Studio Production Unit- My position, Research and Development

After my interview with Simon and Helen, I was given the position of Sound for VT sequences and the Studio. I was actually very pleased with this position, as I have wanted to improve my quality of work with sound for a while. It also helps that I host a podcast with Andy, and as such working with sound is part of one of my hobbies, and I would be happy to take my hobby and use it for a professional purpose.

Once I had joined my VT group, we decided we would throw some ideas around to try and generate some bases on which we could create some stories which would be discussed in the show. The show's assigned producer- Helen Welsh told us that she wanted a show similar to Loose Women crossed with Saturday Night Live, and she wanted us to come up with some stories that would be entertaining. A story that was suggested was something involving the topic of whether or not graffitti could be considered an art or vandalism.

Helen also told us she wanted a reaction segment where people would watch a trailer for a videogame, or actually play the videogame and give their opinions. The clincher here would be that the videogame would be a very infamous and politically incorrect one, which would create a discussion about whether or not such video games are damaging people.

In a further discussion with my VT group over facebook chat, I suggested that we make the reaction video look and feel a little bit like Conan Obrien's "clueless gamer", a segment that airs on Conan Obriens talkshow which is very entertaining.

The main reason I suggested this was that the project seemed to quickly be becoming very serious and almost boring, and since the original idea was to involve comedy and parody in some way, I thought a segment similar to this one would be ideal in breaking up any potential monotony.

I will continue my research by seeing if there are any sound-recording techniques I can learn between now and when the VT and studio recording starts. I will also continue with my other units, including commission so that I do not waste any time.

Commission Unit- Big Update

A major problem I have had with this unit is that I haven't had much time to focus on it, as I have been putting a lot of my efforts into the Studio Production Unit and my dissertation proposal. As such, I find that I have been spreading myself quite thin, and not getting much done commission-wise.
I decided lately that it would be worth putting more effort into this unit so that I do not fall behind, and I did this by settling on which commission I wanted to take.
I previously wanted to take the Friday People commission, and I wanted to learn more about the organization and what they do. So I emailed the man in charge of the charity, Nick Ward to arrange a meeting. I made sure in the email I sent to specifically point out that I hadn't fully decided on what I wanted to for my commission, and I didn't want to commit to anything until I had thoroughly investigated the organization I would be commissioned by. Nick understood this, and I arranged to meet him at the Friday People base of operations at Romney Place in Maidstone.

Romney Place

Romney Place is a very great location for this charity to be based, and the fact that it is based here, and I will be spending most of the time I have at this place during this commission is very convenient. The bus I catch to university stops directly outside this place, and it is relatively close to maidstone tv studios where equipment is kept (meaning I will be able to tranport equipment easilly, which is great as I do not own a car to transport equipment.)

I found meeting Nick to be a very educational experience. Although I had previously done some of my own research into the charity through slides and information supplied by UCA, I wanted to know more about the actual charity from the source, including about how the charity had recently acquired the funding required to rent the office space at Romney place, how long they had been operating etc.

Here is a list of beneficial things I found out:

• I will be able to use the office space for my own work whilst taking this commission.
• Nick will be supplying any contributors for this project, meaning I can concentrate on creating the actual product.
• The project brief is very open ended, meaning I can take some liberties with the way I work and what I create, as long as I stick to a deadline.
• Any products I create will be used as part of a large installation in Maidstone's town centre which could get the word out about my work and potentially lead to more commissioning opportunities.

Here are a list of drawbacks I found out:

• At any point, the charities funding could be cut, meaning the office may be lost, or development could be stopped.
• Nick is going abroad for 3 weeks as part of his work, meaning I would not be able to start the project for nearly a month.

The negative aspect that gets me the most is the fact that Nick is going abroad. This is a massive blow to my commission, as I have potentially lost the ability to speak to my commissioner face to face, and the chances of me being allowed into the office space to film without him around is unlikely.

I am thinking I could still take this project however, and I could spend the 3 weeks I have alone to finish other projects (studio production research and development and my dissertation proposal) as well as begin potentially storyboarding and scripting some promotional videos for the Friday People. This way no time is wasted.

All in all, I am feeling very positive about this project, despite the early set-backs. I have overcome these kinds of problems in past commissions using my own initiative, and so I don't think this will be a problem really. 

