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Post by Terry Kinane on Sept 26, 2011 11:31:27 GMT -5
I thought I'd offer up a week in the life of a GS episode, so that you guys get an idea of how the show was delivered. Day one of each episode involved a read through of that week's script with the full cast plus the Writers, Director, Producer, Executive Producer, Stage Manager, and the Production Assistant. After the read through, tweaks to the script were performed. The script would already be a third draft script on day one of rehearsal. Once the tweaks were edited into the script, the Stage Manager would make sure that those changes found their way into the cast members' scripts. Everyone would then leave the rehersal room, except the cast, Director, Producer and Stage Manager. Rehearsal of the episode would then begin. The rehearsal room had been maked up by the Stage Manager with multi coloured tape on the floor, to match the exact dimensions of each set that would be in the studio when the real sets got built. This allowed myself and the actors to know exactly how much room we had to work with in any given set. The furniture was a close representation (in terms of size) of the real furniture we would use in the studio. We would then block (rehearse) each scene a couple of times, so that the cast had a decent feel for the rhythm of each scene, even though they had not actually started to learn the lines yet. At the end of day one, the cast would go home and do some learning, and I would go to an edit suite at The Edit Works and edit the previous week's show. Day two would be a full rehearsal day, followed by more line learning for the cast, and I would go and audio dub the previous week's show. Day three involved more rehearsal plus a Producer's run at the end of the day. This would be attended by the Producer, Executive Producer and the Writers, and it would be the first time we actually ran the show in something like real time. This gave us a feel for how long the show was running, allowing for studio laughter. Day four was a morning rehearsal followed by a crew run. This was attended by the Senior Cameraman, Sound Supervisor, Lighting Director, Production Designer plus a few stragglers. Day four was also the day that the studio sets went up, so after the crew run, we would go back to the studio and check on the progress. Day five was the studio day. Rehearsal started at 9 in the morning, and there was a full costume Dress Run at about 4:45 in the afternoon. We broke for dinner at 6PM, and started to record the show at 7:30, finishing at about 10PM. This was the routine week after week, with some episodes being more challenging than others.
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Post by jobsta on Sept 26, 2011 12:11:05 GMT -5
That's really interesting Terry.
Just a couple of questions!
I take it from that that the cast did not see the scripts prior to filming the specific episodes? Were they given any advance clues for character development, or did they really only know when they saw the script on day one?
Secondly, in general did you shoot episodes in the order that they aired in. I am more familiar with cinema shooting, and I know that films can often be shot very much out of sequence.
Finally what software did you use to edit on? Or was it still don primarily manually at that time?
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Post by jrichard88 on Sept 26, 2011 12:17:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the write-up, Terry! Very insightful and informative as always.
To expand on jobsta's last question, I've always been particularly interested in how the effect of Gary disappearing through the time portal was achieved (both in terms of how it was shot and how it was edited). It would appear to be a relatively simple effect, but as long as I've been watching the show, I've been curious as to how it was pulled off.
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Post by Terry Kinane on Sept 26, 2011 12:46:21 GMT -5
That's really interesting Terry. Just a couple of questions! I take it from that that the cast did not see the scripts prior to filming the specific episodes? Were they given any advance clues for character development, or did they really only know when they saw the script on day one? Secondly, in general did you shoot episodes in the order that they aired in. I am more familiar with cinema shooting, and I know that films can often be shot very much out of sequence. Finally what software did you use to edit on? Or was it still don primarily manually at that time? The cast were issued first draft scripts, and there was always a read of the first block of episodes several weeks before day one of episode one. This allowed everyone to get a feel for the episodes, while understanding that we were dealing with first draft scripts. So, yes, the actors knew where the series was going. As to your second question; the episodes were recorded in chronological order, unless there was a script that needed so much work that we needed to move it back in the shoot schedule. As for the software, the series was edited initially in a digital tape based edit suite, and later moved to an Avid edit suite.
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Post by Terry Kinane on Sept 26, 2011 12:55:01 GMT -5
Thanks for the write-up, Terry! Very insightful and informative as always. To expand on jobsta's last question, I've always been particularly interested in how the effect of Gary disappearing through the time portal was achieved (both in terms of how it was shot and how it was edited). It would appear to be a relatively simple effect, but as long as I've been watching the show, I've been curious as to how it was pulled off. We kept the transition as simple as possible, because we didn't want to take up too much shooting/editing time in achieving it. We therefore did it the same way that Star trek had done the transporter transitions, but we used a dissolve rather than an effect. We locked the shot off so that it couldn't move, then we recorded about ten seconds of the empty frame, then had Nick walk in and right up to the fence and walk off the set. We then recorded a further ten seconds after he had left. In editing, we cut to the shot just before he entered it, let him walk in and approach the fence, and then we dissolved to a portion of the ten seconds when he wasn't in it. Because the shot was locked off and nothing moved, the effect on air is that he simply disappears.
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Post by nostradamus on Sept 26, 2011 16:19:44 GMT -5
Absolutely loving this thread. ;D
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Post by jobsta on Sept 26, 2011 16:25:46 GMT -5
I thought Avid would make an appearance in the editing room somewhere. It is a very popular one these days especially. I know Dexter, Bones and Criminal Minds are all edited on it.
