Essay: Foodadvisor report

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Company Profile
FoodAdvisor.my is a company that located in Subang Jaya, SS15 Courtyard. It’s a company that helps different restaurant and business to promote their best dishes towards potential customers specifically looking for a particular dish.(Foodadvisor.my, 2018) They have a Facebook page to promote different restaurants and different dishes to people on social media, they have helped many restaurants in Malaysia to promote their services and also the most importantly their dishes. Normally they post food review, articles, photos and videos on their website and Facebook page.
Besides that, FoodAdvisor also has partnership with other sources of media and production house, to provide them services like video shooting, photography, social media managing services and etc. They also help different companies, institutions and restaurant to manage their social media such as Facebook pages, Instagram and etc, in order to promote new services, customer services, products and etc.
FoodAdvisor has partnership with different Restaurant such as SkyPalace Restaurant, Lankan Cafe Restaurant, Mishaltit Restaurant, Changman Restaurant, Changlai Restaurant, Copper Restaurant, Osman Restaurant, Library Cafe and more. We provide food review, videography and photography services for them. We will promote their restaurant on our Facebook Page and also FoodAdvisor Website (www.foodadvisor.my). We also manages facebook pages for SkyPalace, Changman, Changlai, Naza Banana Leaf Rice, Chilli Espresso, Copper and etc. We used it to connect with our customer and expose to more potential customer. Besides that, FoodAdvisor also worked with different companies such as EnerZ Extreme Park and Yoyo Box, we also provide social media managing, videography and photography services for them.
FoodAdvisor also has a closed partnership with FiveCat Production, which we provide videography, photography and social media managing services to their (FiveCat Production) client. FoodAdvisor and FiveCat Production has worked with different clients such as Curtin University, Setia Awan, EcoWorld, Global Oak Tree Scholar, DIKA College, Damansara City mall, Karcher Malaysia, Kia Malaysia and etc.
Organization Chart
The Chief Executive Officer of the company is Kenny Hew Kim Fei, he’s the person who manages the businesses, finding clients, generating ideas and etc.
The main videographer of the team are Kay Kastum and Julian Teh Jun Kit, they’re the main person who in charge of video shooting, editing and etc.
On the writing team, the main person who’s in charge is Julian Teh, he’s the one who’s responsible for post review, article writing and social media post scheduling. Julian also the head to to manage the Facebook pages and Instagram of different client. Besides that, he is also the one who incharge for customer service message replies.
On the marketing team, there’s Kenny, Jesvin and Raspal, who’s in charge of getting clients, business deal and etc.
There’s mainly 3 people in the office (Kay, Kenny and Julian), and normally they will be in the office to discuss about ideas. Besides that, Kay and Julian will be editing videos. The rest are all interns, there are interns from different Universities and Colleges such as UTAR, HELP, INTI, SAITO, IACT and more.
Job Scope
I was assigned as part of the production department of Food Advisor, which I mainly responsible for taking videos, photos, audio recording, storyboard planning, lighting set up, video editing, photo editing and etc. I mainly using a Sony A6000, Sony RX100 Mk V, Feiyu Stabilizer for video shooting, in some occasion we will be using GoPro for shooting as well. And as editing part, I’ve used Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Lightroom and etc for the work. I will be taking photos and videos of the food for food review, besides that I also take photos and videos for other clients (such as kindergarten, cinemagraph of clients and etc). Occasionally I will also be soundman if there’s one needed. I’ve been using H1 recorder for the shoot, and also the Boya wireless mic.
There’s 3 stages on every production, which are pre production, production and post production. Firstly on the pre production stage, we will be generating ideas with the writing and social media team to know how we can promote for their product/service. We will be searching for references from different advertisement, videos, poster and etc. After that, we will be doing storyboard, and then present the idea to clients. We will also getting info of our talents that our client provide to see how can we promote the products with their social media platform, in order to make it less “hard sale” for the audiences (Normally for products, not food review).After getting approval from clients, we will proceed to the production stage.
During the production stages, we will be head to the location to do the shooting. If we are shooting indoor, we will be setting up lighting equipment to make sure the object we shooting are clear and visible, we always bring studio lighting for the shoot in order to get good visual. Normally we will set up 3 point lighting for the shoot in order to get the key light, side light and fill light. If there’s audio needed, we will be bringing H1 Recorder and also Boya Wireless Mic in order to get clear audio. And for the camera part, we will be bringing Sony RX100 mk V, Sony A6000 and also a Panasonic Lumix G7. If we are shooting outdoors, we will be bringing reflectors for better lighting. If we are doing photoshoot, we will be bringing extra lightbox if it’s needed (like product shoot for Restaurant’s menu). We will also be bringing Feiyu stabilizers and Apurture Screen Monitor for the shoot so we can have better videos, less shaky shots and more precise images.
