I heard an interesting story today from a Producer friend of mine. A runner who had their first break on a film was rushing to drive the production hire car from an underground car park to the set and in their haste they scraped the side of the car completely down one of those evil concrete pillars we all know so well… SO was the director waiting to be swept off to his hotel? Was the DOP ( Cameraman) screaming for film? Did the Art department have an emergency that required such haste that my Producer friend ended up paying £600 to fix the car for?

Why no! The runner was doing exactly what most runners do, the cast and crew were gagging for tea and coffee whilst filming and the poor soul had been told to get back super-fast.

Tea is an unquestionably integral part of the business behind showbusiness. In your production office how many times a day do you gulp the golden liquid?

For all the associated glamour and perception of TV companies binging on champagne every Friday afternoon the reality is that this is an industry based on the mighty Camellia sinensis, or PG Tips, which in my opinion is the only tea worth drinking.

Seriously though. In Britain we consume over 2kg of tea in it’s leaf form per person per year! I think you can double that on sets and in production offices jump and down the country.  So why is it so important?

If you’re starting out in the industry you’re pretty much guaranteed to be making tea as part of your first TV position. Someone once told me that if you can’t make a good cup of tea you won’t get very far in the film industry. It has to be said that if you’re in the production office it is expected that you’ll be able to juggle everyone’s brew order as well the callsheets you’re stapling and the photocopier you’re wrangling.

I have seen applicants’ CVs listing tea-making next to an A level in Further Maths and Production Manager’s eyes light up!

• “ Hire this guy, definitely” Never mind that his A level could make him bring every budget in within your profit margin and your markup, get him straight onto the runner books, picking up grumpy extras at silly ‘o clock.

Look outside of this department though and I think you probably can get away with this lack of skill. Some people on the Manchester commercials scene have outright said that they made bad tea on purpose when asked so that they would never have to do it again, and therefore progress faster! Probably true!

I think more than anything, it’s your attitude that will make an impression. This rings true for our crazy industry as well as for newbies in any creative industry, be it fashion, photography, journalism, art and design. If it isn’t tea making it’s fixing the photocopier/ doing the starbucks run, knowing the best sandwich shop within a mile radius that’s open til late! It’s about being part of an effective team whose creativity needs feeding and whose stomachs frequently need nourishing!

We don’t get to pause often in our daily routine, the tea makers and sandwich bringers are the lights in our lives. If you’re lucky enough to have tea made for you why not take out some time to be the tea-maker, trust me it won’t go un-noticed. As a production assistant I’d always go out of my way to look after directors or Producers who knew how to put the kettle on.

If you’re thinking of coming into the industry though please do remember the importance of getting someone’s hot beverage order right.  Appreciate the importance of tea but not to the detriment of your own health or your insurance policy.

Rules of thumb – feel free to add your own: The Camera team will want some freshly ground Javan beans, as will the first AD, keep the sparks happy with brews and lots of sugar at regular intervals.  Water for the director and Hot chocolates for wardrobe and makeup as they don’t do caffeine! Something I have noticed emerging is the divergence from tea to herbal rubbish, this is not an exclusively female behaviour pattern either so runners take note! If you’ve never made peppermint tea for your client before please don’t put milk in it!

And most, most importantly as anyone who has ever read about Kubrick will tell you, don’t hand your victim their lovingly made brew with your grubby fingerprints round the top, it’ll just get chucked over your North Face jacket and that will be the end of your career ladder climb!

Good luck, whatever your potion.

You may remember before Christmas I was spouting off about Shayne, 17 from Blackburn and how he was coming to take over the media-planet, and that we should all be quaking in our boots as creatives and creators of video content in the face of these bright young things with their shaky camerawork and macbook pros hooked up to their eager eyes. Well I think I’ve changed my mind, stop that boot quaking right this second folks. Now I know what you’re thinking:

“Lioneyesblogger’s getting older and grumpier and is turning into one of those media stalwarts who thinks that just because she’s been around for longer that she can get away with resisting change. Don’t worry she’ll be out of a job before you know it. Holding on to old ways of thinking and refusing to move forwards with the times, there are a million people who can take her place, easy.”

