For this assignment we had to do a diary, but because i forgot i won’t be able to say what I did every day but i’ll put it down as weeks:
1st week
We got the assignment for the multi-cam production; we got put into tiny groups and decided what roles we’d have:
My group was me, Declan, Jo and Josh. We decided we’d take care of the celebrity round. For our round we decided to make boxes appear on the screen and each team would have to pick a number and half of the boxes would have pictures of us dressed up as something and the other half would have questions.
We decided what roles each one of us would have on the production:
- Jo got the content person meaning she’d make sure we had our questions and the answers were right and that everything happened like we wanted it.
- Declan got the set, he was in charge to help building the set, come up with ideas and stuff like that.
- Josh got the editing which meant helping out making the VTs or the opening titles and he also was supposed to make our boxes for the questions.
- My job was helping around with what was needed, and stuff like that. So for the first two weeks i helped Jo doing her stuff.
On the first Wednesday we got a lot of theory on stuff from peter talking about the roles in a show and how some things worked. It was cool and the first practical stuff we did was using a camera, directing the person on camera, we learned about the vision mixing table, the sound, DVD, and lighting.
The next day we tried to come up with titles for our show but that didn’t go well at first.
2nd Week
On the second week we had to continue with whatever we were doing, I helped Jo with the content in our round. Then we decided that we wouldn’t have the boxes and instead we’d just get 4 questions to each team. We took pictures of us as celebrities: me as Amy Winehouse, Jo as Lady gaga, Josh as Jack Sparrow and we bought Mr Potato head to take a picture of it.
And then we had a question about each celebrity that we were representing. And this is how our round got decided. We actually took the pictures on this week too.
On Peter’s lesson for this week we had to bring 10 question about whatever we learnt about the week before and this was so we could have people sitting and we’d ask questions and a the rest of us would have a job as camera, vision mixing, sound or something else. On this week i got to be vision mixer and i also just sat on the side not doing much, just helping out with what was needed.
We also came up with the name and we decided on MEDIA CIRCUS. And we started painting boards in magnolia to give it a 1st coat so we could start putting our ideas into it.
3rd week
On the third week we kept painting, well i and the rest of people that were supposed to pain painted more, the rest of the magnolia we needed and watched the paint dry.
The rest of the people did what they had to do: VTs for their round, the DVD for the show with all the vts and the credits we needed.
On this peter lesson we kept practicing with the cameras but this time we had a table and we used Group Bs stuff to make it easier for us to prepare for our show.
4th week
We nhad nearly finished our set, our script wasn’t finished so we couldn’t quite use it to practice, so we kest going with group B’s stuff.
Here i had the role of camera person which was pretty cool, and i had to be a contestant so other people could practice. It was quite fun to see from a contestant point of view everyone working quite hard so we could get this done.
5th week
This was the last week, the set was finished, although we had trouble with paint we did it on time, our scripts were finished so we practiced with them to make it easier.
Everything got done quite fast and we had lots of practice during the weeks that went by so I was quite positive.
Every Wednesday we had a theory session in the morning so we learnt about everything and then practices and that’s why we had the best show(in my opinion) and because the teachers knew what had gone wrong before it made it easier for us to do this show.
I had lots of fun for the past few weeks learning everything needed to create a quiz show, how everything worked and as we worked in a team helped us to get to know each other quite well.
The show went well, and i think everyone was pleased with it.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Analysis
For this assignment we had to watch and analyse two live TV shows and for this i picked two live shows: 8 out of 10 cats; Jeremy Kyle show.
I picked these two because i enjoy them, also because we’re supposed to analyse a quiz show and another live show. I thought these two were a good choice because 8 out of 10 cats is funny and it’s like what we’re doing and easy to analyse. I picked Jeremy Kyle show because i thought it would be easy to analyse.
8 out of 10 cats:
This starts with vt’s that show percentages, famous people they do this to show what the show is about. Statistics, percentages and stuff like that. It’s also about news and people have to guess what’s been talked the most for the past week. So the opening credits show what the show is about and even the title says so.
