LIBBY BUSHNELL

So yesterday I went a bit photoshop crazy. I was assigned to job of creating a new set to use for the broadcast of Sleightly Magical, and I absolutely loved the challenge. If I were given a full time job using photoshop after I finished Uni i’d be happy. Looking at the finished product of something that looks pretty damn professional if I do say so myself, is pretty satisfying. The outcome of the set I made for Sleightly Magical is something i’m deffinitely proud of. 

When comparing it to one of the sets I made during Semester One it is clear to see my photoshop skills have improved, or my need to make things look perfect have?

Using photoshop is a skill deffinitely worth having, as it can enable me to fix any small blemishes within photos quickly. I can design logos, straps, titles anything. I find using photoshop a challenge, and its always nice learning new techniques. 

Below you can see the set I designed for Cook Book Live last term, and the new set I designed for Sleightly Magical. Although I havent seen it uploaded onto the tricaster yet, i think it looks great. The Spinaker Tower in the background at dusk, the orange slowely darkening sky giving a slightly magical feel. I felt it neccesary to include card suits somewhere within the design seeing as it is a magic show. 

So today, myself on sound, Rich on camera, Darren as producer, and Joe Tooley our Magician, ventured out onto the streets of Portsmouth to film some street magic!! The weather was perfect for it, sunny! Although I wasnt feeling my best I manned up and attended the shoot as otherwise the shoot probably wouldnt have been able to happen. At first we had planned on filming down Southsea Common, though as soon as we got there I had to point out exactly how windy it was, audio would not have worked, so off we went down the highstreet, much better other than two young musicians banging one very loud drum, so again we just moved to the other end of the highstreet to prevent that ruining the audio. I mic-ed up Joe with a radio tie mic, to give him the freedom he needs to do his tricks without being stuck to a cable. 

It was myself and Rich who went participant hunting, and didnt take long to get some willing volunteers. As soon as we started filming them, small audiences gathered which was great as meant we didnt have to do as much persuading to get people on camera. 

Of all the voxpops-esque shoots ive been on this has deffinitely been the easiest. If you want people to be on camera, go on a sunny busy weekend, look and act professional, and make sure what youre filming is going to be something interesting. When comparing this shoot back to some Vox Pops I did back in November it is clear to see the difference, as the warmth meant people were more willing to stand and watch, and with it being a weekend instead of a week day people were also in less of a rush! 

So Cook Book Live went out live today, 12pm, CCi TV, amazing. So there were a few hiccups during the broadcast but im pretty happy with how it went considering we didnt have time for any run throughs, but we shall discuss that more in a bit. First time to discuss the few days heading up the broadcast.

So all of the group met up the day before the broadcast to organise everything that had still yet been completed. When we arrive we find out that one of our presenters has pulled out on us. Unfortunately, that isnt exactly what happened, which makes it worse. Due to poor producing skills, the producer of our show hadnt reminded our presenter we were using him for the live broadcast since filming two weeks ago for the show, and only re-asked him the day before the broadcast, as expected he was unable to film. This caused a big dilema, as meant we had no idea who to use for the broadcast. As I am part of the crew, I couldnt be used as the show was going live, we rung various potential presenters but everyone was busy. We all worked together and came up with a solution of me presenting the piece with the aid of our second presenter Tamsyn, but having it pre-recorded so that it seemed live. If we discussed our reasoning to the head lecturers they should be able to understand the situation and give us some lee-way on the live element, as this is something a lot of live TV shows have done in the past, and if it looks live, no-one will know the difference. 

Everything still seemed very hectic the day before, as a lot of things still hadnt been organised, and with only a day till the broadcast I decided to take a bit of control and start organising what hadnt been done. We all sat down as a group and went through the script together, making alterations, as it was currently not in the best of states, by doing it as a group it meant everyone could go through the script together and know exactly what is meant to be happening on the day. 

Once this was done, we sat outside in the sun, as it was a glorious day and who wants to spent it inside!! I bought up the topic of the set for the broadcast, working out who needed to bring in what, be it ingredients, serving plates, cutlery, utensils anything to make the set more appealing.

