Part IL: My last day.

Hello readers,
Today was my last day of Canada's Greatest Summer Job. I know I haven't been blogging like I'm supposed to be I have been working so hard to get my movies done... and they are. Finally.
Today was a day of last minute preparations, frantic closed captioning and last minute audio checking. At 2 P.M. I presented the videos to the office and they seemed to like it. Thank goodness.

But today is only one day in what has been an incredible experience. This summer has flown, it feels like yesterday that Sheila was watching me jump around the living room with the excitement of getting the job. Going to Banff, making the news that I was selected out of 900 applicants for this job real, was incredible. Being in Alberta for the first time and meeting the other 31 students (you guys are incredibly talented) and the amazing mentors including Ashely Hoppin, Craig Colby, Albert, Downy and Eva Karvonen, Fiona Currie, Louis Lavoie and others that I'm forgetting.
The Banff experience was truly incredible, the mountains inspiring and the company couldn't be beat.

From Banff I made my way to Tadoussac, in Quebec's Cote Nord, a place I had never been before. I continue to be blown away from the beauty here, the cliffs, the fjord, the whales, everything about this place is spectacular. I seriously wouldn't even believe I'm in the same province.
Tadoussac and the Saguenay St-Lawrence Marine Park has given me some amazing memories. Tanya, Rosemary, Kevin and Genevieve have made this summer great from playing scrabble and pool at Chez Sam, to climbing over rocks at the dunes, to getting drunk on company whale watching tours (the truth comes out!!).
The St-Lawrence and Saguenay have given me some incredible adventures. Some of my favourites: flying in the sea plane for aerial footage, kayak trip gone awry, kayaking normally, whale watching trips, swimming at l'Anse a l'Eau, dune trips and walking around Pointe d'Islet.
I've had my ups and downs with my videos (crashes and re-builds) but in the end, I am proud of what I've made despite minor audio blips or wonky cuts.

Then there was the Torngats. What a unique and crazy experience in Canada's North. Never thought I would be there. So many crazy hikes, plane rides, first helicopter ride, first iceberg, first polar bear, first caribou (seeing and eating) and so many unique and unforgettable experiences.

So all in all, this has been an unbelievable summer. Truly is Canada's Greatest Summer Job, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything. Thanks Parks Canada, the Saguenay St-Lawrence Marine Park team, my friends and family for the support and in the words of one Kourtney Tyndall: See you on the other side!

Part XXXVIII: Adobe: My arch-nemesis

I remember my first time using Adobe Premiere editing software. It was a sunny day in Banff, Alberta. I remember thinking how many cool things I could do with it. How Concordia's FinalCut didn't compare to it.
That was three months ago.
Now I sit in front of my computer for at least half and hour every morning waiting for my projects to load... that is if they do at all.
Adobe crashes at least four times a day which means I have to restart my computer and re-load the project. For all the great feature it has, the system isn't worth all the time and heartache its given me.
I've never had FinalCut crash on me and take so long to so simple tasks. Only six more days of Adobe until I'm back to FinalCut.

Part XXXXVII: Rendering the night away

Name: Kelly Greig
Status Update: Editing
Since the Torngat Mountains (the long update is coming up) I've had a revelation. This job is supposed to be fun. I'm supposed to be having an amazing experience. When my computer crashed and I lost my premiere files, I drove myself into the ground trying to make up what I lost. Now, I have accepted the fact that I will only complete two movies and have gotten myself back on track.
I'm enjoying my job again, not freaking out at every minute. I look forward to seeing my movies done, and will get them done on time.
Work=fun!

Part XXXXVI: Back from the edge of nowhere

Hello readers.
It's been awhile. How's the family? Anything new with you? Me? Well, I have been trekking through Northern Labrador, meeting the minister of the environment and eating weird animals. No big?
Details?
Unfortunately I have neither the stamina nor the photos uploaded to share my experience at this moment. But so you know, it was an amazing experience!! Loved every minute of it! Fantastic!
More to come...

Part XXXXV: Picking up the pieces

Hello dear reader.
In the wake of my computer apocalypse I am doing what survivors do. Starting to pick up the pieces and move on. I have accepted that I will not fulfill my goal of three videos. I will produce two.
One is currently trapped in my co-workers computer and the other one is still in pieces. Whatever.
I can and will do it.
I've been surprisingly optimistic about the whole situation and Fiona Currie from National Office is a god send.
One more day until I leave for Montreal!

