BBC Project

Create a TV studio design for a weekly late-night programme for BBC Three, covering varied topics,
targeted at a viewing audience age range 16-34. This will be a small studio, live production, intended for
one anchor person with guests.

Presenter

For my show my presenter is Michael McIntyre because he is an extremely funny comedian and presenter. He is also witty and has a very silly side which would appeal greatly not just to the demographic but a general audience.

The basis of the show is that it will be the presenter and three celebrity guests and they will come on all at once and join Michael at the desk. They will briefly talk about their lives if there is anything interesting going on and then they will get straight into the activities which are chosen by the wheel. They will then receive points based on how well they complete these activities.

Mood Boards

- General Mood Board

For the very start of the process for the BBC project I made two mood boards. The first one is of generic light entertainment shows such as: Mock The Week, QI, and Taskmaster. All of these different shows sparked a lot of ideas for me but the one that made the most was definitely Countdown (8 out of 10 cats version). The layout for it is really good and it flows together really well with the curved desk with the guests around it with the countdown clock being the very central piece. Curved desks are a recurring object as they hide the around the back of the desks, they are more aesthetically pleasing to look at rather than a straight desk and finally they are better for the guests as they can see each other better with it being curved, its better for the conversation on the show.

With now having some idea of what I would like to create for my light entertainment show I then went onto create a more refined mood board. With this one I looked at colours and themes for the show of what I would want the celebrities to be doing and finally some different wheel designs for the show. I also realised with the more refined idea they have a lot of the same colour themes involving red, blue, yellow, and purple. Even though only three of the colours are only primary colours all four work really well together with the right shades and are really complimentary.

- Refined Mood Board

Themed Mood board

This mood board looks at my 'red carpet' theme. These events include the Golden Globes, the BAFTA'S and the Oscars. I looked at the red carpet fabric which is velvety. And some similarities include the lighting that goes along the carpet which tends to be warm lighting as it is an occasion of joy and celebration of achievement. A lot of them tend to also have a backdrop of some sort with a pattern or words on for celebrities to pose in front of for photographs. For my set the backdrop is very much the red curtains I will have. And finally some of the events have some shrubbery but I don't feel this would fit with my aesthetic especially as green is not in my colour pallet and I think it would stand out too much.

First Concept

In the first concept of my set it was just a quick draft of what I wanted it to look like. I first started with drawing a rough shape for the set and then placed in the stage for where I wanted the stage to be for the desk and where the presenter and the guests will sit. I added a curved desk which was inspired by Countdown and Mock the Week which both have curved desks and they definitely work which is why they are used in so many different shows with just a slight varied design. There is also a centred entrance with a diamond shaped door leading out with a red carpet and the metal pole dividers just like a red carpet event which is one of the themes I have been thinking about. Above the desk is the wheel which has all of the talents on for the celebrities to perform and also the shows logo which is a recreation of the theatre tragedy and comedy faces and my thinking behind this is the different faces the celebrities will make when performing their given task. On the left side of the stage is another stage which is the performance area and that will have a textured wall behind it and on the side of that will be a big red curtain just like a theatre. I have also at the top of the design been looking at different colour shades to see what would work best with each other.

Second Concept

The image here is a more refined design for my light entertainment set. I have changed a lot about my set. For starters, the shape of the set has completely changed to allow for more space. I have also put the desk for the guests and host in the centre as its one of the most important parts of the show and it will be one of the main focuses especially for the cameras. I have also placed the shows logo on the floor as there was some unused space there and it then makes the back wall less cramped. Both of the different stages are now connected by a small platform so the guests can walk between the two with ease. Furthermore both sides of the set have red curtains now, and the curtains on the right side open to reveal the guest's entrance where they can come through and walk along the red carpet in front of the desk and then walk round to sit at the desk, opposite the host, who sits at the circle end. I feel that this makes everything flow together better. The wheel is also above the desk in the very centre with all of the different tasks on. One of the new additions I have decided to add is some shapes in the back wall which gives a bit of added interest so it is not just a flat wall. The shapes will have a warm lighting behind them to add a nice glow effect. Some of the other lighting features are that the bases of the stages and the wheel will have strip lighting. I was also considering using some floor lights along the red carpet that could flicker to give the effects of paparazzi taking pictures of the celebrities. The final lighting feature is the performance stage; when somebody is performing a task the rest of the lights dim and there is a main light above the performance stage which focuses the audiences attention of them.

Visual Concepts

I have used three different camera shots to show how the set will look at different points of the show. And I have to think carefully especially about the background to make sure all of the different elements work together so for close ups and medium shots nothing looks out of place.

All of the different colours work really well together and are very complimentary of each other as they are the primary colours; and the red and yellow accents balance out the heavy tones of the blue on the walls, floor, and desk. One of the concepts is fully hand drawn and coloured, whereas the other two are hand drawn and then out into Photoshop to colour. I felt Photoshop was better for colouring as the light entertainment sets tend to have block colours and also on Photoshop it conveys more depth within the visuals. I also included my presenter in the visuals so you can see the scale and get a better representation of the set.

Logos

I created both of these logos on Illustrator which did not take me long. The first logo I was inspired by the theatre muses of tragedy and comedy, I thought this would be good as it would convey well the different emotions that the celebrities will exhibit during the different activities they will partake in. They are also a great representation as television is a split off from theatre.

The second logo is used for the title sequence of the show and it will appear on the wheel at the beginning of the show and the camera will pan out from the logo. It is very modern and sleek with a simple but effective design. And it is very synonymous with the show as it contains the same recognisable colours and shapes.

3D Concept

For my 3D concept I used a mixture of foam board and mount board and also magazine cutting to get an idea of the colours and shades I want to use. I also added the 1:50 scale model I made to get an idea for proportions of the set and furniture that will be included. This is a really useful way of the process from bringing a concept from 2D to 3D

Technical Drawing

My technical drawing has every necessary piece labelled with measurements and names along with seating and cameras. I decided to put a crane camera on the far left side to capture all of the sweeping shots of when the celebrities come onto the set from the right side when the curtains open to reveal the entrance. I then have two pedestal cameras in the middle and right sides to capture the rest of the shots throughout the show. Some improvements that I can acknowledge for the future are to add the dimensions and arrows by the stage doors, to neaten up my lettering so it can be read more clearly, add millimetres to the different dimensions, add arrows to the show stage entrance and exit, and finally to overlap the curtains by the entrance to show that they open. Apart from that I am very pleased with how my first proper technical drawing has turned out.

Model Process

Finished Model

I was incredibly happy with how my model turned out. It was exactly how I had envisaged it in my mind and also how I had represented it throughout my sketches. All of the colours compliment and balance each other really well, and nothing looks out of place or out of the ordinary. As you can see there are different shots representing the different ones used throughout the show.

I first started by cutting everything out of mount board and stuck it together using masking tape to make sure it all fit together properly before glueing. I gave some of the edges a bevel to make sure they had a seamless fit. Furthermore, I coloured the edges of the mount board with black to give it a more professional look.

Finally, by using my graphics skills I used Photoshop to create the back wall with the cutouts using the bevel and emboss tool to created the illusion of 3D, I did this as if I had of cut these out by hand they might have looked quite rough with not as a neat curve as what I was looking for.

"We're all stories in the end, just make it a good one"

​BBC Project