Final/ Eighth Production Meeting

The final production meeting of the project was mainly just the crew thanking each other for their work and congratulating on our first award. We have entered other festivals and are all awaiting the responses. We also discussed the major exporting problem we are now having with the footage but the editor is doing all she can to fix that so there wasn't too much to say. All in all I have enjoyed working on this project and have learned a lot about new equipment and about working to both speed and quality on a production.

Cinefest Trophy

After entering The Babysitter into the Middlesborough Cinefest we came home with a trophy! We got the best screenplay award.

Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Lights Shoot

This shoot went very well! Despite the small space in which most of the filming took place I managed to light the shots quite well by bouncing the light from the cool light off the ceiling, however because of the space we did have some issues with the boom pole being in shot, It often would be against the ceiling in the top of the shot so had to be moved to below meaning the sound was not as good as it could be. Thankfully this was the only main issue we had and the rest of the shoot went quite well, both indoors and out. We used both the shoulder rig and the tripod for this shoot which provided an interesting shot, namely the one in which Gary's character comes home drunk and I used the shoulder rig to sway and tilt with him, adding to the disorientated effect. There was a few extra shots on another location that had to be taken but I was not present for them.

Professional Opinions

For my Professional Advice, I spoke to Adam Bouabda, a professional in the industry who is a great all rounder and utilises a wide set of skills in different ways in many different roles. He also went into the industry with a student type background and since then has produced a fan feature film.

1. What was your first industry opportunity?

I worked for Shine TV as a production runner on a Sky One production,  I got it completely by chance, some guy i know gave me an email address.  The company was London based so they wanted local runners.  Talk about starting at the bottom. I carried more cases of water than any human should ever have to.

2. Do you think that establishing yourself in the industry is who you know or what you know?

You have to have talent, but contacts are much more important.  There are loads of shite films out there. they got made because people have contacts and no talent.  there are a load of great short films whose directors/writers or producers have never done anything else because they have no contacts.  Me an Jim were talking about this today, we are in dev on our feature, but know a really talented director who is making people showreels at the moment, maybe he is just biding his time, but i could be that he doesn't have the right contacts.  It's the right people you need to know.

3. What would be your first piece of advise for someone who wants to take up a similar role to your own roles?

To be a producer you have to be very confident, you have to also ask for everything you can, no one is gonna give you anything, but if people offer. take them up on it. get to know as many people as you can, again though, it has to be the right people. Don;t get pigeon holed, try everything, I edit for my day job, produce for my friend but also write and direct my own stuff.,  but know when to prioritise them.

Looking at Statistics

These are the results from my survey in chart form

Seventh Production Meeting

In this meeting we discussed that we were as happy as we could be with the Hook Man footage, that the Babysitter edit was well under way and almost done and confirmed that Aren't You Glad You Didn't Turn on the Lights was the final shoot. I am to provide shot lists for it and ensure my lighting plan is done.

Hook Man Shoot

This was such a problematic shoot. Firstly we did not have enough lighting, we took some small LEDs and a cool light with a generator, however the generator for the cool light started beeping so early in the shoot the director made the call to film without it. I then had to light the rest of the shoot with a couple of LED's and the interior car lights which did not work too well and this means I am slightly disappointed in the footage we produced in the end. We also had to relocated mid shoot because of problems with people interrupting the shots and causing disruptions. After moving all the equipment and crew we realized that we had lost the fake blood and had to miss that shot for it to be taken another day. In the end we did get most of the footage that we needed but it was a very chaotic shoot to say the least.

Work Experience

There are a lot of opportunities for experience doing running for a production within the industry which is great as it can give to be recognised however specifically for a camera operator role there are a few major chances for work experience. One being the BBC work experience programme.

This is a particularly good programme as it not only does the obvious and gives you links into one of the most highly respected broadcasting companies to date but the Placement Manager within the programme listens to what you want to gain from it and plans your programme around you rather than everyone just following a standard timetable, this means you will learn more relatable skills and your experience will be the most effect for you personally as it can be.

