The Charlie Episode 1 and 2:
Episode 1:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13AWUxbKS2VZpZXSe4wrvdLmjs0g_Nszf/view?usp=sharing
Episode 2:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13yIYG5DuBVaOS2iXrZIbXgB2zhfos1P7/view?usp=sharing
Blog Post 1:
For our pitches for Assignment 3, I think our group did really well, from the ideas, to the execution, and overall just our ability to work as a team. I think that everyone in the group gelled well together, with each of us contributing to the overall idea and keeping on top of everything. Our idea was also very strong in my opinion, only added to by the creativeness and additions from both our group and others; a talk show that devolves into a soap opera is rife with content and ideas you could use for it, and has the advantages of starting off as a run of the mill talk show, a genre we’ve practised many times in this class. It’s a tricky concept that, if pulled off well, could look really good and could act like a victory lap for this entire studio.
Most of the feedback we got was positive, although looking at other group’s presentations I did think that we would have benefitted from a studio diagram that showed our plans for a set and camera setup, but one line from Rohan stood out to me in particular. We had mentioned that we had planned to do a tracking shot, but decided to scrap it due to the troubles that we had on Assignment 2 trying to pull it off, and he mentioned that we should still try and do it, since this was the exact time to experiment with the professional equipment and crew that we have. It was a really fascinating way of looking at this assignment, and has been stuck in my head ever since the presentation, and I think it’s how I’m going to look at this assignment from now on, trying to push the boundaries and pull off the most stuff possible. If it doesn’t end up working, it was still worth a try, and if it does end up working, it’ll end up looking amazing, so from now on, the sky’s the limit in terms of the scope and experimentation for this project.
Another group whose project I was really intrigued by was Group 2 (I think?) and their pitch of a live crime sitcom. It is super ambitious and I was really impressed, since they planned to essentially write, block and shoot 2 proper episodes of a sitcom, as opposed to our project, which, while scripted, allowed time for the actors to improv to extend or cut down on time. I’d really like to see that project completed too simply for the fact that creating 2 episodes of what is essentially a proper television show sounds like a challenge I’d happily undertake.
Blog Post 2:
I’m writing this blog post in Week 10, a week before we plan to shoot the first episode, and while I am very nervous about whether we can get it all the pre-production done before then, I do think we have a great crew that can get it done. Most of the EVS has been shot and just needs to be edited, and much of the planning and scripting for episode 1 has been completed. I am a little worried that we’ve been focusing on episode 1 too much, getting the script and EVS shot and planned for it, while episode 2 has fallen a little to the wayside. We have the basic timeline and some sections on it completed, but nowhere to the level of polish that has been done for episode 1. I know that episode one takes precedence because it is being shot first, but I feel that if we don’t get started on episode 2 soon, at least before episode 1 is filmed, then there won’t be enough time to get it ready for the next shooting week. I’m especially worried about the ending, since it is probably going to be one of the hardest segments to pull off, with more and more characters being introduced in a chaotic, yet controlled manner, but nothing but the most basic scripting on it has been done. I probably shouldn’t worry too much, however; many of the writers and producers are split between both episodes and once we get episode 1 out of the way, then we can all focus on episode 2 and get it done faster, but I feel that more attention needs to be paid to the ending especially so that we can pull it off properly.
Overall, I’ve been really impressed by all the things we’ve managed to do in such little time, but am worried about all the work we still have to do, although I’m confident that we can pull it off.
Blog Post 3:
The final episode has been shot, and thus it’s time for me to write my final reflection. I think that this class has been an overwhelming success, not just because of the final product we produced, but the whole process of learning, creating and working in the studio space. The episodes of The Charlie Show did have hurdles, and they do have their flaws, but the fact that we were actually able to create two episodes of a live show that we pitched, planned and wrote is so impressive to me that the flaws look miniscule in comparison. On the shooting day, we were able to think quickly on our feet to work around multiple problems that arose, such as the fact that we didn’t have access to Studio D, or as many lapel mics that we needed to, and although I regret not having that extra time to rehearse due to having to film the infomercials and musical guest in Studio A, I didn’t think our final take suffered greatly because of it.
