Digital Content Marketing Seminar

Hi dear reader 🙂 This post is going to be a bit different from the others as it is not going to be about AUBG16 Fridays as interns in NU Boyana film studio. This time I am supposed to write about something in the news today and shoot a five-shot video about the subject. Remember what five-shot video was, the thing with the food pictures and the bubble tea video at the end. The post!

So this post is going to be about Digital Content Marketing seminal that took place in NU Boyana on Valentine’s Day. It was held by Keren Lerner, the sister of our great Boss in NU Boyana – Yariv Lerner and more important – the founder and Director of Top Left Design. The audience of 59 people gathered in the “Studio 2” at NU Boyana and it included variety of people: from government officials, trough journalists and PR people to yoga people. Check out Keren’s blog post about the event here.

Students from AUBG were invited to be a part of the audience. Aleksandar Cakic a student from AUBG majoring in Journalism and Mass communication, and Business traveled from Blagoevgrad to Sofia in order to have the chance to meet a marketing professional who could give him useful tips for the future.

It was free and lots of people tweeted about it, that made the seminar really popular in the social media. – Aleks

I am meeting with him to hear his story from the seminar and to find out what did he learned from Keren. So from him I found out that she was talking about raising the awareness of digital content marketing and she gave some really useful advices of how to make our blogs better. She insisted that social media is really important as a part of the marketing strategy of a person or a company as nowadays everyone is using Tweeter and Facebook.

What I found interesting about the event is the usage of tweeter and blogs, different tricks and tips of how we can improve our blogs and our company image. – Aleks

Keren also had shared some examples of how she had solved some of the problems she had  in her own professional career as a digital content marketing specialist.

A bad website is like a piece of spinach in a teeth of a business. – Keren Lerner

That was the most valuable presentation for the students in AUBG16 that are planning to work as PR agents or marketing professionals, every time is more exciting to meet someone that has done so much in a field you would like to work some day. It feels inspiring.

Now I am really sorry that I couldn’t attend this seminar as it could have been of a help for my Multimedia Journalism class and also in the future, if I decide to make a blog about something else ^.^ I am sure that Keren is a great person and she did everything to transfer her knowledge about digital content marketing to the audience, especially AUBG students.

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Almost criminals

Hi, dear reader ^.^ This Friday was our last day shooting in Sofia for the documentary on the subject of “Sofia trough my eyes.” With this Friday our experience as cinematographers in the Bulgarian capital is at its end.

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This time we left NU Boyana earlier in order to have more time for our last chance to capture the city as the center of the movie industry. Just like last Friday, we spent a lot of time downtown, visiting some of the most famous monuments, buildings and streets in Sofia.

My team were shooting around the Alexander Nevski Cathedral for a long time in order to catch its beauty from every possible angle: wide or unusual. We think that this particular building is the most gorgeous and eye-catching construction. With its golden dome and marvelous outer architecture it is a dignified representation of the downtown of the city. The church became the top model for our camera.

We also made some shots in front of the Presidency of the Republic of Bulgaria together with the guardsman. But we were focusing not only to the building itself but we also tried to capture as much pedestrians passing as possible to show the diversity of people walking around the streets every day. Because those different faces are the ones building the colors of Sofia.

After that we tried shooting in the subway, but we got into some trouble there.Trayan Kostashki and Anton Georgiev were underground shooting the train coming and going and Maxim Tzvetkov and I were waiting upstairs. But after a couple of minutes, when they come back they were accompanied by a policeman who was holding our camera. He said that we can be detained for 24 hours for shooting into the subway. Even though there are no signs telling that cameras are not allowed we were assured that shooting is forbidden. The policeman explained that every shot can be used to denounce the plans of the subway to some organizations.

