Create Your Creative Career Event

On 28th November, our film and TV classes took part in running a careers event for the college called ‘Create Your Creative Career’. This event was held in the TV Studio on site and livestreamed for YouTube and Facebook. We were told about this event the week before and had to work fast to assign roles and take on responsibilities our tutors had prepared such as the schedule documents and liaising with guests. I found myself as the producer, essentially making sure the production went smoothly with communication and resources while Nick was host for the show. I was put down for this role as the tutors know this is something I would like to do in my career and I’m trustworthy to deliver on the resources. I also had Finn working with me as my assistant to continue when I needed to leave midway through the afternoon. As well as being able to work with both classes of Film and TV, we were accompanied by a team of music tech students to run sound and mics.

The day began with chaos as I needed to print out all the production documents to pass out. These included several copies of morning and afternoon schedules, cue sheets and research packs for each company delivering an interview. In those research packs, I needed one copy of each to be enlarged font for Tim, the host. In retrospect, the documents should’ve been printed earlier however they weren’t completed until late the previous night. Overall, we needed a longer heads up, both staff and students, to make sure the documents were ready further in advance. We weren’t confirmed on which companies were actually coming until last minute. Anyways, I needed to get these printed and faced several issues in doing so due to our class’ printer’s toner running out and the library printer makes you sign in for every print. This process took time but I stuck with it and got everything I needed and handed out on time.

Moving to the first part of the day, it was my job to make sure everything was set for the stream to go live. Our team in the gallery was bigger in the morning as many of our afternoon team wanted to shadow so the hand over was smooth. In the studio, I made sure there were two people on each of the three cameras so they had a substitute if anything went wrong who could also keep an eye on the schedule. We also had teams doing behind the scenes footage, moving guests and social media. I made sure these teams had clear leads and were comfortable. We started with three panels of interviews, each with a promo VT and music student music videos between them to give the hosts and guests a break to switch over microphones. 

The main issues we encountered in the morning was getting the timing right between change overs. The intent was to have the music videos run straight into the company promo before the interview began. However, that change over wouldn’t be quick enough and so the interview would start before the VT. It was my job to problem solve and find the best opportunity to play the footage, liaising with the studio, onstage and gallery teams. I communicated well with them and the transitions felt seamless although we didn’t hit the exact moments set by the schedule. To me, the system we ended up working with after our mistake worked better but we needed to try and stick to the original plan. Another issue became extra people walking into the gallery for no reason and getting in the way. I tried to control this best I could to make sure it was the best environment for the gallery team to be working in.

After having a successful run with the morning, it was time to take a break and switch over. I continued as producer to keep some continuity between the groups and create a smooth transition. There were a few people who didn’t show up for their afternoon roles so it became my job to find replacements and record the group. I was able to keep some from the morning and use others as substitutions since it had been a long day. We also had a guest not arrive so had to work out a way of rescheduling the interview sessions so the final presenter didn’t have to present for as long on her own. We ran into an issue when the VT computer crashed during the stream and the earpieces with those on stage weren’t working. I managed to sort a system to give cues to stage, let them know the issues we were facing and our solutions. Additionally, we had to make sure to include all of the available music videos to represent their whole class so this was worked into my adjusted schedule. Due to this, there became a 10 minute break of a promo and two music videos during which I had to leave. Luckily, we managed to give enough time between scheduled VTs for the computer to restart and work again.

Outside of the production day, the planning stage could’ve been better organised. As students, we didn’t have much information which forced Nick and Chris, our technician, to put together production documents and prepare the studio. This should’ve been a job we helped with and I feel guilty for not getting involved. This could’ve become a more prominent aspect of this assignment brief rather than a singular day of production. The fact that it went well is a credit to Nick and Chris in running the day and the classes for pulling together and taking on their jobs to the best of their ability. 

To conclude, I there were a couple of more stressful situations during the day of production and we were proud of the finished result. This production was great at giving me an insight into the industry and pathway I would like to progress to. I believe I was trusted as producer due to my problem solving, communication and leadership skills. I struggled a little with keeping my cool and planning while the production was in full swing to come up with solutions but over the course of the day I have developed in these aspects. In future, I’d like to have more of a handle on the wheel before the day of production. I’ve learned how the production works on the day in more depth but need to establish the resources beforehand rather than being given notes to learn on the day. I believe in future I will be able to adapt to the environment more sufficiently if I’m aware of the proceedings and running order sooner. This is a collaborative experience that has taught me production coordination is a route I’d like to take into the industry.