Production diary

Week 1 -

The whole class were all split into small groups and each group were all given one of the rounds for the quiz show to work on. My group's round was celebritys. Each group were responsable for making up questions for the rounds and also creating vt inserts to put into the show.

Week 2 -

Everyone in class had to decide on a name for the quiz show, we came up with alot of ideas for the show but some of them didn't really work well until the whole class decided on calling it "media circus". Also this week me and my group for the celebrity round went into town and brought costumes to dress up as celebritys, so that the contestants would have to guess what celebritys we were.

Week 3 -

This week we were all given roles for pre production. Some people were chosen to be set designers and script writers ect. Me, shaun and Mathew were chosen to be the editors, we were then in charge for getting together ideas for the titles and stings. We then tried to focus the opening titles and the stings into a circus format to go with the show.

Week 4 -

Alot of this week was very hectic because there were people stressing on about the set and the script ect, the main problem was getting the set done in time. There were alot of people who didn't have anything to do, so me and some other people helped the set designers to finish painting the set. At the end of this week the title sequence and all of the stings were all finished and they looked really proffesional.

Week 5 -

Most of this week was rehearsing for the live show, so we all kept practising until we got to the main show. For the first half of the show I was part of the audience and the second half of it I was vision switching. I really enjoyed making the quiz show and had a great time. The live show went fantastic and everyone was happy.

Directing and director calls

The director is the most important person in the crew and he calls all of the shots. When the show is live the director stays inside the vision control room because he has to tell the vision mixer what cameras to cut to and at what time. Another reason why the director stays in this room is because the cans are always open so the director can talk to any of the crew members when he wants to. Before the rehearsal begins and the live show, the director speaks to each of the camera operators to make sure that he is happy with all of the shots before they begin. The director also speaks to the floor manager through the cans so that he can tell the floor manager when to speak to the audience ect. The next thing that the director has to do is that he has to make sure that everyone in the crew are ready to start recording. Before starting the show the director does a countdown so that all of the crew and the talent know when they are live. The first thing that the director says straight after the countdown is roll vt because this is the opening titles and then he tells the vision mixer to mix into the first camera shot. At every minute of the show the director is always trying to get to very important shots which are:

- Responce - To shot is one of the other contestants reaction to something that has just happened in the show ect.

- Action - This is when something that is interesting and entertaining is happening in the show.

Scripts and calls

The script is the most important thing in the show because this has everything single thing on it which is in the show including vt insert numbers and speech from the host.

There are two collums the first being vision and the second being audio. In the first collum it shows all of the camera shots for example a ms of host, and it also shows which camera is being used at each point in the show. It should also show the dvd track for the VTs so that the vision mixer know when there is a vt insert. On the audio side it shows what audio is being played at each point, most of the time the audio is mostly speech and then it also shows the audio from the vt inserts from the dvd.

There will also be director notes on the script because occasonally the director will change camera shots ect at different parts in the show, this also makes it seem a little bit more clearer to the director.

Tech Rehearsals

A tech rehearsal is a rehearsal which is done mostly for the purpose of all of the technical equipment. This is very helpfull because as we do the main show this will be a big bennifit to the crew and also the talent. We have not had a real technical rehearsal but we have had alot of normal rehearsals, which when we have done these we have come across a couple of technical problems. One of the problems was that when it was time to play a vt insert off the dvd it didn't play first time or not at the right time, another problem was that we couldn't always hear the talents voices on the clip mics. This is mostly the only reason why we do these tech rehearsals so that we can see any technical problems that we are getting before the real live show.

Efficient rehearsal and recording practise

Before we could even start our rehearsals, we had a couple of sessions in the tv studio getting to know all of the terms and how all of the equipment worked, we also learned all of the camera movements and shots ect, for example when you turn a camera left or right this is called a pan.
We also had a couple of lessons showing us how the audio and video signals went through into the audio and vision control rooms, this was very interesting because we were also shown how the vision and audio mixing desks worked.