Then we see a wide shot of the studio and the teams are sitting they are presented and then host comes in, he comes from the audience and then he stands talks they cut it to a medium close up and only then he sits down and starts the game.
He talks to the contestants and we see medium close ups of each team.
From watching about 10 minutes of the show i thought that they are using six different cameras:
- 2 for team A
- 2 for team B
- 1 for the host
- 1 for the wide shot
This is not just from watching but it’s how most of the quiz shows are done so it’s easy to pick up by watching it anyway.
The teams have the microphones on their eye line, meaning they have the microphone clipped on the side they are most likely to be looking at during the show. I thought the host was meant to have it in the middle but actually he has his microphone on the left side from a camera point of view.
As the shows goes on and it sounds a bit scripted most of what the host says, the camera shots go from team to team mostly using three shots of the whole team, when saying the scores the teams appear in order too. I’d think most of what the contestants say is ad lib so the director has to change cameras as it goes, mostly he anticipates what’s going to happen for an easier job.
On this show there are inserts that appear on the screen in the studio and they also appear on telly for the audience at home to see it better and see what goes on. Each team has an buzzer and they buzz in to say the answer.
By watching this programme i can see how important things like the inserts, the wide shots (which are used to show people at home the whole set and everything that’s going on), the way the script is done has to match everything so there’s continuity. For example the host would make jokes about some news or statistics that were being read.
The lighting on this show is practically one light to the host then one or two for each team. The backlight is set quite low so the people look more interesting than the set and that’s what the quiz shows are about the guests and their reaction that’s why the majority of the shots are shots with the whole team or individual medium close ups; so we see the reaction of each individual of if they lost/won we see their reaction as a team.
Mostly the host is there to present the show, guide the contestants through each round and tell the scores they are the voice people have to listen to. They’re there to make sure that everything goes well rather than make the show about them.
This is how the studio for the quiz show looks:
Overall, I think this show is basically what we are preparing, and I’m glad that they are quite alike it proves that we can be very professional and how much our skills will improve. I like that we’re doing our script according to the theme just like we can see on 8 out of 10 cats. The Show is very well directed, even if there are bloopers that get taken out you can see that everything that’s going on is controlled, each shot of each team is matched so when looking at the TV we see continuity of the shots and the way is filmed. For example if we see an over the shoulder shot of team A it’s most likely to see one on team B as well that matches one another.
Jeremy Kyle show
This a live show that’s based on people’s lives, people go there to talk about their problems and luckily they will get help from the host as they need.
This show hasn’t got teams like a quiz show, here the host stands up walking around the set, while the guests go and sit on the set talking to the host.
This isn’t scripted, they talk about their lives and it’s more ad lib than anything else. There are about 6 cameras that i could count:
- 4 – 2 on each side of the set to get shots of the guests in each side.
- 1 on top(pointing from the set to the audience) to get one of the host
- 1 for a wide shot of everyone (including audience) at the back of the studio.
These cameras are on tripods but every now and then i think the camera men hold the camera to get better shots of people of if they need to film the audience, the host sometimes talks to someone sitting so they need to move to see it.
The shots used are medium close ups of guests, two/three shots if needed. Mostly to capture their emotions, this is because the show is about their lives and when something bad is found about someone people like to see people’s reaction, sometimes they use shots just for the audience to see other people’s reaction too.
They all have Omni-microphones clipped on them in the middle because they look at both sides and at the host who is in front of them, so by having the microphones in the middle of their tops it’s easier to catch all of what they say, and to make sure no other noise is captures (e.g. people breathing, any jewellery, hair hitting the microphone) they are clipped quite far down.
The audience has microphones to be able to listen to them clapping and cheering or ‘booing’’.
In shows like this normally when the host talks to the audience they use a boom to catch their voice, sometimes they have a microphone on their hands t hand to whoever wants to talk, but on Jeremy Kyle the people from the audience that talk are normally people that are related to the guests and have a say on whatever is going on so they a have a clip on mic most of the time.
