Dissertation progress

Leg update: The pain has gone down, but I'm still not able to sit by my desk and work.

My dissertation is slowly getting there, slowly. This week has mostly been about reading and taking notes of potential. In my July post Dissertation progress I said I had changed it from the original one with Narnia and fiction film to documentary film, the Arab spring and citizen journalism. Now I'm thinking of changing it again. Because I've come to realise that the more relevant to my own personal desires for a career path, the better I can write. This should have been obvious to me from the start. In the summer I wrote about 2000 handwritten notes, bullet points etc. on this topic, so even though the deadline in the 8th of March, it will only be a matter of "unpacking" my notes and turning it into text.

I'm keeping the documentary and citizen journalism, but changing the Arab spring for a deep analysis of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004).

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Break a leg 'ey

On Friday the 18th of January there was Swansea's first "snowday" and some friends and I decided to go sledding down a hill. More like a tiny slope, not even steep .. Anyway, after 20 minutes of sledding I managed to break my leg, dislocate my ankle and fracture my ankle joint on British snow... That's quite embarrassing considering I'm Norwegian and used to snow.

After the surgery I was allowed to have a below-knee cast, so now I'm actually able to bend my knee.

After a successful surgery, where they inserted two screws into my ankle, I've been given a cast which I have to have on for six weeks. After those six weeks, I can expect one month of physio.

Because of all of this, I've had to cancel all my shoots for the Discovery commercial and London based documentary. This is because these projects are with kids and I need consent forms which include specific dates I'll be filming. And the London documentary I have postpone simply because I can't walk. 

And because I don't know when I will be able to walk again, I can't schedule anything. The doctor told me that he EXPECTED me to be able to walk without crutches two-three weeks AFTER the cast has come off. But before I can see my physiotherapist (in seven weeks) to give me a green light, planning has halted.

However, there's one good thing in all of this: I'll get my dissertation done... since I can't run away from it. So for the next seven weeks, my bed will be filled with books and notes.

But like say, Keep calm and carry on. I'm not worried, I'll get there.

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Christmas break

Top left: the "Christmas-tree-party" in the village I'm from
Bottom left: From the ski lift at Kongsberg skicentre
Right side: Christmas tree decorations

First of all, Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you're having a great wherever you are. I'm in Norway for the holidays, a true winter wonderland I can a sure you!

Since I'm only home in Norway for three weeks, I've decided to mainly focus on family and friends, afterall that's what Christmas is all about. To avoid having to drag hard drives, laptops etc. with me, I decided to only work on my promotion and marketing. So besides friends, family, dinners and presents, my Christmas has so far been updating my website, social media sites and CV, all of which can be found on my website:

www.tomdaniellaugerud.com

Yet again, MERRY CHRISTMAS! (Or GOD JUL in Norwegian)

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Designs for Funky Pump White Collar Boxing DVD

The designs for the Funky Pump White Collar Boxing DVD:

(C) Tom-Daniel Laugerud / TDL Media 2012-2013

(C) Tom-Daniel Laugerud / TDL Media 2012-2013

 The design will be sent off to the printers next week. Right now I'm just finishing the small details on the DVD menu and making sure all links are okay (links - you press "Chapter 1" and that you actually get to chapter 1). I'm still using the same company to print and copy my DVDs, VPOnline. They always deliver a great product and has never let me down so far. I have to send in the master disc by next week, so that they can duplicate it.

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Funky Pump boxing shoot

The shoot on yesterday (Tuesday 13th) went alright actually. I'd hired Johan P. Kraugerud and Iain Rose to work as camera operators. Also hired Stine Kiran to take still pictures I could use for the DVD cover. 

We (camera operators) each took up a position in Oceana. Johan did mostly handheld and close ups, Iain did wide shots from the balcony above and I did wide shots and close ups from ground level. We got some great shots, so hopefully it will be okay. 

What could have better:

• We were under the impression that there would be a 20 minute break between first and second half, but it was only 10 minutes. So this made transferring, putting batteries on charge etc. a bit more challenging. So next time I would have hired a runner to go back and forth between the cameras and laptop.
• Also I would have like to have had one more camera, to get even more angles.
• Maybe try having intercom of some sorts next time?

(C) Photographer Stine Kiran and TDL Media (Tom-Daniel Laugerud) 2012

I have to have it all done and delivered to Funky Pump by the 25th of November, so that leaves me 12 days to go through 9 hours of footage, edit, export and finish the Master disc*, so this will indeed be a fun challenge. (* I have already pre-made the rough template of the menu, so it's just a matter of filling in all the details, pictures, files etc.)

Keep you posted!

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Funky Pump Fitness

I've been hired to produce a DVD of the Funky Pump White Collar boxing event in Oceana Swansea. Funky Pump is a local gym chain based here in South Wales, with centres in Swansea, Port Talbot, Cardiff and many more.

It will be a multi-camera production with three cameras. I'm also designing all the graphics for it (DVD cover, DVD menu, titles etc.). The finished product will be between 1.5 and 2 hours, depending on how long each fight goes on. 

Stay tuned!

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My personal deadlines/aims

Even though we've got the actual deadlines, I've decided to set up my own deadlines/aims I will TRY to follow:

Personal deadlines
Major studies - film 1: Discovery charity commercial 

• Pre-production done by Sunday 18th November 2012
• Production done by Friday 30th of November 2012

Post production

• 1st draft done by Friday 9th of December 2012
• FINAL film by Friday 18th of January 2013

Major studies - film 2: Documentary

• Pre-production : done by Sunday 13th of January 2013
• Production - February: done by Thursday 21th of February 2013

Post production

• 1st draft done by Sunday the 17th of March 2013
• FINAL film done by Tuesday the 26th of March

Promotion, marketing and exhibition - Promotion and marketing
Do this during Christmas break (14th December - 30th December)
Put together a presentation folder of .. 

• CV
• covering letter
• business cards
• clients & contacts database
• FULL graphical layout (website design, logo design and marketing plan)

Promotion, marketing and exhibition - Exhibition (individual/personal - this is marked)
(For the sake of planning, I will say 1st of May is the deadline) 

• Show reel - 1st May 2013

Do this during Easter break (25th March 2013 - 12th April 2013) :

• Plan my stand
• Order materials, labels etc.
• Test - Anything missing?

In addition to all that, I've got my dissertation to do and normal lectures/seminars to attend.

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