Television Studio Production

So this module is the one that I have been looking forward to the most. TV Studio Production is heavily based in the new £1.1million TV studio which is industry standard. According to Trevor he said that it is the newest studio in the UK, maybe in Europe - so I am so excited to get started!

Of course in the first lecture I didn't expect to be learning about the new equipment. We were first briefed about what this module is all about and what we are going to be doing up until Christmas. We then moved to a lecture room where we went through the module handbook and timetable. The timetable for this module changed last minute due to unforeseen circumstances, so we now have it either on a Wednesday or Friday. After looking at all of the information about the module, we were then put in to production groups. I am now in a group with Ian, Jodie, Carlie and Kirsty. I am happy with this because I have not worked much with these classmates before, so it will give me a chance to get to know other people on the course a bit more.

Once we were sorted in to our groups, we were then informed of the roles that we would need to have within the group when working towards our assignments. Here are the details of each role:

Producer

The producer is the team leader and performs a variety of management and coordination roles in bringing together the many elements of a production. The producer works closely with the presenter in producing a script for the production. They also generally encourage the team and over see everything that goes on. On the day of rehearsal and the recording, the producer is in charge of coordinating the guests, overseeing the content and also keeping an eye on the presenter. On the day this person will use a camera.

Director

The director is the visualiser and is responsible for achieving the creative, visual and auditory effects of a production. This person creates the look and feel of the production, working closely with the cameras to instruct what they are picturing. They create the shooting script which is the movement, angles, and shots that the cameras will do throughout the production. 

Floor Manager

The floor manger is the director's lieutenant. They coordinate and manage everything that happens on the studio floor. They take control during rehearsal and recording, everyone has to listen to the floor manager. When they ask for quiet then everyone must be silent. The floor manager does the countdown to recording, and the carry a lot of responsibility on the day. On the day this person will use a camera.

Set Designer

The set designer has ultimate responsibility for the overall aesthetics of the show. They are the visually creative person, who designs everything that will be seen on camera (except the people!). Everyone will help this person to create their idea as the set is a big job! On the day this person will use a camera.

Presenter

The presenter is the talent and will present all the material in the show. During the music segment this person will have the chance to use a camera. They are responsible for the content and they work close with the producer to write a presenters script. 

All of these roles are equally important and we need to work as a close team to produce an end product that is worthy of this amazing new studio. On top of all of these individual details, we all have to research and generate ideas. We shouldn't trip other people up but suggesting ideas for the different areas that isn't yours is something that we should do. The more ideas the better!

The order of things should go as follows:

Idea...

Production research (content)...

Planning/booking/organisation...

Recording/transmission!

Simple? Well its going to be a lot of work, but I also know that this module is going to be a lot of fun. We have so much to do and not a lot of time to do it in, so I have my fingers and toes crossed that our productions go smoothly! For our main production assignment we are creating a pre-recorded, multi-camera studio magazine programme. We will create the structure, style, content and produce it all within our group. This idea has been derived from Ed Pugh, Media Consultant. We are creating essentially a pilot for Channel 4, a lunchtime programme which is to reflect Channel 4's essence in its entirety. However, we need to bring something new to the table, and so out of the box ideas are essential!

Well I can't wait to get started in this project,

Speak soon!