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Field Production

Live sporting events are the most common form of field production.  The Super Bowl is one the most complex live sporting events with a plethora of cameras at the directors disposal.  ENG or electronic news gathers is the most popular form of un planned field productions like "Timmy fell down a well" breaking news stories.  ENG is the most flexible and uses Wifi to send a signal directly to the station who can edit the video at the station.

  

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post production

Non linear editing is selecting video and audio files and having a computer play them back in a specific sequence.  The advantage to NLE is that you can work on as many editing versions as you like without being committed to one. Capture is the process which your computer reads the codec (compression/decompression system).  Editors must remember the crucial link between audio and video.

editing functions and principles

Combining, shortening, correcting and building are the most common forms of editing.  Continuity editing establishes a visual flow from shot to shot in hopes to create seamless transitions. Light color and sound of the background is important to consider when piecing together different shots during post production. Complexity editing, flashbacks and flash forward for example have become used quite often. Montage is a popular editing technique that uses a series of rhythmic cuts to progress the story.        

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Design

The fonts for titles, the station logo, and the look of the set are all elements for the design of the show the director must decide on. The aspect ratio needs to be considered.  For standard television the ratio is 4x3 and 16x9 for high definition television. Color is important to how a show looks.  The three basic color attributes are hue, saturation and brightness.  Design has a three dimensional element when scenery is introduced and there are four types of scenery.  Standard set units, hanging units, platforms, wagons, pillars and screens make up the types of scenery.

The Script

The type of script is determined by the the style of show.  A television series script would be extremely detailed and a late night talk show would focus on main points the talent would speak on.  The single column drama script and the two column audio and video are more detailed then the news script or the rundown sheet. Theme, plot, characters and environment are the basic elements to a drama. Conflict is the gasoline that fuels the drama and the choices the characters make based off that conflict connects to the audiences imagination.      

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Directing

A director can use one camera or multiple cameras during a shoot.  Terminology is essential to a successful shoot.  everyone needs to speak the same "language" to achieve the desired outcome. Directors use psychologist who can work with different temperaments and skills. Technical advisors assist directs in understanding the potential and limitations of the equipment. When a director uses a single cam rehearsing the shot before the actual shot is critical.  

Director pre production

The process message or the desired effect will be the greatest factor in the directors decision making during pre production. Script analysis, visualization, storyboard, and floor plans or location sketches are all task the director must undertake before shooting even starts.  Once shooting the director relies on a immediate support staff that consist of a floor manager, a production assistant, and sometimes a assistant director.    

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Talent

On camera talent is often taken for granted and is only missed when the person on camera has no talent and while it may be good for a bloopers show it probably wouldn't go over well with an audience seeking serious news stories.  Make up and clothing need to be taken into consideration by the talent.  Make up is used for three primary functions, to enhance, to correct and to change appearance.  The two type of air types are performers and actors.  Performers are mainly talk shows, news cast, and game shows.  Television actors portray someone else.

Producer

A lot of people can come up with a great idea but it takes a producer to turn that idea into the show.
The two main questions producer has to ask themselves is one, is the idea worth doing and two, is the idea doable. The program proposal, the treatment, the budget, and the script are the main preproduction elements that the producer needs to have completed before shooting takes place. The treatment is a brief narrative description of the program.  The end all be all in television is the ratings.  "An audience rating is the percentage of the television households turned to a specific station in a given sample population owning television sets. A share is the percentage of households tuned to a specific station in relation to all other households using television (HUT)".

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Dropping the mic

The pop culture gesture of dropping the microphone at the end of a performance and walking off stage is a nice microcosm of how crucial sound is to any show.  Anyone who knows microphones and how they work cringe when they see that mic drop because it may have damaged the diaphragm of the microphone.  

Today I realized how important sound is when I was working a bar and it was dead silent because the sound system isn't working.  Having to hear every glass tap on the bar and move of each barstool can drive a person crazy when they are conditioned to have back round noise as a part of their routine.  I have more success getting school work done in a crowded bar then I do in a silent room.  Silence is deafening to me and my distracted thoughts always fill my mind.  I need mindless chatter and ambient noise surrounding me almost forcing me to block that out and focus more.

Surround sound has progressed leaps and bounds since Dolby laboratories reintroduced surround sound in 1976. The first endeavor into surround sound was tackled by Walt Disney in the movie Anastasia in the 1940s.  The previous link leads to a nice three page article detailing the history of surround sound.  The text defines surround sound as "sound that produces a sound field in front of, to the sides of, and behind the listener by positioning loud speakers either to the front and the rear or to the front, sides, and rear to the listener."