Although less specific towards camera operating and more about just getting into the TV industry, The Network is an amazing chance to build up broadcasting contacts because of its connection to the Edinburgh international television network festival. It helps new talent connect to those who are already well established in the industry and therefore learn from them to add to their own ideals.

Where to be a camera operator

http://www.danielhaggett.com/blog/151-how-to-become-a-cameraman

This blog of a professional camera man is very interesting to read for anyone aspiring to be a camera operator themselves, I looks at the reasons for becoming a camera operator, as well as both the advantages and disadvantages. This professionals opinions could contribute towards my report, especially the section towards the end where he describes how different the role can be depending on which aspect of the industry you decided to take the role into.

Sixth Production Meeting

From this production meeting I know that I need to produce a shot list for the next production and annotate the storyboards, I will also be looking at getting a portable light of some sort for the shoot as it is outside away from any electrical sources that we could access.

Extra Training

A university degree is a great way to train for the industry and a lot of courses help you find the specialism you fit into, however once you've graduated there is a large variety of courses out there that can help you develop the specialism even further and make you even more qualified to take on one of the many jobs out there.

One example of an institution that provides extra courses is the National Film & Television School. It separates roles out into more specific categories and offers courses providing more insight on that topic rather than a wider one.

The Guild of British Camera Technicians also offer additional courses, again looking into more specific roles but they look more at adding extra skills to already established industry professionals, such as the example of steadicam operations.

The problem with additional courses is of course the funding as both of the establishments and many others do charge for these courses. The GBCT courses in the picture above are all about £1,200.

Networking

When looking into networking I first found BECTUs freelance fair as I have already been looking into what BECTU do as an organisation, however, I wanted to find another event as well as this to see what other opportunities are out there to meet industry professional in film and television. When searching I found a lot of different events for a range of roles and a lot of events in America however the event I found the most interesting and appropriate is the BVE or the Broadcast Video Expo. That has support from so many companies including BECTU as well as AVVID and the BBC etc, which is an amazing opportunity for someone trying to break in as the expo has panels on how the industry is changing and developing to learn from, has professionals speak about new and innovative projects and shows new cameras and equipment, which is specifically good for my role.

Working Rate

For any role including freelance camera operators, BECTU provides a rates card, this can help anyone new into the industry like me, know how much they should be earning. This is a great tool for anyone looking for work as they can calculate how much they should be getting paid for their skill and can ensure that less respectful employers cannot take advantage of someone trying to break through by giving them unfair pay. I will be looking into working rates for my report and this will be a great example to use.

The Babysitter Shoot

The Babysitter shoot went well! We got everything filmed that we needed to in the time we planned, using the slider, track & dolly, tripods and shoulder rig. Filming everything with Mr Borden first so one of our actors could leave was our first good choice as this created more space and made sure the actor wasn't waiting around. The rest of the shoot ran smoothly with Cassie however I do feel that I should have used the shoulder rig less than I did, it was useful in a lot of shots however sometimes I was just using it for static shots. In retrospect I should have asked the director if I could move to a tripod but I did not so I feel some of the shots may be a tad wobblier than they would have been otherwise. One of the most interesting shots in the short was the shot of Cassie on the floor in the kitchen because it was a great chance to use some less conventional lighting, the shot is lit using the lights hidden under the kitchen counters, changing the lights to red added more to the dangerous tones of the section.

Fifth Production Meeting

This was a short production meeting for me as my work from this is simply to carry on doing what I'm doing however we did discuss the Babysitter shoot and after looking at the footage it is obvious some shots need to be retaken, thankfully not too many, mainly just an exterior which is very easily done.

