Week 3

The third week of preparing wicked had been pretty much the same as the other weeks. Im still working on a rough draft of the kids show and a rough draft and interview questions for the helicopter insert. Also this week i decided to do some research on the roles im doing now or will be doing. First is the producer role for show 5 and for insert 1 in show 1a. The first place i went was ofcourse wikipedia which had a good definition of a television producer which is- The primary role of a television producer is to coordinate and control all aspects of production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking. It is often the producer who is responsible for the show's overall quality and survivability, though the roles depend on the particular show or organization. This tells me that what ive been doing so far is on the right track. Ive been working on the show idea development, the cast was given to me by the series producer but i did request people who are energetic and could work well with kids and we havent shot it yet but i will be there when it is. I also looked at the duties of a television director, also on wikipedia, and this is what it said- the director is responsible for supervising the placement of cameras (camera blocking), lighting elements, microphones, and props. In a dramatic production, the television director's role can be similar to that of a film director, giving cues to actors and telling the operator of the videotape recorder when to start and stop recording. In a television series composed of individual episodes, the television director's role may differ from that of a film director in that he or she may work only on some episodes as opposed to being the auteur of the entire production. In an episodic television production the major creative control will likely reside with the producer(s) of the show. I think this is a good thing to keep in mind for when i write the script and shoot my insert, knowing that i need to think of all these aspects before and during the filming. Fridays class was also very interesting. Even though im not doing any lighting or sound for the kids show it was good to see the basics of how each one works. One thing i found interesting in sound is that you can preset mics you want to use so all you have to do is press one button to turn mics on and to certain levels and some mics off. One thing i found interesting in lighting is that you plan and set all your lights before the set is built or put in which makes sense when you think about it. It means youre not trying to move lights once the set is in which means youll probably have to move the set which is a lot of time to waste.