TRANSITION; CALL SHEETS

As a producer, it is my job to create call sheets, these will let the cast and crew know whats going on with filming and when. Looking online i found that there is a lot of detail that goes into creating call sheets. I found that a lot of high profile productions will include a lot of information on theirs and create different ones for certain members of cast and crew.

Example Call Sheet

I wanted to create a call sheet for our cast, i think it is a lot less hassle to put the location, contact details and names of everyone in one sheet for them to have so that they know what is going on. I have chosen to do more of a basic call sheet as i think where this is a smaller production we do not have to include as much detail. The most important details to include are contact details and addressed.

Draft Call Sheet

TRANSITION; PRODUCER RESEARCH

As part of my research for being a producer, i thought i would look into a specific producer and their work to try and inform mine. I have chosen Steven Moffat, mainly because whilst he is a producer, he is a writer as well, and on many shows has acted as this new role of a 'Showrunner', i thought this would be best for me to look at.

Steven Moffat is a Scottish television writer and producer, perhaps he is best known for his role as a showrunner on extremely popular shows 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock'. Whilst he began his career as a writer on many shows, he eventually began producing as well and he started to combine the role of producer and writer together. For example, he with Doctor Who, he was made executive producer in 2007 but he was also a writer. The way his role worked on the show, was that he was also head writer, Moffat alongside a team would devise the narrative for each series as a whole, and Moffat would write the beginning and ending episodes of each series. Other writers would then write the other episodes with Moffat as the executive producer.

As a producer, he is someone who likes to do right by the shows he is working on, and make bold and daring decisions. Back in 2015, there was a high call for a female doctor from critics and viewers. However, Moffat believed at the time that it was 'too early' to be casting a women in the role as he had become 'obsessed with Peter in the Tardis' (the current doctor).

The type of producer that Steven Moffat is, is more about creative control and freedom, rather than the organisitional roles like production schedules and call sheets. You can find that on big budget productions there will be production managers and assistants that take on these more 'admin' roles and the producers focus more on the creative side, something Moffat definitely does in his shows.

TRANSITION; JOB ROLE RESEARCH

For the Transitions unit; my role is a producer. Producers play an integral role in the tv and film industry and they are the ones who would mainly be seeing a project through from the start to the finish. They are the people who work closely with every department on a shoot, for example the director, the editor and the production staff. Roles that a producer usually takes on

- Raise money needed to fund a shoot
- Come up with the content, storylines etc, but hire a writer to follow through with the physical script
- Either create budgeting and scheduling documents (on bigger shoots there would be a production assistant to do these tasks but a producer would be working closely with them)
- Ensure that all the relevant insurances are in place for shoots
- Keep in close contact with the director to ensure everything is going as it should

Being a producer is closely associated with managerial titles; its a lot about keeping organised and knowing whats going on within each team/department at all times. Producers can spend a lot of time in an office, taking up the above organisational, more administrative tasks.

Within the 21st century, a new role within the TV industry has appeared; knowns as a 'show-runner'. this is a role that would have complete and utter control of a production, its a mixture of a writer and producer job role. This takes the creative role of a writer paired with the more managerial job of a producer and puts them together. A lot of shows, particularly sic-fi such as Doctor Who, have adopted these roles, with one person taking control of the a series, deciding what content shall go into it, and then writing a good amount of the episodes that go into it. This is something that really interest me because whilst i resonate well with because of the roles that come with it, however writing is also something that really interests me.

Looking at some research, the term 'Showrunner' is the term given normally to one of the executive producers of a programme. The main job is to 'maintain the integrity of the overall canon of the series'. A showrunner wouldn't write every episode but would have creative control of most of the narrative aspects that occur within a series.

TRANSITION; FEEDBACK AND SCRIPTING

As the producer, I wrote the script for the project, though it is a recreation it still needed heavy scripting as we had decided to change some of the scenes up. As discussed, we took a scene from the end of episode one and weaved it in and out of the opening of the same episode. It fit really well as both scenes are describing/talking about to death of Jason Blossom. I changed it up slightly by adding a few lines of dialogue, such as on page 3, the end of the conversation differs a lot in the real show, but because we wanted to make it dramatic I changed up the last line. Having Jughead say 'this town is full of secrets, they always come out' is really indicative of the tone of the overall series and I thought it fitted in well.

