Video Basics 8 - Chapter 14, Video Basics 8 Chapter 15

Director/TD Proximity in Control Room

The production switcher is located next to the director's position for optimal communication between director and TD.

Satellite Uplink Truck

The satellite uplink truck is a portable station that sends the video and audio signals to a specific satellite.

cyclorama

A U-shaped continuous piece of canvas or muslin for backing of scenery and action. Hardwall cycs are permanently installed in front of one or two of the studio walls. Also called cyc.

floor plan

A diagram of scenery, properties, and set dressings drawn on a grid. Elaborate set designs are always drawn to scale, such as the common 1/4 in= 1 foot. To help you locate a certain spot on the studio floor, the floor plan pattern normally has the lighting grid superimposed, much like the orientation squares of a map. By using the lighting grid, the floor plan pattern can also be used for drawing a light plot. If the setup is relatively simple, the art director may make only a rough sketch that shows the background scenery, set props, and approximate location of the set, leaving it up to the floor manager to place the set in the most advantageous spot in the studio. The floor plan should indicate all scenery, including doors and windows, as well as the type and location of set props and major hand props.

Chroma Key

A) The source for this background image is a video frame of the museum exterior from the electronic slide library. B) The studio camera focuses on the actor playing a tourist in front of the green chroma-key backdrop. The lighting must match the environment of the background. C) All green areas are replaced by the background image; the tourist appears to be in front of the museum.

remote survey

An inspection of the remote location by key production and engineering personnel so that they can plan for the setup and the use of production equipment. Also called site survey.

Simple Monitor Stack

Even this simple control room display requires 14 monitors: three large 16 × 9 monitors for preview, line, and air; four camera previews, one of which is switchable to remote; three for VRs or servers; and one each for CG, slide library, special effects, and remote. Except for the 16 × 9 preview, line, and air monitors, all are 4 × 3 displays.

Air-Conditioning

Many studios suffer from air-conditioning problems. Because the lighting instruments generate so much heat, the air-conditioning system must work overtime. When operating at full capacity, all but the most expensive systems create air noise, which is inevitably picked up by the sensitive studio mics and duly amplified in the audio console. You must then decide whether to keep the air-conditioning going despite the noise it makes or to turn it off and make talent, crew, and equipment sweat.

Process Message

Once again, a clear statement of the desired process message will guide you in designing the appropriate environment. On the other hand, if the objective is to have the viewer see how the guest uses the physical environment of her office to reflect her power, you had better conduct the interview on-location from the guest's actual office or on a studio set that closely resembles it. As with all other medium requirements, in designing or evaluating a set you must have a pretty good idea of what it is you want the viewer to see, hear, and feel. Once you have interpreted the process message as to scenic requirements, you need to translate the scene design into a floor plan of an actual studio set.

Intercommunication System

Reliable intercom systems are among the most important technical installations. Normal studio intercoms use PL and IFB systems. The PL (party line, phone line, or private line) system allows all production and engineering personnel to be in constant voice contact with one another. Each member of the production team and the technical crew wears a headset with a microphone for efficient communication. Such systems can be wired (through the camera cables or separate intercom cables) or, in larger studios, wireless. Most PL systems operate on at least two channels so that different groups can be addressed separately.

PL

Stands for party line, phone line, or private line. Major intercommunication device in video studios.

Who sits next to director in control room?

Technical director (TD).

Ground Row

The ground row is a curved piece of scenery that is placed on the studio floor in front of the cyclorama to blend the two into a seamless background.

Monitor Stack

This remote truck monitor stack shows all the live camera inputs as well as links to the studio and on-board video recorders, such as show openings and closings. The three large monitors in the middle are for preview (left), line (middle), and air (what the viewer sees, on the right).

Generic Sitcom Residence

This set is designed so that four cameras, situated side by side in front, can pick up the action. It can be easily changed to other environments by using different set props.

The studio provides maximum production control. (True or False)

True

electronic field production (EFP)

Video production done outside the studio that is usually shot for postproduction (not live). It includes all out-of-studio productions except news and the big remotes that more resemble multicamera studio productions than single-camera field productions. Documentaries, magazine news stories, investigative reports, travel shows, and exercise programs that are shot outdoors—all are EFPs. Because all field productions are planned, you can prepare for them in the preproduction phase. The more preproduction that goes into an EFP, the more likely it is to succeed. In fact, EFP needs the most careful preparation. Unlike in the studio, where most of the equipment is already installed, in EFP you must take every single piece of equipment to the shoot. A wrong or missing cable can delay the production for hours or even cause its cancellation.

Physical Layout

When evaluating a production studio, you should look not only at the electronic equipment it houses but also at its physical layout—its size, floor and ceiling, doors and walls, and air-conditioning.

