Directing reality TV show

[Mile Bozicevic]

Hi to all and sorry for bad English. :]


This is my first real (semi)directing-did some shorts, and some shows on local TV but this one has potential of growing into a real thing so of course, I'm pretty messed up.

It will be column (don't know if its the right english term) inside a TV show that's being aired late evening.

Workflow is very tense; we (crew) go on shooting spot, have one day to make preparations and storyboard, and the next day-we shoot! So it'll always be 2-4 days on field, and say about less than a week of a preparations before.

Lenght will be about 10-13 minutes, and locations will vary. Villa's, hotels, high-class places for summer vacation thing, and traveling with jachts, helicopters, fancy cars; all that kinda stuff all over the country and further.

Basicaly it'll be 2 cameras, boom mic/4 beetles (depending on surround), and it's being edited inside Avid. It's tight, fast, short and I would like to keep improvisations at minimum.

So.

Has anyone did something like this before? Meaning, fast, no time at all, decent equipment, broadcast standards and without (too) much worrying about expenses?

Storyboarding software for one day?-do i really need it? I need to simplify it as much as possible, but to keep things in order. I saw some tutorials and those softwares looks great-but at this point I really don't know whether it will make my life easier or more miserable.

Writing time-codes on field as the camera rolls is one of things I would like to do to speed the whole process in editing room. If there's a stroyboard, it has segments, and if I have timecodes by segments, I guess it'll be a lot easier and faster in post. Is this done like this or there's some other way?

I've read about directing but it's all pointed toward film and documentaries; there's really not much word about directing a reality (that's probably because everyone has it's own rules...). Though it may seem blatantly or too simple to worry this much, I'm actually in a state-of-panic, because most of all the job will be done when we arrive at the location.

Suggestions, experiences, critics? There are some directors I know but they did something completely different in different circumstances.

 

[Erik Olson]

Is the format truly unscripted in nature? While many reality formats do structure the activities the characters navigate, they do not expressly script them. The character's conflicts, arcs and outcomes aren't scripted in advance.

Rather, a general situation is introduced (e.g., six pro-amateur sailors explore the Pacific on a state-of-the-art catamaran) and the development of individual story threads (e.g., two characters become involved romantically) are followed in real-time by story producers, who may then introduce the characters into appropriate situations that play on the threads (e.g., separating men from women in shifts).

You wouldn't typically board out an unscripted show - at least not the reality aspects. You may generate shot lists for establishing locations and situations and I suppose these could be as specific as you want to be.

Most often, your episode stories can be tracked by organizational charts (index card tree is common) with episode number at the top and major potential (developing in real-time) stories, act breaks, sub-threads, scenes and situational / character notes cascading down from there.

Pre-interview all characters on camera - set up who they are and their expectations for the project in advance. Do not skimp on interviewing. During reality, you need to have logging at all times. These notes need to be downloaded to a "hot sheet" each and every day, to help everyone in the production (not characters) track developing stories. Story Producers should be meeting on their individual stories and characters and working with the appropriate senior producer to make decisions for how it will tie together.

Story Producers should secure in-the-moment, on-the-fly (OTF) interviews with individual characters - away from other cast and distractions. Commonly taken without delay after key scenes (occassionally hours / days later), OTFs are used to clarify the character motivations, set up the situation itself, bridge confusing scenes or even narrate missing footage (e.g., lovers break-up, but do so off-camera).

As you start to craft your stories, you're going to discover what segments, scenes and sound bites are missing from the organization chart and have to craft material to fill it in as best you can. One-on-one sit-down interviews and other pick-ups for missing elements come during the taking of each episode and in the last days of the production. Characters can help with both on-camera narration and sound bites to support visuals where the VTR audio doesn't compliment the needed story.

The edit, especially on commissioned shows, is going to be a complicated, ongoing process of shuffling segments, tracking story from new angles (including re-ordering events) and processing notes from network et-cetera.

 

[Mile Bozicevic]

Thanks a lot Erik.

After reading your post and re-watching some reality examples I saw some things earlier I didn't...and it gave me some new ideas to this concept.

For example, OTF interviews are really, really important-didn't realized how much important until now.

Storyboarding was just an idea, since I read it's done really in hours and it's very precise. I guess the most important is how I can handle the crew and make it a one good-working-machine. The concept will have predicted locations and characters in it with some kind of actions or 'missions', but the rest of it is of course, unpredictable.

Do you have some examples of reality show that's being handled by one main character/journalist/actress while guests are randomly thrown into show?(since I doubt there's actually some literature on the topic)

I'm asking because in this 10 minutes a lot of time (approx. 50%) will be held by one main character (she's a model/journalist that visits all those high-class places, and doing something between testing/reviewing/exploring the given object, while meeting some celebrities that will experience some flavors of al those locations)

Thanks again! :beer:

 

[Erik Olson]

Many food and travel formats are centered on one character (host) interacting with guest talent and locals. One of the most successful shows would be Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. Also, the :10 (x10') format has me a little worried. I don't know ROW, but a more typical run time would be between :24 and :30. Conforming the show to typical standards will help you clear more markets.

 

[Mile Bozicevic]

Sorry, I don't know what ROW stands for.

I completely agree about the run time, but...since everything is very young, isn't it easier to start with this before jumping into something bigger? I mean, there's a whole lot of problems and things I will encounter on shooting and in editing process, so though it is non-standard maybe (maybe) it is not bad for start.

Then again, it may bring some new problems I wouldn't even have in start, but for now, I can't affect the editors decision (since again, this IS some kind of trial for me and I yet have to convince all of them that my methods and workflow are ok to get approval for new projects etc.)

 

[Patryk_Rebisz]

I was one of the DP's on Bravo's "9 by design":
http://www.bravotv.com/9-by-design

2 cameras, some lighting, set-up scenarios, some just shooting b-roll, lots of interviews, producer, director, PAs, scripters with time code etc...

10 min format - most likley you are not really setting up an arch but rather just show the experiences one can have at a said location (check out Lonely Planet travel shows for that). And one of my favorite Michael Palin's travel shows.