Changes in the Edit | Development ~ PP

There were only a few changes that needed to be made to each video after the rough cut viewing.

Sir Cloudesley's Silver Plate

I found an archive picture of the Flag ship itself, so when going back to the edit I added that in before the storm scene which I have now filmed. 

Before adding the storm scene, however, I decided to finish the majority of my colour correcting, with shots I had done previously, and I added the text to the end of the video. As said before, I wanted to keep the font consist throughout each video, so I used the 'Bickham Script Pro' font as it worked well with the historic tone and style I was going for.

I then added the credits and my own production logo to show that this video was created by me and a few others behind the scenes.

I then added the storm scene. During filming, I only got a few shots, but I moved the camera around, jolting it slightly, to try and create the feeling and sense of being on a ship during a storm. This is an idea I got from my tutor Helen in a previous tutorial we had quite early on. Once the shots had been placed into the timeline, I colour corrected them and made them quite dark trying to create a flashback type of effect. I also tried adding some lightning with an effect on Adobe Premiere Pro, but I found it quite difficult to use so I decided against it. With some practice I probably would've known how to use it, but I didn't want it to ruin the quality of the video.

Prisoner of War, Ship Model

The only adjustment I had to make for this video was the quick paced cutting of the other models. Instead of slowing down the edit, I got rid of one of the shots so instead of three shots it is now two. I think this works a lot better and its a lot nicer to watch as it runs smoother. 

I also then added the credits to this video and my production logo as well.

Charles Dickens' Paperweight

Out of all three videos this is the one that had the most changes, but there still weren't too many. 

For the voice over situation, I got my brother to do the Great Expectation parts and I added that to the video. 

But first I created the sepia effect and the vignette effect across the video.

For the first shot - starting sepia then fading into normal - I used an online tutorial to help me, but the different filters I used were the three-way colour corrector, the black and white filter, the colour balance filter, and the dust and scratches and noise filters. This gave the visual a good sepia effect whilst also adding some vintage and historic period tones to the visual. I then added another adjustment layer of just the three-way colour corrector and added a cross dissolve in between the two adjustment layers to create that fading effect.

To create the vignette effect throughout the video, I had to add a transparent video over all of my shots. Then on that video layer, I added the circle effect to create the vignette itself. With a change to the radius and the feather outer edge, the vignette was created and I have put it across all of the visuals. I did this because it gave the idea of the old type of look and tone, but also it creates a more artistic style. I almost feel like it gives the object some sophistication or some more significance which is a good touch to the video.

Along with this, I got rid of the static noise on the images and got rid of the loud paper sfx. I also adjusted the duration of the paper turning sfx and added the men talking sfx to the Court Hall. I think this sfx brings the scene to life a bit more and it works quite well.

Once I had recorded my brother doing the 'Great Expectations' voice over, I added that into the video, while also making sure there is a long enough gap between the last quote. By having this gap, it allows the audience to see the scene being set up and it gives them enough time to process this changed of quotes. As said, I made two versions of this video - one with the old voice over at the end, and one with the young voice over at the end - and I will show these to Rachel and Jeremy during the fine cut viewing, and see which one they prefer.

Like the other two videos, I added the credits and my own production logo at the end of the video.

I am really happy with these changes that have been made, and I think the final outcome of this videos are going to be really good.

Script Changes | Development ~ PP

After the rough cut, there were quite a few changes that had to be made to the script. They were all necessary to get the narrative as factual as possible.

Prisoner of War, Ship Model

When mentioning what the prisoners do as jobs on the Hulks ship, to the last sentence I added the words in red:

"and other's crafted models to sell to earn money"

By having this in there, I think it clearly tells the audience that was the purpose of them doing the jobs and crafting the models, instead of just doing it for fun.

Revolving around the same topic instead of the line "This model was made by the Prisoners as a memorial to those who were kept on the Hulks." which is said during the carving visuals, I have changed it to:

"The model was commissioned by a local person directly from a prisoner of war."

This sentence speaks more truth than the previous one, and this is something Jeremy suggested as well, so I know it is now factual which is what I wanted the narrative to be.

Below is the final draft of this video's script:

Sir Cloudesley's Silver Plate

There were quite a few changes made to some of the sentences in this video, but it needed to be done to keep the accuracy of the facts and the story. 

As mentioned before the line "...he served as a Member of Parliament for Rochester in 1695." has been changed to:

"...for Rochester from 1695." as it is more factual. 

Another line that has been changed is "Sir Cloudesley's Flag Ship set sail for England in 1707." It now says:

 "Sir Cloudesley's Flag Ship was returning to England with his fleet in 1707". 

This new constructed sentence, with help from Jeremy, gives more of a background to the story and sets the scene in a clearer way.

Following the line "The storm was so bad the ship didn't make it." I have added:

"The flagship along with 5 others crashed into the Gilstone Rocks..."

I thought this was a good addition as, again, it sets the scene and it is more factual. I found out about this information from Jeremy during our rough cut viewing, and decided to add it in as it was quite an important part to the story.

And as mentioned before, I added:

"...sitting proudly in the Court Hall at Rochester Guildhall Museum, along with Sir Cloudesley's..."

I did this to make it clear to the audience that, that is where you can find the object. I also added the word "Sir" overtime before saying "Cloudesley" as it's more respectful, and this is something Rachel wanted within the narrative.

Below is the final draft of this videos script:

Charles Dickens' Paperweight

There weren't any script changes to this script.

Below is the final draft of this videos script:

I am happy with all of the changes that were made to all three scripts throughout the process of the video, and I think the new additions work really well.

Rough Cut Viewing | Development ~ PP

After making a rough cut edit, I went to the Guildhall and met up with Rachel and Jeremy to show them the edit and see what they thought of it. This was a good way of making sure they are happy with the progress I am making while also giving me some suggestions on changes to be made to make the videos even better.

Most of the changes that were suggested were for the voice over script, however there were a few minor adjustments specific for the shots.