And when reaching the post production stages, we will be editing all our photos and videos in the office. We will be using software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom to edit our videos and photos. In some occasion, Adobe Audition was needed as well if the audio quality isn’t good enough and need amendments and fine tuning. We will be merging the clips together, doing the color correction, animation, cinemagraph and others to finish our video. After finishing the video, we will be sending the videos to clients for feedback. After getting the feedback, we will do changes to the video in order to match what our clients needs. After finishing all the amendments, we will send the video to our clients for the final review before we schedule it for a social media post.
Job Scope
I was assigned as part of the production department of Food Advisor, which I mainly responsible for taking videos, photos, audio recording, storyboard planning, lighting set up, video editing, photo editing and etc. I mainly using a Sony A6000, Sony RX100 Mk V, Feiyu Stabilizer for video shooting, in some occasion we will be using GoPro for shooting as well. And as editing part, I’ve used Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Lightroom and etc for the work. I will be taking photos and videos of the food for food review, besides that I also take photos and videos for other clients (such as kindergarten, cinemagraph of clients and etc). Occasionally I will also be soundman if there’s one needed. I’ve been using H1 recorder for the shoot, and also the Boya wireless mic.
There’s 3 stages on every production, which are pre production, production and post production. Firstly on the pre production stage, we will be generating ideas with the writing and social media team to know how we can promote for their product/service. We will be searching for references from different advertisement, videos, poster and etc. After that, we will be doing storyboard, and then present the idea to clients. We will also getting info of our talents that our client provide to see how can we promote the products with their social media platform, in order to make it less “hard sale” for the audiences (Normally for products, not food review).After getting approval from clients, we will proceed to the production stage.
During the production stages, we will be head to the location to do the shooting. If we are shooting indoor, we will be setting up lighting equipment to make sure the object we shooting are clear and visible, we always bring studio lighting for the shoot in order to get good visual. Normally we will set up 3 point lighting for the shoot in order to get the key light, side light and fill light. If there’s audio needed, we will be bringing H1 Recorder and also Boya Wireless Mic in order to get clear audio. And for the camera part, we will be bringing Sony RX100 mk V, Sony A6000 and also a Panasonic Lumix G7. If we are shooting outdoors, we will be bringing reflectors for better lighting. If we are doing photoshoot, we will be bringing extra lightbox if it’s needed (like product shoot for Restaurant’s menu). We will also be bringing Feiyu stabilizers and Apurture Screen Monitor for the shoot so we can have better videos, less shaky shots and more precise images.
And when reaching the post production stages, we will be editing all our photos and videos in the office. We will be using software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom to edit our videos and photos. In some occasion, Adobe Audition was needed as well if the audio quality isn’t good enough and need amendments and fine tuning. We will be merging the clips together, doing the color correction, animation, cinemagraph and others to finish our video. After finishing the video, we will be sending the videos to clients for feedback. After getting the feedback, we will do changes to the video in order to match what our clients needs. After finishing all the amendments, we will send the video to our clients for the final review before we schedule it for a social media post.
PART B
Throughout my whole internship experiences, I’ve learnt a lot about production, pre production planning, videography, photography, editing and etc. At the first week of internship, we have 7 straight days of shooting on Bukit Bintang City Centre (BBCC) EcoWorld. I was assigned to make cinemagraph videos for the property buyers of BBCC EcoWorld. Cinemagraph is a still photograph which include a small moving element while the rest of the photograph remained freeze.(Widewalls, 2018) During the shoot, I will be helping them to set up lighting, preparing props for the property buyers for posing in the cinemagraph. After that, I will be setting up cameras, adjust the white balance with a white surface to make sure the white balance is correct, so it will be easier for post editing colour correction. I also learnt proper video settings (50fps with 1/100 shutter speed, 25fps with 1/50 shutter speed). During the shoot, I’ve met different kinds of customers. There’s customer from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore and etc. And besides that, I met a lot of entrepreneur during the shooting, which is an eye opening experience for me. The first challenge of making cinemagraph is we have to keep our talents as still as possible. Our “talents” are not professional actors, as a result it will be hard to ask our talent to stay as still as possible. We have to keep our talent as still as possible in order less difficulties during the post production process. The second challenge comes in the post production, which we face a lot of requirement from the clients. What I learnt is it’s different than doing assignment at college which we have more time to do our work, but as video, normally our client would like us to send them as soon as possible. As a result, we cannot waste too much time on editing, and we have to present our video to our client A.S.A.P. However, sometimes client will request lots of different changes on the cinemagraph, mostly the color correction. We have to keep amend the color of the cinemagraph in order to suit what our client wants. On the first week of my internship is actually quite intense because I’ve worked from 9.30am till 2am for 2 days, it’s tiring, but it’s really interesting. I’ve learnt a lot about color correction, lighting and cinemagraph movement. What I learnt here that differ from college in class is everything need to present to the client a lot faster than the class, it was more pack than doing assignment. Besides that, while doing assignment can have a dedicated talent, in the real world the talent might not be as dedicated, or even a real talent that will follow your command all the time. Most of them are unprofessional, as a result we have to think quick and react quick to solve this problem.
