Project Evaluation

Project Evaluation

Today was our final project for the News Room Operations assignment, we begun the day by setting up the studio. As I was enrolled in the Camera Operating role, I set up the camera I would be operating during the live shoot. This involved setting up the tripod to correct head level for the presenter, then mounting the Panasonic P2 camera to the Tripod. The next step was changing the tripod setting to my personal preferences so that the tripod moved the way I wanted it to move without it dragging, which affects the shot during the live mixing sessions. The next stage was applying the correct settings to the camera to give to best quality picture available, these settings were: Aperture, Focus, Shutter Speed, White Balance and Gain.

Secondly, after I finished setting up the camera in the studio and the director was happy with the picture quality, I started helping out on the studio floor by marking our hazards with the correct hazard tape to highlight any risks of hazards such as tripping over cables. I made sure cables mats were used on the studio floor and in the appropriate places so that it didn’t leave any stray wires. During this point I felt that the studio floor was safe for the crew to do their roles. The reason I took this responsibility is because the designated floor manager wasn’t present at the time because he was late on arrival, so I took matters into my own hands and took responsibility for this roles as health and safety is a top priority on the studio floor due to so many hazards that can occur.

After I finished making the studio floor safe, I checked for any hazards in the gallery room where the Tricaster is located and I found that the whole room was very untidy and a lot of loose and stray cables were scattered everywhere, so I also took responsibility for the safety of this room and tidy the room immaculately. I then got rid of any stray cables that we not needed during the production and packed them away appropriately. I then managed all the cables that were needed for the production and made everything safe using duct tape to tape the loose cables to the floor, near tables and walls to ensure no hazards of tripping can occur, I thought I did a very good job with the motive of health and safety in mind.

The next job was getting ready for the production, everybody got in position with his or her role responsibilities, then the director said over the talkback communication that Camera 2 was a very good picture quality and the camera operator for that camera couldn’t correct the problem so I took responsibility and changed the camera settings of camera 2 and then the director was pleased with the final picture of the camera after I applied the correct settings, I changed the aperture so that the picture wasn’t too dark and applied a white balance so the camera understood what the colour white should be as it was confused that is a blue colour. This made the camera look like the other cameras and there were no differences with the cameras. I felt that I did a very good job by saving time and improving the quality of the final production.

After the cameras have been sorted, it was time for a rehearsal before the final shoot, we got through the rehearsal without any problems until towards the end, because we had a sports presenter, we had to schedule which cameras would be next up so that no interference got in the way of the continuous live production. As a group we identified this problem and

The next stage was the actual production; the production was 30minutes long and after doing research of various news shows, I found that there wasn’t a lot of action between the camera as it stayed to on camera for the majority of the time, the only time there was action between the switching of the camera was when there was a guest or interview involved. During our production we had a guest on our show so this is when my camera came into use and took orders from the director, other than that I stayed focused on the presenter incase of an emergency safe shot if a problem occurred with the main camera. So before we shot the production, I used the viewfinder of the camera to make sure everything is perfect as the viewfinder gives you the correct information rather than using the LCD screen, I was happy with the picture in the view finder so after that I used the LCD screen because I didn’t need to frame any other shots due to the research I gathered and the running order that was present at the time.

During the whole production, I felt that I was consistent during the whole show because I also felt that I could have paid more attention during the points when the VTs were running, I should have been focused more on my camera instead of taking on other responsibilities which the Floor manager didn’t notice, for example the monitor in the background which presented the title graphic of the news show went idle, so I noticed this problem and then solved it during the interval of the VT which stopped the problem from occurring and I was able to go back to my camera without any problems.

Additional help I offered to my group during production was providing important documents on the studio wall such as: Floor plans, Running order, Reece location survey, risk assessment, production call sheet and healthy and safety documents. They were there to help the crew know what hazards to look out for and any additional information that everybody needed to know. I thought this was a good touch to the final production and was happy with my own involvement.

