As Live Production Unit - RESEARCH - Multi Camera Directing (BAFTA ACADEMY)

I came across a video by 'BAFTA Guru' which shows short films containing interviews with industry professionals. The video I found is particularly aimed at interviews with multi camera directors so i felt that it would be useful to gain an insight to what they had to say. The video can be viewed below:

It starts off with four directors explaining how they got into the position of multi camera directing from other various roles like floor managing and editing. As the video goes on they then go on to explain their experiences and tips on directing a multi cam show. 

Nikki Parsons who is the director for the popular TV show 'Strictly Come Dancing' explains the difference between a show that is not live and a show that is. She says how when a show is not live there are several takes and pick ups that can be done over and over until the director is happy with what they have got. It is then sent to the edit suit where it is cut together to make the final product which is then aired. With live TV, the editing is done as it is going along. This is the directors job in all aspects from music, camera cuts and graphics, everything that is needed at each point will be instant and will be seen live as it happens. This is my multiple cameras are needed to allow for the different shots that need to be cut to. With it being live, this leaves no room for error as Nikki says you have to deliver every time when your live as its going out to the audience as its being filmed. 

Another director Phil Heyes who works on the singing talent show 'The X-Factor' explains a lot about the pressure the job entails. He says that in order for you to make a great multi camera director, you have to remain calm in order to make sensible decisions when you are live on air. This is important for me to take forward in Del's workshops, remaining calm under the pressure will help me to focus and to do the best job I can possibly do. 

The video goes back to Nikki who explains that a director should watch, learn and listen from everybody and never assume that you know everything. Its always good to hear from everybody and to watch and understand their job and what they have to do to make it happen for you as you will then understand the whole process and know what you are asking from then when you ask for it. 

I have understood a lot of things from this video and realise what is expected from me when I direct 'Steal The Style'. I will take all of these tips on board. 

As Live Production Unit - RESEARCH Studio Director (John Smith)

I felt it was important to do a lot of research on studio directors and what they do. When looking online I came across a man named John Smith. His specialty job role is a Multi Camera Director for the 'BBC' and in the video I watched, he talks specifically about working on the game show 'The Weakest Link'. The video can be viewed below:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130702112135647



In the short film he gives an overview of his job role and what it entails to be a multi camera director as well as real footage of him doing the job itself. He starts off by explaining that it is important to understand that the whole show is a team effort and the director has to liaise with all other departments such as the camera operators, sound and production support crew. This will be important when I'm directing to ensure I am working with all other departments to ensure we all pull together as one large team to carry the show through.

He then goes on to explain that the biggest skill you can have as a director is patience. This is to understand that if people go a little bit wrong its important not to be shouting and be angry at the person, but to be calm and correct the situation as it happens. Working well and having a good relationship with the team is key to the whole show. From this I will ensure to be calm and patient throughout the rehearsals and the live show to ensure we are all able to do the job well rather than under more pressure than there needs to be.

The next piece of information that he says to understand is spacial awareness. This is important in regards to knowing where the cameras are on the floor. Because I will be in the gallery and not out there myself, I will need to make sure I understand where each camera is and know their movements so that If I need to change the framing or ask a camera to crab right or left, I will know that its possible and how to get a better shot. I will create camera plans for the main show and be aware to go out onto the floor during rehearsals when I can to achieve better knowledge of my spacial awareness.

Throughout the whole video there are clips edited in of him carrying out his position in the gallery. There is a lot of lingo and terminology that he uses. The first thing I noticed was the word cue. He says this into the microphone after the P.A. has counted down. This is so that the presenter knows when to start their line. Another word he uses is stand-by followed by what he wants next. This is to prepare a department that we will need the person, information, graphic or music very soon and they should get ready to incorporate this into the broadcast.

This video was very insightful to see a professional directing a multi camera programme and seeing it from the gallery. I learnt a lot of useful skills that I will take forward into rehearsals and the show itself.

As Live Production Unit - Del's Workshop 2

In todays session we were not in our main lecture room, we were in studio 2 as we are having a more hands on and practical workshop. We started off getting into groups of 3 and setting the equipment up which included a camera, tripod and dolly. Once turned on we wheeled all the cameras together and put them in a line plugging in a cable each into the SDI out. This cable enabled the cameras to be connected into a live feed that could be controlled via a mixer in the gallery.