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Post by Terry Kinane on Sept 27, 2011 5:21:09 GMT -5
Avid is a great tool....but it can also make you lazy. Back in the days of GS, the Director had to construct an edit script complete with all of the time code references, so that the VT Editor (Phil Moss) would know exactly where I wanted to transition from one take to another within a scene. Frequently, a completed scene would comprise of editing between different takes at different times in the scene. This would either be because a line was performed better on say take two than it was on take one, or for a technical reason such as a boom shadow. In a tape based edit suite, once you had made those edits, you were committed....you couldn't change it later unless you were prepared to drop down a generation, but with Avid, you just throw it all into the digital device and you can then do or undo anything very easily. It makes some modern day directors lazy in my view.
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Post by ibindere on Sept 29, 2011 7:59:24 GMT -5
This is brilliant! Thank you Terry. It's fascinating.
I don't suppose you know whether it's possible for us to get hold of any out-takes or rehearsal footage?
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Post by Terry Kinane on Sept 29, 2011 8:08:45 GMT -5
This is brilliant! Thank you Terry. It's fascinating. I don't suppose you know whether it's possible for us to get hold of any out-takes or rehearsal footage? I used to have some on a VHS, but for the life of me I can't find it. It may have got lost when I moved to the States. I'll keep looking though.
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Post by jobsta on Sept 29, 2011 9:42:59 GMT -5
I'm sure I saw some on Youtube at one stage, but I think it got taken down. Probably wouldn't hut to do a search there from time to time.
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Post by Terry Kinane on Sept 29, 2011 12:09:54 GMT -5
I've watched a few clips on You Tube of shows I've Directed. It's so strange to see clips from so long ago. Kinda nice though. I've never actually watched an episode of Sweetheart at home, but I've seen a few clips on You Tube. The brave new world we live in.
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Post by mensch on Oct 5, 2011 10:31:15 GMT -5
Thanks a lot, Terry. It sure is more interesting than a day at my office.
I once saw an outdoor night scene for a cop drama being filmed. It started at midnight and went on until 3am. The scene involved 3 actors, one of whom was in a car, accosting the other two as they emerged from a pub.
I saw it on the box when the episode was aired - the whole scene lasted 2 minutes. I imagine you got a better ratio than that.
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Post by Terry Kinane on Oct 5, 2011 13:01:02 GMT -5
Thanks a lot, Terry. It sure is more interesting than a day at my office. I once saw an outdoor night scene for a cop drama being filmed. It started at midnight and went on until 3am. The scene involved 3 actors, one of whom was in a car, accosting the other two as they emerged from a pub. I saw it on the box when the episode was aired - the whole scene lasted 2 minutes. I imagine you got a better ratio than that. It depends on whether you are shooting single camera or multi camera, mensch. With single camera shooting, you are lighting shot by shot. The end result is therfore of a higher standard in terms of the look of the scene, but it takes much longer to shoot a scene than a multi camera shoot where you are lighting for several angles simultaneously. Sweetheart was a mixture of the two techniques; the exterior location shooting was single camera, and the studio scenes were shot using four ( sometimes 5) pedestal cameras.
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Post by mensch on Oct 5, 2011 22:29:44 GMT -5
It depends on whether you are shooting single camera or multi camera, mensch. With single camera shooting, you are lighting shot by shot. The end result is therfore of a higher standard in terms of the look of the scene, but it takes much longer to shoot a scene than a multi camera shoot where you are lighting for several angles simultaneously. Sweetheart was a mixture of the two techniques; the exterior location shooting was single camera, and the studio scenes were shot using four ( sometimes 5) pedestal cameras. Fascinating. The scene I saw was pretty techical, with a conversation between someone in a car and the other party on the pavement. It was shot with twice with the camera where either head would be. The actor not in shot stayed behind the camera and spoke their lines. I suppose that the close-ups are important when shooting for the small screen. I remember one scene you directed, Terry, where Gary and Margie are in a moving bus. Did you use a steadycam ?
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Post by Terry Kinane on Oct 6, 2011 5:16:49 GMT -5
I didn't use steadicam on any of my Sweetheart shoots. Both location cameramen, Tony Keene and Martin Hawkins, were so good that I didn't need it.
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Post by mensch on Oct 6, 2011 12:33:20 GMT -5
That's remarkable. They must have low centers of gravity ;D
Terry, thanks for answering my questions. I bet you didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition ...
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Post by Terry Kinane on Oct 7, 2011 12:37:52 GMT -5
For Sweetheart, I shot my exterior tracking shots with a good old fashioned camera dolly on tracks. The main reason for that decision is that all the films shot in the 40's were shot using that convention for the tracking shots.
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pat10
Junior Member
Posts: 60
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Post by pat10 on Oct 9, 2011 13:06:12 GMT -5
Awesome post cheers terry
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'ouses in between
New Member
Looking out of the rain splashed window, I sigh, and as the water beads trickle down, I think, FFS.
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Post by 'ouses in between on May 10, 2015 3:10:08 GMT -5
Hi Terry, Its privilege to talk to someone who was that close to the set of GS, ( and to be that close to Dervla Kerwan you lucky monkey you) I'm afraid I don't have any insightful qustions like the other members had but. Why do you call it block instead of rehearsals? And secondly, would it be possible for you to post a map or drawing of how the set was laid out in the real pub, because I was there the other day and I struggled with where the piano was set. Also where the door to the upstairs was located. Lastly, am I correct in saying that, in the first episode, pheobe calls her dad up from the celler, when really there was no celler for him to come up from? Or have I misplaced the celler hatch too? Thanks for reading this, and thank you for helping make Goodnight Sweetheart so enjoyable.
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