Feedback from Simon and tutorial;
- Test shoot to be done with fig rig, jib arm and track in order to decide what to use and what would be best on the shoot day
- Make sure we have filming permissions if anyone is in the background of our leeds castle shoot
- Make a shot list; make sure shots are separately organised so we know exactly what we are filming
- Script needs to be more detailed
- Make sure the shots we film match the voice over that is in the beginning of the script
- Montage needs more thought
- Think about transitions between montage and diner

As a producer, the main thing I had to do from this feedback was make sure the script was more detailed. After reading it back myself i did realise that i had skimmed over some parts and not made them as detailed as it should have been. I hadn't put in any detail on the actions that the actors were to take, for example facial expressions or where they would be standing etc. I went back over the script, as well as rewatched the scene from the episode in order to gain some more detail in the script. I didn't find it too difficult to make the script more detailed as i think it was more the actions they take that i had to elaborate on, for example i included how Archie and Jughead would be sitting together, and how they would react to what each other were saying through facial expressions.

Copy of Script;

TRANSITION; PROJECT CHANGES

For our transitions unit, myself, Laura, Katie and Sonia created a powerpoint presentation to demonstrate our idea to the class. We each spoke about what roles we will be undertaking as well as the approach we plan to take with the idea.

Feedback
- Liked our idea and were interested to see what we were going to do with it; particularly how we would approach the use of bold colours that they use in Riverdale
- Look at certain producers/directors/editors/DOPs as research to form a part of the unit
- Make sure we each have our own ideas as to how our version will be different from the original, how we will make it our own
- Making sure we still include some drama within the scene



What has changed
After our presentation and feedback session from both Simon and the class, I began to wonder how I can use my role of a producer to influence how we will make our recreation different from the original. Something I thought when looking back at our chosen scene, was that everything I loved about it, the stuff that created the drama such as a big police boat looking for the body and members of the town watching onwards, we had to cut for logistical reasons and I now wondered if the stuff we could film was worth going to 3 different locations for without the sense of drama you get in the original.

After bouncing some ideas around and all of us looking for some alternate scenes, I found a scene towards the end of episode one, where best friends Archie and Jughead have a conversation regarding the recent summer tragedy that was the death of Jason Blossom. I thought that with this we would be able to still incorporate the original scene we wanted to do as well. Katie suggested we could still film the opening locations (river, town shots etc) but without the actors, layering over just the voice over from Jughead where he explains what happened (Jason's death at the river), this then leads on nicely to the conversation between Jughead and Archie because the talk about what the audience would have just had explained to them in the voiceover. I think this is a much better combination of scenes for us to do; it allows us to get some great locations shots at the start, but still brings a sense of entertainment and drama with the second section. This scene will take place in the same diner we had already sourced so this also isn't a problem.

TRANSITION; PROJECT UPDATE LOCATIONS

With the transitions project there were two things that i wanted to organise and be prepared for straight away, this was
- Provisional Filming Dates
- Location Access

Based upon previous projects, locations have probably been the biggest struggle, you want to find a location that will work perfectly for the shoot, but gaining access can be a struggle. With this project we do need quite a few different locations, the hardest one in my eyes being one with a river. For this, I immediately began looking on the Kent Film Office website, I found a few different locations such as 'Haysden Country Park' in Tonbridge. Also, by the suggestion of Sonia to have a look into Leeds Castle, I managed to get into contact with one of the managers from there. After emailing them, they got back to me and confined we would be able to use their location that runs into a river! Our next step with this is to go down and do a recce to confirm the location is 100% fit for the production.

In addition to this, I am also still in ongoing contact with one of the people in charge at the original location found, 'Haysden Country Park', they have asked for copies of the script etc to know what the production is about and I am currently awaiting a decision back from them. Though we have a location almost confirmed with Leeds Castle, I have learnt from previous productions that locations can fall through, and it is imperative to have a back up plan! This is why I will be continuing to liaise with the relevant people about Haysden as this really help up - to have a second option.



Furthermore, the 2nd location we need is actually a car park; so that we can show our characters arrive at the river location, once we go and do a recce of Leeds Castle we can find out if this is something we could film there as well. However if not I have access to a farm location; it has a tarmaced car park as well as acres of land so will still work perfectly to match the Leeds Castle river location. Finally - we need a location to act as the 'Choc-litshop'. Ideally we want one to look as authentic as possible and currently are looking into using the diner that is in the Maidstone Studios, it would work really well and defiantly fit what we are trying to go for, however currently we need to find out if access can be gained and this is something that is ongoing.