As this is a show where people don’t quite have turns to talk, sometimes it ends up with two or three people talking at the same time, so the master fader should be faded down and when this happens the host has to calm people down or make them shut up so it’s easier to know what’s going on.
The lighting on the host on this show I’m not sure how it goes because he walks all over the place so they can’t just have the lights up and running on the same place, i think they might have just the studio lit in a way that he can walk and always be seen properly.
The guests have lights pointing at them and we see this in a few of the shots, they have spot lights and fill lights pointing at both sides of the set to make sure everyone is lit properly.
The audience is also lit but not as much as the host and guests.
The host in a programme like this has to listen to people, talk to them ask questions about what they want to do, offer them help (e.g. counselling, DNA tests, lie detector tests.) But most of all keep the situation controlled so there’s no need for security and even so sometimes they have to go on the show to stop abusive people.
The director on this show has to be ready for anything that happen so he can pick the right camera at the right time, unlike a quiz show it’s impossible to know who’s going to talk next, or who’s going to do something. So it’s much more difficult to anticipate what’s happening on this show.
Although we’re doing a quiz show i think it was good to analyse Jeremy Kyle show because of the techniques used and how things are filmed, the lighting and other aspects of it. It shows that this is actually quite a difficult show to make and doing a quiz show might be just as hard but at least we know when something is going to happen and it’s easier for people to be prepared rather than talking and never knowing what’s going to happen next.
I picked these two because i enjoy them, also because we’re supposed to analyse a quiz show and another live show. I thought these two were a good choice because 8 out of 10 cats is funny and it’s like what we’re doing and easy to analyse. I picked Jeremy Kyle show because i thought it would be easy to analyse.
8 out of 10 cats:
This starts with vt’s that show percentages, famous people they do this to show what the show is about. Statistics, percentages and stuff like that. It’s also about news and people have to guess what’s been talked the most for the past week. So the opening credits show what the show is about and even the title says so.
Then we see a wide shot of the studio and the teams are sitting they are presented and then host comes in, he comes from the audience and then he stands talks they cut it to a medium close up and only then he sits down and starts the game.
He talks to the contestants and we see medium close ups of each team.
From watching about 10 minutes of the show i thought that they are using six different cameras:
- 2 for team A
- 2 for team B
- 1 for the host
- 1 for the wide shot
This is not just from watching but it’s how most of the quiz shows are done so it’s easy to pick up by watching it anyway.
The teams have the microphones on their eye line, meaning they have the microphone clipped on the side they are most likely to be looking at during the show. I thought the host was meant to have it in the middle but actually he has his microphone on the left side from a camera point of view.
As the shows goes on and it sounds a bit scripted most of what the host says, the camera shots go from team to team mostly using three shots of the whole team, when saying the scores the teams appear in order too. I’d think most of what the contestants say is ad lib so the director has to change cameras as it goes, mostly he anticipates what’s going to happen for an easier job.
On this show there are inserts that appear on the screen in the studio and they also appear on telly for the audience at home to see it better and see what goes on. Each team has an buzzer and they buzz in to say the answer.
By watching this programme i can see how important things like the inserts, the wide shots (which are used to show people at home the whole set and everything that’s going on), the way the script is done has to match everything so there’s continuity. For example the host would make jokes about some news or statistics that were being read.
The lighting on this show is practically one light to the host then one or two for each team. The backlight is set quite low so the people look more interesting than the set and that’s what the quiz shows are about the guests and their reaction that’s why the majority of the shots are shots with the whole team or individual medium close ups; so we see the reaction of each individual of if they lost/won we see their reaction as a team.
Mostly the host is there to present the show, guide the contestants through each round and tell the scores they are the voice people have to listen to. They’re there to make sure that everything goes well rather than make the show about them.