#360 record and switching

Recording

Ones initial action when getting into filming is to get a camera and start shooting.  While that process might be beneficial and the outcome might be desirable a far more prudent method exists.  If you take the time to make the necessary preparations with regards to schedule and equipment the process will probably be more efficient if there was adequate for thought.  The equipment checklist prior to field work is critical, the interface is dependent on having the right cables.  All of the equipment will need a reliable power source and all the readers and recorders need to be in tune to capture the event.  Memory cards, optical disks, and hard drives have replaced the traditional videotape recording systems. 

The effect of switching from camera to camera in multi cam shoots can look seamless when done correctly and awkward when done wrong. Previewing sources allow the switcher operator to get the next show ready before switching to help eliminate most bad shots but if the director accidentally switches to a camera that was not the desired camera the footage can be disastrous. 

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Camera

Studios have many components and positions that are required to work in harmony to produce a show.  You can make the argument that the cameras are the most important piece of equipment because with out the cameras there would be no device to record the proceedings. The three major components of cameras are the imaging device, lens, and the view finder.  The imaging device converts light into electricity by its sensors converting the optical image into electrical impulses.  Picture elements also known as the compound "pixels" creates millions of image sensing elements that transform color and brightness into a specific electric charge that becomes the video signal.  The two main types of lenses are zoom and prime. Prime lenses are little bit sharper but do not have the ability to zoom in and out. The view finder displays what the camera is capturing in live real time. Two types of video are analog and digital.  Analog provides a continuous stream of information like a ramp.  Digital signal processing is broken into determined digitized steps that end up splitting the analog information into sections.  RGB red green and blue are the primary colors in which all other colors are mixed from on TV. 

In most productions more then one camera is used.  The director can switch back and forth from camera to camera based on the desired shot and dialogue. In a two camera system like we have at the studio at shepherd the left camera shots the actions on the right and the right camera shoots the action on the left.  The director can be in communication with the camera person to work on framing the next shot they want to switch to while the the camera is capturing the live action.  When the director switches to the camera they have been framing and setting up the director can starting framing the next shot with the camera that just had the shot and that process can be repeated throughout the whole show.

Lights

The phrase lights, camera, action is heavily associated with the all forms of the entertainment business.  Similarly to the chicken and the eggs relationship the light and camera partnership needs each other to survive.  Granted, advances in technology are making every effort to add specs to the camera to manipulate the light in the shot.  I believe there is a lot to be said about the old fashioned style of shooting the business successfully used before the spoils of technology.  The ability to place and manipulate lights can create the directors vision of what is captured and how the shot communicates with he audience.  The intensity or brightness of the light and the color of the light can create different effects.  

In a scene I am writing the main character is is going though a lot of pain and trepidation.  I would hope the lighting could capture the emotion through the characters face.  To capture a grimace or ache by the twitch in the corner of a persons mouth requires precision not only with the camera but with the lights as well.

  

#comm360

Greetings

The adage "it takes a village to raise a child" holds true in the television production arena.  A television show is similar to a child when it comes to how much support it requires. How a child's intricacies and nuances create endless possibilities a television show has limitless potential that is only capped by the capabilities of the production team.  Preproduction, Production, and Post production are the three phases of a television show. There is a hierarchy of all the various positions working on the show with two main groups, the nontechnical production personnel side and the technical personnel.  Similarly to an offense and defense on a football team that where the same jersey but have far different skill sets and responsibilities so is true with the two groups that work on the production.  The person in charge of the nontechnical production personnel is the executive producer and they are "in charge of one or several large productions or program series. Manages budget and coordinates with client, station management, advertising agencies, financial supporters, and talent and writers' agents." (quote from Television Production Handbook by Zettl) In charge of the technical personnel is the chief engineer who is "in charge of all technical personnel, budgets, and equipment. Designs system, including transmission facilities, and overseas installations and day-to-day operations."

 The technical production systems the production team uses are camera, audio, lighting and editing equipment to produce the show.  The basic television system is your every day news anchor broadcast that has a fixed camera and fixed lighting.  The camera systems have the ability to electronically transmit the clips directly to the station.  Multi camera systems are useful when replay is used a sporting event for example.  Movie director also use multi camera systems so they can film many shots with one take.  Audio is captured through microphones and helps the audience perceive an event. Different sizes and styles of microphones are used based on the logistics of the shot.  Lighting allows many illusions and can be manipulated fairly easily. The post production editing the clips can be done on location or in studio based on the equipment available.          

Out of the myriad of different jobs on the production team the writer position is where I plan to pursue a career.  To be able to capture an audiences emotion and to move them with words is my dream.  I love story telling and being told stories and will go to a theater alone just to see the production.  In high school I was a thespian for my work on stage and off stage, being a stage manager was one of my fondest memories and playing Will Parker in Oklahoma will always be one of my most treasured experiences.  All of that showed me how stories offer audiences an escape from reality and their only exception is entertainment and I want my words to entertain people forever.