After a busy day of organising we all went home and did the various jobs needing doing in time for the broadcast. I got a surprising text that night from the Director asking whether i’d like to get an Assistant Producer role, after my performance over the last two days, which I was happy to accept. 

I was generally quite surprised by recieving such a message, I was just getting excited over the show, and wanted everything done, as being a bit of a foodie myself I didnt want it to look shoddy, and wanted it to keep in check with how a cooking show is normally seen. 

The day of the broadcast was still a busy day, and with the setting up of cameras, audio, set design, technical issues and having to pre-record one of the live segments we were unable to get a full run-through. 

We were more prepared this time round though, as bought in both presenters early to talk them through each insert, and the whole of the script so they knew exactly what was going on. What I have learnt from before is that a lot of the presenters have turned up on the day not actually having a clue what they are doing, so by talking them through first they are much more confident. 

Here we can see the final edit of the broadcast!

So, there were only a few issues during the broadcast, one I admit being my fault. At the start of the show we cut straight to Tamsyn giving a small intro, before cutting to the intro, as we didnt have time for a run through and I forgot this, so when we went live I raised the audio for the insert and not to Tamsyns microphone, so the show begun with no audio. Thankfully we could re-record it again after the broadcast so that the show would look better when uploading onto vimeo. 

A second issue was had when our second presenter Tom, was unsure of what he was meant to be doing during a section with the audience, this was due to poor preparation and not enough practise time, showing we need to be more prepared as a group!

Other than these two small issues, the show went out, and I am pretty proud of the outcome. Especially the inserts, I feel they are the most professional looking pieces of work we have made yet!

If it were possible to do another episode of Cook Book Live, some improvements I think we could do would firstly be to sort out the live audience. The whole segments I found awkward and boring for the viewer. Firstly the shots were hardly asthetically pleasing, 6 members of the public sat on fold up chairs is not a good look. Next time I think it would be better if they were sat on sofas, it looks much more appealing and would make the audience members feel much more comfortable than some metal chairs. 

I also feel like the audience used needs to be chosen more wisely. Choose people who are really eager about food and cooking, which I also feel goes to the presenters as well. If they arent enthusiastic about food, i dont think the audience will be!

So for the last episode of Cook Book Live, I was assigned the job of doing the graphics, set, logo, straps. Looking back now I think they were absolutely terrible, so i’m deffinitely glad I got the chance to change them, (minus the set, which was done by a different member of the group). 

So, last time the logo was just Cook Book Live, in a traditional style font, with all 3 words stood on top of each other, looking back pretty boring, so designing the logo this time round I wanted something more exciting and visual.

I firstly decided to look at a few cooking shop logos for a bit of inspiration, I noticed a lot of them had food related products within the logo, from chefs hats, to vegetables, to cutlery etc.

This is when I came up with the idea to including a knife fork and spoon within the logo. My inital thought was to have the cutlery in the background, the text on top and inverse the colours between both images so that they were intertwined. Didnt look great, so I carried on developing. I decided to take the word ‘live’ and use a different font, to give a bit more of an emphasis on the ‘live’ element. By adding a black border and the swapping the font on the live, the logo completely came to life! There was debate over whether the handles of the cuttlery should be cropped after the border or not. Myself and two other members of the team sat and went through a few different combinations, a logo without the handles, a logo with, a logo with only the knife and fork with the handle, moving the cuttlery up so they reached over the border at the top of the logo, though felt the original was still the best!

Designing the straps felt like much more of a challenge than the logo itself, no matter how much I tried, none of the designs were working. Because of the rough squiggly style within the logo, I wanted to keep this style throughout and use it within the straps, though it made them look rushed and scruffy. In the end it was decided that we’d just stick to straight edges and just match the colour scheme.

Over all I think both the logo and straps look great and am very pleased with the outcome. 

Filming for Cook Book Live took place once more at Jacks parents house, as the kitchen works perfectly for the style of our show, and any other kitchen we would be able to film in is most likely going to be a students kitchen, and thats really not going to be appealing for a cooking show.

