TRANSITION UNIT: Supervet - Research

The programme is introduced with a long shot of the veterinarian practice. This establishes the location and subject matter of the documentary.

The narration of the documentary then begins. As the narration continues, different clips from the programme are played to tease what is to come in the programme. This is a good way to begin a documentary / mockumentary - however, as we are only producing a 3 - 5 minute clip, we will not do this in order to save time.

These clips are a range of different shot types; varying from wide shots to medium shots to close up shots. However, most of them are filmed in a fly on the wall style. The wide shots  of the waiting room and reception area are all filmed in a fly on the wall style - where the audience is merely observing the action. This helps to immerse the viewer in the programme as they feel they have a good overview of the action unfolding.

As the narration is still ongoing, we see wide and close up shots of the more surgical side of the veterinarian practice. This helps to establish the theme of the documentary as a factual / clinical programme into the vet's practice.

The titles appear over a shot which they relate to - the title states that the programme is a vet's programme whilst the close up shot displays a dog's paws. 

Waiting room scenes are filmed from a high angle in a fly on the wall style. Sometimes a narrator narrates over these images, however, sometimes in cases such as the one below, discussion is heard between the people waiting. This helps to immerse the viewer as they feel they are part of the scene.

The actuality of the vets, consultation scenes and surgery scenes are interspersed with interviews from the vet staff. These are filmed with medium close up / close up framing with the interviewee framed at one side of the shot (using the rule of thirds). The lighting used for these scenes is artificial which allows for the harsh, clinical look they are aiming for. The interviews are also filmed with a shallow depth of field to make the background blurred, however, it is still clear that the interviewee is in a medical surrounding (as suggested by the glow of medical equipment and the blue hue of the background). I will use a similar technique in our interviews - the background of the interviews will be relevant to the interviewee. 

Fixed cameras are used to capture the pet owners entering the vet practice to capture this scene as actuality rather than having to sequence this scene which would take away from the reality of the shot.

The interviews with the pet owners are warmer in colour, with more natural lighting and set in a more natural environment to set them apart from the medical staff. This helps to give the medical staff some credibility as the clinical nature of their shots establishes this, whilst the pet owners are shown more naturally which allows the audience to relate to them and therefore get more involved with their story / the programme.

When in the consultation room, there are close up shots of the surgical equipment and X-rays to again establish the setting and transition the action back into the vets practice. Shots like these are useful transitions for when you need to jump from one scene to another. I should keep this in mind when filming our project and ensure I get a lot of coverage / close up shots of equipment / props that can be used to transition between locations.

As well as the fly on the wall style, The Supervet includes some low angle shots in situations such as the consultations. This allows the audience to feel closer to the action as these shots are often framed to be medium close ups and therefore the expressions and reactions of the individuals is much more visible to the audience - allowing them to become more involved with the documentary.

What I have learnt:

- As a serious documentary, The Supervet relies heavily on actuality footage as there is not a lot of opportunity to shoot sequences. This actuality is obtained from high angle cameras fixed in the waiting room and consultation room - this gives the documentary a fly on the wall style. I would like to use elements of this within our mockumentary in order to stick with the genre conventions, however, a lot of our comedy is revealed through the characters' faces and therefore a lower angle may work better.

- In some cases lower angles are used - but there is generally a reason for this i.e. for an interview / to show the emotions through the consultations. I will test using lower angles in the test shoot and see if they are appropriate to our subject and style of mockumentary.

- Many close ups are captured of the animals as the animals are at the centre of the programme - I will do similar in our project as our project is also centred around the theme of animals so frequent close ups will help to establish this. During the surgery / consultation scenes, there are many close up shots of the surgical equipment / X-rays. Like the close up shots of the animals, this helps to establish the theme of the documentary.

- The colour treatment is all kept very natural in order to reflect reality. It is slightly cooler in tone to reflect the clinical nature of the location and subject matter. I aim to colour treat our vet mockumentary in a similar style to have the same effect of reflecting the clinical subject matter. The interviews with the pet owners outside of the veterinarian practice are warmer in tone to give a more natural, warm quality - this contrasts with the cool tone within the practice. The interviews with the pet owners are all filmed with a shallow depth of field as the purpose of the interview is solely for the pet owner to give their story / information to the camera and therefore the details of the location are not important for the narrative. I will use a similar technique in our mockumentary - if there is no detail in the location that is important to the narrative, I will use a shallow depth of field to blur the background. If there are details in the location, I will use a deeper depth of field to display these details.

- Interviews should be filmed following the rule of thirds - placing the interviewee in the left or right third and facing them the opposite direction to give them looking room. This is a very simple rule but is important in order to make the interview feel as natural as possible and put the audience at greatest ease.

- The lighting is all kept very natural due to the dependence on actuality - there is not the time to set up lighting equipment as the action may be missed - I will attempt to light our scenes naturally in order to create a sense of 'actuality' and 'reality'.

TRANSITION UNIT: Come Fly With Me - Research

Before the title sequence, the an establishing shot displays the location of the mockumentary - this is a convention of the documentary genre and therefore this mockumentary emulates this.

