studio blogs

League of Gentlemen, “They have Pens” Comedy sketch

For this studio shoot we had a group of acting students in the studio and we recorded a sectioned performance of their sketch show shooting the scene, “They have Pens”. This was a sketch we had previously watched on a past BBC broadcast and was something we had never done before. Previously we have created and shot all of our projects between us, on original content we had worked on. Not only was the content we were shooting previously created, we were also working with professional directors and producers who had experience in their roles. I really enjoyed this experience as working with them felt like it pushed our professionalism within the working environment of the studio. In addition to this we also used the acting students who were also very professional in conducting themselves.

Unfortunately however, I was on studio sound, something I had done many times before and I believed I wasn’t learning from my experience. My only technical learning experience was working with rich to hide the lapel mics in tape cushions in order to hide the muffle of it rubbing on clothes. Other than this my experience way very similar to previous projects setting up studio sound.

My overall experience on this project was fairly enjoyable, I liked the professionalism that was brought by working with a professional directors and producers. The actors also brought a different dynamic when working with experienced professionals.

Vision City

Unfortunately, due to some personal issues, I was unable to take a leading role on this project, something I found extremely difficult as i’m naturally drawn to leadership roles within group projects. Initially, I was Asked to take the lead on research for the project but because of my personal situation, I knew I could not commit to the role and was uncomfortable putting the team in a position where I would potentially let them down. I spoke to Bobby Brown and we discussed what the best option was for me within the project and due to my situation, it had to be fairly absent of stress and attention so we agreed on being the talent supervisor and runner for the show, as well a documenting work through photographs. Talking to Bobby was extremely rewarding and I think was a real testament to his personal professionalism, he was very understanding and helped me alot through this project. I think i learnt a lot about the importance of respect and honesty in a within a working environment and how crucial it is to communicate with each other when in a team.

Unfortunately however, not everyone was as easy to work with as Bobby. Due to my role being minor for this project, some members of the team were extremely unprofessional and treated me with very little respect, something that made me very uncomfortable. In a number of instances Andy would refer to me as “the Bitch” and belittle me in front of other members of the team as I believe he viewed my role as insignificant to the team. Although done in jest, this “joke” became very wearing and i’m a strong believer in professionalism in the workplace, and I believe he was showing a behavior that was unnecessary and extremely unprofessional. Eventually I was pushed to confront Andy and explain to him what he was doing, and fortunately he apologized and stopped. If I were to go through this again I believe I would have addressed the situation sooner and stop it developing to where it did. Again, communication is the key to the success of any team, and we should be comfortable with each other to do so.

My favorite role on this project was the photography, capturing moments throughout production. I believe I created a great visual representation of people's work that will help them in their personal explanations and written work for this project. Overall I know my experience on this show was not pushed to what I wanted, however, I am confident that I worked as hard as I could in my role. Hopefully I will have a bigger role on the next project and I can push myself to take more from the production.

The Bluffer- Pre production

For our final production we were tasked with creating and pitching a game show that would be green lit by a professional panel. We were all split into groups of two to create and pitch our idea, something I was initially skeptical of doing. I usually like to work in bigger groups so was unsure how i would work in a smaller group dynamic. However, I actually really liked the experience and found working in a two extremely beneficial. Working in a group with only two members helped me feel involved within the project and this increased my productivity as i had an invested interest in the idea. I also worked with Conor O’Sullivan, someone who I have had little experience working with, being one of the quieter members of the class. I really valued my time working with him however, and learnt we had a strong dynamic when working together. We could easily and effectively communicate with one another through Email and Facebook and we had a constant dialog throughout the creative process, which made it very easy for us to develop and grow our ideas. In addition to this, we insured we met face to face when it came to the detailed planning of our project, something that was also very effective. Conor and I Found we had similar ideas when it came to creating a game show which made the process easier for us as we had no conflict of interests when developing our idea, helping us work objectively towards a common goal together.

Although I was extremely happy with the quiz show we created, there would have been a few thing I would have changed. The main thing that I would have addressed would be to simplify the idea completely. I believe we had too many elements to our show and was the main reason ours was not green lit. comparing it to the show that was green lit, “The Bluffer”, It was a simple idea stretched and adapted slightly throughout the show. Ours however had many different games and elements that wouldn’t have been appropriate for the scale of show we could produce at University.

One of my favorite elements of this section of the production was the actual pitch of our show. I usually get extremely nervous with these types of assignments but I was extremely confident with my personal performance. My biggest takeaway from this was that with great amount of preparation and a true invested interest in an idea, pitching can actually be an enjoyable and natural process, something i would be keen on replicating again.

The Bluffer- shoot day

For our final studio shoot we were tasked with shooting a game show titled “The Bluffer”, created by Kieran Miller and charlie Parker. As I unfortunately had a very minor role on the last studio project, I was very proactive on approaching Charlie and Kieran and asking for a leading role, and expressed my interest in being floor manager. Fortunately, they were kind enough to position me in the role I have been wanting to do for my last two years at university, something I was extremely excited to take on.