Our first lesson was learning how to get all the camera to get the same white balance and colour grade so that when we shoot they will all look the same in terms of picture. We zoomed into a test board and pushed the white balance button to enable all the cameras to sync up the same. Once this was done we all had a go of learning different shots making sure we used the iris and focus ring to all get good picture. We advanced this by trying to keep the focus on a person as they moved about including moving closer and away from the camera. This was a great lesson for me as I have not had a chance in previous projects to be really hands on with the cameras.

Once we all felt comfortable with this we moved on to the gallery. It's here that we learned a variety of different things. We first went into the sound room where Del taught us about the racks. I had not known what this was before so it was interesting for me to hear that you can manually control the cameras focus and iris from a different room. We then moved into the vision room where we could see all the cameras pictures through the TV monitors. Del then taught us how to use the vision mixer which showed how to transmit pictures from the preview monitor to the transmission monitor. We also learnt how to mix which gave a dissolve effect from one camera picture to another.

I felt I learnt a lot from this lesson and being a director I can understand what the vision mixer and camera operators have to go through in order to get what I want on the live show.

As Live Production Unit - Mock Blocking Shoot

Today we did a shoot using my camera plan and my blocking sheet. We hired one of the lecture rooms and in the morning moved the sofas in there as well as taped out the catwalk so we could see the lay out similar to the set design. Once all the cameras and equipment was set up, I next gave everyone a copy of the blocking sheet and camera plan and we done 3 run throughs without recording anything as I wanted to make sure everyone had a rough idea what they were doing and it gave the people on the course who were stepping in for us a chance to get familiar with what I wanted from them. There was a script but it has not been fully developed yet so the stand in presenters were filling in the gaps as best as they could whilst the shoot was being recorded.

Once the run throughs were done and we all felt comfortable with what we were doing I decided to move onto a recorded run through. This went well but there were things to improve on like timings and framing of shots. We did a second recorded run through and this went much better so I decided to making the 3rd record the final one for the mock up. This went well although framing needs to be mastered by the camera crew so I have learnt to make some camera cards for the real thing so they can easily look down and see what shot they need to do next.

Overall the blocking worked really well and there was a lot of movement that everyone got to grips with and felt it all flowed well with the show we were aiming for. Although there was framing issues the actual blocking itself went really well and with practice I know the framing will get better. You can view the editing footage below:

As Live Production Unit - Mock Blocking Plan

As I am the director for the show, one of the most important things I have to do for pre-production is blocking. This is making sure I know where the presenters, contributors and models know are standing at exactly what point in the show. We decided as a group to plan out the introduction and the 1st section of the show as it was quite complicated so this would be good to practice. Although we will be using 5+ cameras for the real show, for the purposes of this mock up I am going to be practicing with 3 and decided to merge the camera plan in with the blocking.

Based on my research so far I understand this is a very important part of being a multi - camera director so I felt it would be great to do the run through to see what level I was at. First of all I had a look at the set design that was created by the producers to get an idea of how the set was going to be. I printed several copies of this and labeled the cameras on the first page 1, 2 and 3. Every time the cameras moved I would create a new page labelling the cameras in their new relocated position.

Along side this I looked at the running order and created a table that explains the scene, what camera the shot would be on, the type of shot, how long each shot is, where the people are in the scene and finally the page number of the set designs so that when referring to the camera plan you can see where the cameras are. There are also camera movements in the descriptions which I highlighted in a different colour and put them in bold so they are easily noticed. I will print a copy of the camera plan and the blocking/ shooting script for each crew member so when it comes to filming it they will know what to do at each point.

You can view these documents below:

Camera Plan:

Blocking/ Shooting Script:

As Live Production Unit - Progress Meeting Three: Pre Production Update

Today we had our third production meeting as a team. This was an important progress meeting for me as I could see how everyone was doing in terms of the pre production work. In terms of the script, the producers insured that they are working on this and the dialogue is being written at the moment. This is great to hear as when they are done the script can be past to me and I can make notes as well as more importantly pair my visuals up to meet with what they had written. They also explained that the set design that we did discussed has been drawn up into a digital copy and will be sent over to the set design team. This includes the soft area where the presenters will sit on sofas with a plasma screen, a hard area where the presenters can stand a talk to the camera and the catwalk area which has a runway for our models to walk down.