Further establishing shots are used to establish the location and subject matter of life in the airport. Like Cunk on Britain, the introduction uses warm, saturated colours to hint at the comedic nature of the show. This also creates an idyllic atmosphere which adds to the humour when the events that occur within the airport are not idyllic.

As this mockumentary does not aim to be subtle in its mocking of the documentary genre, the titles are exaggerated in terms of the introductions of the characters - the characters all smile into the camera in a very staged fashion. I think this would be good to imitate in our title sequence so that people know from the start that the piece is supposed to be comedic.

The interviews are staged as proper documentary interviews with the subject talking to an 'interviewer' off camera. This is accompanied by an aston introducing the character - as is used in the documentary genre. 

This is then followed by 'actuality' shots of the proceedings in the airport e.g. this interview between Ian Foot and Taaj. This is shot like a conversation would be shot in a drama to allow all the comedy to be observed. The colour treatment of these shots is kept very natural looking to emulate the 'actuality' style as documentaries usually keep a very natural look to show that they are displaying reality.

Like documentaries, Come Fly With Me, features sequences of characters e.g. Tommy walking up to the airport before his interview. This helps to introduce the character before they speak to camera. This is also aided by the narrator who is introducing the character as they are seen on screen. The wide angle of this shot helps to establish Tommy in the airport surroundings as well as introducing him as a character.

Actuality is again imitated when Tommy is shown working in his job. This is also filmed in the drama style, using lower angle shots to highlight the comedy within the scene.

Many of the shots within Come Fly With Me play with focus. This shot uses a pull focus to change focus from the check in staff at the back to the check in staff at the front - this emulates the sequences present in the documentary genre as these also often play with pull focus and bringing different things to attention in the shot.

What I have learnt:

- Not all documentaries / mockumentaries have to be fly-on-the-wall in style. This mockumentary consists mainly of interviews and 'actuality' of the characters. This is shot more in a drama style with lower camera angles such as those used in dramas. This works well for this style of mockumentary as a lot of the humour is in the characters' facial expressions and this would not be seen in the typical higher angle fly on the wall documentary style. This means that there is a lot more freedom in terms of how to film the piece, as I am not limited to just using the high angle fly on the wall documentary style. I will experiment with this in the test shoot as I feel using lower angles would work best in our piece as, like Come Fly With Me, a lot of our comedy comes from our characters' facial expressions.

- The programme uses many conventions of the documentary genre to make the programme appear to be serious and factual, however, the interviews and 'actuality' seen within the programme make it comedic and therefore a mockumentary. In order for our mockumentary to be successful, I should attempt to use the conventions of the documentary genre in terms of the lighting and shot types used and leave the comedy to the characters. 

- The programme uses bright lighting as this emulates the source material 'Airport'. This adds to the comedy of the mockumentary as visually it can be perceived as a serious documentary, it is just the subject and characters which make the programme comedic.

- The colours are all vibrant and saturated - as explored in my colour theory research, vibrant and saturated colours are often used in comedies to evoke happy joyous emotions in the audience.

TRANSITION UNIT: Idea Development

Although we pitched to do a mockumentary in the style of the ‘Cunk on..’ series, Alex found this difficult to write without completely copying the style of the source material. The presenter for this series would also have to be very competent at delivering idiotic lines in a dead pan manner –this was very difficult to find as getting these characteristics in our presenter is integral to the success of the piece and no candidates were suitable.

Therefore, we decided to change the idea to follow the more typical documentary style, however, with dialogue and footage which mocks the subject matter. Alex suggested a medical / vet themed mockumentary such as ‘The Supervet’ and ’24 Hours in A&E’. As he is writing and directing the piece, I was happy to change our idea to this. I will now research the style in which these programmes are shot so that I can bring a similar style to our idea. It is important that our piece resembles the typical documentary format (with interviews, GVs, sequences and actuality) to add to the humour when the unexpected events unfold.

We then had a feedback tutorial with Simon where we presented our new idea. He was happy for us to go ahead with this new idea as long as we are able to make it believable.

The locations, props and cast need to be very accurate so that the audience believes the location is a vet’s practice and the main character is believable as a vet. We need to ensure we dress the set appropriately so that the location looks clinical and is believable as a vet’s practice. We also need to buy the appropriate costumes for the cast so that they are believable as either vet staff or pet owners.

It is famously stated that you should never work with children or animals – Simon drew attention to this. As working with animals is integral to our idea, I will look into advice on working with animals.

Next steps following the feedback:
- Research ‘The Supervet’ and ’24 Hours in A&E’ to get an idea of how these programmes are shot – I will look into the colours, lighting and camera angles used.
- As we are sharing the role of producer, I will work with Alex and Melissa to find the locations, cast, props and costume for this project – this all affects the mise en scene of the piece so I need to make sure I am happy that these factors all possess the clinical properties we require for this project.
- Look into advice for working with animals.

