Real Work Really

Posted on 11.14.08 to Personal, Work by Joan

View all posts by Joan . Subscribe to follow comments on this post. Add your thoughts or trackback from your own site.

Production still from an old shoot.

Lately, I’ve been encountering people who express shock/surprise when they find out that what I do during my waking hours everyday, constitutes as real work. You mean you actually get tired from that thing you call work? But isn’t it all fun and games, laughter, peace and joy? And oh my, you actually work out of an office! How quaint.

Well, my work is no walk in a park, as with most jobs. Yes, I come home with exciting tales of amusing moments that happen on set. Yes, the shows that we do all look like fun. Yes, I do have fun at work and I do enjoy my job. As with every job, all of us who work in this office puts in great effort to make sure that each show that we do have the entertainment value to keep you entertained enough when you are done with your work.

So what goes into each 24-minute episode that we produce? Let me give you a general idea of what we seemingly-non-work people do at our non-work.

At least a year before a show goes on air, we pitch for a project. It works in a couple of ways — sometimes the client comes to us with an idea they want to do, sometimes we conceptualise a show and pitch it to the station. After months (sometimes years) of tweaking the concept, the station will either ask us to produce a test pilot or commission us to do the project.

To make things simpler, let me tell you about the process of a recent project I did (which airs next year).

This is when we enter the pre-production phase. Pre-production is usually the busiest for me, the producer, because it is the stage where I make sure that everything gets right to ensure the smooth flow of the later stages of production and post-production.

It is in pre-production that we finalise the concept; finalise the budget; hire a writer to write the scripts (yes, we do have scripts for reality shows because we can’t shoot blindly — we need to know the direction we are heading towards. None of the cast memorise off the scripts (except for the host), but we need it to form the basic structure of the show. Often times, the action doesn’t follow the script but there is a structure for us to follow); confirm our crew; scout for locations; look for our cast; look for guests; audition hosts; sort out the props; plan the production schedule; approach sponsors; plan the shooting schedule; equipment rental; secure tape stock; hire an editor; book the audio post facility; book the voiceover talent; confirm the graphics for the show; settle contracts; liaise with the station; etc.

While it looks simple enough, planning a production that involves many people will invariably end up with some scheduling problems because of any possible reason. We often have to deal with the schedules of between 20-40 people, or more.

So once all that is sorted out, and that we’ve worked out the kinks, we go into production. That’s when we actually start shooting the show. To me, this is slightly easier than production because we’ve already done all the planning and things should more or less roll smoothly. But, it’s physically draining because shoot days are a minimum of 10 hours long. On top of that, we have other factors to worry about — the weather, location screwing us over, cast turning up late, host falling ill, looking after our crew, etc. We have to be on our toes all the time to make sure that everything is managed properly, quickly and efficiently.

Sometimes pre-production overlaps into production, so it’s really just non-stop planning and making sure that things proceed smoothly.

On set, it’s non-stop action. Cameras don’t stop rolling and my role as assistant director is to take copious amount of notes about what’s going on so that we can craft a story out of it. We’re always standing, often in the sun, peering over the cameramen’s shoulders to ensure they’ve got the shot, and I’m constantly thinking of the angles we can go for and formulate questions in my mind to ask the cast.

It’s also a very labour intensive day because we do have a lot of equipment to carry and I’m blessed with a great team that helps keep things moving smoothly — buying food and drinks, setting up the props, charging batteries and changing tapes, setting up the equipment, etc.

At the end of a 10-12 hour shoot day, I go home, shower, grab dinner and I’m on the phone with the director telling her my notes for the day. We discuss the possible angles we can go for and that usually lasts for about 1 hour at least. She then types out all the notes, the questions for the next shooting day, which is usually the day after, in which is an entire day of interviews with the cast. You know how when you watch reality shows and there are some scenes where the cast look like they are in some room talking to someone? Yes, that’s what we do on the second day.

I can assure you, at the end of the shoot day, I am in no shape to talk to anyone (except to the director) or deal with anyone. All I want to do is to crawl into bed, watch 5 minutes of television before I drift into sleepland.

Once production is over, we go into post-production. This is where it gets a little easier for me, thankfully. But this is where I start sorting out the budget — processing invoices, balancing the budget sheet, etc. This is not a fun stage for me because I’m the sort who gets dizzy when looking at too many numbers on an excel sheet.

We have someone who transcribes all the dialogue on the tapes (bless his soul), and he passes it on to the director who creates a paper edit for the editor. My assistant producer helps digitise the tapes (meaning, putting all the footage we shot into the computer) which is no mean feat because digitising is done in real time, and since we shoot with 4-5 cameras each episode, we usually end up with about 30 tapes per episode. So digitising alone takes about 2-3 days to complete.

Then there is the whole back and forth process with the station where we show them the edits, get their feedback, make the changes. When all that is confirmed, we colour correct the video, send it into audio post to fix the sound levels and add sound effects and bump out the transmission tapes and the dubs. And finally, we drop off the transmission tape to the station and wait eagerly to see our show on air. Multiply this process by the number of episodes, which in this case, was eight.

Therefore, to clarify any doubts: yes, I do do real work like most of you. Yes, I do enjoy my work and I’m not complaining about it. Yes, a lot of work goes into 24 minutes of entertainment. It doesn’t mean that just because I look like I’m having more fun than you at work, I am not doing real work.

So if sometimes I just want a timeout because I’m exhausted by a long shoot day, it doesn’t mean that I’m lazy. It just means that I’m tired.

Browse Timeline

• « Taking Care of Me
• » Wahiro Lunch

Comments ( 1 Comment )

Add a Comment