After yesterday’s session going reasonably well, I went into today’s session full of confidence and enthusiasm that we would complete all the filming for our production. We were scheduled to be in the television 2-4pm. Although the group before us were scheduled to finish at 1pm and there was no group after us, meaning we could stay in there until 5pm. This gave us 4 hours to complete our production, what could go wrong?
We arranged at the group meeting to meet in the lobby for 11:30am, again allowing us extra time for me to confront the group of today’s agenda and for us to be fully prepared to enter the studio for 1pm and then the schedule would commence. Although I knew we could not have the contestants with us until 2pm, I arranged the shooting schedule the night before in which I wanted to present the group with in the morning.
11:30am – Group meeting
12:15pm – All Equipment taken out of loan shop ready for studio entry
12:30 – 1pm – Lunch
1pm – Enter studio, set up set and equipment
1:30pm – Record cameramen cameos
2pm – Record all studio footage with contestants
3pm – Record all Gallery material
3:30pm – Record opening scene
3:45pm – Finish Recording and pack away
4pm – Finish
To me this was a realistic and achievable schedule. I issued the group enough time to set up the studio (always takes longer to set up) and a healthy lunch break duration with also acceptable timings to shoot each scene.
However the problems started immediately for myself. As I arrived into the building at 11:25am, I was met by Tristan James who complained to me about our set being in the studio over night and causing issues for their and the other group. I accepted the reasons in why he was angry, it was our fault but more importantly it was the set designers fault. I did not pack away the studio last night, I am not the caretaker for the group, I am the director.
Instead I was recording the monologue with Jess and uploading photos of yesterdays session and left the others to take down the set so we could be out on time. So the day started badly and then got worst when I found out the current group in the studio who were scheduled to finish at 1pm were delayed due to a fire alarm going off, causing a 45-minute delay.
This delay then stretched to an hour, which was very frustrating and aggravating considering I had planned our schedule to start over 1 hour go. But issues like this happen and so I directed the group for the meeting at 11:30am. We discussed the current situation but I wanted to label to them that it will not affect us and that we can still complete the recordings. Of course this was hard to believe by some members of group and the optimism was running thin, but it was still running.
Instead I expressed that the plan would go ahead and that we would just extend the lunch break and allow the group to do what they please, but at 2pm we must be ready to enter the studio with instant pursuit.
The meeting itself went very well, I addressed the group of today’s plan and we went through the elements that we still needed to complete outside of studio recordings. This included web site work and blogging. We discussed that we needed photographs, video diaries and designs to be given to the web designers in order for them to complete the site and that if we can upload all footage to the facebook for individual logging purposes.
The photos have come out very well. I wanted the group to manipulate their character or their role into their portrait for their character portfolio for the web site. This will be where the audience can view certain characters history and biographies.
2pm approached and we were queuing up waiting to into the studio. Then at last, we were granted the all clear and I immediately insisted what needs doing however I was sure the group knew anyway. By half 2 we were all set up, the cameras were ready and the camera men were just going over their lines one last time. The reason I opted to shoot this scene first was because one of the contestants was not present, so instead of waiting around, I felt this scene could be filmed. However as soon as we started to film, she showed up which I think confused Karen on why we was not using contestants, it was because she was not present when we started and I wanted no time wasted.
This scene in particular did not take long to shoot, but it was difficult because I had to be in the gallery in the background as it was being filmed. Making me unaware on how it looked but I knew how it sounded as I listened through the talkback. After take 5, I think we got a decent enough take but I still wasn’t sure if it was exactly what I wanted. However, time was not with us on in this session so I discussed it with Jess and we felt we should move on and record the studio segments.
What was frustrating in filming this genre of show was that cameras had to be constantly set up and re-focused in order to get the multiple perspectives in which our show entitles. In total we used 5 DV tapes for the whole session. This included 1 tape for the 3 television cameras, 2 in additional cameras and then 2 extra tapes recording extra footage. It was a very complicated procedure but I felt considering this was actually our first session with a full gallery, set and contestants that it went rather well considering.
I was very impressed with the presenter’s performance compared to last week. Last week they were weak and unprepared and I think they knew that when we were rehearsing. This week however they were much stronger. They came prepared. They learned their lines and the script. Although they are not natural born actors, I was very grateful for their efforts over the past week in improving their camera performance. It defiantly payed off and was very clear that they had put in far more effort to the production this week.
Shooting the show was always expected to be the longest segment in terms of recording. Most of the script was set in the studio and the presenters could not hold their script like we could in the gallery and manipulate like we were holding the script from the show in which were recording. It got stressful a couple of times but this was expected as this was ‘filming day’. The contestants were great and we couldn’t of asked for better people to act as these characters for our performance. Although I was running around trying to make everything run perfect, I feel I did not thank the contestants enough for their contribution, I was truly grateful for their efforts and understanding.
The time approached 4pm and we had just finished shooting the studio segments, leaving the gallery elements still untouched. I think we completed these by 4:15pm. This was because we could use the script and disguise it as the shows script, meaning as long as we knew the lines roughly, we could act our way through and use the script to queue ourselves. A much simpler procedure. As was recording the opening scene with Jess. This took 15 minutes due to people walking past down the corridor but Jess’s performance was pristine and while we recorded this, the rest of the group packed away the studio. Meaning we were finished 5pm. Which looked very unlikely this morning but through individual contribution and team work efforts we achieved the agenda and completed our production. Leaving now for just postproduction to take place. Which with 5 DV tapes of footage, was going to be long effort, but however I was very much looking forward to the task and producing the finished output.
When I returned home late that evening, I opened my emails to finds Karens feedback. I was very pleased that she witnessed the efforts in making our show come together and fit the theme – which seemed to be a problem for the other groups. I did pick up on the contestants treatment however which after looking back, we should of hospitalised them a lot better, I instantly got in touch with them to apologise. However Karen mentioned that today’s session was the most stressful she had seen us perform. I agree with this but I think this was largely because of the sessions pressure to complete recordings. Which may have been to unrealistic but I would like to thank the group efforts for this session, I thought everyone was superb and my role was truly tested in this session. It was very difficult at time for me to direct as I could not always been visual at the scene to construct, but I think it worked and the group understood my intentions for the piece that helped a great deal. It really was a day that pushed my director boundaries, but I thought I performed well. I might ive seemed stressed at a few points but I recovered well and tried to set the best example to the others as I could. Resulting in a successful day of filming
Waiting to enter the studio
Setting up the studio
The Contestants
Production Team Functioning
