Studio Production: Creation of the facebook page

Yesterday I created the Punchlines facebook page and is now up and running. So far we have 27 likes and have made 3 posts, Hopefully people will start sharing our page and that way it'll start getting popular! Here is a screen-print of the page:

Tomorrow myself and Neill plan to edit the logo and make a better one.

Studio Production: Production Meeting

Today everyone on the team of Funny People gathered in the baseroom to have our weekly production meeting. The first thing on the agenda is the change of name for our programme from Funny People to Punchlines. Originally my idea, the group decided that this name would be more affective and really gets the point of the programme across. In the production meeting we discussed a variety of things including: locations, logos, rounds and the set. We discussed alot and have quite a bit planned to do over the course of the week. Promo wise Myself, Neill and the rest of the team decided on a solid logo which we'll like to use throughout the whole production and shall start developing it on photoshop tomorrow.

Studio Production: Ideas for Logo and Trailer

With a production meeting coming up in the next week as part of the promotion team I have to design a logo and come up with some ideas for the trailer of Funny People. Because Funny People is like a "comedy-boxing match" my first design is a boxing glove bursting through a wall with the words Funny People written on it, however I have quite a few variations on it but will still keep the boxing feel to it. In terms of trailer ideas I have a vague idea of what kind of visuals it will include but I haven't got anything too solid yet. My aim for this week is to try and draw up some decent logo designs (as my photoshop has stopped working!) and put more thought into what can be put into the trailer!

Studio Production: Funny People

Unfortunately my idea for Drawbacks was not taken any further, however I am not discouraged as I now get to work on the production of Funny People which is being produced by Sam Wilder. I am glad to be working on this for a number of reasons, I am a big fan of comedy and have been to a lot of stand up shows and I have worked well with Sam before in the documentary unit. The roles which I were given after an interview are on the Promos team and Vision Mixer, I am very pleased to be working both of these roles. When I first heard about the Promo Team I was really interested in doing this as I have experience in both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and as I want to be an editor in the near future I thought that Vision Mixer would also be a good role to go for. I look forward to working on the Production of Funny People and feel that we can produce a really awesome programme!

Studio Production: Audience, Channel and time

Today I started to think of what channel my production would be on, what audience it would appeal to and what time it would be broadcast. My thoughts are in two separate places on what channel this would be broadcast on, at first I was thinking BBC 1 or 2 but after thinking about all the different channels there are out there, I think my production would be perfect for the freeview channel Challenge. Most shows broadcast on Challenge are mostly competitive shows which mine is, although Challenge broadcasts shows from other channels Drawbacks could be a Challenge exclusive show which could bring more viewers to the channel itself, however this channel does not reach out to my target audience so BBC1 and 2 are still up for consideration. The audience who this is aimed at are children and families. I have chosen this demographic because this is the type of programme that the whole family can watch together and enjoy. This appeals to children because of it's simplistic format and appeals to adults and families because of it's comic and entertaining structure. All in all the programme is a bit of fun which can be enjoyed by families because it's not too competitive! If this programme were to be broadcast on BBC1 it would be around the 17:30 mark during weekdays, as this is just before the news and is just after school is finished so would bring in a lot of views, however if this was broadcast on Challenge it would be flexible to what time it would be broadcast due to most of their content being the same sort of genre (entertainment and game shows).

Studio Production: Idea - contestant format

After thinking how I can make "Drawbacks" more entertaining, I thought about how the contestants should be arranged. Originally the show was a two on two elimination game, but I thought about restructuring how the rounds are set up and how contestants were eliminated. The first way I though of switching it round was like a "Pointless" sort of format where contestants play as pairs and help each other out though the rounds. The other format I was thinking of was where all four contestants go head to head against each other and as the game progresses a player is eliminated until one remains where he/she faces the final round. 

Studio Production: Idea Development "Drawbacks"

Today I decided to think of a few more rounds that could be involved in my studio production idea called "Drawbacks" here are some examples of ideas that I came up with:

1. quick draw - 30 seconds to draw a picture from memory
2. blind draw - 30 seconds to draw a picture without the use of sight
3. switch draw - 30 seconds to draw with the hand you don't usually use (right handed people use left hand vice-versa)
4. clue draw - The host describes attributes of an object and contestants have to draw the right object
5. quickfire draws - round lasts 2-3 minutes, host shouts out various objects and creatures first contestant to draw the object/creature gets a point

These are just a couple of the ideas which I have come up with for "Drawbacks". There are some more but these are the main 5 which I believe are the strongest.

