As Live - Critical Reflection

For our “As Live” unit we were given two roles each, a pre-production and production role. Mine were Casting Director and Assistant Floor Manager. Within this critical analysis I will discuss the processes and problems that i confronted whilst carrying out my roles as well as the research i conducted for both roles.

Casing Director

Finding your cast

Finding a cast for anything has come on leaps and bounds since the days of putting advertisements in the paper for actors and extras etc, however even with todays technology it’s not easy. For the show’s Presenters and models I placed casting calls on both Sar Now, Mandy Actors (formerly Casting Call Pro) and Social media. One thing to bare in mind when trying to source a cast for anything, especially when it has a limited budget is Equity. When an actor or model or any performer of any kind has equity this is a sort of protection against exploitation, a sort of set of rules that any employer must abide by to ensure fair treatment of the contributor. Most of the time this means a minimum wage and travel expenses paid at least, sometimes more than that, however we managed to source some people who were willing to contribute for just travel expenses paid. It was a slow start with only two applicants for the presenters but after a few days applications started being received every day. One of the tasks as Casting Director I had was to create character profiles for all applicants which included; their age, where they are located, how they will be travelling to the studios, a large photograph of themselves, sizes and heights for the models, and any contact details they could provide. This process relied strongly on the ability to communicate between the PA and the Directors as we frequently had meetings to update the choices made on cast. After a meeting with Jemma the PA about the budget, we agreed that it would be a good idea to re-assess the presenter and model applicants based on location, therefore reducing the cost of having to pay for their travel, as most of the applicants were based in London. Being polite and professional was crucial when communicating with the contributors as not only was I representing the show, but the Maidstone Studios as well. “A casting Director must have the confidence of a Producer and a Director” (Crouch, 2003, pg.266) and this was true in many situations. As Casting Director it was my job to answer any and all questions the contributors had and to make sure they knew where and when they were needed. So even if I didn’t know the answer to their question, I had to have the confidence to deal with the situation in a manor that was both professional but didn’t make it obvious I didn’t know the answer.

Part of The Team

“The relationship that you have with the casting director is as essential as the relationships you have with the Director of Photography or Producer” (Catliff, 2013 pg. 56). As the person who was responsible for finding every contributor on screen during the show (including VT’s) I was involved in almost every meeting, from the VT team to the directors and producers meetings. The reason I had to be so involved (as the quote supports the casting director should be) is because not only did I have to just get presenters and models but I had to actively search for the types of people/ personalities the Producers were looking for. The Producers have a vision for the show and in their minds already have people pictured, so it is my job to find people as closely matched to what they have envisaged as possible. Add this with budget/ location requirements and sizing requirements for the models clothes and keeping the contributors on board, well it was a lot of emailing and frequent answering questions.

Being Prepared for anything

If you speak to anyone in the film or TV industry, especially low budget productions or projects that rely on their contributors volunteering etc. then they will tell you to be prepared for anything. Have a back up for your back up because no doubt there will be a family emergency or something will pop up last minute as it always does and I as a Casting Director need to be ready and waiting with a solution to the problem. Two days before the day we went live our older female model said there was a family problem and she could no longer be a contributor for the show. I informed the production team that night and we quickly worked to solve the problem. As frustrating as this news was I had to maintain the level of professionalism that had been demonstrated up until then, so I used this opportunity to do some research on how to respond to circumstances such as these and found a website www.TheatreFolk.com that helped a great deal. The article on this website (Hishon, 2017, TheatreFolk.com) Gave me some good points to follow in the case of an actor dropping out such as:

Figure out how to cover the role

If you had more than one applicant for the role, it’s worth getting back in contact with the others who applied but didn’t get the role as they may still be interested. If this isn’t the case or the other applicants are busy, call in a friend. They may not be the best actor or contributor in front of the camera but being so close to the day we went live this seemed like our only option.

Do you need the Role?

One of the points on this website suggested that if it was possible, in some cases it might be as well to cut the character from the script or adapt the script to fit around that person not being present. This may have been an option if it was a short film however due to the nature od the show the older female model would not be able to be edited out of the script.

Stay Positive

The last thing this website told me was to stay positive, yes it may be frustrating how last minute they left it but keeping calm and polite is only going to help the situation. By replying with a positive attitude this shows that you are both level headed and able to deal with situations like this. Furthermore if you ever need contributors again and they fit the description of what you are looking for, if you were polite and professional with them they will more than likely agree to work with you again.