Charles Dickens' Paperweight

• It was suggested, since the second quote is from 'Great Expectations' and the character who is talking is a younger guy, that instead of an old man voice over for that quote.
• I will find someone who is younger to do this voice over and then re add it to the video, which won't be too difficult.
• There was also talk of having the last quote either with the old man voice or the young man voice.
• I have said that I will make two different ones with a different ending, and when I show them for the fine cut viewing, they can decide which one they prefer.
• They also thought there should be a larger gap between the first and second quote, as currently after the first one is over, the second one appears straight afterwards.
• I agreed with them on this, and I will make sure there is some time before the second quote to create the scene of the Court Hall.
• Much like my feelings towards the end of this edit, we all agreed that the loud paper sfx of it rustling was too distracting, but the other one, which is paper being turned, can stay for the first quote.
• I was thinking, for the second quote, about adding a faint sfx of men talking in the background to create the court room sort of effect. I'll add this and see what they see in the fine cut viewing.
• Jeremy suggested a good idea which was, to start the image looking old with a sepia type filter to it, and then fade into the normal imagery of the paperweight to create the contrast between old and new.
• I quite liked this idea, and I will experiment with the different filters to make it look quite old and vintage.
• When watching the video back, I realised that the static noise on the visuals didn't look very great, and I wasn't happy with the outcome of this, so we all agreed that it didn't need to be there.
• I did suggest the idea of having a vignette effect throughout the video, and both Rachel and Jeremy liked that idea, so I am going to experiment with the different filters offered to me.

Prisoner of War, Ship Model

• Jeremy suggested having more of a mention as to the fact that the prisoners wouldn't have made the model as a memorial to the other prisoners, they would've done it to earn money .
• We discussed this and came up with a new way or wording some of the voice over parts that mention this, and I will add this to the script.
• Jeremy also said that the shots before seeing the actual model on display were quite quickly cut. We discussed either slowing the cut down, or only having two shots instead of three.
• This is something I will experiment with when editing for the fine cut.

Sir Cloudesley's Silver Plate

• There were a few adjustments on the wordings of some of the sentences within the narrative. It was suggested that instead of saying Sir Cloudesley was an MP in 1659, it should say from 1659 as he was MP for quite a few years.
• I've also decided to add a few more additions to the narrative dependent on what I discussed with Rachel and Jeremy.
• These will be added to the script.
• When the narrative mentions the plate sitting proudly at Guildhall, we have changed that to "sitting proudly in the Court Hall at Rochester Guildhall Museum" as it's more direct.
• I have also shot the storm scene now, so I will need to edit that in and also maybe find an archive picture of the ship itself.
• This is something I can experiment with.

The overall outcome of this viewing is really positive, and they both really enjoyed and liked what I had created. Rachel did mention that the Medway logo is out of date so she will send me the new one, and she also mentioned me putting my own name on the video, so I will add some credits and my own production logo to the end as well.

Paperweight Edit | Development ~ PP

To start the paperweight edit, much like the other two edits, I had the script and shot list in front of me to see what shots I had got during the shoot day and what order they all go in.

Compared to the other two videos, I decided to start with the voice over, rather than the visuals. I did this because the visuals for this video weren't set in stone, and I thought by having the voice over done first it would help when deciding what shots to put where.
I split the voice over into sections and spread them out across the sequence timeline to make them sound natural together and to make them sound smooth throughout the video. This gave me a good idea of what the duration will potentially be in the final outcome, and it gave me a good idea of how long the shots should be.
Instead of having me do the voice over, I got my granddad to do it as his voice resembled more of a Charles Dickens tone and style than mine did. I also added an echo to the voice over by using the studio reverb effect, as I thought it gave it an old tone and style, which I quite liked.

Once I did this, I started adding the visuals onto the screen. I followed the script, but I also changed a few shots depending on whether I thought the shots next to each other were too similar or whether I thought they should be somewhere else in the video. I also started to experiment with the overlay of the court hall image. This took quite a while to get right as I wanted the audience to be able to see the paperweight and the paper shots as well as the court hall image, so the opacity had to be adjusted a few times.

There are a few different shots within this section, so trying to get the opacity right for each shot is quite difficult, however I have managed to get it to the point where I like what you can see for the visuals.

Once I had all of the visuals in the timeline, I started adding a few sound effects. I didn't add quite as much as I did with the other two videos, as I didn't want to overpower the video with sounds. When I first thought about this idea, I had the thought of having some static sound in the background throughout the video, so I added that very quietly throughout the whole video. This effect makes the video seems quite old and almost like the whole video is a flashback which is something that I liked. I also added some paper sound effects, but I'm not sure if they are going to stay. I added one that has quite a lot of noise, as it is paper being crumpled up and ripped, and the other is a lot more subtle. I'm going to see what Rachel and Jeremy say, but I'm not 100% happy with the loud sound effect as it can be quite distracting.

Going back to the visuals,  I decided to add the 'Warp Stabiliser' effect on the majority of the shots, as I wanted the shots to look pristine and flow really well. These shots were originally hand held and although they were quite smooth, I thought with the effect on them made the shots look so much better and I added them to the shots that I thought it worked well with. I then colour corrected the shots and added a static noise effect, which is something that I'm not sure if I like it or not so I'll see what Rachel and Jeremy say and then it might be gone after the rough cut.

The last thing I added to the video is the text, the Medway logo and the UCA logo. For the text, I wanted to keep it consist within all three videos, so I used the font 'Bickham Script Pro' as.I thought it went well with the old fashioned sort of look. Not only did I add the text on the last shot, I also added it throughout the video, showing what the quote being spoken was from. I have yet to add this to the other videos, but that can be done after the rough cut viewing.

I am going to show this to Rachel and Jeremy for the rough cut and see what they say about the sound effects that I have added, because I'm not 100% sure on them.

Ship Model Edit | Development ~ PP

To start the ship model edit, I had the script and shot list in front of me, like I did for the last edit. I did this so I knew what shots I had got during the shoot day and so I knew what order they all had to go in.

