Hello everyone! I know it has been forever since my last update, or actually my only post in the last semester 😅 A lot of things happened to me in the past few months, completed a module by filming a short film, got assigned to a few groups for different graduation creative projects. And the most important thing is, submitted my dissertation last month!!! Well, I think this is one of the main reasons for me not being too active in blogging, but I was so relieved at the moment when I clicked the submit button. Congrats on myself! It is now April and I have so many things that I want to share with you guys so let’s get ready for today’s article!
嗨大家！我知道距離我上一次發文大概已經過了八百年了，仔細一看應該說是我上學期唯一的一篇文 😅 這幾個月發生了很多是，像是拍完了其中一門課的短片、被指派到特定的畢業作品小組，還有最重要的是我交出了我的論文！其實這也應該是其中一個我為什麼沒辦法那麼活躍的更新部落格的原因，不過當我按下繳交按鈕的那一剎那真的是有一股解脫的感覺哈哈，恭喜我自己:) 現在都已經四月了而我也有很多事情想跟大家分享，那就繼續閱讀下去吧～
Looking back at December, hybrid teaching was just been introduced and adopted by everyone at that time, then the second lockdown came. I have mentioned earlier that I filmed a short film for one of my modules, and luckily that was all planned and completed before the second lockdown. This module is really interesting and new to me unlike the other compulsory module within my course that I can attend all lectures face-to-face but online. It was quite funny to see my teammates on other courses in person on the set after few weeks of meetings and lectures on Zoom. At the same time, it did makes me realised that this new way of communication can really become a common way of interacting with each other without any restrictions. Obviously, there were some parts that we couldn’t film because of the social distancing rules so we made our film be filmed in the indoor spaces with a minimum crew and casts. Post-production was even done separately with the team member who is in another country. In general, it was a really fresh experience for me to shoot a short film under all different kinds of regulations and using new ways of collaboration with others who has skills in different fields. On the presentation day, there were a lot of teams using the same concept of setting the story based on a video call, I personally think it is pretty hard to immersed in the film. I am pretty proud of my team to be able to film all footages and materials as expected, also got a first as the result☺️ I think that is the reason why you need to always plan everything beforehand since you will never know what will come next!
回顧了一下我的12月，當線上線下混和教學才剛開始被大家慢慢適應的時候，第二次封城就開始了。前面提到我拍完其中一門課的短片了，也很幸運我們在風城以前就規劃好所有的行程跟順利地完成拍攝計畫。這門課很有趣，不像我其他可以面對面上課的必修，所有課程跟會議都是透過Zoom溝通的。神奇的是過了好幾個禮拜的線上會議跟討論之後才在片場實際和不同系的同學見到面。不過同時也讓我意識到這種新形式的溝通方式可能可以成為常見的互動方式。不過在我們企劃拍攝的時候也有很多因為要保持社交距離的限制，所以我們把拍攝地點訂在擁有最少數工作人員跟演員的室內。後製作業也是遠距完成的，其中一個組員甚至是在另一個國家全程參與。整體來說這次的製作對我來說算是一個全新的體驗，包括在各種限制下拍攝還有使用不同型態的合作方式和擁有不同技術的同學合作完成一部作品。在發表當天有蠻多組都用了同一種視訊通話的概念來拍攝他們的影片，我自己是覺得還蠻難融入到故事本身品質也蠻參差不齊的。所以我對我們組蠻自豪的因為我們有辦法真正拍出我們想要的鏡頭跟片段，當然也拿了很好的成績☺️ 我想這也是為什麼提前計畫跟未雨綢繆那麼重要吧，因為你永遠不知道接下來會發生什麼事嘛！
In the winter, apart from filming the short film the early stage of planning and experimenting for my technical project was also being done at the same time. The good thing is the creative project and technical project are spread into the first and second semester to give me plenty of time to complete all tasks and assignments. My topic of the technical project is about comparing the quality using different audio and video input devices over a video call. This idea is actual inspired by the current situation and the experience I got from my placement year. Before actually start analysing and evaluating, the collected footages using different equipment are needed. A lot of tests are done including devices decision and connections to make sure everything is being captured as desired for the most reliable result. For sure there was quite difficult for me to complete a 10000-word technical report as I have not written anything that formal and long in length before. However, I have been helped by a lot of people from the staffs of the university to my friends and family to complete the report successfully. I did feel very stressed and sometimes even questioned myself if I can even finish this quite a lot then I realised these are all just a journey and nothing is impossible if you keep on working and never lose faith! During the process of writing this report, I have found a few tips and some useful websites and tools which I think I will introduce in my next project so please stay tuned!