Part XXXXIV: Sunday editing marathon

10:04- Start up the computer. Yes, I slept in a bit. Woke up at 9:30. Sue me.

10:40- Massive set back, the video files from the Adobe were all on the desktop so when I tried to open my old file it was all media offline

11:10- Movie Two is really interview driven and rendering the interviews is taking forever.

12:06- Twenty minutes of rendering and 13% done.

2:11- STILL RENDERING, thank goodness this is a really interview driven video because in about 30 minutes I'll have all interviews rendered. Ugh

Part XXXXIII: Saturday morning editing marathon

9:15- Just arrived at the office. It's a beautiful warm Saturday morning. Not a cloud in the sky, and I'm cooped up in front of a computer

10:24- Rendering is taking FOREVER on this computer. Seriously 1 second of footage is taking about 13 to render.

11:51: About 48% complete

11:54- Waiting for a huge chunk to render. Blasting Don't Stop Believin' on my laptop.

1:00- First Adobe crash of the day, sure to be more to come. Almost have all the images in sequence. Still to do: audio, supers, music, credits

1:15- Listening to Hanuka Matata from the Lion King while getting the last of my clips together

2:23- Snack time

3:31- Holy hell this computer is slow. Everything is do take twice the time as my old computer.


4:22- Recording script. Almost done. Just supers and credits left to do.

4:46- Wow, my French is awful. Should I get someone else to record this?

5:59- Really almost done, just need to tweak some audio.

7:15- Exporting. Phew. Time for a break. Haven't decided whether or not to get going on video two.

Part XXXXII: Crash and Burn

Today was probably the worst day I`ve had on Canada`s Greatest Summer Job. I arrived in the office this morning and my computer wouldn`t start. It would freeze and send me to the blue screen of death everytime. I remained calm.
I called the IT guy for the field unit. He worked on it for an hour and a half. He said it had something to do with the hard drive. I remained relatively calm.
Four hours later after taking out my hard drive and playing with it he said that my files were lost. I started to panic.
After re-installing Adobe on another computer and starting up my external hard drive with my source files, I realized how much this sucks. Two finished movies. Gone.
Three weeks of work. Gone
My sanity. Gone.
It`s currently 6:27 PM and I`m here by myself at the office. I have to re-edit my movies over again and edit the third entire movie by Wednesday. This is the true test of my patience and journalistic mettle.
Bring it.

Part XXXXI: Storms

Well I finished my first movie today. I mean 99% finished all I have to do is re-record my script in French which will take 10 minutes done. Trouble is, it took a pound a flesh to get this thing done.
It all started with the music. I have two piece in this movie, one composed by Sean, one taken from the Internet. Now we got this list of music websites where you can listen to demos and then purchase and download the tune. So I browsed a site and found a piece that matched Sean's piece and the mood I was going for. I eagerly downloaded and cut and fixed and perfected and everything. When I went to go put the credits in a figure out how to credit the music I came across disclaimer. The piece I selected was not blanket licensed outside of the United States.

Twenty very angry minutes later I sat back down at my desk. I actually had to take a walk around the church beside the office to blow off some steam.
I found one piece I liked (took about 45 minutes to find) I could surely do it again. And I did.

Twenty minutes later I had a new piece of music, forty minutes later it was thrown into the film and an hour later it was cut the way I want it.

Phew! As the stormclouds brewed outside, they also brewed over my head. This was the kind of motivation where you actually get mad at the project and then it was done.

So all in all, a weird day with a cool result.

Pointe-Noire: One of the Parks Canada sites!

Part XXXX: Roughtcut Two Finished!

There is no better feeling than watching the little Canadian flag in the government of Canada logo stop waving and cross dissolve to black. It's a feeling of elation, pride and satisfaction.
Today I finished roughcut two. It is about what is underneath the waters of the St-Lawrence and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Eventually, the movie will be entirely in French which is kind of scary because I have to record some seriously French script soon.
I am starting to get used to this English/French scripting and working environment. Tadoussac is pretty uni-lingual French and so initially it was hard to switch.
Short post tonight after a day of editing, I don't really want to keep looking at a computer screen!