About 3 weeks after being shown what to do and how the tv studio works we were all giving roles to rehearse with so that we could get use to using the studio. My first role was vision mixing, this is a very important role because with out this you would see any vt inserts on the screen and the cameras wouldn't switch to each other, I really enjoyed this role because I felt like I was a big part of the show because with out me there would be anything come up on the screen. My second role was to play the contestent A, I did not mind this role because I got to get a little feel of what it would be like on a proper quiz show as a contestent. My third role was to be the camera operator for (cam 2), I liked this role because I had never been behind a camera before and this gave me a great experience of what it would be like, I was encharge of getting shots of the host and getting 3 shots of the talent.

In it's most understanding form, a rehearsal is to practise recording a tv show and to make sure that everything goes according to plan. If something goes wrong in the rehearsal it can be changed or corrected but if it is during the live show then this is a bit of a problem. The rehearsal is hand to correct any problems so that they don't go wrong in the live show.

Planning camera placement and shots

The camera placement is based on what the set looks like for example the size. Our set is placed out in a quiz show format with the desk in the middle and the flats at the back, so we are going to use 4 cameras which are 3 pole cameras and 1 crain camera.
The first camera (cam 1) is a pole camera which is situated on the far right of the tv studio, this is because it is going to be used for getting shots of Team A which are contestents A and B. This camera will be getting alot of different shots of them including 2-shots, medium shots and also over shoulder shots.
The 3rd camera (cam 3) is also a pole camera and is situated on the far left of the tv studio opposite to (cam 1) and is used for getting exactly the same shots as (cam 1) but of Team B which are contestents C and D.
The 4th camera (cam4) is on a jib which is like a big crain, this camera is responsable for getting a wide shot. The jib is able to give us a high and low angle shot. This camera is also handy for getting a shot of the audience because of the hight that it can go.
The 2nd camera (cam2) is mostly only used to get two main shots, one is of the host because this camera is directly in front of the host so the host will also be looking at it. The second shot is a 3 shot, this camera will be getting two 3 shots. One of the 3 shots is of the host, contestent A and contestent B and the second 3 shot if of the host, contestent C and contestent D.

Programme Rundowns

Program Rundowns are the way in which the director, the floor manager and most of the crew find where they are in the show. The most efficient way that you make a programe rundown is through the script because the script tells you when the host says something ect and it also shows when any vt inserts are used.

Planning audio Coverage

When you see some shows, you see that the microphones are very effective for example, "QI" has 5 clip-on microphones which are used on the hosts and the contestants. It also has a few directional mics above the audience to add more atmosphere. For our show we are going to have 5 clip-on microphones for the host and the contestants and 1 directional mic to go above the audience, the reason why we are only going to have one mic for the audience is because we havn't got a big audience. When we attach the clip-on mics we then have to move onto a sound check. The sound check is going to consist of each contestant talking for a certain period of time , while they are talking the sound desk operators are going to check the levels of them talking using the VU metre. If their voice is measured higher than 12 decibells, they are talking to loud and if their voice is measured lower than -9 decibells they are talking to quite. The best level for the show is round about 0 decibells.

Planning and designing a set

When you first start off planing what your set is going to look like, you first have to know that what you are designing is going to be what comes up on the screen. So you have to be certain that any colours that you are going to use ect will be apropriate for the camera and also that they will look representive when they are on screen, because the cameras eye is different to the human eye and can change the colour tones.

- When you first start to make your set, you have to keep all of your set ideas loose, you shouldn't just stick to one idea because if that one idea dosn't work then you will at least still have some other ideas to work with.
- Another thing that you need to consider is the tonal pallet of the set. This is overall colours of the set so that all of the colours work together for example, aqua or sepia.
- One of the most important things for your show is the backdrop for the set, because this will give the camera something to focus on, when making the backdrop stick to your tonal pallet so that the colours will match.
- Another thing that you may want to consider is a logo or visual motif for the show, this will make the show seem more eye catching and it will give the audience something to feel.
- After you have thought of a good idea, the next stage is the lock down which means that this is the final idea and it can not be changed.
- The next stage is to get any props for the show for example, you could deside that you wanted to use buzzers in the show to make it seem more lively.
- The last stage is the final build which means getting everything together.

