First meeting – In this we were assigned to groups of 4 and told what our chosen round was. We had the TV round so we started brainstorming ideas for questions and possible items to include in our round.
Second meeting – The second meeting we had to organise what was going to be in our round, what questions or strange bits we may want to add. We came up with a list of 20 possible questions to use.
Third meeting – We finalised the questions and chose 4 that we wanted to use, afterwards though realising that it wouldn’t be long enough so we made it up to 6. After this we each went to do our set roles, Artie and Laurie began on the script, Lucy began with the set and I sorted all the graphics, videos and music for our questions. For my job I had to find a picture of the blue power ranger, deal or no deal and Jedward twins off the x factor. The first 2 were simple looking up on google, but for the Jedward the question involved blanking out their faces so I had to think of a way of pixelating them, however I didn’t know how to use Photoshop at the time so I used paint and make a chequered affect that covered their faces. Also I had to find a video of Eva Longoria from desperate housewives so using Kate’s assistance I downloaded the clip from You Tube and cut down the video to the specific part we needed using “Final Cut Pro” on the apple macs. Finally I had to rip the audio from 2 You Tube videos to get the ‘guess the theme tune’ questions.
Fourth meeting – We made sure everyone had sorted what needed to be done during our round and finally agreeing that we had a good round.
Next we split from our round groups and went off into our specific roles. I only did one of my post-production roles jobs though because most of the art directors hardly ever turned up so I got more involved with that role helping the head art director to paint, design and draw parts on. I had to look at the desktop screen of a computer, sketch it and then redraw it onto one of the flats as well as drawing other pieces on other flats. I helped paint the flats and also stayed back to sort out the touch ups needed.
Also I was involved with moving the heavy flats from room to room and had to take the centre flat to be re-cut so that the TV screen behind it would fit in. During all of these we had various practice sessions where I was vision mixer, cameraman, camera assistant and sound operator. During these roles I had to change the shots as the director instructed, get the right camera shots as the director intrsucted, hold the wires so that the cameraman I was assisting didn’t fall over or have obstacles in his way and make sure the studio could here what VT insert sounded like as well as making sure the DVD sound levels didn’t distort.
Wednesday 16 December 2009
Visual and audio signal flow
When mixing audio into a sound desk there is always a Line Level and a mic level, the line level is much stronger whereas mic level is recorded from a microphone. The line and mic levels come from different sources. First the Line level will come from any sound source that you want on your live footage, for example a clip of a song for the contestants to guess what it is. Then the Mic level is received from the S.T.O.B box, which is then connected to a mic to get the live audio from the participants. Both of these audio types are sent to the sound desk in analogue.The CD player can convert the analogue signal to digital using its built-in digital to analogue converter (D.A.C). Then the audio is put through the mixing desk making sure that you don’t let the sound levels go over the red bar on the VU meter, finally recorded on a HDD in digital. This means that if you duplicate the audio the quality won’t lower. And the visual side; in our studio we are able to have up to five cameras, which are sent to the stob box, out the other side and into the vision mixer. This is then overlooked by the director who tells the vision mixer which shot is supposed to be live. Finally joining the mixed audio when being recorded in to the HDD.
Tuesday 15 December 2009
Pre-production roles
In pre-production I was assigned as post-production editor for our groups round. This job included sorting out VT inserts that were to be played in our round during the live show. Our round was the TV round so after we had brainstormed about 20 questions we cut them down to 6 of the best then I found the graphics, videos or music to go with each question by getting the images off Google, downloading the MP3’s and getting the videos needed off YouTube. My role also required me to contribute to the opening/closing sequences of the show, but due to art directors not turning up and being fairly skilled at art I was involved more with the creating and designing of the set. In this role I gave my thoughts to how the set should look, I helped paint the set and also drew some of the designs onto the flats. As well as this due to people either being away or not contributing me and Laurie had to get boards re-cut so that it would fit the design specification of the head art director. During rehearsals and early practices I was a cameraman, camera assistant, vision mixer, sound operator and audience member.
Light terminology
Soft Light/Fill Light
These lights take little energy to power and have barn doors which are flaps on the lights which can be closed.
Small Spot Light
These lights take a lot of energy to power. Also you can adjust the concentration of the light.
Flood Light
These lights are used to create main lighting in a set; they cannot really be used for specific spots of lighting.
Dimmer Pack
This equipment gives everything it powers the correct amount of power.
Lighting Panel
This controls lighting for each separate light, it has many panels that control each light or a master switch that can turn off all lights.
Tally Light
The Tally Light is a small red light on a camera to show whether the camera is online or not.
Stob Box
This connects cameras and microphones through to the vision mixing panel and audio desk, which saves having loads of wires around the room.
These lights take little energy to power and have barn doors which are flaps on the lights which can be closed.
Small Spot Light
These lights take a lot of energy to power. Also you can adjust the concentration of the light.
Flood Light
These lights are used to create main lighting in a set; they cannot really be used for specific spots of lighting.
Dimmer Pack
This equipment gives everything it powers the correct amount of power.
Lighting Panel
This controls lighting for each separate light, it has many panels that control each light or a master switch that can turn off all lights.
Tally Light
The Tally Light is a small red light on a camera to show whether the camera is online or not.
Stob Box
This connects cameras and microphones through to the vision mixing panel and audio desk, which saves having loads of wires around the room.