Besides that, I’ve shot interview videos for DIKA College at Klang. DIKA College is a college that train and teach people how to operate a kindergarten. I was assigned to make an interview with one of their graduates, and I will be shooting with Kay, one of the senior in the video team. I’ve learnt the 3 stages production theory will be applied on every production shoot. At first, before I entered the office, Kay and the team has generated storyboard with DIKA team. And then, we proceed to the production stages. We travelled to a kindergarten in Klang for the shooting. I have 2 task during that time, which is secondary videographer and soundman. I was assigned to take B-rolls, record interview audio and etc. During that time, I have used the Panasonic Lumix G7 and Sony A6000 for the shoot. We also used lenses with big aperture value for more cinematic looks. We used a Sony 35mm f/1.8 and a Lumix 25mm f/1.4 for the shoot. As for the interview part, we used a Boya Mic for the main audio source, and a H1 Recorder for backup audios. During the shooting, I learned how to communicate with kids during shooting. Because kids sometimes will be shy away from camera, so I will have to convince them, joke with them to make them feel less camera-sensitive. Besides that, I also have learnt we have to be very careful while recording audio at outdoor, as the wind, environment noise will be an issue for us during the shoot. I was also assigned as an editor of the interview video. I’ve edited the video for 7 times before I matched the client’s requirement. It’s not easy, but it’s interesting. During the editing part, I have used the skills I learnt from Audio and Video editing subject. I applied the skill I learned to the job, which includes the usage of Adobe Premiere Pro and also Color Correction. Besides that, I also applies some of the transition I learned at class ot the video (wording appear). At here, I learned that the production stages was similar to the one I’ve learnt in class, which include pre production, production and post production stages. In all video production there will be this 3 stages that one has to go through.
On the fourth week of internship, I was assigned to edit photos for Copper Restaurant, which I used software like Lightroom and Photoshop. I have learned that why shooting in RAW file is fundamental for photo shooting and it’s a industry standard. RAW File is a format that record all the data from the camera sensor. Shooting in JPEG will make the image compressed and lost most data, and it’s unrecoverable if something happened to the photo. RAW files can let you easily under/over exposed images, adjust white balance and color easily.(Lim, 2018) This is very important to my work because the photos that was taken by previous people was a bit underexposed due to the low level of illumination in the restaurant. Editing RAW images are a lot easier, more high quality than the other sources.
Besides that, I’ve also edited Chinese subtitle for Curtin University video. I’ve edited the Chinese subtitle for the video because I’m the few person who can speak and write chinese in the office. I’ve applied the skill I learned from Translation subject during my Diploma time, as it turns out it’s very useful for this work. I also learnt that there’s new format of subtitle in the Premiere Pro 2018, which is a lot easier to produce caption than before.
Other than that, in this week (week 4), I’ve also shot video for EnerZ Extreme Park for their Facebook “Super Post”. EnerZ Extreme Park is a trampoline park located in Subang Jaya, their target customer includes young adults, teenagers, kids and families. We have to shoot 7 videos around 15-20 seconds to promote their services on their Facebook pages. At here, I learned that Uses and Gratification theory is applicable to this services. Uses and gratification theory (UGT) is an audience-centered approach that focuses on what people do with media, as opposed to what media does to people.(L, 2016) People uses media like Facebook for entertainment, and as a result people uses Facebook to promote their services back to the people. On the pre production stage, we have discussed storyboard on how to shoot the videos, and making it exciting to the people. After the discussion, we proceed to the next stages which is shooting. During the shooting, due to the lack of talents, me and other interns was also assigned to be part of the talents. During this shoot I was assigned to be a videographer. Because there’s no power sources at the location, so I have to use a lens with big aperture to counter the low light problem.