I started by putting all of the shots for the ship model into a folder, and I imported that folder onto Premiere Pro. Similar to the silver plate edit, I added the shots to the sequence according to the script to give me a starting point for the duration of the video and the order of each shot. I found doing this useful as I was able to see if it each shot look good together or not, and I was then able to change the shots if I wasn't so sure of them.

I then added the voice over and placed them into sections and the order into what I thought sounded natural. I didn't want the narrative to be one after the other as I didn't think that was very natural, so I made sure to leave some gaps where the sound will be just static or some sound effects. Much like the silver plate video, I decided to do the voice over for this video as I thought I my tone of voice suited the video and kept the audience engaged.

I then started to add sound effects to the video to along with the visuals. The main sound effect I wanted within the video was a flash type of sound effect. I wanted this to differetinate from different locations and different periods of time. Along with this flash sound effect, there is a dip to black transition so not only can you hear a flash, you can see one as well. I did this to create a flashback sort of effect, which in turn would keep the audience's interest and engagement. I thought this effect, along with a change of colour on the visuals, would be effective throughout the video and would show a clear passing of time, which would give the video a montage tone and feel.
I also added a sound effect of men talking and 'murmuring' to create the atmosphere, along with a ship ambient sound effect, where you can hear rigging and the boat creaking and the waves from the sea.

I then added a creaking door sfx to start the video and a cross dissolve into the visual so it has the effect of someone opening a door to the entrance of a hulks ship, or something along those lines. To add to the atmosphere of being on a hulks ship, I have added flies and bugs sfx, waves crashing and seagulls. These sfx create a good atmosphere and sense as to what it would've felt like to be on these sort of ships, and it gives the audience a realistic view, and almost makes them feel like they are on the ship themselves.
Then to go along with the exploration of the model, I have added some cannon sfx and wind sfx to go along with the visual of the cannons along the side of the ship, and the three flags that were placed on the ship. I also added some carving sfx to add to the realism of the model being carved by the prisoners on the ship.

I then moved onto colour correcting the shots, and brightening up the dark shots of the Hulks interior. I started off with the three-way colour corrector, which is what I use to colour correct every shot within the video, but then I used the shadow/highlight effect. I found this effect useful as I was able to adjust the levels of how dark the shadows are and how light the highlights are. Luckily, I wanted these shots to be quite dark for a natural effect, so the darkness of the original shot didn't create too much of a problem.

For the flash black scenes, I decided to make the black and white, to create an old effect but also to create the difference between present day and past tense, which goes along with the narrative. I used the three colour corrector, auto contrast and levels to create this black and white effect. I did think about using the black and white filter, but I wanted it to have a hint of colour, so the colour isn't so simple, it has quite a lot of depth. I think this makes the image look more interesting and artistic and I'm ready happy with the outcome of this flashback segment of the video.

Since I haven't finished the colour correcting of all of the visuals, so when I show this rough cut to Rachel and Jeremy, I will mention the incomplete colour correction, but I don't think it will be too much of an issue.

Silver Plate Edit | Development ~ PP

To start the silver plate edit I had the script and shot list in front of me, so I knew what shots I had got during the shoot day and so I knew what order they all had to go in.

I put all of the footage for the silver plate in a folder, and imported those clips into Adobe Premiere Pro. I then roughly placed the shots on the timeline, following the script so I had an idea as to what shot went where. This also meant I could changed my mind about what shot I wanted to use if I didn't think it looked too good. I added estimated where I wanted the different sections of the videos to be and how long I wanted them, and to do this I added in some transitions just so I had a rough idea as to where different clips should end.

I then shot the voice over, and I made the decision to voice over it myself just as it was a lot easier and far less complicated and stressful. I knew how I wanted it to sound, and I think my tone of voice suited the tone and style I was going for within the video.

With the voice over done, I added each of the different sections into the timeline and spaced them out where I wanted them. Obviously I didn't want them exactly after one another, so I listen to each of them and kept re-arranging the gaps to make sure it was where I wanted them. This actually gave me a good sense as what the duration of the video would end up being, and I could make sure my shots all suited around the narrative.

Then once I was happy with the positioning of the voice overs, and most of the shots had been added into the timeline, I moved onto the most time consuming part of the video, which was the animation.
To start I had to create the image on photoshop. I could've used my previous experiment as I liked that image, however the size was too small so I had to start from scratch. However, I still really like the new one and I think it looks more realistic and lighter than the other one which is good.
I then imported the image into After Effects and started the animation.
I wanted it look realistic while also keeping that animation tone and feel to the video. To do this, I decided to add some fish and a few other sea creatures to add to the realism of the scene and I made the move along the screen to make it look like they were swimming in the sea.

Then once I had positioned the fish and other sea creatures, I moved onto the multiple photoshopped images of the plate. During the shoot day I took a photo of the plate for this scene, and I then used the liquify tool to mould the plate into a ball. I started by making it fall into the water and then I got to turn and move around in the sea, bashing into the rocks which will go along with the narrative.

I then faded each of the images of the plate in and out so it looks like time has passed and the plate has reformed into a ball shape. In terms of the duration of this part, I made sure to see how long the voice over is in the Premiere document and made sure it fit in that time space. So when I exported this into premiere it would fit the gap for it.

Once this underwater scene was placed within the sequence, I started to clean up the voice over audio, so it all fit in place and it sounded smooth and natural. I then started to add sound effects, the first one I added was a royal trumpet sound to the Sir Cloudesley description as I thought it made him seem important and it would grab the audience's attention. A few other sound effects I added were Ship noises, to portray them being on a ship during the storm, ocean and waves sound effects, along with storms and thunderstorms sound effects. Before the underwater scene I added a rocks falling sound effect to go along with the narrative, which then fades into the underwater sound effect to bring the animation scene to life. I also added a flash sound effect to split the underwater scene apart from the ending shots of the Court Hall.
I also started on the colour correction. I didn't do all of the clips, but I wanted Rachel and Jeremy to have an idea as to the colour and the tone I was going for. I also hadn't shot all of the river and storm shots yet, so I left a gap free for those shots to be added in.