Overall, I thought that I played a good part of the production in my group during the role of camera operator and taking the floor manager role into account as they wasn’t present during the morning, I made sure health and safety was the main priority on the studio floor. The only downfall to our performance was that our group had to cut out the last VT so that the whole show fitted into the 30 minute scheduled gap. This problem occurred due to the Tricaster crashing making the VT’s buffer during the production therefore losing time in the total cumulative time during the production, I think there could have been anything to prevent this but for the group to be aware that problems can occur and that we need to prepare for problems and be organized.

            

Detailed Production Roles

In the television industry, you have a variety amount of production roles, which need somebody to take responsibility and carry out there duties so that the production runs smoothly, especially during a live broadcast. Here is a list of production roles you will find in the television industry: Director, Producer, Vision Mixer, Floor Manager, Camera Operator and Runner.

The directors responsibilities during a Television production is to supervise the camera operators and give them orders of the types of shots he wants so that he can command the vision mixer who he is working closely with to switch to the next camera. He is also responsible to maintain order for the rest of the crew on the set and in the control room. He must meet key requirements of specific shots, which the producer asks for, the producer is the one who co-ordinates the whole show.

The producer’s main responsibility is to overlook everything the television show has to offer such as idea development, budgeting and hiring the crew. The producer can work with the director to decide upon the set design. The set design can be set up to look however the television has been pitched with a good budget and it can also involve certain designs to help position cameras to give a really good shot. Another responsibility of a producer is to keep everything scheduled and that the television program doesn’t fall behind.

The vision mixer is only present during live television due to the fact that pre-recorded television will require an editor to put all the different camera shots together. The vision mixer works closely with the director and communication and understanding is very important between these two production roles. The main responsibilities as a vision mixer is to switch between live video sources, which will be linked to the cameras being used, and to switch to pre recorded footage, title sequences, ending sequences, graphics and nametags also known as lower thirds. There is a lot of responsibility during this role and there is no room for mistakes as mistakes will be noticeable to the viewing audience.

The floor managers main duties within the industry is to work closely to the director based in the gallery room and regurgitate any information or instructions from the director, to the talent and crew on studio floor and then give the final outcome or result to the director. Other duties the floor manager has to carry out is to ensure that all equipment on the studio floor is working correctly before the shoot and during the shoot, if any problems are found, the problems must be solved by the floor manager as he is responsible for any technical problems on the studio floor.  They must count down the crew and talent so they have full understanding about what is going to happen next.

The floor manager needs to ensure that health and safety is always present on the studio floor and that regular check are always carried out so that any hazards are present which may cause injury.

The camera operating roles is in charge of their specific camera equipment. They are responsible of capturing the right shot bearing in mind the framing and other aspects, which affect the picture quality. They are also responsible for setting up their equipment before the show including tripod, camera, camera settings, cables, they will be guided by the director through communication via talkback systems. Camera operators can also offer shots, which may be creative or useful to the director.

The runner role is usually a junior role to help them gain experience on a studio floor. Runners carry out a vast amount of small responsibilities during a production such as carrying equipment, fetching equipment and doing odd jobs such as making drinks for the crew or talent until the runner has learned and gained experience to take on a bigger responsibility during productions.

References:

http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/cast/crew/david_chase.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_crew

300-word pitch

Target Audience


My target audience will be BMX enthusiasts aged between 16-24 years of age. They must also be interested or entertained by the Olympic games as BMX has recently been introduced into the olympic sports.


Idea for my VT


The idea of my VT is to record my VT at the location 'Platt Fields in Fallowfield' I choose this location because Olympic contestant Shanaze Reade trained at this particular BMX track and I thought it would be a very good idea to film at this location and at the same time talk about the history and the up coming talent this particular BMX track is bringing to the olympics.


Structure


The structure I had in mind for my final VT was quite advanced and researched. It would be difficult to pull off as a lot of research will be needed and a lot of technical skills during post production will be needed as well.


