I watched (see video)

The steps of producing an episode got described really well. What I learned by watching this “making of” is a lot so I am just going to write it down summarized.

The writers of the tv show, for FRIENDS try to put jokes in the script, doing that they have to make sure that the audience will get the joke and that it is actually a funny joke fitting the situation.They try to make it as funny as possible, so they write multiple drafts first and then the scripts get thrown to the table and the entire writing staff gives input and they make changes together.

There is an art director who plans out the sets and is in charge of constructing them.

Working together with the art director is the staff which redesigns the living room of a specific character in the show. Doing that they have to work really specific and put every book and shelf in the exact same spot, where they put it last time. They turn a sound stage into a tv home.

There is someone who is in charge if props- everything the actor touches, for example a magazine a coffee cup, all of these thing get collected and put into an organized room so if they need a specific prop they can find it again.

Construction staff turn a stage into a street with a coffee shop. They take pictures of the stage design to be able to reconstruct it the exact same way. Every fourth or fifth episode they change for example the spot where the tables stand in the coffee shop just to make it realistic; every coffe shoe switches up they’re designs sometime.

After the set is set up, the actors go through their lines, the writers watch and make changes if they don’t like the results. If a joke is not funny all of the writers meet and try to come up with a better joke. They time the show if it is to long they rewrite the scripts and crop them. When the actors are prepared and the writers happy with the script the cameras come in, on the set multiple cameras film at once from different angles. The camera mans go through where they go what they film with the director. They put tapes on the ground, so the camera mans know where to stop so they don’t crash into each other.  

After they filmed everything they need the editor begins to cut the shots and decide if a close up or a wide angle fits better air the camera angle should change. The producer and the video editor watch the first edited draft of the episode together, and discuss what they could change. After the editing the show gets passed on to a number of technical experts, where every frame of film and every second of audio is carefully examined and polished. They produce running noises in example high heels. There are music editors who watch the episode and decide when music is needed and what kind of music, to fit the mood. In the end of the progress the new noises and music get put into the film, at the mix. Because friends film some of rebid episodes with a live audience they have natural laughter in the background, sometimes the laughters are to long it to loud so the actors can’t be understood saying their lines so the editor at the mix have to take the laughter noise down. They also have to filter out unwanted noise and hiss.