As Live - Project Evaluation

The As-Live unit has been, without a doubt, the most challenging, stressful, mentally and physically tiring unit that I've undertaken in my University experience so far, and that I expect to take on for the duration. 

But...

It's also been the most rewarding, affirming and amazing experience too. The buzz of walking out of the Gallery when the show had wrapped was tangible in the space and importantly, shared amongst everybody there. It was not only an opportunity for academic learning, but also deeply personal learning and an opportunity to communicate and connect with others that I hadn't until now.

John Fiske (Fiske, 2011) says this of the allure of Television, 

"...One of the defining characteristics of television is its

'nowness,' the sense of being always 'live' which it constantly

tries to promote. Film presents itself as a record of what has happened, television presents itself as a relay of what is happening."

The beauty of Live is feeling and reacting in the moment and seeing the pieces all come together in front of you. Live Directing felt like composing an orchestra, each process as important as one another, individually these processes don't amount to much, but when you begin combining them, you create something with sensibility and order. I unpack more about the process of Directing in my report.

The one-pager for my pitch

The Pitching and Commissioning process seems like a lifetime ago now, and I'm digging deep into the archives to muster the experience of this in retrospect of the Live show. I enjoyed the process of developing my idea, and though I knew it wasn't feasible, it was a great exercise to consider what- given an essentially unlimited budget- could be achieved. It gave me the freedom to explore my interests and translate them into a format that I ordinarily wouldn't consider.

After the pitches had finished, and a Programme commissioned, I spoke to the Producers about the idea and I was immediately interested in the potential of the idea. At this moment in time, it still seemed like somewhat of a pipe-dream, an "imagine if we had a studio and a budget", but we did, and the prospect of this was an exciting one!

My covering letter

I was unsure at first which roles I'd like to go for and wondered whether I'd lean against my strengths and try to do something entirely different. I saw this unit as an opportunity though to really go for what I wanted to do and because I thought the commission sounded so promising, I decided to put myself forward for the role of Directing. In hindsight, I feel like there's no other role that I could have done than Director and it felt like a natural place for me to be in. I think that it helped improve my interpersonal skills greatly, and even when stress was high, I did my best to stay cool and get the job done. 

It was also, in my view, the most stimulating job in the room; to be constantly switched on, ready for the next thing, was a really engaging, fulfilling task for me. Having a team there to support and promote your vision is a really positive feeling and having everyone pulling in the same direction was great in terms of the group dynamic and getting to know people on a personal level. Lewis was fantastic as a floor manager and was ever-present, patient, and concise in relaying my instructions to others and making things work in a suitable way on the floor, helping to ease any additional stress on me. He rarely, if ever, asked anything but necessary questions, choosing always to be proactive and seek to solve them himself, whilst also informing me of any changes I might need to know about.

"Directing is like running in front of a train. Either you are leading the train down the tracks, or being run over."

One of the most difficult parts of the unit for me was being able to trust others to deliver work on time, and to a standard that I was happy with. As Director, I wasn't in charge of the editorial decisions, but I did want the quality of the work to be aligned with the quality that I thought I could achieve myself during the live broadcast. 

Allowing people to be independent and trusting them to be reliable to complete tasks was difficult and one of the largest stress factors for me throughout the unit. Being Graphics lead meant that I had developed some ideas that I wanted to delegate to others to create. The ideas were met with enthusiasm, but at times, progress was slow, and there were moments when I considered that work might not be delivered at all. I felt powerless at times to make this process speed up and when I was met by each of these hurdles, the solution for (almost) all of these was communicating, people will often not tell you if they haven't understood an instruction, so I made it my job to ask questions and instruct in a way that made the task and desired outcome as clear as possible.

Above, a reference video made for the opening title.

This difficulty did extend to the creation of the set, a part of the project which I found incredibly stressful. The whole process of having the set made felt debilitating because it felt so far beyond our control. As well as interpersonal issues that we encountered with the set team at Rochester, the biggest concern was simply not having a set at all. Both Kat and Emily suggested that we stepped in to offer our help to encourage and promote progress with the set, we went to UCA Rochester and offered our help. This was initially declined, but as questions were asked, opportunities to help opened up that we grabbed with both hands to get this done- going to collect materials, as well as transporting the set to the studio so that we could begin setting it up.

As well as this, I took on the role of making props and set dressings, something that was incredibly time-consuming and added another dimension to my role. I saw this as an opportunity to showcase creativity and take ownership of the set to make it how we wanted it (Within the limited budget and timeframe!). I sanded and sprayed wooden beams, shelves and a menagerie of other items and created poster designs for the walls, as well as the Potty Mouth prop which was an incredibly messy, slightly nightmarish experience altogether. I am glad that I spent the time doing this though, and of the time sacrificed by others to get all of this on set and make it look as good as we possibly could. In some ways, I was sad that I didn't get to see my set design get developed, interpreted and improved as I'd hoped. My initial thought was that I would provide groundwork on which other, better ideas would spring which wasn't the case, but I'm proud of what we collectively achieved when we took initiative, stepped in and put all of our combined energy into achieving a thoroughly good-looking set.

Stages of set-building

Being a small year group made for many difficulties too, as everybody needed to take on multiple roles during practically the entire 'training' part of the unit. luckily, course staff stepped in to save us and gratefully stood in for talent days on end so that we could practise as best as we could. It could be frustrating at times, and highlighted the importance of a 'Team', when everybody had a role that is indispensable, their absence is emphasised.

It was difficult not being able to rehearse with some people not in roles that they'd be doing live until the Monday before TX. Both George (Cam 1), and Joey (Cam 3) were only available for the Monday and Tuesday rehearsals before Live, so it meant them learning the show and their camera positions in a very short space of time. They both threw themselves into it and delivered on their roles, as everyone did. It was a positive, validating experience that people wanted to get involved in our Production given their own stresses and work that they needed to complete themselves and we couldn't have done it without these people stepping in to help us out. Vicki, Heather, Adam, Lily, Kimberley and Josh were all great and immersed themselves in the experience completely.

Prop-making in the garage.

Various Props and set dressings

"Potty Mouth"
A toilet seat, expanding foam, wood filler and spray paint.

George operating Camera 1 during rehearsals

To encapsulate the overall experience of the Live show is difficult, but has easily been the most professionally and personally educational of, I suspect, my University experience as a whole. I've learned more in the last 12 weeks about my own desires and goals for the industry moving forward than I knew previously and have also been offered an opportunity to move forward and explore a professional avenue off the back of the live show, which is incredibly assuring of my ability to work in the industry and make a good impression. 

REFERENCES:

Fiske, J. (2011) Television culture. London: Routledge. 

Utterback, A.H. (2023) Studio Television Production and directing: Concepts, equipment, and procedures. New York, NY: Routledge. 

"Directing is like running in front of a train. Either you are leading the train down the tracks, or being run over."