Today we had the second production meeting. We decided that we still hadn't nailed down the content of the show, therefore people could not begin work on their own sections. Before the meeting we decided to split people into their production groups and allocate different research tasks so that we could finally solidify the content and structure of the show.
We wanted as many topics as possible as Del suggested we think of an hour's worth of content rather than stretching out 15 minutes worth of material. We can always get rid of ideas but we wanted to start with as many possible ideas.
We decided that each group should take one of the topics and think of an extra idea as well:
- Trends of the week - name changed to Steals of the Season
- Vintage - name changed to Old to New
- Digging Through The Wardrobe Of
- Music Influence on Fashion
- Plus Size
- Independent Stores
Splitting people up and allocating them research topics has allowed me to develop as a producer. I am learning to become more comfortable taking authority in situations.
I also led the production meeting alongside Jo and Melissa (with some input from the directors as well) - which enabled me to develop this skill.
We had some good feedback from the production meeting. I started with an example of our developed idea 'Steals of The Season' (formerly trends of the week). The section will pan out as follows: - The presenters run through top 5 trends and where they can be found in stores. - The presenters then take one trend each (one trend for each gender) and demonstrate how this can be styled on a younger and older person. 1 item styled 2 ways.
- VT - The presenters go to a high street that includes charity shops and high street shops with a budget and pick out an outfit for each other that corresponds with the trends.
- Reveal outfit in the studio - chatty banter - compare budget
This segment now has a clear structure. We just need to research what the trends will be for SS18. We then need to figure out which trend we want to focus on for each gender and why - is it the most popular trend or most quirky trend? We need to decide which high street and how much the presenters should have as a budget for the VT and then how exactly the outfits will be revealed in the studio - will the presenters change into them or have models display the outfits?
Other feedback from the meeting:
Vintage - why certain items have come back into fashion e.g. flat caps and dad trainers. Is it because of programmes such as Peaky Blinders and Stranger Things. Exploring the topic of why certain items of clothing from different eras are becoming trendy again. Leaves open the opportunity to explore fashion from different eras.
Vintage - exploring historical fashion e.g. Churchill came up with a siren suit that has now developed into a onesie. Bomber jackets are back in fashion - these originated from a historical moment. Exploring how clothing has developed.
Vintage - an idea for a VT could be the presenters going out with a budget and piecing together an outfit which fits with current trends but from charity shops / vintage markets / thrifted. (We then developed this idea into the VT for the Steals of The Season section)
Independent Stores - Going to an independent store and interviewing people. Need to consider WHY - what is special about this independent store. Could try and find an independent store that offers things that no other store does.
Music Inspirations - talk to an independent artist about what they wear everyday and how that compares to their on stage persona. This could be used as a 'digging through the wardrobe' section - however there could be issues as audience will want to know who the person is but we won't have access to any huge musicians.
Extra Sections:
- DIY - how to make a current trend from something you may already have lurking in your wardrobe / something you can buy in a charity store.
- Online Inspirations - Online shopping is now huge - looking into independent sellers online e.g. Etsy. Looking at how well shops that are not online are doing vs. shops that are just online. Primark vs Etsy.
- Fashion Fails - asking the audience about fashion fails / showing fashion fails they have already sent in. Could lead into subject of ordering one thing and it turning out to be something else. Expectations vs. reality.
- Fashion Students - what they're producing now and what that means for the future of fashion - talking to people from the industry.
I think we received some really good suggestions that can definitely be used in some way or another. The only problem is fitting some of the items into the tone of the show.
We need to see how we can make each segment fit the tone: current trends styled in ways that go against the mainstream fashion - catering for 16-50 year olds with an average working / middle class budget.
Myself, Melissa, the directors and production assistants will now take these suggestions - clarify them and give them back out for further research so that we know every single detail of each section and how each section will run and link to each other.
So that everyone in the group is clear on what has already been determined and what is left to do, I put together a document following the meeting outlining the segments we have decided on and the next steps.