“I know I have cool sunglasses, I didn’t know I look like a criminal with them.” – Trayan Kostashki

We clarify that we are using the footage for a student project because we didn’t want to involve NU Boyana into this. He checked our IDs and at the end we were free to go; we were even allowed to keep our footage. So guys, take one advice from me… don’t shoot in the subway 😀

Well, the others were shooting on different locations, one of the teams even took some shots in the Bulgarian National Music Academy . They tried to capture the music soul of the capital together with some people who are ready to share their cultural experience with the young future filmmakers. They were really looking forward to edit those shots because:

“We are very happy with that footage” – Ani Devdariani

They also spent some time on Vitosha street doing time lapses for a more original view of the environment downtown. I can imagine the whole team gathering around the camera, looking at the screen and waiting.

So, this last Friday the four teams visited different places in Sofia in order to have enough material for the future editors who will be working on mixing the footage and create the final cut of the documentary.

Next week AUBG16 will be separated into departments as we will have editors who will work on the raw footage we have from Sofia. There will be sound editors who will take care of the sounds recorded. Some people will also join the PR department and will make sure that the documentary will be promoted. Graphic design interns will do the posters or flyers for the documentary and some other projects. We can’t wait to do some more work as we are kind of tired of walking and hooting around Sofia.

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Bubble Tea adventure

Hello, guys ^.^ This is Iva and I am in Multimedia Journalism class right now. It’s pretty exciting today as we learned the rules of the five shot method for video making.

1. Shot of the hands – we show what is done.

2. Shot of the face – we show who is doing it.

3. Wide shot – we show where it is done.

4. Sot from behind the shoulder (POV shot) – we show how it is done.

5. Something else shot- we show some additional shots from other angles.

We had the opportunity to do our first mini movie as we have one hour to go around campus and the center of Blagoevgrad in order to capture what is happening around the town. I was in a team with Maria Zasheva and Teodora Mihailova and we decided to show the readers how bubble tea is made in Blagoevgrad.

It is basically green or black tea with some flavor and tapioca pearls, which are sweet chewy bubbles that are really delicious… I love them ❤

In class we also had the chance to edit the raw footage and to export the video so that readers of our blogs will see how bubble tea is prepared and served.

Hope you, guys have fun, because we did 😀 We even bought some tea to make our day sweeter.

Check out the video ^.^

Forget the word “No”

Hi, dear reader 🙂 So another week had passed and it’s time for my “report” from Friday about the AUBG16 interns in NU Boyana Film Studio in Sofia. If you guys remember from last week, the plan for this Friday was for us to shoot in Sofia for a film challenge with the theme “Sofia through my eyes.”

And that is what we did for most of the day. But before that, let me tell you about an unexpected meeting AUBG students attended in NU Boyana before leaving for the centre of Sofia.

Our advisers in the film studio had decided to dedicate this Friday to the sound department. At the time we arrived in the studio we haven’t had an idea that this Friday will become very special. We had the once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Gary Bourgeois, who is one of the best and most famous sound re-recording mixers in the world. The job of the mixer is really important, as he is the one that creates the final version of a soundtrack for a specific movie or a TV show. He has all sound effects, music and recorded dialogues, and he mixes them together in a perfect harmony so that the audience is completely involve in the movie.

AUBG16 with Gary Bourgeois in NU Boyana

So, he is currently working in NU Boyana studio on Millennium project and he was happy to meet with us – 16 students that had almost no idea of how this sound mixing process is working. He gave a brief lecture about his work and his past. He shared with us the story of how he ended up being one of the best in this field of the movie industry. In his early years he was a drummer in a band and he says that playing in the band has taught him to understand the feelings of the audience. He learned to find the exact most appropriate moment to do a solo, to emphasize, to make the people feel excitement, love and shock. For those 30 minutes he was able to make us all laugh at his jokes and also respect his work. He showed us how the sound makes the scenes more natural, it builds the tension, it prepares the audience for the culmination. After we asked him what is the recipe of his success, he explained that it is really important to be social. To get in touch with people around you, and to find ideas and inspiration from cultural events or even everyday situations.

“You should forget the word “No” in this industry!”

He implies that experimentation is the key of success as it is impossible to know everything in every moment, at every time. He had spend hours of trying to figure out the best mix in order to create the intimate sound atmosphere we all hear in the movie theater.

