Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Production
Handbook
NTH
ED
ON
Herbert Zettl
THOMSON
...
VVADS'WORTH
A U$T~A lI'"
BR.AZll
C.""~ OA
M UICO
S I NGAPOR~
SP""N
THOMSON
VVAOSVVORTH
Herbe rt Zeltl
Permls..<IOII~
S" lIior
Prilltu: R. R. DonndleylWillard
USA
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
-- ,
Once 'gain I
upo h '
Was pril'iJeged /0
I also wan! to gi\'~ a big thank-you to all of th e
. ~ t eexperlise of its 'I\.rea . 'lave H'adswon h call and organizations who responded qu OId' d ~e.ople
Ie y an POSJtlvely
Edmonor the Ti l "
m 10 produce this Ninth to my numerous requests for assist ance:
Stanley Alten
Allen,publ'IShcr' Renee
eM SIOII ProdI/CI;o" Halldbook: HolI, SyraCUSe
University;
Rudo
lf
Benzler
Pt"'rn->'
' c'
.
.,," 1;;"(113, M UOIell
,
Del"
, G
Ma k 0
,r
'
errnany;
John Bentzhoff and Greg Goddard , Sn a der an d
.
Prodllction Ha ndbook.
Herbert Zeu l
..
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"
You may think that television production is a relatively simple task. After al1, you do p ret ty
well with your camcorder. When watching a newscast from the control room al a local
television station, however, you realize that television production involves much mo rE!
present s a formidable challen g e even for hig hly experienced productio n personnel.
When watching television, viewers are largely unaware o ( such production complexities.
Bul as you can
in a television station o r in the field-is a complex creative process in w hich people and
machines interact to bring a va riety of messages and experi ences to a large audience.
Even when involved in a relatively small production, you need to know what machines
and peo ple are necessary to achieve a certain type o ( televisi o n communiC<'Ition and
how to coordinate the many cre<'llive and t echnical elements.
Chaple r 1 is d esigned to p rovide you w ith an o verview of the various equipment and
p roduction pro cesses. Se<t io n 1.1 , What Television Prod uction Is All About. introduces
the television system and ilS many production ele ments. Sectio n 1.2. Stud ios, MaSler
(o ntro l, and Support Areas, describes Ihe e n viro nment in w hich Ihe televisio n studio
system operates.
Stand~
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--.- ~-.
1.1
What Television
Production Is All About
anthe ne<:
SYSTEM ELEMENTS
OF STUDIO PRODUCTION
The expanded studio television systelll in iu most elemen
tary stage includes: ( I) one or more ca meras, (1).1 cama,\
control unit (CCU) or units, (3) preview mon itors, (4) a
switcher, (5 ) a line monitor, (6) on e or mor~ video tape
recorde rs, and (7 ) a line out that tr<ln~p o rts the video
signal 10 Ihe vidcOl<lpe recorder andlo r the transmission
device. SEE 1.2 Usually integrated into the expanded system
are videotape machilles ro r play back , character or graphic
gen erators that produce vari ous form s of lettering or
graphic an , and an ~d i t ing system.
5t!'(tion 1. 1
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Section'. ,
OF FIELO PROOUCTION
EfRb.. The principal o bviously could not bring her new
E(fJ""'" compuu:r lab into the studio, so someone had to go
on location to videotape the event. Such locatio n shooting
normally falls into th~ ENG (eleerrollic lIeW$ gathering)
bosic
ENG
sy~tem
coo
r.i~1S
of a camCOlder and a
microphone. The camcorder
inctude~ aU video and .lodio
qu ality contlols as weI! as
video- and audio-Iecording
facilities.. Aportable tlansml\
Mkri)\lhone
Tram.rnltter
(am(orof!
cc _ ~
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lit . l '
VlRl
cc
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witllattam~ QI'
separate VTR
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may
to
Chapter I
PRODUCTION ElEMENTS
With Ihe expanded televis.ion .<;yslem io mind , \ve briefly
explore eight basic productio n elemen ts; (I) the camera,
(2) lighting, (3) a udio, (4) 1>witching, (5) videolape record
ing. (6) tap tless systems (7) postproduction editing, and
(8) special effeCIS. When learning abo ul television pro
d uction, always try to see each piece of equip rm'nL ilnd its
operation within the larger COntext of the teb'ision system,
persQnnel. it is, after all, the skilled and prudent use o f the
television eq uipment by the production team, and not
simply the smooth interaction or tile machines, thaI gives
the system its value. (The specific roles of the production
personnel are outlined in chapler 16.)