General Production Reminders - Loading the Equipment

When loading the equipment onto the remote vehicle after the shoot, pull out the checklist again. Check off every item that is loaded up for the return trip. Look for missing items right away; it is usually easier to find them right after the production than days or weeks later. Check that all recording media are properly labeled and that the field logs match the labels. Keep them close to you until you return to home base.

Outdoor Field Production - Weather

When outdoors you are at the mercy of the elements. Always be prepared for bad weather. As mentioned, take raincoats along for the cameras (a plastic tarp will do in a pinch) and rain gear for yourself and the crew. As old-fashioned as it may seem, a large umbrella is still one of the most effective means of keeping rain off people and equipment. If you move from a chilly outside location to indoors, let the camcorder warm up a bit. The extreme temperature change could cause condensation in the recording section, shutting down its operation automatically. Such a shutdown will certainly put a crimp in the shooting schedule. In extremely cold weather, even the zoom and focus mechanisms of lenses may stick if not kept warm from time to time. Keep the camera in a vehicle and run the camcorder for a while when it is exposed to the cold temperature to prevent the lens mechanisms from sticking. Most importantly, watch the weather for shot continuity. If video-recording a brief scene of two people talking to each other requires several takes that stretch over an hour or so, you may have a cloudless sky as the background for the first few takes and a cloudy one for the last takes.

General Production Reminders - Respecting Property

Whenever you are on someone else's property, be mindful that you are a guest and are actually intruding with your video gear and production people. Working in video does not give you license to invade people's homes, upset their routines, and make unreasonable demands on them.

Makeup and Dressing Rooms

Wherever you apply makeup, it must be done in lighting conditions that are identical to those in the studio. Most makeup and dressing rooms have two types of illumination: indoor lighting (with a color temperature standard of 3,200K) and outdoor lighting (5,600K). Because the indoor standard has a warmer, more reddish light than the cooler, more bluish light of outdoors, you should always check your makeup on-camera in the actual performance area before the dress rehearsal and again before the performance. Of course, when you are reading the daily news, your set will have the same lighting, so you can skip the light temperature check.

Outdoor Field Production - Foreground

With a prominent foreground piece in the shot—a tree, fencepost, mailbox, or traffic sign—you can dramatically improve the scene, make the composition more dynamic, and give it depth. If there is no natural foreground piece, you can often plant one. Instead of looking for a convenient foreground tree, you can simply handhold and dip a tree branch into the shot. The viewer's mind will fill in the rest and perceive the whole tree.

Electrical Outlets

You may not consider wall outlets an important factor in studio design until you discover that there are not enough of them or that they are in the wrong places. There should be several groups of outlets for cameras, microphones, monitors, intercommunication headsets, and regular AC power distributed along all four walls. If all the outlets are concentrated on only one wall, you will have to string long power cables and extension cords throughout the studio to get the equipment into the desired positions around the scenery.

synthetic environment

electronically generated settings, either through chroma key or computer

remote truck

the vehicle that carries the production and engineering personnel so that they can plan for the setup and use of production equipment

Preproduction: Remote Survey

A field inspection is called a remote survey or site survey. You should do a remote survey even if the field production is relatively simple, such as interviewing someone in a hotel room. Looking at the room beforehand will help you decide where to position the guest and the interviewer and where to place the camera. It will also give you important technical information, such as specific lighting and sound requirements. For complex productions, careful remote surveys are essential. You need to find out what the event is all about, where it is to take place, how to adapt the environment to the medium requirements, and what technical facilities are necessary for video-recording or telecasting the event. For a relatively simple field production, the director and/or the producer usually make up the survey team. For elaborate productions, you need to add a technical expert—the technical director (TD) or the engineering supervisor. If possible, have a contact person at the chosen site accompany you on the initial remote survey.

Scenery - Softwall Flats

A flat is a freestanding piece of scenery used as a background or to simulate the walls of a room. Softwall flats are background units constructed of a lightweight wood frame covered with muslin. The wood frame consists of 1 × 3 lumber that is glued together and reinforced at the corners by -inch plywood pieces. To keep the frame from twisting, it is further strengthened by two diagonal braces and a toggle rail in the middle. If the studio floor is hard and smooth, you can put metal or plastic gliders on the bottom rail of the flat so that you can push it around without damaging the flat or the floor or yourself.

Using the floor plan for actual setups

A floor plan is useless if you can't translate it into an actual set and performance environment. You must acquire some of the skills of an architect or builder, who can look at a blueprint of a building and visualize what it will look like when erected and how people will move through and function in it. The following figure shows how a simple floor plan translates into the corresponding setup. A good floor plan helps the floor manager and crew put up and dress the set fairly accurately, independent of the designer. The director can map out the major talent positions and blocking and also design the principal camera shots, positions, and movements before setting foot in the studio.

