Laugh or You'll Cry - Sketch Show
Episode 1 – Production Diary
Tuesday 5th January 2021
On Tuesday 5th January we set the assignment to create a three episode online sketch show. We first began by discussing different ideas in a zoom meeting with my fellow year two classmates. After a lot of discussion, we did we wanted to investigate stereotypes and lockdown reacting to TV in the style of goggle box idea. Furthermore, we wanted to take classic British TV shows and put a funny spin on the shows.
We began to do individual research brainstorming different ideas that
we each had. During my brainstorming process I decided to create an idea of a
government announcement and people reacting to it.
Wednesday 6th January 2021
As the sketch show is a big group project, we would be working
with the year one classmates. As a group we met up on zoom and discussed our
goggle box type idea with them. The year ones then began looking at their
individual sketch show ideas and proceeded with the planning process.
The year two class are the main producers on this project we
needed to know everybody's individual sketch show to see if it would fit in with
our idea. We did this by having everybody write an individual proposal about
their sketch. This allowed us to understand from the aims of their project and the
brief storyline with each of their sketches. Each of the year 2 producers reviewed
each proposal and made sure if it fitted with our idea and our aims.
Tuesday 12th January 2021
I began to develop my idea even more as I didn't want to do a
sketch of Boris Johnson as I believed it was overdone and we don't have a
costume and makeup due to the lockdown. This was challenging as I must be
creative but also make it clear to the audience that it is a government announcement.
I started researching different job roles in parliament and one of the main job
roles is health secretary. This gave me inspiration for my main government character
as the character needs to b over the top and dramatic but different to make him
unique to other sketches.
After developing my idea, we met back up as producers and discussed
the dates and began to create a schedule. Scheduling is very important part of
the pre-production process especially during lockdown. As scheduling allows
both cast and crew know when things are needed by etc. As producers we all had
to figure out what is a doable time frame. Scheduling is very important for
time management as for each episode we needed to make sure we are giving
everyone enough time to film and giving the editor enough time to edit.
This is the dates each episode would be released:
- Tuesday 26th January 2021
- Tuesday 2nd February 2021
- Tuesday 9th February 2021
Wednesday 13th January 2021
As a group we wanted to go through the year one’s different ideas
individually doing this would allow us to understand more about the ideas that
have developed it throughout the week. Each producer was set year one student
to help and to expand their idea. My year one partner was Sam Luke, together we
had a one on one meeting online. He began to explain his advert idea about a character
testing out different products and the product going wrong. Once he explained
his idea, we discussed how we could make this idea come to life. After our one
on one meetings we all met up and discussed as a group everybody's individual
ideas. This was very important as it allowed everyone to gain inspiration and
allowed each producer to understand how each idea would fit together.
Saturday 16th January 2021
Over the weekend I wrote the screenplay for my bit of a sketch
show. With my sketch I had a character reacting to the government's
announcement of lockdown.
Tuesday 19th January 2021
Once I had my script, I began looking at the casting process. As a
group both the producers and the year 2 actors met up on a team’s meeting, each
of us discussed our idea for our individual sketch. This allows the actors to
be involved and say about roles they would be interested playing once hearing
about each of our individual sketches.
After this the producers
met up on an online meeting and discussed their preferred actors who could play
the role that we wanted. I had an actor in mind to play the role of Margaret this
was the actor Kate who I have worked with before on multiple projects. She seemed interested in the role as well as
it is a funny character who the audience can relate with. When discussing the
role of the Health Secretary, an actor called Tom burton was interested. However,
I was recommended an actor in the first year called Kalem. After the discussion
I contacted both Tom and Kalem and sent them a short monologue to go through and
asked them for a self tape. This allowed me to understand their interpretation
on the character without any direction and allowed me to judge what actor
fitted the role better.
Wednesday 20th January 2021
Officially casted Kate in the role of ‘Margaret’ as I felt like
she fitted the role the best and she was my first choice. I discussed with the characters
backstory and sent her the script for this first episode. She suggested that
her dad could play ‘Barry’ as he is an off screen character. This was perfect
as the accent that I required was a common, working class accent.
