Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1081428
www.postmagazine.com 41 POST JAN/FEB 2019 essentially a talent show. A ratings juggernaut, the series is known for its diverse group of contes- tants that range from singers, comics and dance troups to magicians, daredevils and ventriloquists, as well as some of the wackiest and most outra- geous auditions on TV. The series, from NBC, Syco Entertainment and Fremantle (www.fremantle.com) — creators, pro- ducers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content — features the all-star judges panel of ex- ecutive producer Simon Cowell, Mel B, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel, as well as new host, Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews. The show, which has had more than 900 million global viewers since it began airing in 2006 and has aired in 194 markets worldwide, is about to begin shooting (in March) its 14 th season, which will air this summer. Fremantle's Sue Moryer, supervising producer, is charged with overseeing post production. "There are really two distinct sections of the show," Moryer explains. "In the early rounds, we're doing a tape-based show. We're shooting audi- tions and the middle rounds at a specified loca- tion. Everything is recorded to tape and edited in post that way. "In the later rounds, the final six weeks of the show, it's a traditional live show. So, we have two very different workflows. We have a tape-based workflow and a live workflow." For all action taking place on-stage, the show is shot on Sony HDC-2500 series cameras with Canon Studio lenses and Fujinon EFP lenses on the handhelds and jibs. Moryer, who is now in her ninth season with the series, explains that during the taped rounds, the production team is "Iso'ing all of the foot- age to XDCAMs in the production truck. So, although we're doing a line cut in the truck, we're also Iso'ing all of those records to XDCAM. That allows us to bring a six hour shoot day down to time…and it gives us that flexibility. Because the way the auditions is shot, it's not one day of shooting equals one televi- sion episode, it's that we're shooting over a period of 13 to 14 days and that comprises the first 12 hours of television, the first six, two-hour episodes." For the backstage, reality type of footage, such as interviews with contestants, crews are using a variety of multi-format, tapeless cameras, including the Canon C300 series. "In part, to achieve differ- ent looks," Moryer explains. In addition, the show is relying on different variations of Red cameras to capture action outside of the theater. "If we are watching a contestant walking down Hollywood Boulevard, for instance, discussing what this oppor- tunity would be in their life to perform on one of the largest stages in the world," she says. Red is also being used to shoot slow-mo on the stage. "Again, that allows us to give a very different look than what a traditional stage-recorded show looks like," Moryer adds. Once the footage is captured, it then moves into AGT is cut on Avid. Vocalist Susan Boyle, winner in 2009 of Britain's Got Talent.