Physical Layout - Floor and Ceiling

A good studio must have a hard, level floor so that cameras can travel freely and smoothly. Most studio floors are concrete that is polished or covered with hard plastic or seamless linoleum. One of the most important design features of a good studio is adequate ceiling height. The ceiling must be high enough to accommodate normal 10-foot scenery and to provide enough space for the lighting grid or battens. Although you may get by with a minimum ceiling height of 14 feet for a very small studio, most professional studios have ceilings that are 30 or more feet above the studio floor. Such a high ceiling makes it possible to suspend the lighting instruments above even tall scenery and leaves adequate space above them for the heat of the lighting instruments to dissipate.

flat

A piece of standing scenery used as a background or to simulate the walls of a room. There are hardwall and softwall flats.

big remote

A production outside the studio to televise live and/or live-record a large scheduled event that has not been staged specifically for television

studio control room

A room adjacent to the studio in which the director, producer, and production assistants, technical director, audio engineer, and sometimes the lighting director perform their production functions. It's also housed in a separate area adjacent to the multicamera production studio, is designed to accommodate the people who make the decisions while a production is under way, as well as the equipment necessary to control the video and audio portions of the production.

Program Log

A second-by-second list of all programs telecast during a broadcast day. It shows the scheduled (start) times, program length, program title or description, house number, video and audio origin (server, live, or feed), and other pertinent broadcast information.

Video Production Studio

A well-designed studio provides optimal control for multicamera and single-camera video productions. It facilitates teamwork and the coordination of all major production elements.

Outdoor Field Production - Background

Always look beyond the main action to avoid odd juxtapositions between foreground and background. You must also be careful to maintain background continuity in postproduction editing. For instance, if you show a prominent tree in the background of shot 1 but not in the following shot with a similar background, the tree will seem to have mysteriously disappeared when the two shots are edited together. A similar problem might occur if you lock down the camera for shot 1 and continue shot 2 from the same camera position. Because the camera will most likely have shifted a little between the two shots, the background tree seems to jump ever so slightly from one position to another. An alert editor will probably rule against editing such shots together. You can easily prevent jump cuts by changing the angle or field of view (how close you show the scene) between the two shots.

News Gathering

As a news videographer, also called a shooter, you are responsible not only for video-recording the story but also for making the decisions on just how to tell it. In a breaking story, you must be able to assess the situation, operate the equipment, and capture the essence of the event—all in a matter of minutes. Be mindful of the audio requirements. Don't have the reporter deliver a report on the windiest corner of the street; find a location that is relatively protected. Small rooms or corridors with bare walls have a tendency to produce unwanted echoes and make reporters sound as though they are speaking from inside a barrel. Take an audio level before each video recording. If you are covering a story with a reporter, the news-gathering process is slightly less hectic. You usually have some flexibility in placing the field reporter for a standup report in a location that tells part of the story (city hall, college campus, county hospital) and in selecting the most effective shots.

General Production Reminders - Safety

As in studio productions, in EFP you need to be constantly aware of safety precautions. Don't be careless with extension cords, especially if you string them outside in damp weather. Tape all connections so that they become waterproof and don't pull apart. If you have to lay cables across corridors or doorways, tape them down with gaffer's tape and put a rug or rubber mat over them. Better yet, try to string them above so that people can walk below them unhindered. Ask the police to assist you when shooting along a freeway or in downtown traffic.

Monitors

As you recall, a monitor is a high-quality video display that cannot receive broadcast signals. You need at least one fairly large monitor in the studio that shows the line-out pictures—the video that goes to the video recorder (VR) or transmitter—to everyone on the floor. By viewing the line-out picture, the crew can anticipate a number of production tasks. For example, the operator of the camera that is not on the air can vary its shot so that it does not duplicate that of the on-the-air camera; the floor manager can see how close he can be to the talent for the necessary hand signals without getting into camera range; and the microphone boom operator can test how far the mic can be lowered before it gets into the shot.

Scenery - Seamless Paper and Painted Drops

As you recall, the cyclorama is a large, plain, seamless drop that serves as a neutral background. In the absence of a cyc, you can construct a limited neutral area with a roll of seamless paper (usually 9 feet wide by 36 feet long) simply by unrolling it and stapling it horizontally on softwall flats. Seamless paper rolls come in a variety of colors and are relatively inexpensive. Painted drops, on the other hand, usually refer to rolls of paper or canvas with realistic or, more often, stylized background scenes painted on them. You can also create believable backgrounds electronically.

