Earlier this year, our college students partnered up with an imaginative team of set designers studying at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) to create a brand-new game show for television. Drawing on inspiration from the loud and colourful era of game shows produced in the 90s, ‘The Confetti Show’ is a fun, nostalgic throwback that sets out to entertain from the get-go.
About the show
Following in the footsteps of their successful pilot, Space 2, the show was produced by our Level 3 Film and TV Production course with support from Level 3 Graphics & Digital Design, Level 3 Audio & Music Technology and Level 3 Technical Events. Filmed in our dedicated film and tv facilities, Space2, the new show is a combination of well-known old-school games, with two teams competing to win a grand prize. Just a few of the featured games include charades, custard pie throwing, bow and arrow (apparently people from Nottingham are quite good at this one?), and a fantastic audience-participation round. Just like a professional production, the show required multiple teams working camera operation, lighting, set design, audio, and talent management. ‘The Confetti Show’ is now commissioned for a seven-episode season on local television channel, Notts TV, and will begin broadcasting late 2023/ early 2024.
Following the show’s debut screening at Metronome in October, we caught up with Level 3 Film and TV Production student, Megan Taylor, to chat about the experience. Responding to a question about the filming process and atmosphere on set, she had this to say:
“Being in an episode of the Game Show was fun, I was laughing most of the time and it is a good memory to take away after college. It did make me a bit nervous as we had people watching us that I didn’t know but once the adrenaline rush kicked in I was all good and everyone on the set was really nice and made sure we knew what we were going to be doing.
“At first, I was a bit nervous for it to be broadcast on tv, but it has been edited and filmed really well and so it has made me more relaxed, I can’t wait to see it on telly.”
Cross-course collaboration
With Confetti students leading on all the technical aspects of the show, students from NTU’s BA (Hons) Design for Film and Television course were enlisted to craft a custom, one-of-a-kind set design; complimenting the show’s quirky characteristics. Reflecting on the experience, here’s what NTU student, Sydony Greenwood, said:
“Our course is mainly focused on set design i.e. everything that will be given to a set decorator, and it’s been great to learn about the practical element and all that goes into it. In the future, I want to do set decorating and so this project with Confetti was a great opportunity to get hands-on.”
Tracing the origin of the Confetti – NTU collaboration and how it came together, NTU Senior Lecturer, Stelios Polychronakis said:
“Confetti’s Level 3 Film & TV tutor, Chris Rogers initially approached us a year before the project and so we had a good amount of time to figure out what we wanted to do. And you need that time.
“The way we approached this project was like a design competition for all of our 27 students, and so each one of them designed a set. After this first stage, Chris and some of the other Confetti tutors chose the best design. Next, our students produced the set, including building it, making the props, painting it, and putting the pieces together. We then delivered the set and the production was filmed. Some of our students even helped out during the recording and so it was a fantastic opportunity for them to experience the filming side of things.”
Final year, Jeanette Foo was the lucky NTU student whose design was picked for the show. Asked how valuable she found the experience, Jeanette said:
“The real-life brief taught us a lot, especially about the framing, the proportions and the mise-en-scène. You also learn things like how to work under this kind of pressure that we’ve never felt before on our ordinary course work.
“It was great being able to find out more about Confetti through this project as well. There is always so much work that goes into film and tv production that we don’t see and vice versa, there’s a lot those studying film and tv don’t know about set design. After seeing the pilot episode, I’m amazed at the level of work that went into creating the title visuals, the music and the script. Seeing all of this come together was so much fun and really eye-opening. This is a huge industry and there’s room for so much collaboration and cooperation.”
Next steps
The project is now complete and is set to be aired on Notts TV in the coming weeks’ – watch this space!
Following the successful pilot, our course teams are ramping up to repeat the collaboration this academic year with a new show and even higher production values. Our Level 3 Film and TV tutor, Chris Rogers – the pioneer behind the show – said:
“Working with Stelios, Huw and their students is a real privilege. The access to high-quality set design and construction created a unique opportunity for us to deliver a professional looking TV studio-based series.
“Everyone involved benefitted greatly from the industry-like experience that comes from working on a production intended for broadcast. Making the show is an absolute highlight to our year.”
Stelios added:
“We’re looking forward to watching the show on Notts TV and excited to be doing this again with Chris and the rest of the team. The university is really encouraging collaboration and so bringing the School of Art and Design and Confetti together on this project has been really well received.”
Update (15/01/2024)
The first episode of ‘The Confetti Show’ will air on Notts TV at 6.30pm on Saturday 3 February. A seven-part series, each subsequent episode will air in the same slot over consecutive weeks. Be sure to tune in on Freeview channel 7, Virgin 159.
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