TRANSITION; BRIEFING

Transition is a new unit that focuses on us choosing a field of work within TV Production to focus on; immediately I was unsure about what role i would want to take. I like the idea of being a producer, mainly because its a role that relies a lot on organisation, something i enjoy doing, however I also like the idea of being a writer; especially within the unit as it would allow us to expand on shows we have already seen, the creativity that comes with this is something i considered being worth while.

After talking more with people in my year and Simon, i decided to go forward with the role of a Producer, I defiantly think this is where my skills would overall lie and this is something i will enjoy the most. Furthermore their was the idea of a 'show-runner' which is overall a more modern role within the TV industry that brings together the roles of writer and producer, this particularly is something that resonates with me and i will be researching into this further.

Who to work with?
For this project I will be working with Sonia (Director) Katie (Editor) and Laura (DoP). We all have similar interests in the type of work we would like to produce so we definitely will work very well together. We all agreed very quickly that we wanted to recreate some scenes from Netflix's Riverdale, from all points of our roles it will be challenging but have a really good end product. There will most likely (dependent on which scenes we choose to do) be a lot of casting and locations work involved, as well as a look of work into how it will look on the camera, the show itself has a very particular and distinct look and this is something we will have to look into.

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; PROJECT EVALUATION

The 'As Live Production' has felt like one of the longest units so far, but also one that I think required the most amount of work. Starting back in January with our pitches, when myself and Aimee pitched our idea for a show; 'Challenging Times' the project seemed like one of the most daunting yet. Once 'Steal the Style' was pitched to us and we were given our roles, I was slightly aprehensive about being a VT Producer and Operator. Firstly, I didn't particularly want to do any roles that were technical as it isn't something I enjoy and I would personally say I am not very good at anything majorly 'technical'. Moreover the idea of being a VT producer was equally as daunting because its about being in control of people, particularly people that I hadn't worked with before, so I wasn't entirely sure how this would work out.

The Models and Photographer we used for Old to New

During this project, I learnt that the importance of being on top of the dates and times of filming, and always communicating these correctly. Unfortunately, I told the models that we originally had plans to use for the Old to New VT, that we would be filming on the 14^th of March, when in fact we were filming on the 15^th. The reason for this was that the locations couldn’t do the date we wanted so we had to change it, I found that our filming dates changed a lot due to various reasons, and I struggled to keep up with them leading to this mistake. In the end we managed to get new models involved in the project and it worked out perfectly, however a lot of hassle could have been avoided if I was to have given the correct dates. In future, I am very wary now to make sure all the correct dates are written out, as well as this I think it would avoid any issues if i perhaps kept in contact with contributors a bit more. I could email them about a week before filming and confirm everything once again to make sure they are still available for the dates, meaning there would be no last-minute problems, and everything can be organised for the filming days.

Bonnie - Etsy Seller in DIY

Furthermore, as a VT producer, it was really important to set and stick to deadlines. Within this project, because the content for our VTs (the baseline for us to follow) took some time to get to us, we struggled to set filming dates as early as possible. Once we were given the rough idea that the VT needed to follow, myself and the researcher could begin to iron out the exact content. At this time, I didn’t set exact filming dates and I think this could have hindered as slightly. At the time I didn’t think to set preliminary deadlines because I wanted to find the contributors and locations first. However, I know realise that it would have been good to set a date purely for something to work towards, it would help all of the crew know what is going on as well as for first talks with contributors. When dealing with contributors you have to make sure you fit in around their schedule, especially for such projects that they aren’t being paid for. For example, with the Etsy VT, our contributor Bonnie had a tight schedule and we had to film about a week later than we needed too. This meant that we had to edit throughout the Easter break and make sure it was ready for our first full rehearsal. Whilst the VT still went well and the edit was done in plenty of time, it is still something that I would be cautious of in future projects, you have to adapt to the needs of your contributors if it means good content. Moreover, something that I would also like to improve on and have learnt in this project, is to pay attention to detail and understand that even a second of something being out of place in footage, can throw the whole thing out. After our rehearsals, Del asked us to make sure the VTs had no fade to blacks on them as this looked odd in the live studio setting. In and amongst all of the title and audio changes we had to do on all four of the VTs, I didn’t notice that there was still a fade to black on one VT and the 15 second tease. We had to get this re-edited with about 12 hours’ notice to make sure they were ready, with no fade to blacks, for the transmission day.