Production design
Production Design
The Production Design relates to designing, creating and building the set. This was the job of the Art Directors, during the process you have to design a practical but also good looking set that will be aesthetically pleasing on camera and not overly complex to create as we had a small budget. First you come up with a basic idea, create concept art and have a rough idea of how you want your set to look. Included in your basic design you get a tonal palette, this is the colour scheme of the show as colours can reflect many different things, such as browns, oranges and yellows can make a scene seem very warm whereas greys, blues and dull colours make it appear very cold. You also have to consider distraction from the talent; if you make the set very overpowering it can distract the viewer so instead of watching the show they are more drawn to the backdrop. After the design you have to consider the space in which you have to build the set. So after you have designed you have to measure out the space; finally leaving you to build the set.
The Production Design relates to designing, creating and building the set. This was the job of the Art Directors, during the process you have to design a practical but also good looking set that will be aesthetically pleasing on camera and not overly complex to create as we had a small budget. First you come up with a basic idea, create concept art and have a rough idea of how you want your set to look. Included in your basic design you get a tonal palette, this is the colour scheme of the show as colours can reflect many different things, such as browns, oranges and yellows can make a scene seem very warm whereas greys, blues and dull colours make it appear very cold. You also have to consider distraction from the talent; if you make the set very overpowering it can distract the viewer so instead of watching the show they are more drawn to the backdrop. After the design you have to consider the space in which you have to build the set. So after you have designed you have to measure out the space; finally leaving you to build the set.
Camera operation
Camera Pedestal
A camera pedestal is a tripod with wheels which the camera and all its wires are connected to for stability.
Tally Light
The Tally Light is a red light on the camera. It is usually located just above the lens and indicates that the camera is live. Shots should not be changed when your camera is online.
Crab left/right
To move the camera left or right.
Track forward/back
To move the camera forward or backward.
Tilt up/down
To aim the camera’s view up or down.
Pan left/right
To aim the camera’s view left or right.
Zoom in/out
To zoom the camera’s view in or out.
Exposure control
Bright or dull.
Focus Control
Sharp or soft.
A camera pedestal is a tripod with wheels which the camera and all its wires are connected to for stability.
Tally Light
The Tally Light is a red light on the camera. It is usually located just above the lens and indicates that the camera is live. Shots should not be changed when your camera is online.
Crab left/right
To move the camera left or right.
Track forward/back
To move the camera forward or backward.
Tilt up/down
To aim the camera’s view up or down.
Pan left/right
To aim the camera’s view left or right.
Zoom in/out
To zoom the camera’s view in or out.
Exposure control
Bright or dull.
Focus Control
Sharp or soft.
Studio crew roles
Vision mixer
The job of the vision mixer is to use the VX panel to change from shot to shot on the main viewer. For example whilst recording a multi-cam production with four cameras, if the Director says “camera 1” next the vision mixer will get ready and when the call “cam1 cut” is made they will press the button for camera 1 and that will be what is recorded.
Floor Manager
The Floor Manager directs the studio as the Director tells them, they oversee everything and makes sure that everyone is carrying out their task as quickly as the job requires and to make sure everyone follows instructions.
Assistant Floor Manager
Assists the Floor Manager.
Cameraman/Camera Assistant
The Cameraman films what the Director instructs him to film or if needed ad-lib to obtain a good quality shot. The Camera Assistant is there to make sure the Cameraman has no obstacles in his way of filming.
Talent
Talent are the people in front of the camera doing whatever they are directed to do.
Director
Director is the Head of the Production; he oversees everything to ensure all is working and looking good and guides everyone to achieve his visions of the final product.
Sound Operators
Controls the audio mixer and makes sure all audio is correct.
Producer
Is in charge of the content of the production.
The job of the vision mixer is to use the VX panel to change from shot to shot on the main viewer. For example whilst recording a multi-cam production with four cameras, if the Director says “camera 1” next the vision mixer will get ready and when the call “cam1 cut” is made they will press the button for camera 1 and that will be what is recorded.
Floor Manager
The Floor Manager directs the studio as the Director tells them, they oversee everything and makes sure that everyone is carrying out their task as quickly as the job requires and to make sure everyone follows instructions.
Assistant Floor Manager
Assists the Floor Manager.
Cameraman/Camera Assistant
The Cameraman films what the Director instructs him to film or if needed ad-lib to obtain a good quality shot. The Camera Assistant is there to make sure the Cameraman has no obstacles in his way of filming.
Talent
Talent are the people in front of the camera doing whatever they are directed to do.
Director
Director is the Head of the Production; he oversees everything to ensure all is working and looking good and guides everyone to achieve his visions of the final product.
Sound Operators
Controls the audio mixer and makes sure all audio is correct.
Producer
Is in charge of the content of the production.
Health and safety
This section is about health and safety in the locations where we will be shooting our multi-camera production; the TV Studio in College. When talking about health and safety there are three main items to look at when dealing with a potential health risk; Hazard – Risk – Action. ‘Hazard’ is possible danger, for example the set’s flats falling down; this could be a hazard because if it fell then it could damage the set or more importantly seriously injure someone. ‘Risk’ is how likely the hazard is of occurring; either low, medium or high; in this example it is a fairly high risk as if the flats are not securely erected they can easily fall down. Finally ‘action’; what you would do to prevent this from happening, and in this case it would be ensuring each flat is securely erected.
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