The structure is the following:


- Establishing shot of the track
- Piece to camera walking towards the camera, which will be located on the BMX track whilst the bmx riders are going around
- Voiceover a long sequence of general views of the riders racing around the track
- During the voiceover, a graphic will appear in monochrome to show statistics of the popularity of the sport of BMX
- Interview with the a BMX enthusiast
- Fade into the three voxpops needed, the questions will related about BMX and the Olympics
- Shot list of a bmx bikes
- Piece to camera, presenter giving a final summary or conclusion of the question.


News Related


The reason I want to choose this idea to film as my VT is for the reason that the 2012 Olympics is coming up and the VT will be perfect as it will be current news which is great for a news show because it will interest more people.




My presentation can be found at: http://prezi.com/malejg8tviwz/pitch/

Production Diary Week 5

13/03/2012

Today we were told to come up with ideas on full studio sets for our live multi camera shoot. All the idea's we generate will be put into one idea which will be our final set design for the shoot. The find idea's I would have to do primary and secondary research and most probably create a document with all the final ideas together to show the final set design. The things I have in mind for my set design is to be Unique, Professional and Creative.

We have been told to start creating a treatment for our live multi camera shoot, this will become very useful before we actually decide our final set design because we will need to know the target audience, after knowing this information you can choose specific equipment for the set which will entertain the target audience. The treatment will let you know what kind of show we will be shooting and what type of music will be playing which can also give us a big clue on what to decide for our set design.

Production Diary Week 4

06/03/2012


Today we generated ideas for new props which would be suitable for our live show. The props needed to be suitable with the music which was going to be used. You could use a microphone on a stand if someone was going to be singing solo. If there was a drum set, piano and other musical instruments that were not going to be used then it would be an unsuitable for the set design. I then started to focus on the set design and I used a studio catalogue called 'Main Catalogue 18' to look for stage equipment, accessories and lighting which can be used on set for the live show.

• Lasers
• Smoke Machine
• Audio Systems (Speakers)
• Stage

Production Diary Week 1

14/02/2012


The Class was shown a range of creative composition photos which have been nominated for the Pulitzer prize and that have won the Pulitzer prize. We then learnt how to create creative composition photos by applying specific rules such as 'rule of thirds' and 'depth of field'. We was then given a task of finding a creative composition photo and had to talk about how the author of the photo had applied the rules. The photo I used was by Banksy which is an anonymous graffiti artist who is very popular and is very well-known. The photo I used from this artist was called  'Flower Bomber' this photo represents replacing war and violence with love and peace. The whole picture is in monochrome and only the flowers are in colour to emphasise that the thug is throwing a bunch of flowers instead of a molotov which represents anti-war.

Production Diary Week 2

21/02/2012


On the 21st of February, we was divided up into groups of 5 and had the task to film footage to be edited into a 30 second intro for a live music show. We was given the Panasonic P2 cameras. Before we went to film footage for the intro, we were given a full tutorial on how to use these P2 cameras and Peter went over the techniques we were familiar with but to make sure we understood all these techniques which really helped as it helped refresh my knowledge on the cameras. The techniques he went through was;

• Gain
• White Balance
• Iris/Aperture
• Shutter Speed
• Zooming Techniques
• How to use a tripod correctly
• Exposure

We then went out recording footage using these techniques correctly and bearing them in mind and the results were a better standard. After we went out capturing footage, cutaways and general views, we then log and transferred instead of log and capture because we used the P2 Media Cards instead of Mini DV Tapes ready to edit for the next lesson.

Production Diary Week 3

28/02/2012

We got put into a group of 5, Myself, Kassem, Andy, Nyasha and Luis. We had to work to the clients requirements which was that the footage had to be 30 seconds long, no shorter, no longer. We all worked together offering creative idea's to be put together in a 30 second final edit. We used transitions to sew the footage together so it looked professional and looked suitable for a music genre video.