Part XXXIX: The Twelve Steps

I am not an alcoholic. The closest I've ever come is my European binge drinking semester and being considered a regular at Peel Pub on Tuesday nights. No, I am not an alcoholic, but I am going through the stages.

That's right, I'm making a euphemism for editing. Editing is now my alcohol. Also kind of explains my decline in social life too eh?

Stage 1: Footage
Wow. I have a lot of footage. Some of it terrible, some of it not-so-terrible but all seems in excess. I know I have at least fourteen shots of my feet or legs somewhere in the never ending list of clips. The giant list seems overwhelming but also reassuring. I must be able to patch some of these clips together to make something right?

Stage 2: Cutting
No, I don't mean the emo cutting yourself for pleasure way. I mean transcribing (extremely time consuming) and cutting up interviews and looking for b-roll that you'll think you'll use and realize is crap in a later stage. Now that I think about it, by the end of this stage I did feel like cutting myself.

Stage 3: Storyboarding
This stage can be likened to taking a 5000 piece puzzle and dumping it over all over the dining room table. All the pieces are the right size and can fit together, but you just have to figure out how. Let's just say I was never one for puzzles. I find this stage the hardest because there are so many places you can start. Do you start with the edges (the beginning and the end) or do you try to fit some pieces together that seem to make sense (nesting)?

Stage 4: BRoll
Remember when I just said that stage three was the hardest? I lied. I always feel like it is when I'm doing it, then I get to this stage. In stage four you realize you have to cover your cuts with broll that sometimes you have, sometimes you don't. Sometimes it makes sense, some times it doesn't. There is always that cold chill you get when you realize: 'I need to re-shoot this'.

Stage 5: Re-shoot
So far for this project I've had to re-shoot two interviews and endless broll scenes. This is one of the most frustrating things for me because camera operation is not where I excel. Sometimes I come into the edit suite only to find things are out of focus or shaky or the colour temperature is wrong. Often times you can fix these things in post but re-shooting is sometimes the only choice.

Stage 6: Agitation
By this time you are getting mad at the project, like it set out to personally get under your skin. Everything you do, even the most simple tasks, seem like carrying the world on your shoulders like Atlas.

Stage 7: Paranoia
Okay, this project defenitely is out to get me. It is at this stage that it seems like Adobe crashes seconds before you hit save and you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat because rendering, importing and encoding have been reoccuring characters in your nightmare. You swear that everytime you leave your chair to go to the bathroom someone has pressed apple Z about twenty times to lose a half hour of work. All you can think about is your movie.

Stage 8: Depression
OhGod! This movie will never get done! Everyone's will be better than mine and I'll never make it as a journalist. Why did they pick me for this job! How can I salvage this so people will not look down on me and scoff? This is the stage where heavy drinking starts and can actually lead to the real 12 steps.

Stage 9: Fury
"I swear to God, I am going to throw this computer down a flight of stairs." By this stage you are getting mad at the project. Your behaviour towards innocent coworkers and friends becomes very nasty. You snap at people using the photocopier too loud or sipping their coffee too early. Lights are too bright, so bright that you want to punch them out. This stage is similar to stage six except more extreme.

Stage 10: Hope
The funny thing about the fury stage is it's also the most productive stage. The rage that consumes your veins also drives you to work longer hours and edit like you're on speed. So once you emerge from the haze of fury, you realize that you've actually gotten a lot done. Nay, you are almost done. Instantly your mood lifts. You are nicer to your coworkers who are often cowering in fear, you carry groceries for old ladies instead of trying to mow them down with your pick-up, you feel a smile coming to your face instead of the perpetual grimace.

Stage 11: Jealousy
You're feeling good until you notice other people's roughcuts up on the video sharing website. You watch. Your smile fades slowly. You realize that their movies are good. Really good. Better than yours good. Damnit... This is where you want to sabotage everyone else's project somehow even if that means travelling across the country a breaking into various Parks offices.

Stage 12: Completion/Satisfaction
You focus all your energies on making your own movie as great as everyone else's. Two hours fixing camera shake? Completely rational. A day spent exactly matching colours and designing a title? Totally fine. This is the OCD stage, where every single flaw seems like a Montreal-sized pothole. You go through your movie with a fine toothed comb until you see that final government of Canada flag stop waving. You are finished. You feel both happy and empty at the same time. You psh your baby bird out of the nest and into the world.

