Week 11

Group Meeting Tuesday

October 13

Today we had another group meeting, held on a deck nestled next to the pacific ocean. It was a beautiful location, and kept all of us relaxed and calm. Today we finalized what recipe's still needed to be found, and cooked. We planed the final template for the recipe book. We also planned the artworks that are to be submitted for the end of year SOCA exhibition. The meeting went for an hour or so. It was a productive meeting that has helped us get back on track with our project.

Week 9 The food stall and the Big Presentation

The Food Stall
At long last we are going to have our food stall, Katja asked us if we could do something as there would be lots of people around from our creative exchange presenting to an industry panel and there was a one hour lunch break. We decided that this would be a great opportunity to showcase what Nonna's Kitchen was all about and maybe make a few dollars to help pay for the costs that were now starting to add up.

The Menu
Roma tomato and basil bruschetta $2 each
BBQ Honey soy chicken wings with sour cream and chives 3 for $2
Greek dips with pitta bread - Guacamole and Tatziki $2 each

We sold out in 30mins and it was great to watch everyone sitting down to eat like one big family all enjoying the great tasting food with no spare seats and lots of good conversation and happy satisfied students and lecturers.

The Presentation
We were to present to an industry panel of creative industries professionals
from Townsville, Melbourne and Germany and they included Michelle Fillery, Laneway Productions, Ingo Petzke, Red Avocado Film, Leanne Tattersall, Novellus Graphic Design and Katrina Youngman, Mojito Solutions.

Our presentation was well received and we improved on our previous effort by including Italian music, lots of great pictures of Nonna's, salami's and Italian and Greek food. We even had a selection of Greek dips for the panel to nibble on while we pitched our concept and work done so far. It was a great to interact with experts in the creative industry and get real world feedback about our project and possible opportunities to we had not even thought of yet.

Week 8 The day we filmed Nonna Guliana

Today was a long day. It started off well when Maria forget to pick up the boom mic and this resulted in a few emergency calls to Ben Van Houts and a quick drive back to the University to pic up the forgotten equipment. After that initial minor hiccup it was smooth sailing. Nonna Guliana arrived on time and was ready to get to work. Today she we were cooking Melanzane, Giuliana's Tomato Sugo, Pesce, Funghi, and Veal. It sounded simple enough, and it was, but because of Giuliana's authentic Italian nature, she liked to talk, and talk and talk and talk, and it took us 2 hours to film the making of all of the recipes. Really, the only problem with this is that our video editor, Matt, has a lot of editing to do to turn the two hours into half an hour.  Things are running well for us as a group and we are on schedule. We should have an excellent project to submit. 

Week 7 The weekend we went to Yungaburra

The anticipation was finally over and Nonna Guliana was finally in town. The weekend to Yungaburra was finally upon us and the road trip was about to begin. This trip would potentially test not only our ability to work together but also our friendship. 24 hours of constant close proximity can potentially drive anyone insane. Luckily though, our group is made up of relatively mature people and we were able to enjoy each others company during the 6 hours of driving, the four hours of working and the 10 hours of room sharing the 2 hours of meal sharing.

This weekend was not about us. It was about watching Nonna Guliana, the reigning Salami Queen try and reclaim her throne for the fourth consecutive year. After we arrived in Yungaburra and were settled in we headed to the restaurant to start filming and photographing the main event. We captured footage of people arriving to the venue and people singing and dancing. We captured footage of the massive amounts of food prepared and of all the people consuming it. Then, it was time for the competition to begin. The judging process was something closely akin to mayhem. There were about 15 judges ranging from the age of 10 to 70. There job was to taste all of the different salami's and then give them a rating from 1-10. This tasting process would have taken nearly 40 minutes. During the judging there was music playing and people were dancing as well as lots of laughter talking and wine drinking.

Finally, after great consideration and much deliberation the winner's were ready to be announced. Unfortunately everyone's hopes for Nonna Guliana were devastated when she was announced as the runner up of the competition. This of course, did not sit well for the reigning salami queen and she protested loudly and proudly that the winner was undeserving because their salami was too small. But once the protest was over, and Guliana had settled down there was more time to relax and enjoy dessert and each other's company.

It was a great weekend where we were able to capture part of the Australian-Italian culture. We were able to photograph and film some great footage which will assist us in the look and feel of the final product. It was also a great weekend for us to bond as a team and was a weekend where we have lots of great memories.

