Were up to episode 5 of CRASH TEST MUMMIES & DADDIES...and maybe - TopicsExpress



          

Were up to episode 5 of CRASH TEST MUMMIES & DADDIES...and maybe youre wondering how on earth the production company pulled off this epic feat? Well, Endemol Australia have provided us with a very tongue-in-cheek answer... Crash Test Mummies and Daddies was produced by a core team of 12, with the series producer supported by a producer and an associate producer during casting from September to December 2013. After stalking ante-natal clinics, malls and baby stores wearing unflattering canary yellow T-shirts with the question: ‘Are you due in January?’ rudely emblazoned on it, we believe we may have spoken to every pregnant woman in Sydney due in January 2014. Our biggest haul came from a Baby Expo at Darling Harbour where we came back to the office with 99 names – the desperate efforts of our tenacious Associate Producer to get that 100th name just for the sheer round number satisfaction of it, had to be seen to be believed. We had all, at some point during casting, experienced the embarrassment of asking an overweight young woman when she was due, but our intrepid AP took casting to a whole new level that day. We settled on a fantastic mix of couples willing to share a life-changing experience on national television. In December 2013, background interviews were filmed with the selected couples to establish their pre-birth relationship, and hopes and dreams. Short breaks were often necessary during filming when some of the women, now heavily pregnant, experienced hot flushes. Principle photography took place from January until April 2014 when the team was increased to 5 shooter producers. A dedicated shooter producer filmed with each couple from the birth onwards to capture the emotional, physical, relationship and lifestyle changes. So what did we learn about filming with first time parents? Babies, especially newborns, never pay attention to schedules, while television production lives by them. First babies notoriously never arrive on time and ours were no exception. We ran a sweep at the office to see how good we were at predicting our babies’ birthdays, but even the winner was off by several days. Fortunately our mums-to-be kept us on speed dial and texted us throughout the night. We found ourselves sending each other ecstatic texts like: “she’s already dilated 7 centimetres”. The week we had 3 births only days apart, meant everyone from the Series Producer to the Assistant Producer operated a camera. Those of us who were lucky enough to be at the births of our babies were treated to an experience we will never forget. Our Producers learned to move quickly. Getting out of the house with a camera following a new mum can cause minor delays. Getting out of the house with a camera following a new mum trying to get out of the house with a crying, hungry, pooing baby can take an eternity. You can’t tell a baby not to look down the barrel of the camera. Once they realize that they can focus on the big black box that has been following them around literally since the day they popped out into the world, they fixate on it. Babies belch and fart and make random noises a lot. They slip on and off breasts, cry through interviews and can be extremely smelly in confined spaces. Speaking of confined spaces, there was the time our Series Producer spent an hour on the toilet (lid closed) in a cramped apartment while the camera was rolling in the next room, blocking the only exit. The surprised look on the new dad’s face when he discovered her crouched over her Iphone doing emails, was priceless. Recording clean sound around babies is a massive feat, and hats off to all our Shooter Producers who operated both camera and sound and managed to negotiate the mechanics of breastfeeding mum’s shirts and bras. The couples attended three Mum’s and Dad’s Groups during production of the series, providing a great opportunity for them to meet each other and exchange stories. We expected them to be wary of each other at first. We made sure that all the producers were there to help break the ice. But it wasn’t necessary. In the mums group, the women were already discussing the business end of the birth well before our cameras were ready to roll. Post production took place from January 20th to June 27th 2014. The team consisted of the Series Producer, 3 editors, an edit assistant and a post-production assistant. The process involved flexibility and close collaboration with the field producers as stories continued to change and evolve, until shooting finished in April. We made discoveries about our couples every day. We celebrated their wins and were moved by their struggles. We laughed uproariously with them about the minutiae of ‘life with baby’ which ultimately found its way into the show. The last episode was delivered at the end of June 2014, appropriately, nine months after pre-production started. Tonight, 9.30pm, ABC2 #crashtest Thank you Endemol Australia for such a great series.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 07:00:00 +0000

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