Studio production: Project evaluation

Project Evaluation

Pre-production

Over all I think the show's pre-production went well. We had some issues at the start with communication between the production group which meant the rest of the crew felt a bit lost for a few weeks as things got going. 

There was also a slight lack of communication between us and the other Producers in departments. We resolved this by not only talking to the Producers but also talking to researchers, Directors and editors. This was more time consuming but meant we didn't miss any information from their work.

Something I struggled with at the start was working with a group of people I had never worked with before as this was the first time we had all worked together in a group, I was able to get over this though and didn't let it affect the work I produced.

Generally though I think our pre-production went well and we were able to start the show with a good amount of work behind it that everyone in the crew felt like they knew what was happening.

Assistant Producer

Setting up shoot dates and reshoots

As part of my role I had meetings with the different departments (VT and Promo), production manager, directors and producers.
From these meetings the producers and directors of the departments gave us the ideas they wanted to pursue, from there myself and the production manager scheduled in time for the shoots, viewings and editing. I created timetables so that everyone could visually see what they had to do and what their deadline was to do it.
If we needed to reshoot for what ever reason, we followed the same process of liaising with directors and producers on what they wanted/needed from their shoots and put it in the timetable.

Contacting people

To get the various people we needed for different reasons I contacted people in different ways:

• Standing in the street, myself and the production manager spent a day giving out leaflets in Rochester and Maidstone to the general public and to shop owners. We did this to try to find someone for our fashion fails segment.
• I sent out a mass message on Facebook asking everyone in the year whether someone they knew had a fashion fail and whether or not they would be interested in doing the show.
• I emailed the Kent messenger and other communities asking whether they could put out an ad for us, for fashion fails.
• I emailed social groups in the area to see if any of their members had any fashion fails.
• I also contacted people to make fact files about them that the producers could use in their script, I did this for the presenters, Drag Queens and one participant before I got ill.

Arranged meetings

To make sure everyone in the crew was heard and understood I helped arrange meetings outside of the pre-timetabled production meetings. These allowed us to answer any questions that needed to be answered face to face or to do something practically as a group instead of always messaging online.

Attended auditions

During the auditions for the presenters we had to take it in turns in groups of three as we also had a lecture on the same day. Myself, Gavin and Melissa attended the afternoon. I took notes for the auditions and helped have an input in who was chosen.

Research

I helped the researchers in the VT department with where to look and what they should be focusing on. This stoped them both researching the same thing so that more could be done in less time.

I helped decide contributors they would film and how they could get around the scheduling conflicts the contributor had as this was causing particular stress in the department.

Checked Story content

I read through potential contributors for the VT and their stories to see who was the best candidate. I also did this for the drag acts too to make sure we had an interesting story.

Watched/passed on rough cuts

I had the departments send me rough cuts of videos, posters and graphics. I then passed these onto the reset of the production crew where I passed on feedback for any changes that needed to be made.

Budget

I helped collect the budget from the course, I also helped diffuse any upset about the amount put into the budget too.

Gallery PA

Wrote the running order

During the pre-prod stage we finalised the structure of the show and went through multiple running order versions, after we had a rehearsal or a mock up where timings had to be slightly altered.

Production

Assistant Producer

During the recording of the show I didn't do much as the Assistant Producer. I was still a point of contact for contribs and the crew if the had any questions or needed anything. But I was mostly acting as a Gallery PA.

Gallery PA

Communication

In the Gallery we used talk back to keep in contact with crew on the floor. We tested our talk back by muting the Director's mic and asking the floor managers whether they heard us through ours, we also asked the camera crew to nod their cameras and the VT ops to say whether they heard us or not.

Time keeping

During the show I had to keep a count of all the segments and the over all show itself. I had to count out the show and add/take away time from anything if something over/under ran.

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Overall

Overall I think the show was a great success, we worked well as a team we don't normally work in and made links/connections with each other that we can use in later projects.

I was able to try out two roles that I never thought of trying before. 

There was slight issues with communication during the process and there were occasions where I had to do other people's jobs such as directing photo shoots. 

However we were able to work together to make the show run on time and be a great success.

I enjoyed my role as Assistant Producer, it taught me many things:

• Communication with people who I haven't worked with before
• Organisation skills with my time and work
• Research skills when trying to find contributors and where to get them from

I believe it's allowed me to grow in confidence in what I'm doing and is defiantly something I'd be eager to continue doing in the industry.

Being a PA was something I had not heard of before and was apprehensive about, and I am grateful for doing it as I've gained many skills.

Something I would like to work on further would be organisation, because while I did get everything done on time and to the best of my ability I did still feel stressed at points in the unit. This could be though because I was taking on other people's jobs instead of getting them to do it.

I'd also like to work on my communication with people, I need to talk to everyone in the department from the start of the unit not just when someone is struggling silently. This way I would be able to help them sooner and take some of the pressure off them.