This time round filming was a lot smoother and more relaxed, it is clear to see we have all matured and grown and learnt a lot through this course, as the whole feel of the shoot was confident and relaxed, we all knew what was going on.

As we had filmed a shoot very similar to this before for the first episode of Cook Book Live, it had taught us what was good and what was bad to do. We learnt that we needed more focus on long shots of the chef and less of him talking to the camera as this can be done with voice overs. 

Again I was Mrs Sound Lady, but for a change it wasnt only me. As I had to present, the role of audio swapped between me, Jo and Amanda. Both Jo and Amanda aren’t the most experienced at sound and so I set up and explained what they needed to do. I had Luke on a tie-mic to keep his voice sounding crisp and clear. The main audio used coming from the tie-mic. A boom and directional mic was used as a back up to get surround sounds, and on the off chance something goes wrong with the tie mic. 

So for this first time ever during my 3 years on this course, I finally decided to take up the challenge of presenting. 

We were struggling to think of a second presenter to use for the inserts, as we didnt want to have ‘too much luke’ during the show, and with a history of enjoying to cook already I was nominated. So I said yes, not really thinking about what I was doing.

I then had to decide what to make. I went through a few different ideas, posh cupcakes, as they are my forte, but disgarded that, as well, theyre only cupcakes and everyone knows how to make them no matter how amazing my recipe is! I thought about doing macaroons, but each recipe i found online had a different technique, and are apparently notoriously difficult to make. So on a one chance shoot, probably  not the best idea. I looked through recipe books, but nothing really stood out to me, until I was doing my weekly food shop, and I saw Whoopies in the chilled desserts. So Whoopies are pretty much a bigger cakier version of macaroons. Ive seen them pop up a few times on food blogs, and once saw them being made on Something For The Weekend, and so decided these were probably the best choice. A simple recipe, with really visually appealing results, deffinitely something that will work well on TV.

So I had a practice at home making the cakes a few days before the shoot just incase they were mysteriously harder than they looked. But thankfully they turned out well, and learnt what not to do for the day of filming.

As I have never presented on camera before, I felt it was probably a good idea to watch a couple of cooking programmes to help know what to do. You’d think my first choice would be a programme by either Nigella or Delia or someone, but not me, i’m not exactly the most girly of girls, and personally think ive got a bit more of a quirky personality and so went to the Hairy Bikers cooking programme for inspiration, much more me presenting wise. So what I noticed the most was that a lot of the direction was done with voice overs, so on the day of shooting, if I mess up I guess it can all be re-deemed with the use of voice-overs. 

The day of shooting itself was fun. I was pretty panicky at first, and kept on mucking up my lines, being in front of the camera is quite nerveracking. After a few takes I was getting more comfortable. A lot of the time I had to get advice from the rest of the crew to ask what was best to say, but a few times I kept messing up my lines, I felt like Joey from Friends during an audition where he kept saying ‘mmmmn, noodle soup!’. But we got there in the end.

Looking back at the final edit, a few things i’ve learnt. 

Slow down when I talk, there is no need to rush

Think about what im going to say before I start, otherwise i’ll get my words all mixed up 

Look at the camera. I realised after that I was actually quite scared of the camera, and always got quite nervous having to look right into the camera. So if I present again, I need to learn that the camera is my friend and I need to be confident at talking to it.

So, after having an insight into presenting, i’ve learnt its probably not the job for me, and i’m happy behind the camera, but atleast its shown me what its like, and I can now understand how people presenting to camera or just people being interviewed for camera feel. If they mess up a few times then let them know its fine and we can keep them calm and collected to continue with the piece. 

And here is the final episode of CCi Live, produced by Green Team!

So, its been an eventful year, with many different ups and downs, good productions and bad productions, stressful days in the studio, relaxed days in the studio, all to produce work to be proud of. And looking back at our final show I am proud. We have all come very far over these past 3 years, and this final year has changed us all the most. 

Even though we’ve all grown and got better, we are still always learning and improving, and still even after our last episode of CCi I have criticism.