CAMERA
The most o bvious p roduction clement- I he camera-
comes in all si u s and configurations. Some cameras are
so small lh.at the y fit easily into your coa l pocket, whereas
o thers a re so heavy that yOu ha ve to strain yourself 10 lift
them onto a camera mount. The camera mount enables
the operalOr to move a heavy camera/lens/tc1eprompter
assembly on the studio Ooor h'ith relative ease. S'EE 1.5
POr\able cameras arc o ft en usi for ENG and EFP.
ManyENG/EFP Cameras are C<.1Jncorders that combine
the camera and the videotape recorder in o nc unil, much
like popular consumer models. The ENG/ EFP cam cord
ers, however, ate of higher quality and cost considerably
more. It is ohen the h igh .quality lens that distinguishes a
professioll'll ENG/EFP camera from a high-end consumer
model. So me ENG/EFP cameras are built so rhalthey cart
"dock" \Vith a videotape re<:order, a digital disc, or hard
drive recording un it; such units are simply plugged inro
the back of tilE' camera to form a camcorder. Regardless of
whether rhl' camcorder is analog or digital, il s operational
features ate basically identical. SEE 1.'
The studio tele\ision camera has three fundamental
parts: the lens. Ihe camera itself, and the viewfinder.
The lens
Sec r ion
'. 1
Like the hu man eye, the camera cannot see well withou l a
certain amount of lighl. Because it is not objects we actu
ally sce but the light reflected off of them, manipulating
the lighl falling on objects influences the 'liay we perct'ive
them on -screen . Such man ipu!ation iscaUed liglrring.
Lighting hai four broad purposes: ( I ) 10 prov ide the
televisio n camera with adequate illumination for teclmi
caHy acceptable pictures; (2) to leU us what the objects
shown o n -screen actually look like ~ (3) to show U5 where
the obj~ts are in relatiOn to one anolher and to their im
mediate environment , and when the event is laking place
in terms of lime of da y or season; and (4) to establish Ihe
gt'nerai mood of the event.
Types of illumination AI/television lighting basic.aUy
involves t\\'O types of illumination : directio nal and dif
fu sed . Dirtcti()tI(l1 light has a ~harp beam and produces
harsh shadows. You can aim the light beam 10 illum inate
II prcrise area. A fla shlight and car headlights produce
direClionOlllight . DifJil~td lighr has a wide, indistinct beam
th at iUuminates a relatively large area and produces soft,
translucent shadows. The flUOrescent lamps in a depart
ment s!Ore produce diffi.lsed lighting.
Studio lighting consists of ca refully con troUing ligh t
and shadow areas. The lighting requirements fo r electronic
fi eld productio n are usually quite different from tho$e
for studio work. In eleclronic news gathering. yo u work
mostly with available light or occasionaUy with a single
lighting instrument that give~ just enough illumination
(or the call1era to record an event relatively c1~e to the
ca mera. fo r UP you also use al'J.ilabte light . especially
when shouting outdoors, o r highly diffused light Ihat pro
v ide~ optimal visibilir)' ind oo{s. Some field productions,
such as documt'ntaries o( dramatic scenes, requireCOlrt'fu l
int erio r lighting that resembles stud io lighting techniques.
The difference is that the location lighting for EFP is done
with portable light ing instruments rather than with studio
ligills, which are lllore o r less permanently installed.
10
Chap t e r I
Although the term Idevis jon does not include aUdio, the
sound po rtion of a Ielevision show is nevenheless o n(' of its
most im portant elements. Television audio not only com
municates precise info rmatio n but also colltributesgreatly
to the mood and the atmosphere of o:l scene. If you were to
turn off the audio during a newscast, even the best news
anchors would have di(ficultycommunicJtillg their stories
through facial expressiom , graphics, a nd video images
ato ne. The ae.slhetic fu nction of sound (10 make us per
ceive an event o r feel in a particular Ivay) becomes obvious
"" hen you listen \0 Ihe backg ro und sounds during a crime
show, for exam ple. The squealing tires durillg a high-speed
chase 3re real eno ugh, bUI the rhyt hmically fast, excjting
background music that accompanies the scene is definitely
artificial. Afte r aU, Ihe getaway car and \h E' po li ce car arE'
nOI foll o~...ed in realli(' by a third vehicle wilh musicians
playing the background music. But we have grown so ac
customed to such devi..:es that WE' probably would perceive
the scene as less excitin g if the music were mjssing.