I then receive self tapes from Kalem but Tom didn’t meet the
deadline for the self tapes. I had a discussion with Tom and asked if he was
still interested in the role, but he informed me that he was struggling to balance
all his work and playing this character would add more stress. This was understandable
and I appreciated the honesty and allowed both of us to focus on our own individual
projects.
I then set up a meeting with Kalem and discussed the character
that I wanted it to be dramatic and over the top. I sent him over different footage
from impressions of members of parliament, along with footage from previous
government announcements. Doing this allowed Kalem to get an understanding of
the performance I want from him. Along with sending the different videos I sent
over the script this allowed him to play around with the different lines and experiment
with them.
Thursday 21st January 2021 & Friday
22nd January 2021
These were the two filming days for my two actors that I would be
using. Before they began filming, I sent them some director notes. These
Director notes are very important as it gives a clear instruction for how I want
this stech to be filmed. I needed to be very detailed with my actors when writing
directors notes including the framing of the shot.
When explaining the framing I sent them images of how I would want
the framing of the shot to look. This was perfect as it gave them a visually
clear understanding of the type of shot. Along with this I sent a description
of the costume, props, and background of the image.
Directors notes for Kate:
Props and costume
- have a cup
of tea in hand.
- Fluffy
slippers and dressing gown
Acting Notes
- you have
freedom with the character and have a play around with the lines.
- on the
final line have a pause then say it.
- Sat on sofa.
- Reactions to
the government announcement, experiment with the different reactions.
Camera Notes
- mid shot
sat on the sofa.
- Framing makes
sure the subject (you) is central and don’t cut off any part of the top half of
the body.
Directors notes for Kalem:
Props and costume
- Suit and
tie
- Sat at a
desk if possible.
- Have the background
be against a clear wall.
Acting Notes
- you have
freedom with the character and have a play around with the lines.
- Hand
gestures are very important with the health secretary character, whenever emphasising
a line do this with your hand as well.
- Speak very
patronising and on the line ‘although not for me’ say this quieter than any
other of the lines.
Camera Notes
- mid shot
sat at desk.
- Framing makes
sure the subject (you) is central and don’t cut off the forehead etc.
When discussing
the background with Kalem he mentioned that he had a green screen I asked him
to use it. I did this as I believed it would make the sketch more realistic government
announcement.
During
filming all the scenes, the actors sent footage and me writing notes and
getting back to them on their performance. This is important as working with
the actors back and forth is similar as what you would do in person. So, to
create a similar atmosphere helps the fun and exciting bits of directing and makes
it easier for the actors. When directing the communication and the relationship
between the actor and the director is really important, as you will get the
best performance out of the actor as they trust your opinion and believe in
your idea.
Saturday 23rd January 2021
Once I had
all the completed footage from the actors, I began creating editors notes as
Sam is the only one with an editing software in lockdown. This meant that we could
not edit each of our own sketches. Similar with the acting notes I had to make
sure I was detailed to allow the editor to know exactly how I want this pieced together.
I sent over all the footage, including the images for the green screen. To make
it clear for the editor I created a storyboard to give a visual representation of
how I wanted the cuts to look and how to piece each bits of footage together.
Episode 2 – Production Diary
Monday 25th January 2021
I began thinking
of an idea for the second episode of my sketch, whilst watching British
television shows for research I was very interested in Good Morning Britain and
Piers Morgan arguing with his guests. This gave me the inspiration to create a
Good Morning skit, which mocks the different interviews that he has had with
the government. Furthermore, when watching the show, I noticed that he doesn’t let
people have there say and often cuts off his co-host Susanna Reid. During the
writing process of the screenplay, I used the things Piers does on the show to humorously
mock the how and the interviewing techniques. Furthermore, as the guest for the
show I had the returning character of the Health Secretary talk about school children’s
food during lockdown.
Tuesday 26th January 2021
All the
year two producer met up on a team meeting to discuss the positives and negatives
of the first episode as it had been released. We wrote down all the positives and
negatives and discussed them to allow us to improve on future episodes.
