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GO’s First Ever TV Production And Our Team’s Involvement
10 December 2021
We are so happy that the news is finally out! Last week we announced the launch of Chalet, a new local series that will premiere on GO TV, and is part of GO’s €1 million investment over a three-year period for Maltese television productions.
Our goal is to build an extensive and rich library of exclusive Maltese content, as Antonio, our Chief Commercial Officer, announced last week.
What is Chalet’s Storyline?
Caroline feels like she has lost everything of value in her life. While clearing out her father’s house after his passing, she comes across an old LP with a strange message that leads her to Oliver’s door.
Together they discover a hidden memorabilia and journey back to Chalet’s heyday in the 1930s.
Our One GO Team Raising the bar
Can you imagine our team’s excitement when they got the news that they will work on the first ever GO Originals production? We wanted to hear their views about this unique experience and what it means for them and their professional growth.
For us to be able to watch the first ever episode of Chalet many GO teams came together, and we have gotten some feedback to see how each team was involved, what they enjoyed the most about this project, the challenges they faced and what makes such a project unique for their career.
We asked Winston, our Senior Creative Editor, to share with us his involvement in the Chalet project and we were proud to hear that he is the man behind the logo design and 3D animation ident.
For Alison, Senior Manager Marketing, the role started in the negotiation of the contract and presenting the idea to invest in local content. ‘’As soon as we started discussing the idea with Sharpshoot, the production team, we immediately believed that this is the direction we should GO.‘’
Gilbert, our Video Operations Manager, said that from a technical perspective, his role was to liaise with Sharpshoot and our Content team to acquire the best possible quality in the video file. Apart from that, together with the Content team they brainstormed the best way they can promote and illustrate this title to be easily accessible by all our customers.
Ryan, our Content & Digital Media Manager, remembers the day of the idea inception of this amazing project, that catapults GO at the forefront of local content. ‘’A lot of work has been done to launch both GO Originals and Chalet. We know from research that local content truly stands out and is appreciated by customers, hence why we wanted to invest and further improve our TV proposition’’ he adds.
Winston continues by saying that being able to create something new is always an exciting prospect. ‘’Our team had to create a sister brand, in line with the main brand, whist trying to be bold and a little different.’’ Investing in local productions is a totally new avenue for our GO TV, and he was excited to be able to contribute to this project and showcase the team’s talents.
Gilbert talks about the Chalet from a learning point of view and how it differentiates from other projects he worked so far in his career. ‘The Chalet is the first 4K project we did at GO. This involved research about different formats, test on multiple 4K devices and optimise the stream, so that we’ll be the first operator in Malta to offer 4K for our customers.’
‘’We are super excited about this production as it brings back memories of Chalet, which most of my generation would know from our parents or relatives, who would speak about its glory and glamour. Apart from the Chalet, we are also thrilled about other productions that we will be launching in 2022. We have received requests from various producers that want to partner with GO Originals, and this is amazing for the TV industry.’’ says Ryan, hinting what a bright future awaits our team and our customers.
Alison emphasizes how this project was a completely new learning journey for GO. ‘’We were inspired by all stakeholders working within this industry, their passion and talent. Producers have limited resources, however they manage to create high quality content which is second to none. This is possible because of the passion they put in their work to make it successful. The past months were a whole learning journey that helped us understand the potential of this industry and importance to invest and support such talent to grow, while providing new entertainment content to the Maltese community.’’
For our creative guru Winston, the steps in the design process are usually the same, however we are intrigued to know that the Chalet is a different story that needs its appropriate language. ‘The first step is to acquire the vision to be able to get a lot of inspiration’. Winston’s main goal in creating the design was to give the correct atmosphere in a visual way, and we firmly believe he managed to do so!
Thinking of career growth and learning new skills, Gilbert shares that because of the Chalet, he had to step out of his comfort zone and challenge himself in understanding new requirements so that he’s able to plan, discuss, and implement something innovative. We agree with Gilbert that this project leads the way for more 4K content in the coming years to keep improving video quality and making the GO TV App the leading app for video streaming.
Ryan’s day-to-day work is around acquisition, negotiation, and production of content that GO acquired from international suppliers. In this case things were different, as he had to meet with the producers and work hand in hand from the concept stages to make Chalet a memorable experience for our customers. ‘’We saw Chalet evolve from a script to a fully blown amazing production that will be appreciated by many’’.
Sharon, our Content Specialist, confirms what our other colleagues have shared; ‘This production is unique as it was the total opposite of what we usually do. Normally we acquire titles after being already available in the market. For Chalet the story was different, we requested an exclusive production to be made for GO TV, we had the opportunity to work closely with the production team, Sharpshoot, and were involved throughout the whole journey, from the writing of the script till the shooting days.’’.
Winston reflects that every project brings with it a new set of challenges and new skills to be acquired. While working for the Chalet, his challenges were getting the lighting and timing correct as well as being able to experiment with different textures to get the required visual result, and these were just some of the new ways he was able to innovate, get out of the creative routine and be adventurous in trying something new.
Alison is proud that the Chalet will pave the way for GO’s plans to invest in Maltese content. ‘’We have been investing in TV through different ways, from investing in the TV platform, the customer experience and adding new content, however this is the first time we are creating original content for our customers.
Also, it is great for us to invest in a project that is bringing history back to life. While enjoying the drama, we will be learning about the history of Chalet and the Mediterranean context during 1930s.’
Sharon adds; ‘’GO has invested heavily in providing our customers the best TV experience by offering a multitude of different content. We have recently started to enrich our local library with content that goes well with the Maltese audience and provide them with an opportunity to watch their favourite local drama on our OnDemand platform’’.
When asked about the most exciting aspect of this project, she shared that it’s the honour and excitement of it being the first exclusive production for GO, which lead to the birth of GO Originals and the first 4k content for GO TV!
What’s next?
Ryan answers this question by saying that TV will always be evolving. ‘’We want to learn more and provide an improved experience to all customers, not only GO’s. We want TV at the forefront, as it is an integral part of our digital world.
GO TV will be further improving its content. We want to work with all the local producers to bring out the best talent and offer opportunities to the local production industry; an opportunity that no other telecoms company has offered yet. We truly believe in the local talent and our content library, Tokis, which is available to all our TV customers reflects this.’’ Whilst Sharon emphasizes too the goal to enrich out library with more local content.
Alison’s promise is the commitment to continue providing the best TV entertainment option to our customers. ‘’We will be investing in a rich library of local content to watch, while continue investing in the latest technology. GO will continue to support this industry to enable more content to be available to all of us to enjoy.’’
As an employer, we want our people to disrupt their daily to-do’s lists, break the routine, experiment, try new things, challenge themselves and each other, and ultimately get better at what they do and who they are every day. They are the ones who are raising the bar each day and are passionate about offering our customers an incredible experience while using our products and services, and GO wouldn’t have been the same without our talented people.
Chalet will be premiering on the 29th of December at 20:45 on GO Stars with a double episode.
Since it is the festive season, we want to give something back to all TV customers, hence, the first 2 episodes will also be available on GO’s YouTube and Facebook pages so that all Malta can watch them. Subsequent episodes will be premiered on GOStars and on our OnDemand library.
Many thanks to our colleagues for sharing a little bit of behind the scenes feedback about their experience working on the Chalet project:
Have a look at our careers page and get in touch with us if you want to take your career to the next step by joining our One GO Team!
For GO products and services, visit our official website or get in touch with our experts online or by visiting any of our GO outlets.