After taking part in this project I think this has helped me with my editing skills and have gave me confidence to work on a self project if any come up in the future. I feel that I can record footage of my own and put the raw footage together in a sequence using editing software such as Final Cut Pro.

Production Diary

19th September 2011

On the 19th, Dave put us into groups for his assignment which is to produce a VT which lasts up to 2 minutes which conjoins with Ricardo's assignment which is to produce a news package which shows a pre-recorded VT. As a group we started to gather research to produce a concept for our news package. After doing research we found our final concept which was Alcohol Awareness.

For the next lesson, we planned to do the following next:

• Program Proposal

26th September 2011

Today we started our Program Proposal, this was a team effort and a lot of team communication was needed, everybody had to pitch in their idea's to form this document. It was important that everybody had their say on this so that it was something everybody wanted to do and that they wasn't left out. As a team we worked very well and covered all of the program proposal brief.

For the next lesson, we planned to capture some footage on location.

3rd October 2011

Today we captured footage, we booked out a Sony V1 camera from the college and filled out a camera and location risk assessment so that we knew the risks and found it safe to film on location. We captured footage of bars nearby and anything alcohol related such as beer bottles etc. A variety of camera techniques was used such as a pull focus, tilt, panning etc. This makes the shots look very effective and will make the VT look more of a professional quality after it has been edited.

In the next lesson, we will want to start editing as a group as we decided to all take on the role of editing as we all found editing isn't our strongest attribute, so if we all pitch in and help with the editing because we all know basics of editing because we was given the tutorial of editing, it would be easier and more likely to finish in a better result than an individual edit.

10th October 2011

Firstly we had to run an capture the footage we filmed by keeping the DV tape inside the camera and plugging the camera into the computer and perform this act in Final Cut Pro. After the filmed was captured to the computer, it was automatically put into the library of Final Cut Pro so we could start on the editing. After todays session, we didn't finish all of the editing so in the next lesson we finish this edit off so that we can proceed with the group work.

17th October 2011

Today we had a slow start to the lesson, at around 1pm we started to carry on with the edit of the VT, we started to add transitions into the footage so that everything ran smoothly and professional, the transition that we used was cross dissolve. We decided to keep the style of the final VT by sticking to the same transition.

Next to do is the Running Order

24th October 2011

In this lesson, we need to do a running order for our news package so that we can start rehearsals. The running order shows information such as the cumulative time of the whole production, then the item title so you know whats happens during that time, then you have the item time so yo know how long that particular part of the show will be. The other informations shows what audio and graphics are used during that particular shot and it also shows what the item will be focusing on in the shot. This took a long time to produce as we had to decide on the schedule and think about the structure of the news package.

31st October 2011

Today we gave out production roles to our group, this was done fairly and asked who wanted to do what, and the way it went is that nobody wanted the same role so then there was no problem how it ended up. The role I had chose was Floor Manager, Kassem was the Director, Imogen is our producer and Mikael is our vision mixer. After we chose this we was given a check list of what tasks to complete in responsibility of our role. After this we planned to do interviews for the next lessons to students on campus for our alcohol awareness campaign, we then came up with possible questions to ask the interviewee and this was important so a lot of thought had to go into this. We came up with these questions to gain enough information for our news package and we was ready for our interviews for the next day.

7th November 2011

Today we hired the Sony V1 camera out to record our interviews, as we gathered the equipment such as tripods and everything, we asked students if they had time to take part in interviews for our assignment. Some students accepted and some declined for numerous reasons. We interviewed 3 different students asking the possible questions for the VT. We interviewed 3 people for the reasons that we had enough footage for the editing and that we gathered a variety of answers and scenarios. After the interviews we immediately started to add these interviews to our edit of our VT.

Sessions leading up to 11th January 2012

During these sessions I started my 1500 word essay for my written assignment. I also completed the tasks which I was responsible for in my role of Floor Manager, this included, Floor plan, Risk assessment, call sheet, contact list and signal pathway.