Week 7 The day we filmed viva and we had no cameras

We were finally ready to shoot Viva and Viva was ready to come to our shoot. It was supposed to be different to last week and be a week of smooth sailing with no dramas. However, this was not what happened. We had major drama's with video cameras. We had a plan to pick up the HDV camera from the honours student, who uses the Video camera on tuesdays. But this week, she didn't use it. Maria went to uni to pick up the camera. But unfortunately, there was a replacement employee in the equipment store, who did not know what he was doing and informed us that there were no HDV camera's in the store room at all. We found out later that the camera was there all along but he didn't know what it was we were asking for or where it was.

Maria was able to borrow the Sony EX but we still needed a second camera in order to capture all of the required footage needed to make a tv show. After an anxious phone call from Maria, i suggested that we use the video capabilities from the Canon 5D camera to get those extra necessary shots. Fortunately for us, another student from Creative Arts who was familiar with manual focusing was able to work the camera for us, and basically save the day.

Viva was a great guest on Nonna's Kitchen. She was efficient and provided us with great ethnic recipe's. With Viva's help we were able to capture a great footage that will be an asset to our project. Once again we were able to put all of our problem solving skills to great use and create a positive outcome against all odds.

Week 7 The day we presented and got a d

Today we presented our first pitch to three of the lecturers. When we received our feedback from the lecturers we were given a distinction for our presentation. Even though the grade was good, the feedback reminded us that we still have to learn a few things about the difference between a presentation and a pitch. As a group we focused more on just sharing the product with those who already know the product. What we didn't do was try and convince investors that this product was worth there time and money. This would have been done easily if we had have shown more of the product, rather than explaining the product. Also, we could have given evidence as to how we know that the greater community will enjoy and benefit from our product.

Week 6 The day Nonna Viva didn't come

This day, wednesday, our usual filming day, was supposed to be the first day we captured video footage and begin filming Nonna Viva. When it comes to projects, if everything is going right something will go wrong. We were organised and prepared. We had everything set up and were ready to begin filming. All we needed was for Nonna Vivia to come and we were going to get our first pilot underway. However, things did not going according to plan. Maria called Nonna Viva to make sure everything was ok and that she was still ready to come and cook for us.

Unfortunately, Nonna Viva was not able to make it to the first filming day. Her husband had cut his hand and need to be taken to the emergency room. After overcoming the initial disappointment we decided as a group to have a break for lunch and then try and hoped that Viva's husband would be well enough so that Viva could film in the afternoon. However, when we reconvened to try shooting again Viva called to inform us that she could not leave her husband as he was preparing for surgery and she was not able to make it. It was a huge disappointment as we were so prepared and ready to film but it was not meant to be. However, having Viva's husband sick meant that they would not be in such a hurry to move to Tasmania.

Week 5 The day before Nonna Viva when we got a slogan thingy

We had a group meeting on Tuesday the 25 of August. this is a planning meeting in order to ensure that the first day of filming would go smoothly and without any hiccups or dramas. During this meeting we decided upon which equipment to use. We also decided what to use as the show's slogan or catchphrase. Finally we nutted out the final tedious tasks for the pitch presentation that was due on the Friday of the week.

After much brain storming, discussion and little argument we decided that the appropriate slogan for Nonna's Kitchen should be "Traditions that nourish the soul". Other possibilites were "handed down by word of mouth and by example"

"traditions and recipes that are the soul,

"passing down traditions",

"the stories, the recipes, the soul",

"essence, heart, relaying the culture",

"keepers of the recipes, traditions, culture"

"guardians of their culinary history and tradition",

"nourishing the body and the soul".

After deliberating all of these possibilities, it was decided that the most dynamic and catchy phrase was "traditions that nourish the soul".

More Week 4 - Research and The Logo

Monday 17 August 2009 Research

As our time-line stated, Nonna's Kitchen today to discuss and plan more of the project. In between classes, Matthew Maria and Myself went to Maria's house to do some research and gain further understanding on contemporary recipe books and cooking shows. Maria had a plethora of prerecorded cooking shows from the "Cook and the Chef", to "Nigella's Kitchen" to "Food Safari". Each different series had a unique way of telling the history of food. We decided to incorporate different aspects of each series mix them together to create a new and exciting TV series.

