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31 Mar 2022 | TEL150 First Positions | Action Learning Report | 2163 words
In this module, my aim was to develop and demonstrate the key skills required to effectively carry out the roles of camera operator and director in a multi-camera studio. In this essay I will discuss how I performed in those roles and what I learned.
In preparation for the role of Director, I conducted some research into the responsibilities of directing in a multi-camera studio. From the book Directing Television: A Professional Survival Guide, I learned there are two main obligations: ‘to ensure that the people in front of the camera are doing what you want, and those behind the camera are recording the material the way you want it’ (Bamford 2012). My first discovery was how complex composing a camera script can be. There are many different aspects to consider during this process, such as thinking about the characters’ speech, movement and choosing specific shot sizes that complement them. Firstly, I looked at where tension peaks in the dialogue and the motives of each character. There is a specific moment in this script where the characters move closer and speak more softly so I used close-ups to bring the audience closer to the conversation. Secondly, I looked at how the characters move throughout the scene. If a camera operator is using a particularly close shot, it can be difficult to keep the camera in focus when characters move across the set. I realised I had to begin thinking about the actors’ blocking at a much earlier stage than I first anticipated. During my time as camera operator for the other scene, I was able to observe and understand the dynamics of the studio from a different perspective. For example, I learned that operators can struggle to obtain their next shot in time if the director is calling cuts rapidly. This experience gave me a lot of insight when it came to writing my camera script. I had to keep the camera operators in mind, ensuring my directions were clear and attainable.
The first time we ran this script in the studio, I encountered a few problems. The cameras were positioned in a particular order that coincided with screens in the gallery but I had written the script with these in the wrong order, so I alerted the crew and made all the corrections I was able to at that moment. I also had not prepared the camera cards ahead of the session so I had to write them out quickly on set. I had already thought a lot about how I wanted to stage this scene so I found blocking the actors easy. I watched this specific scene from the BBC series A Very English Scandal to see how the characters were positioned in the original production (Davies 2018). Although I found this helpful, the series was filmed on location with many of the characters’ movements unattainable in a studio. At this point, I could not focus on the actual acting as the roles had not yet been cast - my peers were reading in for them. In the gallery, we had some issues with communication, specifically from the production assistant who was not calling preceding shots correctly, which the vision mixer struggled to interpret. This was partly due to my error with the camera script so my first priority was to rectify this problem to the best of my ability. This session was the first time I had seen my script in action and I did not like how these shots translated to the on-screen output. I had written some very fast cuts which we struggled to keep up with and the shot sizes I had chosen did not blend together smoothly at all. For example, I had wide shots cutting straight to close-ups which was very jarring. What I learned from this session was that good communication is so important and that ‘the quality of the output largely depends on the accuracy of this preparatory work’ (Holland and Orlebar 2016). The more preparation I did, the easier the shoot became. I revised my camera script and made a significant amount of changes after the first session. For the actual assessment, I knew our shooting time would be fairly limited, so it was essential I had the camera script and camera cards ready for the next session. I now also had access to the first recording, which I referred to when modifying my camera script, which I completely rewrote. Originally, my opening shot was a close-up of the character Norman which I had chosen after seeing it used in the BBC series. Even though Jeremy is the protagonist in this story, this scene focuses on meeting Norman. At first, Norman does not notice Jeremy standing close by and I wanted to portray this to the audience. Conjointly, I read about editing in the book Cutting Rhythms: Intuitive Film Editing, where the author suggests starting with a subject that ‘is really at the heart of the scene’ (Pearlman 2016) and I believe Norman is the heart of the scene. I did not want to use a wide shot where the audience explicitly sees Jeremy walk in, but I wanted it to show he was approaching Norman, so I settled on starting with a mid-shot of Norman, then a reverse mid-shot of Jeremy, which proportionally looked so much smoother and offered the right amount of perspective with Norman not seeing Jeremy approach. My second draft of the script performed better than the first and I felt I could now focus on watching the action on screen - previously, I had been so fixated on the script, trying to keep up with those fast cuts I had before.
During the earlier stages, we had discussed our scenes with costume design students. It was here I learned that costume has much more importance than I first anticipated. A costume can tell the audience a lot about a particular characterwithout explicitly articulating it. These can be traits like social class, authority, or even a change in a character’s motives. Some programmes rely more on costume than others, particularly in period dramas, such as Bridgerton and Downton Abbey. Sometimes costume design can be as simple as dressing the protagonist in colours that contrast the rest of the cast. As the director, I initially had to think about whether I wanted to set this piece in the 1960s, like the original series, or to modify the script and have it set in the present day. Personally, this was another learning opportunity for me and I did not realise how important this aspect was. On one hand, setting the scene in the present day would have made the costume design significantly easier, but would have required many changes in the spoken language. However, keeping the scene set in the 1960s could be a challenge when it came to finding period-accurate clothing. I also felt that setting it in the present day would have changed the tone of the actual story, and could suggest a completely different type of relationship between the characters. I decided to wait until the meeting with the costume designers to make the final call, as I was not sure what kind of clothing they had access to in general. They presented their mood boards and inspiration and we discussed their clothing choices. We had all agreed that Jeremy would be smartly dressed, possibly in a suit but the costume students expressed their concern in finding a suit that would both be accurate to the period and also fit the actor well, especially how the actors had not yet been cast. Norman was much easier to dress, due to his social class and occupation.