So you see, I have been consumed by the twelve stages. Waiting for August 5 when I can go back to Montreal and break out of the stages. Summer? Didn't even notice the past two weeks. I only realized today that July is almost done. Where did all the time go? Well, better live it up now and go out and have a drink... don't worry, I won't become an alcoholic.

Part XXXVIII: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finished roughcut two! Finished roughcut two! Finished roughcut two! Finished roughcut two! Just thought I would celebrate!
I sent off roughcut two to my music guy to add a nice original composition to accompany the underwater magic of the St-Lawrence. I am so proud and I really like this video. I just hope it can compete with the other beauty videos from across the country. After seeing another underwater video I was taken aback at the quality of sound and so I am trying to match that. I want people to just stop and stare at the awesome below the waves- it makes it a bit easier when the life below the water is crazy beautiful.
Right now, sans music, the movie seems really empty. I am hoping that with a sweet soundtrack, it will transform, nay, evolve into a higher species.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!

Part XXXVII: Mysteries of the deep

I've been scanning through underwater footage all day so when I left the office in bright sunlight I felt like I was waking up after a dream. My eyes were bleary and I was slightly disoriented.
But it was worth it, because roughcut two is mere hours away from completion. From there my music guy will score it and then off to be critiqued by Craig Colby! Hooray!
Also, I got feedback on my first roughcut today. I was told to focus more on Nadia and her life instead of the research she is doing this summer. I think that she has an interesting story because she is from this area so it's like coming home to work here. Her words, not mine. Also, she knows how to goof around and have a fun time so that helps a lot.
Seeing everyone else's work is really motivating me to step my game up.

Part XXXVI: Roughtcut Two: Bon Jovi Style

Ohhhhh, I'm halfway there... Ohhh! Living on a prayer! That's right everyone by tomorrow at 1:29 PM I will be done roughcut two. How do you know it will be 1:29? Well because I say so, and I'm the boss.

Sue me, short entry. It's not like anyone is reading this anyways!

Part XXXV: Roughcuts

There are exactly 15 days until my movies are due. 15. Not a lot compared to the entire summer but when I think about how I work at school, 15 days is an eternity. Thus far, I have completed roughcut one and am in the midst of roughcut two. It feels good to have all the shooting done- defenitly takes up the majority of the time, but sad knowing that I`ll be looking at a computer screen for the next two weeks. Alas, the life of an editor. Today was a day to sort through some amazing underwater footage for my beauty of the parks film and check to see if there were any comments on my parks employee film. Still waiting for Craig Colby to critique what I submitted but judging from other people`s work, his comments are extremely helpful.
So this is it: the last push. These next two weeks will test my stress level, organization and efficiency as well as my sanity. Bring it on!

Part XXXIV: Busy bee but bad blogger

Hello blog devotees. I have been very busy with work but s-u-c-c-e-s-s! I have finished roughcut one! It needs a lot of work but the story is set up and I like it. So what is left to do for this video:
Make any changes based on feedback
Fix audio levels- right now some parts are louder than others
Colour match so all the interview clips look the same
Add some more BRoll
Credits
Branding (the fancy Parks Canada beaver logo)
Fix supers so everyone has the same

Sounds like little things but this whole job will probably take me 1-2 days, especially the colour match.

I am so happy that I have finished this for more than just the feeling of accomplishment. My other two movies have solid plans (unlike this one) so I should be done both roughcuts by the very latest next Monday. This leaves two weeks to do fine cuts.

Now I can actually relax. Finally a day off after 12 days straight of work!

Part XXXIII: FREAK OUT!

Well it's T minus 23 days until the final deadline. That includes Saturdays and Sundays. I'm freaking out about the lack of time there is to script, storyboard and edited my films. It's officially go time. Sorry social life, rest in peace.
Today was spent transcribing and cutting up Nadia's interview. I am doing some homework scripting because I want this to be a natural sound piece (no narration). It's a bit more difficult but I hope I can pull it off.
Also, I got my translated script back from National Office so it's full steam ahead for the exploration of the fjord shooting and script. That piece is completely planned all I need to do is follow that perfectly crafted approach. (Modesty is overrated)
So everything seems so close and so far away! Looks like this is going to be a very long three weeks.
No photo because of the rain and I spent the entire day in the office.