Transmission

As you well know, some big stories have been shot and transmitted to a station or network solely with a smartphone. In such cases the content is more important than the picture and sound quality. You can of course also capture source footage on a laptop and transmit it to the station via the Internet. In normal news operations, however, you use a van with recording and transmission equipment to relay the video and audio signals back to the station and ultimately to the transmitter or satellite.

Checklist: Field Production Equipment

Camcorders - How many do you need? If a spare camera is available, take it along, even if it is of lower quality. In case of emergency, a properly lighted interview shot with a digital consumer camcorder will certainly be better than having no camcorder at all. Camera mounts - Always take along a tripod, even if you intend to work the camera from your shoulder. Do you need special camera mounts, such as tripod dollies, jib arms, or beanbags? Recording media - Do you have the proper media for the camcorders and additional video recorders (VRs)? Note that not all camcorders accept the same memory cards. Do you have enough media for extended recording periods? Do you need an additional external VR? When using a DSLR camera for the shoot, you should always back up your recording with an external VR. Power supply - How will you power the camcorder? Are the batteries fully charged? If you use an AC/DC power supply, do you have enough AC extension cords to reach the AC outlet? You also need extension cords for portable lighting instruments and a field monitor. If the monitor or external light is battery-powered, do you have the right battery? Is it fully charged? Do you have a spare battery and its appropriate charger? Audio - In addition to lavalier microphones, bring at least one shotgun mic and one hand mic. For a more ambitious EFP, you need to match the mics to the acoustics of the location. Are the mic cables long enough to reach the camcorders or audio mixer? If you intend to use wireless mics, do the transmitter and receivers work properly? All remote mics, including lavaliers, need windscreens. Shotgun mics need additional windsocks. Test mics before leaving for the remote location and again before the video recording. Do you need mounting equipment, such as clamps, stands, or fishpoles? Do you need a mixer or an additional audio recorder? Do you need an XLR pad? Don't forget earphones for the fishpole operator and the audio-recording technician. Cables and connectors - Do you have the appropriate cables and connectors? Most professional equipment operates with BNC connectors for the video coaxial cables and XLR connectors for balanced audio cables (see figures 4.23 and 7.26). Some camcorders use RCA phono and mini connectors instead of XLR connectors (also shown in figure 7.26). Bring along some adapters for video and audio cables. Double-check all connectors and adapters. If you need to connect the camera to an RCU (remote control unit), you also need an external monitor. Do you have enough camera cables with the proper connectors? Monitor and test equipment - Be sure to take along a monitor for playback. If you do a multicamera EFP with a switcher, each camera input needs a separate preview monitor unless you have a portable switcher unit with a flat-panel multiscreen preview. If a narrator is describing the action, you must provide a separate monitor for him or her. In field productions that require high-quality pictures, you need test equipment, such as a waveform monitor and a vector scope. Ordinarily, the technical crew chief (usually the TD) is responsible for such items, but you should still see to it that they are part of the equipment package. Lighting - More often than not, you will need at least one or two portable lighting kits, each containing several lighting instruments, barn doors, diffusers, color gels, light stands, and spare bulbs. If you use a minimum of lighting instruments for a simple production such as an interview, use floodlights (softlights) rather than spots. All spotlights in a lighting kit need diffusion tents and umbrellas. Do the spare bulbs actually fit the lighting instruments? Do they burn with the desired color temperature (3,200K or 5,600K)? Use light-blue and amber gels on the lighting instruments if you need to raise or lower the color temperature, unless the lights come with color temperature filters. White diffusion material is always needed to soften key lights. Reflectors (white cards, foam core, aluminum foil, or professional collapsible reflectors) are essential for outdoor productions and are extremely helpful for indoor lighting. Reflectors are often much easier to manipulate than additional instruments. The lighting package should also include a piece of muslin to cover an off-camera window; a piece of black cloth to cut down on unwanted reflections; diffusion umbrellas; a light meter; extra light stands; and clamps and sandbags for securing the light stands. Unless you have access to expandable battens, take along some 1 × 3 lumber for constructing supports for small lighting instruments. Pack a roll of aluminum foil for making reflectors, heat shields, or makeshift barn doors. You will also need a few wooden clothespins to attach the diffusion material or gels to the barn doors of the lighting instruments. Take enough AC extension cords and adapters that fit household outlets. Intercom - In small field productions, you do not need elaborate intercom setups, but you should always leave a telephone number at home base where you can be reached in case of an emergency. A smartphone is a must if you do primarily EFP, but do not use it near a wireless mic—the phone's transmitter might add a high-pitched tone to your recorded audio. For larger field productions, you need a small power megaphone or walkie-talkies to reach a dispersed crew. If you use a multicamera and switcher system, you need to set up a regular PL intercom. Miscellaneous - Here is what you should also take along on every EFP: extra scripts and time lines to be posted; field VR log forms; a slate or clapboard; several large rain umbrellas and "raincoats" (plastic covers) to protect equipment and crew in case of rain; a white card for white-balancing; a large newsprint pad and markers for writing cue cards or other information for the talent while on the air or recording; if necessary, a remote teleprompter with batteries and cables; several rolls of gaffer's tape and masking tape; white chalk; wooden clothespins to hold things in place, even if you don't use any lighting instruments; a makeup kit; a large bottle of water; a small plastic bowl; paper towels; a broom and trash bags; and plenty of sandbags.