I was extremely happy with my performance on the production and I felt for the first time I made a real impact on the running of a studio production project. I believe my success came from my personal passion for the role and my proactive approach towards it throughout the shoot. It would have been very easy for me to sit back and allow the other members to prepare the show and just turn up and run through the motions of floor managing on the day of the shoot. But I was not happy to do this. Instead I ensured I had an involvement on everything I could throughout the pre production phase of the project. This included helping with set, lighting and even the creative image and running of the show. I believed that the best way to run the show from the studio floor, was to have an understanding of everything on the studio floor so I was comfortably efficient in my control of all the situations that arose.

Furthermore, I took the time to prepare with Tom Smith (The host) and Rebecca Parkes on the technical and communication techniques we would be using on the shoot. I found from watching previous floor managers that communication is the most important aspect of the job. To improve on previous attempts I ensured the team of people I would be communicating with understood each other and agreed on signals and phrases best for each other. Something that came from this was Tom and my desire to create at atmosphere for the audience similar to “A league of their own” where the floor manager introduces the host and show with a great depth of energy, this inspired me to do something very similar and push the audience energies. I believe this energy was really felt throughout the show and made a real impact.

Overall I loved my role as floor manager and I learnt that it is a job that takes a huge amount of preparation but is extremely rewarding. Many of the audience have given positive comments on my role as floor manager to our producer, Bobbie Brown, as well as the crew being extremely positive towards my performance, making this my most rewarding role to date

Overall experience.

Overall I believe I have comfortably found my position within the studio dynamic. I have really enjoyed working with the team in my class and I believe we all work very effectively with one another. I believe over the last year we have all worked hard in finding where we work best within the studio, and once we found our preferred positions, we were extremely efficient. Personally, I would like to stick to floor managing, it was a role I have wanted to do for a long time as i believed I would be very effective in that position and I believe i fulfilled this belief. With my strong levels of confidence and communication skills I believe I was effectively able to navigate and direct the studio floor under the instructions of the gallery. Hopefully I will have more chances to further grow my understanding as a floor manager as the experience has led me to consider the role as an option to follow after university.

One thing I am slightly disappointed with is that I did not have much of a chance to develop my technical skills within the studio. I have only had roles within the studio floor and unfortunately have not had the chance to work in the gallery. Although I am fairly confident that I would not enjoy the working environment within the gallery, I would have liked some experience in some role within that environment. Also, I have had very little experience on cameras and lighting so my technical understanding isn’t as developed as I had hoped at the end of second year.

However, I am still very happy with my overall experience throughout studio production this year. I believe we have covered many areas together and have developed as a team of operation as well as personally. My personal development is extremely apparent, before the year started I had very little knowledge within the studio and very little interest in it, through learning and working through this year's studio projects I have heightened my skills and developed a strong passion within a field I had not previously considered. I can see floor managing being something I follow in the future and would be extremely happy to have more time learning from my experiences within a studio environment. My time in studio production has been extremely enriching and has taught me the importance of strong communication and respect within a studio environment and teamwork is essential to make a successful product.

 

post 1- 

With our charity studio project finally on its way, it was extremely exciting to begin work in our groups. The First task we were presented with was to complete research on a charity that we would want to focus on throughout the oncoming few weeks. My initial Idea was to focus on the Student’s Union, being the closest charity to us and likely, the most accessible. I felt that it would be a good opportunity to create a light hearted charity appeal.  I believe this would have helped our project stand out from the others as they were mostly dealing with an emotionally serious topic; such as homelessness.

However, after a discussion with my group I decided that my idea would have been extremely difficult to work with. I struggled to think of a narrative we could follow and what the appeal would be asking for. This led my decision to drop the idea of supporting the SU in this project.

Following this, we discussed further other local charities in Bath that we could possibly work with. One that stood out to us all was Genesis, a homeless charity situated in Bath city center. The appeal of this charity was overwhelming, in its convenient and accessible location, as well as the passion it evoked; myself in particular.

When the Idea was chosen we were then asked to delegate roles to ourselves. I, having previous experience, put myself forward to be in charge of sound. With the other members of the group being happy with other roles, it was fairly straight forward for us to organise ourselves in a constructive and efficient manner. 

Post 2- 

With our project idea agreed upon, it was then up to us to organise the project into completion. We began by comparing each others work schedules and working out the best times for filming etc. Fortunately, all our weekends were free so we chose to film our location shoots on Saturdays and Sundays. However, we were less fortunate during the working week as people had various commitments that restricted us from meeting up.

Although problematic, we had no other option to meet in smaller groups and relay information to one another through Facebook and emails. While it helped keep a constant dialog between everyone in the group, some things were missed this way as the conversation could move on before everyone had caught up.

