The Old Times

The Final Week

20th April 2026

We’ve finally reached the last week of the module and of the current project and this morning, we received details of the final deliverables for the project:

I’ll be honest, some of it, I don’t understand – for example I don’t know what ProRes HQ is and I’m not really sure about LOG or RAW either.

The Idea

Following the first session of the module, we set up a WhatsApp group where we looked at options and discussed a possible subject for the video project. We decided to do a hybrid project based on Option 1 which is a news programme – ARU Today Film Festival Special – which comprised 4 elements with a documentary flavour. The story we agreed upon was a student film festival where the characters who appear in the film are excited (perhaps over excited) about winning an award at a film festival which is, in fact, just a classroom showing of student work.

Our ARU Tonight mockumentary successfully meets the module requirement to film at least three different media types. We have structured our news show to include several distinct formats:

• First, we feature traditional studio media with our anchors at the newsdesk under studio lighting, delivering headlines and introducing the main story.
• Second, we incorporate on-location field reporting, where our correspondent broadcasts “live” from the university corridor, reporting outside the highly anticipated film festival.
• Third, our pre-recorded package utilizes a documentary-style “studio” setting for talking-head interviews. These are deliberately shot with cinematic, moody lighting to capture the filmmakers’ overly serious delusions about their work.
• Fourth, we include the award ceremony footage as the actual “breaking news” content being reported. This media contrasts the cinematic hype by capturing the harsh, fluorescent reality of a mostly empty lecture theatre, an awkward Q&A session, and the anticlimactic certificate presentation.
• Finally, to fully align with the brief, we are integrating social media reaction media to show how the news of our festival buzz is reflected online via platforms like TikTok.

I have had to use Google to work out these answers:

• 5.1: This is a surround sound configuration consisting of six channels: Left (L), Right (R), Center (C), Low-Frequency Effects (LFE), Left Surround (LS), and Right Surround (RS).
• 7.1: This is a more expansive surround sound configuration consisting of eight channels: Left (L), Right (R), Center (C), Low-Frequency Effects (LFE), Left Side Surround (Lss), Right Side Surround (Rss), Left Rear Surround (Lrs), and Right Rear Surround (Rrs).
• IAB: This stands for Immersive Audio Bitstream.

When thinking about the storyboard and flow/script/improvisation for this film, I used experience of TV shows and films that I have enjoyed for reference, and which I have explored elsewhere on my blog – https://theoldtimes.co.uk/2026/03/03/fundamentals-of-digital-media-5/  these include blog:

1. For Your Consideration (2006): This film by Christopher Guest’s is on a similar theme – particularly relating to the self-delusion that the film screening is part of a prestigious festival.
2. The Day Today: This programme satirises media pomposity, and was a good example, I think of a show that demonstrated the tension between highly professional cinematic lighting and the absurd, low-stakes reality of the ARU screening.
3. The Office (UK) and Curb Your Enthusiasm: Though we have not quite achieved the level of comedy in these shows, they were the inspiration for the initial cinematographic and comedic choices. While we did not have time to film each of the originally planned scenes, there was an intention to use lingering shots, awkward silences, and a static camera to capture the painful realism of the anticlimactic certificate presentation, mirroring the silent judgment of the camera in The Office.

Production Paperwork

Call sheets

We did not use call sheets in this project because there were only four of us in the team and we were all present on campus for the filming times. However, we do understand the principle which is a daily production document sent to cast and crew before a shoot. It lists who needs to be where, and when, including call times, locations, scenes being filmed, and key contacts. It keeps everyone coordinated and is the backbone of a smooth shoot day.

Equipment lists

• DJI Ronin-S Gimbal
• Feelworld small DSLR monitor kit
• General use boom pole for use with rifle mic
• Medium portable LED 3 light kit
• Rodelink radio mic kit (general use)
• Sony A7S II full-frame mirrorless camera kit
• Super lightweight video tripod
• Tascam DR-70D Audio recorder kit

Shooting Schedule

23/03/2026

TIME	SCENE/ACTIVITY	LOCATION
10:30	Team Arrival+ setup	ARU 137
11:30	Scene 5,6,7 (talking heads)	Aru 137
13:00	Lunch break
14:00-15:00	Scene 19 (weather)	Aru photo studio
15:30	Wrap-up

13/04/2026

TIME	SCENE/ACTIVITY	LOCATION
10:30 -11:20	Editing foundations	ARU 137
11:30	Collect equipment+ setup	Aru media services
11:50- 13:00	Scene 14	ARU 137
13:00-13:30	Wrap-up	Aru 137

Lighting Diagram

We used a simple three-point lighting setup, with a key light as the main source, a bounce light to reduce shadows, and a rim light to separate the subject from the background.