When I show this rough cut to Rachel and Jeremy, I will mention the gap for the storm shots, while also mentioning the incomplete colour correction, but I don't think either will be too much of an issue.

The Real Thing | Rehearsal #5 & Live Show ~ SP

Like the previous day, this day was also a very busy day for me. I didn't feel like I was running around the whole day as everything has been set up and ready to go. However, I did need to make sure everything was working well and Del told me not assume anything. So if I thought about everything that needed to be in place I had to make sure it was there ready. I did a lot of checking with everyone, and I made sure to talk to everyone and make sure they were happy with everything going on.

• The first thing we did was re-tape the floor. We had taped the flooring with white tape the day before, while we waited for the black tape to arrive. We had it for this day, so myself, Sammi and Nisserin re-taped the floor with the black tape, which didn't take us long.

• The lighting guys came in early and rigged everything they needed to. I was in the studio at the time so I could oversee everything going on and Ellen was there too to be of assistance to them.

• The day before, the cameras were placed in the gallery over night, while the tripods were marked and were in the gallery all ready to go for our first rehearsal at half 10.

• Everything was in place when we came back to the studio, so the morning was spent making sure everyone was ready and where they should be. 
• The cameras were all set up and attached to the system of the vision mixing desk. Everyone came onto the set ready for our first rehearsal of the day. 
• We were all really prepared, so the first part of the morning was quite calm and relaxed as every knew what they were doing.
• The lights had been set up and ready to use, so it was our first rehearsal with the lights, meaning I had to add new cues to my list. Ellen was in the room with the lighting guys so if I missed a cue she would be there to say something, but I tried to remember to cue them when I needed to.
• I worked out that the lighting cues were mainly based on the music and when the music sting at the beginning of the round was played and the same with the end of round music sting. This made things a bit easier for me as I knew that I had to say "go music" and then "go lights".
• I had previously asked James if he would like me to cue him for the lights. He told me that in a professional environment they would usually know when to come in and wouldn't need to be cued in. However, for this show we agreed that I would say "go lighting" or "go lights" and he would know what to do.
• We also set up the audience seating plan and decided on having two rows at the front, 5 rows on the left, 5 rows on the right, and 4 rows in the middle behind camera 3. Originally I wasn't a fan of this but we had to do it because of the space we had, and ultimately it looked good once the chairs were where they should be.

• Our first rehearsal was at half past 10 and we had another one 15 minutes after the first one.
• Both of these rehearsals went really well, I felt like, and I was really happy with the progress of the show. I made sure that everyone else was happy with everything, and I definitely felt a lot more confident with my role and the show in general.
• Once the second rehearsal had finished, James has asked if we could block out the show once more so he could work out everything in his room. The contestants had been standing in the wrong place for the spotlights on Round 4, so this is something we had to make sure was told to the contestants.
• Imogen had everyone on the floor help her do this, and I directed them from the gallery after the James said when he was ready to move onto the next round set up.
• Once this was done, James was happy and Del arranged to have a group meeting on the studio floor.
• Before breaking for lunch, we had a massive clean up of the studio. All the chairs were weren't using were put behind the set, and everything that we didn't want the audience to see was either thrown away or placed behind the set.
• I took this time to speak with Imogen and make sure she was happy with everything we had discussed and I confirmed what our plans were so we both agreed with everything.
• The contestants arrived, Sam and Imogen went through the set with them and told them where they should be standing, while going through some of the rounds.

We then broke for lunch.

• After we had lunch, I had a chat with Del about the show just to keep my nerves at bay and to remind myself of everything.
• We then had a group chat in the gallery explaining everything and we all chatted as a group to keep everyone calm and happy ready for the show.
• I discussed with Laura about changing the colour of the stripe in the split screen and she did so. We found that a dark red suited the split screen better as it looked like the red from the set and the logo.
• I then decided I wanted to go through the VT's again, just because of the changes made yesterday and because it had crashed a few times.

• Due to Sam being in charge of the contestants, I found it very hard and stressful to get him and others ready to do a run through of the VT's.
• When I went out to go find him, it was then that we found there was a problem. There wasn't anyone else to look after the contestants when I needed Sam to do the VT's. With some discussion I decided that the green room people would have to look after them while Sam came into the gallery, as this really needed to be done.
• Also due to Sam having another job, the green room runners needed to look after them as Sam would have to be in the gallery a good half an hour before the show started.
• Sam came into the gallery, I talked to Sammi and Paul about the sound, and everyone was ready to do a run-through.
• There were a few timing problems with the VT's, so Rosie had to adjust her timers. It's a good thing we did this run-through as we wouldn't have known the timings were wrong.
• The VT's were running smoothly, everyone was happy with them, and so was I.
• I then talked to the floor manager and made sure she had everything in place ready to go.

• Through talk back, I told Imogen to get the audience in at 2pm. She said that not everyone had turned up by then, so we waited 5 minutes for them to arrive. Then at 5 past 2 they were seated. 
• The warm up act, found by Sam, did his act while I was checking with everyone that they were all ready and standing by for the show.
• At 20 past 2 Simon and Imogen did their talks to the audience, and it was decided to leave the audience in the dark, with no music, so the tension could be increased while they waited.
• The live show then started at 2:30pm.