The transmission date was discussed as it is moving to the 19th of April rather than the 18th of April which will allow the set to be rigged on the 18th and rehearsals to take place with the set. Before that, masking tape will be placed on the floor to rehearse within the lines of the set.

A few more questions were raised about a couple of sections, these were VT and promo which needed some more content to work with. We discussed the VT presenter challenge that will be in my half of the show. We all came to the decision that there needs to be more of a challenge and we have settled on making the budget less to make it more difficult for our presenter. We also said that the online fails VT needs to have a slightly more serious tone to it as its talking about a serious problem that people occur on a daily basis.

Overall it was an insightful meeting and I feel the team all know what they need to be doing to bring us up to speed in terms of pre production material from all departments.

As Live Production Unit - Scripting

As I am directing the project, some of my important work will be scripting. As the lecture explained today I learnt how to write a script that works for a live production. Rather than focusing on the words of what the show will involve, it was very important for me to see how it works with different camera shots and cuts. Below you can see an example of a shooting script:

As you can see it is layed out in two columns. The left side has the details of what camera it is on as well as direction of what type of shot it is. There is also "as dir." which means as directed meaning it will be shown how to do by the directors. On the right is the words to what is being said on screen. This allows everyone to follow where we are in the show as well as knowing when to change the camera shot. 

I will be making several drafts of this as well as a final copy for when it comes to the live show. 

As Live Production Unit - Del's Workshop 1

Today we had our first lecture with Del Brown who is going to be helping us with this studio production unit. His main role is a Director/ Vision Mixer for the television industry and is leading our live studio unit. Our main focus for this session was to come up with and finalise a structure that myself, Gavin, Victoria, Jemma and the producers have tried to establish. We all participated as a group coming up with a set design and nailed down sectioned content. Below is a picture of what we have come up with. It shows 3 different areas, a soft area on the left where presenters can sit and chat to guests as well as show things on a TV screen, a hard area in the middle where the two presenters can stand to present to camera as well as show things on the studio floor in a more practical way, and a catwalk area on the right which is where models will come out and feature clothes that they are wearing.

From this image we were able to develop this into a basic floor plan which was drawn up as shown below.

This will help me for working out where the cameras are and to help with my blocking of the presenters and contributors.

In terms of structure, this is what we have come up with as a group. I wrote it down in a simple and easy way so that when I look at it I can see clearly what we are doing and in what order. You can view this below.

We also learnt about our own job roles in more detail. I understood that as a director I am going to be in the gallery making sure everything is framed and that we go to each shot when we should. I will also be leasing with all crew using talk back on the studio floor. Del said it would be very important to me to learn the terminology that is used in the industry world wide as it will be used for our studio production so I have been looking these up:

TX - Transmission
SOT - Sound On Tape
Sting - Musical Punctuation That Separates Two Sections
Gram - Musical Sound Effect
Aston/ Lower Third - A Graphic At The Bottom Of The Screen, Usually Someones Name
ENG - Electronic News Gathering
PSC - Portable Single Camera

This was a really helpful session that I learnt a lot from and I look forward to the next one which is going to be more practical looking at camera work and the gallery.

As Live Production Unit - RESEARCH Factual Programme - Directing A Live Multi- Cam Show (The One Show)

I have been looking into live multi camera shows and how they are constructed together from a directors point of view. I sat and watched BBC's evening chat show programme called 'The One Show' and decided to break it down from a directors point of view like I have done with 'Lorraine' and 'This Morning' to once again gain knowledge of how this show is done. 

Introduction

'The One Show' is a magazine style chat show that is aired on 'BBC One' at 7pm every week day. The show first aired as a pilot in 2006 before being commissioned for a full on going series. Originally hosted by Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles, the show has seen many presenters over the past few years before recently settling with Matt Baker and Alex Jones. Unlike 'This morning', the show has a more serious vibe to it and aims to deliver the information across more formally to the viewer. The show averages at 5 million viewers per show and is till widely popular across the country. 

Show Introduction

I recorded the first opening sequence that you can view below: 

The programme starts off with the opening titles which is a sequence of graphics. Interestingly the presenters do not appear in the opening sequence unlike the other two but in my opinion I prefer it when they do to further establish the main presenters who are tied in with the show. It then cuts straight to a mid 2 shot of both the presenters sitting on the sofa as they introduce themselves. There is no establishing shot of the studio again unlike the other two but since this is only talking on the sofa this is the only area of the studio the viewers get to see. In our show there will be 3 different areas so I believe we should have an establishing shot ourselves. There are also no lower thirds in terms of graphics to introduce the presenters further. 