And yes, there probably are a million people waiting to take my place, and yours, in the crazy video world we find ourselves in at the moment, where nobody is safe and everyone younger than you is a threat. But really, come on. I’m not that old, and not even that bitter….yet. I work for a young company with young people! The reason people come to us, and probably to you, is our experience and ability to produce quality content and adapt it to these new technologies that the young’uns apparently have a better grasp of.  The new attitude of producing hacked together, cut and run content can work, I agree, for certain purposes. However, to be honest if broadcasters and advertisers are happy to put badly shot, badly lit, badly written material out there then do you really want to be part of it? I suppose the question is, do we have to be part of it to pay the bills and therefore sacrifice integrity and quality? I don’t think so.

It will be interesting to see how the apple’s tablet fares, the ipad’s large screen makes it ideal for viewing video on the go, and I wonder how the compressed, pixelated youtube videos will wash with the content monster consumers. I know that personally, up to a certain size of screen, I’m more than happy to watch pants quality video. It’s when you want your video to entertain for more than two minutes at a time, or inform or have a certain amount of clout that you start to question how important it is that you film it well, produce it well and put at least a little bit of love into the process of creating a finished piece.

The reason I’m not scared of Shayne and his teenage pals fresh off their university courses is this. If you went to university yourself you’ll know that over 60% of the people on your course didn’t end up doing what they studied, and a good chunk of those people were also incompetent and would have had trouble applying themselves to a career in anything, never mind the constant onslaught to your confidence that that our business has. You can’t put a price on experience and competence, but you can put a price on training. As long as those of us who have experience in what works for an audience know that we have to be open to embracing and assimilating new technologies and skills we’ll be fine. Just the same way that those fresh faced graduates who will do well are the film geeks and enthusiasts who learn what a white balance is before they attempt to turn on a camera even though they can output films from final cut pro for an iphone blindfolded.

The future has to be about learning from generations, a bit like that Clint Eastwood film Gran Torino.  And yes I know that this blog topic is very similar to the last one, and the one before. I’m trying to hammer it home to you because we all need reminding again and again of what we need to, strike a balance, not just with you January diet, but with your training and learning, the only thing I can’t tell you is whether you need to learn the old ways first, or the new.

A few pennies can work for viral content, cheap as chips isn’t necessarily bad, and you have to apply the same principles to a viral video as you do to a tv commercial or a feature film. If the idea’s there, and it’s a good idea then you do what is necessary to make it work. Under spend and your great idea goes to waste, or someone will come along and do it better. Under spend on a bad idea and it will bomb, over spend on a bad idea and it will bomb and lose you a client as well.

The crux of the matter is clients perceiving online video as cheap to produce in comparison with a TV commercial. Think of online video, think Youtube. The video behemoth is an endless source of badly shot, user generated content as well as a place to find video previously seen on TV / Cinema.

This can, and has worked for certain brands, but once again, we should be driving home that the idea should come first, not the price. Quick brainstorm in the office and the only cheap viral videos we can think of with brand names attached are those that weren’t even started off by the brands themselves: The Mentos and Diet Coke experiment for example.

Branded video content that looks cheap also fools potential clients.  There is a strand of viral video which engages with audiences who regularly watch online video.  These are made by companies who are savvy enough to know that video users mistrust advertising but appreciate the forward thinking attitude and humour that goes behind creating videos like the Zoom Water flume video that Microsoft made  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwh4ZaxHIA

or the Samsung HD video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_8BZLhBNyU

The Samsung video above, was filmed on a piece of equipment, that in essence will have shaved a lot off a traditional filming budget. So upon initial viewing it looks like someone who has filmed a very clever viral, but not spent much money ont it, low-key in his flat.

However, once you watch the behind the scenes video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJGDV63Kmw&feature=channel

you realise that Samsung and their ad agency have actually spent quite a lot of time, effort and money into making this a believable viral. The result is that the videos have had well over 80 000 views.

Another example of viral video spending which pays off is the Evian Babies ad, which I’m sure you’ve seen. If you haven’t then you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQcVllWpwGs

Here is an example of video that has has the same spend on it as a TV commercial. Euro RSCG, Evian’s ad agency went to a Music video director and put their money behind a really good idea. It initially wasn’t aimed at the TV channels.Now however, having had a ridiculous amount of views on the web it has made it to TV screens.  Had the good folk at Evian decided to make this ad half-baked and only film it on a camcorder then we would all be shaking our fists at the broadcast quality!

In August 09 online spend overtook TV adspend, buying adspace online makes much more financial sense to most people than paying through the roof to have a 30 second slot during Coronation Street.  So the task now, is persuading our clients to save what they would spend on that channel time on creating a brilliant viral video , then put the rest of the money into using the right people to seed your video in the right places.

