'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.