Alongside this document, we published a research sign up sheet so that people could sign up to research the segment that interested them most.
Sets, Props, Costumes & CG
- freelancers
- production team work alongside & commission the work
- companies pitch their ideas to be commissioned
Choosing Creatives:
- previous work
Branding and set - need to be the same
This will be framed by:
- time scale
- budget
- genre / style
- content
- number of artists / contributors / audience
- size of studio production
Design for Theatre, Film & Performance UCA students
Floor plans
Contact Info
Schedule & key dates
Ensure no issues with glare
Ensure it doesn't overpower the contributors
Colour palette - make sure set doesn't clash with presenters - think about costume
Audiences and the set
- staging and camera positioning will need to consider what role the audience will play
- purpose
- functionality
- design
- tone / mood
- impact
- audience experience
- information / communication
- story telling (miss en scene)
- availability of materials / budget
- space / camera, light and sound positions
Set design - do we want it to look 'real'??
Joints in the set - try to cover??
Ensure set is widescreen friendly 16:9
Music & graphics used and should fit style template
Finding Talent:
- own contacts
- auditions - advertisements calling for new talent to come forward in relevant press / online
- show reels - similarly can ask for show reels to be sent in, or may request directly / through agent
- agents
- scouting - visit talent performing elsewhere
- talent websites / journals
Check availability - find out what else they're working on - potential scheduling clashes etc.
hours / days of contract
rate of pay
expenses
consider setting flat fee or limits
Contracts & release forms
Needs to be done in advance
Finding contributors
- appeals / ads
- sourcing and contacting relevant organisations / interested parties
- contacts
- press offices / media liaison
- must be cast
Finding audiences
Active audience?? UCA involvement
Decide audience size
Eventbrite
Q&A with audience?? Positioning of the audience
- scenarios etc.
Ofcom broadcasting code 2015
E4
Scheduling and organising talent, contributors and audiences
- some may be needed in post production
- minimise time needed with the talent
To understand what is expected of me as producer, I decided to look into the role the producer takes on as well as looking into one particular producer's work.
- The producer has "overall control on every aspect" of production - "they steer the film from beginning to completion and beyond." [1] The producer comes up with the initial idea and steers the production team to obtain the outcome they desire. The producer always has to be on hand to direct and approve any changes being made to the content of the programme.
- The producer has different roles over the different stages of production:
- Development: producer comes up with idea
- Pre production: producer brings together and liaises with production team
- Production: producer responsible for day to day operation of team - constant communication with creative team
- Post production: producer oversees edit to ensure their vision is realised
Being a producer means that you are the decision maker of the project. The producer must delegate jobs to the appropriate creative teams and then finalise the outcomes - being a producer means collaborating with the entire team. [2]
As well as controlling the overall direction of the production, it is often the producer's job to script the content as well. As I have not written a studio script before, I decided to look into how a studio script is formatted. The shot numbers are written on the far left, the camera shots on the left hand side and the dialogue on the right hand side.
To help further my understanding of what is expected of a producer, I researched into the series producer of Later... With Jools Holland - Alison Howe.
As the series producer for the show, Alison states that her job was to co ordinate all the different departments involved with the production of the show and to solve any issues that arise. As she is also concerned with the content of the show, she spends a lot of her time listening to music and seeing artists live to establish which ones she wants to book for the show. During the production of the show Alison liaises with the talent - the artists on the show and Jools - this displays that whilst the producer's job is to co ordinate everything, keeping the talent happy is at the heart of the role. As the show goes out live, she does not need to liaise with the editors on this front - however, there are extended cuts of the show which need to be edited and approved by Alison. She also works closely with the executive producer of the series to prepare the future episodes and book future artists. [3]
How this has informed my own work
- I have learnt that as producer my organisational skills need to be good as I will be in control of all aspects of production - I need to confirm content and keep track on how this develops.