I have also shot cinemagraph for Damansara City Mall in order for them to promote their new shopping malls towards more people. In this shoot, DC Mall has collaborated with one of FoodAdvisor’s client, Five Cat Production to promote their shopping mall towards more audience. One of the founder of Five Cat Production is Faiket Luari, Mr Luari is from Albania, he has more than 16 years of combined experience in sales, marketing, business development, customer experience, ​event management, training and consultation. He’s a MIM (Malaysian Institute of Management) certified trainer, entertainer (aka Mr Bean impersonator) & etc. This is one of the most exciting production I have throughout my internship, because I get to shoot a Mr Bean Impersonator (Mr Luari) alongside with a Magician to promote the DC Mall. During the shoot, I felt special because Mr Luari attract a lot of attention from the crowds, and everyone was pleased to see him. I learned to shoot under the condition where there’s many audiences around, and some of them might want to get pictures or selfie with the talents, and I have to act quick to keep my talent on track to finish the shooting ASAP. It was different than shooting for assignment. As for student assignment, we can’t really shoot videos at other private property (shopping malls, building and etc) due to privacy issue, however this time I’m able to work freely at the venue with the help from the management of the DC Mall, which is a lot easier and more convenient.
Furthermore, I have shot videos and pictures for Mishaltit Restaurant. Mishaltit Restaurant is an Arabic Restaurant that located at Sri Petaling. This is actually one of the toughest challenge on the throughout of internship, because the environment lighting and color tone of the restaurant was not ideal for food photography/videography. The lighting was dark, the table and environment were too orange-ish. As a result, the whole shooting process isn’t too smooth and the editing process was not successful. After that, we were assigned to shoot the photos again, and we brought more lighting kit for the shoot during that day. We used studio lighting to get better images, and also it reduces the orange-ness of the images. By simply changing the white balance or shooting in RAW isn’t enough, at this work I learnt that lighting is very crucial in order to produce a good image.
Besides that, I have done shooting with SkyPalace Restaurant. During the Pre Production, we have been getting idea references from one of McDonald’s Malaysia Ayam Goreng commercial. As a result, we drew out the storyboard and propose the idea to the client. This is similar to the normal practice in college, which we have to make a proposal like storyboard to propose our idea to the client. After getting approval from client, then we can only proceed to the shooting. This is similar to subject which involve video production, we can only start shooting after our proposal got approval by the tutor. After got approval from the client, we proceed to shooting. In this shooting, I was involved to be one of the talent in the advert. It’s my first time getting filmed for commercial purposes, and it’s also different from normal student’s work. While shooting for student’s assignment, we can be less concern about product placement issue (the clothing we wear and etc), but we have to be very careful while shooting for commercial usage, as it will affect other’s brand image. At here, I set up the studio lighting with 3 point lighting settings and set up white balance with a piece of white paper. I applied the skills that I learnt from TV production subject to the work, and it’s very effective. Compare to my last TV Production assignment which we went shooting at Malacca, shooting with FoodAdvisor is a lot more organized. We have to make schedule with our client first rather than just go there and shoot. It’s a lot more different than what I’ve experienced at that assignment, everything has to be scheduled as because everyone has their own agenda on the day. On the post production stage, I applied the skills I learnt from Audio and Video editing course, to merge the audio and video together. We have used Foley to mimic the soup sipping sound effect to make the video look better and more dramatic. As a result, the video looks more dynamic. This video was also played in OneCity monitor billboard and SkyPalace own Facebook page.
We also have shot video for Changlai Restaurant in Johor Skudai, it’s the first time that me travel to another state for a food review shoot. After the shooting, I’ve applied the Kolder Smooth Zoom Transition effect that I learnt from Audio and Video editing course to the video editing process. I used that effect for my video to make the video more interesting and more dynamic, and the visual looks more interesting than the one without transition.
On the following week, I shot photos for Library Café at Mid Valley. I learnt to use Light box during the work as we have to shoot the food images for our client. I have applied the photography skills from the Photography course I have during my Diploma; it helps me a lot on the shooting process. On the editing part, I have to make sure the pictures are nicely lit, as it can be cropped out for usage of menu.
Besides that, I have also draw storyboard for an advertisement for Karcher. Karcher is a brand which produce household electrical product like vacuum, jet wash machine and etc. I’ve learnt about ideas generating, proposing a new idea and storyboard drawing. This enhance my technique on the scripting and storyboarding. It’s similar to college assignment which we have to prepare storyboard for the video before the actual production, but what it differs from college is it’s much easier for college assignment proposal to get the approval, the proposal for Karcher is a lot harder. At first we have to go through 2 stages, which includes Karcher Malaysia and Karcher Germany. As because Karcher has partnership with Paramount Pictures to promote their product alongside with the new Mission impossible movie, we have to make sure our storyboard was related to the Mission Impossible movie, and also we have to get agreement from Paramount Pictures for the storyboard. This is a bit harder than college assignment which industry has stricter and higher standard of requirement.
