Job Roles Research Report

In this research report I am going to be going into detail and looking at the two job roles that I have applied for. I will be doing this to gather a better understanding of what will be expected of me and what I will need to do to ensure that I am demonstrating that I am the best person for the role in question. I will be looking at both primary and secondary sources to ensure that I have a wide backed range of reliable information that I can use to influence my decisions and choices within these roles. Coming out of this I hope to have a wider knowledge of these roles and what comes with them.

 

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Floor Manager 

Being organised and having the ability to organise others is an essential skill of a floor manager. They need to be “Highly organised people who combine their communication skills, charm and persuasion to address and ideally predict any issues that may affect the programme”. [Careers In Screen,2018] This is the ideal demonstration of organisational abilities as not only do you need to have the ability to ensure the smooth running of a programme but you also need to be able to organise your skills and abilities to best control and manoeuvre a situation. This is a difficult skill to master and requires practice. However, if I follow the steps highlighted in that piece of secondary research, I should be able to achieve this and meet my own expectations.

 

As well as this it is often said that the floor manager sets the mood for the rest of the room and therefore determines things such as crew morale, efficiency and overall quality of the work output. Therefore it is an important skill that the floor manager has the ability to effectively and smoothly work under pressure. Although this seems like something which you would expect by looking at the job responsibilities, it is often a forgotten aspect of the role. If the floor manager is going around with a stressed look on their face and is becoming overwhelmed with the tasks that they have to complete, the other people who are looking to that person to be their guide may begin to experience similar negative feelings. We know this is the case as trusted sources all come to a joint statement and decision that “Managers often have the most influence on morale” [Indeed, 2023]. This is as a result of enforcing expectations and coordinating workload.
 

Taking a look at what everyone is wanting to achieve by the end of a project is an important step to keeping everyone on track towards the same goal. Although members of a team will naturally have their own hopes, goals and aspirations at the end of a project, there will always be one that stands out as being the same for everyone. In the case of our live stream production project that is the successful output of two live streams that effectively and accurately demonstrate the best of us and our skills. It is important for people in managerial positions to identify this early on so that they can use it to combat any morale or lack of effort issues that may arise throughout the project. Reliable sources support this by stating that “Team goals help team members understand how their individual work fits within the group” [BetterUp, 2023] 

 

Being someone within a managerial position there are multiple ways that you can choose to fulfil your responsibilities. An example of this is that a manager's responsibility is to ensure the smooth running of specific tasks or projects. Throughout a project there are going to be areas that go wrong, there are people in positions to rectify issues and hopefully mitigate them. As a result the manager can choose to understand that there is an issue which has occurred and either coordinate the specific areas and people together to ensure that the issue is resolved or they can simply prompt the relevant people and teams where they can then sit back, have trust in those people and move on to another area. I have explored the use of two techniques, one of them being direct management, although this worked it resulted in me getting stressed and “Setting the tone for the rest of the room” [B. Doherty, 2024]

 

However, there is of course the opposing side of direct management and that is backseat management also known as indirect management. This is using the same foundations as other management techniques however requires an immense amount of trust in the people working within your team. An example of backseat management would be a practice run for a live show which went wrong, rather than standing up and identifying yourself in all of the areas that went wrong. You pitch the identification task to members of the crew, this allows people to be self critical and also takes away the potential negative backlash that could come as a result of it being told by someone within a manager's position which could include affecting confidence or morale. Additional to this, it was told to me when i was researching this that “When we as the team are given time to review and share areas for improvement that we picked up on it allows us to feel like our voices are heard, as well as this it identifies problems which may have been missed by you due to them happening in the control room for example” [Pennick. F, 2024]

 

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Video Mixer 

As the video mixer it is important to have the ability to identify issues and areas of improvement within your own work. This is to ensure that when it comes to the real thing that you are giving the best possible outcome for what you can offer. As a result of this it is important to have an artistic eye for detail, this could be interpreted down to something as simple as camera focus or shot framing so that all of the content that is wanting to be shown actually is. It is said that there is importance for vision mixers to “Make detailed notes on the camera script about required sources, transition types, graphics and technical effects” [Edina. T, 2011b]. This tells us that it is important for video mixers to take all areas of their role into consideration and combine that with their eye and ability for detail in order to output the best possible outcome.

 

Additionally to this it is important for a video mixer to be able to make quick fixes to issues that they have identified using their eye for detail. These fixes need to be made on the fly as it is unfolding or as soon as they are made aware of it. This is so as to not disrupt the viewing for the audience and subsequently give the impression that the show was a smooth process from start to finish. It is important to work with different team members who represent their respective areas to try and mitigate any potential issues from occurring in the first place, however it is important for a video mixer to have the skill as a backup should something unexpected go wrong. A reliable source stated the skills that a video mixer should have are “Excellent timing and coordination skills, quick reactions, high levels of concentration and the ability to handle stress” [Edina. T, 2011a]. This further reinforces the expectations of someone within this specific role.