- I have learnt that constant liaison with the production team is important to achieve the desired outcome - even though the producer is ultimately in charge, the creative teams are responsible for producing the content - to ensure this content is what I had in mind, I need to keep clear and constant communication with these teams.
- I have learnt that I am responsible for the smooth day to day operation of the production. I need to ensure everyone is performing their roles as they should be and rectifying this if they aren't.
- I have explored the layout of the studio script - I now have an idea of how the script needs to be formatted so that the visuals match up with the dialogue.
- Through researching into Alison Howe I have also learnt that I am in charge of the talent - both when it comes to casting and liaising with them once they have been chosen. I will need to communicate with the casting team to ensure the right people are chosen for the roles - and then once they are chosen, it is my job to liaise with them during production to keep them on board and happy with the project.
[1] http://creativeskillset.org/job_roles/757_producer
[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/television/producing/article/art20150225110952220
[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130702112135189
Today was the first production meeting. This involved myself and Melissa pitching our idea to the rest of the group so that they could be informed about the show and start figuring out what needs to be done within their roles.
After the feedback from our pitch we got rid of the HOT or NOT board and paddles and also amended the target audience to be e4 rather than Channel 4.
The main reason behind this production meeting was to gather more ideas of what to include in the show (whether that be in our original segments or a totally new segment.) This is because Del suggested we prepare too much content that needs to be whittled down rather than having too little content which needs to be stretched out.
Helen suggested that everyone find one fashion magazine and look into it before the next production meeting so that everyone is informed on the topic and what sort of content is usually covered in these types of productions. This also means people can sift through these fashion magazines to find more ideas that we could cover in the show.
I suggested people look into Vogue as a classic magazine and Company Magazine as a more contemporary option (however, this has moved into an online only platform). I also suggested that people could look at the magazines' youtube channels as many magazines have channels where they provide additional fashion / beauty / life advice.
To give people further ideas into the aesthetic we are aiming for with this production, I suggested some youtube channels that have a similar look:
People can use these channels to both get ideas for the style of the show but also for some more content.
I also suggested people could watch a Netflix Documentary called Iris as it is fashion related and may provide people with more content ideas.
Now everyone must go and research these areas and bring back some ideas for our next production meeting so that we can nail down some segments and what topics will be covered in them.
In order to get a better idea of what a live / as live show consists of, I conducted some research into studio based factual programmes and studio based entertainment programmes.
Studio based factual programme The One Show Breakdown of the show
The One Show is described as "BBC One’s flagship topical magazine show". It promises to "inform, educate and entertain" which are key values of the BBC's programming. This shows that for our production Steal The Style - we need to embody the values of E4's programming as this is now our target channel. The One Show "combines high quality specialist factual films with entertaining high profile guests from the world of film, TV and theatre."[1]
The show begins with a title sequence introducing the show - the title sequence is produced with animated graphics to their iconic trumpet based non diegetic sound track. The title sequence being to graphics instead of being a specially shot sequence adds to the idea that this is a factual show - the topics are at the heart of the programme rather than presenters (my research into a studio based entertainment programme displayed that a specially shot title sequence of the presenters is used as their personalities are central to the entertainment of the show).
The presenters (usually Alex Jones and Matt Baker) then introduce the show "Hello and welcome to The One Show with ... and ..." - this establishes what the show is and who the presenters are straight away - as the programme is well established and the presenters are usually the same everyday, they do not need to describe who they are. As our presenters will be brand new to the audience, it may be a good idea to include a brief introduction to who they are at the top of the show. The show begins with a two shot of the presenters in their iconic studio location and the camera slowly zooms in closer to the presenters - this is really effective in drawing the audience into the show straight away. There is no teaser of what is to come in the show, instead the presenters dive straight into the first topic / guest.
