Production Paperwork

 

A still taken from my sizzle reel

Prior to the commissioned pitch, we all had to create a pitch of our own that showcased our idea to a panel. For this pitch, I made multiple videos and assets, including a website, for the panel to review.

The sizzle reel was my biggest accomplishment of the pitch, and I was really pleased with the outcome I achieved. It really pushed my technical knowledge, as well as my imagination in translating an idea into something short, palatable and that grabbed the viewers' attention. When I was creating the trailer, everything felt like it fell into place, with each new addition, came a contrasting idea which bolstered what I already had and the whole thing just felt like it worked harmoniously. 

You can view the sizzle reel here.

You can view the website here.

The one-pager for my pitch

A Social Media asset that I created for casting purposes.

My Production Paperwork for this unit was incredibly varied, as it encapsulated the responsibilities of multiple roles and the demands determined by them. From leading the graphics team and creating a Style Bible for the show to helping refine scripts and putting out casting calls and communicating with agents.  

Graphic design Assets

Throughout the unit, I created many Graphic Design assets including posts for social media, posters for set-dressing, the set design, the illustrated and animated stings and a full, 22-page Style Bible. Overall, I created 87 individual assets (Many of which were not used!) and spent in excess of 40 hours creating all the visual components for the show- the ice cubes for the 'Hot or Not' sting was an accumulated 5 hours alone for a 5-second sting.

Poster designs for set dressing.

Style Bible

The Style Bible was made to encapsulate my Directorial vision and the aesthetic of the show and to guide anyone involved in the creation of graphic elements including Lower Thirds, Logo design and Credits.

You can view the full Style Bible here.

Set Design

Working alongside the group, I drafted this idea to send over to the Set Design team at Rochester as a reference.

It was important that the colour palette was consistent and that we conveyed the tone of the show within it. We wanted a punchy, girly aesthetic and a palette that was tonally harmonious. The end product didn't venture too far from the original design, and all changes were massive improvements to the original design, helping to add depth and interest to the set. 

Communication with the Set Design team was difficult at times, and posed many problems. Fortunately, though, the TVP Crew, as well as the academic team really got behind the project to do what we could to make it look great in a really short time frame.

The submitted draft for our Set.

Draft drawing for Potty Mouth prop

Casting

After a string of unsuccessful Mandy ads, we took to Spotlight to reach out to Performers for various roles. Using Spotlight meant that we could narrow our search down considerably and filter specific applicants who fit the description of the roles we wanted to fill. I reached out to almost 50 different people and we undertook many different auditions for various roles. Reaching out to people was incredibly time-consuming as they all had various agents to approach and inevitably, respond to.

Out of our cast, both Male Performers were found on Spotlight. During each audition, we completed feedback forms that covered the persons location, availability, experience and our own personal thoughts on their audition. You can see this here.

It was also important to be open-minded when searching for, and auditioning Performers. I had originally approached John (Who was ultimately cast as one of our presenters) based on his physical attributes, through Spotlight. After talking to John in the first few moments though, it seemed that he'd be a perfect fit for the Presenter role instead, and we played through "Hot or Not". John was great, he was funny, quick off the mark and rude (in the best possible way!) and ended up being a really valuable asset to bring to the show and genuinely helped to make the show feel professional and appropriately cast.

A handful of performers for the role of 'Billy the Bouncer'

A handful of performers for the Female Presenter role.

Our Audition Feedback form

DIRECTING 

I worked closely with the Producers to make changes to the script in order to try and best enhance the show. We needed certain allowances between segments for Camera and Cast repo's and Props to be added and removed. It was also important that segments were clearly highlighted on introduction to the segment, and upon leaving them.

Our script ended up being really comprehensive, and because of this, my job as Director much easier to follow. I would go through my script on each run-through, highlighting essential calls at key moments.

You can see a copy of our script here.

Here's a diagram of our final camera positions for each segment. Each camera had three positions for the live show, 2 Cameras were cross-shooting each presenter, and a third Camera (3) on a track offered a wide of each section of the set.