Second Equipment Test

During the second test we looked more at the equipment that we could use, we looked at three main pieces of equipment that were the smoke machine, slider and shoulder rig. The smoke machine test did not go so well unfortunately because the smoke canister was empty and we could not get a replacement. The other two pieces of equipment were more successful however, the slider proved very useful in building tension due to the ability to bring in a slow kind of zoom without risking the jolt of actually zooming. It can also be used track subjects from the side, tracking them more horizontally however we decided the track and dolly would be just as good for this despite it taking up more space. Finally the shoulder rig tests went well, it is an amazing piece of equipment for any non static shots, creating a new fluidity of movement, which we will definitely be using in all of the shorts.

Places to find jobs

There are actually a lot of job websites specific to the needs of film and TV crews. I have been looking at a few to both investigate the people who employ through them and he type of people the employers are searching for.

1. Broadcast Jobs - http://www.broadcastjobs.co.uk/

A well-presented website with sections for production, post production, admin etc. that boasts a wide range of clients including ITV and a range of universities. Most of the jobs that were available however where not in the field I was searching for, at another date this website may have been useful. 

2.Grape Vine Jobs - http://www.grapevinejobs.co.uk/

This website, although less easily navigated, seemed to have a wider range of roles, offering a more specific filter system and also seeming to have more available jobs in general as it is linked to larger more general jobs websites rather than just being free standing.

3. The Guardian - https://jobs.theguardian.com/jobs/tv/#browsing

Although a trusted institute the Guardian website jobs that were listed we very rarely in actual crew jobs, they were mostly for more administrative or even teaching roles in some cases. 

4. The Call Sheet - http://www.thecallsheet.co.uk/

This is most likely the best website on the list for the job role that I am searching for, it advertises actual production crew roles a lot more than administrative and is even support the publishing of a book that gives information about breaking into the industry. 

BECTU

"BECTU is the UK's media and entertainment trade union; sectors covered include broadcasting, film, independent production, theatre and the arts, leisure and digital media."

When looking into working in the industry this is one of the first companies that really stands out above the rest. They cover a wide range of job roles including both camera operators and cinematographers and support them as a union. They look after pay rates, offer additional training and connect employees with employers.
I will be including information about BECTU in my report as I feel like it is a very beneficial service when trying to find employment. 

BECTU is also good for networking with other professionals, especially for freelancers as they have a freelancer fair every year where companies like the BBC host events and panels, this is not just a great way to learn about the industry but is also a great way to meet new people and possible employers. 

Portable Lights

Minus the small LED's that are available I have decided to research some more forms of portable lighting and find out how much they would be to hire or buy. I will be looking mostly at their brightness and battery life.

 To Buy Option:

This is small but a relatively strong light considering its size and lasts 4 hours which is a long enough time to find it useful on set. Its small size also means its a good size to put in a car with the other equipment. An all round good choice considering the price tag. Buying the light also means we can use if if we need to take any shots again at a later date or decide we need it for another part of the project completely.

To Rent Option:

This very small LED is meant to add a nice amount but small amount of light to a shot. Although it is super portable and would be good for our shoot in the sense that it would not over light or add too much of a flood, but could instead be used for precise highlighting, the battery life is too short as 1 hour is no where near enough time for one shoot. Also looking at the prices this is the more expensive option, £20 for the day is more expensive than buying the previous light and any this means any reshoots would be even more pricey.

The third option is to look for a generator to power a larger light we already have access too, this is something I will most likely be doing if I can source a generator inside the university.

Test Shoot Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OAS6Ad13Kk

This is a youtube link to the edited footage from the equipment tests.

Fourth Production Meeting

Despite not being able to use the smoke machine at all the the second equipment test, it went well and everyone is now comfortable with the techniques practiced and the equipment we each need to use. I now can use the slider and shoulder rig and have ides how these two pieces of equipment can be effectively applied to the shorts in appropriate ways. I will need to provide a shot list and annotate storyboards for the first shoot which will be The Babysitter.

