What i learnt from our practice assessment:
· To ensure all our cameramen are on the same page
· Give everyone a full programme running order to help fluidity
· Ensure there are no extra’s on the studio floor to prevent chaos (Floor Manager)
· Run through the transitions between VT (Director and Vision Mixer)
· Keep all batteries charged
· Attempt to fix the talkback issue – (only having 1 microphone connecting to the gallery makes communication between director and crew limited)
· Run through the script with the presenter in order to decrease the chance of a mess up in front of camera. Any responsibility for the failure of the show should be on the producers/crew rather than the talent.
· Ensure props are prepped to be brought on as soon as the previous group finishes broadcasting
· Have multiple copies of the VT (Me)
· Once wired up, do not attempt to change any of the wires due to poor connection in some of the BNC cables – (+RGB)
I used this checklist on the day of our assessment to remind myself of the issues we had experienced last week. I found this to be greatly beneficial as we only needed one of these problems to go wrong for our assignment to be deemed a failure. If we could learn to avoid only one of these things, this list would have benefitted us and averted possible disappointment.
One of our biggest problems on the day was a technical one. Unfortunately our group had been pushed forward to the assessment slot after lunch. Despite this not being an issue for us, during the break the connection for camera 2 had become faulty. This seemingly small problem has a domino effect and can create bigger problems for the entire production. An example of the domino effect in this situation would be with regard to the running order; if the camera crew are working to a script based on 3 camera’s, the removal of one of the camera’s leaves empty spaces in the broadcast, putting greater pressure on the other cameras to find new shots. This can also create pressure for the director, having to be more creative with his shot choice. This domino effect continues as the increased pressure on the director can cause friction between the director and the vision mixer. This is just an example of why small technical problems can create larger disasters. From this technical exercise I learnt that often you have to be prepared to improvise a bit in this industry, because not everything can run entirely smoothly in live broadcasting.
We attempted to fix this camera issue for at least half an hour, resulting in lack of concentration in the studio, leading to some interference with classmates jumping on set. It was hard for the floor manager to keep order on the set whilst this technical fault happened, and as a result time that could have been spent ensuring a smooth run through was wasted chatting. We overcame this when the problem was sorted by our tutor Rico Vilela and order was restored by the floor manager. I was happy with the result of our broadcast. I can only comment on how I performed as my role as the vision mixer, and I am happy that I fulfilled that role to the best of my ability. I feel though that I was somewhat limited as the role of “vision mixer”, I feel that my work for the group far exceeds that title, as I spent most of my time working collaboratively with the group. I was developing ideas, researching leads and planning our production in detail.
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