We knew that we had to overcome and excel at incorporating the EVS and GFX into our live programming on the production day. Although we had the general idea of operating both, we lacked the experience of having them appear on the programming multiple times and in the correct order. Therefore, we were adamant about rehearsing how to operate the EVS and GFX to minimise space for error on the day of production. We tested the EVS intro and stings and the questions GFX, lower thirds, and full-screen graphics during rehearsal. Everything went smoothly, especially the lower thirds and full-screen graphics, which appeared on cue. From my experience from the previous assignment, we had a miscue and miscommunication during the production for the GFX, as it was our first attempt. However, learning from previous mistakes, we as a group were able to assist each other with the cues and order of the GFX and EVS.
Our crucial aspect for this time is teamwork. By having a bigger group for this assignment, we had to delegate roles and specific instructions for everyone to do during production. As a director, I had to work closely with the EVS, Vision switcher, and GFX during the time of production. I also talked to the camera operators about how we wanted the shots to look for our programme; they were easy to work with as they followed instructions and suggested shots. For the EVS and GFX operators, we double-checked the order of the images and videos and went through our programme run-time of when the GFX and EVS should appear; the addition of stings to our programme made the presentation of the show feel more professional.
Furthermore, after watching several videos of directors in live production, I would now say “standby cam __” instead of just rushing the vision switcher to cut to the next shot. I felt that there was less pressure on both of us because we communicated adequately. The GFX and EVS were all in the correct order and on cue during production time because of our pre-planning and rehearsal.
Although production overall went smoothly, we had just a couple of challenges. For instance, we originally planned to have two different ads played on EVS during our programme. However, the videos needed to be in 25fps and mp4 format, but our videos were in 50fps and m4v format due to my mistake. One of the ads had a technical malfunction after putting it through the media encoder to convert to an mp4 format. To resolve the issue, we decided to play the same ad during both ad breaks to give time for our crew’s set change. Another challenge we encountered was playing the EVS stings on cue with our host announcing the segments. We had a miscommunication between our group, floor manager, and host on when the host should announce the segment. As a result, the host would wait for the EVS before talking, which came off as awkward, but it was a learning curve for our group to improve our communication.
Moreover, we also had to figure out how to show the full-screen graphics to the contestants. We thought of streaming the graphics to the contestants from a TV off-screen for the game during rehearsal. However, we identified that it was complicated to keep the GFX on the TV the whole time, but be able to take it off in the programme recording to go back to contestants’ faces. In conclusion, we decided to have the graphics on the screen for 5 seconds before fading back to the contestants; contestants now would only have 5 seconds to look, adding another challenging stipulation to the game show.