Today at Solent University, we were invited to watch a live show by the third year students being made. This show was a game show called ‘Walk the Block’ in which there are two teams (red and blue) and one teammates from each team has to stand on their side of a catwalk and the host of the show has to ask the other teammate a question, and if they get it right, the team member on the catwalk can move forward the game goes on this way until the winning member is at the end of the catwalk. During the rehearsal of the show, our class members could choose who they wanted to shadow from the crew. For example, on of the camera operators, lighting, sound, graphics, floor manager, live editing, etc. I chose to shadow a camera operator, she was working on the main camera located in the middle of the set. I got into a discussion with her about university and how I was unsure if I wanted to go or not. She told me that she was in a similar situation to me and decided last minute that she wanted to attend university. She also told me about the course what she does and has been doing for the past 3 years of being at uni. Furthermore, she proceeded to show me how she works the camera and once the rehearsal started I watched her operate the camera. This definitely gave me more of an insight as to what it is like to work in that kind of environment. You have to stay very focused and heads on in this kind of job.
After we watched the rehearsals and took a quick break, we watched the actual live show being filmed. This time we sat in the audience while watching it being done and took part in the game on our phones by answering questions on their website. After we watched the successful run through of the show, we were told the show was going to be done again, but our class was going to take their roles. I and a few other people went up to a control room where mainly the managerial team go such as the producer, director, etc. I decided to work with the graphics by playing the VTS for the show. It actually took a lot of concentration as I had to pay attention to the directors cues
Overall this was a very educational experience and I’ve definitely learnt a lot more about live shows and what goes into them.
Akira's Media Blog 