rom day one, being back in UAL's Television studio came with a healthy combination of excitement and challenges our tutor Dominic Clemence managed quite effectively. We started with a methodology workshop for deconstructing and getting rid of anxiety by laying on the floor with our eyes closed followed with expressing ourselves with body language and sounds. This method, arguably, allowed a safe space for us to become fully self-expressed, opening a new way of communication with each other. We used improv as a way of developing scripts, shared our thoughts about how class, race and culture impact the use of transportation in societies around the world and once debriefed in the concept of the show and by the end of the day, my classmates and I had roles must seemed content to take on. Not too long after that the “Busy Bus Talks” show started to come to life...
University of The Arts London's Television and Live Events Hybrid Project: Busy Bus Talks.
Article by Inoisell Miranda
Presenting came very natural to me, once I learned about the red light guiding me to what camera we were on, I discovered this ability to just be able to deliver the information I agreed to deliver against all odds. For example, we did not have a prompter that would work in sink with the control room, somebody had to manually move it, because of COVID restrictions and the amount of people that were allowed in the TV studio at once, our production manager Victoria Fusniak was also the floor manager, causing her to successfully be in several places at the same time and resulting in the absence of a prompter for us to use.
Anna Lengyel our co-presentor
Since the beginning of our degree program at UAL, it seems Anna and I were destined to always work together.
I find her to be incredibly talented and what excites me the most about her, is that she is not fully aware of her talents, which makes her so refreshing to work with.
Picking her as our co-presenter just seemed to be the right move and indeed it was. We did improv exercises were we got to explored different ways of interacting with each other and used these exercises while recording script writing sessions with Charlie Whitehead, our script writer. Anna was also a big part of the script writing process
Needless to say, she is a lot of fun and witty...
We navigated though the studio chaos together pretty nicely too, our director Farah Van Stokkum decided to move the set around between the different parts of the show, we had to learn where to stand, sit or move around properly, and be aware of the cameras order at the same time. As challenging as it was, the crew, Anna and I, rehearsed several times until we all knew what we were doing. By the time we went live everything ran smoothly, and I really experienced my classmates and I come together.
We rehearsed so many times, that I got lost in the moment when it came to the live show, there was a moment when I forgot where we were in the script, what part of the play was just done live versus what was part of rehearsals. All these thoughts were going through my mind as we were live, so I turned around panicked and looked at Anna, she knew something was up and immediately took control of the situation for us and successfully introduced what was coming next.
I think nobody noticed...
Directing the play Bus Stop as part of our show...
Walking into a TV Studio as a director for drama has to be one of the proudest university moments I have had until date.
It started with briefing the team about certain aspects of the production, sound, lights and how these were to be done given my interpretation of the script. Elizabet Lisitsin’s artwork contribution was key, she tried to be as present as she possibly could from abroad, and even though we did not get to talk as much, our familiarity and experience with each other allowed for us to create a concept we were all really happy with.
Another aspect of directing I really fell in love with was working with professional actors, we casted Becky Hoyle as Maureen and Harry Revell as Jordan for our play “Bus Stop”. I knew they were both familiar with the script already so I built rapport with them by getting to know them better and letting them know me more, and how I wanted to tell the story. I gave them some body language direction for certain parts of the script and a particular background to the upbringing of the characters. We rehearsed for one day and by the next day they performed exactly the way we intended. Directing actors is truly joyful for me.
I believe the interaction between vision mixer, script supervisor, director of photography, camera operators, actors and floor manager is crucial for the success of film making in a TV studio.
Cameras became my point of view of the story and how it was to be told...
The challenges were understanding my place as a director in the operating room, being ready to direct vision mixer and the camera crew, having several people talk to me at the same time while directing actors live. These can be very tricky situations if one is not prepared and really familiar with the script. At the end, this was a spectacular experience, I am so proud of myself and my classmates for pulling off such a great show.
Crew:
- Executive Producer, tutor Dominic Clemence
- Producer-Live Event, camera operator Damilola Ologunebi
- Producer-drama and camera operator Nick Vadhia
- Director-Live Event and dance piece, camera operator Farah Van Stokkum
- Director-Drama, presenter, interviewer, script editor Inoisell Miranda
- Production Manager-Live Events, floor manager Victoria Fusniak
- Script Supervisor Syeda Alina Raza Rizvi
- Director Of Photography-Live Events, sound director Laurentiu Ciobanu
- Director Of Photography-Drama, script writer, light designer Charlie Whitehead
- Costume Designer, vision mixer Holly Hilton
- Set Designer Kayleigh Boultif
- Actors Becky Hoyle as Maureen and Harry Revell as Jordan
- Bus Stop play by Daniel Allum