I also had an individual one on one tutorial with my tutor to track my progress and received a checklist to make sure I am on track with my assignment

11th January 2012

Today we did our rehearsals for our News Packages, during my role on floor manager, I think I did my job perfectly. As a group performance I think it went great and feel confident for our practical assessment. The studio was set up by everybody to make sure was in working order and when it was time for rehearsal for each group tasks were taken up again e.g. studio was cleared of any debris to make sure everything was safe, this was an example of a task for the floor manager role.

Research Portfolio

For my research portfolio, I decided to watch a talk-show broadcasted on ITV in the daytime. The show is not a live broadcast, it is recorded, edited and then the show will be put on television to be broadcasted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1KMrJGz3EIg

After watching one of the shows of of Jeremy Kyle, I learnt that the show is a multi-cam production, I know this because there is  more than one camera being used whilst watching this particular extract. The cameras I counted was 5 camera set up around the studio to film this production. One camera is on a crane which is responsible for all the high angle shots and the wide shots and is located at the back of the studio. Another camera is located in the audience which is most likely handheld to make the shot realistic and show the audience reaction. The other three cameras are located at the front of the studio just behind the stage so that they can film the guests and the presenter of the show. One on these will mainly focus on the presenter which is jeremy kyle when he is speaking, the other two cameras will focus on the guests which are speaking. Whilst the wide shot camera which is located at the back of the studio, is being used, this is a safety shot which captures most of the talk show which allows the other camera to set up a shot which could include the next guest, people from the audience or even backstage. One of these cameras located at the front could possible be on a dolly so that it can pan left and right of the stage which covers more shots and angles of the studio. The way the cameras have been setup works as they all correspond together and capture everything when needed and not wasting a shot opportunity.

From watching this extract you can see that the guests and the presenter are using mini microphones which are attached to their clothes to capture the sound. This makes it easy for everyone to have more movement and freedom are the studio. This also prevent to use of a boom mic operator following everybody around the studio and being caught in the cameras and being shown in the broadcast as this would look very un-professional.

You can notice that the show needs a crew that consists of camera operators, floor manager(s), vision mixer, director and a presenter. These are vital and most multi-camera productions will need these crew members during any production. I also found out that they use these particular crew members and more by reading the credits at the end of the show, I will use the credits of the show as my reference.

Floor Plan:

Report

The roles I took responsibility for during the assessment days at Lever Street on days 10th January & 17th January were the following in correct order,

• Camera Operator
• Sound Operator
• Vision Mixer
• Floor Manager

These roles link to the rest of my production because in any other environment, the skills and experience which I have gained will need to be applied to the specific role. For example this could be inside broadcasting instead of outside where we will gain the skills. The camera operator role can be used in all environments in my rest of my production. 


There was other roles that I didn't get to work on and someone of these roles, I would have liked too such as the Director role. This role is really intense and has no room for error in as it plays a big part in any production. I would have liked to experience this role but because of popular demand of this role, there was chance of experiencing this role during the 8 acts. The other role I didn't take part in was the Online Network. The online network was mostly done by Josh Lloyd who is limited to specific jobs roles, when he was in control of different roles, I already had a role in which case I couldn't take on two roles to experience this specific role.


I think I played a vital part in the production as every role during the production was important and if the role was completed efficiently then noticeable errors in the broadcast would have shown. I also fixed certain errors so that the broadcast wasn't held back any longer than it was, I did some trial and error on the camera and found that the composite lead was not in a working state and informed the floor manager to tell the directer. This lead to a replacement composite cable and after this was connected, it was working perfectly and the problem was fixed. I was happy with solving this problem as it helped the overall production of the broadcast. During the role of camera operator, I ran into a problem of not knowing how to put the Panasonic P2 camera into 'Preset 3' this was a new camera to me and have never experienced the use of this camera before. As I wasn't the only one knowing how to change this setting of the camera, the director was getting frustrated because this setting was not being applied, I then was shown how to apply this setting and I have now taken note of how this apply this setting for future reference. The button is located at the front of the camera on the left hand side. This is the only difficulty I experience during any of the roles I took part in.