Studio Production Unit- Job Interview

For the Studio Production Unit, I had to partake in a mock job interview in order to secure the positions I applied for the day the winning studio production pitch was announced. Since I have never been too confident when it comes to the actual operation of cameras, I applied for jobs where my main role wouldn't involve me actually handling the camera.
After some discussion, the possibility of me working with sound was pitched. I am actually quite happy to work on the production's sound, as there is a much more definitive sense of my work either being right or wrong. If the sound is staticky, or of poor quality, it will definitely be noticeable. However, when it comes to camera-work, a lot of it is subjective, meaning I could use certain shots and angles that I think are perfect, and everybody else could think they are terrible.
In creative terms, this sense of subjectivity is actually something I love about media and the arts, but when it comes to working in an environment where a lot of different opinions and through processes will be flying around, I feel that I would be much better suited to a straight forward right or wrong task, such as sound.

Studio Production Unit- Giving my Pitch and Feedback.

Yesterday I gave my pitch to a panel of Helen, Simon and Laura. I arrived an hour early at the studios so that I could prepare myself on exactly what points I wanted to emphasize during my pitch. I thought this would be a good thing to do, as my PowerPoint presentation contained a lot of information, and with the limited amount of time I had to complete my pitch, I had to make sure that although all this information was there, I only hit the key points for time sake.

Throughout my pitch, I made sure to give the panel opportunities to ask questions when they seemed confused about what I meant by certain things. That way it wouldn't dwell on them, and they'd be able to concentrate on the rest of the pitch.

Once I had completed my pitch, I was praised for the idea I had given for the overall show, and it was called "interesting." I was also told I seemed very passionate about the ideas I gave. I was also told that although there was some confusion as to what kind of films would have been reviewed in my show, that question was answered later in the pitch, suggesting that I had gone about it the right way, answering a question that had been raised without even knowing the question had come about.

It was also suggested that perhaps my show sounded like something more geared towards a BBC Two mid-week program as opposed to a weekend BBC One slot. This was explained to me in detail, and in the end I decided that perhaps this was a reasonable suggestion afterall.

The key point about yesterday was that although my idea was not chosen in the end, my idea was one of five that came very close to being chosen. This suggests to me that I definitely have the right idea about how to pitch in general, and which key points to hit, but I still need a bit more polish on certain areas to get my pitches just right.

I am very happy with the way things went, and yesterday was definitely a learning experience for me, which I am sure will be very useful in the near future.

Studio Production Unit- Supplementary Pitch Document

This is the supplementary document I created for my Hollywoodbes pitch. This single sheet basically condenses my idea down into one single document, which I hope will break my presentation down in such a way that it becomes a lot clearer and easier to understand.

Studio Production Unit- Finished Pitch Slideshow

Here is a slideshow I have created which will aid me during my pitch this coming Tuesday, where I will attempt to show my ideas and suggestions for a studio production to a panel of people in order to get the greenlight to become the producer for said show.
The slideshow can be viewed here:

As you may notice, my presentation is broken down into two parts, the first is creative, which discusses all of my creative ideas, what the shows name means, what kind of hosts I plan on having etc, and the other part discusses more technical elements, such as audience retention and set layouts.

Studio Production Unit- "Hollywoodbe's" concept promotional item.

This piece was created after I had a bit of a brainwave. The theme I want for my television program is that of a production that is trying to be as good a quality as Hollywood, yet failing. In my spare time I decided to create this piece:

The Hollywood Hills sign is a symbol of the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, the home of some of the most prestigious actors and directors of mainstream movies in the entire world. Therefore, I decided to take the sign the other way for the purpose of this program, having the "Hollywoodbes" sign looking all rusted and decayed and the actual hills being a scrap heap.
This in itself is a parody, and I feel it reflects nicely the nature of the program I wish to produce.

Studio Production Unit- Updated Set Concept

I recently posted a hand-drawn concept for a potential set layout for the television programme I am going to pitch this tuesday called "HollywoodBes." I decided that this hand-drawn concept probably wouldn't be good enough in an actual pitch to get the idea across that I wanted, and so I decided to create this slightly better photoshop diagram.

Admittedly, it's still a little rough around the edges, but I feel it gets the point across. I look forward to presenting this as part of my pitch this tuesday.

Studio Production Unit- Investigating Potential Studio Layouts

With some spare time I have, I have decided to briefly investigate some potential studio layouts that I could use for my "HollywoodBes" idea, which I will discuss in my pitch. I feel like if I were to enter the pitch with a lot of information, and show that I have considered all potential possibilities, even at this early stage in development, the pitching board may be more comfortable with my idea, and will be much more likely to green light my idea.

One potential set I looked at was that of the television show; "Mock the Week." Mock the week has a very similar concept to the kind of show idea I imagine for HollywoodBes, and so it immediately sprang to mind when I thought about similar shows.