However, for scene 14 (post-award interview), we used only key light, supported by natural light coming from the windows, which created a softer and more realistic look.

Storyboard

The storyboard underwent several iterations during the project but ultimately, the following was used. However, due to time constraints, it was decided not to film many of the sections which did not require ‘actors’ and our focus turned to the ‘action’ scenes.

Scene	Title	Status	Notes
1	Opening titles and headlines	Filmed	News style title card; anchor introduces show
2	Anchor introduces main story	Filmed	Serious anchor sets up ARU Film Festival story
3	Field intro	Filmed	“Live” on campus, red carpet treatment
4	Epic opening of campus	To film (20 mins)	5–6 shots: feet, door handle, sign, corridor, arrival
5	“This is our Cannes”	Filmed	Talking head; anchors the delusion
6	“I paid for childcare for this”	Filmed	Warm background; humour and emotional stakes
7	“My comeback”	Filmed	Dramatic talking head; Nick as auteur
8	Corridor walk and door reveal	To film (5 mins)	Slow walk to door; wide shot + close-ups on faces
9	Festival email misinterpretation	Filmed	Plain email text on screen vs exaggerated readings
10	Press and networking rehearsal	Dropped	Skip unless spare time
11	Arrival inside the venue	To film (2 mins)	Pause on entry; “Smaller than I imagined” line
12	Reality check cutaways	To film (30 mins)	Phone, projector, programme sheet, lecturer line
13	Screening tension	To film (20 mins)	Reaction shots only; faces, yawn, phone, thoughtful nod
14	Awards moment	To film (45 mins)	Trophy, flat announcement, eruption, acceptance speech cut short
15	Painful non Q&A	To film (10 secs)	“Any questions?” Silence. Cut.
16	Post-event spin interviews	Filmed	Spinning the award as career-changing
17	Field sign-off	Dropped	Edit flows better without it
18	Anchor button	Filmed	Deadpan summary; segue to weather
19	Spoof weather	Filmed	Deadlines, stress, printer failures forecast
20	Final wide shot with cleaner	To film (10 mins)	Walk away with trophy; bin crosses behind; music swells

The Technical Bit

The technical details of this brief are WAY over my head and I guess this positions me as a “would-be performer” who is not tech-savvy and in this project my focus has been on the script and creative elements rather than the technical details of how the film has been created.

In fairness, that reflects other aspects of my life – I like to think I have a creative mind but struggle with the technicalities of brining the ideas to life. For example, I am good at coming up with ideas for decoration at home – though I can’t pretend it counts as ‘interior design’ but can’t hang wall paper or ‘cut in’ emulsion, I love cycling but can’t repair more than a simple puncture and interventions under the bonnet of my car are often an immediate precursor to a main dealer visit.

As a result, I am not going to pretend that I understand these requirements of the brief, but I believe that I have made a significant contribution to delivering the outcome. That said, I wish I could do the technical stuff – and to some extent have proved that I can do so using work arounds in the other modules of this semester – but that, quite simply, others in the team can do these things better.

The Talent v The Techs In this project, division of labour has been the lifesaver – though I would have hoped for stronger engagement across the team, we are – as the saying has it – where we are. My given role in the team was as Line Producer but I also took on the role of coming up with the idea for the project, preparing storyboard and script ideas as well as acting in the production. In some respects the key joke which comes across in the production is that of my ‘come back’ and ‘second chance’ which in a sense reflects the reason I am on this course in the first place. Meanwhile, I’m leaving the terrifying concepts of “Sequence Settings” and “3840 x 2160 frame sizes” to others in the team who are cooler and younger than me and who actually understand cameras.

