Production Meeting 6 (segment talk)
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Audience Profiles
Daily Diary 10/11
Today I did my audience profiles and was part of the production meeting, talking about the pitch and fleshing out our ideas for it. Over the weekend I have to prepare for the pitch, I'll be talking about the Contingency Plan slide
I feel fine with the slide I have to do, I did volunteer to do it after all, but am slightly worried about how thorough I'll have to be for it. In the production meeting we talked about a few things that could go wrong, but I'm unsure if we really went through and talked about everything
Pitch
I felt that the pitch went well, everyone and I got our points across clearly. Presenting-wise I did very well. My slide was short but I prepared cue cards for it anyway and that mainly helped me with the order of the questions. We also did a rehearsal of the pitch before we actually did it and I think that helped a lot as well. I went into more detail into my roles in the cue cards, but I cut that part out from the pitch since I didn't need to go that in depth with it
The feedback we got on the pitch were mainly things for us to think about next. The main issue was the time schedule of our show, at 9pm 16-17 year olds might be asleep. We'll also be covering Nintendo games as well and that has a younger audience. To compromise for this, we were recommended to have a 30 minute edited version of the episode aired on Saturday so they'd also be able to watch the show. The part that would be edited out are the sections with mature rated games. We were also told to go more in depth with the colour scheme, black and neon colours were too vague. In the production meeting after this pitch we decided to have the neon colours be pink and purple
Cue Cards
Production Meeting 7 (pitch feedback)
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Proposal (first draft)
Proposal (final)
Research for Script (true or false leaks)
To help with the script, I've decided to do research for the true or false leaks quiz that'll be in the show. I first looked at leaks that were true, finding a few top ten lists about it. One of the leaks listed were the Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time remake that was leaked a few months before it was officially announced (leaker posted it on Reddit in March 2020, was announced September 2020)
Another leak was for the Nintendo Switch's game line up, before the day it was officially revealed a leaker posted the full line up of games coming out for the console on 4chan. Multiple sites reported on this leak and an industry reporter Patrick Klepek posted an infamous tweet about it, hours later it was proven that the leaks were correct
The PS5 Dev Kit was leaked as well, with many people not believing the leak because of how ridiculous it looked. Dev Kits for previous Playstation consoles were usually very basic (only being a black or grey looking box) and this one looked very outlandish. Sony "refused to comment" on if the leak was real or not and it was eventually revealed that this was real
The PS5 Dev Kit was leaked as well, with many people not believing the leak because of how ridiculous it looked. Dev Kits for previous Playstation consoles were usually very basic (only being a black or grey looking box) and this one looked very outlandish. Sony "refused to comment" on if the leak was real or not and it was eventually revealed that this was real
Red Dead Redemption 2's story was leaked on Reddit years before the game actually came out (leak was posted in 2016 and the game came out on 2018). They spoiled the name of the protagonist, one of the endings and various gameplay elements like there being a minigame where John helps a horse give birth
A similar leak happened for Final Fantasy XV, the game's entire story was leaked a few months before the game came out by an anonymous 4chan user. The leaked plot apparently wasn't exciting either, so many people were dismissive of it
Several months before Halo 4 was released, a video showcasing a leak of the games multiplayer was posted on Youtube. The video itself was very strange, the music in it being obnoxiously loud (with NSFW lyrics), the gameplay being shown on an old TV in a barn and the Twitter handle "@420xSkidxBluntz" being shown via text. There's also a picture of a bear at 1:28 for no reason. The leak was very bizzare, so much so that many people weren't sure what they felt about the video at all. The leak was actually showing off Halo 4 gameplay, just in a very weird way
Fallout 4 was ambigious during its development as Bethesda tried its hardest to hide most of the games content until release. A leaker who was a writer at Kotaku (a gaming news website) wrote an article about the games setting and new feature of having voice acting for the playable protagonist. At first people could believe this leak to be fake, but Bethesda reacting to the article by forbidding the website to cover anything related to the franchise pretty much confirmed the leak being true
Grand Theft Auto 6 had a total of 90 leaked videos that showed the development of the game in early stages, which could possibly be the biggest leak in the video game industry. Rockstar developers said the leaks happened because "An unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems."