Third Production Meeting

From the third production meeting of the project I know that I need to plan for and attend the next equipment rehearsal in which I can learn more about the shoulder rig and the slider, this time we will also be testing the smoke machine and I am looking forward to testing out different coloured lighting effects on the smoke. We will also be doing some test shots from the scripts to see how they can be improved by different types of shots or lighting, meaning we will be more prepared on the days of filming

CV Planning

For my CV I have been looking at all the experiences over the years that have developed me as a person while still at the same time being at least slightly relevant to work or our work industry. Writing a paragraph to myself about each has meant that I am sure that I can recall the experience properly and can list the things I have learned from them, I doubt that I will be using anywhere near all this in my final CV but it has helped me get more positive about my own qualities

Experiences & Employment

National Citizen Service

Over a period of four weeks in the summer of 2013 I spent time developing my team work skills and doing work for charities. As a team we were tasked to raise money for charities doing a range of activates that involved problem solving, a lot of hard work and communication skills. We raises a sum of money in the hundreds, mainly for the charity Small Steps and developed greatly as a team as we had to co-ordinate a coffee morning. In addition to raising money we also helped out at a local farm/ petting zoo, to do this effectively we had to communicate and consider our own strengths and weaknesses within the team and play to them.  

Youth Arts Exhibition 2011

This was a collaborative arts projects between my school and a school for the disabled. The four canvases we produced was displayed in the art gallery in the Sunderland City Library. The experience not only was a fun project for both schools who created new social links but was also a good outlet for creativity. We considered and researched colours and objects associated with the four seasons which was our theme. I learned to not only work in a team with people who have a range of abilities but I also learned to adapt myself to help those who struggle and help them develop their confidence in their skills. Having work that I helped produce in a gallery was also a good experience as it was amazing to see how far work can develop and change before it is finally shown to the world.

Cobweb Orchestra

For their annual final performance in the Sage Gateshead I assisted in the recording of the Cobweb orchestra. Our team of three recorded the performance mainly with a Canon C100 camera but also two other canon cameras and sound recorded and mixed with a Zoom H6 Handheld Recorder. I mainly used the Zoom H6 and adjusted the sound levels during the main show but I also got to use the C100 during the rehearsals to collect an archive of close ups. I not only got to familiarise with new equipment during this experience but also got to experience a very professional environment with a live audience which increased my professional standards.

Live Show

As a part of my degree I was involved in a production team tasked with producing a piece of content that could be live streamed onto an internet platform. To complete the brief with produced a 3 episode (each of a 10 minute length) sitcom based on the human incarnations of the five stages of grief. The production was very difficult to create and the experience was a good learning tool. I developed my leadership skills as I ended up taking charge of motivating and organising the group to ensure that things got done. This encouraged the development of my ability to work under pressure which came both with the tight pre- production schedule and having to floor manage, camera operate and direct all on one project. As a team we had to come with a lot of creative solutions to a lot of issues we had, this helped me further my skills to think on my feet and think outside the box to overcome problems.

Dragons Den Goes Back to School

This was a once in a life time opportunity which me and small team was part of, the team had to produce and present a pitch to a specific brief in the Dragon’s Den. The project first and foremost greatly pushed our business, finance and time management skills as the pitch had to include a calculated business plan with accurate financial predictions and had to be produced in a short amount of time. It also challenged the team’s ability to work together to overcome problems as we encountered so many issues in the creative department along the way but adapted and overcame these hurdles with effective communication and advanced problem solving skills. Our pitching skills also had to blossom in this project as we were pitching in a very intense situation, in front of very experienced business people. Completing the pitch greatly improved my confidence as I made it through this intense experience. During this time I also first-hand experienced being in a studio environment, both in front of and behind the camera line. I experienced being ‘miked up’, being under intense pressure in a timing aspect and watching how the film procedure happened.