TRANSITION UNIT: Character Profiles and Cast

As we have no producer in our group, we decided to share this role. Alex took on the job of creating the character profiles (which we then used to find the cast), I looked for locations and performed the location recces and Melissa performed the risk assessments.

Alex described the mockumentary as:

"Vet-man is a short 3-5 minute comedy mockumentary parodying factual entertainment shows such as 'The Supervet' and '24 Hours in A&E'. The film follows Dr. Tim Stewart, a confident yet incompetent vet as he attempts to treat his animal patients with unfortunate consequences."

The cast requirements:

"We are looking for: a male aged between 25 and 40 to play Dr. Stewart, a person of any age and gender to play his receptionist, and a woman aged between 50 and 75 to play a pet owner seeking treatment."

"We are also looking for a female voiceover artist to provide narration for the film."

Through the development of the script, we realised we only needed two cast members - Dr. Stewart and Sheila (the pet owner). The receptionist is no longer required as they are not in this section of the script.

Dr. Tim Stewart

When looking for this character, Alex (as writer/director) said he saw their dialogue being delivered in quite a dead-pan manner to add to the humour of the piece. The vet also needs to have a very sensible look to make it more humorous that, contrary to his sensible and confident appearance, he in actual fact doesn't know what he's doing.

Having worked with Aidan in multiple projects, we saw him as a good candidate for Dr. Tim Stewart. He has the ability to deliver lines in a dead pan manner and we know that he will be reliable for the shoot dates.

In order to make Aidan even more believable as a vet, he will be given smart clothes and glasses for the consultation room scene to establish him a sensible character. Then he will be given scrubs to wear for the operation scene to make him believable as a vet.

Sheila

The requirements for Sheila's character were a less stringent than those for the vet. Sheila just needed to be a 50-75 year old woman who's comfortable working with animals (specifically dogs).

Samantha fits this role perfectly. She is at the younger end of the age bracket but has the look we wanted to go for. She has a kind and caring look to her - this will work great for her interview scene and the idyllic shots of her and Coco in the park.

Samantha will wear ordinary clothes for the different scenes to display her as an ordinary pet owner.

Coco

Coco will be played by Alex's dog Coco. Coco is trained and as Alex's dog should be able to follow orders when given by him. As Alex will be directing the piece, this should work very well and shouldn't pose much trouble.

'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Project Evaluation

Pre Production

From the beginning I knew I wanted to do a style show - but the exact subject matter of the show was still undecided. Through research with Melissa and feedback from Helen, we decided on a fashion chat show to show the non-mainstream side of fashion. To inform our idea and come up with a solid structure and ideas for the show's content, I looked through fashion magazines (such as Vogue and Elle magazine), channels on Youtube and existing fashion programmes on TV such as How To Look Good Naked. We ended up pitching a show with a 'Trends of the Week' section, a 'Not on the High Street' section, a 'Very Vintage' section and a 'Digging Through the Wardrobe of...' section. To strengthen the idea, we also thought of components such as the type of presenters, type of set, camera set up and technical elements of the show. All of this together meant that our pitch was strong enough to be commissioned.

Although our pitch contained ideas for the show's content, we wanted to ensure we had the strongest content we could. This meant hosting production meetings and splitting people into groups to research content - this would then be narrowed down to form our final four segments for the show. Hosting production meetings as producer helped to improve my confidence. As producer you need to be assertive and be able to manage the production meetings. In these meetings I gave out my ideas and gave out tasks (such as the research tasks) to the crew and listened to their feedback - I learnt the importance of delegating tasks.

Once all research had been done, I held another production meeting alongside my co producer Melissa to share the finalised content and sections with the different production teams so that they could begin to work on their specific areas of the production whilst we worked on the script. The final segments of the show were to be:
- 'Styles of the Season' which was developed from our 'Trends of the Week' idea but with more structure. Initially we had just pitched for the presenters to talk through the top trends of the week with a VT exploring where these trends could be found for the best price. This developed into 'Styles of the Season' where the presenters discuss 2 trends for each gender before showing a specific trend for each gender on and older and a younger model on the catwalk - followed by a VT where one presenter takes on the challenge of buying the other presenter an outfit.
- 'Fashion Fails' which was a new idea pitched during the research stage of the production meetings. This involved an audience section where contributors share their fashion fails and was accompanied by a VT exploring the topic of receiving the wrong item of clothing online.
- 'Old To New' which was loosely based on our 'Very Vintage' section. Initially we pitched to explore vintage / retro fashion, but it was suggested through the teams' research that we should look more into old fashion trends coming back into fashion. The studio section of this part features a discussion between the presenters about 'dad shoes' - a trend which has come back into fashion - before a VT explore further fashion trends coming back intro style through a fashion shoot format.
- 'DIY' which was developed from our 'Not On The High Street' segment - instead of going to independent stores we interviewed an independent seller who sells goods on Etsy and follow her make a top in the accompanying VT.
- 'Mystery Guest' - this was new segment which was thought of during a meeting with Del. The idea behind this segment was that the show needed to be more entertaining and exciting to match the target channel of E4.