In this programme, they immediately introduced their guest. Often, they use clips to introduce guests - the presenters will give a brief tease of who the guest is before showing a clip and then introducing them back in the studio. When the guest is introduced and on the opposite sofa, the camera shots cut between a two shot of the presenters, a single of the guest or a wide 3 shot of all the individuals. When talking with the guest, the presenters direct their dialogue towards them and the section works as a standard interview segment. When the presenters need to round up the interview and introduce another topic, they do a PTC to introduce either another guest or to transition into a VT. The guest / guests usually stay on the sofa once introduced and interact with the other topics of the show (even though they are unrelated to them). This is a unique point to the show as the convention in other programmes is for a guest only to stay for their specific segment.
There is a conversational tone between presenters - their discussion is very natural, chatty and bubbly - this keeps the audience engaged with the subject matter as they aren't being inundated with hoards of information, everything is kept in a simplistic conversational style. We aim for the presenters to also have a chatty, conversational style in Steal The Style as we understand there could be a lot of fashion advice being given out to the audience and we want to avoid bombarding them with information.
Occasionally there is a small studio audience for The One Show, usually consisting of people who will somehow be involved in the show - sometimes giving stories / testimonies on subjects explored within the show itself. This audience is mainly passive and just observes the show (except for the participatory element of them sharing stories). The presenters interact with the audience at home by asking them to send in things which relate to the subject they are discussing. This again helps the audience at home to relate to the show as they feel they are part of it.
The presenters attempt to link the segments they are discussing, however, these links can be very tenuous. This is something we need to watch out for with Steal The Style as our format could be considered a magazine format like The One Show. However, all the topics we will be exploring within Steal The Style will be fashion related and should therefore be easier to link.
As well as in studio segments, The One Show uses VTs to explore topics outside of the studio environment. These VTs are sometimes an expansion on what has been discussed in the studio but they can also be an entirely different subject matter all together. Again, the presenters sometime use very tenuous links to transition into these VTs but this shouldn't be an issue within Steal The Style as each of our VTs will accompany a studio segment so will naturally link. The presenters ensure that no language is repeated from the studio into the VT - this is something myself and Melissa will have to consider with our script and the VT scripts - the studio sections and VTs should flow smoothly without repetition of dialogue.
The studio set of the show is very vibrant. To accompany this, the titles and graphics for the show share the same bold colour scheme. This is something I hadn't considered before but is actually extremely important to the branding of the show. Myself and Melissa are keen to have a neutral set and a neutral / orange based colour scheme for the graphics - I will ensure to liaise with both the set design team and graphics team to ensure the branding is consistent throughout the show.
The show always finishes on a wide shot of the studio with the presenters and guests in frame as well as a TV screen displaying what is to come on the next day's programme. I think the idea of ending on a wide shot is good as it establishes the setting again for the audience - we pitched to do something similar with the beginning and ending of Steal The Style by using a jib shot for the intro and outro of the show.
Behind The Scenes of the show
Every morning the producer, assistant producer and research meet to discuss the evening's show. The meeting is to ensure everything is known before the show - that they have all the stats and information on the subject matter to hand so that the presenters can ask pertinent questions on air.
They will go through the script and ensure everyone knows the plan. Tweaks and changes are made before giving the script to the presenters.
The show aims to include 4 VTs a programme - which is the same number as we will have during our show. These VTs are specially shot, high quality 'films'.
They have a 5:30pm rehearsal before going live at 7pm.
The producer creates the show on paper - the director create the show on screen for the audience. This highlights the importance of my role as producer to liaise with the directors to ensure they are displaying my content / ideas in the way they were intended.
How this has informed my role and the production
- As a fashion based chat show, Steal the Style is a mixture between factual and entrainment programming. As we want our presenters to be at the heart of the programme, it would be more logical to film a specially shot title sequence rather than a graphics based one as used in The One Show.
- The trumpet based music is very iconic and immediately recognisable as The One Show - we need to ensure that the music used for the title sequence for Steal The Style is upbeat and fast paced to fit with the tone of the show but also easily recognisable to create a strong sense of branding.
- Whilst not having a teaser works for this programme, I think having a teaser would work better for Steal The Style to get the audience excited about what is to come in the show.
