A group of Media Arts students from Wintec have been busy producing a pilot episode for what could become the first Waikato-based TV sitcom. The sitcom is called The Couch, and described as a comedy of errors set in a casting agency. The premiere screening of the pilot is set for 12pm, August 9th, during the SPARK Festival of Media, Arts and Design, offering the first opportunity for many to see the finished episode. This screening is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a discussion with cast, crew and friends of the project.
The project has been driven by students and staff from the School of Media Arts’ Moving Image department, with support from local actors’ group Urban Vineyard Collective and a number of performers from around the community. Filming was completed in May.
The Couch is the brainchild of Moving Image tutors John Mandelberg and Joe Citizen, who had been researching the viability of producing a regional television sitcom. Citizen told the Waikato Times that The Couch was about providing a real project for the students. “It’s so students have a vehicle to demonstrate their skills – it’s something they can take to an employer.” Third-year student Chase ten Hove is lighting director on The Couch and said it had already provided him with invaluable experience and given him contacts with industry professionals.
Wintec has incorporated a multi-camera project into the Bachelor of Media Arts (Moving Image) coursework for the past five years, including projects like ‘Show Me The Money’ two years ago – a ‘Dragon’s Den’-style programme involving local business leaders – and live-streamed arts debate ‘Aspire’ in 2009. However, The Couch is the most logistically challenging production to date. A large main set with two rooms was built in the Wintec Moving Image studio, and several sequences were based in external locations – a carpark, Dora’s café, and one ambitious dance sequence in Hamilton’s Garden Place.
The project was shot on high definition video, using a multi-camera technique frequently used by industry production companies and allowing for fast turnaround of content. Students within the School of Media Arts from disciplines outside moving image have also benefitted. Post-production audio students working under sound tutor Bjorn Arntsen and moving graphics students working under graphic design tutor Mark Liu were also involved.
Moving Image lecturer John Mandelberg said he was pleased with the progress made on the 30-minute pilot episode, and that the students had learned a great detail through the production process.
Now that filming and editing is complete, the object will be to raise funding and support to shoot another 13 episodes as a TV series. Central TV, as well as some other Freeview regional networks, have seen the episode in progress and shown some interest in the further development of the project.