Through the development of the segments it was important as producer to keep in contact with the rest of the production team so that any changes and updates were finalised by myself and Melissa. I learnt that as producer it is important to delegate responsibilities to others whilst ultimately remaining in control to ensure the vision of the programme remains in line with the brand of the programme (a fashion chat show exploring anti-mainstream fashion trends and topics) and remains appropriate for the target channel (E4).

The main job I had as producer during the pre production stage was developing the script. I did the first half of the script whilst Melissa did the second half. The first draft of the script was very rough as  we hadn't yet confirmed our presenters or contributors - once we had confirmed these we developed the script to tailor it towards them and make it more personal and therefore more relatable for the audience. The one thing I struggled with was developing the mission statement for the show - I already knew in my head what the show was about which made it difficult to think what the audience would need to know about the show.

As well as developing the script, I kept in constant communication with the other production teams to approve and finalise their content - e.g. I had to approve the VTs, promo materials, music to be used in the show, the graphics, the set design etc.

As producer I was also involved with the talent on the show - I sat in on the auditions for the presenters and approved the casting decisions for the models and other contributors - this was to ensure they fit the tone of our show. We wanted one of our presenters to be the fashion expert and the other to be a bubbly personality - through a couple of rounds of auditions, we managed to get these characteristics in our presenters.

Production

During the rehearsals and transmission it was my role to ensure they ran smoothly. I had to ensure all crew and talent were on set and ready and that rehearsals ran to time - rehearsals running to time (i.e. beginning and finishing on time) was very important as the transmission had to be exactly 30 minutes long so it was good to practice the show to these exact timings. We had several rehearsals which ran to exactly 30 minutes and the transmission itself ran to 30 minutes - this was due to our organisation as producers and the organisation of the production assistants who were in charge of the running order of the show.

As well as running the rehearsals, I had ensure the talent were kept happy. This meant greeting them at the beginning of the day and ensuring they had everything they needed - then at the end of the day making sure they left happy and on board with the project.

During the transmission of the show I needed to be on hand in the gallery for if any of the segments ran over. During the live show, all of the segments ran roughly to time, however, in the rehearsals the Steals of the Season segment often overran and I would have to make the decision to cut the time from the interview segments instead. To keep the show running on time, I checked the timings with the production assistants every time the show went to VT so that we could work out where to cut timings as soon as we knew there was an issue. This system worked well as this meant myself and Melissa kept on top of the timings so that the show did not over run.

As well as keeping an eye on the timings of the show, I needed to be on hand to the presenters over talk back if they needed any additional information. Myself and Melissa created background information packs on all talent involved in the show so that we knew all the facts about them and could prompt the presenters with information during the catwalk or interview segments if they needed it. We didn't end up needing to use these background information packs during transmission but it was good to be prepared. We also needed to be on hand for if any contributors on the show swore during live transmission - fortunately they didn't but we would have had to get the presenters to issue an apology on air if anyone had swore to avoid legal issues.

Post Production 

The post production element of this project was very limited as the show was edited live by the vision mixer. If an edit was required, as producer I would collaborate with editor to ensure vision has been fulfilled.

To ensure the programme was being put together as intended, I watched the director and vision mixer through rehearsals and fed things back to director if I thought anything needed to be changed. e.g. during a rehearsal of Bonnie's section, we realised a close up of the dress on the mannequin would work well to show the audience the detail of her design - we fed this back to the director and they included the shot in the live transmission. I will approve the final version of the show.

My final job as producer will be to ensure the talent get a copy of the production and thanking them again for their time on the production.

Strengths
- There was good liaison with the different teams to get the outcome we wanted - I provided feedback to the content they produced to ensure everything fitted with the tone of our show.
- The show ran to time and was exactly 30 minutes - this was due to good liaison with production assistants in gallery, during every VT I checked how the timings were with the production assistants to see if any content needed to be extended or cut.
- Visuals aided narrative of production - communication with directors through the rehearsals enabled this to happen. We were able to run through the show multiple times and feedback to the directors if I thought additional shots would aid the production of the show.
- The fashion fails segment went very well despite being the least rehearsed part of the show - as we didn't rehearse with our contributors for this section before hand, the live version was the one chance to get it right and it went very smoothly. In rehearsals when blocking out this section, the camera movements were a bit shaky but this was rectified for the live show.
- The set was more complex and looked more professional than initially pitched - the constant communication with the set design team allowed for them to construct a more complex set which helped to improve the quality of the show and transform it from a student production to a professional production.
- I think the script tuned out very well and helped to set the tone of our show as a friendly, conversational show that provides informative style advice. I learnt that not everything needed to be scripted - script the introduction, factual information, questions / direction for interviews and the round up for the programme. I think the script was strong, especially as I hadn't written a studio script before.