Mock The Weeks Set

Mock the week has a very bright and lively set, with the shows name shown prominently centered. Although it's very difficult to make out in this photograph, the purple wall panels behind the chairs have images projected on them which the hosts can then talk about. This allows the audience to understand what they are discussing.

The viewers watching from home wouldn't know this though, as the vision mixer usually cuts away from the images of the hosts and studio etc, and instead shows the actual image in question itself. I assume that the projectors that show the images on the purple boards are hidden behind the hosts seats, or projected via the ceiling.

After checking this set out, I decided to think about how I could make the studio more practical. Afterall, we are bound by budget restraints, and therefore we would only have so much money for displays for the audience, and each host to look at. Therefore I created this mock up studio layout plan:

A closeup of the mockup studio plan.

 

Commission Unit- Potential Work Placements

For the commission unit, I have been presented with a few different ideas for various work placements. A lot of the ideas that were presented would involve me making videos for various local organizations in Medway. The one I found myself most interested in was one for a charitable group called "The Friday People", which works with Jobseekers.
This would involve me spending a lot of time with elderly people with previous experiences of working in Medway, and creating a documentary film piece about how work environments, and the task of finding work has evolved over the years.
The reason I have an interest in this commission in particular is because I have completed a similar commission in the past in my previous course. For this project I worked with a local charitable group called "Support Net" which worked with elderly people and provided them with events to attend.
I would like to create something similar, but with a different subject in mind.

The benefits of this would be that it is something I am comfortable with as I have completed similar tasks before, and would therefore need less guidance from my commissioner.

Studio Production Unit- First Day and Generating Ideas.

Today we returned from Christmas break to begin the preliminary stages of pre-production for our newest unit, Studio Production, where we will have to plan, prepare and film a live studio production in front of an audience.
The first stage of this unit involves each member of our class generating several ideas for shows which will be pitched to a board of tutors. Which ever idea is accepted will have it's creator appointed as the producer for the unit, with all the other members of the class acting in respective roles.
Originally, I didn't really want to be a producer, as I've found my strong-point in media seems to be roles in which I can be left to my own devices and work in solitude.
However, after brainstorming some ideas, I grew accustomed to the possibility of leading a group of people to create a piece of work, and once I had come up with an idea I was happy with, I grew slightly attached to it, and excited about getting started.

The two ideas I came up with are "HollyWood'Bes", a review show which discusses and critiques independent films, and a show featuring people trying to beat each others high scores on retro video games, which as of now is an unnamed show.

HollyWood'Bes would be a studio based show in which a group of comical reviewers would critique notoriously terrible independent films. This style of review has become very popular online and so I think this would be a very suitable platform for this kind of show to be on.
This is evident in the subscriber rate for comedian critics on Youtube, such as JonTron, who reviewed a notoriously bad indie film, Birdemic.
However, if my show was produced for TV, I would definitely imagine it in a similar kind of time-slot to Mock The Week, early enough that it attracts a large audience of people who have returned from work at the end of the day, but late enough that comedians can be slightly risque with their jokes and jabs towards the films they will be critiquing.
Originally, I was torn between the idea of a more serious independent film review show, but after giving it some more thought, and after discussing my idea with my tutor and some of my course-mates, I decided that for the sake of entertainment, a comedic edge would be a great addition to incorporate, especially with the success comical shows such as Mock the Week have had.

The "un-named Video Games" concept I have also been thinking about as my back-up plan, would feature contestants taking part in a sort of "video game showdown" in which they compete against other contestants to beat a high score or defeat the other players. As far as I know, this kind of television show doesn't actually exist at the moment, and I somewhat understand the reasons why.
The idea of watching people playing video games for competition doesn't sound too thrilling for the average viewer, but I have been thinking that if wacky and eclectic contestants and hosts were used, it may be interesting to watch.
Also, as I mentioned after some brief research, I don't think this kind of program actually exists on television at the moment, and as such this idea would allow myself and my team to enter an untapped market with a very unique idea.

I will continue to find comparisons for these two ideas, as well as weigh up whether or not they will be viable, both commercially and production wise, before I pitch my ideas. That way I will be able to prepare myself, as well as prepare for any and all questions that may be fired at me during the pitching process.

I also have to consider the possibility that I may not get to produce for this unit, and if this is the case, I will have to apply for another position from a list I have been provided with. After carefully looking through this list, I have decided that I would like to apply for the Behind the Scenes and Promotions Director position. The reason for this is that I have quite a history with creating behind the scenes pieces, and I am also very comfortable with directing package pieces which would be a big part of being a promotions director.