Your Community Station Studio Start-up

Hi Guys

Thank you for reading this blog. I do hope you find it informative and useful and that you take action. I've had some very positive feedback from the last post about setting up your own online TV show and today I want to elaborate on some issues that I've had questions about.

Gina from Ontario asked how do you start? And Bill living (I presume) in Wood Green in North London said he runs a community project and thinks this would fit well with what

they are doing. He also wanted to know how to get going. What equipment and how does he design a studio in his Community Centre?  I'll try and answer Bill's question now.

So lets talk about your studio.

You can have a studio almost anywhere provided you have a

 small space bigger than about 4 metres by 5 metres. You will need a power supply for low energy lighting and other equipment. Standard power sockets will be adequate and the quantity of power used will be no more than the power you use to light your home. So there's no big drain on energy.

Natural lighting is the best for filming provided it is sufficiently strong but I feel that for a studio it will be inadequate. If there is natural light use it and supplement it with artificial lighting. You can pick up a lighting kit for a very low cost. Lights

available on E-bay are adequate and low cost. I'd suggest a couple of these packs. Cost is less than £90/$130 per pack. These lighting boxes are called soft boxes because there is a translucent cover over he front to diffuse the light and cut out shadows. But you can remove the covers and have direct light. They hold low energy daylight bulbs that are cool when working, unlike traditional lights which become tremendously hot. With two kits you are ok for smaller sets such as interviews and also for larger sets such as panels, chat shows where there may be 3 people on a sofa and a presenter. You can of course use more traditional lighting or LED lights that are now available as direct mains powered or battery operated.

How about cameras? There is a whole range of cameras from the simple (well rather sophisticated really) smartphone, through camcorders, professional cameras, DLSRs and Go Pro Heros. The choice is yours. Personally I'd grab a couple of camcorders because they are relatively cheap new or dirt cheap second hand. This means you can work on a shoestring and grow in time. There's another bonus here. If you are going for funding then you can produce material to backup what you are looking for by showing you have started to experiment. You'll also need tripods. Hand help cameras are generally really bad. You just can't prevent hand shake and movement. To start use KISS - keep it simple, stupid!!

Sound is more important than most of us realise. So I'd recommend using separate mics, not the ones mounted on cameras. You can use the input socket and either wireless or long leads and this is ok. We use a boom mic held over the actors, interviewers or guests. And this works well. You can make a boom easily and cheaply. We'll cover that in another post. So my favourite external recorders are the Zoom range. These provide a variety of sound options and are compact and lightweight.

You will need a backdrop. Now this could be as simple as a painted wall, but you could use paper or material backdrops. You can by backdrop kits of a stand and material backdrops in black, white and green. You will move on to the green backdrop for green screen as you become more experienced. If you have a large room you could just pull away from the walls and have the background out of focus.

So you have choice. In addition you can dress the set at little cost. Remember a photo of a prop can look like the real thing on video. A planter on set is easy and you might get a local shop to donate or free loan you. Ask kindly and you will be surprised what you can get.I have tended to keep it simple. A tall planter is all I usually have on set. 

You probably will need a desk for news readers. This doesn't have to be elaborate and in fact a shallow desk is good because it takes up little space for storage between use. 

Props can be the real thing or made out of papier mache which can be used to form almost anything. I used to make puppet heads with it but also remember a huge dinosaur (probably 4 metres high) we used in a carnival made from chicken wire covered in papier mache. Once painted it is pretty well water proof and, if enough layers, is strong too.

Backdrops can also be sheets of mdf, plywood or almost anything that's firm. So you can have a window with the sun shining through, a balcony, painted backdrop like you see in Kids TV shows. The limit is your imagination.

Now with a small studio you will probably need to shoot some material around the show you are producing. So, for example when we had a music item, this was filmed prior to the show and edited in. Firstly the guitarist had another engagement so we had to film him early, but secondly he would have been hanging around unnecessarily for a couple of hours. 

So that's your studio. Ideally, if you are working  in a Community Centre you will probably have more room. A studio should be an integral part of any Community Centre at it teaches a new skill, gives users confidence and social skills, and its a a fun project. In addition it is a great way to promote everything local, particularly community activities

If you don't have suitable premises I would highly recommend approaching everybody who might be able to help using both social media and direct approaches. You may be surprised at the support you will get without having to pay.

Good luck with your venture. Watch for further posts on setting up and running a Community TV Station. And there will be a full course ready soon with everything you need to know about setting up and running one.

On Location with Swansea Film Productions

The Doll had a cast over over 20 actors and extras and was shot on located around Swansea in South Wales, the UK. We shot over a February weekend and were extremely lucky with the weather. It was so good that we were able to film outdoors and have a real barbecue on the beach as the script dictated.

One scene was in a pub and the manager was most kind in allowing us to make up a corner after the lunch-time rush had finished and to have his staff be filmed serving drinks. The scene involved one main character and two others sitting down at a table having a drink and cutting a cake. Most of the camera-work was hand-held in this scene to add a feeling of reality. 

We used two cameras and some shots were taken from above with the camera-man standing on an adjacent table. We had some five takes but I'm not sure whether this was to have an extra drink or because the director wasn't happy with previous takes. Carly was directing this scene and she had grown in strength in the job taking total control of the actors and camera crew. 

Another scene was in the local very busy Diner. The owner was so helpful and let us have full reign, even though they were busy. The diner is a long room and we used a table towards to rear so we weren't too much in the way. We had our waiter working from behind the counter and delivering a coffee to our actor. Then a group of her friends came in and were crowded round and talking. The scene was quite cramped in the narrow room but the shots worked really well. 

There was a great feeling throughout the filming and I believe much of this was to do with the day we all spent together about a month before when we did the read though rehearsal and familiarisation. We did this over a complete day and organised a buffet lunch which gave everyone time to talk to the others. I had an office for my business and this was an ideal place, just big enough for everyone to sit down. 

We needed a club or other venue where we could simulate a rehearsal room for the Salem Witch play. There was a play within a play. I'd arranged to use a community hall but when I sent someone along to prepare the room, they phoned me to say that the building was locked up and there was no contact phone number or address. As everyone had come together from across the UK it was really essential that we found somewhere.

As luck would have it I was involved in managing a Show Girl Dance Group and they had performed just a couple of weeks ago in a local city pub that had space at the rear of the bar where they put on cabaret. I went in and spoke to the manager who immediately agreed for us to use the space.

This was amazing as I expected to have to visit several venues to find a willing owner or manager.

This was a dramatic scene and our director was playing a main role as well so I was a bit concerned. The scene was rehearsing a section of the play The Salem Witches and involved dramatic action both in the rehearsal scene and also drama in the film script. It also involved the entire cast and obviously costumes as the scene was set in times gone bye. There was quite a bit of shouting and the cast needed to show some good reactions. Everything went well.

We had scenes on a grave-yard, on the beach where we had a real barbecue, in a local busy pub in the evening and outside the Dylan Thomas Theatre. We also had a scenes in an amusement arcade, on a river boat and in a home . It was quite varied but luckily we had planned everything very carefully. There must have been some hitches but I can't remember any. 

This all happened 4 years ago and I am really disappointed to say that the editing was never completed.  All filming incorporated sound via wireless mics if I remember correctly so there is no synchronization to do. The editing was promised by two professionals but both were unable to complete the job.I have now committed to completing this by the middle of February. So I have 6 weeks. Watch this space.

If you enjoyed this article or found it useful please leave a comment. If you have a question please ask in the comment box. 

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Good luck in any dramatic film you are or intend to produce. If you are working on a project let s know, we will be pleased to include this in future posts.