Weaknesses
- In some cases I wasn't assertive enough - I had concerns that our first drag queen would drop out due to school commitments and this is exactly what happened causing the stress of finding a new drag queen in a short amount of time. We did end up with the best drag act for our show but we could have secured them much sooner if we had extended our initial casting search for drag queens.
- The script was developing right up until the week of production which wasn't ideal - although my research showed that this is usual practice in the live TV industry to keep the script topical, it would have been easier for the crew if the script didn't change between each rehearsal. We had set ourselves deadlines for the script, however, we did push these back when we should have been stricter with ourselves.
- The trailer was weak compared to the other components - I should have communicated my concerns with the promo team earlier so that they could resolve the issues in the trailer (such as lack of atmospheric sound and sound effects)

What could I develop?
- In future I need to put my leadership and management skills into practice more and be more assertive. I feel that I lacked confidence in some of my ideas (such as finding a new drag queen) meaning that stressful situations were caused where they could have been avoided.
- In future I need to stick to pre production schedules. I pushed back some script deadlines to allow more time to write the script when I should have stuck more closely to them to allow everyone to become more familiar with the script before the rehearsals and transmission.
- In future I need to ensure my communication extends to all departments. I kept constant communication with the VT teams to ensure these matched the tone of the show but my communication with the promo team could have been better to ensure they implemented the feedback given.

Conclusion

Overall I think the production was a success. Our content developed significantly from our original pitch which worked for the best. Initially when Helen and Del suggested we focus our efforts on researching and developing the content I was hesitant as I thought sticking with our original ideas would allow people to get straight on with their production roles. However, focusing on developing the content before focusing on our individual roles was definitely the best idea as this allowed us to get together some strong content material and still allowed enough time for people to work with this material within their production roles to get the best result. The communication between myself and Melissa and the directors ensured that they directed the show with visuals which matched our content ideas.

I have learnt that being a producer is a bigger role than it first appears - as well as thinking of the idea for the show, you need to stick with it all the way from conception to completion and approve all developments along the way as well as developing the script. Other skills I developed as producer include: good time management and organisation to ensure crew and talent are on set for rehearsal and that rehearsals run to time, creative skills in terms of scripting, good communication skills with talent and crew etc.

'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Final rehearsals and Transmission

After yesterday's rehearsals we reminded everyone that call time was 9 (for both crew and cast) and rehearsals start at 9:30. Some crew were late getting in so myself and Melissa had to ensure everyone got set up quickly to ensure we could start rehearsals on time. I went around all the cameras to check that they were set up and ready with no technical issues and that all their batteries were on charge. I then checked to see if we had the contributors - we didn't have all of them so I found stand ins and ensured the sound team mic'ed them up.

We managed to start rehearsals on time. Myself and Melissa sat in the gallery to oversee the team and to be on hand for if timings needed to be amended.

Rehearsal 1

- The audience runners were briefed on when to hold up the applause signs. Applause for presenters in beginning, applause for Bonnie interview, applause for Sapphire's performance and interview, and then applause throughout the round up.
- The 2 shot at the beginning of the show was amended after this rehearsal to include both the presenters but also the Steal The Style logo to the right of frame which was previously cut off in shot.

Rehearsal 2

- We noticed in this rehearsal that the graphics for Styles of the Season only say the name of the store and the price. This is because the graphic is positioned next to the clothing item it is referring to - however, it would make it even clearer to have the item mentioned on the graphic as well. We fed this back to the graphics team and resolved this for the live show.
- We also amended the graphic for Bonnie from online seller to Fresh Air & Buttons - the name of her business.
- We fed back to the director and camera department that it would be good if there was a close up of Bonnie's dress on the mannequin as she talks about it to allow the audience to see the detail in the dress. This was amended for the next rehearsal and the live show.
- We also amended the wording of one of Adeline's questions in the DIY interview. The question was "What would you say to people who are hesitant to buy DIY?" - however, this doesn't actually make sense. It should be either "What would you say to people who are hesitant to buy handmade clothing?" or whether they are hesitant to make DIY clothing themselves. We changed it to whether people are hesitant to buy handmade clothing as this is what we intended with the question but we just got the wording wrong.

Rehearsal 3

- The presenters were cued slightly late after the title sequence - this was amended for the live show.
- The PMW did not match with any of the other cameras - but this is due to all the other cameras being EXCAMs and therefore having different settings. We looked at this after the rehearsal and the camera operators managed to get the image matching the others as best they could.

These rehearsals all went very well and were all recorded so that if we needed to edit any of the live show footage afterwards, we had 3 good takes to choose from.

The Live Show

The live show ran very smoothly with very little mistakes. Myself and Melissa were sat in the gallery on hand to amend timings and provide extra background information if the presenters required it. Whenever the show went to a VT, we checked with Jemma / Victoria how the timings were and whether anything needed to be cut / added. The show ran to time with only a couple of seconds needing to be added / taken away from segments. The intro and Styles of the Season over ran slightly by a few seconds but this evened out during the links between segments which under ran slightly.

The presenters did not require any more background information and did not swear during the broadcast - this meant that myself and Melissa did not need to communicate with them on talkback.

After the show, myself and Melissa thanked the contributors and ensured they had their expenses paid by the production manager / assistant producers. We will send all the contributors a copy of the show.