We were all very excited because Bourgeois has worked on some well-known, famous productions such as “Transformers” and also “Captain America.” He also had worked with world famous stars such as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and Bob Dylan. He shared some inspiring stories which accompany him on his path to the film industry. He advised us to be creative and to close our eyes in order to “feel the sound.”

Shooting in Sofia

As an intern in NU Boyana I found these moments, when I am meeting with famous people, really inspiring. I can see that they are real masters in their field and I admire their work, but at the same time they show me how they ended up in this industry. And every story I hear is about hard work and the most valuable advice is:

“You have to fall in love with your work!”

All those people I met in NU Boyana love their jobs, they have fun while shooting the movie or doing post production. And they talk about it with so much excitement, they sound like people that have fulfilled their childhood dreams. When I am listening to them, I am telling myself:

“One day I would love to be like them, to look as happy as they are, to sound as excited as them.”

Well, after meeting Gary Bourgeois, we left for Sofia’s downtown. We were split into four teams as each team has its producer. This time the whole planning and directing was in our hands. This time we didn’t do steady shots and panoramas, we tried to capture the life in the capital. The people, the cars and the trams, and as it was sunny this day, the streets were crowded and the monuments and churches were shining. We had so much fun and did some great shots.

Trayan and Anton shooting on Vitosha str. Sofia

However, we didn’t have enough time to shoot everything we wanted, so next week we will continue the journey. Next post will be completely dedicated to our teams shooting in Sofia and the whole experience of having the opportunity to work with NU Boyana equipment.

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The Calm before the Storm

Hello, dear reader ^.^ The third Friday of AUBG16 journey in NU Boyana Film studio in Sofia as interns went without me- Iva, this time. However, that doesn’t mean that I will leave you clueless about what happened to the others last Friday, as every week something really exciting is taking place in the film studio.

So, it was time we got introduced to the PR and the graphic design department in the studio. So the team was divided in two. Most of them went to see a presentation about graphic design with one of the NU Boyana’s experts. I personally call him “The King of Photoshop” because he is really good at what he is working, and he is doing everything as it is so easy. Well, definitely, I am glad that he is going to be our graphic design adviser and I am jealous of those who had the chance to participate in the tutorial he gave. Well…next time 🙂

I also spoke to Tsvetiana Zaharieva who is one of those three students that went to the PR department.

“We observed the PR officer at the studio giving an interview for a Bulgarian newspaper. We were listening to her responses, what questions she got asked and we got the chance to ask questions ourselves. We started thinking of a marketing-PR strategy and we started brain-storming, we were thinking of the social media channels, who is our target, group, when, where and how to be promoting the studio and to what extend we should be doing this.”

When I was talking to her, she sounded super excited about the following weeks when she will become part of this department and she will learn how to become a real manager.

The most important part of the visiting of the studio last Friday was devoted to the process of which the team was split on four forming different teams who will work together next Friday and will travel to Sofia by themselves in order to shoot their own mini movie. Each team will have a producer, a cinematographer, an editor and a visual effects dude ^.^ We will work on the theme “Sofia trough my eyes.” Each team will travel around the capital and will try to capture the charms of the Bulgarian capital . This time we can go wherever we like, we can talk to whoever we want and we can shoot from all different angles we need. We will have the opportunity to express our creativity and to show our own views as a team.

“Then we have to edit all the material and to create some kind of promotional campaign for it, which is going to be challenging. “

I am from Sofia and I have been living there since for all my life. I have seen it during the snowy cold winter when I go ice-skating at Ariana lake at night. I have walked all day during the spring when all trees are blooming. I know how hot can it get in the summer and how many times I have arrived home soaking wet from the rain in the autumn. I know its bride side and its darkest corners. But one is for sure, Sofia has so many faces, and each of them has its own unique story. So, I hope that each of our teams will menage to capture some of them. We will do our best to show the audience the wonders and secrets of Sofia.

I am personally really excited about the challenge that will wait for us next Friday. It all is going to be in our hands. I can say for sure that this experience will be out first professional work as an interns in NU Boyana film studio. I already can’t wait to see the final result of my team’s mini movie.