The actors were confirmed a week before the shoot and neither were students so I hosted an online meeting to run through the script before shooting day. Of course, these actors put much more expression into the dialogue than my peers did and from this I was confidently able to make my final changes. One thing I noticed in particular was that they read through the script a lot slower than my peers and there was now a lot more room for reaction shots and ‘allowing space for the viewer’s reaction’ (Rosenthal and Eckhardt 2016). Directing performance was another new experience for me in this project. I had never directed actors before and I found that the hardest part was finding the perfect balance in telling the actors what to do, whilst also letting them implement their own styles and interpretations. There are particular ways to ask for a different performance without being too controlling. For example, telling them ‘what effect you want them to have on the audience', rather than just asking them to do something differently (Weston 1996). I genuinely liked the actors’ performance but Norman’s character was portrayed much differently than how I had originally imagined. I was not seeing the on-screen chemistry between the characters and I wanted the performance to be much more believable. I did not give the actors explicit orders but I did try to communicate my ideas in a way that was constructive, rather than critical. I discussed the characters’ motives with the actors and the emotions they are feeling throughout the scene and this seemed to help alter the characters’ interactions and presence. From the final cut, I could see that Jeremy’s actor put so much detail into his performance, the subtle movements adding so much depth to the character. I like how you can almost see him thinking. As for Norman, I liked how natural his character was, and in ways I think this approach was better than my interpretation anyway.
Shooting day was the first time we rehearsed the cameras with the real cast and this made things easier for all of us. The dialogue now sounded much more natural and shots were running smoother than ever before - I could call cuts using the general rhythm of the conversation rather than focusing entirely on the script. Shooting day also allowed us to experience some problems we had not had the opportunity to deal with beforehand. We were using radio microphones which can be heavily affected by the clothing the performers are wearing. Originally in the script, Norman begins the scene shirtless before putting on a jumper but costume had decided against this and instead planned on him wearing a vest. I had observed audio problems in the other scene I worked on and even the slightest contact can affect the quality of the audio, so having Norman pull on a jumper over the microphone would not have caused a lot of unwanted sound. I made the decision for Norman to start with and wear the jumper throughout the whole scene. I did think about doing some tests to see how bad it would actually sound and whether this could be fixed in post but we had limited time in the studio and I just wanted to focus on rehearsing and recording the actual scene.
In terms of the edit, I only had to make a few changes. Firstly, the shot of the card - both cameras 2 and 3 were framing close-ups on the card Jeremy hands Norman at the end and in the script, I wrote this for camera 2. In editing, I was able to see all three screens simultaneously and compare shots and camera 3 had a much clearer view of the card than I had anticipated. Most of the other changes just involved correcting cuts that were too early or late and if one of the camera operators had not yet finished framing their shot. There were also some additional aspects that could not be corrected in post-production. For example, I realised I could have paid more attention to the camera positions and whether their view was being obstructed at any point. There were some times where Norman would lean right over a camera 3 shot and block the full view of Jeremy. In the future, I’ll take both the actors’ blocking and cameras’ positions into consideration and look at how they work in conjunction. Also, some of the directions I passed to the actors were far too complicated for the floor manager to relay and I did not think about going to the studio so next time I will acknowledge the fact that I can leave the gallery if I need to. Finally, I feel I did not take the time to introduce the cast to the crew and vice versa because I was too focused on getting the set ready.
It is so important to be friendly and approachable in this industry, whilst also being punctual and active in the roles you play and these are skills I will work hard to improve for future projects. I feel as though I learned a lot about the technicalities of shooting drama as well as working in a crew, which are both areas I would like to work in.
References
BAMFORD, Nick. 2012. Directing Television : A Professional Survival Guide. London: Bloomsbury.
DAVIES, Russell T. 2018. A Very English Scandal. BBC, December 10, 2018. Avaliable at https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/1150B32B?bcast=1280703 04 [accessed 1 Feb 2022].
HOLLAND, Patricia and Jeremy ORLEBAR. 2016. The Television Handbook. London: Routledge.
PEARLMAN, Karen. 2016. Cutting Rhythms: Intuitive Film Editing. New York ; Abingdon (Oxon): Focal Press.
ROSENTHAL, Alan and Ned ECKHARDT. 2016. Writing, Directing, and Producing Documentary Films and Digital Videos. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/44164 [accessed 14 Mar 2022].
WESTON, Judith. 1996. Directing Actors : Creating Memorable Performances for Film and Television. Studio City, Ca: M. Wiese Productions
Author: Bethan Radford
Module: TEL150 First Positions
Assessment: Action Learning Report
Classification: 1st / 72%
Degree: BA (Hons) Television
Submission: 31st March 2022
Words: 2163