Indoor Field Production - Lightning

Be especially aware of the lighting requirements. Again, check the available outlets. Be careful when placing lights inside a room. Do not overload the circuits. Turn off the lights whenever you don't need them. Sandbag all light stands and make heat shields with aluminum foil, especially when a lighting instrument is close to curtains, upholstered furniture, books, or other combustible materials. Even on a cloudy or foggy day, the color temperature of the daylight coming through a window is considerably higher than that of indoor light. In this case you must decide whether to boost the color temperature of the indoor light or lower the color temperature of the daylight coming through the window. It is usually simpler to gel the indoor lights (with a light-blue color media) than the window.

Computer-Controlled Environments

Computer-aided design (CAD) programs can produce from a floor plan an actual scenic environment. Once the virtual scenery is set up, you can try out a number of color schemes and textures for the walls, doors, windows, and floor. For example, you can try out a blue rug, change it to red or beige, and take it out again—all with the click of a mouse. You can also put virtual furniture into the set and dress it with properties of your choice. You use the mouse to select the items from a menu and drag them into the desired positions. If you don't like what you selected, simply delete the images and try new ones. Finally, you can have a virtual camera move through this virtual space to show you what shots you can get from various angles and lens settings. Some sophisticated programs let you generate virtual performers and move them through the synthetic space. Even if you do not use the virtual sets as the "actual" environment for your production, such interactive displays of setups, colors, and camera and talent positions are an invaluable preproduction aid. When combined with live action, virtual environments can yield startling effects.

master control

Controls the program input, storage, and retrieval for on-the-air telecasts. Also oversees the technical quality of all program material. The basic functions of master control in broadcast operations are overseeing the automated workflow and the technical quality of all program material slated for transmission, the content ingest from various internal and external program sources, and the storage and archiving of recorded content. If you are in the business of telecasting programs over the air or on cable or via Internet streaming, master control becomes an essential electronic nerve center.

Computer-Generated Set

Despite all the skills you may have acquired in adapting a real environment to your video needs, the computer offers novel alternatives. Outdoor landscapes can be computer-generated, which you have seen many times in fantasy landscapes. But even highly realistic settings are often easier to compose with the computer than to build in the studio. A )The green areas of this chroma-key set, including the armrest, will be keyed out and replaced with the computer-generated image of a lighthouse. B) The finished effect places the actor in a convincingly realistic location. If all of this is possible, couldn't we have actors move about in front of a chroma-key backdrop and then key them into the lighthouse platform? Yes, that is certainly possible. There is, however, the problem of a changing perspective when the real foreground figures (the actors) move against the static background, although sophisticated computer programs can compensate for such a perspective shift. The real problem with such a setup is not technical but human: it is extremely difficult for even experienced actors to operate in a horizonless, undefined space. You can easily get disoriented simply by stepping into such a limitless green-screen or blue-screen environment.

General Production Reminders - Logging

During the shoot keep an accurate field log of all takes, good and bad. Label all recording media and boxes and put them in a container used solely for transporting the video-recorded material. After the recording, activate the protection devices (the little sliding tab on the side of the card) so that the source media cannot be accidentally erased. Keep the memory cards away from strong magnetic fields.

Production: In and Outdoors

Each field production has its own requirements and challenges. Although your careful preproduction survey should have eliminated most of the potential problems, here are a few considerations that are not part of the remote survey: equipment checklist, outdoor field production, indoor field production, and general production reminders.

Prop List

Even if the floor plan shows some of the major set and hand props, all props must be itemized on a prop list. Some prop lists itemize set props, set dressings, and hand props separately, but you can combine them on a single list, provided you don't forget anything. Assuming that you are the floor manager, confirm with the property manager that the props you requested are actually available when you need them, and inspect each one to see whether it fits the intended scene design. For example, a Victorian chair would certainly look out of character in an otherwise modern office set, unless it is to suggest an eccentric office manager. Verify that all listed props are delivered to you and that they are not damaged in any way before taking them into the studio.

