The Day

Wednesday! I was helping set up some of the sets and getting some of the Fuzzcocks stuff finalized such as teams and layout of the set. I also had asked Sophy if she wanted an audience in the studio and she had said yes and said the maximum capacity would have to be about thirty in order for the cameras to move. I offered to make tickets to sell for 50p each so that the audience could pay to come in, she agreed to start with then a few hours later she changed her mind and said not to bother because she wasn’t confident that it would work. I still went home later that night and designed some logos for the radio show team for Thursday and also designed a two sided ticket for the audience.

Thursday! I handed the radio graphics into media resources but some of the graphics weren’t working, so after a quick image resize later I had all the radio graphics ready for the day and James was impressed I believe. I also printed out the tickets and spent about three hours cutting them out and sticking the two sides together. During this process I had sold three tickets already which was awesome! After I had stuck thirty-five tickets together I took them to Sophy to show her, suddenly she was impressed and agreed to go ahead with the ticket idea. After that I single handedly moved the autocue out of the studio (with Andy’s permission) and a bunch of chairs and tided up some cables. This was too clear some room for an audience.

Friday! Woke up very early and got to college for 7:30am. Once the studio got opened I began to use gaffer tape on the floor to act as markers for the audience so they know where to stand. After that I logged onto the graphics computer, loaded up a clock and MxNavi and changed the Fuzzcocks blue team strap line. Then I went to Costa and The Zone to sell some tickets. By 9:10am I had already sold eight tickets. I then had Chris Ross venture with me to sell some and we sold a few more to people in ALS, Costa and the smoking area. Once I had sold about 29 I stopped with the selling and focused on being the runner. I had made sure the table material for Fuzzcocks was accessible so we could quickly get to it. I switched between running around for people in the media block and the zone a lot. The media block I was mainly fetching people things such as sandwiches and equipment whereas in the Zone I was being used as a messenger to the people on the zone floor and the media block. When the Fuzzcocks show was being prepared I was walking around double-checking that people on the crew list were around and making sure that things were all set up. I had to help Katie Ulett find my graphics and had to tell the audience where to stand. I think today went really well though, hectic but really good fun and professional I would say.

Closing In.

So today was fairly interesting, I had absolutely nothing to do all morning and there was hardly anyone in to actually ask what needs doing, when people actually turned up I found out the conga line we were supposed to be doing was cancelled. I then began setting the studio up alone, then when it came to sorting the lights out Ian helped me out. I then ended up sitting around waiting for the script to be finished which took about an hour and a half of our time up. I then went onto graphics and sorted out the order they will be going in and also helped play the VT’s. Another thing, today I was asked to create a logo for Greg Clarkes radio show so I got that done as soon as I got home as well as creating some graphics we need for tomorrows taster broadcast. Apparently I have to act again for 12:34 tomorrow because a scene didn’t work so we have to re-film!

Getting Closer.

So…I haven’t updated this for a few days now…the reason being, I’ve been so busy with sorting things out. Last week was basically setting things up ready for Saturday for when the BBC came in. Saturday came, the Fuzzcocks show was ready for being recorded, we just had to wait for the scheduled slot to get it set up. Whilst the first show was being recorded I was given a running position, for a few minutes I had to actually run some errands for cast and crew. Wayne wanted me to make him a lemsip for his throat, some guy who was watching the sound technicians asked me to round up the main people for a sound check, I had to clean up the set floor from balloons and I also had to help cut out some letters for a bit of corridor decoration.

After those errands I wasn’t really being asked for much so I offered to clean the new set that had arrived the day before because it was a tad dirty. As I did that I then got a bit carried away and started cleaning the windows all around the media block. After that it was merely just standing around waiting to be ordered to do something…nothing happened. Went on a lunch break, got back and we were told that the Fuzzcocks filming was being cancelled. This was annoying seeing as we were supposed to be filming it the Monday before, Wednesday and then this day.

