As Live Production: VT Research; Watchdog

As part of VT research I thought it would be worthwhile reflecting on work I have done on a BBC television show where I have seen what happens on set when a VT is playing and helped film some VT's/transcribe some.  Being able to work on such a professional, high end 'live' production I was able to pick up many new skills and an understanding of the environment, which would feed back into this studio production unit.

Throughout the show they would cut to pre-recorded VT's which would cover a story in relation to what the team are talking about in live. This cutaway added to a chunk of the programme and gave myself and other runners time to move the set around for the next section when returning to live. An example of this was with the airplane chairs when talking abut Ryanair's plane seating policies. These wouldn't have been moved on set it it wasn't for the VT's. This shows me that it is possible for our show 'Steal the Style' to also change the set around when a VT is playing, so adding the cat walk or moving all the 'live' cameras to the catwalk setup. It would be a much cleaner transition and is something that could even be achieved with just a 'sting'. 

Having now had practice in real live television; as 'Watchdog Live' is actually broadcasted live. 

In 'Steal the Style' we will need external contributors. I also learned whilst on 'Watchdog' that contributors won't always be satisfied. Its difficult to keep everyone happy but when on live television, a contributors time may get cut short. They have traveled a distance and jumped hurdles to get to your shoot, and their time may get cut short if the live program runs over. With a show like Watchdog, contributors are really important and it was my job to sign them in, show the around the studio (Dock 10) and make sure they are happy and comfortable. I was really impressed with the BBCs eagerness to look after contributors and little thing like allowing them to speak to and get photos with the talent (presenters) at the end of the show was a nice gesture that they didn't need to do. This makes the experience very enjoyable, and means people are more than willing to help out again; you never know when you're going to need them in the future. Because our show requires so many contributors (presenters, models, audience etc) its important to understand how to keep them happy and comfortable.

A day that was challenging in terms of looking after contributors was a day where we had dogs on the show. The worst thing you can have on live television is animals and children so this was stressful. At the same time, there was a surprise in the show for presenter Matt Allwright, which shows what breed of dog he is linked to. The idea was it would be a complete surprise to him on live television so he wasn't allowed to see this dog at all; so going the day and keeping the two apart proved to be quite the challenge. This has taught me how to always have a backup plan in live television. With our 'dad shoes' section we planned on having a dad in the audience waring some and does realise they are fashionable. With something like this you can't just rely on chance, so someone would have to be set in place in order for it to work effectively. 

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