The vario us ,lud io production elements arc micro
phones. ENG/EFP and studio sound control equipment,
,wd sound reco rd ing and playback devices.
Section 1. 1
0.
noodli9ht~
Microphon.s
In E.NG
11
12
Chapler ,
Sec rion 1. 1
tra nsition~
and
~pecial
13
All profes~ lOn d l VTRs have vari o us Video- and audio recording,
Or
VIDEOTAPE RECORDING
Most teJevision shows are recorded on video tape or co m
puter disk before thry are ai red. EV('1l live football broad
casts inchlde plenlYof prerecorded material. The "i nstant
repla)'s" are nothing but digital replap of key moments
after the fact. Videotape o r a computer hard disk is u ~ed
fo r the playback of co mmen.:ia!s, el'cn those o riginally
prod uced on fi lm.
14
Ch a p ter I
8otac.mSP
VHS
../
DV(AM
TAPELESS SYSTEMS
Greal and r;,\ pid progress is being made lOward a tapeless
environment wherein all video recording. storage. and
phlyback is do ne ,,,itn non-Iape-based systems. Such il
tapeless systelll makes use of memory sticks an d cards ,
optical discs such as CDs and DVDs, and large-capdeily
computer d isks ralher than videotape.
/'
HiS
MiniDV
writ<: ) let you reco rd and play back entire video sequences
and reuse Ihem fo r o ther recordings.
Some camcord<:ts use sma ll bur high-capacit ), hard
drives inst ead of vidcot<lpe to c;\pture and play back video
and audio informati o ll . High-capacit}' h ard drives are used
extensively fo r the slOrage. mani pulation, and retrieval of
video and audio inform ation by deskto p co mputers in
po~ t p ro duction. I-lard dri ves Iha! a r~ even larger (in the
multi-t erab yte range) have all !Jul re placed vidcotape as
the storage and playback device of daily program ming in
tdev i ~ ion stations.
Note that the optical , laser-acti vated discs arc spelled
with a c, ,1Ild the disks used in hard dri ves arC' spelled
wi th a k.
POSTPRODUCTION EDITING
For some peoplC' postproduclion editing is heaven : Ihe}'
feellOlally in co mmand of putting toge ther the bits and
pieces of recorded material mto a $lo ry th at tdls the event
in a darified and intensified Ivay. For others il is " ledio us,
albeit necessary, evil. Irrespective o f how you fed abo ut
postproduction, it is usuall y the most expensive and lime
consuming production ph:lse. In p rinciple, pOj fprodlla ioll
editUlg is n:lativel y simple: you select the OIOst effective
sho ts from the o riginal so urce material, usui'l ll y on video
lape, and copy !hem o nto arw(her videotape in a :;pccifk
o rder. III praclice, however, postproduclion editing can
be extremely co mplicated, inv(J llling such fundam entally
d ifferent sys t ,'ln~ as nonlinear and linc:lr ('d il ing and spt'
cial-effects equipment.
Section / . 1
15
1.14 LINEAR
EDITING SYSTEM
The linear, cuts-only editing
Soof{t monitor
Re<old monitoJ
and
an audio
Audiomill!r
~ Audio(iJs~ne
mi~er.
pla)'f'l"
- Edit wntroller
Titlt gelll'J.tor
~
SouJ(eVTR
Rl'(OrdVTR
16
1.15 NONLINEAR
EDITING SYSTEM
tn nonli ~ilr ediliny. 311
audio an d video Information
is stored on large-capo<ily
hard drives_ You man ipulate
plC ture~ and sound with th e
computer much lik.e words
and paragraph s du ring word
process ing,
Chapter I
(o mput~r
mOni\Of
Video monitOf
Speaker
li tll
SPECIAL EFFECTS
mEa
1.17 MOSAI(