除了拍攝短片，論文的初期的計劃階段跟實驗也在同時進行中。好處是我的論文跟畢業作品的繳交期限是分別在第一跟第二學期，所以我才有足夠的時間去完成他們。我的論文研究報告是關於當使用不同的音訊和視訊輸入設備時，視訊通話品質是否不同，這個論文主題靈感其實是來自現在的時局還有我去年在實習的時候得到的經驗。在真正開始比較之前，很多測試要先跑過一次之後才能開始記錄各個片段，這個步驟也是為了確保結果的公正性。對於我來說這算是一個不簡單的報告，畢竟我還從來沒有寫過像一萬字這麼長篇的正式研究報告。不過我在寫的過程中很多學校的教授跟技師還有我的朋友跟家人都幫助我很多，我才能順利的完成這份論文。當然在這之中我也感受到很大的壓力，甚至有一度還懷疑我到底能不能寫完哈哈。不過當全部完成的當下就會發現其實這些都只是一個必經的過程，只要繼續下去跟保持信心一定可以完成的！我在寫論文的時候也發現了很多好用的工具跟網站，我想下一次會在特別開一篇跟大家介紹，所以也請繼續期待喔～
Not just school works, I still managed to spend my winter and spring in a low-key way due to COVID haha 😂 It was still pretty shame that a few of my friend and I couldn’t go back to meet our family during the holidays but I was lucky enough to have someone to spend the time with for Christmas and new year. Even though it was just a small reunion having takeaway or dishes we made for each other, I can still feel the warmth and joy for the holiday season. I also had a great time having a chat with friends on FaceTime. I think it was just a new way of lifestyle and I think I’m starting to like it, still hoping this pandemic can finish as soon as possible! I think it has been almost 2 years since I saw proper snow landing on the ground and we got that on campus in February! It was so pretty to see the snow all around the campus, people were having photoshoots and snow fights as well. It is now spring and the weather was so nice, I had a small picnic with my friends by the lake on campus. It was so nice to see people coming out of their house to enjoy the sun and fresh air without worrying about the assignment and pandemic. Funny how it became a little bit chilli this week, well, you know it is England!
當然我最後一年在學校的生活也不只有學校作業啦哈哈，我也有試圖在疫情下低調的享受了一下冬天跟春天😂 還是蠻可惜沒辦法在放假的時候回去探望家人，不過我很幸運我可以和在學校的一些朋友一起慶祝聖誕節跟新年。雖然我們也只是簡單的叫了外送或是煮給對方自己的拿手菜而已，還是可以感受到朋友的跟暖還有節日的氣氛。這期間也打了好幾通FaceTime跟老朋友敘敘舊。我想我有在慢慢喜歡紹這種新型態的交流，而這也優該就會是以後大家所席觀的生活方式吧，當然還是早日希望疫情可以快快結束！同時我想我已經快要兩年沒有看過積雪的場景，而今年二月左右我終於看到學校湖邊的積雪了！很多人都跑出來拍照跟打雪仗，真的很漂亮。而現在已經是春天了，我跟朋友們還一起在學校湖邊野餐了。看到大家都跑出來曬曬太陽跟呼吸新鮮空氣，也讓我忘記了一下那些可怕的作業跟疫情。雖然這禮拜天氣又開始變涼了啦，不過你也知道，英國嘛！
I have tried to briefly summarise my absence (lol) over the few months, also shared a few pictures for you guys more than before hope you have enjoyed my article in a while! I will be more active and bring out more useful and different contents from now on 😆 I will call it a day and see you next time!!!
我這次有試著把我這幾個月的空缺用一篇文章的篇幅交代完畢哈哈，也烙惡比隻前還要更多的照片了，希望大家都有趣的看完久違的文章！從現在開始我會試著比之前更活躍還有帶來更多不一樣的內容😆 那麼今天就到這邊，下次見～～
Mandy
xx