Translating the Jargon (Incorrectly): The video hasn’t quite ended up as I had hoped and I would be lying if I said I was satisfied with the ‘final’ product. As a result, I am going to edit it in a way I understand using CapCut Pro. But as part of the process, I have attempted to understand the jargon:

• Proxy Workflow: “Proxy Workflow” sounds like delegating work to someone else but I do understand that in reality, it means making low-resolution copies so the editing software doesn’t have a total meltdown while handling massive files.

• Delivery Codecs: “ProRes 422HQ” and “H264” sound to me like a pair of droids from Star Wars (which I have never seen). My understanding is that the question to be answered here is do we want it to look incredibly pretty with “lossless 10-bit color,” or do we want it to actually fit on our hard drive? Quinn set the objective of creating a ‘cinematic’ look and feel and while I don’t understand precisely what that means, I have left that to him.
• Audio Synchronization: Quite honestly, I don’t understand how to do this but I realise that it is a tool designed to match “audio spikes” in the soundwaves, and I think Ben (our Sound Director) managed this aspect of the project well.

The File Name The ISDCF naming convention seems sensible to me – particularly if the film is to be released into cinemas and this will be reflected in the final exported file name of this film: (e.g. MovieTitle_SHR-25_EN-XX_UK_20_2160p_ProResHQ_ARU_20260411) even if it is longer than the film itself. https://registry-page.isdcf.com/   

Art Imitating Life Our film satirises students who treat a humble university screening like it’s the Cannes Film Festival. There is something of an irony that while we are attempting to make fun of film industry delusions, the project brief is genuinely forcing us to meet Hollywood-level technical standards (like Inter-Society Digital Cinema Forum naming conventions and specific stereo channel syncing) for a student video.

Brand Identity

When developing my ‘vision’ for the show, I had in mind a local news programme similar to BBC Look East or ITV Anglia News and developed these designs with Google Gemini: .

In addition, Iva designed this logo for the show:

Social Media Reaction:

This project made much slower progress than I had hoped and as a consequence – as I write this post – I have no idea whether the final movie will be created in time to meet the submission deadline or not. That means I haven’t seen the completed film, I know it lacks some of the hoped for content and, as a result, it is therefore difficult to prepare a marketing campaign. Should the video be available, I will revisit this matter but in the meantime, I have created some social media posts via AI Image Generation so that there is something to show here:

Reflection

As we reach – or at least approach – the end of the the Fundamentals of Digital Media video project, I find myself looking back at our ARU Tonight mockumentary with a mixture of and technical trauma. From the very beginning of this module, I admitted to feeling entirely out of my comfort zone.

Nothing highlights this gap quite like the final submission instructions received this morning. The brief demanded that we provide our final video as a ProRes HQ file and export our Premiere Pro project as a package. I will Google instructions but I’m not entirely sure I can *actually* do this in real life.

To date, this project survived on the division of labour – and may yet fail because of it too. I took on the role of Line Producer, but my real contribution was driving the creative vision: coming up with the “film festival delusion” concept, mapping the storyboards to our real-world comedy references (like the film For Your Consideration and tv show The Day Today), and, of course, stepping in front of the camera to play the veteran, self-important talent.

I am incredibly grateful for my tech-savvy teammates and this meant that while I concerntrated on the story, Ben (our Sound Director) was making sure our Tascam audio spikes were perfectly matched with the clapperboard, and Quinn was handling the terrifying realities of 3840 x 2160 sequence settings and proxy workflows.

The brief demands an honest reflection, so I will be entirely truthful: I am not completely satisfied with our (current, perhaps) final cut. While Quinn did a miraculous job turning the footage around so quickly, the final pacing didn’t quite capture the Curb Your Enthusiasm-style lingering awkwardness I had pictured in my head. It was difficult to find a sense of energy in the team and I think this is reflected in the pace of much of the footage.

Because I don’t have the skills to edit and produce the video myself, I emailed the team to help to focus our minds but there has been little progress (so far):

Ultimately, there is something ironic about this project. Our mockumentary news programme intends to satirise a group of students treating a humble classroom screening as if it were a Hollywood premiere. Meanwhile, the actual project brief forced us to meet Hollywood-level technical standards, navigate codecs, decibel thresholds, and ISDCF naming conventions, just to pass a 5-minute university assignment. Art truly does imitate life. It was a massive challenge, but an incredibly rewarding – if frustrating – one.