New Tv Programme at Maidstone Television Studios!
This morning was a great morning, looking around Maidstone TV studios and getting the brief for the new project. We are to be working in conjunction with the 2nd year Maidstone television students , specialising in television production and direction, who are lucky enough to have this as their base. After a quick look around we had a presentation from Maidstone UCA students of their ideas and what they were thinking of in terms of set design and props.
The idea behind the television programme is a school scene, where two adults are taken back to school and are given a series of challenges with a historical theme to compete against one another. the maidstone students wanted this to be a 'Victorian' classroom.
This was the rough sketch which they showed us to give us an idea of what was required. Their initial ideas included brick walls on the bottom half of all of the walls, book shelves and windows as drawn. It was discussed how flexible they were to the design being altered and discovered that the only things that could not move were the door and position of the desks, due to camera angles.
Now we need to go away to research and put together some designs for them to look at in the next meeting.
This is an image of the space at Maidstone television studios that will become the scene for 'Teach 'em a Lesson' in only 3 1/2 weeks time. Del Brown, director spoke to us about his role and the studios.
Lighting rig!
General Info on Maidstone TV Studios
After Southern television centre in Dover closed in 1981, the Maidstone site was built at a cost of £17,000,000 creating 200 jobs. When Southern television consequently went out of business, TVS won the contract, headed up by James Gatward. It officially went on air 25th October 1982 with an episode of the nightly news, 'Coast to Coast'. Studio 2 went live a few months later with the childrens show No. 73 from Saturday mornings. The Maidstone site was officially opened by Margaret Thatcher in 1984.
In 1990 the Broadcasting act led to the end of TVS, with Meridian taking over. The Family Channel, through International family Entertainment, a polish channel transmitting to Poland through AT Entertainment and Reg Grundy Productions all have their home at the site.
The Director for 'Teach 'em a Lesson' will be Del Brown
“A highly experienced multi camera director/vision mixer with over 17 years experience working in live TV. With a background in technical operations, having launched and consulted on new channel start ups, Del also teaches ‘live directing & vision mixing’ both in universities and on his own short course.”
Ravensbourne College
1996 - 1998
HND (Higher National Diploma) in Professional Broadcasting
(Technical Operations)
This is the skills Del Brown says are key to his position as the Director.
Remaining calm under pressure, having a relaxed, confident, in-control personality. The multi-camera director is the captain of the ship and if things start going wrong during a live show, the worst thing you can do is let the crew realise you’re inwardly panicking. A warm, friendly personality and a good sense of humour also go a long way. This can help relax a tense presenter and engage a tired crew.
Having a background in technical operations enables the director to have a good overall understanding of his or her crew and their roles. Being able to confidently speak their language and understand their limitations, results in a crew that feel relaxed in your company.
Being presenter-aware, reading their body language and anticipating their needs whilst they are in front of the camera, also helps make a good director. Presenters aren’t able to tell you what is wrong or tell you what they need when the red light is on, so a director that is keeping a close eye on them the whole time will quickly gain the respect and trust of the talent.
Being concise and tight with time is another key skill. A director that can bring everything together in as few takes as possible, avoiding tiring out both talent and crew.