We have done a video shooting for Yoyo Box. Yoyo Box is a company that sells 10 Ringgits Vending Machine, which you can get a prize after putting a RM10 notes into the machine, and you randomly choose a box to get your gift. However recently, there’s a lot of cases from other vending machine company which stated that vending machine are hoax and there’s no valuable gift inside. As a result, Yoyo Box and us has discuss we need to do something to counter this problem. My supervisor comes out with an idea, he want us to shoot the whole process of the vending machine gift packaging. We will be using this video to tell the public we have valuable gift inside and it’s not a hoax. At here, I learnt that I can applied Agenda Setting theory to this case. Agenda Setting theory claims media uses object/issues to influence people what and how should they think about. (Communication Theory, 2011) At first, the internet community has used social media to make people think about this vending machine service is a hoax by buying all the boxes in the vending machine, and showing them all boxes inside the machine has no valuable prizes. Which they used this theory to plant a message that this machine are hoax. As a result, we counter back by using the same theory, we shows the whole process of the packaging to let public understand that we are not a hoax.
We have also done photo shooting for FairPrice Singapore for the product shoot, it’s a hypermarket in Singapore and we have to shoot photos for their product. We have taken photos of clamps, wine, rice packages, vegetables and etc. At here, I realized the 3 point lighting technique that I learnt from TV production is slightly different from the photo shoot, as instead of pointing the key light to the front of subject, we have to place it on top of subject to reduce reflection as because shooting for products and people are different. Product with glossy image will generate a lot of reflection, as a result we use light box to diffuse the light and make the light less harsh on the subject. Besides that, we also used software like Photoshop to clone and remove the reflection on the product itself. I learnt that you have to make sure during the production stages are as perfect as possible to reduce the work for post production.
We also have done shooting for Global Oak Tree Scholars, it’s a school located at Klang. I was assigned as videographer and editor for this project. What I learned during this shoot is the shooting with stabiliser, importance of storyboard and editing skills. During the shoot, I learnt to use the Feiyu Stabiliser in order to produce a smooth pictures for the video. Besides that, during the production stage, I also learnt to communicate better with kids to get their attention to be more cooperative with the camera crew, as some of them might go wild easily. I also learnt that storyboard helps a lot while proposing ideas to client, but also although sometimes they’ll change it on the spot, and you have to react fast to improvise. I also learnt even though at first the client might approve the storyboard, after the editing it will be another story. Long story short, I have to always get prepare for the amendments that client wants. What this shoot differs from college is shooting for college coursework has less people involvement, so there won’t be too many opinions. But for the real world situation, your client might not be happy, your supervisor might not be happy, your agent might not be happy, and there’s where a lot of trouble and amendments come. I have to be more steady and react quick on this kind of scenarios, to make sure the video can be finish properly.
Conclusion
Throughout the whole internship, I have learnt a lot of lesson, videography skills, editing skills and communication skills. What I learnt the most throughout the internship is be confident with yourself. I keep on thinking that my skill isn’t on par with the industry standard when I’m still studying in college, after stepping out to the industry or the real world, I realized my skills really isn’t is ok, but I have to learn more to keep growing. At the same time, I felt like I don’t have to be ashamed because there’s always people who better than you, all you have to do is keep improve yourself a little bit than before. Besides that, I also learnt that in the industry it’s a lot stricter than college assignment, there’s a lot people to go through your work, and you have to work hard to reach their requirement. The reason why it’s stricter because there’s payment involvement, client will always want the best out of you.
Besides that, I also learnt more about editing skills and videography skills. Because of many requirements and amendments needed from the client, so I have a chance to learn and improve and evolve. I also learned to convince your client about your work, as sometimes the work can be done with a good persuasive skill in order to save time and money. Thanks to this internship, I improved a lot, and also I have much to improve.
Via this internship, it helps me a lot on my future career. I know my strength, my weakness, and the thing that I have to be improve on. I realized my strength is I have good camera skills, and I know a lot about cameras. On the editing part, I’m adequate. But my weakness include I don’t know how to use software like After Effect, and also I’m not diverse enough (I can’t use AI, photoshop and etc). But still, I grew a lot, it makes me understand how’s the industry looks like, what client wants, the world isn’t as comfortable as college is, and I have to improve myself and keep myself alert all the time to go through all kind of tough challenges.