• My first impression of the live show, after we finished, was that it was awful and that I had done an awful job at directing. However, after a few minutes and talking to people in the gallery, I actually reflected on the show, and thought that we actually did really well.
• There were a few mistakes, but they were very minor mistakes and some of them weren't noticeable for the audience as they wouldn't know any better.
• There was a point where Laura put the emoji on the screen instead of the VT, and at first she was gutted that she made that mistake, but after taking to Helen and Del it was decided that we could edit over that and make it work.
• The pie face game broke during round 3, which obviously made us worry in the gallery as that was the whole purpose of the game and we didn't have a back up idea. Eventually, the game worked again, but that whole situation was covered well in a close up shot of that particular machine, so it didn't matter that it broke momentarily. 
• There was also a part of the show where I animated the scores graphics, and because I wanted to get a shot of the award being passed to the contestant, I cut to a different shot before hiding the graphic. This is something we probably can't fix in editing, but it doesn't look too bad.
• There was also a part where the lights were all dark, and we weren't sure what happened. Apparently George wasn't stood in the right place, and we should have at least one shot where it looks ok, but in the gallery at the time I didn't see one shot where the light was on him.
• This is something myself and Laura will look into when doing a small amount of post production on the show, but if nothing can be done about it, then we will just have to leave it.
• Even though there were a few tense moments in the gallery, I still think we were all quite calm and collective and dealt with the situations well.

• After having a goodbye talk from Simon and the audience cheering for us, we took some group pictures with the set, and then we started to de-rig the set and equipment.
• This was quite a long process and I oversaw everything, making sure things were done properly. The set was taken down quite quickly, as was the lighting equipment and the camera equipment.
• Once everything was finished and taken out of the studio, I had one last look to make sure it was all gone, and then I went back to the base room to talk to the others about the show.

Overall, I am really happy with the outcome of the show and I am so proud of everyone. I think we all did our jobs well, and on the last day we all knew what we were doing and felt confident about it.

Directing, at first, was hard for me as I doubted myself a lot, but after growing and developing into the role after every rehearsal I've definitely grown in confidence. I left the show wanting to do it again, and although when the live show was going on, I was nervous, I think that if I did that week after week I would feel a lot less nervous each time. 

I really enjoyed my time as director, and I thought, by the end of the show, I had the confidence and authority I needed to be able to do the role well.

The show went really well, the audience enjoyed it, and I think everyone was really happy with it. I'm really looking forward to watching it back and editing a few of the minor mistakes that were made.

Set Rig & Dress Rehearsal | Rehearsal #4 ~ SP

This day was a very busy day for me. I felt like I spent the whole day running around finding the people I needed to talk too and making sure everything was in order. However, even though the day was pretty hectic, it made me feel a lot more confident about the live show.

• The first task of the day was putting the flooring, provided by Sammi, onto the studio floor and making sure it was in the right position. The day before, myself and a few others helped Sammi to bring the flooring onto the studio floor so it could flatten.
• As I wanted to come in early for this day, I helped Sammi move the flooring into the correct position and tape it together. Nisserin came in shortly and started helping along with Ellen who assisted a while later on her arrival. It was quite a big task and it took a while, but with the amount of people helping put it together, it didn't take as long as it would've with just one person doing the job.
• While we were putting the finishing touches to the floor, the set design team arrived and started to unload everything in their van. Previously, myself, Sammi and Nisserin had marked out the centre of the flooring, which would then be the centre of the set. We marked where I wanted the back of the set to be, so as soon as the flooring was finished, the set design team started to build the flats of the set in the correct positions.

• I told the set design team where the back flat would be and then I let them do their job. I kept an eye on the task, but I didn't want to get too involved as I knew they knew what they were doing. 
• One item of the set design that I wasn't too sure on was the red carpet. Since the day of seeing their new layout of the set, I knew the red carpet would be a decision we would have to make on the day. The red carpet was too wide for each podium to be on either side of it, and where we wanted to place the podiums, there wouldn't be a big enough gap for the host to walk through them.
• After chatting with the set design team, myself and Josh decided we didn't want it on the set, but instead it would just behind the door so it was still used.

• During the set being put together, the two lighting guys turned up, James and Chris, and I introduced myself to them. They had already been briefed by Ellen, as she is the lighting assistant, but I wanted to check that they were happy with everything. 
• I previously printed off a hand out of the 4/5 main positions of the host and contestants, and Ellen gave this to the lighting guys. When speaking with the two of them, I had mentioned that we will mark out the positions on the set once all of the flats had been put into place, so they know exactly where their marks will be.

• Imogen, the floor manager, came down onto the floor and we went through the props that the set team had brought in. Josh was involved in this as well just to see if he liked what they had created, luckily we both were really happy with the outcome of the props.
• When looking at the podiums, we found that they were very heavy, and Imogen was slightly concerned, which was very understandable.
• The original plan was to take the podiums off for Round 3 and then take the host's podium off for Round 4. 
• After speaking to Del and discussing what we could do, it was decided that we would leave the all podiums on the set for Round 3 and then they would all come off for Round 4.
• This made it a lot easier for Imogen as she had more audience runners to help carry and take other things on and off set.
• Myself and Imogen then went through the script to make sure we had everything the way it should be. We went through what props needed to be taken on and off the set and when, and what cameras we will be coming back to in the edit.
• After going through this we were both feeling confident about the show. There are a few that might have to change throughout this rehearsal since this is the first rehearsal with the props and the set, but we are prepared for these changes.

• Sammi and Paul had flagged up a problem with the sound the day before this rehearsal day. They had mentioned that the buzzers had a very loud hiss to them and it would be bad during the live show.
• Paul had suggested to us that we don't use the sound of the buzzers and do something in order for Sammi to be able to see the buzzers so she could play it through her laptop.
• There was a lot of discussion on this day, and a lot of ideas were suggested as we tried to come up with the best solution.
• We had seen that the set design team had some spare blocks and we tested them out to see if they could work as a stand. Sammi had brought with her some lights that when you press down on them they light up. However, we wouldn't be using the light system, instead we would just be using the pressing down mechanism so Sammi could see when the contestant pressed down on the buzzers or not.
• We talked with the set design people, and asked if they could glue together some of those blocks, attach them to both of the contestants podiums and paint them gold so they matched the theme. They were more than happy to do so, and we eventually had them working on for the first rehearsal of the day.
• I think this is a good solution as it gave Sammi the ability to see the buzzers being pressed from her position on the sound room and also it looked good as part of the set.