'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Liaising with VT teams

As producers, it was mine and Melissa's job to oversee the production of the VTs - although the VT teams had VT producers who worked closely with them throughout the process, we wanted to make sure that the VTs stayed in line with the show's content and delivered the outcome we desired.

I was in charge of the first half of the show so had the ultimate say over the content in this half, however, Melissa and I reviewed each other's half to make sure the content was consistent.

Teaser

Final teaser:

Previous versions of the teaser trailer teased all the segments of the show. However, after a meeting with Helen, myself and Melissa decided to only tease half of the show as this is the convention for programmes like ours. We also fed back that the clip for 'Old To New' needed to be changed as the previous clip used already had writing (describing where the clothing items were from) layered over the top - this made it confusing for the audience as there were two layers of text. We also noticed from the rehearsals that Adeline says "Coming up on tonight's show" in the studio but the teaser also began with "Coming up in tonight's show" - as we preferred this being said in the studio we fed back to the VT team that this line needed to be removed from the teaser.

VT 1 - Presenter Challenge

Rough cut:

This rough cut only featured the first half of the VT.

Feedback:
- Whilst we liked the sting style introduction to the VT we felt the colours didn't match with the style of the rest of the programme. The style fitted with our initial pitch but our idea had changed a lot since then. We fed back that the sting may work if the colours were the same as those used in the studio e.g. the rustic orange background, however, the VTs in the second half don't feature the sting as they don't work with their style of VT so to keep the VTs consistent over the entire programme, the VTs needed to be removed.
- The rough cut was quite slow paced, so we provided feedback to the VT team and suggested that the injected more energy into it. This could be done through speeding up some of the clips and making the cuts between shots quicker.
- The team had to re shoot further footage to get more of Alfie going in and out of shops - this was to add to the time pressure of the challenge. At first the VT didn't show much of a challenge - this is why we wanted to emphasise the element of time pressure by making it more fast paced.
- At the end of the the fine cut, Alfie pronounced Adeline's name wrong so we asked them if they could cut this piece out so that Alfie just says "I've got a few surprises..." - the audio was also out of sync for this so we asked if this could be resolved.

Final cut:

Feedback:

- I really liked how the VT turned out - the team made the VT much faster paced to add the element of time pressure. 

VT 2 - Online Fails

Rough cut:

Feedback:
- The voiceover at the beginning was quiet compared to the rest of the VT - we asked them if they could increase the volume to between -6 and -12 dB to match the volume of the rest of the of the VT.
- The footage of Josie needed to be flipped so that there is continuity through the VT and so that the eyelines of the characters match.
- The colour correction needed to be done
- The fade to black at the end needed to be removed (the same was true of all VTs) to make the mix to studio smoother.

Final cut:

Feedback:

- The lower thirds were added to display any information the viewer may need - e.g. name and occupation - this also keeps them consistent through the production as they are used to introduce people in both the studio and other VTs - it is important that the branding stays consistent across the entire production

- The colour correction has been done

- I like the way this VT turned out - it explores the topic of online shopping fails whilst adding gravity to the topic by interviewing a trading standards representative. The audience can use the information provided to find out what to do if they find themselves in a similar situation.

VT 3 - Old To New

Rough Cut:

Feedback:

- The font needed to be changed to match the eras - the fonts looked oddly placed 

- Colour grading needed to be done to match the footage to the eras they are displaying

- The details of the outfits still needed to be added so that the audience know where they can purchase these items

- The transitions between the eras needed to be more noticeable but still smooth - it wasn't noticeable that the era changed between the 60s and 70s

Final cut:

Feedback:
- I like how this VT turned out - the colour grading matches the eras
- The font style and placement also works a lot better

VT 4 - DIY

Rough Cut:

Feedback:

- We thought the rough cut was very good and polished already - we suggested that they featured more of the process of making the top

- We suggested to the VT team that there needed to be more footage of Bonnie making the top so that this was more central to the story

- We liked the story the VT takes - we liked the mixture between the her background / pathway into running her own business and her showing how the top is made

- We suggested that they add a voiceover to clarify the direction of the story.

- As this was a rough cut, there were still jumps in the cuts which hadn't been covered

- There was no lower third introducing Bonnie - other VTs have used lower thirds to introduce their guests so this needed to be consistent.

Final Cut:

Feedback:

- This VT looks very professional and has a clear story - it works well with Adeline voicing it over

- The jump cuts were covered well with footage which aided the narrative of the story

- The lower third has been added to introduce Bonnie and establish her occupation

Overall I am very happy with all the VTs. They fit the tone of our channel - there is a good mixture between light hearted challenges and informative information. The Old To New VT really embodies the anti-mainstream tone we were aiming for - fashion shoots are usually more clean cut but this VT has much more of a unique / original / alternative tone. 

'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Set Design / Lighting Rigging and Rehearsals

I got to the studios at 8:30 so that I was in time for the set and lighting to be rigged. This was to ensure that the set was put up in the right place to allow the talent room to move around the back and enter / exit the set.

The set was rigged pretty quickly, allowing us time to get 5 rehearsals in.

