my Media Studies coursework, I have contacted the actors that I require for my music video. Incidentally, the actors are my parents. The reason why I have chosen to use my parents as my actors is that I know that they are extremely reliable and I effectively know their schedules inside out - thus making it easier to film around them and their own schedules. 

I can gain many things from using "older" actors, for one, they are more mature and more likely to conform to what I need to do as they are in effect, great time managers. They are also less likely to "mess around" during the filming process, and in order to complete my music video to the best of my abilities, I need to stay away from people who are going to hinder the filming process. As they are my parents, I am always around them, so if there is a section of footage that needs to be changed in order to have the most effect, I always have them at my disposal... as I live in the same house! 

However, the only set back that I see from using them as my actors, is that my father is an International Manager and Owner and actually lives in New York and in some cases, Bangkok. So I have asked for his flight schedule so I can tailor my own schedule around the time that he is away. He is in the process of compiling this together, so once I get it, I will evidence it on my blog to show my time management. Although this can be seen as a hindrance, I always aim to see the positive in these situations. Whilst my father is away on business, I aim to complete all of the frames that just have my mother in them, this will help my filming process as I am not dependent on my father being here to film this footage. When he is back, I will then film the scenes with him and my mother. 

Although they are my parents, I still want to mirror the same level of professionalism that I would have had to undertake if I was using alternative actors. I got a response from my mother almost straight away, telling me that she was happy to be involved in it... It's also nice to see that despite the professional circumstances, she still tells me that she loves me! 

The process of evidencing my liaising with my actors is nearing completion. I received email confirmation from my father saying that he would be happy to help me. 

I also emailed him asking for his flight schedule as then as I previously stated, I can work around the time that he is away. I am aware that there is a block of time where is is unavailable so having this list enables me to direct my focus and attention to other areas of my coursework, such as the completion of my DigiPak.

As asked, my father provided me with his travel and work schedule that details when he will be out of the country and when he will be available for filming. I've noticed that there there is a significant amount of time where my father isn't in the country, but I'm not worried because I know that personally, I am a very good time manager and I am committed to getting this completed to the best that I can. 

It is not an issue that my father is out of the country for these two weeks, I will find other things to do as I previously mentioned. 

Now that I have the flight and work schedule, I have put together an Excel Spreadsheet that details the availability of both parents over the next two months. For my fathers column, there is A LOT of red and unavailability, but nearing the end of Christmas, he is free. It is currently the 23rd of November 2016 and he is here until the 27th of November.

With this in mind, I will have to alter what I originally wanted to do, which was film everything to do solely with my mother, but I now see that this won't be an effective use of my time. So, I have decided to film all the scenes with my mother and father over the course of the next four days - this will be the best use of my time. After my father leaves on the 27th of November, I will then film my mother and all of the scenes that revolve around her. This leaves me time to focus on other areas of my coursework, too.

I have inserted the completed availability schedule to the right. This helps me to visualise the availability and unavailability of the actors. With the aid in visualisation of the schedule, I am able to judge what I can and cannot get done within these time constraints. 

With the sheer availability that my mother has, I am able to dedicate a block week to the scenes that just have her in them. It seems that I will have to use the four days (starting from 23/11/16 - 27/11/16) to film the scenes where they are together. 

The aim is to get up early in the morning and set out into town to film. This is purely because there won't be a lot of people around and there won't be any external noise or hindrance from the general public - although, this is a factor that I must be respectful of anyway.

Filming in the morning then gives me the rest of the day to enhance the footage through Final Cut and edit any other elements that need to be tended to.