Evaluation

I believe the multi camera TV production was a success. At first everything was going smoothly and it looked liked it was going to be a great show. The producer and director both seemed confident and therefore boosted the classes’ ability to work. We all pitched ideas that were included into the final design for the show, we were all assigned roles, I was designated a camera operator.

In the first few weeks we made a basis for the shows running order and set layout. After visualising what the set would look like, we got to start on the rehearsing. It took some time for the hosts to get into character; therefore it took a few takes to get the opening script right. And when we did, it took them a while to get the closing script right. These two parts took so long and so many weeks that we all forgot about actually arranging the set.

We had all visualised the set, but never set it up. As a result, three quarters into the deadline we were faced with the task of arranging and setting up the set. It was at this time I was fed up with the producer for not organising our production schedule properly. Organising the set which should have taken a few weeks, only took us one lesson that was rushed, resulting in a poorly designed set and backdrops. Even more annoyingly, this lesson could’ve been used to practice the main parts of the show which the hosts had no rehearsals on.

A few weeks before the deadline, we had finally found some guests to help us rehearse the main parts of the show. Because these scenes were not scripted, the rehearsals were much more fluent and successful than the opening and closing scenes were. But because these were our first rehearsals with guests, the guests had not committed to the date our live production was on and therefore we had to change a few of them. This put our rehearsals at risk with, introducing the guest and the guest’s background and description.

But this was the hosts and producers problems. My role was to listen and obey instructions from the director. But I’m sure I speak for all the camera operators when I say the director wasn’t very good at directing. I’m sure he tried his best at times and he was overwhelmed trying to direct everyone. But failing to specify how far he wanted cameras to zoom in/out or pan, put all the camera operators including me in a bit of a pickle. Not to mention the times when the director never said anything throughout half of the show. i.e. #Hosts and guests get up and dance to music# (out of camera view) And the director says nothing, leaving it up to the camera operators to adjust the cameras to the shots they thought looked right.

Unfortunately this communication problem wasn’t resolved and we had to cope with it throughout the official production. But due to the rehearsals we had a clear idea of what to do if it happened again. And the producer finally recruited guests available for the date of our show, allowing a small amount of time for us to rehearse with them before the big day.

Overall I think the show was a success, although the rehearsals were terrible. Everyone completed their roles well, including director and a producer. Although next time I would probably get them to sort themselves out before the deadline so that we all feel more confident on the big day.