The show then follows with a live tease about a segement of the show but there is no coming up graphics or schedule. This live tease is also to introduce the celebrity guests that will be joining them on the sofa for the show. This tease has music that is played in the background to give another hint about what they are talking about so from a directors point of view this would have to be cued at the right point. The camera is still on the presenters from the opening shot and has not had any cuts apart from when they are talking about people from a previous tv episode of the show they will be talking about. This is interesting as nearly all the live shows I have looked at have a long opening shot at the start of it of the presenters which I will take into consideration when looking at directing the show. When the guests are introduce the camera finally cuts to the 3 guests walking in, new music is played and the camera follows them until they sit on the opposite sofa. This would all have to be orchestrated by the director in the gallery making sure the music comes in at the right time, the guests are cued to walk on the floor at the right time and the camera movement is done so that we can see and follow the guests until they sit down. 

From here we go to a 2 + 3 interview. Although my section of the show will not nesecerily have an interview its interesting to notice that the camera cuts on whoever is talking to make sure that we are always seeing who we are hearing so there is no confusion. This is all cut very quickly with close ups of the person who is specifically talking with cuts of them as a whole, for both guests and presenters. 

Once the interview is conducted we go back to the presenters for a link to their first VT. This shot is also long and stays with them the whole time until the VT appears full frame on screen. Its interesting for me from a directors point of view to see how the director maybe communicating this in the gallery. He or she would have to be talking to the camera ops about their framing and movements, the presenters about when they have to begin talking, the music when it comes in and out, cueing the guests on and preapring for links and VT's. Although there is all of this going on behind the scenes, the viewer is unaware that this is all happening and it feels seemless to watch. This is what I will be aiming for when it comes to directing our show. 

As Live Production Unit - RESEARCH Factual Programme - Directing A Live Multi- Cam Show (Lorraine)

I felt the day time show 'Lorraine' would be another good show to research as I can also compare how it differs to 'This Morning'. You can view a clip I recorded of the opening titles and the introduction to the show below:

As you can see, the show starts with an opening title sequence and just like 'This Morning', it features the presenter herself in amongst them. It then cuts to an establishing shot of the studio set before quickly cutting to Lorraine herself as she gives the line "good morning to you and here's whats coming up this morning". Rather than having a brief chat it cuts straight to the coming up tease that displays the shows schedule in the form of graphics. I understand that because she is a solo presenter she can't really have a conversation but I find it interesting how much quicker the shots are paced leaving only a few seconds before going into the tease. For our show we ideally want two presenters so I feel leaving the camera on them longer like this morning does before the tease will be important. The director at these 3 points would say, "roll VT" for the shows opening titles, "Standby camera #, cut to #" for the establishing shot out of the VT and then "Stand by Camera #, cut to #" to cut to the next shot of Lorraine herself delivering. He or she would then say "Stand by VT, roll VT" to run the graphics of the tease. Although it appears smooth on TV, I am aware this there is a lot that is going on from the directors point of view. 

Coming out of the tease we then go back to an establishing shot of the studio and then Lorraine again in the same format as the top of the show. She quickly introduces her two guests that are sitting with her at the table and the show goes into a quick 1 + 2 interview. Looking at this I notice that the shots are all accommodated for having a camera on Lorraine, guest one and guest two as well as a shot of all three of them and of just the two guests. This gives the director room to cut from one person to the next on singles as well as just the guests and just Lorraine. When looking at the bigger picture it shows that who ever is speaking will be covered as well as getting a variety of different shots rather than one long boring one.


I next looked at their fashion item that they have on the show. You can view a clip below:

Lorraine is sitting with a fashion expert as they talk about the trends that are coming up. They use a graphic on screen of an outfit that resembles that trend showing the brand and price. I like the way they are both sitting down at referring to the screen as they talk about it and I will consider this for the actual show when talking to the producers.The graphic also goes from on the screen to full frame so the viewers can have a better look at the outfit. I like the way this is done as well and would like to take this element to the show. Once the outfit is shown on screen the camera cuts to a catwalk and a model comes out wearing it so we can see what it looks like on a person. The camera tilts from top to bottom to give and overview of the outfit before cutting to a wide again. I like this shot sequence and the way they have done it this way so I would like to do something similar for our show.