This is how the studio for the quiz show looks:
Overall, I think this show is basically what we are preparing, and I’m glad that they are quite alike it proves that we can be very professional and how much our skills will improve. I like that we’re doing our script according to the theme just like we can see on 8 out of 10 cats. The Show is very well directed, even if there are bloopers that get taken out you can see that everything that’s going on is controlled, each shot of each team is matched so when looking at the TV we see continuity of the shots and the way is filmed. For example if we see an over the shoulder shot of team A it’s most likely to see one on team B as well that matches one another.
Jeremy Kyle show
This a live show that’s based on people’s lives, people go there to talk about their problems and luckily they will get help from the host as they need.
This show hasn’t got teams like a quiz show, here the host stands up walking around the set, while the guests go and sit on the set talking to the host.
This isn’t scripted, they talk about their lives and it’s more ad lib than anything else. There are about 6 cameras that i could count:
- 4 – 2 on each side of the set to get shots of the guests in each side.
- 1 on top(pointing from the set to the audience) to get one of the host
- 1 for a wide shot of everyone (including audience) at the back of the studio.
These cameras are on tripods but every now and then i think the camera men hold the camera to get better shots of people of if they need to film the audience, the host sometimes talks to someone sitting so they need to move to see it.
The shots used are medium close ups of guests, two/three shots if needed. Mostly to capture their emotions, this is because the show is about their lives and when something bad is found about someone people like to see people’s reaction, sometimes they use shots just for the audience to see other people’s reaction too.
They all have Omni-microphones clipped on them in the middle because they look at both sides and at the host who is in front of them, so by having the microphones in the middle of their tops it’s easier to catch all of what they say, and to make sure no other noise is captures (e.g. people breathing, any jewellery, hair hitting the microphone) they are clipped quite far down.
The audience has microphones to be able to listen to them clapping and cheering or ‘booing’’.
In shows like this normally when the host talks to the audience they use a boom to catch their voice, sometimes they have a microphone on their hands t hand to whoever wants to talk, but on Jeremy Kyle the people from the audience that talk are normally people that are related to the guests and have a say on whatever is going on so they a have a clip on mic most of the time.
As this is a show where people don’t quite have turns to talk, sometimes it ends up with two or three people talking at the same time, so the master fader should be faded down and when this happens the host has to calm people down or make them shut up so it’s easier to know what’s going on.
The lighting on the host on this show I’m not sure how it goes because he walks all over the place so they can’t just have the lights up and running on the same place, i think they might have just the studio lit in a way that he can walk and always be seen properly.
The guests have lights pointing at them and we see this in a few of the shots, they have spot lights and fill lights pointing at both sides of the set to make sure everyone is lit properly.
The audience is also lit but not as much as the host and guests.
The host in a programme like this has to listen to people, talk to them ask questions about what they want to do, offer them help (e.g. counselling, DNA tests, lie detector tests.) But most of all keep the situation controlled so there’s no need for security and even so sometimes they have to go on the show to stop abusive people.
The director on this show has to be ready for anything that happen so he can pick the right camera at the right time, unlike a quiz show it’s impossible to know who’s going to talk next, or who’s going to do something. So it’s much more difficult to anticipate what’s happening on this show.
Although we’re doing a quiz show i think it was good to analyse Jeremy Kyle show because of the techniques used and how things are filmed, the lighting and other aspects of it. It shows that this is actually quite a difficult show to make and doing a quiz show might be just as hard but at least we know when something is going to happen and it’s easier for people to be prepared rather than talking and never knowing what’s going to happen next.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Professional roles and equipment
Studio equipment:
On a studio we’ll find all different kinds of equipment:
-Camera -> the cameras are used to record the show. There are more than one to get different types of shot in order for the director to pick them.
-microphones -> used on the contestants and the audience to capture the sound of people talking or just the applause. These are put on the side of the talent top depending on their eye line. For example if team A is on the left hand side of the camera the microphone will be put on the right hand side because it’s where they will be looking the most at.