I decided that nine true leaks should be enough for the segment as its only about six minutes long. Gamerant also has a few articles talking about fake leaks, I started with the Pokemon article
I decided I'll only take one of the eight fake leaks listed on here since I didn't want there to be multiple Pokemon questions in the quiz. During the pre-release for Pokemon X & Y, a lot of fans were anticipating a Japanese magazine called Corocoro. The magazine often had new information about upcoming Pokemon games (new Pokemon and gameplay features), but their style could easily be copied by Photoshoppers. There were many different Photoshoped leaks, the website uses this one as an example, a pre-evolution of Drowzee and a new Pokemon that looked like a hooded crow
I found an article on Screenrant about 10 of the biggest gaming leaks. I didn't want to spend too long on these as the bigger the leak is the more likely the answer of them being wrong was obvious. The first leak was about the fake Xbox series V, this is slightly believable as the Xbox has an inconsistent naming scheme
An obviously fake leak was this one for a Dark Souls 5, a main giveaway to this is the roman numerals being wrong
Another leak was for Borderlands 3. Borderlands 2 was one of the biggest games of the 2010s and due to behind-the-scenes changes it took awhile for there to be another follow up to that game. The game is real but there was a leak going around that advertised the trailer, rumoured to be revealed at E3 2018. The leak had foreboding imagery and said the game would be the darkest in the series. In actuality the leak was revealed to be faking by MentalMars, using traced art
It featured dark foreboding imagery and details about the game being the darkest in the series, and even came with a release date for the game. Unfortunately for fans, it turned out to be a hoax using a piece of traced art, dissected by an article on MentalMars
There was a fake leak for a Dr. Mario stage in Super Smash Bros For Wii U. It was very believable as it sounded like a safe bet, Dr. Mario was a character in the game after all. This was eventually proven fake but the creators later made a mod for it
E3 leaks are very common and easy to do, so there's a lot of fake leaks for them. One of them was this one for the E3 2018. Some of the things in this list did eventually happen later on though, like Diablo IV and a new Metroid
On a forum post on ResetEra about the best fake game leaks, there's multiple images of fake leaks for 'upcoming' games that weren't real. There was a lot of conversation about the Nintendo NX controller, but because its so infamous I decided it wouldn't be fit for the quiz
There are also many YouTube videos about leaks so I thought I should watch some of them as well. I found a video specifically on Smash Bros leaks and rumours so I decided to watch that
A lot of people on the forums were talking about the Rayman leak, it's a very infamous leak due to how well made it was. The leak was about Rayman being a DLC character for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. At the time Ubisoft said they'd make a statement for this since a lot of news outlets asked them about this. The leak was released in February 2015, the creator (Artsy Omni on YouTube) later said it was a promotional stunt to promote their show. The show had artists make fake character renders for characters people wanted to be in the game
For Smash Bros Melee, one of the biggest fake leaks for this game was Sonic and Tails being unlockable fighters people could play as. They'd be unlocked if someone beat 20 enemies in cruel Melee and then beat those two characters. This leak was popularised on Electronic Gaming Monthly, but it turned out to be an April fools prank. Sonic would've actually been playable in Melee if it wasn't for the game's time constraints
Toad was also rumoured to be an unlockable fighter by Geocities.com, he was unlocked by: achieving a perfect score in the credits mini game, completing adventure mode afterwards while defeating all the Yoshi's in the mushroom kingdom section. This was easily disproven though as all of the images provided were edits
One of the fake leaks later turned out to be correct. This leak was made after Mewtwo was announced as DLC for Super Smash Bros. for 3DS but before Lucas was. Its still a fake leak as the renders for the characters are wrong, but these two were eventually the first DLC characters for the game
