F. Content/Production role research

                                             'Quest'

Content research
For my content research, I looked at a variety of shows to help me understand the concept, I also looked at the reasoning behind having certain elements involved to make a show interesting and engaging.

                                                               Show 1 - 'Trapped'

Fig. 1. Trapped graphic (2007)

                                                                       

Narration

Trapped is a children's Television program commissioned by the BBC for CBBC, it ran from 2007-2010.

The first element of the show that I researched was the narration as our commissioned show has an ongoing story throughout.

Trapped is narrated by a PTC pre-recorded for the show, the character is a caretaker who has been trapped in the tower for 100 years.

He narrates to the audience about what the show is about and who the contestants are and wiles up the audience with his teasing and jokes about each challenge that happens.

I wanted to find out the importance of having a narrator within an adventure challenge game:

The following are the basic components of the narrative.

• Plot.  The events as they unfold in sequence.
• Characters. The people who inhabit the story and move it forward. Typically, there are minor characters and the main character, or the protagonist.
• Conflict. The primary problem or obstacle that unfolds in the plot that the protagonist must solve or overcome by the end of the narrative. The way in which the protagonist resolves a conflict of the plot results in the theme of the narrative.
• Theme. The ultimate message the narrative is trying to express: it can be either explicit or implicit. (Saylordotorg. 2019)

Relevant to our commissioned show

The narrator for our show leads the story, it is common that in fantasy shows narration is key as it can capture an audience and lead us on a journey, most adventure game shows such as the crystal maze, Fort Byard and Ravan they have a character that leads the show, they do this on the set and on VT's, in any pilot show that is aired the character has to be the central core of the production if the lead character is also the narrator he or she has to be selected very carefully, because a show can fall flat and have no substance without the narrative storytelling on the way that is where the adventure comes into play, with someone who is characteristic it will lose the attention of an audience before the games have begun. 

Our main character is Malaghast the great and powerful wizard, he has a comedy yet arrogant tone, which fits the channel we are going for (Dave)  although the narration is not a voice over he tells the story via VT's and by explaining the games to the contestants whilst a story unfolds immersively.

Costume and Characters.

The narrator and the game demonstrator are the only 2 characters in costume, the voice of doom is seen on camera just like a speaking part and it is the make-up is the key element to identify her character as a villain.

The caretaker (See fig 2) is in full medieval costume and the makeup is prosthetics. The audience can identify what show it is from the start visually and who the character is.

The game demonstrator's costume (see fig 3.) is that of the target audience for the channel, he comes across the vibrant, hip and non-narrative (in respect of the shows medieval format) his costume represents the everyday teenage or young persons as the contestant who is of a young age need to relate to this character.

                                                

Fig. 2. The character of the caretaker on 'Trapped' (2007)

Fig. 3. The Game demonstrater (2007)

Show 2 - Harry potter - The costume drama.
Our commissioned show has specific costumes for the characters so it is paramount that these are correctly sourced.
To have a closer look at character identification through costume I research the costume drama of Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix to get an understanding of the importance of costume drama.
In this Documentary, Ben Shepard meets costume designer Jany Temime on the set of Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix.
Here are some key points I picked up to help me develop a mood board for the characters.

• Costumes can be really expensive, even the older looking ones, when Ron Weasley got a hand-me-down jumper in one of the Harry Potter episodes it looked very old and tied but in fact cost £200.
• Once Jany Temime reads the scripts she passes her ideas over to Vivienne Jone, she is the person responsible for sourcing the fabrics, tones and texture.
• All costumes go through an ageing prosses as they are new, they are often stoned, rubbed with sandpaper and have holes put in them, there is a separate department for a team just to do that.
• At least 12 copies of each costume have to be created. (Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. the costume drama, 2007)

It was asked that I came up with the costume idea mood board so this information really helped, I knew that from what I had researched we had to outsource the costume as we have hardly the budget to have the massive of the costume or fabrics like a feature film does.

Below are my ideas for our 3 main characters:

It was then I thought about finding a specialized source to create costumes for the vast bold characters that we had.

                                                          Role Research

Introduction
On this part of the blog post, I will be discussing how I became a director of our 'as live' TV production.
I will go from the start and talk about how my cover letter and CV were put together and about the difference between a film director and a studio technical director.

Firstly let’s take a look at the reasons why I wanted to become a director. Directing has always been a passion of mine however when I joined a television production course I never realized I wanted to be a director, I always wanted to be a screenwriter but after my directions unit, I discovered that I had an eye for the art and working with actors and actresses, I learned how to block, how to communicate and how to work within the team on a production.

A director's job is not always so glamorous as what people think as if the directions in the film is not good enough it is the film that goes unnoticed by critics and the director takes the full for most aspects of that production.


                                                          My Cover Letter,
Not having my idea optioned to be a producer really made me think about what I wanted to do for the commissioned show, I was really interested in being a floor manager as I like to be upfront and center working with people hand-in-hand.
I like to get the audience wild, excited and in the mood to watch a show, this is what I do naturally and this comes with confidence in which I feel I have a lot of. My second option was to be a director.