Your brand then becomes seen as forward thinking and as engaging with a younger audience.

We’ve been lucky enough to work with people who have let us make some great virals for them. Half the battle though is getting these virals seen by your target audience, and if our clients aren’t willing to pay for a specialist agency to do this then we’ll always fall at the final hurdle.

Here’s an example of a lovely viral we made for someone…see if you can guess who! Unfortunately it never got the number of views it should have, and we really think it’s a lovely little film. See what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JunJjw2c8vk

Back to the point in hand, misinformation seems to be the stumbling block for most clients and brands when it comes to viral video. Our job then as spokesmen and women for outstanding video, is to make sure people know what is possible and at what cost, because the price of the middle road, making mediocre video for miniscule budgets is our necks. And I don’t just mean our necks, but our clients’ too. And that’s not something you can get a refund for so that you learn to spend more the next time…

Turn the magnifying glass on our own industry and you’ll probably discover much of the same thing. Whether you look at TV channels, programme broadcasters, advertising agencies or video / TV /commercials production companies I would say we all know that it goes on. The most frustrating thing is that in these hard times these companies who have adopted a rather cut-throat attitude to their competitors, clients and suppliers are doing really well for themselves. Pushing forward with aggressive sales strategies, hiding budget lines from clients and underpaying your staff just to make a profit seems to be working, but for how long? And what about the nice guys? Will they finish last?

Just look at any branch of film and video production in Manchester. Commercials or primetime entertainment shows, for example. Ask anyone what they think about the sector and they’ll tell you that these sorts of production cost the earth, that half the budget is spent on a celebrity fronting whatever brand / show they need to, and the other half on said celebrity’s rider / drugs cache.

In our humble opinion, and experience from working in TV, commercials and online video content this is probably not the way to do things. Operate in this manner and all that you will get is a disillusioned client or whoever is funding your show staring at their ‘extra costs’ sheet wondering what went wrong, some really unhappy, overworked crew and staff and a general sense of bewilderment from everyone except your bank manager.

However the ultimate cost of this is alienation from the rest of the industry you work in and eventually, the people you’re asking for money from – the consumer.

We’ve seen it this year in politics with the expenses scandal, we’re seeing it at the moment with the huge slashes in ad-spend. Call it Karma, call it the recession, call it whatever you like but kid yourself not: The tide is turning. People talk. Furthermore people base their trust on hearsay.

It’s human instinct to base our actions on previous experience, but if we don’t have any we tend to go off recommendation. Have faith kind-hearted people, your mum was right about good manners paying off and about the good guys winning in the end.

But will the meek inherit the earth? That’s the real question. Surely you only have to look to your computer screen for the answer. Our future is embedded in technology. The headline grabbers of today are Microsoft, Apple, Google.

These companies were set up by arguably civilised people : Geeks! With the rise of everything technological surely the only forward is via the medium of the geek. This inherently pleasant race of underdog has become the champion of tomorrow, it is not the meek but the geek who has inherited our planet!

In reality of course, it is more than likely a matter of balance. The super-talented web-developer in their bedroom who can’t market themselves is about as much use as the big-gobbed, supremeley confident celebrity agent with no talent of their own. It’s about having the ability to use these strengths as necessary but realising that integrity is at the heart of the future because of its inevitable transparency.

You may well disagree, but I would like to think that the vessels who will sail through the tweenies or the teenies or the 00s or whatever we decide to call this decade will have a balanced crew who know when to raise or lower their sails, and their sales, but never fly the skull and crossbones flags.

Given today’s news the following is going to sound really inappropriate: If half the staff at Granada and BBC Manchester had taken to heart the media pundits’ predictions for the future of television then I would have been walking past a long line of decaying bodies dangling from the railway arches in Castlefield.  I did warn you about the inappropriateness.

Castlefield arches

Everywhere you look people are proclaiming the death of television, or at the very least the death of programme-making for any sort of profit. There are hundreds of reasons for anyone involved with television to consider taking up teaching tomorrow. The rise of piracy, the fall of ad spend, the shaky future of Public service broadcasters in the face of the multi platform explosion, the uninhibited march of free content and copyright abuse are but a few reasons for programme makers to be shaking in their patent leather boots. But they’re not are they. So why in Youtube’s name isn’t anyone crying into their starbucks?