Similar 'Blackmagic' machine used in VT Op room

Upon finding out that I was going to be a VT operator, I felt slightly apprehensive. After researching the role, I found that it was a very technical role, something I do not normally enjoy nor do I get involved with. The machine that we used to play the VTs were not as hard as I expected to use, it followed the same format of importing media and pressing play, that many other programmes use. However, the issues came from the fact that the clips were in the wrong format to work in the correct programme, so we had to use a different programme known as ‘Resolve’ to render them into the correct format. This meant that we went one full rehearsal without any VTs because it took about 3 hours to rend them all. This proved stressful becausr it is something that cannot be controlled because it is technical issues. To make sure this didn’t happen again I came in earlier than the planned time on the day before transmission, to load and render them all onto the machine. This helped me because I knew that by the time it came to rehearse, all of the VTs, stings and titles would be ready to go on the machine with no issues.

During the project there were also some things that I think went extremely well. For the Old to New shoot I had to research and purchase all of the clothes needed for the shoot, making sure they were the right size for the models. I think the clothes I bought worked really well for the shoot, they were the right styles to match the trends we were going for and they were also very decently priced, matching 'Steal the Styles' high street fashion ethos. When I had to start writing the scripts for the VTs, I wasn't entirely sure of the format to write them in. I am used to writing fiction scripts in the normal way but these would be different, they are actuality and especially the Old to New shoot required next to no dialogue. I had to use a two column format for these scripts, using the left hand column to write down the action that would be happening, and the left hand column to see what sound we would be using to match the action. I think the scripts in the end went well and they are definitely a strength of mine within this project. They were slightly short but they got across exactly what we wanted to do for the VT. Communicating with the crew and cast is something that is a big part of being a producer, of anything. You are the one that is expected to know everything and people will most likely come to you if they have any issues. I made sure to keep the crew up to date, updating them if any location or date changes were made as well any script adjustments, I made sure to let everyone know so that they knew what was going on.

In terms of being a VT operator, I think it went quite well. I was very aware that whilst pressing play on a clip can sound quite simple, it also can only take a simple mistake for it to all go wrong. I had to make sure that the VTs were only played when they were needed in the running order. The type of things that can go wrong include moving the cursor and skipping the VT ahead of time (this happened once during rehearsals) this means that the production assistants timings would go completely out, and the VT itself obviously wouldn't make sense. Also, I think I did well to follow on with the script as the show was going out. The director has so many things to think about during the live transmission that it is possible they may forgot to queue a VT, sting or credit, so for me I wanted to make sure i followed on with the script and was always one step ahead in terms of knowing when something was needed to be played. This happened a few times but I was ready with the clip so it didn't effect the show in any way.

Overall, I think this unit went really well for me. I would say it has changed my opinion of technical roles, whilst I still do not think a technical role is something that would suit me in the future, I did enjoy the role. When there were issues with the formatting of the clips, i enjoyed fixing them because it was a solution to a problem. Being a VT producer is something that I really enjoyed and would definitely pursue in the future. I liked the creative freedom that came with the role and liked having to be organised and communicate with people. I was extremely happy with the outcomes of the VTs I produced (Old to New and DIY) i think the team worked really together and the end product really shows that.

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; FINAL REHEARSALS AND SHOOT DAY

FINAL REHEARSALS
The final rehearsals for Steal the Style were very stressful but extremely rewarding. On this day i came in at 8am, i wanted to be in early so that i could load all of the VTs, titles and stings onto the VT machine, well before the start of rehearsals. In previous rehearsals we had struggled, it took us over 3 hours to get all of the clips onto the machine. This was because the clips we had originally were in an '8-bit' format, however in order to work properly with the machine they needed to be in a '10-bit' format. This meant that I had to put every clip into the programme known as 'Resolve' to render them into the '10 bit' format, and then they would be ready to be loaded onto 'black magic' the programme we would use to play the clips. Loading all the final clips onto the machine on that morning was a fairly simple process, i already knew what to do from the previous rehearsal days so i managed to get all the clips loaded in about an hour.

The only issue with the VTs that we had on the final rehearsal day, was that some of them were still fading to black, something we didn't want. This meant that overnight, leading onto the transmission day, we had to get them re edited and again loaded onto the system.

TRANSMISSION DAY
The day of transmission went very smoothly, all the VTs were loaded on the system and everything was ready to go. The only issue we had was that one of the VTs were still fading to black, however due to the length of time it ran for, we let the production team know and they were able to just cut out of the VT before it faded to black. Within my half of the show, i had 3 stings and 2 VTs to play all within extreme proximity of each other, so i was a little nervous to make sure i kept up with it. I found it was easier for me to follow along with the script, whilst watching the show to know which VT was coming when, it helped that the director would ask the VT to standby before each time but i still wanted to follow along the script so that in the event the director forgot to standby the VT it wouldn't matter because i'd already know what clip was needed and when,

I think the live transmission went really well for everyone and I was really happy with the final product of the VTs.