Personally I feel the layout of the show was wrong, I feel that the CCi montage should have gone at the end instead of the PREW insert of all us students back in first year. The reason I feel this is that the whole of the montage is set out to be an emotional piece, a flash back for us all to look at, it even has everyone at the end saying goodbye. If we had those goodbyes at the end of the episode I think it would have given much more of an impact to the end of the show than it did. Unfortunately no meetings were discussed to decide upon the order of the show, and so producer rules. 

So as Steve Bellinger is quite a camera shy guy, he didnt want to be on camera for our insert, but still liked the idea, so with this a compromise was made and an animation is to be created instead, and I put myself forward to do the animation.

Before I even started with the animation I wanted to research into a few different types of animation styles. I looked at clips from both Fonejacker and South Park. 

After looking at the different styles, I decided to go with the style of Fonejacker as it would be the simplest to use, and would work well considering I will be using a photo of Steve. 

Seeing as its been over two years since I last had any experience with Adobe Flash, I went back and found all the tutorials from an animation unit in first year. After working my way through a few different sheets I managed to remember the basics needed to do the edit.

So, the group and I have just begun planning for our final ever production for CCi Live, and not only is it our last ever episode, but it is also the final episode of the year, of our year, of the class of 2012. Because of this, we want to make it the best, we want to make it one as a reminder of everything our course has done over the past year for CCi.

We’ve decided to make a montage of all the best bits of CCi over the year, do our own TV & Broadcasting version of PortsMOUTH asking the students about their favourite memories and what not. We also want to include some footage taken from a unit in first year where all of us students had to present a short piece to camera, meaning we get to have a laugh and giggle all together looking at how much everyone has changed! 

This was the fourth and final time the group and I crewed for for CCi Live and it is very clear to see how much progress we have made throughout the year from being on this unit. Thinking back to the first time we crewed for CCi, we we’re all nervous and getting stressed at the smallest of things, though for this episode of CCi Live, we all strolled in, all feeling pretty calm. We were all used to not getting the inserts/scripts/running orders until the morning of, but we’d all got into such a routine we weren’t worried. A quick run through was had and we were ready for the off!! 

This time round I got to do the role of Floor Manager, something I haven’t done since second year and is something I had missed doing, so was a nice change from sound stepping into those shoes. Presenting the show was Rory, a frequent presenter on the show, so looking after him was simple enough, he knew all the processes, signals, when to speak, what to do, pretty much everything, so the role was simple enough for the day. I’m glad I was able to have another go at being Floor Manager, as when I get a job in the real wide world, its likely i’m going to start at the bottom as a runner, and so to say I have experience as a Floor Manager should be beneficial!

For every episode of CCi, a showcase is always expected to be included within the show. This can range from music, to a short film, art work, exhibitions, pretty much anything, as long as it hasnt been shown before, and is promoting someones work. 

For our episode of CCi it was a massive struggle finding something to showcase. As a producer it was my job to find something to include. I searched everywhere but it is always a struggle to find work to showcase unless we go out and film everyone ourselves, and due to a pretty busy schedule this wasnt do-able. I contacted various lecturers to ask for work from their students though only one got back to me. I was given a DVD showcase of her previous years final work though most of it was un-usable as included copyright music. In the end, we were given a Documentary from a recent graduate about a young photographer living in New York City.

So the few days before the actual broadcast of CCi Live were pretty hectic! Inserts had to be completed, paperwork had to be sorted, the script had to be finished, the news segment had to be written, images for the news segment had to be sourced and we were still struggling to find a showcase!. 

As we cant write the news segment until a few days before the broadcast, because well the news is new information, so we cant predict that! Only two days before the show, there was a bomb scare right in the centre of Portsmouth and so we wanted to include that. 

During the news segment there is always related images in the background, images which we have to source that are copyright free. Unfortunately no-one was around during the bomb scare, and all the pictures I could get hold of were taken on camera phones and werent the greatest of quality, instead we had to retrace where the bomb scare was, and take photos of the buildings instead.