Johnston Press

A very large scale project that I participated in during university time, we were commissioned by Johnston Press to create a promotion video of the North East of England to be displayed at the National Media Awards. The project involved a vast amount of planning due to the wide variety of locations that needed to be found and it really tested all of our organisation and time management skills. The tight schedule also increased our efficiency as both individuals and a team. Despite the speed in which this project has to be produced we also had to ensure we controlled the quality of our work to ensure we were still producing to the highest standard as to please a professional client for the first time.  

First Equipment Test

 The first equipment test involved looking into using new equipment but included mostly looking at different lighting techniques that we could play around with and use later on the production. I set up lighting to try and silhouette a figure, looking at how far a person could move in and out of the shadow before it looses effect, this could possibly be used for the killer at some point during production but it isn't an easy effect to produce if the subject of the shot is moving so it will most likely be used in something static. We also looked into how well lit we could make something look only using the small LED's, although it looked well lit enough for close up shots in which the background is almost pitch black, to use it for wider shot such as the car scene Hook Man would be very difficult so we will have to source other larger portable lights or a generator.
During this test we also looked at using coloured lights or gels to create an atmosphere. For our purposes we found blues for a more cool or cold tone and reds to show danger or panic. These could be applied in a variety of places in the shorts which we will look at further into production.

Horror Styles

When looking for tips for filming a horror I found a lot of useful websites containing some tips on how to achieve a good style.

http://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/cinematography-tips-for-horror-filmmakers/

This website had a list of good tips. One of which I have discussed before, coloured gels, this is something I will definitely be using in some form during production as it is so easy yet so effective. Another one of these points I have already thought about using a lot in number two, under exposing, this is good way of creating a lot of shadows and darkness without going too 'under board' with lighting and is a good way to highlight things in a frame such as important objects or characters expressions and movement. For the point of using haze we are considering using a smoke machine on one of the outdoor shots to create a fog effect, however this is something we will have to test the effectiveness of in an equipment test.


http://nofilmschool.com/2013/10/tips-concepts-as-you-make-your-horror-flm

This website recommends using more point of view shots at tense moments within the films to make the audiences more scared, this is because they are put in the place of the character to see what they are seeing and this may cause them to care more for the character or just generally become more scared of whats around them because of the restricted vision.I could use this in our shorts however it is something I will have to discuss with the director as it is a bold choice to make and may not fit into our script as we only once ever see the murder happening.

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/the-20-best-atmospheric-horror-movies-of-all-time/

For further research I have decided to watch a few films from the above list. Looking at the most atmospheric horrors should give me a look into how a horror should be lit and shot and can help me plan lighting arrangements for this project assuming they are relevant to the script. I will be looking at horrors that focus on both indoors and out and will mostly be making notes on the scenes that are set during the night (which will most likely be a lot). I will also especially be looking out for uses of coloured lighting.

Coloured Lighting

Looking back at my visual culture I decided it would be interesting to use colour to my advantage when lighting a scene in one or more of the shorts. The most obvious option for a colour tint inside the horro genre is of course red “Surrounding accompaniments of this colour have always a grave and magnificent effect" (Goethe J, Theory of Colours (BLTC Press 2008)  p. 172) This is exactly what I would need within these shorts. There are senses of dread in many scenes that I feel could be amplified well by a red light. To do this I would only need to get a red gel for the main light or the smaller fill lights depending on how saturated I feel the scene should be.

http://filmmakermagazine.com/95481-watch-red-lighting-in-the-films-of-martin-scorsese/#.VywO5EeLHC8

The above link is a great exmaple of shots from films by Martin Scorsese that use red or red lighting, mostly to show panic or violence which is exactly what I am looking for, these further reinforce my idea to use red lighting somewhere within our project. It would be difficult however to make the red light look digetic so I will have to look into that in the future.

