Presentation on Producer/Director

Lights, Camera, Action...

Last week in Roles and Process we had the chance to try out our amazing presenting skills...

Our assignment was to create a 2 minute piece on a role of our choice and present it in front of a camera. It was all very daunting at first having lights and a camera rammed in your face but I soon relaxed and quite enjoyed it! I chose to give my presentation on a producer/director and used The Amazon with Brian Perry as a case study. Whilst outlining the roles of a PD I mainly focused on the risk assessment giving examples of certain things that would need to be flagged up such as fatigue and long hours, medical and first aid etc. I think the presentation went well and reading from the autocue wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

The past week

This week we've been focusing on soundscapes. A soundscape is a collection of sounds that are supposed to create images in peoples minds. They were first discovered in the 1970s in Canada with location recording for archive and research purposes on analogue tape,and have since developed from this. The attempt with soundscapes is make them realistic and then transform them - so almost make them impressionistic. Mike gave us the details for our next project - making a soundscape. We need to come up with a title, structure and what affect we intend to have on our listener.

We also had a little role play session in which we got to be "Matt's Media.com" production team. This was a good exercise and we all brainstormed ideas for a half hour radio programme on the recent scandal with Sienna Miller launching legal action against the dreaded paparazzi. We all came up with some good ideas and could of created a very decent half hour programme! I found a particularly interesting website called "Celeb4aday" in which you can pay up to £3000 to have 6 paparazzi follow you all day,a bodyguard,limo,publicist,glossy front mag cover MyStar,question time with the paps and yes, a cd with your photos on. It just doesn't get much better ...





On Friday we had probably one of our last guest speakers come in to visit. Top dog Paul Appleby who's an Executive Producer with BBC background came in to talk to us.Paul is leaving the BBC and entering the 'Interactive Broadcasting' world freelance soon. He also gave Susan her first job as researcher! Paul's worked on famous nature programmes such as the 36 part series Planet Earth, and in his 25 years of experience has always looked at the relationship between people and the environment and people and animals.

In 1989 he was a series producer - which meant he did a lot of organising things for the programmes he worked on - making things work. He then became an executive producer which involves looking at other peoples work and commenting on it. An executive producer is close to the commissioners and channel controllers and is a final overseeing influence. They are often involved with getting projects commissioned in the beginning stages and sometimes with finding funding for the project.

Paul was a great speaker and was obviously very passionate about what broadcasting is all about - the audience. He has a real enthusiasm for getting close to his audience and being at the front of the leading edge - with either communication with the audience or the technological side.




A few questions from the time we spent with Paul:


How soon can you get information from BARB?

Pretty much overnight, by around 11am and I always check them. It's a 1st touch judgment on whether the programme will work or not. But I will be upset if I wanted 5 million viewers and I only got say 4.
Paul also mentioned how with the introduction of Interactive Broadcasting you can't tell who's watched by page view - however in the future data crunching will become more advanced. Also how audience data is KEY for predicting how good a programme is going to be.



How do you think technology and Interactive Broadcasting is going to develop?

Everything will be web based - at the click of a button you will be able to get what you want there and then. The point of broadcasting is to get stuff across to people, and then they use it. That sense that the piece of information is now theirs and they can actively use it.

Paul mentioned in the future he wants to be using films as a way of getting messages across. In the future everything will be visual - text is a blip and in 200 years time we'll think what was text all about!





What happens with the process of Ofcom if your material offends anyone - do they directly contact you?

There are always ways around Ofcom regulations. Such as a lot of dramas that start at 9 o clock now pre-warn you if there's going to be swearing,sex or violence so that covers them as the audience know that it's coming. It's a lot more sophisticated than it used to be. There are also forms and checklists you need to submit before to avoid getting in trouble. However unfortunately people can get upset - for example the word "evolution" we've used in our programmes, you have to be very careful using that - I have written many letters of apology as you have to listen to what your audience want, they deserve your respect as they're your audience after all.
He also gave us a link bbc.co.uk/guidlines/editorialguidelines/forms - to show examples of the forms that need to completed.

His 2 main points for us to take away with us :
1. Involve your audience
2. Get experience in everything!