We also focused on Pompey FC’s issues with their club and so needed some photos of the stadium, though as apparently all of the group were too busy to venture out to get the photos, and I was busy sorting out all things paperwork wise for the broadcast, I had to send out my beloved housemate to take some photos for me, which I am super greatful for!

We also included a few different upcoming events during the news section, one focusing on a drama production called Die Fleurdemaus. One member of our team was sent out to get some photos to use for this section, but came back with a photo of one of their posters on a wall. Now, personally I dont think thats the best thing to come back with, as we could just use a PDF of the real poster instead. I truely got into my investigative mode then, and quizzed various friends to find out whether they knew anyone working on the production and whether they had any photos we could use. Finally after a few different emails, I managed to get some photos from a girl named Ziggy who was part of the production, who was really kind and helpful at getting some photos!

Although there was a few bits of drama when it came to inserts, all of them were finally signed off on thursday night ready for the broadcast on Friday.

As the production and crewing of CCi is done by different groups each week, organisation can become quite complicated, as when organising when presenters need to come in for practises and on the day, it needs to be done through the team crewing, and so discussing with them became quite confusing. 

Finally though everything was in place by the morning and I was finally able to relax! 

Im deffinitely glad I finally took up the challenge of being Producer, and despite all of the stress involved I really enjoyed it!! This was the first time i’ve really felt like i’ve accomplished something. This time I was team leader, and organised everything else, so watching back the live broadcast was quite satisfying knowing, ‘Hey, I did all that! I organised that!’. Especially good when its being broadcast on the big screen and I get to see my name in big letters on the credits!

So, now its all over I can reflect on my role. 

Firstly, I’d deffinitely say planning is key! Although we knew what we were doing a long time before the broadcast, filming and editing of the inserts were quite last minute, so changes that needed to be made before being broadcast were rushed. 

When looking back at the rush of work to do the night before the broadcast also shows I need to plan everything more next time. Finishing the script, running order, (where there were two different versions), organising permission forms, could have also been completed much earlier. 

Next time I take up being a role as producer, I plan on being much more efficient and on top of things, making things are done well in advance, keeping the production as smooth as possible.

As discussed earlier within the blog, the poem insert included within our broadcast of CCi Live, was an idea given to use by BBC Producer Dave Battcock.

The poem we used was called Windows, by Jacqui Rowe. Initially we went with an idea to make the piece as visual as possible, using both kinetic typography and sign language. We had planned to film someone who could speak sign language reading the poem in front of a green screen so that the text could be seen moving in the background. 

Emails were sent to two different deaf societies within Portsmouth though neither were able to film. After a lot of waiting we decided it was best to drop this idea and work out something new. It was then realised that if we had in fact gone on to include sign language we would not have been able to broadcast it live onto the BBC Big Screen as the footage would have had to be sent off to the BBC first to check it is in line with the sign language guidelines which could have taken almost 3 weeks. 

As the poem is titled ‘Windows’ it was decided instead we would keep things simple and edit the piece to a montage of different windows, such as described within the poem.

With none of the team being experts within the poetry department, we were all unsure as to exactly how the poem should be read, with some of the lines only being one word long. I  decided it was best to email the poet herself asking her to record herself reading the poem, and if it was good enough quality would be the final audio included within the final edit, though unfortunately it wasn’t. I was deffinitely greatful for her recording it as it deffinitely helped with the final edit. We got one of our team members mothers to be the voice over for the final piece as felt someone young wouldnt work and needed a mature voice. 

With my groups episode of CCi Live being just around the corner, inserts are finally getting finished, and can now be discussed on here. 

So lets begin with the Ghost Walk. This was an insert that was agreed upon a while ago between the group and was first set into action when the director of our group emailed the company to see whether they were willing to be involved, which they thankfully were. 

A meeting was organised with the main organiser of the Ghost Walks, John, our director Jack and myself a few days before the shoot so that we could see the route being taken on the night. This enabled us to work out where to set cameras up, what we can film, what we cant, where we will have lighting issues etc. This first meeting was very helpful as without this I feel the shoot would not have gone to plan. After viewing the official route it was realised that there was a huge amount that could be filmed on the night, so had to sit down and work out what we wanted to film. We were pretty blunt with our decissions and cut out almost half of the route. By doing this, it meant that we could run from location to location whist the walk was still going on to prepare cameras for the next section.