I didn't want to have too many leaks with Nintendo games, so I stopped watching around here. I think I researched enough leaks to fit into the quiz as I have nine leaks that were true and about 15 leaks that were false
Bowling, S. (2020) The Most Infamous Leaks in Video Game History. Available at: https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/05/14/the-most-infamous-leaks-in-video-game-history. Accessed at: 22.11.22
Flynn, J. (2022) 5 Video Game Leaks That Proved To Be True. Available at: https://gamerant.com/video-game-leaks-proved-true/. Accessed at: 15.11.22
Meegan, D. (2021) 10 Real Video Games Leaks Everyone Thought Were Fake. Available at: https://whatculture.com/gaming/10-real-video-game-leaks-everyone-thought-were-fake. Accessed at: 15.11.22
Potvin, J. (2022) 10 Biggest Gaming Leaks That Were Totally Wrong. Available at: https://screenrant.com/10-biggest-gaming-leaks-that-were-totally-wrong/. Accessed at: 22.11.22
ResetEra. (2018) Best fake game leaks. Available at: https://www.resetera.com/threads/best-fake-game-leaks.14817/. Accessed at: 22.11.22
Santi, B. (2022) 8 Fake Pokemon Leaks That We Wish Had Come True. Available at: https://gamerant.com/fake-pokemon-leaks-wish-had-come-true/. Accessed at: 16.11.22
Scott the Woz. (2017) History of Smash Bros. Rumors and Leaks - Scott The Woz. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ_4Vxk9P6g. Accessed at: 22.11.22
Walker, B. (2018) Red Dead Redemption 2 Leak in 2016 That No One Believed Turned Out to Be Entirely True. Available at: https://www.dualshockers.com/red-dead-redemption-2-leak-2016-true/. Accessed at: 15.11.22
xBeg4mercy. (2012) NEW! Halo 4 Leaked Multiplayer Gameplay (ACTUALLY REAL!!). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POconAHU3aE. Accessed at: 15.11.22
Daily Diary 15/11
Today I took part in the pitch & production meeting 6, did the proposal sheet for the show and did research for the true or false leaks quiz that'll be on the show. For homework I'll have to finish off my proposal and continue doing research for the quiz
As mentioned before, I think the pitch went really well. I didn't have much to say so that might've been a part, but overall I think everyone did good. I feel like it was mainly because of the rehearsal we did before the actual pitch started, so I'll have to do that more often before pitches
Tomorrow we'll start doing pre-production work, I'm still slightly worried since I've never been in charge of lighting before an don't have much experience with them, but I do know how they work and can set them up fine so it shouldn't be too much of an issue deciding where the lights will go. The main issue is the studio space being so small. I'll have to work with the set designer to make sure the lights can actually fit around the set
Vision Mixer PDF
To understand how to use the vision mixer, I decided to look at the official manual for it. However as you can see from the contents, the manual is extremely long and I don't need to know all of the information (like using the audio mixer). I decided to look at specific topics instead, going down in page order and skipping through things I already know from the demonstration that Michael gave us
On page 11 it talks about plugging cameras into the vision mixer. The only thing required to connect a camera to the ATEM switcher is a cable (either HDMI or SDI depending on the switcher being used), then it can be connected to an input on the switcher
If a source isn't synced, the switcher will automatically try to do it by enabling a frame sync. If a video isn't showing on the HDMI video input even if the devices are connected, it might be because the HDMI device connected uses HDCP content protection. This shouldn't be an issue though as this mainly happens with DVD players and set top boxes
To plug the computer in the ATEM switcher, there are a few steps. First connect an Ethernet cable from the ATEM switcher's 'Control' Ethernet port to the Ethernet port for the computer. Then launch the ATEM Software Control on the computer (make sure the ATEM switcher is on so it can work)
It'll either ask for an update or will ask for the ATEM switcher's IP address. If asking for the address it'll also have a button to open the Blackmagic ATEM Setup so its easy to find the ATEM switcher's IP address. If it still isn't found, the solution is most likely changing the network setting on the computer. The instructions to change network settings are down below
Page 32 talks about the ATEM switcher's control panel (on the computer). There's a media manager on the software that'll allow me to upload graphics to the media pool in the ATEM switcher. In total it can hold up to a maximum of 20 still graphics to be loaded on the switcher. When a graphic has been used, I can change the media player graphic to the next graphic needed and then use that media player for the next graphic