Unfortunately I was absent for much of the planning for this project. I received a sever concussion that impaired my ability to work. I did however communicate with my group constantly to contribute to what ideas I could. In a way I felt me being away from the group helped in a way as they could send me things like the story bored and I could tell them if it was easy to follow for someone who wasn’t there for the whole proses.

Post 3-

The Location shoot actually went surprisingly well. Most of our shooting was done inside so we didn’t have to think about the weather too much. However, the one scene that we had to shoot outside happened to be the time it decided to hail down on us hard. Although this wasn’t too much of an issue as it didn’t last long, it did make me think about checking weather reports for future projects.

When we were shooting at Genesis we had some communication issues with the charity itself, unable to gain access to the building we needed to shoot in. However, in time we contacted a member of staff who worked there and we were able to continue our shoot.

As sound man I was faced with a number of issues on our location shoot. The biggest one was that the jack cable used to connect my mic to the camera was faulty, distorting the sound. This was an issue that was hard to compromise with as we were already on location. However, by toying with the cable I could position it in a way it would not affect the sound. Although this took a great amount of time it was the only thing I could do at this point. If I were to redo this project I would have insured all equipment was functioning correctly before taking it out of the store room.

Furthermore, I had an issue with the ambient sound in the room in which we were filming. Being a small underground room, it was hard to avoid all the little noises around us. The boiling pot was the biggest problem but we were unable to turn off as it was heating the water for the homeless who would be arriving shortly after we had filmed. To compensate for this I had our subjects face away from the boiler so the mic would also be positioned away from it, picking up as little of the diegetic sound as possible. 

Post 4- 

Although I wasn’t directly involved in the editing proses, it was still important that I were on standby for any re-shoots that would be needed. This was something I had learnt from a previous project when I had to do some re-shoots when I noticed a shot had been missed in the edit. Fortunately this did not happen to us. However, after reviewing some of the location footage I do believe it would have been ideal if we were given the opportunity to redo them.

I felt it was very important for our editor to share with us all her progress throughout the edit, which she did extremely effectively, giving us the opportunity to view it when necessary and have a slight input into its creation.When our edit was completed we then asked a number of peers to watch and give us feedback on the production. We all felt this was important to do before the studio shoot as it would have been awful if we played the footage in front of the charity representatives, and the footage made no sense to someone not involved in the creation of it. Although nothing was changed after the feedback, it gave us a reassurance that it was presenting the message that we wanted.

I feel if we had Watched the completed edit together it could have been extremely beneficial to us all. After watching it we could have discussed what we felt went well/wrong and how we could have improved. Doing this would have helped us all in our next projects and keep our skills developing as we would learn from our errors, and is something I will ensure I do in the future. 

Post 5- 

For the studio shoot I was given the position of camera man. I was already familiar with operating the studio cameras so I was confident in my role and fully prepared for the task.  The actual filming was relatively easy from my perspective because once my camera was in position I wasn’t required to move it at all. The main focus was achieving the correct camera angle that the director wanted. I learnt it was actually harder that I thought to communicate through the cans to the gallery as some of the visual queues were lost and you had to rely entirely on audible communication.

 Apart from being camera operator I was also needed to take over as floor manager for a temporary period as the original one was required else where. I found this roll extremely rewarding and I enjoyed it a great amount. The important factors involved in being a floor manager appealed to my personality as the communication aspects came naturally to me as well as organising the studio floor. I would be highly interested in having the floor manager role again but with more of an opportunity to experience it for longer.

I found the hardest part of the shoot was keeping to a time scale. Because we had so many projects being shot that day it was important we kept to our time scales effectively. I believe we did this relatively well and I believe this was due to the whole class working well as a team and strong communication between gallery and floor.

Post 6- 

Overall I believe that the project went extremely well. Although I was temporarily unavailable for some of it, I do feel that I played an integral role in the creative and practical process. It was an extremely fun project to be involved in and I have come away with a deeper understanding of what is needed in such a project.

The most important factor involved in our success was our group interaction. We worked extremely efficiently with everyone involved bringing something to the group. The proses was made relatively easy through our constant communication with on another.

I feel that the basic technical skills I had before the project were advanced greatly by the exposure to the equipment used, in the studio and on location. If I were to take part in another project I would like the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of other pieces of equipment.

If I were to improve on one aspect of the project it would be the planning of the piece. Although I did help I feel other members of the group took a lead and did much of it themselves. Although it was their right as director/producer, I would have liked the opportunity to contribute more to the group projects.

In comparing our studio project to our peers, I believe ours was of a high quality. The pre recorded location shoot looked professional and the studio shoot was run effectively on the day. When speaking to a representative of the Genesis charity she was extremely pleased with what we had achieved, something I am very proud of.