• The lighting guys started to rig their equipment and to help them with the process we began to block out each section of the show.
• To start with we blocked out Round 1 & 2. Myself, Imogen and Josh got all of the props we needed for those rounds, so the podiums and we placed them where I thought they should be. 
• James and Chris suggested a few times moving the podiums slightly to work with the lighting which I thought was a good idea. Then once we had planned out those positions we marked down the set.
• We did the same with Round 3 and Round 4 and every position was marked on the set so Imogen knew where the contestants would be standing and where the props should be placed. 
• This helped the lighting guys as it aided them with knowing where to rig the lights and where to position them.

• I then went into the gallery and after speaking to Del, I decided I want to go through the VT's with Sam, Rosie, Paul and Laura.
• I wanted to make sure the VT's were timed correctly for Rosie, I also wanted to make sure they were playing ok, and I wanted to make sure Paul felt happy with where to put the faders for them. 
• When going through the VT's there were a few moments when they would crash and we weren't sure why. We made sure to keep going through the videos to make sure they had buffered properly. Del was in the room at the time, and we decided that if the video crashed I could either cut off it, or I could stay on it and hope that it would be frozen for too long.
• I decided that if it was frozen for a few seconds I would stay on it, but if I asked Sam why it was frozen and he didn't know why and it was on screen frozen for a long time, I would cut off it.
• During this run through we also found that one of the VT's ended very weirdly, and the credits were in the wrong order. The VT editors then changed this and so did Ellen who did the credits. 
• After everyone was happy with the VT's, I decided to run through the graphics with Nisserin and Laura and make sure they were al working properly and looked good on screen.

We then stopped for a quick lunch while the flooring was being cleaned. During lunch the cameras were being set up by the camera operators and they were being placed in the correct positions.

• Before our first rehearsal I wanted to make sure Camera 5 was in the right position as in all the previous rehearsals, camera 5 was in different positions all the time. Even though, throughout all rehearsals camera 5 was on the right looking at the set, I decided to switch it to being on the left side looking at the set.
• The main decision for this was because the door was on the right, and I wanted it to look directly on from the door so the entrance shots looked better and more effective. 
• The only problem that occurred through this was Camera 2 was sometimes in shot. To solve this problem I made sure that Cheyenne, who was operating camera 2, knew when she heard the end of round music sting, or heard Rosie start counting down, to be ready to move out of the shot. 
• It's not a massive problem if Cheyenne is seen on screen, but hopefully with the rehearsals everything will work out good.

• Our first rehearsal was at 2:30pm and everyone was ready for it. The cameras were all set up, the mic were on the host and the contestant, and everyone was happy to go. The only thing that wasn't ready was the lighting but that was ok as we had done all of our other rehearsals without it.
• Before our rehearsal I made sure all the cameras were working and we could see all of them, and I made sure everyone was happy to go. 
• We did 3 rehearsals and all of them were really good. I think the more rehearsals we did the better it got, but it definitely helped that the set was up as it made it look 10 times better.
• We had a lot of comments from people that the gallery was so calm and we all looked like we knew what we were doing. I really appreciated this and I thought we all have improved so much since the first few rehearsals we did. This makes me feel so much more confident and happy with the show.

• A few things that we sorted out during the rehearsals was what to do if we had a tie at the end of round 3. This was a planned tie but no one in the gallery apart from Josh knew it would happen.
• When trying to sort out a plan for the tie break, I knew not to get involved. If it affected the look of the show I would get involved and say my opinions, but as I only needed to cover it and pick the shots for it, I just focused on that.
• During the VT after this, we chatted as a group in the gallery and we knew that, that tie break took a lot of time out of the show. It was decided that there would be a tie break question in an envelope and the contestants would be rushed to answer the question so not so much time was taken out of the show.
• Also the podiums being on set during Round 3 and being taken off for Round 4 didn't make a lot of sense as they weren't using the podiums during Round 3. So it was decided that we would go with the original prop plan which was the podiums would be taken off before Round 3.
• Also, due to needing time to fill at the end of the show, potentially, Helen suggested not to play the end entrance music so early on at the end as you could tell the host was filling out the end of the show. I talked to Sammi about this and she was happy to do that, and we decided to start at -10 when Rosie is counting down towards the set of the credits.
• When trying this out it worked really well and it made the show look better and look a lot more natural.

Overall, I think this dress rehearsal and set rig went really well and I feel so much more confident with the show and how it will work out. We only have two rehearsals on the live show day but I think that if we had anymore we wouldn't do the live show as well.

I'm feeling confident with everyone and everything, and I'm feeling really positive about the live show. 

Schedule for Dress Rehearsal & Live Show Days | Production Notes ~ SP

Here is the schedule for the dress rehearsal day on Wednesday:

I am scheduled to come in for 9am, but I've decided to come in slightly earlier in order to prepare myself for the two busy days ahead but also not make sure everything is in order before the set design team arrive and put the set together.

Sammi has to put down her floor before that as well, so the more hands helping her, the quicker it will take. 

The set and lights should be rigged at around 9-half 9 and the crew should all be on the floor at 10am. If there isn't anything for them to do, however, then they will be sent back up to the base room as we don't want too many people just wandering around the studio doing nothing.

If everything goes to plan our first rehearsal will start at around half past 2, which is when the live show, the day after, will record.

We are hoping to get at least 2 rehearsals in, at a push 3, in order to really prepare ourselves for the real thing.

At the end of the day, the cameras will be taken down and stored in the gallery over night, while the tripods and everything else will stay where it is already.