On the contrasting side, we could also use a blue light instead, often used as a calm colour, used in the right way it cold also be used to reflect cold “blue gives us an impression of cold” (Goethe J, Theory of Colours (BLTC Press 2008) p.17). The cold could make the audience feel more uncomfortable or get more of a sense that something bad is going to happen however I would have to be very careful. I could mask the blue as moonlight rather than just a blue light, making it ideal for on of the outdoor scenes.

CV

 A CV must open with a strong statement that sums up the qualities of the person. After looking at a list of keywords and working together with peers I came up with this.

A confident hands- on individual when making practical decisions and overcoming problems with quick thinking and resourcefulness. Handles all production situations with an energetic vibe and is incredibly resilient when it comes to any form of bump in the road on the way to achieving a goal, either technical or creative. Finally, when it comes to a team or cooperative situation it is easy to be supportive of ideas while at the same time being analytical, encouraging a team to adapt and communicate to suit the situation.

Saying that I am hands-on expresses my knowledge of technical equipment while I the same time showing I am willing to take on practical work, this forms a good combination with the resourcefulness as it shows that I can solve problems using my smarts and get solutions that are favourable. The second sentence expresses my determination to reach a goal which is a good thing to show to employers as they will know that you will strive to get your role on a team to be a prosperous one. The final sentence shows that I can work within a team of people effectively which is needed in this industry as most of the work is within a crew or group, however, I also point out that I am analytical and encourage other to adapt, this could communicate that I try to develop as a person and as a team to create a better end product

Intro to Professional Studies

For this module, we will be writing a report, a CV and creating a digital archive.

I plan to write my report on camera work and cinematography, partially focussing more on TV than film, looking into how to get into the industry and the support we have as professionals once inside. I will also be creating a public survey.

Festivals

Dead by Dawn - This festival is purely for horror, it looks at the style and story of a piece as well as if it is different or challenging to the genre. Submissions are free and can be sent in in a multitude of ways including online links or via DVD. Available awards are Best Feature, Best Short, Best Animation and the winner of the Cutting Edge short film competition for debut and emerging film-makers.
Edinburgh Short Film Festival - Is an any genre short film festival which costs £15 to enter. The film must not be longer than 20 minutes including credits and must be submitted as a h264/ mp4 or DVD format to be accepted. Entrants aim for  the rising star award win at the end of the festival.
Freakshow Film Festival -  Another horror based festival this time in Calfornia. Entry is $20 however this is a much more large scale festival than the first horror festival and contains awards such as Jury Award, Best Feature, Best Short, Best Actor and Best Actress

First Production Meeting

Today was the first production meeting of the project currently under the working title 'Urban Legends'.
From my first set goals I will have to practice with the P2s and understand the cameras limits in darkness so I can effectively use it on night shoots. We will also be following this meeting up with an equipment test day to look at both sound equipment and practice with different styles of lighting. It will be a good way to get to crew motivated and will be a good practice for everyone to get used to techinques before filming.

Live 2 role

For my role on my Live 2 production I will be the camera operator and lighting designer for a four episode series of short films. I will have to look at what styles we would like to employ into our production as well as create a production diary.

Examples of Multicam in Shows

Mrs Browns Boys has a Multicam set up for when it is being filmed and you can see this within the show as it is recorded in front of a live audience and we sometimes see the cameras 

Soaps are sometimes live such as Eastenders specials, these are obviously multi cam as there are several different locations going at once, multi can allows it so these locations can be very far apart 

Sitcoms such as friends are also multi cam despite some of the locations being close together, especially in Monica's and Joeys apartment where the rooms are large enough and there is enough different dialog to have multiple cameras switching between different sides of the room and different shots of characters 

Camera Settings

Camera Settings for the show need to be specific on all of the cameras to ensure that the video format will be standard for YouTube or the stream will not be compatible with their software. You can find the standard YouTube formats for both normal uploads and live broadcasts on the google support page.