Roles and Process

As Broadcast students it's important for us to understand the different roles within the media. I've found Susan's lessons really helpful and they've been a great opportunity to meet and quiz the people who actually do what we are studying for a living. Recently we've met Eric Huyton, a very talented camera man who has worked on shows such as Freaky Eaters, commercials such as Hotwheels, and drama series Casualty - which he explained were very long intensive days of shooting. Most recently he's been working on a science documentary about the oceans and has been to Hawaii,America and Iceland (lucky devil!) He gave some good points on the main characteristics a camera man need : technical aspects you need to know, it's important you know the tools of your trade. Need to be good at problem solving, to stay focused and calm and work well with sometimes difficult actors and directors! Most importantly to always get the material you need and be adaptable. He also gave us 5 things we need to know :

1. Remember to close the camera box!! - the equipment is very expensive.
2. Sort your level head/white balance
3. The rule of 3rds
4. Keep your cool!
5. Produce something strong - script,film,storyboard - story is essential not necessarily the technicalities.

From speaking to Eric I learnt that it's important to not only know what your role is, but also to understand everyone elses role within your team. Another guest speaker who also touched on this topic was Dr Sanjida Oconnel. Sanjida is a TV presenter, writer and producer - so she knows a bit about everything! Her background is in zoology and she writes for newspapers and magazines on science, health and green issues.

Sanjida explained to us how having experience as a producer and TV presenter can help your understanding of the people you're working with and can be really beneficial. She stated that in her opinion presenting is definitely less stressful than producing - which I can imagine! I can also see why understanding everyone elses job roles would help as well, because in pre production or post production you need to work as a team. Understanding what your other team members need to do and the way in which they need to do it would mean you would be a lot more understanding and not just focusing on what you need to do, and your job role. A good example of this was when Eric was saying about the relationship between the camera man and the editor. Even though they may never meet, Eric needs to get as much footage that will be beneficial to the editor as possible - and think about the way in which the editor is going to work with his material.

Sanjida has worked on wildlife programmes such as Nature's top 40, and she explained about how important health and safety regulations are for these types of programmes due to the wild animals they are filming with. What with broadcasting regulations being so strict on health and safety and risk assessment, the required certificates and documentation are needed before filming starts. Also with Ofcom's ever so eagle eyed viewers watching for a slip up experts are needed to be on hand at all times when shooting.

Edit

This is my edited 2 minute ( maybe 1 second under) version of my interview with Liz Allen. I wanted it to give my listeners advice on how to get into the industry as a producer/director and the skills they would need. I also wanted it to give an insight into what the job consists of and what Liz enjoys most about it.

Edit

BC1003

With Mike we looked at interesting ideas for a 5 minute radio package - our next project. Our task was to come up with 3 ideas and then from this choose one, and with a partner who had a similar idea, create a pitch for a panel of 3 experts. The group came up with some really good ideas and we had a good afternoon discussing them - including mainly a discussion on pet hates! grr.

I'm working with Laura, and as we are both members of The Hip Hop Society at our uni, we decided to create our radio package on this. The society formed last year which was more of a trial year for them to see how much interest they would gain. This year with more interest gained at the Freshers Fair and more members they can now compete in competitions and organise more events. In our radio package we are going to look at how they react to visiting the UDO Dance Championships in Newport to check out the future competition, and the up and coming events and show nights. We are also going to use the society members for vox pops etc and the president Fiona May for interviews. We will incorporate music into our peice to keep the programme upbeat with a good tempo - just like Hip Hop dance! I feel our pitch went well however I feel we could of put our idea across a little clearer but with nerves settled in I may of rambled a little. Mike reassured us they all went well and the panel were impressed with our ideas, they're also keen to see our final products so fingers crossed everything goes well!

Roles and Process

Roles and Process

In our session with Susan on the 24th October we had the opportunity to practise our interviewing techniques over the phone on a professional from the industry. I interviewed Liz Allen, who produces and directs observational docs for the BBC. She was very nice and easy to interview, she also gave me some really good answers and advice.

Nicholas White, director of Victorian Cross, came in in the afternoon for us to also interview. He was really talkative and gave us some really in depth detailed answers. He didn't actually plan to get into T.V and actually studied Art and History. He then went to live in Hong Kong in the 1990's and travelled for a while. When returning to England it was just by chance the BBC were doing an environmental programme on Hong Kong and he knew someone who worked in the BBC's library so landed an interview. He then bluffed his way through his interview using his knowledge of Hong Kong after living out there for a while and managed to land a job as researcher on the project. Unfortunately it never got made due to China refusing them entry in the end! However the point he was making was that as long as you have confidence and can convince people you know what you're on about - it's possible to get far.