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; REHEARSALS

As the transmission dates for Steal the Style nears closer - we have now began rehearsing in the studio. For the rehearsals, the camera crew go down and set up the cameras, we have to use duck tape to tape down the set. My role on the day is VT Operator, I sit in a room within the gallery, listen for the directors count and play the correct VT at the correct time.

What's going well?

I think the main thing going well as a VT operator, is knowing which VT will be needed when. Though the director at the time counts us in by announcing 'Standby VT' that only leaves us 5-10 seconds to make sure the right one is ready, so i personally prefer to try and listen to whats going on in the studio and follow along with the script. I always have a hard copy of the current script and i follow along as the show is being rehearsed, this makes it much easier for us as VT Operators because we can be ahead and always know when the VT is needed, even before the director counts us in. As well as this, if the director forgets to count us in because they're too busy with camera movements, we still will know when to play the VT because we will have it in the script.

Improvements?

Originally from the VT room, we could physically only hear the director and nothing from the studio floor (the show being rehearsed) so it made it very difficult for us to follow along with the script. However we asked one of the technicians at Maidstone Studios if they would be able to patch the audio in from the studio floor, they managed to do this and it now makes it much easier for us to follow along with the script and always, as i said, make sure to play the correct VTs. 

I think the main struggle with this, is not knowing how to use all of the software on the the computer. Some of the clips we have used aren't in the correct form to be loaded onto 'Black-magic' (the programme we use to play the VTs). In order to fix this we have to run the clips through another programme called 'Resolve', this programme is a lot more complicated, we seemed to be getting the hang of it but with a two week break I'm not too sure how much we will know - i have taken a few notes from what we taught so hopefully these will help us.

Overall, i think the rehearsals seem to be going very well from all aspects and i think we will be fully prepared by the transmission date. The only thing that seemed to be a little bit more complicated from my perspective of VT Operator, is that we also have to record the whole show, a box will be put into the VT room and we have to make sure it is recording the whole show. Also, we have to make sure we play all of the 5 second stings at the correct time too, this isn't too difficult but its more about making sure they're ready to be played because some are played very close to or before the start of a VT.

AS LIVE PRODUCTION; VT UPDATES

As part of my first role for the As Live Production Unit, I am one of the VT producers. As we have now filmed both of these VTs there is a lot of work that went into the preparation for the VTs

Example of a call sheet

1) Call Sheet - For both VTs I had to create call sheets - this is a basic sheet that includes information that the cast and crew may need to know. Contact information for everyone involved in the shoot would be on this sheet, the location for the shoot as well as information for local police stations and supermarkets. The most important thing on the call sheet it the 'call time' and 'shoot schedule', this will let everyone know exactly what time to arrive at the shoot, and the plans for the entire shoot also.

2)  Paperwork - A bit part of being a producer is organising the cast and the crew; a lot of this does mainly involve call sheets etc but its also about communicating with everyone to make sure that work needed for the shoots are completed on time - for example shoot lists. As seen previously, i myself created the scripts needed for a shoot, but the director of the shoot would be the one to create the shot list needed for the crew on the day. As a producer it was important that all of the necessary paperwork - call sheets, shot lists, scripts - are all on hand for the crew on the day.

Example of Consent Form

3) Consent Forms - Another important piece of paperwork i needed to fill out was consent forms. This for me is something that i hadn't used before - however on this unit, particularly within this unit where we are working with real people who are talking about their real businesses and work. It's very important to have these consent forms signed, this allows us the rights to use what the contributors talk about for our on use - mainly it backs us up as a production so that we can use what we film in the way we need too.

4) Booking Kit - Lastly, it was important for me to make sure the kit was booked out and able to be collected on the days we needed.

Overall, i think the work of a producer is a lot about being ORGANISED and EFFICIENT. Making sure all of the paperwork is filled out correctly, everyone knows where to be and when. I've particularly enjoyed the pre production stages of the VTs because i like to be organised and perhaps less involved in the technical side of a production, which is why on the shoot days of the VT it was good as a producer to take a step back and allow the director and DoPs to film based on the scripts completed by me and the shot lists completed by the director.