Planning and lighting the set

The lighting of the set is a very important aspect of the show, as we need to beable to see all of the show at all times. In shows like for example (Friday night with Johnathan Ross) they have a very complex lighting rig because they have all of the show lighted in different ways, reasons for this is for example because they have music artists performing so they have to get different sorts of lights to light the stage. With the tv studio that we are going to use, we do not really need to use a big selection of lights because are set is quite close together. The main lights that we need to use is the key light, the back light and the fill light. All of the lights have barn doors so if one of the lights isn't working like we want it to in rehersal we can ajust the barn doors so that it can focuse the light in the right place.

Signal flow (both video and audio) and the technical rig

Video

- First the light goes through the front of the camera and is then concentrated by the lens.
- The signal from the lens then goes through into a converter box which is under the camera, this converts it in another signal called SDI which stands for (Serial digital interface).
- A cable from the converter box then gets plugged into a STOB box and then goes into a technical rack, this is very similar to an old telephone exchange.
- The signal is then distrobuted into a CCU which is then viewed on dedicated monitors for each camera.
- This then goes through into the vision mixing panel, and the output is selected, it is either line out or programme out, it is then recorded in to the HDD which stands for (hard disc drive).

Audio

- First the audio goes through into the STOB box.
- Then it goes from there into the technical rack, using wifi.
- There are usually a minimum of seven mics used, so all of the seven mics feed into the audio mixing desk, which have faders to control the levels of each mic and also a master fader to control the level of all of the mics.
- Then it is very similar to the video, because you choose either the (line out of programme out) output, and then it records into the HDD.
- On the audio mixing desk there is a metre know as the VU metre, which shows you the sound level of each mic aswell as the overall output. It is very important to make sure that the peak sound level does not go over +9 or below - 12 on the VU metre. If the sound levels go to high this could cause distortion which could ruin the sound and could also damage the equipment. If the sound levels are two low, it means that the volume will constantly need to be very loud to hear the actual speech. On the VU metre, every +3 doubles the volume of the sound and every -3 halves the volume of the sound.

DVD operation and insert requirements

These are the requirements for dvd operation and vt inserts :

Make sure that there is at least 1 second of black at the beginning of a vt insert and 1 second of black at the end, this is just incase if there are any problems when cutting back to the studio floor.

Also make sure that before the main vt clip there is at least 5 seconds of vt roll which tells the dvd operator what track they are on, on the dvd and also what the vt clip is of.

You also have to make sure that the the vt insert and the stings both have the same screen size, so that when they are played on the studio monitor they both have the same size on the screen.

The final requirement is that you have to make sure that there is at least seven seconds between each vt insert, so that you don't get parts of different inserts accidently played on the screen.

Studio protocol and practise

These are the rules that should always be followed in the studio, as follows:

Food or drink should never be brought into the studio, as there is a strong risk that they could be spilt on the carpet and the equipment, this can damage the very expensive equipment such as microphones and cameras. This also comes under health and safety as there is a risk of being electrocuted.

No one should ever run in the studio as there are very long cables attached to the cameras that can easily be tripped over which could damage the equipment and you could also hurt yourself.

No one else apart from the people who are involed in the production should be in the studio, because there is not large amount of space in the studio and the crew also need to be very focused on getting a very good recording.

There should never be any messing about on the talkback cans, because the cans are only surpose to be used for communication between the crew and the director. If there is any messing about on the cans the director whould end up hearing to many people at once and this would result in important information from the director not getting to the crew members.

Multi - cam production terms

Floor ready - Is the term which means that everyone on the studio floor is ready, so this way the director knows when he can start the show, this call is made by the floor manager through the cans.

DVD ready - Is the term which means that the dvd operator has set up the dvd and cued the next insert ready for when it is needed, this call is made by the dvd operator though the cans to the director so that the director knows that the insert is ready to be played.

Tracking - This call is made by the director though the cans to the camera operator, this means that the director either wants the camera operator to move towards the talent or to move away from them, an example of this is called "tracking in".