Indoor Field Production - Audio

Except for simple interviews, obtaining good audio always seems to be a bigger problem than acquiring good video. This is because the microphones are often placed at the last minute without adequate consideration of the room's acoustics or the specific sound pickup requirements. You should include a brief audio rehearsal in the EFP time line so that you can listen to the sound pickup before beginning the video recording. If you have brought along several types of mics, you can choose the one that sounds best in that environment. As you recall, it is better to record the principal sounds and the ambient sounds on separate tracks rather than mix them in the field. You may find, however, that this separation is difficult, if not impossible, in most EFP situations. In this case try to record a good portion of the background sounds without the principal sounds after the scenes have been recorded. If necessary, you can then mix the background sounds into the scene during postproduction. If careful mixing between foreground and background sounds is required, you can do it much better in the postproduction studio. If you mix the sounds in the field, you pretty much eliminate the option of further adjustment in postproduction.

ENG Van

For ENG and routine productions, a large car or sport utility vehicle can serve as a production van. If the signal must be relayed to the station for live transmission or video recording, a vehicle that contains video-recording equipment, generators, and microwave transmission equipment is used. The signal can be sent from the camera to the van by ordinary camera cable or via a small microwave transmitter attached to the camera. A more reliable way is to connect the camera to a tripod-mounted transmitter.

Properties - Hand Prop

Hand props are items actually handled by the talent—telephones, laptop computers, dishes, silverware, books, magazines, glasses, and flowers. Hand props must work and they must be real. A bottle that doesn't open on cue can cause costly production delays. Because hand props are an extension of the talent's gestures and actions, and because of the close scrutiny of the video camera, you cannot get by with fake props. A gold-painted papier-mâché chalice that looks regal on the theater stage looks ridiculous on the video screen. Equally silly is laboring under the weight of an empty suitcase. Whereas the theater audience may have some sympathy for your toil, the television viewer will more likely consider it a comedic routine or a production mistake. If you must use a handgun, never use an actual firearm; try to get a prop gun. Shooting blanks at close range can be as deadly as if you were to use a bullet. This is one place where you can pretend; rather than pull the trigger, you can simply add a popping sound by pricking a balloon. When using food, make certain that it is fresh and that the dishes and silverware are meticulously clean. Liquor is generally replaced with water (for clear spirits), tea (for whiskey), or soft drinks (for white and red wine). With all due respect for realism, such substitutions are perfectly appropriate.

Scenery - Hardwall Scenery

Hardwall scenery is built with a sturdy wood or metal frame that is covered with plywood or fiberboard. Most hardwall scenery has built-in casters or is placed on small wagons for mobility. This is the back of a window seat.

monitor

High-quality video display used in the video studio and control rooms. Cannot receive broadcast signals. Also refers to flat-panel camera viewfinders.

Physical Layout - Size

If you do a simple interview or have a single performer talk to the audience on a close-up, you can get by with amazingly little studio space. But if you plan a more ambitious project, such as a large panel discussion or the video-recording of a music show or drama, you need a larger studio. In general, it is easier to produce a small show in a large studio than a large show in a small one. But you will quickly learn that large studios are usually harder to manage than small ones. Somehow large studios require more energy to get a production started than do smaller studios; they necessitate longer camera and audio cables, more lighting instruments, and usually more crew. If you have a choice, use a studio that fits your production needs.

Program Sound

In addition to watching the preview monitors, giving instructions to production people, and listening to the PL, the director must also listen to the program audio to coordinate the video portion with the sound. A separate volume control enables the director to adjust the control room speakers, called audio monitors, without affecting the volume of the program sound that goes to the line-out. You will find that listening to the program sound while doing all the other things is one of the hardest tasks for a rookie director.

props

Short for properties. Furniture and other objects used by talent and for set decoration.

Master Control Switching Area

Master control serves as the final video and audio control for all program material before it is broadcast or distributed by the station's transmitter, a satellite, cable, or the Internet. Computers run most master control functions, with the master control technician overseeing the automated functions and assuming manual control in case of system failure.

Lights

Most of the lighting instruments used in a video production studio are suspended from a lighting grid or movable battens, as shown in figure 8.14. Hanging the lighting instruments above the scenery and action keeps the lights out of camera range, allows cameras and people to move about freely, and, if it is a permanent set, minimizes the time needed for lighting it.

Scenery - Hardwall Flats

Most professional video production sets are constructed with hardwall flats. They are usually built for a specific set and do not always conform to the standard dimensions of softwall scenery. Although there is no standard way to build hardwall scenery, most flats are constructed with a sturdy wood or slotted-steel frame (which looks like a big erector set) and covered with plywood or pressed fiberboard. Most hardwall scenery is moved with the help of built-in casters and joined with bolts or C-clamps.