Lights:
The lights are up on the grid and they are used to give the show a lighting style. The director will watch someone testing all the lights in different styles till the director will pick the one he prefers.
There are a few styles of lighting but there’s always the main three lights for the host:
It’s the three point lighting. The host sits on his sit looking to the camera he/she will be looking at for most of the time then there are three lights pointing at him:
- Spot light: which is a hard light and it’s to light most of the hosts face.
- Fill light: Which is a light on the other side of the host, this light is softer and it’s used to light up the shades on the host that the spot light gives him/her. And this way the camera will get more detail from the host.
- Back light: This is a hard light too. This one is to light the host from the back. This is used to give the host more details and so he doesn’t blend in with the background. This way you’ll see more of the host than the set and it’s more interesting.
The lighting is used in each one of the talent, and the tests are made depending on the people’s skin so normally each individual of the show should get a 3 point lighting on them.
Here’s a diagram to show how it works:
-Monitor -> shows what’s being filmed or the scripted parts of the hosts speech. If needed also shows the talent the inserts that are going to be used during the show.
-camera cable -> takes the images to the STOB box. This is sensitive piece of equipment so to make sure that no one trips on it and it’s easier to move the camera’s around without damaging them the camera assistants will hold them, and take them out of the way.
- fold back -> The fold back is a big speark that’s in the studio and it’s used to play back any sounds needed for the show or the sounds from video that is hsown during the programme.
-The grid -> This is a big grid that’s in the studio’s ceiling and holds all the lights needed in position to be used.
- Dimmer -> Has all the switches from every single light on the grid and from the desk when the lights have to be softer it sends the energy needed to each individual light in order to get the lighting needed.
Crew roles and responsibilities:
Director: the director has the role of making the show happening and directing everyone so they do what he/she wants. He’s responsible for everything that happens on the show and how it looks like he chooses each shot individually to appear on the TV.
Producer: They are responsible for organising the show and they give each job to a different person so it happens. They are responsible for delivering the programme on time, making sure they only use the budget aloud, and they have to make sure what happens on the show won’t offend people.
Floor manager: The floor manager is responsible for everything that happens in the studio. He/she lets the director know that everything is going ok and if the director needs anything he/she ;lets the floor manager know so the floor manager can change it. The role of the floor manager goes from start the clapping to let the camera operators know if the director needs something new.
Camera Operator: The camera operator is on the camera delivering the shots that the director needs for the show to be good.
Camera assistant: Mostly holds the camera wire so it’s easier for the camera operator to move around with the camera casually helping if the camera operator needs to crab left or right.
Sound Operator: Makes sure the microphones are working at the right level and any sound needed on studio won’t go so loud that the microphones pick up. The sound desk will have faders for each individual talent on the show so the volume is picked so it peaks just loud enough (this should be somewhere between 6 and 9 on the VU meter). There’s also a master fader in case that everyone starts talking at the same time it’s easier to control it, there’s also \a fader to play the sounds back to the studio through the foldback.
Vision mixer: Sits near the director picking the shots the director wants. And every now and then if he thinks that there’s a better shot than the director’s picked he may pick it himself. Not all the time though. Also he’s responsible to mix shots if needed.
Light operator: Turns on and off the lights as needed. Before the actual show he turns the lights on and off to show the director different styles of lighting so then the director picks the one he prefers and that’s how the show is going to look like.
Multi-cam production terms:
Signal flow:
Camera signal flow:
The camera captures light and turns into energy and then it goes to a little box on the camera’s ped, then is taken from there to the STOB box through the wires and then is taken to the vision mixing desk where all the shots from every camera are being recorded to and then the director picks which one he prefers and then is then sent to the floor monitor.
Sound signal flow:
The contestants and the host talk to the Omni-directional microphones and that is sent to the STOB box through Wi-Fi and then sent to the sound desk where the sound operator decides whether to turn the fader up or down depending on the people’s voices. The same happens to the sound coming from the audience. The sound from everyone goes into the sound mixing panel through different cables but when it comes out it’s through one output altogether.
