Nisserin Bessioua - UCA Television Production

At the beginning of this unit, I was happy with the decisions we had made in choosing to work in a group as I feel our skills we best combined to make one product. Once we had decided on our idea as a group, this was when my role could really begin as I could start planning some of the different techniques that I could incorporate and styles of lighting. I could also begin my research into sitcom filming styles and I work out what would be a possibility for us in terms of filming and setups. There have been some challenges as well as things that went well with all different aspects of the project.  What went well? Organising: Over the course of pre-production, it has been really important to stay organised as I had multiple tasks to complete.  As a group we decided that it was important we set ourselves some deadlines for the pre-production book as we knew that we would have to leave time for the book to be printed and sent to us, therefore, it was important w...

My role in making our pre-production book was the layout and design. I did this as we went along and as soon as one of the book documents had been completed, I entered it into the book, changing the font and spacing and inserting the pictures and the titles.  For printing out book, we used the company Colour Digital Print Limited. Initially, I called them and asked if they would be able to produce the books in the time frame that we needed them as we found some other companies wouldn't be able to ship them so they arrived before christmas,. This company worked out well and saud that they could do it so that we recieved the books a few days before our deadline so we could check them.  They were a really good company to work with and when I called again with questions about how to lay out the document, they we're really helpful. The margins I chose have worked and no words are lost down the crease of the book, the picture quality and the title are clear. I also think th...

My Role in the creation of our Pre-Production book is the layout and design. This included creating page titles, the front and back cover and layout out the text and images. For the book, we split up the documents each of us were going to write which were all agreed in our learning agreement. Margins When setting up the page margins, I decided that in order to avoid any words or images being lost in the centre crease of the book, I would increase the inner margins  to 20mm and move the outer margins to 10mm so that everything was closer to the edge. Due to the fact that our book is quite a large, I felt that 20mm would be a wide enough gap for all the words to be on the page.  Titles For the page titles, I kept with our Young & Famous font, using this ad heading for the different sections in the book. I also alternated the fill colour for these titles from our colour palette. These were created in photoshop and then placed into the book.  R...

To draw the characters for the title sequence, I chose to use adobe Illustrator. I used this software when drawing the characters for a previous animation for the Fiction Adaptation unit and I found that this worked well for drawing characters.  I first looked at examples of animations also drawn in Illustrator to get some inspiration or some of the things I could possibly do. I also went through the character profiles for Annie and Dean to see what they were supposed to look like because at this point, we don't have our cast yet.  The characters went through many different developments to get them to the point where I felt like the truly represented Annie and Dean. I began by drawing the character Annie, as a basis for me to work from. I made lots of different versions and then asked from the rest of the groups opinion. We agreed that the first looked to young for Annie who is supposed to be a 65 year old.  From this I then changed he...

As we decided that Young & Famous would be a 6-part series, we chose to write treatments for the other 5 episodes of the show. We initially decided on the storylines for the other episodes and the split up the task of writing them. I wrote the synopsis for episode 2, which we decided would have main character Annie trying to break a Guinness World Record in order to impress her family and Dean trying to find Betty's missing cat Arnold which results in an award that he's not expecting.  Young & Famous - Episode 2 Synopsis  Despite Annie and Dean’s failed first attempt to become young and famous, they don’t give up hope. After seeing reality TV star Kacey Kingsley wearing a designer knitted scarf, Annie decides to knit the world’s longest scarf and get into the Guinness World Records, adamant that this is the best way to gain her attention of her children and grandchildren. Meanwhile, Dean’s relaxing morning is interrupted when Betty comes barging in to ann...

Young & Famous Instagram In order to update our audience on developments of the show, we aim to create an instagram account for 'Young & Famous' for which we will post behind the scenes content from the show. We will also include introductions to the cast, short bios for them and of the crew members. This also be the platform where we will post our advertising posters and the release date of the pilot.  Annie's Instagram One of the ways that we aim to keep our characters involved in the marketing aspect is by creating the character Annie's Instagram which she regularly mentions and uses within the pilot of the show to try and make herself famous. This will see her posts images that the character would typically post, such as Dean's cooking and objects in her house. She doesn't quite know how Instagram works so she often posts random things that nobody is very interested in. We aim for this to funny and to stick with the comedy el...

In order for the Director and I to work out where things are going to be positioned, we decided to draw out the layout of some of the locations and block where the characters would be moving to and the best places for the cameras to go. With some of the locations we found this quite tricky in that we had to make sure there was enough room for the characters to move around the location freely whilst also being able to put the cameras and lighting in. In these diagrams we also included some key pieces of furniture so that we could see roughly how much room we would have.  Becca as the director described to be where she wanted the characters to move and the kinds of actions they would be doing, and then from drawing those I worked out roughly where the cameras would be best positioned. For my camera positions, I added in the different types of shots we would want from each scene and which camera I am planning on using for each shot. This helped with the positioning of ...

For our shot list and storyboard, the Becca and I decided to combine the two elements and create a picture storyboard. We first went through the script together and wrote out the different shots that we wanted and then from that list, I decided which camera they would be filmed on. Using our shot list, we then went to our location and I took the images, matching the list that would then form our storyboard. We created different sections which included: Shot Number This is the number shot and is useful to us so that on shoot days if the director says that we need to redo a certain shot of if I say that a certain shot isn't working for us, we all know which one we are talking about.  Shot Size These will show the different shots we aim to capture which include a mixture of MCU, LS, and 2 shots.  Camera Number This is the section where I worked out which shot would be filmed in which camera. Due to the fact we will have 3 cameras filming simultane...

