Britain's got Talent

Since the new series of Britain's Got Talent started last Saturday, I thought it was about time I wrote a post about when I went to see some of the auditions being filmed in London on the 22nd January 2016.

I went with my friend Sophie (sophiejackson5.wix.com/filmtvblog) who had applied for tickets and was given them for free.

I must say, at first, I was only really excited about seeing Ant and Dec and there being a possibility of being on TV - which is what most normal people would be excited over. However, when I got to the Dominion Theatre, I was just in awe of the whole spectacle!

We got to the theatre at around 2pm, and we were asked by the man giving us the tickets if we wanted to be in the background for the press photos - which we said yes! Then we had to stand in the lobby of the theatre, opposite people from all different types of media (newspapers, magazines, online, radio, TV, etc.) and we stood there for about four hours. While we were stood there, a stream of celebrities came in. It was Stephen Mulhern (host of Britain's Got More Talent) followed by the main show's hosts Ant and Dec, then the judges arrived in the order of Amanda Holden, then David Walliams, Alesha Dixon, and after finally Simon Cowell. Each celebrity seemed to arrived about 30 minutes after the one before them, this gave them time to talk to the press on their own.

This time also gave them time to film intros to the shows, as well as little extra shots to include in the show. I found out that almost everything was being filmed when I found my arm on the episode of Britain's got Talent!

(That's my claim to fame right there!)

Now going back to how I only really went to see celebrities and get on TV. Well...when I got my seat inside the theatre, instead of being amazed by the acts, I was more amazed at the filming equipment. I was sat behind this enormous jib and from that I was able to see the different shots that other cameras were getting by looking at the screen attached to the jib.

I realised then that filming these auditions were pretty much the same as filming live TV, just with less pressure. Of course, there was an audience there so they couldn't mess up too much but small changes could have been added after to then be put on the TV.

Some mistakes I noticed that they would have to fix were Simon calling this woman by the wrong name, and another girl who sang a song for her audition, but was then told to sing another because ITV didn't have the rights to broadcast the song she sang!

Being there and watching all of the crew get on with their jobs, whether they were camera operators, boom pole handlers, or directing the acts and cameras, it made me realise that I would like to work in this sort of environment. Everyone just knew what shots to get, how to direct people, and the whole thing looked very interesting and I would love to be a part of something like that one day.