Our group decided that we should capture lots of extreme close-ups of food. These shots will include different things such as chopping, stirring, rolling. To capture these shots, we are planning on using the Canon 5D which has HD filming capabilities. This will also enable us to use a shallow depth of field and help cultivate feelings of warmth and homeliness that is associated with Mediterranean cooking.

During this meeting we also finished off the second stage of the process journal which was a tedious task. As well as this we also planned out next day of shooting on Wednesday. The plan is to work in the studio and capture the opening credits of the TV series. Maria is going to pre make a number of Italian desserts. These will be brought into the studio and we will capture these images with a camera and use them within the recipe book. During the past three weeks we have learn't about working together as a team and working off each others strengths and weaknesses. Each week our setup and pack up gets more efficient and we are continually learning how to improve our skills and use them in a way that will enhance the quality of the finished project.

Wednesday 19 August 2009 The Logo
Another day of successful shooting was completed and we're becoming more and more efficient as a group. We spent the day in the JCU photography studios where we filming our opening sequence for the TV series and took a number of photographs for the recipe book. On Tuesday Matthew finished a number of logos for us to choose from to be the logo for the series. We successfully picked a logo after a few minor adjustments and we are now officially branded.

We spent the first few hours of the morning trying to print the logo out on an A1 piece of paper to incorporate it into our filming of the title sequence. This was a length process but, the end result will look fantastic. After filming a number of different food products, we laid our supersized logo onto a table in the studios. From there, we carefully covered the logo with different food products, such as salami, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus etc. Once the logo was completely covered in food, we filmed and photographed the newly designed logo. This footage will be incorporated into the opening of the TV show and also the book.

Once we were finished with the logo, we took some more product shots for the recipe book. The focus of the week was desserts. We photographed six different desserts in total from the Italian and Greek culture. The stock footage for the book continues to increase and we will have a great looking book as a result. However, like every week, we always have some sort of minor problem. We experimented with the Canon 5D today. It's an amazing camera that increased the quality of the images dramatically. But it was not all happy thoughts about this $6000 camera. When trying to transfer the images from the memory card to the computer, there were a number of malfunctions and we nearly lost 7GB worth of images. After a few tantrums and tears and lots of friends helping out, we didn't loose any of the images and we haven't lost or wasted any of our time.

Week Three - Wednesdays

Wednesday was our day of cooking for the week. The recipes for the day were five different variations of risotto, the chocolate risotto was the best. This week our group was more prepared we had charged batteries and video tapes and head phones we even bough table cloths to photograph the food on. We did, however, enlist the help of a willing friend to hold the scrim and the boom mic and do other menial tasks for the reward of a buffet of risotto. Her help was imperative to the success of the day and we may need volunteer group members for many more shoots to come.

I was able to capture some great photographs that will be an asset to the recipe book and the website. I used a friends macro lens to capture some photographs but found that this was not the most helpful piece of equipment and decided to continue to use my own 18-30mm lens. As always, working with studio lights can be challenging but once everything starts working together, the end result is satisfying. As we continue to spend time together we continue to learn how to communicate affectionately as a group and how we can help one another achieve success.

Week Two - First shoot at deStudi

This week we had our first photo shoot / film shoot at Destudi Kitchen Appliances. They have several fully functioning demonstration kitchens that we can use complete with plates, appliances utensils and kitchen bric a brac.
We used this time to create some stock footage for use in presentations, the cook book , the website and the tv show/podcasts. We also were able to test out our equipment, camera angles and lighting shortcomings so that when we actually have nonna cooking we will be very prepared.
We focused on pasta, gnocchi, ravioli and tortellini cooking and produced the following excellent results.

Week One - What is the Plan?

Here is Plan including the What, Who, Where, When and the How.

What is the Project?

Nonna’s Kitchen is a collaborative creative exchange project that will produce a television style pilot suitable for SBS and podcasting. A website will be created to showcase the recipes, images and the Nonna’s stories. A small print run of books will also be created as a high quality tangible product to showcase the Nonna’s recipes, stories and images in a more elaborate and culturally sensitive fashion.

Who and how many people will benefit from the project and in what ways?

JCU - showcase a variety of student skills and produce a tangible culturally significant product.

Local Community - record and preserve culturally significant aspect of migrant culture.

Local Business – deStudi Kitchen Appliance Studio + local festivals (Greek, Cultural, Salami) – create a tangible culturally significant product that they have contributed to.

Ourselves - Create possible new opportunities for employment and add to portfolio work.

What aspects of new media are embedded in the project?