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“Work hard and show us that you are talented”

Hello, dear reader. It’s time for AUBG16’s second Friday as interns in NU Boyana film studio in Sofia. In order to show us the charm of the film industry, our advisers decided to send us on our first shooting. Our bus stopped in Boyana at about 10 o’clock and at this time we still didn’t know the plan for the day. When we gathered with our advisers they divided us into four teams as each team received a list of six locations in Sofia. They gave each team a camera and a sound recorder, and instructed us to visit all those six location and to make shots on our own.

They needed wide shots, steady shots and panoramas for a documentary about Sofia. I interviewed Dimo Aleksandrov, a post-production coordinator and one of our advisers in NU Boyana studio. He explained that the capital of Bulgaria has been announced by UNESCO to be a center of the film industry and NU Boyana received the honor to make a documentary that will prove the world that Bulgaria is a place where the “magic” happens. It will show that Bulgaria has the potential to compete with the American film studios about the award. NU Boyana is the heart of the film industry in Bulgaria as some of the most famous movies such as 300: Rise of an Empire and The Expendables 3 were shot there.

And now AUBG16 are part of them and we were chosen to make most of the shots that will represent Sofia as a capital of the movie making. Seeing NU Boyana developing in one of the largest studios in Eastern Europe is also the dream of Dimo Aleksandrov.

“We have the potential, we have the territory, we have the people and the experience to do that here, and we have the management. We need to keep working harder and to be competitive with the largest studios in the world, not only in Eastern Europe. That is our goal for now.”

I was really excited when I found out that I will have the opportunity to be a part of a real shooting, in which we will be the directors, the cinematographers and the sound operators. I was in team number four together with Sorin Petrov, Alena Usacheva and Maxim Tzvetkov as Alena was the main cinematographer, Sorin took the role of the sound operator, Maxim and I were supposed to take notes that are important for the post-production process of the documentary.

We started our journey from the Eagles bridge, which is famous for the four statues of Eagles watching from above-the protectors and patrons of the capital. Next we walked to the Monument to the Soviet Army which is one of the main monuments in Sofia.

We spent a lot of time making shots there as we tried to capture the monument from each side. As the monument is a popular place for young people to gather, we met some teenagers who were skateboarding and riding bikes even though it was quite cold outside. We even asked one of the boys to take part in our shooting as he was going to do a trick with his bike. The whole shot came out grate as it represented the link between the past and the present as the boy was flipping right in front of the historical monument. In the end I think the boy found us quite annoying as we made him flip a couple of times in order to get the best shot…Well…but still thanks to this guy who risk his time to provide us an interesting shot. 😀

We also made a panorama of the monument with the snowy tops of the Vitosha mountain as a background. This is my personal favorite shot from the whole shooting. We continued with the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church which has an interesting architecture and a park surrounding it. We spent most of our time there, as we had some struggles with finding the best angle to shoot. In the end we just made shots from each possible side of the church as it is beautiful from each angle. From there we walked to the Slaveykov Square which is famous for the statue of the Bulgarian writers Petko and Pencho Slaveikov, a father and a son.

Many people took pictures with them, even me made a few selfies 😀 Our last destination was the St. Nedelya Church, a cathedral, which has been reconstructed many times.

Even though I am more interested in the postproduction of the documentary, being able to go out on a shooting of my own was really exciting. It also played the role of a teambuilding as I get to know Sorin, Alena and Maxim better. I am glad that I spent the whole day with them, as we had our moments. We were serious about the shooting, however we had a great time together waking around Sofia. We saw some of the most significant places in the capital and made some great shots of them as we tried to be creative in order to show those places from our own perspective. We tried to follow Dimo’s advice:

” The important part is to work hard and to show us that you are talented.”

I also asked Dimo, what are NU Boyana planning to teach AUBG16 as their interns.

“We want to show that young people are welcomed in NU Boyana, we want to show them that they can develop, they can work in the movie industry. We are trying to involve young people in our projects, in our movies. They start as assistants and they become camera operators, they become sound guys, they become everything that they want.”

He also advised us to be prepared about everything as good movies are made in bad weather conditions, six days a week, twelve hours a day and most of the time you neglect your personal life in the name of the film industry.

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