- Their interview set up is very simple but effective. For our interviews we should use a camera for a two shot of our presenters, a camera for our contributor and a camera for a wide shot. I like how the cameras are not static either, they are all slightly crabbing to the side to inject energy into the programme.
- The studio design matches with the graphics used throughout the programme. This keeps the branding of the show consistent and will therefore be something to keep in mind for our show.
- The show is scripted with the important, factual information but there is room for the presenters to ad lib and have natural discussion. The presenters have in ear monitors so that the gallery can communicate with them to provide them with extra information or to instruct them to do something.
- They are careful not to repeat dialogue when transitioning from studio to VT - this is due to careful scripting. We will need to ensure we are updated with the scripting for the VTs so that no dialogue is repeated in our studio script.
Overall, looking at The One Show has been helpful and informative even though Steal The Style will take a less factual approach.
As a factual magazine programme, The One Show has a well established format featuring structured interviews, PTCs and VTs. As a mixture between a factual and entertainment programme, we hope for Steal The Style to take a less structured approach and for the presenters to have more freedom with the delivery of their dialogue whilst still keeping standard elements such as PTCs and interviews.
Studio based entertainment programme Saturday Night Takeaway Breakdown of the show
Saturday Night Takeaway is a live entertainment studio show hosted by Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly. Each show consists of a variety of different segments ranging from interacting with audience members and putting on competitions to fun challenges between the presenters and performances from special guests.
Saturday Night Takeaway features a specially shot title sequence with graphics at end. This puts the presenters at the heart of the programme. Ant and Dec are a classic double act and work well at bouncing jokes off each other. As we want our presenters to have similar chemistry and also be at the heart of our show, shooting a title sequence featuring them is the idea. The style of graphics used at the end of Ant and Dec's title sequence is consistent across the rest of the graphics used in the show - the font is kept the same, the colours are kept the same and the glitzy tone is kept consistent.
The location of the studio is also important to the show as shown by an establishing shot of London to introduce the show. This then zooms into the studio and then into a wide shot of audience. This build up to the studio introduction creates excitement and anticipation which are key to the success of the show as an entertainment programme - the audience need to be engaged and excited.
Before the presenters even make their way onto stage, a teaser trailer plays to show to the audience what is to come in the show. This teaser is narrated by the 'Special Guest Announcer' who also introduces themselves and the presenters in the studio. This is a very unique part of the show as they make this announcer a prominent feature (whereas other shows usually use the presenters themselves to narrate the teaser and introduce the show). The addition of this announcer adds hype and excitement to the show - I really like this idea as it gets the audience engaged, however, I do not think it would work for Steal The Style as we are not aiming for the same energy and atmosphere. The live studio audience for Saturday Night Takeaway are very involved with the show - the audience are both appreciative and active - therefore having a special announcer to hype up the audience works for their audience. We had originally pitched for Steal The Style's audience to be active by voting for topics with Hot Or Not paddles but this has since been dropped. Now the audience will take an appreciative role by applauding the contributors and therefore do not need to be hyped up by a special announcer - the presenters will keep the audience engaged and excited with the content instead. The special guest announcer chips in on the show throughout and before commercial breaks reminds the audience of what is still to come to ensure audience engagement with the programme.
Ant and Dec introduce the show with jokes that bounce off of each other - their pairing as presenters is central to the success of show. The audience aren't watching the show just for the content, they are also watching for Ant and Dec's personalities and comedy. As we want Steal The Style to be factual / informative about fashion yet entertaining, it is important that we find presenters who have a natural chemistry like Ant and Dec so that our audience too want to tune in both for our fashion advice yet also for our presenters.