PED - This call is also made by the director to the camera operator, this means that the director either wants the camera operator to move the shot up or down, an example of this is to "PED UP".

Crab - This is another call made by the director to the camera operator, this means that the director either wants the camera operator to move left or right, an example of this is to "crab left".

Crew roles and responsibilites

Producer - Has the overall responsibility of the production as well as ensuring that it is suitable for broadcast.

Director - The director is the main person encharge of the whole production. The director plays such a key role, but through out the show they only stay in the vision control room they never set foot in the studio. The directors job is to give orders to who ever is wearing cans such as the camera operators.

Assistant director - The assistant director works closely to the director, checking that everybody in the control rooms are doing what they need to do correctly.

Floor manager - Runs the studio floor and looks after the audience, and signals them when to clap ect.

Assistant Floor manager - Helps out the floor manager, doing all of the same duties, but who is just an extra pair of hands.

Sound operator - Uses the sound mixer to make sure that the mics are all at the same level and adjusts the levels incase of things like distortion, the sound operator also has a pair of cans to keep in touch with the director and the floor manager.

Lighting controller - Uses the lighting desk to make sure that the lights are all at the right level for each shot.

Vision mixer - Uses the vision mixing panel to cut to different shots that they think are best to be used at different times in the show.

Camera operator - Controls one of the cameras they keep in contact with the director using the cams and the director tells them when their camera is live and gives them pacific shots to get, that work best.

Camera operator assistant - Holds the camera wires so that they don't get damaged or tangled and also so that the camera operator has enough wire to move the tripod if they need to.

Studio equipment, it's functions and operation

Grid- a grid is the railing under the ceiling of the tv studio which is used to hang and plug in euipment such as lights and mics.

Stage monitor - the stage monitor is the monitor which is placed in the studio so that the talent can see what is going on.

HDD (Hard Disk Drive) - any vt inserts are saved on to the hardrive instead of a dvd to make cutting between the inserts and recording more easy and efficient.

STOB box - The wires from the studio floor plug into this which then sends the signal into the control rooms.

Vision mixing panel - This is where you can see all of the different camera shots and then you can cut to different cameras using the vision mixing desk.

Converter box - Is the box under each camera which converts the footage into a signal called SDI.

Cans - are a headset with earphones and a microphone, they are used to communicate from the studio floor to the control room, on the studio floor the floor manager and the camera operators wear them, and in the control room the director wears a set.

Dimmer pack - controls the signal that goes into the lights, if one light gets overloaded with to much power, the dimmer pack cuts it out.

Floor Plans

A floor plan is a drawn to scale plan of the studio floor so that the crew know exactly what is going on, it also shows where the cameras are and what lights are going to be used ect, so that the floor manager knows exactly what to do.

This is my floor plan that I done, it has the positions of the camera's etc, on the studio floor and it also tells you the shots that each camera is used to get and what microphones are used on the studio floor.

Talk- Backs and their use

Talkback refers to the intercom system used in television studios, to enable personnel in the control room to speak or give instructions to personnel on the tv studio floor.

To do this they wear headphones also know as cams to speak to one another.

Camera Movements

Pan - horizontal movement, left and right.

Tilt - vertical movement of the camera angle, pointing the camera up and down

Ped - means moving the camera vertically with respect to the subject. This is often referred to as "pedding" the camera up or down.

Tracking - a shot in which the camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks.

Crabbing - means side-to-side movement at a constant distance from the action.

Zoom - a change in the lens focal length with gives the illusion of moving the camera closer or further away.

Camera shots

WS ( Wide Shot) - The subject takes up the full frame, or at least as much as comfortably possible.

MS ( Mid Shot) - Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject.

CU ( Close Up) - A certain feature or part of the subject takes up the whole frame.

MCU (Medium Close Up) - Half way between a MS and a CU.

Cut In - Shows some other part of the subject in detail.

CA ( Cut Away) - A shot of something other than the subject.

Two-Shot - A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot.

(OSS) Over the Shoulder Shot - Looking from behind a person at the subject.