He also said that the best assistant producers he has worked with are those who are always looking for things to be done - they do not need to be asked because they're already thinking about it. So advice to us - be efficient! Do a job before you're asked it do it.

Finaaaally!

So, I have finally entered blogging land after several failed attempts at logging on, blaming blogger and realising days later I was entering the wrong email address all along ... ahem ... so it's probably about time I started writing up some of these entries!

The past few weeks have flown by, starting with getting used to the equipment by creating vox pops in groups. Chris, Laura and I asked the question " Do you think people are spending too much time on social networking sites such as Facebook? ". From this we got a fairly good response, and the general consensus was that people are spending too much time on them - as appose to going out and talking topeople/making friends face to face. However a lot of students agreed that sites such as Facebook were still useful for keeping in touch and catching up with new friends. We then had a go at editing our vox pops and getting to grips with Soundtrack Pro, which I was worried about, but after getting used to it and picking up shortcuts it seemed not so daunting.

On Fridays we have a session with Joelle in the morning in which we've so far focused on plagiarism - and how Minerva will catch us out if we attempt it! It's also a useful session for refreshing us on grammar and helping us improve our writing skills for future essay writing.

In the afternoons we have our session with Susan who currently works in the industry - so it's great to be taught by someone who knows what they're talking about! In this session we focus mainly on the roles within production e.g editors/producers. So far we've looked at some differences between the mainstream channels ( BBC,ITV,channel 4+5) and picked up some key interviewing techniques which will be useful for our next project - a phone interview with an editor or producer/director - and also for when we have guest speakers come in and talk to us.

For example last week editor Andy Netley who's worked on such programmes as 'The Amazon' and 'Planet Earth', came in to give us an insight into the editing world.

Andy started out doing a film course and from there built contacts in the BBC and ITV, obtaining 2 weeks freelance work and from there has worked his way up. From this session I found out that editing isn't so much about the software and cutting bits of film out, but more about an individuals ability to work with images and sound - and from this creating a programme that runs smoothly from beginning to end but is also accessible to everyone and makes sense. Social skills are also vital as you are working in a team and may have to get on with people you don't necessarily like.

The best bit about Andy's job he said was getting to work with images and music - a passion of his. As an editor you also may be asked to work on projects you know may not work, such as a programme Andy had to edit on dates (the fruit!) ... how exciting.

Susan also set us tasks to research a particular subject and share the information with the rest of the group. Mine was Ofcom who are an independant organisation which regulates broadcasting,telecommunications and wireless communications sectors within the UK. Their main legal duties are to ensure a wide range of TV and radio programmes are on offer to a range of different interests,and that people are protected from harmful or offensive material.

Ofcom are funded by fees from industry regulating broadcasting and communications networks and grant-in-aid from the Government. Within broadcasting they're responsible for making sure a variety of programmes are made by independant producers as well as broadcasters - and also responsible for licensing all UK commercial TV and radio services.

Another of Ofcom's duties is to investigate complaints about behaviour that goes against the rules of competition and make decisions on disputes between companies.Ofcom have a number of ways in which the public can complain such as online,email,telephone and text. Fact: in 2007 Ofcom received 44,500 complaints for the 5th series of BB regarding the racial issues with Shilpa Shetty and Jade Goody - this was a record number and higher than any other media controller.

In my opinion Ofcom is useful in some ways - but not to everyone. For example the majority of the younger generation are now exposed to a lot of violence etc within the media they have become desensitized to offensive material - therefore Ofcom may only be of use to the older generation.

In our next session with Mike we had the task of interviewing a band called Cojack from the university.

This was a good task and we got got some good footage to edit - however we had a few problems with the earphones so I couldn't hear myself properly, which meant I was very loud and our interviewee was quiet as the microphone wasn't held quite close enough. However during editing we managed to solve this problem with the equaliser and put some of their music to it to make a radio package. This was to prep us for today's first assignment, editing around half hour of footage concluding of an 18 minute poem (!!), 4 minutes of vox pops and a 10 minute interview with a poet. Unfortunately my computer didn't like saving things so this task was not made easy, I also feel I ran out of time and would of needed another half hour for polishing the final multi track - however I can learn from this and hopefully manage my time better next time round.

I think that pretty much brings everything up to date - over and out!

BC1002 project

Hannah's radio package BC1002

Sup

Welcome !