Camera shots and moves:
On a live quiz show the shots used are very limited:
c.u.: From the tie knot to a finger of head room.
m.c.u.: From under the breasts to two or three fingers of head room.
Mid-shot: From hips to three fingers of head room.
Two-shot- A shot with two people in it.
Three-shot: A shot with three people.
Wide shot: normally used at the beginning to show people watching it the set and to let them know kind of what’s going on.
You can track in and out which means moving the ped in and out on the studio floor. Crabing left or right is the same move but sideways. This helps the camera operactiors to get better shots.
On a live quiz show you’re not supposed to pan or tilt the camera unless is the camera used for the wide shot so it shows the audience the set and what’s going on.
DVD operation and insert requirements:
For this we need a DVD with all the inserts we’re going to use, and they all have to be in order and labelled so the director knows it’s the right one and has enough time to change shots. Also the DVD operator has to know the exact time of every insert how long it lasts so the director knows when it’s going to end to change the shot for the contestants.
Directing and director calls:
Directing a live event is a very difficult task. The director has to know that everything is ok and if there’s any problems, depending on the what it is most of the time the floor manager can help if the show is on air already. The director will talk through the talk back to every single person working on the studio and he’ll tell them what they need from them and they want to get it. The Director sits in the director’s room with the vision mixer looking at all the shots and talking to sound and the DVD person. He expects the assistant manager to tell him how long the inserts are in so he knows when the shot should be changed. When directing there’s a lot of pressure and a lot to think about so FM runs the floor for him. Director expects the FM to know what’s needed when preparing and to be ahead of him quite a lot.
Programme rundowns:
This is the technical script. The order of everything and what inserts go where. This is for the director to know what’s coming so he can plan ahead the shots his going to use. This scrip layout is a normal A4 page divided in the middle and the left side says the video stuff, like what camera should be used, and what inserts are going to be seen on the floor monitor from the DVD insert person. On the right hand side on the page there is all the sound information needed, to go with the vision. They have to be side by side, when there’s a scripted talk for the host the first and last words should be on this script so the director knows when to cut from the host to the inserts.
Floor plans:
These are the plans of the studio on a scale 1:50. Meaning when the director decides everything and where it goes the people come in and put everything on the right place by the centimetre.
When the floor plan is ready the teams start coming in and putting stuff together, they start with the lighting grid and put the lights in the right place, this is for health and safety because they’d have to use ladders and lights are heavy things if they did this when the set was ready then stuff could break. Then the set people come in and put the stuff in the right place, then the cameras and finally the audience chairs. This is done this way so everything gets put on the right place so the show can happen.
Planning camera placement and shots:
The camera’s have to be off the set for obvious reasons, the planning of when the cameras isn’t much because we have limited space in the studio so it’s going to be one opposite to each team to get two shots, mcu, and over the shoulder shots. Then there’s a camera to get and mcu of the host, a wider shot with all the contestants and then it can also show a three shot of the host and the team the host is speaking to.
These shots are planned during the lesson rehearsals.
Talk-backs and their use:
Talk backs are when the people on the floor or sound booth talk to the director and the director talks back to them. The floor manager has cans on, the camera people have a tiny box with headphones and a microphone that are connected to the director’s talk back box. Everyone apart from the director has to push a button in order to speak, and everyone can hear what everyone else is saying. The rules are:
- No chit chat over the talk backs
- Always identify yourself and say who do you want to speak to.
e.g.: Cam 1 to FM; FM to Director.
- Never ever talk over the director when he/she is talking.
- Always wait for the director to say it’s ok to talk.
The two answers that you can get when trying to talk to the director are: ‘’Yes Fm’’, or ‘’Wait one.’’
On a studio we’ll find all different kinds of equipment:
-Camera -> the cameras are used to record the show. There are more than one to get different types of shot in order for the director to pick them.