Positives
-
Comedic timing
-
Cuts during the edit was good to add the comedic value.
-
Cutting between sketches was good with the Tv and the viewer.
Negatives
-
Framing on certain people’s shots could have been better.
-
Backgrounds could have been cleared.
-
Some peoples sketch the camera was shaking.
-
Costume and props could have been looked at better.
-
People should have been more detailed with their directors notes and
their editors notes.
-
Could have used different camera angles.
-
Certain people’s sketches were too long as sketches are supposed to be around
30 seconds to 2 minutes.
In
conclusion, episode one was very successful as the jokes hit perfectly and it
was exactly what we were all aiming for. We just had a few improvements that we
could work on with the next episode.
After
reviewing the first episode the year 2 producers discussed our new ideas for
the second episode. We all explained each of our ideas and began working
together to improve each other’s.
Wednesday 27th January 2021
We had a
meeting with the year 1 film and TV group and discussed our positive and
negative list and discussed with them how they should improve for the next episode.
After this we split the group into two and went through the year one’s new idea
for episode two. This allowed us to discuss there idea individually and help
them improve on each of their ideas.
After our discussion we all went away and discussed continued to work on my sketch. As I was prepared and had the script ready, I began casting the roles. As I have a recurring character, I messaged Kalem and sent him the script. To cast the roles of Piers and Susanna I put a brief description of my idea, along with the script and asked if anyone was interested. Sophie Ashcroft got back to me saying she is interested in the role of Susanna and Ethan Brown was interested in the role of Piers. As these two were the two that were interested in the role, I began working with them. I sent them over the script to look through and asked them to start filming on Thursday and Friday.
Thursday 28th January 2021 & Friday 29th January
2021
Before they began filming, I sent them some director notes. These
Director notes are very important as it gives a clear instruction for how I want
this stech to be filmed. Furthermore, I sent all the actors different Good Morning
Britain interviews with different members of parliament. This allowed the
actors to understand my inspiration around my sketch and the actors work on the
impression of the characters.
When explaining the framing of the shot I did the same thing as in
the first episode. I took screen shots from different Good Morning Britain as examples
and showed them I would like the camera set up, allowing the shot to be the accurate
and professional. As each actor is playing a real-life person, I sent each
actor different videos of the person talking, as this would allow the actors to
understand more about the persons gestures and mannerisms, to give an accurate performance.
Along with this I sent each actor some directors notes.
Directors notes for Kalem:
Props and costume
- Suit and
tie
Acting Notes
- Hand
gestures are very important with the health secretary character, whenever emphasising
a line do this with your hand as well.
- Speak very
patronising and stumble on your lines when asking questions.
-
Camera Notes
- mid shot
sat at desk.
- Framing makes
sure the subject (you) is central and don’t cut off the forehead etc.
Directors notes for Sophie:
Costume
-
Smart casual clothing
Acting notes
- when
talking looking at Piers look to the right
- React to
the moments when Piers continues to cut you off
- Can you
send me shots of you just reacting to him cutting you off and different
reactions as it makes it easier to cut too.
- The same
characteristics as Susanna Reid look at her gestures and mannerisms with the examples.
Camera Notes
- Mid shot
- Try and sit behind a clear background.
Directors notes for Ethan:
Costume
-
Smart Suit and tie
Acting notes
- when
talking looking at Susanna look to the left
- Be loud and
patronising.
- The same
characteristics as Piers Morgan look at her gestures and mannerisms with the examples.
Camera Notes
- Mid shot
- Try and sit behind a clear background.
- Make sure the camera is still – NO HANDHELD
Similar to
the filming process of episode one, the actors sent footage and me writing
notes and getting back to them on their performance. However, during Ethan’s performance
I was struggling to get a good performance from him. In his performance he was
very monotone and didn’t listen to my advice about being very loud and copying
the mannerisms of Piers Morgan. As the footage needed to be in by Saturday, I was
unable to get the performance that I wanted. In future lockdown projects I will
try and get on a call with any actors who are struggling with their character
as this might help push them that little bit more.