So for my cover letter, I touched upon the bases of my experience and how I have 10 years experience working with people in the industry, plus I have been involved in live TV shows in the past such as 'Saturday Night Fever', 'Never mind the Buzzcocks' and various other shows. I have also directed three of my own films and have worked with a very very low budget and I felt like my attention to detail and decision-making capabilities and resulted in deadlines being made and running with a schedule.

I compiled my cover letter with all my abilities and my strengths and pointed out that I could be capable of doing both jobs.

                                                  Getting the job as director
I was happy to get the job as director, it was when I realized that it was in-fact called a technical director that I started to panic as there is a difference.

So what is the difference between a film director and a TV studio director?

Film directors take care of everything creatively from pre-production, production and post-production, they are in charge of the:

• Cast. 
• Mood. 
• Tone.
• Locations.
• Costume. 
• Make-up.
• Directing Actors.
• Working on set.

Most of all most aspects of a film, whereas TV studio directors are just in charge of the technical aspects of the production such as:

• Lighting 
• Cameras.
• Calling the shots from the gallery.

Studio directors work in line with producers by taking the script and formatting it into a technical script that will work within the studio.

I needed to research more about camera techniques and the terminology:

Fig. 4 Camera Commands - Summary (1998) 

This information helped me compile a bible that I can use during the rehearsals and filming the production.
This book helped when it came to breaking down the script as it uses the terminology of shots that are used in most scripts.
   
                                                           Script Research 
Studio scripts for directors are different from a shot list on a film set or on location. In any case, the director needs to break down a script and create shots depending on the dialogue. In Quest, there will be a lot of 'As Directed' pieces, this is because we are not able to establish what the contestants are going to say, the only people who will be having specific dialogue will be the actors playing the parts of the wizard, the troll and the Voice over of the dragon. For me to understand what a studio script looks like I researched some examples (Figure 5) this helped me with the understanding and development of our studio script.

Fig 5. Camera Script for "This is the place" (2011)

                                                    Chain of communication
Not all directors get to work on the same show twice or three times no matter how many episodes they actually are they are just called in once the script is completed the set is in place and the characters are already been chosen. A director on a studio production also works within the gallery they have no say on the studio floor that is the job of the floor manager.

To understand my role as a director I looked at the chain of communication:

Fig 6. Pre-production roles: chain of communication (2020)

My initial duties in pre-production are to oversee the production teams' progress and for the crew to communicate through us and the producers.
This graph gave me an insight into my roles and responsibilities throughout the process.
By using (Figure 5) the chart it helped us all understand who we need to go to for communication purposes, this helps in any production for clear communication between teams and this helps any confusion.

My learning Outcome
I did this research to help me develop my skills further as a director, my leaning outcome from my research is that a director on a studio production has to develop or have the skills to be able to communicate from the gallery and not on the studio floor, they also have to have advance knowledge about editing, because a technical director has to edit 'Live' all the while having constant communication with the crew on the floor. Multitasking is a big part of this role and has to be developed over a period of time, so it was a great opportunity for me to really look into certain elements of the role research, I feel I should have researched more on editing a live show as I was not as confident in the studio gallery as I would have been on the floor.
The chain of communication graph was what I referred to if I had any questions put on me, it made me see who needed to speak to who and have that responsibility.
                                                 

Bibliography


Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix. The costume drama. (2007) [televison program online] Pres. Shephard, B. ITV1. At:https://estream.ucreative.ac.uk/View.aspx?id=15986~5q~jKJMMsVVEW (Accessed on 22 February 2020)

Salordotorg (2019).  [Online] Narration (s.d.) At: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_writing-for-success/s14-01-narration.html (Accessed on 12 February 2020).

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Trapped Graphic (2007) [Image] At:https://www.google.com/search?q=Trapped+childrens+show&sxsrf=ACYBGNSRndUQFYgRXL5J2X78Vt9HkgJvuw:1581518752507&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=uIpn3XHp6UJG_M%253A%252C_cBu57vYNLsdRM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kSeDxTEYzzJMuf0D2qj06Sb6hLjMg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihncu7oMznAhUyonEKHfigAzsQ_h0wFXoECAYQCQ#imgrc=hHZHTlcRKsK_6M (Accessed on 13 February 2020)

Figure 2. The character of the caretaker on 'Trapped' [Image] At: https://www.google.com/search?q=Trapped+childrens+show&sxsrf=ACYBGNQA0sUqci_xtLJc4x02uXHOppe0ug:1581609189270&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLlZmv8c7nAhWLSxUIHaywB_IQ_AUoAXoECA8QAw&biw=1270&bih=1312#imgrc=uIpn3XHp6UJG_M (Accessed on 13 February 2020)

Figure 3. The Game demonstrater [Image]  https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/640x360/p01h1ybg.jpg
(Accessed on 13 February 2020)

Figure 4. Camera Commands - summary [Photo] Fairweather, R. (1998) Basic studio directing. 

Figure 5. Camera Script for "This is the place" (2011) [LinkedIn] At: https://www.slideshare.net/davidcrossman/camera-script-for-this-is-the-place (Accessed on 21 April 2020)


Figure 6. Pre-production roles: chain of communication [Image] At: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iIKIKyuo6A9tZl8HdctH9mvs5FP9i_fw (Accessed on 22 February 2020)