Humber Connected: Movie Snob Extraordinaire
(Originally broadcast March 15, 2011)
Today's House Blogger was Craig Irving
It was a hectic morning for BRTV students due to some last minute re-scheduling. Producer Michael Bajdowicz and Director Scott Reynolds found out suddenly that their program would have to be bumped up in the schedule and they were quick to rise to the challenge. Michael efficiently rounded up his crew and began show preparation at 8 am. Michael had a little bit of trouble with the roll restructuring and needed to do some last minute begging to fill some missing positions. But Shirley Fullerton and James Andrews stepped up to the plate and agreed to host the show for Michael and Rochelle Chambers on stepped in as camera operator.
Even amongst all these changes and last-minute chaos, director Scott was cool, smooth and in control. He was told we would have a 9:30 show time and always gave the impression he was totally under control and had no concerns that we would be ready in time to put on a good show.
There were some challenges putting together the credits and lower-thirds in time for the rehearsals due to all these changes, but Richard Donalds retrieved all the details and compiled a list of who was doing what and was completely prepared by air time. There may have been a little bit of tension during rehearsals due to CG not being entirely ready yet, but Scott was very understanding.
It wasn’t just the director who was in control however. Brandon Lankar, who was unfortunately incredibly sick that morning, was still ready to work hard. He practiced his controls and learning the show’s beats from the director until he developed a mastery over his role. He was praised by teaching instructor Judy who said to him, “You look like you’re in control!” Judy moved on to observe Josh Gordon as our Shader and remarked that the cameras looked very good. Josh Sam had a clever idea of colour coding the script to make it more efficient for our hosts to read and the results were terrific.
Now Michael was starting to sense that the show was coming together perfectly. He said to me privately “I have nothing but my full confidence for the BRTV population.” In studio we were prepared and I could notice Yazdan through the window poised, concentrated and ready for instruction. He was able to quickly relay instruction from the control room and control noise on the floor. We were now ready to begin.
The show being produced today was “Movie Snob Extraordinaire” a brilliant satire of movie review shows and the pretention commonly found between film critics and connoisseurs. James with his raunchy British attitude and Shirley with her authentic Korean accent quickly had the entire crew laughing during rehearsals with Michael’s witty script.
As we began our rehearsal, Karen offered some framing suggestions and inter-camera cutting and Scott was grateful for her insight. After a few subtle tweaks the show was off and running. Switching was smooth and seamless, and it was clear that Scott was born for the position of Director. His calming tone and relaxed nature put everyone around him at ease and the no-stress environment he created allowed others to work at their absolute best.
It was a very fun production for all involved. When we went to air, Producer Michael was able to sit back and enjoy his script being executed by our hosts with absolute perfection. Scott directed the actors to do some small ad-libbing to pad the time, but everything that went to air remained professional in every way.