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.