Workshops (As Live)

Our Workshops during this unit have been not only productive but also absolutely essential to the success of the unit as a whole. Having various industry professionals visit during the unit allowed us a comprehensive understanding of the responsibilities, expectations and technicalities of working in a Live studio setting. 

Introduction to equipment

We were introduced to the new equipment in the base room, and were given an exercise to begin to familiarise ourselves with it. We had a small set-up with 2 x Blackmagic Ursa Broadcast G2 equipped with top-mounted Studio Viewfinders on tripods and a third roaming, shoulder-mounted camera. All cameras were connected via fibre cables to a studio fibre converter and then vision-mixed on a Blackmagic mixer with the monitor displaying all 3 channel outputs. 

We initially became familiar- in a very rudimentary, relaxed way- with the process of cutting and calling shots while filming scenarios among ourselves, getting to grips with some basic principles of coverage and the nature of live performance and staying with the action. (Singleton-Turner, 2011)

The Baseroom set-up where it all began.

The Gallery

We were introduced to the gallery early on in the unit and practised rehearsing among ourselves, rotating in roles to get to grips with the different expectations and responsibilities of each. I enjoyed vision mixing, but I did feel most comfortable in the role of Director, I knew that it would be a lot to take on, but I also knew that I wouldn't have felt as though I'd really taken on a challenge, or capitalised on the opportunity if I didn't Direct for this unit. 

The toughest part about directing in the gallery was becoming accustomed to a whole new range of terminology that up until now, I was completely unaware of. Luckily, we had Del Brown on board to help us out. Del helped me right from the basics, to helping to introduce new Directorial ideas (Two-way box), Storyboarding AITA and the language that came with the introduction of them when Directing.

Del was great because he pulled you up on failures, that might sound scary to some, but every failure we were pulled up on meant that we found the solution thereafter; it was better to get it wrong a million times before the live show and know what to do in these unexpected situations. He also celebrated our successes after every run-through and I think that without him, the show would have been far less refined. Having the ability to work with somebody who is currently working in the industry was great too, as it gave us realistic expectations as to how the industry operates outside of the educational setting. 

Watching Del direct also expanded my view of what was possible on Live broadcast and how experience greatly improves practice, it made me feel assured that this would be a role that I believed I could do, with each new venture becoming more confident in my ability to succeed.

Emily operating grams

SOUND

The Sound workshop was interesting because I'd never taken any time to become acquainted with film sound before my Fiction Adaptation unit and after that, I felt as though I had a deeper appreciation for it. Kevin Price came in to have a discussion about sound and to familiarise us with the equipment in the gallery, Kevin was engaging and spoke about sound in a way that made it interesting and fought the corner for how essential sound really is in any production. Seeing the sound equipment in the Gallery was really interesting, and seeing Kevin navigate around this made it all seem a lot more practical and functional than you might think upon the daunting first appearance. Sound was so important in Let's Talk Sh*t because of certain sound cues which contextualised elements of the show (Crook, 2012). Sound was absolutely essential to the viewing experience and making sense of the show, it acted to compliment visual components and greatly enhance certain segments (The AITA section was particularly bolstered by the sound that played underneath).

SCRIPT WRITING & SUPERVISION

Having Sarah Newton on board to help us with the timing of the show and understanding the initial complexity and confusion of a Live studio script was extremely helpful. Looking at the script for the first time, the whole thing appeared incoherent, but as we sat and broke it down a line at a time, it began to look more familiar. 

The studio script, after many times rehearsing, actually proved to be relatively easy to follow, despite first appearances and I enjoyed making changes and adaptations to the script as it developed alongside the Producer. Being able to make sense of a show as it's laid in front of you makes it easier to see the show holistically and make amendments and improvements. This was especially helpful when considering Directorial dilemmas such as allowing time for Camera and Talent Repo's, looking through the script and finding ways to 'buy time', while also keeping the show flowing, as well as visually interesting was a positive challenge and one that I enjoyed.

I was also pleased that during rehearsals, we never went beyond 30 seconds over, or under, the running time which I thought was a good sign that our show was well balanced in terms of the allotted time for each section and when it came to Live, we finished dead on time which is a testament to all involved and something that we wouldn't likely have been able to do without the intervention of Sarah and her undeniable influence on Emily and her many stopwatches.

REFERENCES

Crook, T. (2012) The sound handbook. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 

“…we are still faced with the question of what the sound signifies, what it is that is making the sound. Thus sounds such as the ringing of a door-bell or the grating of a key in a lock are indexical in signifying someone's presence.”

Singleton-Turner, R. (2011) Cue and cut: A practical approach to working in multi-camers studios. Manchester Univ Press. 

"Multi-camera studios are expensive to set up and to crew, but they can turn out a great deal of material in one day. This just takes good planning and clear thinking. A good grasp of what works in a multi-camera studio is also, in my experience, a brilliant foundation for working with a single camera. You can see options and cutting points laid out before you as you go!"