If I was to repeat this project, I would definitely try to make time more worthy as a lot of time was wasted in both weeks. A lot of time was lost during the setting up of the equipment and the testing. One way to help us all solve this problem as a team was to do more equipment rehearsal's and practice at our own studio of setting up the camera's, talkback's and broadcasting. This would have saved much more time. Another thing I would change if I could repeat this project is to change my attitude during the production. I felt that I had very low patience which lead to a poor working environment attitude towards the director and people around me. If this change was applied then the production could have probably worked a bit smoother and stop people feeling uncomfortable around me due to my poor attitude. Even though I had a bad attitude, I still kept a professional element about me and kept my behaviour at a good quality.

Practical Project Self Performance

I am happy with my performance throughout my project. If I was to grade myself, I would give myself a 'B' for my efforts and involvement, I think other members of my group project deserve much more credit as they worked really hard during my absence. I would give myself a higher grade if I was more punctual and had got involved in every role. To put into consideration that it was our first attempt at producing a VT, I think we gave a great effort as we had to do a lot of research to understand the meaning of a news package.  I think we worked well as a team and reached our goals which is why I gave myself 'B' I would also grade my team members the same or even higher.

Evaluation

Throughout my project, I think all my objectives have been met. As taking part in different roles, I think I worked sufficiently to complete all tasks within the roles to meet these objectives. One of our goals was to complete a VT which lasts between 1 and 2 minutes long. As a group we got the footage needed and used editing software to put the footage together to create the footage. The interviews and general views was tied up into one video using Final Cut Pro. I think all of our involvement in this process of the goal was effective.


Another on of our goals was to complete all tasks within each role allocated. I think I met this goal because every task within the role I took on was completed. The only part of this goal I didn't meet was the Script Writing role for the reason I was absent. To make up for my absence I contributed idea's to the script and questions for the VT in time so that they could be considered and used for the interviews.


As a group, we ran into obsticles such as choosing a name for our production and this hindered a lot of our time as it was very time consuming. We managed to clear this obstacles and to carry on with our goals and come up with a name in the mean time. I think this was important to manage this obstacle like this as there was danger of our group falling behind on our work and producing our VT in time.


Overall as a team member, I would rate myself as an average member because I met my tasks and goals but I also let my group down with my absence but tried to make up for that time by contributing ideas afterwards. If I could back and re-do this project, I would definitely be more punctual so I could offer more help in my group. I would have tried to aim high than just reaching and complete goals, for example my our final edit of the VT more professional by using more effects and transitions. 

DONT COPY PEOPLES WORK

:@

Camera Risk Assessment

This Camera Risk Assessment was produced by our group.

Company Name- The Manchester College
Production Title- Alcohol Awareness Campaign	Production Date- 5th December 2011
Producer- Imogen Howkins	Director- Kassem Berraies
Date of Risk Assessment- 5th December 2011	Risk Assessment conducted by Kassem Berraies, Mikael Hasanzad, Luke Talbot, Imogen Howkins

Hazard	Persons who may be harmed	Property which may be damaged	Risk controls already in place	Risk Assessment (Low, Moderate, High, Extreme)	Further action required to control risk
Bad weather (rain, snow)	n/a	Camera	Weather was checked online on the bbc weather website	Low	Camera protection will be taken
Car accident	Crew + public	Camera	Drive safely at all times and wear seatbelts	Moderate	Open windows if driver feels tired
Liquids near camera	n/a	Camera	No bottled drinks or can drinks near the camera	Low	n/a
Building works	Crew	Camera	Stay away from any building works that may have falling objects	Low	n/a