Fiction Adaptation: Idea development

The poem I have decided to adapt is The Graveyard Poem by Jim Morrison. The back story of poem is Morrison write it whilst in a graveyard with his friends however I have chosen not to take the poem too literally considering the actual meaning of it. My idea is about a young man waking up  to find his house is absolutely trashed from a house party held the previous night. The story follows him trying to remember what happened as he faces the troubles of a really bad hangover. In production I plan to film this with the camera occasionally going out of focus to represent the youths terrible hangover and for this I will also need alot of extras to represent the drunken party goers who are still randomly sprawled all over the place. My idea is still forming in my head and within the next few days I believe that I can think of alot more interesting shots and ideas for this adaptation! 

Studio Production: Work shop with Hans

In our workshop with Hans this week we learnt alot about the different roles each of the production crew have, such as director, producer, vision mixer, PA and many more. Later on we did a small workshop which put us in the shoes of someone with that role. We had three cameras and had too record an interview between a presenter and two guests, one person also had to become director and another had to become floor manager. The first time round I played the role of floor manager which meant I had to get the directors words across to the cast and crew in the studio, I found this role quite challenging but this was not a problem as I found it an enjoyable experience. The second time round I had to play the role of the guest which meant that I had to waffle on about my favourite tv programmes, which was quite hard considering answers had to last 40 seconds and one of the longest ones I gave were 20 seconds! and finally the last role that I had to play was the role of camera man where I had a total of 5 different shots including two shots, close ups and mid shots. All in all I thought I was a fun workshop, I learnt alot about the roles we would be playing and we got to see inside the gallery, to see what we would be working on in the future!  

Studio Production: My idea

Over the Christmas holiday I had quite a lot to think about what I wanted to do for the Studio Production. Eventually I came up with an Idea which I believe is incredibly unique and has never been done before! I feel incredibly passionate about my idea and that it has massive potential even for a student project, however there is only one thing that is holding me back. This year we have to come up with an original idea for a live production, which doesn't include a quiz or talent show. My idea is a game show which includes a total of 4 contestants, The rule of the game is that each contestant has to go head to head with other contestants in a drawing contest. The first round of this game show is a one-on-one "draw off" with another contestant, there are two one-on-one "draw offs" which will eliminate two contestants. The contestants are asked to draw an object from memory within the space of a minute (both contestants asked to draw the same thing), these objects will be nothing over complicated  for the first round (e.g. a cat, birthday cake, etc). When that minute is over contestants are asked to show their drawing to the audience who vote on which one looks most similar to the actual object itself, the winner of this "draw off"  advances to the next round where they face the winner of the other "draw off". In the second round of the game show the two winners of round 1 will now go head to head against each other in a round which is very similar to the first, the only difference is that the objects which will be drawn are going to be significantly harder to draw than the objects in the first round and may include drawing a famous person. The winner of this round will go ahead to the final round where a family member or friend will now be join the finalist. In this last round the finalist will have two minutes to draw a total of four objects which are provided by the host, this sounds simple enough however, the finalist cannot continue onto the next drawing unless the friend or family member has guessed correctly what the drawing is (giving approx 30 seconds per drawing). If all four drawing have been guessed by the family member/friend within the two minutes the finalist will win the show and will win a special prize (which has not been thought of yet), if all four drawing are not guessed within the time limit then the contestant loses but is given a consolation prize of some sort so he or she is not left with nothing.

This is my idea, I have not yet come up with a name for the show but I have a lot of time to think about this. Although the project brief says that quizzes and talent shows may not be considered, as I said before I still feel incredibly passionate about this idea. It is very unique and has not been done before, it is simple programme and is not too overly complicated (even if I haven't described it well), the show interacts with the audience and gets them involved and can appeal to a wide range of audiences from children to the elderly. If the production were to be broadcast on television, the best time slot for it would be 17:30, which would be just before the six o'clock news which the majority of our audience will tune into eventually anyway. Another reason why I have chosen 17:30 to be the time this is broadcast is because most quiz/game  programmes are shown around this time including The Weakest Link, Pointless and Eggheads. Again I do know that a game/quiz show may not be up for consideration but as I have said many times I am incredibly passionate about this idea and would love to pitch it to the panel. Even if the idea isn't chosen I would feel as though I'd have done my best with an idea I am proud of.

P.S. Sorry if I waffled on a bit and becoming a bit too sentimental :)  

Studio Production: Discussion and feedback

On Friday we were split into groups and had to discuss our ideas with each other. I discussed my idea with Sam Wilder, Kevin, Jamie and Scott. It was really interesting to hear other peoples ideas and how they would involve different people and appeal to their audiences. It was also great to hear feedback from other people about my idea, not to mention some brilliant suggestions that could make my idea more interesting. The feedback has given me alot to think about with the studio production and I shall continue to work on my idea!