Part XXXII: Aerials

Here is what I did today:




That's right. Your eyes do not deceive you. This is a plane.

I rode in a plane today. It is the smallest plane I have ever been in and it was spectacular. Nadia told me about this flight company that offers 20 minute flights over the marine park's heart. So I inquired last week about getting some sweet aerial shots. Turns out, today was the first day of their season. So I kind of felt like a guinea pig but luckily we didn't go down in flames or crash horribly into a mountainside. It was really smooth and I hope I got some great footage. I got to sit in the front of the craft because with five passengers I was the only one who wasn't in a couple. Actually worked out great because I could film through the biggest window.

By far the best part is when we circled over a pod of belugas at the surface. Seriously they were so beautiful, no pictures because I was taping.







Also I had a run-in with a marmot today. This little guy lives around our office and as I came out the door he from and hissed at me. So I took his picture.


The proximity between the door and the marmot- he is on the right at the top of the grass.

Part XXXI: Workin' for the Weekend

Sorry Loverboy, I'm going to have to change those lyrics to Working on the Weekend. It's a beautiful Saturday in Tadoussac, and I'm working. Luckily, it's a day of entirely shooting so I've been outside all day. It's 6:16 PM right now, and I'm still not done my day. One interview today quickly multiplied into seven. Seven interviews!! The shortest of which is five minutes, the longest is 30. It's no two hour behemoth I did yesterday but it's still work.

My day started at 9 AM when I got into the office to recharge my desperately low batteries. I also unloaded everything I did yesterday and emptied out my camera for the day ahead. My first stop was at the Cap de Bon Desire (the Cape of Good Desire) to film an activity called 30 Pieds chez Neptune. What happens is that divers search around the area to collect organisms in the water and bring them up in buckets. The buckets are then transported over to big blue kiddie pools where visitors can learn about starfish, anemonies, crabs, mussels etc... Best part: you get to touch them.

After that activity I jetted down the road to the Centre de Decouverte Marin to interview one of the divers for the St-Laurent-en-Directe program before it began. We talked about the riches of the sea floor and how people think the St-Lawrence is one huge garbage can. After out interview was the program itself which I filmed again. Today the visibility was pretty bad so the divers had to get really close to the fauna and flora. It was really cool to get like massive zoom ins of sea anenomes and other creepy crawlies of the sea floor. Of course the spider crab freaked me out... stupid spiders.

After the show I got two streeter style interviews about the show. One was taken in the theatre and kind of has this really nice atmosphere. Then I interviewed two more divers in Explos Nature. These were 10 minute power interviews. Fast-talking, quick questions and short anwsers were the name of the game. Overall though they had really interesting stories and things to say.

So now I'm back home, taking a little break before my last interview of the day. I made the supreme mistake of sitting down on the couch. Now I really don't want to get back up. But alas, the work, she beckons, and I must answer her call. AWAY!

Part XXX:(RACY!) Crazy days

It's 10 PM on a Friday night and I'm exhausted. That's right ... I've turned into an 80 year old woman. I'm legitimately lying on the couch right now watching television by myself. The joys of youth.

Today was a crazy cray day on Canada's Greatest Summer Job. This AM Nadia and I made the snap decision to do her interview today while it was sunny. I grabbed my camera and she brought along her fresh new Parks Canada shirt and we were out to Pointe Rouge to shoot her interview.

Nadia is a natural talker. In fact, she's pretty ideal as an interview. She changed between joking and serious perfectly and had lots of little antecdotes. One good interview=one happy Kelly.

So after my two hours and change interview I tore off to les Escoumins to go to St-Laurent-en-Directe. It seems like on my half hour journey the clouds rolled in a killed the stifling heat. Downside- it looked like it was going to storm. So I watched the divers' presentation with trepidation, because the clouds were menacing. The show began, I was filming the people in the room and not really paying attention to the screen. When I looked up, I realized how fantastic the footage is. I feel a little weird about taking the footage from Explos-Natures (the Parks partner who runs the program) but I really like the story I have. So, full steam ahead.