My Performance

I believe that throughout both shows I have shown I can overcome problems and work with a team to achieve a high standard piece of work. I think as a leader I could improve on my organization and motivation skills, and try to involve the team more than I did. I also think that I could have stayed more motivated even when I felt that I wasn’t being used as much as I could have been, and in future will learn to stay positive no matter what happens. 

Post Production

I wasn’t originally on the Post Production team, but when another student dropped out, again I was willing to step up and help out. I think editing is a strong point of mine as I have a good eye and ear for continuity, glitches and anything that doesn’t really look or sound right. We noticed that during the edit, we needed to use a lot of audience shots to cover live edit mistakes and problems. We then found that we had nowhere near enough coverage to edit with. However we did manage to make use of almost every cover shot we had available to us without using repeats. I also made a sting for us to use because of continuity between rounds and also from trimming our show.

I feel I had a large impact in editing, as the Punchlines Producer Sam Wilder, and myself spent many hours watching over every single cut until we agreed we were more than happy with our final cut. I was able to teach Sam certain techniques whilst using Final Cut Pro and also Photoshop, as we made edits to our picture round. By adding the Punchlines TV frame to all of our pictures, they looked like they fit the brand of the show, and were no longer clunky as they just appeared on screen.

After many hours of editing I am delighted in the way the final edit looks and sounds, I believe the efforts made by Sam and I paid off and proved that good teamwork and communication pays off.

Head Camera Operator

 “Camera operators are responsible for operating the camera equipment throughout the entire production. They often collaborate with the director, photographers, crew, and actors to make creative and technical decisions.”

I feel that my experiences on each show were completely different despite having the same role. On Punchlines, I felt that my say amongst the other camera ops was valued and listened to, whereas on Urban Review, I became more of a camera op, and felt like my input and efforts went unnoticed.

Working on Punchlines, I personally set up each camera individually, making sure all levels were the same, all tripods were balanced and at the same height, the dolly was straight and the handheld had enough slack to move freely. On Urban Review, everything I changed seemed to be changed back to how the camera ops personally preferred it. Tripods were moved, the dolly wasn’t straight and exposure levels were completely different from camera to camera. It wasn’t until the lighting professionals told the Director, Nikita Guatam, that the cameras looked different that changes were made, despite my efforts. 

I enjoyed working with the Punchlines Director, Ashley Kay, as we have worked together before and he had great confidence in my ability, which gave me confidence in myself. He allowed me to work close by him and communicated with me about how to improve my shots and in doing so I offered him new shots he could use. Again on Urban Review, I felt like I wasn’t used in the role I was given and any input I made wasn’t appreciated. I felt that despite being on a handheld camera, I was limited with the shots I was given and any shots I offered were not used. I became tired of my role on Urban Review as I felt wasted. I was given a handheld camera which allowed me to move in close and explore new angles yet when I approached the gallery about doing so was told no. I understand the directors job is to direct me but I feel in my role I should have been able to have some sort of input on certain aspects of the show.

Being the Producer and Director of VT’s

“An effective producer is a multitasker, regardless of the content or its delivery system. A producer might not only research, write and produce a program or segment, but might also shoot it, edit the footage mix the audio, design and add graphics, or write and record narration or voice-over.”

(Kellison, D Morrow and K Morrow, 2013)

When we were choosing our roles for the productions, being part of the VT team was actually my second choice, as I wanted to be part of the promotions team. However when I was given the role as Producer and Director of VT’s I was pleased I was given a role with some authority. I feel that my skills were right for the job, both technically and as a leader. My role meant that I could have a lot of input and work closely with the Producer of the show to come up with ideas we were both happy with for the show. My VT team consisted of three people, myself, Ashley John and Scott Fisher.

There were four VT’s that needed to be made for Punchlines, three introductions, one for each of our contributors, and a VT round in which the two contestants go out into London and try to make as many members of the public laugh as possible. The VT round gave us the most problems in the planning stages for many reasons, most of which I felt I was blamed for despite the fact I personally couldn’t do anything because of problems our Producer was faced with. To begin with, we had no contributors booked until the start of May, just weeks before the shoot dates. This couldn’t be helped as final shoot dates were changed and all previous confirmed contributors dropped out for reasons beyond our control. This meant that trying to get permissions establishments in London was very difficult, as we had no confirmed dates for when contributors would be available. 

There were also logistical problems and costs that we decided outweighed the benefits of filming in London, such as paying for travel for ourselves and the contributors, and having to plan a route with wheelchair access. With this in mind, and time ticking away fast, I made the decision to change the location to Maidstone and by doing so, cut the costs of travel and also made it a lot easier for my team to be able to get to the location. Once our contributors were finally confirmed and ready, we were able to shoot all four VT’s over the space of three shoot days. 

We again faced problems whilst shooting in Maidstone. I was unable to make one of the shoot days due to late notice and other work commitments, so I directed the team on what I wanted, showed them specific shots I wanted and the style in which I wanted it. They were happy with what they had shot until we came to editing. After emphasizing the importance of cutaways and covering shots, we found there was none. This was especially frustrating because I wasn’t able to be there myself, if I had been, the problem would not have occurred. The shots were overexposed and were shaky, unbalanced and quite disappointing considering the ability of the team I had. If I were there, I believe I would have noticed these problems and solved them as they occurred.

The day I was able make filming however, still had problems that needed solving. I had the help of our Assistant Producer Zarah Kemmenoe, who infact turned out to be very important as one of my team members was working in the studio as pre agreed, and the other turned up over an hour late. If Zarah, who was not part of the VT team, was not present I would not have been able to operate the camera and man the boom at the same time.  Even when my team member did arrive, they seemed to have a negative attitude throughout our time on location, which was no help to anyone.

If I were to change the way I performed during the shoot days I would now make sure that I had enough crew members, make sure that the team recognize the responsibility they each have as part of the team and that they are always checking back on their framing, exposure, focus and also sound quality. I think I came across a little too soft and could have been more stern with people when they took advantage of my approach, such as turning up late, bad attitude etc.