Saturday 30th January 2021
Along with
the footage I had to create a Good Morning Britain Banner to go at the bottom
of the footage. This is always used on every good Morning Britain episode. Me doing
this allows the sketch to feel more realistic and makes it clear to the
audience what this sketch is based off. As I didn’t have any professional
edition software, I was unable to get a transparent background. Instead, I made
the bits around the banner that were not needed green, this would allow the editor
to get rid of the green bit in edit using ultra key.
Along with
this I downloaded the good morning Britain intro and sent him this along with
the footage. Having the Good Morning Britain intro allows me to make it clear
to the audience what show this is a reference too, straight away.
Sunday 31st January 2021
The editor got in contact with us and mentioned that the second episode was going to be 40 minutes long. As a group we thought this would be way too long as the audience would not be able to keep interested with the episode for that length of time. As a collective we decided that we would split episode two into two new episodes. This would allow the episodes to be 20 minutes long each. We decided that part of the episode would be released on the 2nd January 2021 as planned and the other part be released on the Friday 5th January 2021. Furthermore, as there is another episode we decided to push back the finale episode to Friday 12th February, as we believe we didn’t want to do too many episodes so close together as it might make it less interesting for the viewer
Episode 3 – Production Diary
Monday 1st February 2021
I began developing
the final sketch for the finale of the sketch show. Often in popular sketch
shows they have a recurring character saying a recurring joke. For the final episode
I decided to have Margret return, thinking it’s the end of lockdown, but it isn’t.
I began writing the screenplay for this and I developed it throughout the day.
Wednesday 3rd February 2021
Both years
for film and tv met up online and discussed the latest episode, we all believed
that it was way too long as we had to split into two parts. We split up once again
working with the year ones on there final sketch. I worked with Tom Kerr and
helped develop his idea to have a good ending for his show. I then reviewed his
script, and I wrote notes on the script with any improvements. I didn’t make
many improvements I just made the scene for snappy and made sure the jokes hit
hard.
After the
meeting was over me, Kai and Kelly stayed behind in the call to help a year one
who was struggling with his idea. His idea was adverts and we wanted to create
something different to his other sketches. We had many suggestions, and we concluded
that the character reviewing lockdown COVID-19 products. This gave him inspiration
to use daily products and turn them into lockdown products with silly and wacky
names.
Thursday 4th February 2021
As I have
used both actors before for the first episode, I knew that they both would want
to do this final sketch. I sent them both the script over and gave them time to
look over the footage. I gave them the weekend to record all footage as we
pushed back the finale episode. Along with the script I sent them both
directors notes.
When
writing Kalem’s directors notes it was the same as the first episode as the
shot, costume and acting all had to be the same as the first episode. However,
as Kates character I wanted the hot the same but the acting a little different.
As in the first episode Margaret is very calm and disappointed when finding out
she is in another lockdown, but with the final episode she is excited to get
out and when she finally gets let down, she gets really angry.
Kates
Directors Notes :
Costume and
props:
-
Party outfit
-
Party object e.g. balloon, party poppers, party hat etc.
Acting:
-
Very excited throughout
-
On the edge of your seat when you believe he has announced it
-
The reaction needs to be perfect, so have a pause once he is said that
you are staying in lockdown.
Camera:
-
Same shot as previous episode, mid shot.
I believed the performance was great with both actors as they listened to instruction and did not hold anything back.
Saturday 6th February 2021
I received the final footage from the actors, and
I began creating editing notes for them. As I wanted this bit to stand out, I added
in a BBC news intro that I downloaded as I believed it added a little bit more
realism to the scene.
Editors
notes:
BBC Intro – Before the Government announcement put the BBC news intro.
Kates footage - The end when she swears cut her off just the same thing in the
first episode.
I had the recurring
joke in the episodes being when Margaret swears, she gets cut off. Recurring
jokes are used all the time in many sketch shows as it creates a comedic relationship
with the characters and the audience as they expect the joke to occur.
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