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.