General Production Reminders - Strike and Cleanup

Put everything back the way you found it. Consult your documentation of where things were before you rearranged them. When you are finished, verify that everything is back as it was. Remove all gaffer's tape that you may have used to secure cables; pick up all extension cords, sandbags, and especially empty soft drink cans, other lunch remnants, and trash. An EFP team that had finally gained access to an old and venerable family ranch after weeks of pleading by the show's producer was invited back with a smile for the follow-up show because one of the production people had brought along a broom and swept the area clean.

Major Installations

Regardless of size, all studios have similar basic technical installations, which include lights, electrical outlets, intercommunication systems, monitors, and studio speakers.

Set Dressings

Set dressings include things that you would place in your own living quarters to make them look attractive and to express your taste and personal style. Although the flats may remain the same from one type of show to another, the dressing gives each set its distinguishing characteristics and helps establish the style of the environment. Set dressings include curtains, pictures, sculptures, posters, lamps, plants, decorative items for a desk and bookshelves, or a favorite toy that survived childhood. Secondhand stores and flea markets provide an unlimited source for such things. In case of emergency, you can always raid your own living quarters or office. As with props, set dressings must be realistic so that they can withstand even the probing eye of an HD camera.

Scenery - Set Pieces, Platforms, and Wagons

Set pieces consist of freestanding three-dimensional objects, such as pillars, pylons (which look like three-sided pillars), sweeps (large, curved pieces of scenery), folding screens, steps, and periaktoi (plural of periaktos). A periaktos is a three-sided standing unit that looks like a large pylon; it moves and swivels on casters. SEE 14.13 Set pieces are often constructed in modular dimensions so that they can be fitted together in different combinations. Some set pieces, such as pillars and pylons, are unstable and must be secured so that they do not tip over when bumped by crew, talent, or equipment. It is always better to overbrace than underbrace a set.

Properties - Set Props

Set props include the furniture you use on a set, such as the chairs for an interview, the table for a panel discussion, the desk from which the corporate manager delivers her weekly address, the bookcase and the file cabinet for the office set, and the inevitable couch in situation comedies. When choosing set props, look for functional furniture that can be used in a variety of settings.

intercom

Short for intercommunication system. Used for all production and engineering personnel involved in a show. The most widely used system has telephone headsets to facilitate voice communication on several wired or wireless channels. Includes other systems, such as smartphones. The director also has easy access to a variety of intercom switches that control the PL, SA, and IFB systems. The associate director (AD), who sits next to the director in large productions, uses the same switches.

Small Microwave Transmission

Small microwave transmitters are used when cable runs prove too unwieldy to connect a camera to the remote truck. This tripodsupported transmitter has a reach of about 1,600 feet (500 meters).

Scenery - Set Modules

Smaller video production companies, whose scenery demands are usually limited to news, interviews, office sets, or environments in which products are displayed and demonstrated, often use set modules. A set module is a series of hardwall flats and three-dimensional set pieces whose dimensions match whether they are used vertically (right-side up) or horizontally (on their sides). They can be assembled in different combinations, similar to building blocks. For example, you might use a modular hardwall set piece as a hardwall flat in one production and as a desktop in the next. Or you might dismantle a modular desk and use the boxes (representing the drawers) as display units. A wide variety of set modules are commercially available.

Scenery - Flats Joined by Lashline

Softwall flats are connected by lashing them together with a clothesline, called a lashline. The lashline is woven around alternating metal cleats and secured with a slipknot.

Computer-Generated Enviornments

Some screen environments are entirely computer-generated. With the proper computer software, you can, for example, change the peaceful scene of vacationers traveling happily along a sun-drenched road into a frightening event by replacing the fluffy white clouds with a huge black tornedo. You can also generate people and animals fleeing the oncoming disaster or show the twister taking the roof off a house.

SA

Stands for studio address system. A public address loud speaker system from the control room to the studio. Also called studio talkback and PA (public address) system.

IFB

Stands of interruptible foldback or feedback. A prompting system that allows communication with talent while on the air. A small earpiece worn by on-the-air talent carries program sound (including the talent's voice) or instructions from the producer or director.

Physical Layout - Doors and Walls

Studio doors seem rather unimportant until you have to move scenery, furniture, and large equipment in and out. Undersized studio doors can cause a great deal of frustration for the production crew and frequently damage to equipment and scenery. Good studio doors must also be soundproof enough to keep all but the loudest noises from leaking into the studio. The studio walls and ceiling are normally treated with sound-absorbing material to "deaden" the studio. A fairly "dead" studio minimizes reverberation, which means that it keeps the sounds from bouncing indiscriminately off the walls. At least two or three sides of the studio are normally covered with a cyclorama, or cyc—a continuous piece of muslin or canvas suspended from a pipe or heavy curtain track.