-microphones -> used on the contestants and the audience to capture the sound of people talking or just the applause. These are put on the side of the talent top depending on their eye line. For example if team A is on the left hand side of the camera the microphone will be put on the right hand side because it’s where they will be looking the most at.
Lights:
The lights are up on the grid and they are used to give the show a lighting style. The director will watch someone testing all the lights in different styles till the director will pick the one he prefers.
There are a few styles of lighting but there’s always the main three lights for the host:
It’s the three point lighting. The host sits on his sit looking to the camera he/she will be looking at for most of the time then there are three lights pointing at him:
- Spot light: which is a hard light and it’s to light most of the hosts face.
- Fill light: Which is a light on the other side of the host, this light is softer and it’s used to light up the shades on the host that the spot light gives him/her. And this way the camera will get more detail from the host.
- Back light: This is a hard light too. This one is to light the host from the back. This is used to give the host more details and so he doesn’t blend in with the background. This way you’ll see more of the host than the set and it’s more interesting.
The lighting is used in each one of the talent, and the tests are made depending on the people’s skin so normally each individual of the show should get a 3 point lighting on them.
Here’s a diagram to show how it works:
-Monitor -> shows what’s being filmed or the scripted parts of the hosts speech. If needed also shows the talent the inserts that are going to be used during the show.
-camera cable -> takes the images to the STOB box. This is sensitive piece of equipment so to make sure that no one trips on it and it’s easier to move the camera’s around without damaging them the camera assistants will hold them, and take them out of the way.
- fold back -> The fold back is a big speark that’s in the studio and it’s used to play back any sounds needed for the show or the sounds from video that is hsown during the programme.
-The grid -> This is a big grid that’s in the studio’s ceiling and holds all the lights needed in position to be used.
- Dimmer -> Has all the switches from every single light on the grid and from the desk when the lights have to be softer it sends the energy needed to each individual light in order to get the lighting needed.
Crew roles and responsibilities:
Director: the director has the role of making the show happening and directing everyone so they do what he/she wants. He’s responsible for everything that happens on the show and how it looks like he chooses each shot individually to appear on the TV.
Producer: They are responsible for organising the show and they give each job to a different person so it happens. They are responsible for delivering the programme on time, making sure they only use the budget aloud, and they have to make sure what happens on the show won’t offend people.
Floor manager: The floor manager is responsible for everything that happens in the studio. He/she lets the director know that everything is going ok and if the director needs anything he/she ;lets the floor manager know so the floor manager can change it. The role of the floor manager goes from start the clapping to let the camera operators know if the director needs something new.
Camera Operator: The camera operator is on the camera delivering the shots that the director needs for the show to be good.
Camera assistant: Mostly holds the camera wire so it’s easier for the camera operator to move around with the camera casually helping if the camera operator needs to crab left or right.
Sound Operator: Makes sure the microphones are working at the right level and any sound needed on studio won’t go so loud that the microphones pick up. The sound desk will have faders for each individual talent on the show so the volume is picked so it peaks just loud enough (this should be somewhere between 6 and 9 on the VU meter). There’s also a master fader in case that everyone starts talking at the same time it’s easier to control it, there’s also \a fader to play the sounds back to the studio through the foldback.
Vision mixer: Sits near the director picking the shots the director wants. And every now and then if he thinks that there’s a better shot than the director’s picked he may pick it himself. Not all the time though. Also he’s responsible to mix shots if needed.
Light operator: Turns on and off the lights as needed. Before the actual show he turns the lights on and off to show the director different styles of lighting so then the director picks the one he prefers and that’s how the show is going to look like.
Multi-cam production terms:
Signal flow:
Camera signal flow:
The camera captures light and turns into energy and then it goes to a little box on the camera’s ped, then is taken from there to the STOB box through the wires and then is taken to the vision mixing desk where all the shots from every camera are being recorded to and then the director picks which one he prefers and then is then sent to the floor monitor.