 

A key responsibility of this role is to take control during the crew meeting and ensure that there is a pre planned outline and expectation of what the show is supposed to look like if everything goes according to plan. Then you work on breaking that down into individual separate plans such as an equipment list or a transition sheet so that you can ensure that what is being shown to the audience is as intended. This obviously comes as an important and somewhat stressful part of the role however if done correctly can produce excellent results and is ultimately the make or break of the production. In a larger professional production setting such as a BBC broadcast “The vision mixer operates the mixing desk while the director calls the shots, or they work off a script that has been prepared by the director” [ScreenSkills, 2023]. This is different however from how we are doing it within our project to ensure that workload is fairly and evenly distributed and also that all of the criteria is met to ensure we achieve the best personal grades. Additionally our production team is not nearly big enough to accommodate some of the roles used in larger productions.

 

As a part of my research I decided to look into two different techniques that are used within industry in order to achieve different results within an outcome. On pre planned and longer shows i found that the shot switching undertaken by the video mixer were very choreographed and pre planned. This is in an attempt to mitigate the risk of incorrect shots being shown, this is especially important within the live streaming aspect of production as often when a camera is angled elsewhere and showing a different shot, there is a member of the behind the scenes crew on screen fixing something or changing something as per the request of the floor managers. This could become an issue in the live stream as “It would break the immersion and would break the planned runnings of the show” [Thomas. J, 2024]

 

On the other hand it is a widely explored technique within smaller or more simpler productions that a more spontaneous shot switching style is taken on by the video mixer. Based on my research this is usually used when every other aspect of the piece of content is planned out and has been rehearsed successfully on multiple occasions. An example of when this would be used is if there was a mobile camera out following an interviewer who is asking questions to people. This would require and generally be more suited towards the spontaneous shot switching style because although one side of that interaction is planned, the other side (that of the person answering the questions) is not. When pitching this idea to the production crew it was said in response by someone that “Although spontaneous shot switching opens up the risk of things going wrong, it also allows for fantastic dialogue and interaction between two different groups naturally which may not have been achievable in a pre planned situation” [Fisher. M, 2024]
 

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In conclusion I feel that I have achieved what I wanted to when I set out in this research report. I feel that I have an overall better understanding of what it takes to give a good outcome within my two specified roles. I feel that I also know how my roles affect the wider production and what I can do to ensure that I mitigate anything that could go wrong and also focus my attention on what I can do to ensure that it goes well. I will take the information and knowledge that I have gathered within this research report forward with me and apply it to my future work with whatever role I find myself in when we come to do the live stream productions for real.
 

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Bibliography 

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Careers In Screen (2023) Floor Manager. Available at: https://www.careersinscreen.ie/role/floor-manager/#:~:text=Floor%20 Managers%20are%20 highly%20 organised,location%20during%20a%20busy%20shoot. (Accessed: 21 January 2024). 

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Indeed (2023) How to deal with low morale in the workplace - indeed. Available at: https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/low-morale  (Accessed: 21 January 2024). 

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(2023) BetterUp The best way to set team goals for Success. Available at: https://www.betterup.com/blog/the-best-way-to-set-team-goals#:~:text=Benefits%20of%20team%20goals,-Setting%20team%20goals&text=Team%20goals%20help%20team%20members,of%2Daction%20for%20your%20team.&text=Team%20goals%20create%20opportunities%20to%20build%20trust%20and%20collaboration.  (Accessed: 21 January 2024). 

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[B. Doherty, 2024] Verbal Feedback on the first practice run with me as the floor manager.

 

[Pennick. F, 2024] Verbal Feedback on the first practice run with me as the floor manager.
 

Edina, T. (2011b) Vision mixing..all about the role, Toth Edina’s Blog. Available at: https://tothedina.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/2078/    (Accessed: 21 January 2024). 

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Edina, T. (2011a) Vision mixer-about the role (short research), Toth Edina’s Blog. Available at: https://tothedina.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/vision-mixer-about-the-role-short-research/  (Accessed: 21 January 2024). 

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ScreenSkills (2023) Vision Mixer in the unscripted TV industry. Available at: https://www.screenskills.com/job-profiles/browse/unscripted-tv/editorial/vision-mixer/  (Accessed: 21 January 2024). 

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[Thomas. J, 2024] Verbal brainstorming for how we can mitigate potential issues in the live show.

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[Fisher. M, 2024] Verbally said in response to the explanation of instances where different shot switching styles would be best used.