Unit 7 - Studio Production

3 Types of Studio Production:

 Live (film and distributed live) 

 Live To Tape (live studio audience as well as being taped to distribute later for tv consumption) 

 Pre-Produced (filmed within a studio but it's not live, it's released later) 

Task 1 - Analysis:

Task 2 - Research:

- Shot Types/Angles/Sizes:

For the shot types we would need (medium shots, master shots, different types of crowd shots etc.) the master shot

would be our fail safe, if we need anything that we haven’t got a close up for; it will have been captured by the

master shot. The Close Ups/Medium shots will be used to capture dialogue (or conversation) between two characters,

focusing in on one character as they speak. Then cutting to the next shot as the other character speaks their line

(this will be done in editing after the show has been filmed). I have come to this conclusion from watching and

analysing National Theatre Live performance clips on YouTube and figuring out that this was the best option

because of how they were in the clips. These different shot types, angles and sizes are prime for capturing facial

expressions and key entails of the actors.

- Editing:

For editing, we could edit the film footage to match with the pacing of the scene so that way it not only

makes the scene feel more dramatic and more effective but also increases the intensity depending on what

scene is being performed on stage. For research, we watched a scene from ‘The Crucible’ which was

performed in front of a live audience by the National Theatre. Its editing style between each shot was

quick to match the intensity of the scene which I think would be very interesting to use for most of the

scenes for this performance. Our main priority is to ensure that all the action that occurs on stage is captured

on camera and that nothing crucial is missed out. 

- Staging:

Staging can be used to help with the process of selecting, adapting to, or modifying the performance space for a play or film. This includes the use or absence of stagecraft elements as well as the structure of the stage and its components. This is useful because it prevents camera shots from clashing and prevents the actors from being affected by bad lighting or a bad camera shot. I have come to this conclusion from viewing clips from stage shows online at the National Theatre and seeing how they have set up everything to make it work.

- Two Extra Researches:

For the stage production we are doing in a few months time, it’s best that we research into other stage productions in order to get some inspiration for how the video flows from clip to clip and how we use different camera angles and shots for certain scenes etc. All of this plays into our final outcome as to how the stage production as a whole turns out.

For our research into other stage productions, we watched three different examples of stage productions that had

been filmed, one of those was a play by the name of 'Crucible' which uses a lot of quick cuts to different shots in

order to emphasise the tension shown throughout the play. It is set during the time of the Salem Witch Trials;

therefore has to set a tone of unease and uncertainty for our cast of women as they are the ones most likely to be in

danger of being accused of being a witch. I think we can do something similar to that in Peter Pan where as the

tension of the play increases, we start switching from camera to camera a lot quicker than before to focus on

different things going on such as say an action scene or someone having an outburst etc. We are also going to have

to switch to wider shots of the play when there is a large crowd of people on stage and we are also going to have to

switch from wide shots to more zoomed in shots from different angles to focus on what is most important in a given

scene.

- Camera Placement:

For the production process of Peter Pan, it is very important that we avert our attention to camera placement and

setting up various angles to follow the actors’ movements around the stage. Ideally, we’re going to aim to place 3

cameras around the stage. One capturing a wide shot located in the centre, one capturing the side area of the stage

and the last camera capturing the other side of the stage; allowing all the cameras to pick up all around the stage.

When filming, it’s important we record a lot of the performance so that through editing we can piece it all together

at the end (refer to the editing paragraph) and so having a lot of camera angles and different sizes will benefit the

final product. 

While conducting research, I referenced Jodie Comer’s ‘Prima Facie’ National Theatre Live piece as it contains

various camera angles that allows suspenseful and dramatic emotion to flow through the audience. Throughout this

piece, based on Jodie’s emotions the camera sizes and angles both reflected them to enhance the experience and

leave a bigger effect than it would if the whole show was one angle. Allowing multiple camera angles also keeps

the audience watching and makes it less likely for them to become bored and lose attention.

Task 3 - Planning:

Risk Assessment -

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14GlTstZMW6MhLHnTlL_prpiwKHPfFUXniijo9fbXahE/edit?usp=sharing

Floor Plan -

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14GWONOy1tSSOicB3jbYTMBd-Dt8LQ93DQ92Z3z6AU3U/edit?usp=sharing

Task 4 - Production:

For the production on the show, there were 3 nights with the same actors just portraying different roles - I filmed the last two shows. Myself and two other people arrived around 2 hours before the show began to help set up all the camera and make sure everything is good to go (batteries charged, microphones in place etc). 

We set up three tripods in total which were placed where we had planned prior to the production (you can see the floor/camera plan on the floor plan above) then I made sure the cameras were already in position so when it was time to record we all just had to switch on our individual camera and focus the it up. We placed wireless microphones on all the cameras which captured the audio on both sides of the stage + the master shot, while also placing the main camera microphone on the edge of the stage to capture the actors monologue up close. All of these microphones were switched off until around 5-7 minutes before the show started so that the battery on them didn't drain out. We repeated this process for every night the show was on. 

Focusing in more on the filming: we stationed one person on the camera at the back of the stage, one person on the right side of the stage and the last person on the left side. The show began around 19:30pm and with everything already in place it was easy to begin although the filming was slightly hard. Throughout the show, I zoomed in on the main character speaking in the scene and followed their movements as they progressed on - I repeated this process for every scene until the intermission in which everyone closed off the cameras until the second half of the show; where I began doing the same process. The performance was relatively interactive with the audience which meant the actors would run down the sides of the theatre and weave through everyone - this meant when filming that the camera had to pan completely off stage towards the audience to capture those interactions. As soon as the cast did their final call and the curtains closed, we turned off all of the cameras and microphones.

Following on from that, at the end of the show when we turned off all of the cameras/microphones, we then began packing away the equipment and making sure everything we took in was counted for. Once we packed away all the equipment we then helped carry them out to the car, then left and that was a wrap for the day.

Task 5 - Evaluation:

I believe filming went really well as we captured all the shows and didn't run into any major problems just a few slight ones (audience members messing with the microphones, batteries dying, SD cards not working). We overcame these problems quickly as we had a lot of resources with us that we prepared in case of an emergency. 

As for the editing, me and the other first years have selected show 1 to edit as we only need one fully edited show - we split up into 2 different groups (2 people : 3 people) and began making a schedule for the editing. We arranged it so while one group was working on the editing the other group will be doing blog work, we switched over these duties once the first group edited the first half of the show; then the second group will start editing (the second half) while the first group did their blog work. You can view this schedule on the link below:

Editing went well as we had captured three different camera views so on different clips where the camera is focused on the wrong person or something is obstructing the view we can just switch to a different camera and it all went in smoothly.

A problem myself and my team faced within editing was that when we imported the clips, due to the large quantity of them they were out of time and didn't line up with the video at all. This was really frustrating as the project file was very slow due to how much was loaded on it - so trying to fix the audio positioning made it lag a lot and crash.

 Luckily in the end, we managed to finish it. 

Here is the final edited version of the Peter Pan: The Musical Show 1:

link