Our first bulleting is far behind us. It certainly was a good experience full of mad roller coasters that taught us many useful lessons. We started the day with opening the gallery and the studio. The News Room was surprisingly quiet and relaxed, it was almost worrying. Everyone had their own job and they were trying to complete them before 3. We, the production team, started off nice and easy with recording the Sports Week which went amazingly well. We didn’t have a single technical problem. The lighting and the sound were perfect. This made us more confident about the bulletin. However, somehow everything started falling apart soon after we finished recording the Sports Week. When we decided it was time to record the headlines, we realised that we didn’t have the template or the music for it. It took us a while to sort it out. After recording the headlines and when I went to edit them I realised that there was nothing on the tape, which means nothing was recorded even if Dominique is more than sure she pressed the record button. Therefore, we lost more time trying to record the headlines once again. Just before the bulletin all the technology started playing up. We couldn’t sort out the green screen on all the cameras. Because it was our first bulletin, no one really knew how to sort out the lighting to make the green screen better. That’s when we missed our deadline. It was 3 in the afternoon when we were supposed to go live but instead we were all panicking and stressing over unhelpful equipment which was just getting worse minute by minute. At some point the talkbacks of the presenters decided to turn themselves off so we couldn’t communicate. 15 minutes later after trying our best to make everything look perfect (which it didn’t anyway) we went live without having a single run through. The presenters did an incredible job, considering the stress and the lack of practice. The interview Cara and Andy had was great and smooth, the questions were nicely planned. The news and sport reporters also did a great job, the pictures were just brilliant; all the scripts were well written.
Unfortunately, the uncontrollable chaos in the Gallery made everything worse. I, as a director, became confused about what my role really was, as I had Charlotte the editor, giving me jobs and telling me what to do, as well as making the decisions I was meant to make. Towards the end of the bulletin, just after the handover to Gareth Charlotte told people to stop and to rerecord that whole section, which we obviously couldn’t do because we were Live! We carried on going though and while I was editing the bulletin for the website I cut that section, thank God we have Final Cut Pro!
Overall, considering that it was our first bulletin without any help of more experienced 3rd years I think we did an incredibly good job. The bulletin is up on the website ready to watch. The fact that we missed the deadline is bad BUT we could have missed it by hours while it was only 15 mins, which I think is reasonably good.
Things I have learnt and I will try to improve next week:
~We are going to prepare the headline template on the Tuesday, so we don’t have to worry about it on the day, because it consumes a lot of time.
~We are also planning to record the Sports week on the Tuesday, as well as create the sport graphics and the strap lines for both, sport and news packages, This way we can only concentrate on the bulletin on Wednesday,
~Wednesday mornings will be the time to sort out all the technical matters so everything is ready for when the presenters are ready to practice.
~From now on I know that the Gallery is my place and I am the one making all the decisions.
~We are going to work on sport graphics to make them more professional.
You can watch the bulletin on www.winol.co.uk
Well dione everyone!
Friday 11 February 2011
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Well Justi, that sounds like a baptism of fire, considering that so many things went wrong, well done for putting the bulletin out even 15 mins late as you said. I think that the 2 presenters are clear and very good. I have always been under the impression that the director is top dog and therefore as we say, ultimately carries the can, but pulling it all together with help from all the others. producers, editors etc, so it must be really frantic trying to hear one and then another competing for attention with a live broadcast. My dictionary defines a FILM editor, as the one who makes a selection and arrangement of shots. I guess you have to know what you want. I will copy and paste what Wiki says about the role of director in FILMS too, just in case it helps although I know it may be different in a news room and that you must already have some, learning/guidance to be able to get in there and deal with it all at all!!
ReplyDeleteIf I may,- it is WE not 'Us the production team' I think you can check it out, but it just needs to be linked with the verb,- started off. It would be funny to say Us started off! Picky picky, this year! Perfection is nearly there.
I do like the way you list things you have learned and how you hope to improve as that process gives confidence rather than feeling a failure, Learning is all. All will be well.
Good luck for the next bulletin and may it be a smoother process.
Love ever Cait
film director is a person who directs the actors and crew in the making of a film.[1] They control a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors.
Filmmakers are responsible for overseeing creative aspects of a film under the film producer. They often develop the vision for a film and carry the vision out, deciding how the film should look. They are responsible for turning the script into a sequence of shots. They also direct what tone it should have and what an audience should gain from the cinematic experience. Film directors are responsible for deciding camera angles, lens effects and lighting with the help of the cinematographer, and set design with the production designer. They will often take part in hiring key crew members. They coordinate the actors' moves, or blocking, and also may be involved in the writing, financing, and editing of a film.
The director works closely with the cast and crew to shape the film. Some like to conduct rigorous rehearsals in preproduction while others do so before each scene. In either case this process is essential as it tells the director as well as other key members of the crew (Director of Photography, stunt choreographer, hair stylist, etc.), how the actors are going to play the scene, which enables them to make any necessary adjustments. Directors often use storyboards to illustrate sequences and concepts, and a director's viewfinder to set up camera angles.
The director also plays a key role in post-production. He or she works with the editor to ensure that the emotions of the scene and the close ups, mid shots and wide or long shots appropriately reflect which character is driving the narrative. The director also advises on the (colour) grading of the final images, adding warmth or frigidity to the composition of the shots to reflect the emotional subtext of the character or environment. The director also participates in the sound mix and musical composition of the film
I think you will agree Cait as always gives you good advice. I am so glad that things went well in the end though..Good luck the next time. Looking forward to reading all about it.
ReplyDeleteSybil