Production Diary- Rehearsals

On the 11th January we had to rehears for our programmes which we had been planning for the 8 weeks. During the past 8 weeks me and my team had been planning all aspects of our show from studio setup, props, production team and the programme idea.

We came in at 9:30am and began setting up the studio for the first groups programmes. It didn't take us long to setup but there was some confusion on which group was going to shoot first because a couple of groups weren't ready. We didn't have our VT ready so we decided we would figure out how long it lasted and improvise as it wasn't being streamed online, it didn't matter. Setting up took us up to lunch and after we came back we began with the first group. For this group I was going to be on camera one, which was good for me because I could get to watch the other group and try to pick up on their mistakes and try not to make them my self. I found that there was a lot of confusion between the presenters and the director because the presenter never knew when the VT was rolling and also there was a few problems with the teleprompter as the presenter was finding it hard to read with the light in her eyes.

It was difficult being a camera operator because of all that confusion I think the director himself was confused as everything wasn't going to plan. We realised that we weren't really ready and had to use these rehearsals to prepare us for next week as that was our assessment day. When the second group came on I didn't have a job role so I sat in the gallery to get a taste of what it's like in there when they cut to VT and see what it looks like as a programme would on television. The direction is usually good but the problem we have is that the presenters don't know when we cut to VT so after they finish reading off the teleprompter they have a confused look on there face. This I believe could be easily avoided by the director informing the floor manager that they were rolling VT and to ask the presenter to prepare for the next part of the show.

Our group was last and when it came to our turn most of the people had left to either go home or go to the library to do some work. This meant that we were only left with two camera men and only one guest so we couldn't really rehears our show. We still went through with it as we used the time to rehears what our programme would look like. So we decided on which shots we would use and if we would have one of the cameras on track or not. We went through the practice shot for our own benefit and decided it was well timed and began setting up props for the studio as well. We were now ready for next week and the only thing we had to do was put together the VT for our show. I was confident as a floor manager and also confident that our show would look good and run smoothly.