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Sim Brother Series 2, Special Article
Inside Sim Brother
Who is behind the scenes?


"Hi! You thought you'd be looking at what the housemates were up to today? As it is so close to the end of the series and there is not much going on, we thought you'd rather have a look at what goes into making a series of Sim Brother. You've seen the studio. You've seen a few glimpses of what has been going on upstairs. It is now time to take you on a guided tour and meet some of the people who work here."

The Control Room


"This room is the nerve centre of Sim Brother II. Almost everything is done from here. The Director and his staff of technicians edit all of the footage from the different cameras around the house, censor footage of explicit nudity, censor the dialogue to bleep out any swearing, provide the proper footage to the two plasma screens in the studio on eviction nights and ensure a reliable upload to TSZ Livestream. The nightly reports are sorted out from here and also serves as the Director's Booth for the fortnightly eviction show."

The Prop Pen


"This area is the Prop Pen. This is where items used for battles and tasks are tested before they go out and double-checked when they come back in. For a negotiated price, as the original and therefore official English-speaking Sim Brother, this site tests objects and tasks for the other series scattered around the globe. This is where everything is put to the test and criterion evaluated."

The Box


"When the housemates come to talk to Sim Brother, they go to the Diary Room. When this happens, the voice of Sim Brother has to reply and whoever is on duty talks to them from here. This is what they call The Box. There are monitors covering only the Diary Room and an equally comfortable chair to sit in. The room is soundproofed so that no outside noise from the studio can distract them."
"On duty today is Sean Connery, who mainly fills out the nightshift. However, nobody is in the Diary Room at the moment, so Sean is out of the Box at the moment. He is in the Blue Room having a break and we'll catch up with him there later."

Meet the Security Guards


"Most of the time, the security guards are on their rounds or stationed outside the house. The monitor screens in here are for outside surveillance so they can see anyone trying to get in or anyone trying to get out. I am here with Ramon and Winona who are having a break and have kindly agreed to talk to me. Ramon, you have often been seen on eviction nights."
Ramon - "Yes, Will. I am often called in for what we term as heavy duty work. That is why you will see us on Eviction Nights in the event that someone tries to attack the evictee or throw something at them. I was one of the two who was called in when there was that fight between Dave and Sam a week ago."
WW - "Winona, you are the only girl on the team. What does your work entail?"
Winona - "I am here if there are any women who try to get into the house or try and throw anything over the wall. My job is to apprehend and search any suspicious female entering the house. I also had to frisk all of the female housemates before they entered the house."
WW - "Do you guys get much time off?"
Ramon - "We have been a little bit short-staffed lately so quite a few of the guys effectively live here. We sleep in the Sack Room and use the canteen for our meals. I watch TV in the Blue Room and I make sure I never miss the 'The West Wing'".
WW - "What about you, Winona?"
Winona - "When I get time off, I like to go downtown and do some shopping."
WW - "Thankyou, Ramon and Winona, for using up some of your break to talk to us."

A Place for Sacktime


"As well as working here, sometimes the staff have to sleep here. Shifts can be very long and sometimes staffers like to see a thread or a daily plot through to its conclusion. The editors don't take much rest. They are always on the go, making sure footage is going out to TSZ Livestream and that the nightly report is properly edited and with the right footage. With a shortage of security staff, some of these sleep here as well. There is a small kitchen and canteen next door for them to fix meals and have somewhere to eat."

The Blue Room


"Finally, I am here in the Blue Room. As well as being where the evictees go after their eviction night special to meet their friends and family, it is also the Staff Lounge. Staffers who are off duty spend some of their time here. It is also where a lot of ideas have been sorted out. I am here with the Series Director and Sean Connery, who is today's voice of Sim Brother. I'll start with Sean. Why did you join the Sim Brother team?"
Sean - "I found the first series of Sim Brother to be fascinating and as I fancied a change from making movies, I asked for a job on the team. Andy asked if I would like to be one of the voices of Sim Brother and I jumped at the chance."
WW - "All of the voices of Sim Brother have different personalities. What personality do you think you have?"
Sean - "I try to be the calming influence on the housemates when they are uptight about something and also lay the law down in a way that won't upset them."
WW - "Andy, as Series Director, you told me earlier that you often used this room for conferences with the Producer from TSZ?"
Andy - "We have had many discussions - none of them heated, mind you - about editing policy. I would have liked more nudity and swearing, but he correctly pointed out that there are children watching. Although Sim Brother is aimed at an adult audience, I do agree with his point that children do watch this show and certain guidelines have to be enforced."
WW - "Have deadlines been a problem?"
Andy - "As Director, there is so much to oversee. I am also the Staff Manager to I have to know the rosters of who is on duty in the Control Room, where the Security Guards are, any problems in the house and how to solve them. I live in the Control Room, sleep in the Sack Room and try and relax a little bit in here. Sometimes, deadlines have not been met, but it is always as close as we can do."
WW - "Are you prepared to tell us anything about Lucy?"
Andy - "Lucy volunteered to work for us as a mole. I jumped at the idea. She had a small vibration-ringing telephone where she was giving a few pointers on what was going to happen. Also, she sometimes got her instructions from the Diary Room. It's all in the edit. The viewers didn't see it because I didn't want them to. Sometimes I lied to her just for the fun of it. However, she started getting careless. Only we knew that the place Dave stayed in was called the Confinement Cell, or the 'cooler', but she let it slip. She tried to cover it up and was getting really snarled up. That's why I leaked the footage. That's why I instructed Anne who was on duty as the voice of Sim Brother to give her no sympathy and tell her that her time is up."
WW - "And what are you going to do after the series finishes?"
Andy - "Take a long break. Go on holiday to Simoa perhaps or finally get a round of 18 holes in. I might even go to the Diego Bay Golf Resort and see what Serena and Tom have got up to."
WW - "Will there be a Sim Brother III?"
Andy - "Will there be gable-end roofs in The Sims II?"
WW - "I can't answer that yet."
Andy - "Neither can I."
WW - "Thankyou, Andy, for letting us see how things work inside Sim Brother II."
Andy - "Before you go, I have to thank the Producer and the gang from TSZ. The Producer provided the location for the house and studio, actually designed most of the house, various people who were working for TSZ provided unique furnishings and my technicians and I tweaked everything to make it work ... I hope. Also, without the mechanism of the outside polls that the Producer has worked tirelessly on and the Editing software he provided my team and I with, the series would not be as good as it is."
WW - "Thankyou once again, Andy."
Andy - "No problem. If you'll excuse me, Will, I have to get back to work. I need to find out where I can get some more fireworks from for Sam and Nicole."
WW - "And there you have it. Sim Brother is not just a report you see every night or if you are priveleged to have TSZ Livestream you get to see all of the time. It takes a lot of hard work, commitment and time. Tune in later for tonight's report and find out what the two housemates got up to on Bonfire Night."




 


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