In terms of the goals that I had set for myself at the start of the semester, I’d say that I succeeded in pretty much all of them. I had set a goal to try out as many roles as possible and get a feel for the studio space and how it operates, and I think that I did that to the best of my ability throughout the studio. I learned how to operate the cameras, and most of the control room, but what I didn’t expect to do was be involved in the idea making and pre-production processes of studio production, something that I really appreciated and learned from.
In terms of teamwork, I think that, by the end of the studio, everyone knew how to work in a team and what areas of the studio they would be best suited for, which helped the whole production run more smoothly, and is something that I feel could be applied to media-making as a whole. Without the collaboration conducted by everyone in the class, then the live camera studio would simply not be possible, as mustiple people who are collaborating and working in a team need to be utilised when filming. The director needs to coordinate with the camera operators to ensure the shots line up with their vision, and the DA needs to coordinate with the floor manager, who coordinates with the actors to make sure everything runs on time, and I feel that is the same case for media productions at large, with similar roles, just not exactly the same. Without that collaboration, the whole process would fall apart and the final product would be worse off for it. By the time we got to planning and shooting The Charlie Show, I feel that everyone was comfortable enough with each other, and knew how to use their strengths to shore up for other people’s weaknesses, and vice versa, that the production ran much more smoothly than if it hadn’t been the case.
I think that this studio taught me invaluable lessons in media production, from the timeline from pitch to creation, to what it feels to truly work as a team who are all passionate and firing on all cylinders when filming a piece of content, and the lessons and memories made from this studio will stay with me for a very long time.
Blog Post 4:
One of my favourite parts of the whole process of creating episodes for TV was the writers room that we had in week 9. It reminded me of my prior studio, Social Scriptwriting, with the major differences being that it was in person, and that we were writing something that would actually be produced and shown on screen. I really enjoyed the session, not only because having so many writers allowed us to have many different points of views and ideas for us to use in the final project, but having producers present also helped us realise exactly what we could get done and what we had the capabilities to do. It was really interesting to have the more creative and production focused sides of a studio crew in one space, all with their own unique perspectives and takes on what we would like to get done, and if it was feasible to do.
I think that having the producers there to assist with the writing process also really helped set up the production timeline and allow them to plan exactly what needed to happen when, since they were directly involved in the process. Another thing that I had never done before was delegating the episodes to both the producers and writers once the main ideas were hashed out, so that we could all focus on small parts and bring them together at the end. I felt that it allowed a lot to be done in a shorter amount of time; splitting up the work meant that everyone always had things to do, instead of all working on the same thing at once, so that progress was happening on all parts of the production at one time. Overall it was one of my favourite parts of this production, if not for the fact that it was something completely different from the rest of the course and was a real eye-opener experience.
Blog Post 5:
Another aspect of this final assignment I’d like to reflect on is the table read, which was, again, an eye opening experience into how the writing process, as well as the pro-production process in general, works. Much like many parts of the pre-production process, it was something that I had always seen and heard about, but never done personally, much less with so many people. After having done one, I think that it’s a vital step in the pre-production process for all the crew, including the writers, actors, producers and directors. For writers, they get to hear the words they’ve written being spoken, and can see how their dialogue, stage directions, and descriptions of the script feel, as well as its overall cohesiveness in general. This is especially true for the episodes of The Charlie Show we had written, since everyone was in charge of a different section, and we had only just put everything together and given it a quick read-through to make sure that everything made sense. Having actors read out the different sections in one go helped us determine if there was anything we needed to change; any continuity errors or general cohesiveness issues that needed to be ironed out. For the directors and producers, it helped them see how the story was progressing, allowing them to keep time to amend their time sheets properly so everything ran on the day, as well as giving the director a chance to voice any ideas on what the production would look like when properly filmed. For the actors, it let them start to get a feel for the characters they were playing and start learning their lines for the shooting days. Overall, it was a really good experience, and pretty much the first time the whole crew was together and finally started to collaborate as a class on The Charlie Show. Having so many different voices, ideas, and thoughts based on the different roles people had (asking about EVS, timings, certain lines, ect.) was really interesting, and the process of the table read was definitely another standout part of the pre-production process.