YouTube Recommended Settings
 https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2853702?hl=en-GB

Live Stream Practice

Just to see how both YouTube and Twitch felt to live stream on, me and chloe decided to try a gaming live stream with over laid video. We mainly streamed Minecraft through a PS4 however YouTube seemed to experience more problems than twitch when it came to setting up the stream. As much as this deters me slightly from recommending YouTube, Twitch is not really an appropriate streaming service for our project as Twitch is mostly gaming content. This may explain why is connected better with my PS4 than YouTube did however on the day we will be using a desktop so this will not be a problem.

We found that it was very difficult to attract viewers due to the sea of other videos that were also live which further reinforces the ideas that we will need to advertise our project on social media and try and give it more reach as even though it is not a gaming stream and is different from most of the usual live streams it will still not be heavily noticed on YouTube itself.

Lighting Research

Harry C. Box (2013). Set Lighting Technicians Handbook. 4th ed. Oxon: Focal Press. 37.

For lighting I plan to frequently refer to this diagram as it will help me plan the spacing between my lights. I will have to over lap lights in their 'Field Area' to keep the light intensity more fluid over the set however I feel like I may find it hard to avoid getting hot spots as the set is small and enclosed. The only way I feel like I can avoid that is to diffuse the lights however I do not feel like diffusing the lights would work as the set needs to be high key and bright as the show is light hearted. One advantage of using the flood lights or cool lights is they will not have this hot spot or will not have it at as much intensity.

Critical Evaluation

For the live show, our worse flaw was that our pre-production was very slow. This may be due to a very low rate of communication between a certain crew member that was in fact meant to be our producer. We began the module barely having production meetings until I began to organise them myself. Because of this slow start it meant that the scripts were slightly more rushed as the ideas were constructed quickly to allow for multiple drafts and both scriptwriters were put under a lot of pressure. Despite this they both normally got us updated and improved scripts on time, although we did have to spend a lot of time on read-throughs. This delay was the first of many that would cause our show to suffer greatly. The second hurdle was found was that through all the many script reads the producer had not began trying to cast any of the roles in the script at all. This meant another crew member had to begin casting for him until he picked up her trail. The late casting meant that not only did the actors have less time to learn the scripts but we had to use one of our fellow course members because of the short notice. Thankfully all the actors we had found were both patient and helpful in their own ways and made time in their lives at short notice to help this production happen. However despite both main and side role actors trying their best to accommodate our needs we had a hard time fitting rehearsals into the short time we had left. The producer showed no signs of organising either technical or blocking rehearsals so again I had to tell him to do it or begin orgainising them myself. Despite all the cast and crews efforts I believe the main reason for most of our production problems were these too little too late rehearsals that we had to resort to. The camera movements were planned by directors but we did not have time to practice the show in its technical aspects and one of the crew members missed a full technical rehearsal days before the show was live. However although we did not have enough rehearsals to practice the show we did have time to practice with all the equipment for our respective roles, this was not done by some of the crew and several of us spent a lot of time telling people to go practice which of course did not happen a lot of the time, I believe this to be the reason that some of the sound did not turn out too well. Through all this as well we of course had to pre-record our second unit footage which became another victim of the late casting as one of our main actresses had an important deadline amidst the chaos, this caused serious delays in our second unit material that effected both second unit crews in drastic ways.We struggled to get locations as because of the uncertainty with dates me and the other producer had to get permissions last minute, thankfully most of my scenes were indoors so I could use both the university and student houses for quick permissions but the other producer had to battle with getting council permissions in short time limits In the end to avoid leaving it too long we filmed our scenes in parts, mainly the therapist scene in which we filmed Barry as the therapist well before we shot Jemma as in anger in this scene, although it gave the editor extra time to build a basic outline for the scene on avid therefore meaning he could get the final edit done faster, we did not anticipate how different the lighting would be and in the end the editor actually had to spent time colour grading to make up for this. The lamp flashback however was filmed well and was not rushed as it was easier to effectively plan. My second unit editor worked very well with the footage he had and had it all done as on time as it could be. While all this was going on we of course had to prepare the set, the set itself was sourced and built quite quickly however because of this quick build the flooring was not quite attached properly and we had a couple of shifts in the carpet during the show. However because of some drastic changes to the set layout very near to the build my job as the lighting designer got a little harder, I had yet to receive a proper floor plan and had to light the set hoping that the furniture and walls would remain in the same place, also a few blown bulbs stopped me from testing if all the lights purposes were achieved even after I had put them all in place. Once all the lights were fixed I discovered I had a dark patch and added a cool light on the side of the set to remove this. I also had to back light our kitchen partition through tissue paper on short notice, thankfully a red head did the trick for that. All the lighting was balanced to the eye during rehearsals in all places apart from a few shadows around the sofas and a shadow on the to of one of the walls, which could not be eliminated due to the furniture all already being in place, making moving the lights a health and safety risk.

