Studio Production: Workshops with Del Brown

For the past couple of weeks we have been taking part in some creative workshops with Del Brown who is a freelance Director and Vision Mixer. For all of us, this has been the first time on the course that we have worked in the gallery and the studio floor simultaneously. Previously, we have been able to use the cameras in the studio space, however, we hadn't been able to work in the space as it would be used by a Television crew. For the past couple of weeks we have been having tutorials and exploring roles including the vision mixer. The vision mixer sits at the vision mixing desk next to the director and cuts between the cameras, therefore editing the show live. It was a really interesting experience using the desk and Del taught us his technique which makes it easy for you to access all of the buttons at the same time.
In terms of camera work, today we were using all 5 of the cameras that we will be using for the show and matched them up. It is very important for the show that all of the cameras look exactly the same as this will make the editing look seamless and give the overall appearance a professional, clean look. Del taught us how to do this using a greyscale chart. The chart is put in the centre of the set and all of the cameras must be lined up in front of it so they can be white balanced and adjusted. To assess this, some of the crew were in the gallery looking at the cameras on the monitors to give the camera team feedback on the colour. This was a really interesting learning experience as we haven't had to do that for any other projects and it was surprisingly challenging to match up all of the cameras. However, we were able to work as a team and experiment with the settings on the cameras to get them looking as close as we could.
We then got the opportunity to take on every role in the show. Rotating round, we went through the first three minutes of the script so that everyone was able to understand the demands of each role and what it entails. I found this workshop really interesting and it surprised me as some of the roles I thought I wouldn't enjoy, I really exciting. Directing was very challenging as there was a lot to remember and everyone is waiting for your cues. However, there was a real energy to this role and it was quite enjoyable after a few takes. In terms of the studio floor roles, I have liked being on camera. Using the talkback and listening to the director for shots was an interesting experience also. I found it just as exciting to be instructed by the director as you feel like you have responsibility to deliver what they want.