As Live Production | VT Shoot: Old to New

Today we were shooting the first of the two VTs that our team was putting together for the studio production which would play during the 'Old to New' segment.  This part of the show focuses on fashion through the decades and the resurgence of particular styles.  The VT would feature clothes from four decades (the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s) and we used one male and one female model to portray the fashion trends of these eras.

Each member of the VT team had an important role to play:

• Conor Deamer was our producer - he wrote the script and organised casting models, scheduling the shoot, booking the locations and many other things to ensure everything ran smoothly throughout the entire process.
• George Wing was the director - he was in charge of calling the shots and directing the talent and crew.
• George Nicholls was our researcher - he did the bulk of the research into the fashion trends and clothing alongside Conor.
• Alex Baldwin was our camera operator.
• I was on sound but I also operated the camera for some shots, and I will be editing the VT in the coming weeks.

We had some issues leading up to the shoot with regards to scheduling which meant that we needed to find different models for the day of the shoot.  Conor acted quickly and efficiently to find replacements and the day still ran very smoothly.

The shoot was fairly straightforward.  There were six scenes, each filmed over the same backdrop with only a couple of props, such as the photographer's camera, some vinyl records and a stool.  There was no dialogue, as the focus was entirely on the clothes, which would play over a music bed with a stylised edit.

This VT did not require any dialogue or other diegetic sound therefore as sound operator, it would seem I did not have to do very much.  However, I did ensure that we were still recording sound, such as the sound from the camera shutter which features in the VT, as well as a wild track in case I needed it in the edit.

(EDIT: Upon completing the edit, I did not end up using any sound recorded on the day, however I have learnt through past mistakes that it is vital to record as much sound as possible so that in case we changed our mind, we could still include audio recorded on the day)

I am happy with how the whole day turned out, we got a good amount of coverage to show off the clothes and the footage turned out really well.  I am particularly happy with how the 90s scene looks as we utilised the projector in the room to create silhouette effects as well as give off the 90s grunge vibe.

I have learnt from this shoot that it is vital to ensure you have a backup plan in case anything goes wrong - this relates to our issues with scheduling and with the audio which we did not need but recorded anyway.  Communication between crew members is also important; had Conor not kept us in the loop, we may not have been able to find models at such short notice but luckily we were all communicating well with each other and were able to resolve the issue fairly quickly.