If you have ever suspected you might be involved in a campus-wide conspiracy, you're not alone. The cast and crew of BTV's "Double Blind" are reflecting the fears of conspiracy theorists in season two of their dramatic series, which premieres tonight at 9 p.m.
Executive producers Dan Rizzotto '06 and Erica Meredith '05 describe "Double Blind" as a standard drama with a college twist. "We used to say it was 'Alias' meets 'Felicity' meets 'The X-Files,' " Meredith said, "but it's evolved into its own hybrid drama."
The series, which aired eight half-hour episodes last year, follows the lives of four undergraduates and one graduate student who are all part of an "escalating campus conspiracy," Rizzotto said. The show's premise: Four students become involved in a psychology experiment that turns out to be a front for a major research foundation conducting a shady investigation. Behind the façade of legitimacy, the foundation workers are collecting their own data on a new drug that has "accidentally" been released on campus.
Although the show contains humorous and romantic elements, Rizzotto and Meredith have kept a strong focus on plot development and action. "We don't want to go into soap opera melodrama," especially since many students assume a student-produced drama will be melodramatic, Rizzotto said.
Tackling a dramatic series is no small task. According to Meredith, "Double Blind" is the only student-run dramatic series ever produced at Brown. She and Rizzotto took the dramatic route because the challenge appealed to them, she said. Producing a dramatic series "is a lot harder, there's a lot more constraints, it's just a lot more ambitious," she said.
Running two eight-show seasons, each with an hour-long finale, is also a bold move. Frequently, students have ideas for shows, but they never produce more than a pilot episode, Meredith said. For a show to run 16 episodes in two separate seasons, each building to a finale, is unprecedented, she said. BTV's popular "Brown Date" ran for several years, but like the syndicated "Blind Date," after which "Brown Date" was modeled, each episode ran independent of the others. The only other BTV show to follow the eight-episode and grand finale format is "White Brown Friends," a comedy that debuted last semester.
Perhaps the reason more shows do not make it past the pilot episode is the sheer number of work hours required to keep a show running. As executive producers, Rizzotto and Meredith not only pay out of pocket for expenses, but they also co-direct, co-edit, organize cast schedules and supervise the music used in each episode. Meredith also does a hefty amount of writing.
In addition to commercial songs - which student-produced shows can use without violating copyright laws - "Double Blind" has its own composer, Zain Effendi, a student at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. After Meredith and Rizzotto finish editing the pictures for a particular episode, they go through and look for cues - places in the picture sequence to introduce music - and instruct Effendi what music they need in which places. He then composes and sends his work to them, at which point they review it and send it back asking for any necessary changes.
It's a time-consuming process: Rizzotto said he spends about 30 hours a week working on "Double Blind," and Meredith puts in 40 to 50 hours a week. In addition to editing and filming, a lot of time is taken up in preparation. Meredith and Rizzotto must create a technical breakdown of props and shots and organize cast schedules, which can prove a daunting task. The show currently features six lead characters, all of whom are present in the hour-long finale.
"It's a logistical nightmare," Meredith said.
"It's a magic trick," Rizzotto added.
In addition to time concerns, the financial burden can be problematic.
Meredith and Rizzotto look to cut expenses where they can. For example, they employ what Rizzotto refers to as a "poor man's steady-cam." In the world of television and film production, a steady-cam is a camera positioned on top of an apparatus that runs along tracks to ensure a steady moving shot. They have used a camera set on a borrowed Health Services wheelchair.
Another way Rizzotto and Meredith have saved money is by shooting with a high-definition camera. According to Rizzotto, high definition is "the new buzzword, kind of the wave of the future as far as video goes." High-definition cameras provide a good quality picture without using expensive film.
Less money spent on film means "you can shoot a lot more without worrying about the cost," Meredith said. For this reason, more Hollywood producers are choosing to shoot in high-definition video, rather than with film. The movie "Collateral," starring Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise, was shot in high definition, as was "Star Wars: Episode II."
High-definition video is not the only thing "Double Blind" has in common with the professional entertainment industry. Rizzotto and Meredith said they feel the current trend in television is to adopt cinematic features.
Traditionally, television shows have been characterized by close shots, familiar sets and a strong emphasis on the auditory, whereas film has incorporated more grandiose cinematography, landscape shots and a stronger visual element. A sitcom such as "Friends" is shot almost entirely on three sets, but many current dramas such as "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" - which is shot on location in Hawaii - are adopting a traditionally cinematic style.
Rizzotto and Meredith said that while they try to make the show unusual and interesting, they also work to make "Double Blind" reflect such current trends in television. They recently shot on location in Connecticut. "It's fun when we go to places like Connecticut, because we can't go to Hawaii," Rizzotto said.
"But we can go to Connecticut," Meredith finished.
Meredith and Rizzotto study current dramas for guidance and inspiration because in the television industry, the ability to adeptly emulate is highly valued, Meredith said. A writer trying to break into the TV industry writes a "spec (short for speculation) script" - his or her version of a current TV series. "If you can write what's already on TV, that's where you need to be," she said.
With any luck, in a few years, that is where Meredith will be. Although she is a PLME student, she is deferring medical school for two years to pursue a career in the entertainment business. Ultimately, she said she hopes to become a "show-runner" - an executive TV producer who leads the entire creative process. Some familiar "show-runners" include David Kelley, creator of "Doogie Howser, M.D.," "Ally McBeal" and "Boston Public," and J.J. Abrams, creator of "Felicity," "Alias" and "Lost."
Meredith has also written three feature films. She said the process for getting a feature film produced is quite different from getting a television show produced. The first step is to "get good quality films under your belt" and an agent to promote and pitch them to producers, she said.
Rizzotto is not completely decided on what career path he would like to pursue. He said he would like to start off creating independent films, then move to Hollywood films. "But TV is also a very big option," he said.
Meredith and Rizzotto hope their experience working on "Double Blind" will help prepare them for their future careers. "It's the most important thing to us right now," Rizzotto said. "It's what both of us want to do later on."