Rehearsal 1

The first rehearsal did not go too well. 

- The teaser, VTs and music need to be louder out in the studio.

- No cheering for the models when they come out - this is something we hadn't thought of before so it was good to experiment with whether there should be applause here or not but we discovered that no applause was better.

- In last week's rehearsal we decided that Alfie would not walk back to the soft area before the VT but this still happened - this was discussed with the floor managers and was corrected for the rest of the rehearsals.

- The presenter challenge VT still fades to black - this was fed back to the VT editor for this VT and the production manager / assistant producer - the VT was re-rendered and the counts on the running order amended.

- Bonnie needs to enter under her VT instead of already being on the sofa.

Rehearsal 2

This rehearsal went better than the first rehearsal but still needs polishing. 

- The presenters look a bit washed out under the lighting. The lighting team were still rigging at this point and amended the lights to ensure the presenters were well lit but not washed out.

- Adeline says "Coming up in tonight's show" both in the studio and in the teaser trailer. This was fed back to the VT editor who removed this line from the teaser.

- The graphics for the clothing items in Styles of the Season cover the model slightly so look odd on screen - would be better positioned on the right hand side where there is empty space.

- VT 2 count is out - it faded to black before cutting back to the studio - this was amended.

- Kevin was cued slightly too late in Old To New - this was amended by the director and floor managers.

- The mannequin for Bonnie's section was not removed before the Drag interview - the floor managers were reminded which resolved this issue in future rehearsals.

Rehearsal 3

Like the second rehearsal, this rehearsal was an improvement on the previous one.

- Myself and Melissa discussed whether we should have Adeline saying Sonja's job or whether we should allow Sonja to say this herself - we decided to leave it with Adeline saying Sonja's job as she has learnt this from the script and may add unnecessary confusion to change it this late.

- The music after VT 1 could be faded out to make a cleaner transition from VT to studio.

- The floor managers crossed cameras to get the mannequin off set - to resolve this issue, the floor managers were told to go through the back of the set to remove the mannequin. 

- On camera 5 in the Drag interview, the gap in the set for entrances and exits can be seen - we discussed this with the set design team, however, there was not a lot they could do to resolve this issue. Therefore, the camera needed to change its angle slightly to ensure this gap was not seen.

Rehearsal 4

Again, this rehearsal was an improvement.

- During the fashion fails audience section, Alfie compared double denim to double floral - we liked this ad libbed comment and fed this back to Alfie as something to keep in mind for the live show.

- The dad trainers graphic obscures the shoes, this was fed back to graphics and amended so that the graphic now appears on the split screen line.

Rehearsal 5

The final rehearsal of the day went very well with almost no mistakes or amendments to make. 

Sometimes the Styles of the Season segment over ran, therefore, we decided to take time away from the drag interview first as this is the longest interview - and then if more time had to be removed it came from the DIY interview. We only cut time from the interviews after the Old To New section was complete as often the timings evened out at this point meaning that no time needed to be removed from the interview sections. Occasionally we ran under on the sections, so again we distributed this between the interview sections. Bonnie is a very natural talker and therefore adding more time to her segment was the best option. 

I sat in the gallery for the rehearsals as we needed to be on hand if the production manager needed to amend the timings for any section. It was also mine and Melissa's job to remind the presenters not to swear and if they did to get them to apologise as the responsibility would come back to us if the presenters were to swear in the live broadcast. We also had a background information pack incase the presenters needed any more information about any of the contributors / guests or if we wanted them to mention any of these facts. 

'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Final Running Order

The production manager and assistant producer have developed the running order following the rehearsals of the show to produce a final version of the running order. 

The running order above shows Jemma's notes during previous rehearsals. The durations for each section have been amended in line with how the durations worked in the rehearsals. The teaser has been reduced in length due to us halving the time in the script by only teasing half the segments, this gives us a little more time to use in the studio. The Styles of the Season segment is also shorter than the last running order, however this has run over before due to the models varying the answers they give in this section - we will watch this in rehearsals and see how many times this runs over - in other rehearsals we have cut time from the DIY and Drag Act interview which works but is not ideal. The link between Styles of the Season and Fashion Fails (which includes the outfit reveal on the mannequin) has been shortened to 45 seconds - this is due to us realising through the rehearsals that this section does not need as much time as we first anticipated. The length of Old to New has remained almost the same - this is a very straight forwards segment with just interaction between the presenters and therefore runs to time. The duration for the interviews has remained the same but these are often used to even out timings if other sections run over.

This is the final running order. We will use this running order for the rehearsals tomorrow and note down which segments run over / under time to ensure we are prepared with timings for transmission. 

'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Liaising with graphics

Our initial idea for graphics was something Del and Helen were keen for us to stick quite closely to. They liked the colour scheme we constructed and the font we chose along with it.

Myself and Melissa put together a document to send to Simon on graphics outlining the basic idea of what style we wanted to graphics to have. This document provided the colour scheme we liked and the style of font we used.