Sound signal flow:
The contestants and the host talk to the Omni-directional microphones and that is sent to the STOB box through Wi-Fi and then sent to the sound desk where the sound operator decides whether to turn the fader up or down depending on the people’s voices. The same happens to the sound coming from the audience. The sound from everyone goes into the sound mixing panel through different cables but when it comes out it’s through one output altogether.
Camera shots and moves:
On a live quiz show the shots used are very limited:
c.u.: From the tie knot to a finger of head room.
m.c.u.: From under the breasts to two or three fingers of head room.
Mid-shot: From hips to three fingers of head room.
Two-shot- A shot with two people in it.
Three-shot: A shot with three people.
Wide shot: normally used at the beginning to show people watching it the set and to let them know kind of what’s going on.
You can track in and out which means moving the ped in and out on the studio floor. Crabing left or right is the same move but sideways. This helps the camera operactiors to get better shots.
On a live quiz show you’re not supposed to pan or tilt the camera unless is the camera used for the wide shot so it shows the audience the set and what’s going on.
DVD operation and insert requirements:
For this we need a DVD with all the inserts we’re going to use, and they all have to be in order and labelled so the director knows it’s the right one and has enough time to change shots. Also the DVD operator has to know the exact time of every insert how long it lasts so the director knows when it’s going to end to change the shot for the contestants.
Directing and director calls:
Directing a live event is a very difficult task. The director has to know that everything is ok and if there’s any problems, depending on the what it is most of the time the floor manager can help if the show is on air already. The director will talk through the talk back to every single person working on the studio and he’ll tell them what they need from them and they want to get it. The Director sits in the director’s room with the vision mixer looking at all the shots and talking to sound and the DVD person. He expects the assistant manager to tell him how long the inserts are in so he knows when the shot should be changed. When directing there’s a lot of pressure and a lot to think about so FM runs the floor for him. Director expects the FM to know what’s needed when preparing and to be ahead of him quite a lot.
Programme rundowns:
This is the technical script. The order of everything and what inserts go where. This is for the director to know what’s coming so he can plan ahead the shots his going to use. This scrip layout is a normal A4 page divided in the middle and the left side says the video stuff, like what camera should be used, and what inserts are going to be seen on the floor monitor from the DVD insert person. On the right hand side on the page there is all the sound information needed, to go with the vision. They have to be side by side, when there’s a scripted talk for the host the first and last words should be on this script so the director knows when to cut from the host to the inserts.
Floor plans:
These are the plans of the studio on a scale 1:50. Meaning when the director decides everything and where it goes the people come in and put everything on the right place by the centimetre.
When the floor plan is ready the teams start coming in and putting stuff together, they start with the lighting grid and put the lights in the right place, this is for health and safety because they’d have to use ladders and lights are heavy things if they did this when the set was ready then stuff could break. Then the set people come in and put the stuff in the right place, then the cameras and finally the audience chairs. This is done this way so everything gets put on the right place so the show can happen.
Planning camera placement and shots:
The camera’s have to be off the set for obvious reasons, the planning of when the cameras isn’t much because we have limited space in the studio so it’s going to be one opposite to each team to get two shots, mcu, and over the shoulder shots. Then there’s a camera to get and mcu of the host, a wider shot with all the contestants and then it can also show a three shot of the host and the team the host is speaking to.
These shots are planned during the lesson rehearsals.
Talk-backs and their use:
Talk backs are when the people on the floor or sound booth talk to the director and the director talks back to them. The floor manager has cans on, the camera people have a tiny box with headphones and a microphone that are connected to the director’s talk back box. Everyone apart from the director has to push a button in order to speak, and everyone can hear what everyone else is saying. The rules are:
- No chit chat over the talk backs
- Always identify yourself and say who do you want to speak to.
e.g.: Cam 1 to FM; FM to Director.
- Never ever talk over the director when he/she is talking.
- Always wait for the director to say it’s ok to talk.
The two answers that you can get when trying to talk to the director are: ‘’Yes Fm’’, or ‘’Wait one.’’
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