As the show is built from different segments, the set has to accommodate for this. Ant and Dec go out into the audience to surprise / interview different audience members - the two wide staircases stretching back through the audience allow for them to do this. For the main set of the show, there is a stage area in the middle for special guest acts to perform and two empty areas which can be manipulated into whatever is needed for the segments (e.g. sofas can be brought in for sit down sections or podiums can be brought in for challenges). There are then screens around the set which are utilised throughout the show to show images, graphics and VTs as well as being a key component for the 'Win The Ads' section. The set for our show will need to accommodate for the different elements of the show - as our show is mainly focused on talking through fashion (as a chat show) we have only planned for an area containing chairs and a table, however, we may want to consider expanding the other areas of the set to allow space for if we choose to have people modelling any clothing items etc.
The segments in Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway include; Ant Vs. Dec, I'm A Celebrity...Get Out of me Ear, Win the Ads, End of the Show Show etc. Ant and Dec have different ways of introducing the segments e.g. for Ant Vs Dec they make a point of looking menacingly into different cameras at different angles to build up the tension for the challenge. This also adds humour and excitement to the show. When introducing a challenge / segment on VT the presenters look towards the screen behind them to suggest this is where the VT will play which helps the show to flow. As we want one of our VTs to be a challenge between the presenters, it may be a good idea to take a similar approach to Ant Vs. Dec with the introduction to this challenge to keep with the light hearted tone of our show.
The show finishes with the End of the Show Show which is usually a performance from a musical act. This leaves the show on a high note and gives the audience a reason to stick around to the end of the show. As with The One Show, Saturday Night Takeaway finishes on a wide shot of the studio to establish the location to the audience. Behind The Scenes of the show
The presenters and producer go through the script to check lines - check the presenters are happy with what's been written and see if they have any feedback.
Opening of the show always needs to be topical - the script is re-written to remain topical if any circumstances change on the run up to the show - opening has to be tight to remain engaging
Process starts on the Monday before the Saturday show - the script is usually ready for Tuesday - Script constantly changes up to Saturday - jokes constantly being changed and tweaked
Writers liaise with the presenters and ask for their feedback too - two way street - writers give content to presenters and they suggest content back.
The crew map out which cameras are the cameras for each presenter - so when told in talk back they know which cameras to look at
Rehearsals enable them to run through script - see what works and what doesn't work in practice
How this has informed my role and the production
- Ant and Dec have brilliant chemistry as presenters, this is something we aim for with our presenters. We also want our presenters to be a double act and to be at the heart of our show - they need to be able to bounce off of each other in a similar style to Ant and Dec.
- The use of a teaser and reminders during the programme of what's to come is effective in keeping the audience excited and engaged with the content of the programme. As we want our audience to stay engaged with our programme and be excited for what's to come, using a teaser would be a good idea. As our show will only be 30 minutes long, one teaser at the beginning would be sufficient - constant reminders of what's coming up in the show could be over bearing for a relatively short show.
- Our set needs to accommodate for different segments. Our segments will develop as the idea is taken forward so we need to ensure the set develops along with this.
- Ant and Dec's introductions to segments work very well for the tone of the show - their links are kept high energy and entertaining to match the content. We should consider this with our links during the show - for fun challenges, the links into these segments should take a fun spin.
- Saturday Night Takeaway always ends on a high with their End of the Show Show - our last segment is just another segment of the show - it may be worth thinking of a new, high energy idea for the end of the show to give the audience something to anticipate and also end on a high note.
Although the tone of Saturday Night Takeaway is much more high energy than our pitch for Steal The Style, undertaking some research into the area has provided some good insights into more areas to consider with our show (such as the links between segments and putting our presenters at the heart of the show). I will use this research (along with my research into factual studio programming) to inform the development of the show. [1] https://www.bbcstudios.com/case-studies/the-one-show/
To outline our idea for the studio production, we wrote up a proposal. We decided to include the logo at the top of the proposal to help establish our brand and style. As well as this, we included the 25 word pitch which concisely sums up the premise of our show. The proposal also covers the concept of the show, the format of the show, the type of presenters and the type of audience before covering a more detailed breakdown of the show.
The proposal is given to the panel before the pitch so that they can be informed about the idea before we pitch it.