Here is the schedule for the live show on Thursday:

The morning schedule has been changed slightly:

I am scheduled to come in for about half past 8, 9am, but like Wednesday, I'm going to come in earlier as I want to be there to oversee the lighting being put in. Also if there are any changes that need to be made before that, then I can always do that in the morning.
Our first rehearsal starts at 10 am, and we have a second one at 10. 45 am. Then once they are over we have no more run throughs of the show before the actual live recording of it.
We all have lunch around 12pm and get back to the studio floor around 1pm for a group chat and final prep for the show. The audience will be seated in the studio at around 2, the warm up act will perform and then Simon and Imogen will say their speeches to do with fire exits and other info such as that.
The live record starts at 2:30pm and finishes at 3pm. We then have a final thank you and de rig the set and equipment. We should then be out of the studio by 4pm.

Hopefully everything will run smoothly on both days, and hopefully we will get enough rehearsals in to ensure that everyone is happy with the show.
I'm glad we only have 2 rehearsals on the actual day as we don't want everyone to feel too tired to do the show, as that will come across on screen.

I'm nervous for the live show, but I think it will turn out really good and we'll all be really happy with the outcome.

Final Deadline for Everything | Development ~ SP

Today was the final deadline for the VT's, the sound, the Opening Sequence and others.

After watching the first rough cut of all of the VT's, they were advised to reshoot, which they did. On watching the majority of the final cuts I'm really happy with them and I think they've all done a good job. Going on from this it is Sam's job to make sure they are all on the VT system in the studio as he is the VT operator.
The Opening Sequence made by Nisserin and Ellen was also really good, and I thought it introduced the show really well.

The final script is annotated and written, although there still may be some changes made they definitely won't be huge ones that would need a brand new script.
We added a few new shots in our last rehearsal, some were advised by Del, and others were done through the initiative of the cameras operators. These shots were added into the script along with the original shots.
Next to the Sequences of all 4/5 rounds, I have added a little note that say "As Directed'. What this means is, I won't be following the script throughout the rounds, so the order that is in the script may not be the order they are cut in. However the shot sizes will still be the same and the cameras will also be the same.

The Contestants have been confirmed. Myself, Josh and Sam, had a Skype call session with the three contestants that had applied for the show. We found one of them definitely not suitable as he didn't have a very good knowledge on movies which is the main requirement we had. We did find two people we liked. I preferred one to the other, but due to them being the only one's left we could only pick from them.
One thing I didn't particularly like was the fact that we had two males as contestants, along with a male host, and a male character in two of the VT's. I did voice my concern to Josh and Sam, and they knew I wasn't very happy, but there wasn't much we could do, however I still thought we could carry on looking.
During a group production meeting, Helen voiced her concern over the matter two, which I was really happy with. Simon suggested a female who loves movies, works at a cinema, and would love to do it. We got in contact with her and she was definitely up for it.
So we now have one male contestant, Dan, and one female contestant, Helen.

All of the sounds have been chosen and approved by myself and Josh, meaning Sammi can purchase them all and have them all ready for the show. I talked to Sammi about the possible use of sound effects, and Josh was briefed slightly, however we all agreed that it would sound too fake and artificial which is something I didn't want. We decided instead to have signs for the audience runners to hold up, and in post production Sammi will alter the sound of the audience so it sounds louder and fuller than it will be on the day.
I was happy with this decision and thought it would work quite well.

So far, I'm happy with how everything has turned out and I'm feeling fairly confident with the running of the show.
We haven't had much luck with the communication of the set design team. We've asked for pictures of the set, and we've had pictures of some of the props but other than that we've not had much from them. That's made a bit nervous as they've had to change a few things but they have yet to tell us what. I'm hoping when they come in on Wednesday that they've done a good job and that the design isn't too far from what they previously showed us.

We have our first years recruited and know who our stand ins are for the dress rehearsals. We are waiting on the schedules for the dress rehearsal and the live show day, but we know roughly how it's all going to work out.
We go live at half past 2 and finish at 3 for the real thing.
I think we are prepared, but I will feel a lot better and a lot more confident and excited once the set is in and everything is running the way it should be.

Notes on Rehearsal Recording | Development ~ SP

Here is the recorded rehearsal from last week:


When watching this rehearsal, I decided to make some notes on factors that I thought needed to be improved or thought on.

My notes:

• Hosts entrance cue is too late.
• Once we mix into the studio on Camera 5, there's a long gap between the cut and the entrance of the host.
• In order to improve this, I will need to cue the presenter in earlier, just after cutting into the studio, so there isn't that dead space at the beginning of the show.
• Entrance music dip is too late.
• I felt like the entrance music at the start is being cut off too late and you almost can't hear the host over the music.
• The order in which I've been cueing everything at that point in the show is "Cue presenter - Dip sound - Cut to 3". In order to have the sound dip earlier I will now cue it in the order of "Dip sound - Cue presenter - Cut to 3".
• This will work better as the presenter will still be talking while the music is fading out and he'll start speaking before we cut to him, which means that you'll be able to hear the presenter well and it will look good on screen. 
• Cameras not focused.
• I noticed at the beginning, camera 3 wasn't focused for the MCU on the host.
• Before we start shooting and before the rehearsals start next week, I will make sure camera 3 has the opportunity to frame his camera with the host in position. This shot is very important and needs to be focused, so I will converse with Troy (camera 3 operator) and Imogen (floor manager) and make sure he gets time to prepare for that shot. 
• Sound effects - audience clapping, cheering, laughing, etc.
• There have been a few mentions of this from other people, and I think it might be useful to get some audience sound effects.
• Obviously, where we don't have a big audience during rehearsals, it's hard to visualise and imagine the clapping and laughing, hence why the thought of sound effects has been introduced.
• I will mention this to Sammi and Josh and see what their opinions on the matter are. I don't want it to sound fake and artificial, but at the same time I would rather we have some response than none at all.
• We could also have cards for the runners to hold up, so the audience know when to clap and cheer and so on.
• Cuts too slow.
• I found, when watching, that the cuts are quite slow and I want them to be faster.
• This is something I will have to work on myself through the standbys and cuts, but I will also talk to Laura about this and make sure that the cuts we make aren't too slow.
• Saying that, Del did say it's better to have a slow cut but really well done show, than a quick cut awful show. I will keep this mind when talking to Laura and making the decision on the length of the cuts.
• Missing the side cameras.
• I knew this before watching the recording, but I kept missing the side cameras that I've put in the script.
• I love the idea of the side cameras and I think they work well with the show, I just keep missing them and in turn that means Camera 2 (who does the side cameras) miss them also.
• I will look through the script and keep remembering the moments where there are side cameras and hopefully this will help me remember them. However, if I do forget then I will have to make a decision as to whether to keep them in or not.
• Round 3 tables are wobbly.
• I noticed that the tables we will be using for Round 3 are quite wobbly, and not very sturdy.
• This does concern me slightly, as it wouldn't be very practical having the tables moving all the time.
• I have spoken to Imogen about this and she told me that Sammi has suggested wrapping some tape around the head of the table. We will do this during the dress rehearsal day and see if that makes much of a difference, and if it doesn't than we will have to think about finding different tables to use.
• Cameras moving while still live.
• One of the biggest things I noticed was that the cameras on singles of the contestants kept moving while they were still live.
• This, unfortunately, is a problem due to the cameras not having tally lights, however the camera operators can listen to me and hear when I'm about to cut to a different shot.
• I will talk to the camera people about this, and tell them to stay on that shot until I cut off it. If this still happens I will cut off that shot as quickly as possible.
• Host looking at iPad too much.
• There have been a few comments, and I have noticed myself, that the Host has been relying on the iPad too much and is always looking down at it. This makes the show quite hard to watch as you're not really getting much eye contact with the host.
• This will be improved by someone, either myself, Josh or Imogen, talking to George about it and asking him not to rely on the iPad too much. He needs to learn the majority of his lines, in order for the show to be better and more enjoyable.
• Also the MCU shots of the host will look better and I can use them more.
• Cut off emoji too late.
• There was a moment in the first round that the emoji was cut off too late.
• I have decided that once the contestants buzz in for their answer, I will immediately cut to a single of that contestant which will then capture him saying his answer.
• If the cut is still too late, or the single isn't on the right contestant at the right time, then I will cut to a LS which will be on camera 3.
• Buzzers too loud?
• I felt like the buzzers were quite loud, so this is something that I will need to mention to Sammi.
• Graphics animate too late.
• I think this is mainly due to the fact that I was saying the scores to George and cueing the animation of the graphics, but there was a lot of dead space between George talking and the animation of the scores being put on screen.
• During the live show, this should run a lot smoother and on time as Josh will be the one saying the scores to George, but I will still work on getting that animation up on time.
• Host should be talking to the camera not the contestants during intro to Round 2.
• During the intro of Round 2, I felt like the Host should mainly be talking to the camera rather than the contestants, as the dialogue is more directed to the audience.
• This is something I will mention to George during rehearsals.
• The Host should be saying "Roll Tape" not "Roll VT".
• I noticed that George, instead of saying "Roll Tape", which was in his script, he was saying "Roll VT" which is what I say.
• I realise this is probably from him hearing me say 'standby VT' and him getting confused and muddled up, but this is something that I think is quite important.
• I will also mention this to George, but hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a problem as it is just a small mistake.
• Microphones need to be down during the VT's.
• During the VT's you can still hear everything on the studio floor.
• Due to Paul being the one who fades the mixers, and not Sammi, this shouldn't be a problem when it comes to the live record, but I will flag this up with him just in case.
• Round sting too late.
• When I said "Go music sting" it wasn't played on my direct cue, and it was actually quite late.
• I will talk to Sammi about this, usually it's not a problem, but she just needs to make sure she is on time with that sting cause it's quite a major part of the rounds.
• Camera 2 needs to be ready for the side camera, so does the host.
• Going on from one of my previous points about the side cameras, there are a lot of people that need to be prepared for them.
• I have decided that before the side camera comes up, I will prepare Cheyenne (camera 2 operator) and the host, so all three of us are prepared for it.
• I think this will be quite useful as it gives Cheyenne time to frame the shot, it gives the host time to remember to turn to his right for it, and it gives me time to standby the shot and cut it when it needs to be cut.
• CU of the cream in Round 3?
• During Round 3, I felt like there should a CU of the cream being reset on the game, and since Cheyenne is already on a CU of the spinner, I think it would be worth her getting that shot.
• I will mention this to her before hand, but during the game I will ask her to get the shot just in case she forgets.
• Faster reset needed - the whipped cream.
• The reset of the whipped cream took quite a long time, so this needs to be faster.
• This is something Imogen can mention to the host, and George can work on it.
• Cameras 1 & 4 need to move with the contestants.
• Also during Round 3, the cameras 1 & 4 (Ellie and Saskia) need to move with the contestants as they may stand up or jolt upwards or lean downwards, and we can't chop half of their faces off.
• VT sting and Music sting are different things.
• There are two different types of stings within this show, a VT sting and a music sting.
• I need to make sure I say which sting it will be and the VT operator, the vision mixer and the sound operator need to make sure they are listening. 
• There was a mix up of the VT sting and the music sting during this rehearsal, but I will make sure to be clearer in order for all three of those roles to know what kind of sting it will be.
• Better colour Red on the line of the split screen.
• Laura added a colour red on the split screen, and I thought this was actually a really good idea, but I did think it was a bit too orange.
• This isn't a big deal, and we can change this during dress rehearsals.
• Camera 5 needs to be ready for the moves at the beginning of the round.
• I think Josh (camera 5 operator) will be ready for the beginning of the round moves, but I need to make sure that he stays up on his shot for some of the other parts of the show in order to get audience shots.
• I will mention this to him and find a solution to let him know to stay up on his shot or if he can move.

These are a lot of negative notes about the show, but I think they are all fairly important - some more than others. Even though I have made these notes, I still think the show looks really good and there are parts of the show that work really well and look good.

I'm pleased with what we have achieved so far, and I think after rehearsals on Wednesday, everyone will feel a lot better and more confident with the show.