The alpha channel will automatically load when a still is loaded into the media pool, if its on the media player the output of the media player will include both key and fill outputs. If the media player is a key source, both the fill and the key are selected together
I skipped to page 73 as those pages start talking about what I'll actually be using. The HyperDesk Studio is what I'll be using to record my live editing and I'll only being using it for that purpose, but I still wanted to read a bit about it anyway. I could also play back video, skip clips and pause it to name a few of its other function
To access the HyperDeck menus in the software, click the 'media players' tab in the software control panel and then choose 'HyperDecks'. Each HyperDeck selection button has a tally indicator, the meanings are down below
The HyperDeck it shows in the manual is different to the one the college has, the manual then goes onto talk about how to transition between camera sources and how to navigate the menu for it but I already know how to so I skipped over it. Anything on the screen is what its actually recording, so if somethings up with it then it means it'll affect the recording as well
Page 89 is when it starts talking about the vision mixer I'll be using. The program (red) and preview (green) are both different settings, program is what's actually being shown on the screen and preview shows a big preview for a source. They can also both be set on the same source
I already know how to use the transition buttons and don't plan on using any of them aside from Mix (fade from source to source). I can use the auto button or the slider next to it to transition between sources as well, auto does it automatically but I can change the speed of the transition using sliders
There are even options to control the camera using the buttons and knobs at the top of the vision mixer. I don't think I'll be using these for production, but I didn't know what the top row did so its interesting to know. The knobs to the right of the transition buttons are for the audio which also won't be used since another person on production is in charge of the audio mixer
Black Magic Design. (2020) ATEM Television Studio Switchers Manual. Available at: https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/UserManuals/ATEM_Television_Studio_Switchers_Manual.pdf?_v=1594364410000. Accessed at: 16.11.22
Daily Diary 16/11
Today I did research into the manual and did some more research into leaks for the script. Tomorrow we'll be in the studio with the equipment
I read a bit about the connection as well and found out that the reason the computer might not be working with the ATEM is because the computer might not be plugged with an ethernet cable. The computer in general doesn't have internet so I assume this is the reason why. I didn't talk about it much in my research since there's nothing I can really do about that, I just have to hope it works before we're actually doing the production since I know the higher ups at college have been notified about it already. For now in the rehearsals I'll have to load up each graphic on the computer and then use a program switch to show the computer monitor, this is what me and the producer did for showing advertisements when Michael was showing us a demonstration
First Draft for Lighting Plans (set 1, set 2, set 3)
Set 3 Lighting Plan Demo
Daily Diary 17/11
Today I took part for camera blocking, I mainly checked if the shots looked fine. I also created the lighting plans
I'm honestly not confident at all in the lighting plans, the third set was really difficult to try and figure out a lighting plan for. I can't accurately see where the cameras will be on the plan either so I had to make educated guesses on where they'd be. I was able to do the lighting plan for set 3 (which was the most difficult one to plan), but I'm not fully confident in it. I expect to have to change these later
Camera blocking went fine, all I really did was cut to cameras and check what shots looked fine (and even then its mostly on the director to tell the camera operators anyway). Some of the shots were either out of focused or just positioned wrong, but it mostly went alright. Having everyone move from set to set for the first time was obviously messy, especially for the camera operators, but I imagine it'll get better with time