Planning and designing a set

Above are pictures of our final set and various stages of its production. For the planning of the set we went through a variety of ideas before we decided on our final one. One of the ideas was to paint the flats to look like brick walls and then add graffiti on them to show the theme for each of the rounds such as a football for sport and so on. This was eventually scrapped but other ideas stemed from the initial idea, such as having a city scape behind the birck wall for example.

From the initial idea, however, we came to our final design in which we decided to scrap the brick wall idea because of the colour scemes we'd have to use and insted just use the city scape. Through doing this we provided a theme for the entire show that the art directors and pre-production designers could use in their work. With this theme in mind we created the name "Culture City" due to the quiz being loosely about cultural things and because of the city scape design.

Talk-backs and their use/protocol

Planning Audio coverage

In order to keep the audio operation both simple and effective we used a total of 7 mics on the studio floor. Each induvidual talent, the contestants and the host, had their own clip on wireless mic. We also had 2 mics suspended from the grid above the audience in order to pick up the audience sound effect, laughter, applause and so on.

Using this setup meant that the sound operators weren't too overstretched when it came to monitering the sound levels and there was less chance for distortion or peaking of the microphone volumes.

Floor Plans and Camera Placement/shots

Programme Rundowns and Scripts

The programme rundown comprises of the script and timeings sheets. The script is probably the most important aspect because it contains stuff such as the dialoge, actions and sometimes camera movements and cuts to allow the talent to get an idea of what cameras will be operating and when.

The layout for the script lists all audio actions on the right, such as the name and length of sound effects and music while the left list's the video , such as name, length and track number. This is useful for the director and the sound desk because it supplies them with a good idea of run times for each insert.

One of the most important aspects of scripts is the VT timing sheet. This provides an accurate list of every VT insert, the order its shown in, the name, length and track number on the DVD. This provides the DVD op and Director with a way of accurately monitering how long each insert is and where it should fit into the show.

The script also mention which camera shots will be used for opening of the show, as well as listing all the shots the Director may call for during the show. Below are our final scripts.

Directing and director's calls

The director is in charge of everything within the studio. He is responsible for the lighting, sound and camera movement/shots within the project while during filming he directs the cameras and the cuts.

As well as having to be calm and cool under presure, due to having to make quick descissions and commands to the crew, the director must maintain order amongst the staff in and around the studio floor.

The directors calls must be clear and accurate so as to avoid any error during filming.

The main crew that the Director speaks to are the Camera ops, for they are the people who create the scenes for the project while the Director just strings them together.

The Director calls are all those which have been mentioned in the Camera movements section but they are mearly adjusted to suit the situation, for example. "Camera 1, PED down, crab left and zoom in on guest A for an MCU"

DVD operation and insert requirements

The DVD is the most crucial part of the studio, without it there would be no VT inserts, openning titles, credits, stings, ect. However, the DVD has certain requirements that must be met for it to work perfectly. These include:

Constant screen ratio. This means that each insert should have be of the same height and width so that there is a smooth transaction between the live studio and each VT. We failed on this part and ended up with different sized VTs of varying quality.

You must have at least 7 seconds inbetween each VT. These 7 seconds comprise of a second of black screen, so that the VT will not be cut off if something is wrong with the timings in the studio. Next there is 5 seconds of one frame which shows the name, length and description of the VT so it is easy to distinguish which is which. The final second is made up of just a black screen so that the Director has time to inform the vision mixer when to cut to DVD.