During the Live Show it became more apparent what the faults in the lighting were as they stood out more clearly through the cameras than they did to the eye, the shadows were less obvious because of the cameras angles but the cameras setting revealed that there were too very strong light spots on both sides of the set, this could be passed off the being the actual lights in the house but it did cause some problems with shadows on the actors in when they stood in these spots.

For the first episode I was floor managing and I personally feel like I did that role well. All the props and actors were in position well before it was time to go live and we had a good count in despite the PA for this episode barely giving me the information I needed to ensure I did my job right. I was not informed of when we were actually off air properly as later I found out that when I was told we were off air we actually were not. During the show I also had to attempt to signal one of the runners to turn on a cool light which the lighting operator for this episode had neglected to turn on, this did happen however it was in the middle of the episode, meaning that the part of the set that cool light was meant to light was slightly more shadowy than it was meant to be. We also had a sound issue in this episode, because the sound designer had not pre-downloaded the sound effects the effects had to be queued in youtube. This somehow lead to the sound operator on this episode accidentally activating Siri and having that sound play over the audio.
A problem we had with all three episodes was they actually ran short of the time given of 10 minutes. This meant the end section of the show had to improvised and the directors and actors had to fill time. This could have been avoided if rehearsals were earlier so script changes could have been made in reasonable time. However despite this these section went quite well.
The sound problems escalated into episode two when the sound guy played a sound effect in a random place and mixed it wrongly in the place it was meant to be used. Depressions sound levels are also too high in this episode. Episode two also contained the worst transition between 2nd unit and Live footage as the 6 second position change failed and the actors were Live while they are moving, this is simply down to a bad decision to only use a 6 second clip and in any future projects something like this could easily be avoided. In this episode I was directing and I really felt the effects of the lack of rehearsals as the camera operators were often adjusting their cameras when I cut to them or began moving before I cut away, I can take some responsibility for this as I often missed camera directions and they had to move off the camera scripts I gave them but some early in shot movements were not scripted and could have been avoided,
During the shows we also experienced a couple of colour problems where the colour would either become tinted or too vivid, we discovered that this was due to some of the Level 4 students standing on some of the camera cables, an element unfortunately out of our control, in future we could avoid this by marking out all the cables more clearly so people can avoid standing on them.
Episode 3 was were the internet began to fail us and we lost whole sections of the show, this was again out of our control. However other problems in this episode included problems with the complexities of moving furniture off a Live set. We did eventually work it out but these movement were not as great and do break the flow of the show. The final improvised section with 7 deadly sins was not originally meant to include the landlady, this is made obvious by the fact that she has her back to the camera for the whole section which is distracting.
All in all I feel like our Live Show suffered the most due to the last minute nature of most of it, we spent much too long waiting about for things to be organised and needed so many more rehearsals than we got. We needed better communication and people needed to put a lot more time into understanding their roles. However I also feel like the amount of different roles we each had individually made the task harder.