Analysis of a Multi-cam Production

Analysis of:
Take me out

Take me out is a Saturday night show on itv 1and is on at 7:30pm.the main aim of the show is for single people to be matched up, it is done by a single man being brought out in front of a live studio audience and 30 women, there are 4 rounds and as each round goes on each woman turns off a light in front of them if they don’t like the single man at the end of the rounds the man can chose out of the lights that are on who he will take out unless there are no lights. Here is an example of what the show looks like.......

The studio itself is a large one as the set is a very large set and it also has to fit an audience around or inside the audience. The technical side of the show is fairly big and important to the show as one technical thing is the lights that are a main part of the show. The lighting rig is a large one I can imagine as there are light all along the set to light the girls and the host who moves around alto also there is a lot of back lighting and front lighting. The girls are lit with white lights while their light is still on then when they turn it of their lit with a red light and a small bite of white light just to show their face, the back and front lighting is red and blue to make it easier to see on the screen. The set itself is very technical as each of the podiums has a light that is controlled by a button that the girl herself controls. The time it would take to take down the set and put it up would be about a day or two to put it up and a day to strike it down.
The show is not a very fast moving show however wide shots are used a lot as they are looking out for who switches their light of but they also use other shots for speaking to the contestants and the girls that have switched of their lights and why. The number of cameras used I guess are about 6, there are two for talking to the girls and they do medium shots of 3 girls and the presenter, on for the presenter that is at stage level and that does medium close up shots and medium shots, there is also one that is in with the audience that shoots the presenter as well but shoots from under the presenter. The next camera is the one that shoots the single man and him and the person he chooses going out of the studio this one does medium close up shots and log shots, the last and final camera is the wide shot camera that is of the whole set and audience.

Lighting Plan/Design

This is a plan of the light based on the set actually up this is not a proper plan but the floor plan also will have the lighting, so here is the plan/ design.....

The cool lights will probably light flood from the front and the spot lights will light from the back.

Planning Set Design

This was more the roles of the art producers so i haven't got any real designs but i do have pictures of how the set gradually got finished to the final product so here they are.......

This is the Design of the front board on the desk on paper, as you can see it is a very detailed sketch.

This is the design now being put onto the actual board. from the towers/ skyscrapers behind the bridge we got the design for the flats.

These are some of the flats, we left some of these like this and put dots on the others to represent the lights on in the buildings, the ones left bare like this went at the end of the scenery.

This is the front board finished and put on to the table it then needed to be sanded as it was rough around the edges.

This is the set finished but we realised that the logo was only at the bottom of the table so we decided to put a logo behind were the host sits in the middle......

This is the end product and as you can see the set became very good from just a smallish sketch on a page to a really good scenery and we all as a group took part in creating the set.

Planning Camera Placement

For this it a bit hard as the actual scenery was not finished when we had our idea so i based it on a simple but effective camera placement, it is the common quiz layout but it is also the one that we sort of went with as you will see. Here is how we roughly thought about how we would place the cameras:

The pole cameras and camera 2 are going to move and the pole cameras are going to move up stage more. The screens at the bottom shows the talent and kind of shots they will produce.

Studio protocol and practice.

The Protocol of the studio is in a way the rules of the studio but unlike some really silly rules they are their for the health of iniviuals and to make sure that their is focus from everyone taking parrt in the recording.it is also their so that it is easier for people to work as a team beacuase not many people would be happy with people just messing about and not contributing to what the rest of the crew is doing.

the rules are as follows:

> dont run in the studio- this is beacuse their is alot of equipment and cables, that are very eexpensive,in the studio and if you are not looking where you are going you could bang in to somthing and knock it over and the break it also you could heart you self, their could also be some thing being carryed in that is very heavy and you could crash in to and those carrying it could drop it and then it could fall on you or some one else.

> only wear soft sold shoes- if you whore high heels or in a guys case jaggedy shoes and you stood on a cable accidentially then you could break it. also you may not have very good balance in them so you may not be sterdy with a camera.

> dont enter when the red light is on- you shouldnt enter the studio when the on air light is on as you would disturb a recording and then have alot of people pissed off with you.

> dont let anyone that is not asked in- you should not invit people into the studio without asking the FM as it could distract those needing to focus also they them selves may mess around with equipment or touch somthing they shouldnt.

>no food or drink- their should be no food or drink within the studio as the crums could get in equipment or the drink could be spilled over the equipment, also if you are eating will you should be paying attention then you may miss what is being said to you.

>no messing with the cans- this is equipment that is used to give out directions and if you are talking over someine the instruction could be missed and someone could get in trouble for not following oreders.

> respect other crew members- this is more politeness but i very vital, you all have to work as a team so you shouldn't annoy each other, also they could be giving you some constructive criticism that could help you get better and those who are giving orders need to be listened to and not argued at if the director gives them an order that you don't agree with.

Camera shots & moves.

Alot of common TV programmes especially guiz shows will have 4 cameras on th floor filming.they are in different positions and have different subjects to shoot. Here are the main shots and moves each camera will be asked to shoot or perform:-

Cameras 1&3 (pole cameras):-

> 2 shot-this has two people in it and will often be mid shots so it will be of their uper body.

>1 shot- this has only one person in it and is usualy a close up

>Over shoulder shot- this is a shot from the point of veiw of an oposite team members with their shoulder and part of their head in it. (over shoulder shot)

Moves:

Crab left/right-moving the camera to the right or left with the weels.

Ped up/down- move the camera up or down with the ped.

Tilt up or down- move the camera up or down with the moving head at the top of the ped.

Pan left/right- move the camera left or right with the moving head at the top of the ped.

Camera 2 (host camera):

>Host shot- this is a mid shot of the host where they will adress the camera to say the scores or the rounds, these shots are normally on at the end or start of rounds.

>Three shot- this is a long shot or medium shot, it usually consists of the host and the two people sitting either side of them.

The oves for this camera are very similar to the pole cameras.

Camera 4:

>Wide shot-this is of the whole stage or set with all the talent it will often also have over shoulder Shots for the audience e.g.

Moves:

If using a camera on a ped they will be the same as cams 1&3 but if your using a jib then their are some different moes so

here they are:

>Jib up/down- this is when you move the jib are up or down it is similar to ped up or down.

Their is two rules that are vital for all the cameras, the eyes of the talent have to be on the two third of the screen and also you have to have just the right amount of head room on the picture here is two examples of this;

Signeal Flow for Audio & video

The signal flows for both audio and video are sort of complicated but also straight forward when they are explained.

Audio:

The signal starts from the mic then is connected to the S.T.O.B by wires then to the rack then it goes into the sound mixer. Then it goes out to the HDD which is a recoding hard drive, their is also a signal to the speakers. The yellow fader controls the overall out mix, it is the line out/recorder main out. The red fader controls the aux out which goes to the speakers in the studio.

vision: the signal starts with the camera and goes to the S.T.O.B , it is connected through wires for the video out put on the camera to the video input on the S.T.O.B it then goes to the rack in the vision control room, then o the vision mixer the main output goes to the HHD or program out/ line out.