Simon then used this to come up with his initial ideas for the graphics and logo. He put together a powerpoint to show Melissa and I. We weren't keen on any of the suggestions put forward as they were so different to the ideas we had initially had. Although Simon took inspiration from the second colour palette we provided, we decided that the red / orange colour palette works better for the tone of our show. We want our graphics and logo to stand out yet keep that clean cut look which doesn't work with this new muted colour scheme. 

We fed this back to Simon who worked further on the colour scheme, logo and graphics. The next version we received of the logo was even further from what I had in mind. Simon suggested that this logo is similar to the type of logo used by magazines such as Vogue - giving our production a higher quality. I agreed that this font looks similar to the style used by Vogue, but wasn't sure whether this fitted with the tone of our programme. We wanted clean cut graphics / logo to fit with our contemporary, anti-mainstream tone - we don't want to resemble the same qualities as Vogue as this is a high end mainstream magazine.

I did like the idea of using a different font for the 'the' so this is an aspect I wanted carried over to the next version of the logo. Simon created more examples for myself and Melissa to look at. These designs were closer to what I had in mind with the orange colour scheme and sans serif font.

My favourites of these designs were the bottom two - we fed this back to Simon and suggested merging the two designs together, incorporating the style of font used in the bottom left logo with the colours used in the bottom right logo. After further discussion, we finally arrived at a logo that everyone was happy with. The logo uses Avenir Next as the font (which was mine and Melissa's original font from the pitch). I like the use of the shadow behind the 'Steal' and the 'Style', I also like the 'the' being in a different colour (but of the same colour family) and not being in capitals. This logo is consistent over all our material.

As well as designing the logo, Simon was in charge or creating the graphics such as lower thirds and price graphics for the show and VTs.

Simon shared his initial designs with us showing different varieties of lower third graphics.

Myself and Melissa agreed that the bottom lower third was most similar to the type we wanted to go for, however, we thought it extended too long across the bottom and that the pink may be too feminine for our branding as a show for both genders.

Simon took this feedback on board and made this lower third shorter and less feminine by using the one orange colour across the whole graphic. Simon also updated the 'Steal The Style' section of the lower third with the logo once that had been confirmed.

The lower thirds were originally supposed to animate across the screen so that they unfolded, however, the equipment in the gallery couldn't cope with this movement and therefore this animation juddered across the screen. As this couldn't be fixed, we decided to have the graphic stationary and fade in and out as this would give a cleaner look.

As well as these elements, Simon created the stings for the show. The stings used the same font as the logo and lower thirds and animated over an orange background. This keeps the branding of the show consistent throughout.

Overall, I am happy with the graphics for the show. Simon took on board our feedback and I feel we worked well together to produce a logo and graphics that pleased everyone. I feel the graphics embody our clean cut, contemporary tone and are similar to those you may see on E4 which is our target channel.

'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Liaising with music / sound team

We needed music to accompany our titles, VTs, catwalk segments, the stings, drag act, drumroll, outro.

The promo team found music for the titles. This music was upbeat and will help set a good, high energy tone for the show. The same music will be used at the end of the show quietly during the round up section and then will be brought up during the credits - this helps to keep the tone consistent. The promo team attached the music to the titles VT so this will be operated by the VT operators - however, the music is not attached at the end of the programme so will need to be controlled by Aimee on sound.

The music for the VTs was found by the VT teams. I suggested a copyright free artist called "LAKEY INSPIRED" as the tone of his music is chill but also upbeat - it is also unlike music heard in mainstream TV shows which aids our branding as a show that displays non mainstream fashion. The Old To New VT and DIY VT used music from this artist.

Jemma and Victoria contacted an artist to create an original piece of music for the drag act's performance. The piece needed to be upbeat enough to allow the drag queen to do an energetic performance as well as needing to fit in with the tone of the show. The music was sent to our drag queen to who learnt the words to lip sync to the song.

Andrew was in charge of finding / creating the music for the stings and the catwalk section.

Initially he made some music from scratch. However, it was hard to get the music to match the tone of our show. The music needed to be upbeat yet also embody the unique tone of the show. We didn't want the music to be too 'poppy' but it still needed to be upbeat.

After receiving our feedback that the music didn't match with the style of the show and the other music used in the introduction and VTs, Andrew decided to go back to using the music myself and Melissa suggested in our pitch. This music is from Dyalla Swain and perfectly fits the tone of the show. Andrew went through the music and chose sections that fit the tone of the show and the timings of the required sections. The music for the stings was attached to the accompanying graphic to work as a VT. This will be controlled by the VT operators. The music for the catwalk sections was sent to Aimee on sound who will control the fading in and out of these music beds in the studio.

Here are the initial samples Andrew made and the final music pieces:

I am happy with the music we have ended up with for the show. It is disappointing that we are unable to use Andrew's original music but it is more important to ensure the music throughout the show is of the same consistent tone to ensure our show has a strong brand identity. Andrew found some good music in the end and found some good samples from these songs to use in the production - the tone of the music is spot on as it is unique, upbeat with a slight 'indie' vibe.