You could probably put it down to two factors, one being the huge, red, X shaped one that is taking over our Saturday night living rooms. With over 10 million viewers every weekend on the box, the show proves that you can make money from television and that there really is a viewing audience. Add to this the relentless merchandising and you have a powerhouse that denies any death of entertainment.  But what about the other formats? News, film, drama, documentaries: The more traditionally creative, and many would argue, higher quality, media? Herein lies our second fear alleviator. Yes, of course the way we ingest this entertainment is changing, and it always will, but the fact remains that consumers are hungrier than ever for video content. Surely the solution lies in using the monsters of X Factor and Strictly to pay for the creative stuff. That may happen already to an extent but if we are to carry on being the innovators that we currently are in this country then we need to start addressing these issues.  We should actually be frightened of the consumers. They’ve become so hungry for content that isn’t the X Factor that they are creating it themselves in their bedrooms and on their camera phones.

As you’re asked on a Friday night what you do for a living and you say ‘ I’m in the media’ , then your questioner’s eyes light up, we like to think that we will carry on creating video content regardless of where it ends up. And although we’re not entirely sure just yet how to make lots of money from it, it’s what we all love doing. And as long as there are people who love to create exciting, emotive, original video content the death of television will remain a way off. So I won’t be seeing leather boots hanging from the arches for a while. The boots however, should go entirely and producers should start thinking about wearing trainers, getting out from behind their desks and looking a bit further afield for the next pot of money. The competition is coming in the form of Shayne, 17 from Blackburn, and we need to be ready.

Looking back at the history of theatre and film together, it becomes apparent that Fireflies is by no means the first production to combine the two, it will however be traversing the imperceptible barrier in a fresh and daring manner.

Before the introduction of sound into film, film images were already being incorporated into live theatre and performance. Berg’s opera Lulu was one of the first productions to include film images. Schoenberg wrote music for an imaginary film scene that was realised cinematically after his death. In fact many film directors started their career in the theatre and vice versa, D. W. Griffith, for example. Method acting, traditionally associated with some of the great film actors such as Marlon Brando, has its origins in the theatre.

Mixed-media in the traditional sense really came into its own after World War Two with the advances of technology, and the advent of affordable projection equipment for theatre productions.  The popularity of the light show coupled with the growth of video made it easier for theatre directors to consider using it in their productions. Through the 80s and 90s the use of visual elements incorporated into theatre increased in frequency and importance, allowing directors unprecedented creative freedom.

With such parallels already in place between these two art forms, why then, have theatre and film productions been so thin on the ground?

Maybe it’s because the mixed theatre and video productions to date have been conveying mixed messages, and possibly they haven’t been ambitious enough

The primary focus in existing productions has always been on the theatrical elements with the video playing a supporting or a side role. The barriers between performance, scenography and cinema have all too often been jarringly perceptible.

Today we live in a mixed media landscape, screens inhabit our daily lives and the line between reality, wishes, hopes and communication have all been rendered invisible. As well as removing the line between the two traditionally autonomous worlds of theatre and film, Fireflies is creating a new world. One where our characters can exist on screen and on stage. The exchanges between the two media reflect the all-encompassing, spontaneous and dramatic glory of a human relationship. The audio visual elements mixed with the theatrical immediacy of performance perfectly illustrate the characters’ emotions and permit the audience to experience them fully.

What is so groundbreaking about Fireflies is that the script was written with both elements equally in mind, the production seeks to give equal importance to the video imagery and what is being acted out on stage.

Throughout the show the actors on stage react to, and interact with, their on-screen colleagues intuitively, in order to be believable the set up requires the production to be timed immaculately. In filming all the on-screen footage both cast and crew have had to imagine a set up that they have not yet seen. Over the past few months this has been one of the most challenging and yet rewarding parts of pulling the show together.

The film and theatre facets, along with the light and sound all contribute to the mise en scene of the final show. The result is that the physical presence of the live performances is intensified by stunning audio-visual content.

The synergy in this ‘living set’ paints a truer picture of the world our characters can co-exist in.

Theatre and film have very similar goals: to tell compelling stories. Although their rules may be different the technology we have today given allows us to see both these art forms collaborating at their very best. Much like fireflies they have been flashing at each other for a very long time, but for the first time someone has noticed their similarities rather than their differences and placed them in the right world for them to work together, in perfect synchronisation.

Rima Sen – Lion Eyes