The JSV TV Production Blog

  The pilot of my favorite TV show ever made, the original script from 1963, Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child. This script has some interesting elements to it, especially the fact that there are elements that carry over to modern-day scripts as well.  Due to this script's age as well, there is a running schedule that sets what is going to happen across the day. This includes the crew's whole day and the fact that it takes all day before filming begins. A full twelve-hour shift is put in before the shoot begins, only for the whole thing to be shot over an hour and fifteen minutes. There is also the fact that all the technology needed for the episode was put into the script, which is very interesting considering nowadays these would be separate documents, however, it makes a lot of sense considering this is a document likely given to all cast and crew before filming. This is the character and cast list for this particular episode, the main characters are in order downward, an...

  This is my rolling edit, a skill that was new to me before today, and to be quite frank, it's a skill that I have found quite useful. The footage was not the easiest to work with, but I feel like I have pulled it off well! This technique might be useful when doing studio work, rather than working on professional dramas. I can see the purpose of it quite well too, however, in practice the chances of me using my usual methodology are slim. I wasn't the biggest fan of these edits, they were weird and the audio was a pain to try and align, especially since we had no markers to work with.

  I wanted to make the work about applying the skills we learnt in the last few days, and I would argue we are the only group that accomplished this correctly. As our brief explicitly stated, we had to follow the 180° rule, this is something that I wanted to carry forward, which is why other groups had fancy films whilst ours actually stuck to Fergus' instruction. My original plan was to make a Squashies advert, however, after discussing it with the team, we decided it would be funny to do a mock drug deal between Harry and Elliot using those same Squashies I bought with me as a prop. Once again it helped that I came prepared for the shoot as otherwise we would have been stumped. The shots I got as the director got some great feedback as well, it seems the depth of field was well utilised and I was able to get some focus pulls as well. Without this, I think our group would have not stood out as well as it did, and some of the shots I shot today are the most beautiful I have ever sh...

  I really enjoyed putting my understanding of this piece of work into a visual medium. Being the camera operative really showed the expression of this further. I already knew the 180° rule from college, as it was required to understand the TV production unit. I decided because I like being fancy that I was going to animate the titles onto the door, proof of further edit understanding with keyframes. I was going to use After Effects, but for an hour-and-a-half turnaround, I decided it was an unnecessary move. The actual production went really well though. director Kimberley came up with the idea of interpreting the script in the context of the film itself, meaning we could have our actors not act out a script in any sort of fashion and have hundreds of takes messing up lines. In total we only did 24 takes for 7 angles, something I am very happy with, it felt substantial and we utilised the time to its maximum potential. 

Fergus' workshop this week consisted of the morning in the TV studio learning all about the spaces we have available to us, whilst also working on a project using a very simple yet open brief, which must show a route to a chair. So we came up with showing a serious set of two people, set in a classic film style of shooting, whilst also utilising the 4k cameras of the current time. I didn't want to overly complicate it due to the time in which we were given to edit wasn't sufficient enough for substantial masterpieces. However, I felt as though I ended up with an outcome that will suffice for the day. Also working in a studio space used by professionals was almost like a dream come true, despite our shoot certainly not being the most professional thing shot there.

For me, this Christmas advert, which in my eyes also works as a standalone short film, is one of the most beautifully crafted stories ever told, and yet for something so simple, it works so well. Every single year, I find myself benchmarking each John Lewis advert against this one, as this not only opitimises Christmas but emphasises character first and succeeds at dragging us into this winter wonderland world for two minutes. Instantly from the preluding text in the sky, there are a few things we can establish. We see the extreme long shot of the sunset/sunrise, looking over the mountains and light reflecting off the forest below. It symbolises serenity and peace and I personally see this as the dawn, a new day has begun and a new story is about to be told. This is also inferred by the birds flying from left to right, like reading a book, adding further to that opening chapter feeling which I quite like, setting off on a journey. We then begin another journey by meeting our protagonis...

The Patient One: Paul visits his doctor (Rami) for cancer treatment, this love story follows their story of running out of time and a difficult road to uncertain recovery. Him For Me: 2 University Students from different walks of life cross paths in an unexpected way, leading to the foundations of a blossoming romance. Rock Bottom: Wanting away from the limelight, moon born boy attempts suicide. Now in a coma, he decides what he truly wants from his unconventional life.

  Four is a beautiful film that depicts the contrast between career and family. Finding that balance that allows the male character to push himself forward and get to a point of contention with his job, but also allows him to spend time with his children and his wife. It is also supported by some well-used context to give the character evolved over time with flashbacks showing how he was before his job took over and how he is now that he is mentally conflicted. The story of this family is interesting to follow, we jump in at a point where we can comply with these characters and how well we can potentially relate to these things. The shot types in this product are very nicely shot, everything has a wide-angle effect on it. Which helps maintain the feeling of emptiness on the inside and does denote a feeling of isolation and deteriorating mental health. I love the back-and-forth nature most of the shots have, it makes each scene filled much more secure and stuck within the setting in...

This was the launch week material we produced. Tasked with filling a two-minute time slot for Channel 4, we came up with the advert idea for Maidstone Tea. As a group consisting of myself, Euan, Sydnee, Maisie and Harry, we each came up with an idea for how those two minutes should be filled. This was what I came up with, as you can see I have listed down reasons why what I would do would work and how it would work not only in the audience it is most likely to have following the news but also contextualising the message that we were trying to get across within my idea, following the lectures and talks that were hold regarding mental health. I think that as a group we found it unbeneficial to do this in the end as it was only meant to really be a fun task at the end of the day, which became once Euan's idea of the tea moved to the main focal point. Euan's idea definitely ended up being the right decision, as I feel like doing something more serious can make f...