Speaking from experience

Before meeting the contributors we had for interviews e.g. Bonny and Sapphire Stone, I emailed a contact I had in ITN to ask if she could pass me on to someone who could tell me how they source people who have interesting stories for the news/ interviews. She passed me on to Ken Hayes, a Development Producer for ITN who gave me lots of helpful tips and knowledge on how finding contributors is done for the news. The first thing we spoke about was that whenever you are searching for people it is within the brief of whoever commissions the programme and you work to their parameters. In any part of TV if the people who commissions your programme doesn’t like the content or contributors you bring in then they are free to pull the plug at any time. This however was not a problem for me as we in effect were commissioning our own programme with the help of the studios. He also said that when looking for people make sure to get a good balance of an interesting story but also someone who will be confident on camera. He advised searching for bloggers or commentators, people who deal with cameras/ audiences and can handle high pressure moments. This is why our surprise guest Sapphire Stone was a good person to use for the programme because not only do they make their own clothes (relevant to the show) but they perform regularly in front of audiences. The last bits of advice he had were if the interview goes dry and the presenters start getting one word answers then get them to move onto another subject that may cause a debate or conflict of opinion, and be honest and upfront with the contributors. Hayes said that if I spend a couple of days with them, creating a bond of trust, they will more likely be more open and truthful in the interview. If they feel safe and able to trust the crew then they will relax, and a comfortable contributor is a useful contributor. 

Assistant Floor Manager

What we do

Floor Managers are in charge of the studio floor and relay instructions from the directors in the gallery to other crew and contributors via the talkback system. They can also communicate to guests and talent on the floor with a series of hand signals informing them of timing and which camera to look at. As a Floor Manager it is also your responsibility to brief any talent or guests on the floor (including audience) on health and safety procedures such as making sure they know where all the fire exits are and where the fire point is that everyone needs to go to in the event of a fire. “Anything that happens on the studio floor must go through the Floor Managers” (Brown, 2016, pg. 50). This was the case with our live production as when the VT’s started rolling it was down to the floor managers and I to make sure everything was set for the cameras to come in from the VT. This included handing a mic to one of our presenters for the show’s Fashion Fails section, dressing and placing a mannequin on set in time for an interview with the Etsy seller and the task that I had the responsibility of, organising and cuing the models/ contributors. However if I had a question or wanted to do something that involved changing things on the studio floor I would find one of the two Floor Managers or communicate my question to the Gallery.

Research and etiquette

Before we went live I needed to research my role as Assistant Floor Manager, so I decided to not only research that but to research the requirements for the role of Floor Manager as well just in case one of our Floor Managers fell ill or couldn’t make it for some reason on the day. There is a book called Cue and cut by roger singleton-turner which is an informative book that talks about working in multi camera studios, in this book I found some very useful information and tips such as the ABCD’s. The ABCD’s are an initialism that stand for:

Artistes – make sure they are in position, ready and they have any props that are needed. In my case it was making sure the contributors were mic’d up and wearing the correct outfit for the section they were about to appear in. This was done by myself multiple times as I wanted to make sure that the Directors knew what outfit they wanted the models to come down the catwalk at the end in. Our sound assistant was also a great help as every time I escorted a contributor away from the stage he was there waiting to de-mic them and put it on the right person.

Bright lights – checking with the lighting crew and gallery that lighting is ok and whether it needs any adjustments before recording. Also making sure the people in Vision are happy with control over the lights and can fade when need to be faded etc.

Cameras – making sure all the cameras are turned on, able to hear the talkback from the Gallery and in position. It is also their responsibility to make sure the rest of the crew are ready to record and to and any questions they have are to be communicated to the Gallery via you. This would normally be up to the Floor Manager however if they were preoccupied doing something else then this responsibility may fall with the Assistant Floor Manager. On the day of the recording there were a few problems with the talkback microphones on some of the Camera Operators and I had to talk to the Gallery and inform them of why they weren’t getting a response from certain crew members.

Doors – As Floor Managers control everything that happens on the studio floor that also means they are responsible for any unwanted sound that is picked from the floor. This is why Floor Managers must check before they go live that all doors are close thus not causing any sound or light disruption to the set. The doors at the studios were heavy wooden double doors so I was allocated a greenroom runner, and I asked him that whenever I took contributors through could he make sure the doors don’t slam or make a noise behind me.