However, moving on from Saturday, the Monday yesterday, I was going to be doing the Fuzzcocks but that again got cancelled because we had to do our taster. I was on graphics for this and had to create some strap lines for the cast that hadn’t got a graphic for them. And then today was perhaps the busiest day for me. I got in and started getting the set for Fuzzcocks ready with Josh, it was mainly decorating the tables we did and sorting out the colour scheme for each team. Then whilst the lights were being sorted out I had to assemble a new team and change the names on the strap lines. I had to help Ian set up a light on set for the next recording, which was the taster, I had too carry two sofas into the studio and cover the floor with balloons. I also had to quickly get some double strap lines created ready for the show. I think the recordings went well, although a few hiccups, but everyone seemed to be working more in motion today rather than moaning and vanishing.

Ruining The Future.

Okay, so yesterday, after sending an email out to people the night before saying that I wasn’t happy with having Fuzzcocks recorded…it ended up being rehearsed instead. I was told in the morning as well that it needed to be ready for Saturday for when the BBC come in to watch us produce some shows, Fuzzcocks being one of them…no pressure then! Ugh.

The day basically involved a few people being told to work on some things for the show’s rehearsal in the afternoon, they went off and did the things they were told, but then some people swapped jobs for the show and the crew and cast were being swapped around without my understanding. This created much confusion for me, but everyone else seemed to have been told about the swaps. I didn’t appreciate being put down behind my back behind the scenes…yet again, but at the end of the day I do feel like I have let everyone down, I wasn’t listened to in national diploma so agreeing to produce a show wasn’t a great idea. I wanted to have the new experience of producing because I wanted to widen my skills, but no one listens to me unless it’s a higher authority saying my words for me. However yesterday I did burn the opening titles to a DVD and helped out with discussing how the set can look.

Today though, Sophy and Matt kindly sat the group down and got people doing things that they should be doing, the only thing I have to do now apparently is sort out some cards with questions on them. May start working on this debate show for me and Kate, either that I get started on sorting some stuff out for the Never Mind the Fuzzcocks live show. Either way, I’m not feeling too shabby with this whole producing lark, but I’m going to get through children in need and then not do producing ever again after it.

Going In.Sane.

Half term, a time of relaxation for students where they are free for an entire week from educational related studies, apart from me! The entire half term, from Tuesday to Friday I was needed for acting in the HND 2’s production, ’12:34’ where I played the role of a space ninja, a character that is the Timekeepers assistant, mostly dumb and has absolutely no ninja skills off any kind. Tuesday though, nothing really went to plan in the morning, media tech was closed until an hour after our scheduled equipment book out and the actual acting schedule had changed on this day, so instead of me acting I had to help film the big brother and antiques roadshow scenes in the studio. Wednesday to Friday though I acted and it mostly involved with me having to fall over and pretend to die. Admittedly I cut myself loads whilst doing the stunts but it was great fun, the entire acting thing was fun to be a part off, but it could have been more detailed in giving us directions on what to do whilst acting.

Other than acting I was also chasing up my Never Mind The Fuzzcocks content, which was finished on Friday annoyingly. The content was only emailed to Sophy and me and Wayne were given a physical copy. Wayne left his copy at college so can’t do any script work, which means I can’t do any camera script work. It’s really frustrating and I highly doubt that we can get the pre-recorded one done on Monday. I did try chasing it up online with the co-producer but his email wasn’t listed in the contact sheet and he didn’t go on Facebook often.

Really stressing about everything, I may not be sane at the end of the children in need at this rate.

No Contact

Haven’t been able to do anything for the past few days due to not being able to contact the co-producers of mine that are apparently supposed to be sorting the content for the Never Mind The Fuzzcocks show and also the Debate show now. I’ve emailed them and contacted them via email or Skype, but they haven’t got back to me at all. Should be acting for the 12:34 Doctor Who spoof though on Tuesday.

A Short Day?

Not a lot happened today really. I basically chose to be a runner or set designer for the actual children in need broadcast but left myself open to graphics if no one else comes through. Really don’t want to do graphics though. I also helped Chris Ross out with his bumpers. We got a Sony V1 out and upped the shutter speed to something like 160, we then got I think it was at least six people to stand waving some glow sticks around as we filmed them. We also put the JVC studio camcorders in the middle of the studio and filmed them in a fluid way, this is to hopefully make a nifty title sequence for a bumper. That was really it today.