Postproduction: Wrap-up

The first order of business is to make protection copies of all source material, especially if you can't perform the capture by the editing system right away. Check whether all source footage displays a time code. If not, you need to add one. You now need to review the copies of the source footage and prepare an accurate VR log. Recall that such a log must list all shots by in- and out-numbers, identify good and bad takes, indicate predominant vectors, and list the principal audio for each shot. Unless you are also doing the editing, it is up to the postproduction people to put it all together into a comprehensive message that ideally will convey the program objective.

Hardwall Cyc

The hardwall cyc is constructed of fiberboard and placed in front of one of the studio walls. The ground row is built-in.

ingest

The importing and capturing of video and audio data files on hard drive, usually a server. Refers to program input. Somehow the industry fell in love with this term, which stuck against all odds and respect for language. Master control keeps track of all incoming content, regardless of whether it arrives via satellite, cable, Internet, or mail. As ingest operator, you are responsible for logging all incoming program feeds, giving them identification codes (occasionally still called house numbers), and recording the priority feeds on a video server.

Studio Speakers

The studio speakers do for the program sound what the video monitors do for the picture portion. The studio speakers can feed the program sound or any other sounds—music, telephone rings, crashing noises and other sound effects—into the studio to be synchronized with the action. They can also be used for the SA (studio address system, also called PA, for public address system), which allows the control room personnel (usually the director) to talk to the studio personnel who are not wearing headsets. The SA is obviously not used on the air, but it is helpful for calling the crew back to rehearsal, reminding them of the time remaining to airtime, or advising them to put on their PL headsets.

Equipment Checklist

The success of the field production depends a great deal on thorough preproduction and how well you have prepared the time line. Contrary to the studio, where all major installations and equipment are readily available, you need to transport every single piece of equipment to the EFP site. Prepare a checklist that includes all the equipment and verify every item that is loaded onto the EFP vehicle. Use the same list when reloading the equipment for the return trip. The type and amount of equipment you need depends on the production requirements and, specifically, the preproduction survey. Check the following list of equipment items you need to consider for an EFP.

Audio Control Booth

The television audio control booth contains a variety of audio control equipment, such as the control console, a patchbay, various digital record and playback equipment, loudspeakers, intercom systems, and a video line monitor.

electronic news gathering (ENG)

The use of portable camcorders, lights, and sound equipment for the production of mostly unscheduled daily news events. ENG is usually done for live transmission or immediate postproduction.

uplink truck

The vehicle that sends video and audio signals to a satellite.

Switcher

You already learned that the video switcher is located next to the director's position. But why? This proximity enables the TD (technical director, who is normally doing the switching) to use the same monitor stack as the director and remain in close contact. Sitting close together helps the director and the TD communicate not only through the PL system but also through hand signals. For instance, by moving an arm at a certain speed, the director can indicate to the TD how fast a dissolve or wipe should be.

Storage and Archives

You have probably noticed that storing all the CDs, DVDs, and old videotapes you have collected is already quite difficult, especially if you want to quickly find specific content. Just think how challenging that job must be for a television station that deals with hundreds of pieces of new program content every day. Much of such content needs to be cataloged and stored for easy retrieval. Also, someone must take care of archiving the ever-growing video library so that a specific piece of content, such as a former president's inauguration speech, can be quickly retrieved if necessary for the evening newscast. Fortunately, these activities are also made somewhat more manageable by workflow software.

contact person

a person who is familiar with, and can facilitate access to, the remote location and the key people. The contact person, or contact, is someone familiar with the remote location who can help you adapt the environment to the production requirements. For the hotel room interview, for example, the contact person should not be the guest you are about to interview but rather someone who has the knowledge and authority to get certain things done in the hotel. If you overload a circuit with the lighting instruments, the contact should be able to call the hotel engineering or maintenance department immediately and have the circuit breaker reset. To prevent the telephone from ringing during the interview, the contact should be able to have the hotel operator hold all calls to the particular room phone or a maintenance person disconnect the phone line temporarily. The contact might even find you an empty hotel room that is better suited for video-recording the interview than the one the guest actually occupies.

location sketch

a rough, hand drawn map of the locale for a remote telecast. The location sketch should show the major streets and structures of the outdoor production environment as well as the main features of the indoor production space, such as hallways, doors, windows, and principal furnishings. Even if the field production happens in an actual field, make a sketch that indicates the approximate size of the production area, the major crossroads, and the location of the sun. Include such details as parking areas, location of the EFP vehicle or remote truck, and the closest toilet facilities.

field production

production activities that take place away from the studio or outside of it. It includes documentaries that are shot on-location as well as elaborate remotes for sporting events and the Thanksgiving Day parade.