As the ghost walk was held at night, obviously. We had to work out what we were going to do lighting wise, as a lot of the locations didnt look very well lit. It was reccomended we fix lights onto all our cameras which we did, and we managed to pick up two standard handheld cameras with nightvision on. One of which we gave to the presenter on the night. By having nightvision it meant we could capture a lot more footage, and gave a style to the piece, an eeryness which we wanted. 

The night of the shoot went well. The actors were co-operative, as were the audience, who were happy to be filmed, though I feel it would have been better to grab a few more of the audience members at the end to get a few more responses to the walk, other than the few ladies we interviewed. 

After filming the Ghost Walk it was found out that our show would be going live to the BBC Big Screen in Portsmouth, because of this our original edit which we planned on broadcasting was not acceptable, as could be classed as too scary for the younger audiences. So, not wanting to be cut from the Big Screen, our editor managed to cut a new piece together suitable for the show.

So last week, the team and I were back in the studio crewing for the Yellow teams production of CCi Live. The group don’t always have the fastest turn around for their shows and a lot of the footage/script only get given to us on the day of the broadcast, sometimes not even first thing, but we embrace it, practise with what we have, and try our hardest to work together and broadcast a good quality show. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the group and I booked a session in the studio to have a practise at the roles we would all be performing on the friday. Mine being autoque, probably one of the least challenging roles within the gallery but I accepted it with pride, and shall do my best to keep the script rolling! 

We had hoped to use a potential presenter for our own CCi Live show to practise with during the session though the girl was unable to make it and so Jack, our director stepped in whilst the rest of the group practised their new roles. Personally I feel the practice of using autoque went well, and know which settings to use, how to add/remove text, and scroll the text at the correct speed so that the presenter isn’t either reading too fast or too slow. 

As for the broadcast on the Friday, it went well, with all 3 presenters arriving early and having time for a run through. 

The News segment, presented by Nick Hodgson, was extremely long in length and could get quite wordy. During the live broadcast you can see that Nick was starting to struggle and was getting a bit tongue tied, to help as much as I could I kept the autoque at a slow pace as not to rush him anymore and made sure I stayed at the required speed. 

Overall I feel the broadcast went well and look forward to next time the team and I will be back in the studio crewing for CCi.

So just a catch up to discuss whats happening with CCi Live, after holding a few meetings with the team, inserts have been decided and filming shall begin shortly.

For our community based insert it was decided that we would focus on a Portsmouth ‘Ghost Walk’. These are events that happen every few weeks in different areas within Hampshire where members of the public come along on a historical and themed night with actors fully ghoulled up ready to be haunted. Filming this is something a bit different for CCi, moving away from the students and sticking to the criteria of a community based piece.

Shoot number two came only one day after the first, this time filming The Vox Brothers; A magical duo from Portsmouth performing a variety of different tricks in an old theatre found on Southsea Pier. 

This shoot was very different from the previous, it was a cold and wet day and we were filming in an old theatre which looked like it hadn’t been used in years. The ceiling had leaks and there was no heating so after firstly having to walk in the rain to get to the location everyone was already cold and wet. We found the few heat sources we could and powered through the shoot acting like it was a warm summers day!

As we were filming in such a wide space with few pieces of furniture it gave a very echo-y surrounding, and made it very easy to pick up the smallest of sounds. Phones had to be turned off, the boys who were walking around filming on DSLR’s had to take their shoes off to prevent their shoes making noise whilst hitting the ground and had to turn all of the heaters off whist filming. 

Although there are two members of the Vox Brothers, only one of them ever speaks throughout the performances, which made the audio set up much simpler, giving Clint, the speaking magician, a radio mic, and then collecting the surround sound via a boom and mic. 

The one issue we had with the radio mic, was that when it was attached to Robs jacket, it would rub against either his tie or shirt and so a few times it would need to be adjusted so that the audio would not pick up the rustling off of his clothing.