After our tutorial where we viewed the title sequence so far, I went away feeling like there were lots of changes I could make to imporve the title sequence.  Some specific things I took away from the tutorial were to add in the names of the main actors and to make sure the ending matches with the theme of the show in that they never quite succeed in their goal to become famous.  As a group we decided on the ending of the titles and chose an idea that we best best conveyed to our audience who Annie and Dean are and their dreams as well as their reality.  After we see Annie and Dean on the red carpet, the background will then fall down to reveal their living room behind them, in order to show they are almost living in a dream world and the red carpet scene what what they wanted but in reality, they are just parading around their living room, and by the red carpet set falling down, it revelas to us as the audience that in reality they are a regular couple who aspire t...

In one of my test shoots, I decided to try out filming in V-Log to see what this would look like and if it would be of benefit to our project. From doing research into V-Log and into the Panasonic V-Log settings, I knew that it was important to check the exposure of the shot and make sure that it was set using the histogram feature to make sure that no clipping ours. Following the guidelines which I found in my research, I took the V-Log filming and edited the colour using DaVinci Resolve to edit the colour. I found that after colour correction, the colours in the footage were much brighter and stood out more.  I also found that it enhanced the overall look of the footage and gave more depth and the 3D look to it which separated the different things in the scene. I did, however, find that the footage came out quite grainy and this was not something I could fix in the edit which is one of the reasons why I don't think this would be the best filming techniqu...

I was able to plan a test shoot of a specific scene from our most recent script, this was useful in many different ways, including planning the best position for cameras, looking at whether they would logistically fit 3 cameras in one room, how the lighting would work and the flow of the scene.  The first this I did on this day was set up the cameras in the dining room which is where the scene I had chosen takes place. I chose this specific scene because I felt this was one of the more tricky ones in the room was much smaller than some of the ones we had previously completed test shoots in as also because there is lots of movement in this scene and a need for artificial lighting as well.  I matched up the cameras with the same settings, these included the white balance, making sure they were set to the same Kelvin and the record settings - for this test I tried filming in Ultra HD at 25fps to compare to my previous test which was done in Full HD. This proc...

During one of my test shoots, I worked with the director to test out different shot sizes that we thought worked best. Using our shot list and storyboard, we tested a specific scene from our script using different shot sizes to see what would look best depending on the scene and the dialogue between the characters.  Scene 1 For scene one, getting the camera placement was the first challenge we had as we had a few different options but each one posed its own issue. The first position we put the camera in allowed for a medium shot, following the character Dean pacing in the front entryway. This shot worked well because it meant Dean's facial expressions were visible and made his dialogue clear. This however limited how much of the background and location could be seen which includes the set design and making the layout of the house clear as there is another character Annie in a connecting room.  Another position we tried the camera in was about a 1.5m to the right...

British Sitcoms traditionally use high key lighting on a grid, attached to the ceiling, lighting from above. This is the typical style used by sitcoms that are filmed in a studio and are set based. This ensures maximum room on the floor for characters to move around and for the cameras to have as much room more movement as possible.   Sitcom Lighting on a Grid During our test shoot, I took out the Rotolight as this was a new piece of equipment I hadn't used yet and wanted to have a better understanding of. This light allowed for the colour temperature to be changed which is very useful for me as we're trying to create a natural lighting look. This means that I can change the lighting temperature to 5600K which is the daylight colour temperature to make the artificial lighting match with the natural lighting from the windows we will be using.  As written in the Young & Famous pre-production book, In the test shoot for scene 9 from script draft 1,...

Lighting gels are used to balance the colour of light sources, adjust contrast and control shadows. Using these gels helps cinematographers and videographers to create different moods and looks.  Colour Conversion Gels CTB stands for ‘Colour Temperature Blue’ but is often referred to as ‘daylight’. CTB is used transform tungsten light sources such as traditional household lightbulbs from 3200K to 5600K. This is a commonly used gel for balancing artificial light sources to daylight which the main lighting source is natural sunlight.  CTO stands for ‘Colour Temperature Orange’ but can be referred to as tungsten. This does the opposite in that it converts light sources from 5600K to 3200K.  Diffusion is used to control the softness and shadows and the softer the source the less prominent the shadows will be. There are many different types of diffusion, some of which include ‘heavy diffusion’ which lightens a shadow dramatically and gives the shad...

In order to decide which filming resolution I wanted to use, I did a test shoot of the two different options that I felt would work best for us. The first was Full HD and the second was Ultra HD.  Full HD Full HD is physically smaller than UHD in the amount of pixles that fill the screen. At 1920x1080, HD is a very high quality of filming and is used to film many televison programmes.  This is a high quality of filming and is a good option for filming Young & Famous as it look nice, is easy to edit and will  create a good overall product. Ultra HD Ultra HD gives more pixles in a frame there for allows more room for edits to be made in post-production without the loss of quiality. When the two shots are put side by side and zoomed in by 400%, there is alsight difference in the quialty in that the UHD is of a better quality than the FHD which is more pixely.  One of the stuggles I had with filming in UHD was that when it came to editing, the e...