The television pilot will be produced as podcasting segments/episodes.

A Website that will be a conduit for the display and sharing of recipes, traditions and stories that can be downloaded and uploaded 24 hours a day 7days a week, reaching beyond our local network to include a global audience.

Are there National or International dimensions to the project?

Yes, the issues that are being addressed in regards to the loss of culturally significant history and traditions that are relevant to all Mediterranean families both in their native country and also to where they have migrated to. It is important that these culturally significant traditions be recorded and preserved for future generations.

Does the project touch on issues of equity, community benefit, Indigenous inclusion or the environment?

This project will benefit the Italian and Greek communities of North Queensland as it culturally relevant to them.

How does the project reflect the unique features of tropical North Queensland?

Most of the images and footage will be captured on locations throughout tropical North Queensland and will showcase its unique look and feel.

What is unique about this project?

This project is intended to be means of preserving knowledge that is culturally significant but locked away in word of method or by example. It is also intended to present this information utilising new media and making it highly accessible to not only the local network but reach a global audience.

Project participants

Maria Priante BNMA Major Design | Minor Imaging

Role and Responsibilities

Team Leader with overall vision and direction of the project.
Research of cultural traditions, cuisine and history of recipes and ingredients used.
Scripting/Storyboards
Opening and closing credits for television series/podcast
Editing assisting
Equipment hire

Sarah Walsh BNMA Major Design | Minor Imaging

Role and Responsibilities

Research of region and the Nonna’s traditional role in family and traditions.
Scripting/Storyboards.
Photography for book, website and television series/podcasts.
Layout and content gathering and editing for book.
Music for website and television series/podcasts.

Matthew Gianoulis BNMA Major Design | Minor Imaging

Role and Responsibilities

Research of Greek traditions, culture, recipes and role within the family/festivals.
Scripting/Storyboards
Photography for book, website and television series/podcasts
Director/Editor television series/podcasts.
Branding and Logo

Project needs analysis

Skills identified as present within group

Design | Research | Scripting | Storyboarding | Video Camera Recording | Video Editing | Sound Recording | Sound Manipulation and production | Photography | HTML | CSS | Photoshop | Illustrator | Final Cut Pro | Dreamweaver

Skills identified as lacking within group and needing updating or development

IT skills database for web design need development | Sound skills need updating

How any lacking skills will be developed

Self directed learning via online tutorials and books from library

Core inputs required from Principal Supervisor

Mentoring, access to labs, equipment store and required software.

Other content or discipline expertise required to ensure a successful outcome, including indication of individual staff where relevant

Help from fellow classmates for extra hands when filming to hold microphone boom, move gear and set up and pull down sets and equipment.

What is it all going to cost?

Food per shoot $50 x 10 weeks = $500
2 x HD Camera $5000 each = $10000
Light Meter $60
3 Light kit + stands $6000
Soft Box $150
Reflectors $50
Tripod $340
Headphones $45
Lapel mic $1275
Boom mic $600
Tapes $7 x 4 = $28
Video Camera tripod $350
Camera Batteries $30
Battery Recharger $30
8 gig Memory Card $30
Pentax K200D $600
Pentax macro f2.8 100mm lens $600
Mac computer $2000
Final Cut Studio $990
CS4 $3000
Poster Printing $3 each x 20 = $60
Printed books from blurb.com $60 each x 20 = $1200
DVD’s – printed and produced $10 each x 20 = $200

TOTAL COST $28 138.00

Our Direct Out of Pocket Costs (included in above)

Food per shoot $50 x 10 weeks = $500
Tapes $7 x 4 = $28
Poster Printing $3 each x 20 = $60
Printing books potentially blurb design $60 each x 20 = $1200
DVD’s – printed and produced $10 each x 20 = $200

Total $1988.00

Project Concept

The Nonna of every family is the guardian of their culinary history and tradition. Unfortunately it is more often not recorded and we fear that we are losing these wonderful family recipes as they are generally not written down but rather handed down by word of mouth and by example
Not only are we interested in the recipes but the story that comes with it, how it was taught to the Nonna’s what has changed and what it means to the families that sit together and how this nourishes not only their bodies but their souls.

Vision Statement

In Mediterranean Countries like Italy and Greece and also in Australia where these Nonna’s (Grandmothers) have migrated, their Knowledge and Culture is vanishing.
We want to capture that essence of their spirit and the soul of their cooking that is locked within their family stories and their recipes.