Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Aesthetics, then, means for us a study of certain sense perceptions and how these
perceptions can be most effectively clarified, intensified, and interpreted through
a medium, such as television or film, for a specific recipient.
Dr. Herbert Zettl, Professor of Broadcast and Electronic
Communication, San Francisco State University
Introduction
Before your hard work as a writer can reach the audience, which is
the primary reason for writing, the work must be converted from
a piece of paper or a computer file to actual acted, performed,
drawn, or physically created material and recorded onto some
form of reproducible media. The creative production staff and
crew must take your written ideas and convert them to a viable,
entertaining, informative program for the audience to hear, watch,
or interact with.
The relationship between you and the production process and your
attitude as a writer toward the production process and the people
who do the work is critical for your work to reach its best possible
form for presentation to an audience.
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The distance might not be any greater than a phone call, a meeting,
or a casual conference with the producer and director. This is the most
comfortable position and leads to the least confrontational and most
congenial creative relationship between writer and production staff.
This position provides the availability to answer questions and to help
in solving problems that may arise during the production process.
This attitude finds that the writers curiosity about the production
techniques required to fill the demands of the script helps the writer
understand how his or her concept or depictions must be dealt with to
reach the vision within the confines of the production process.
At the extreme other end of the relationship, the writer becomes
totally involved in the production process. A writer with professional knowledge of the production process may become an adjunct
to the producer or director by applying production knowledge and
experience to the solution of the production problems created by
the script. The level of knowledge would come from actual production experience or from working on many productions while intentionally grasping and absorbing production techniques. This may
offer a writer the opportunity to merge an interest and skill in writing with production knowledge, which could lead to the opportunity to produce or to direct the script. If taken to an extreme, this
attitude also may become a problem for the producer or director if
the suggestions reach beyond the responsibility of the writer and
conflict with the needs of the producer or director.
What Is Production?
The production process consists of the operation of the physical and
digital equipment combined to convert your written script to a completed program available to be distributed. The process incorporates
three stages: preproduction, production, and postproduction.
As the writer, you have completed the majority of the preproduction
stage. You prepared the original concept, proposal, treatment,
preliminary budget, and various stages of writing and rewriting of
the script to its final form. The production team then takes the written
documents and organizes the equipment and personnel to operate
the equipment needed to prepare for the actual production stage.
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You and the producer share the responsibility for the preproduction
stage. The director and the key members of the production staff and
crew then plan and carry out the design, the set-up, rehearsals, and
the recording of the production. During the postproduction stage,
the editing staff assembles all of the material produced during
the production stage and melds it into a completed package. The
director or producer, or both, supervise the editing. Depending on
the contract arrangement, you also may be asked to offer opinions
on the final edited stage of the production.
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Action Descriptions
Pan
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Tilt
Dolly
Truck
Crab or Arc
Pedestal
Crane or
Boom
Zoom
Abbreviations of Transitions
Fade in
Fade out
Take (Cut)
Dissolve (DISS)
Wipe
Special effects
Super
Key
Split screen
Matte key
Chroma key
Digital effects
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MS
LS/WS
XLS/XWS
POV
OS
Two-shot
Three-shot
Head shot
Bust shot
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Figure 2.1. A close-up (CU) camera frame concentrates on one object, usu-
Figure 2.2. A medium close-up (MCU) camera frame shows more than one
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Figure 2.3. A medium shot (MS) camera frames reveals more than a MCU
and often includes more than one object and their relationships in the
environment.
Figure 2.4. A long shot (LS) camera frame shows the entire setting or
environment of a scene.
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Figure 2.5. A two-shot camera frame includes two people or two objects
and their relationship in the environment.
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will understand and will follow the vision on to the finished production. Your control of casting, scene design, and the overall mode
of the production depends on accurate and complete descriptions
in the bible. The bible contains a list of characters, character relationships, scenes, locations, and treatments of the production, which
gives the producer and director the means to reach an understanding of your concept. It is a method used to match your concept of
the script to the work they must accomplish.
The production skills and techniques listed earlier in this chapter
should provide you with the necessary information to fulfill your
production obligation as the writer of your script.
Audio Transitions
Cut
Fade in
Fade out
Segue
Cross fade
Bridge
Audio Abbreviations
SFX/EFX
ANNCR
VO
MUSIC
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AUDIO TRANSITIONS
Maximum level
Zero level
Fade In
Fade Out
Maximum level
Zero level
Cross fade
Maximum level
Zero level
Segue
Maximum level
Zero level
Up and Under
Maximum level
Zero level
Cut
Figure 2.6. The lines on this diagram indicate the level of each of the two
audio sources as transitions occur between the two sources, except for
fades that involve only one source.
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Summary
This chapter introduces the writer to the basic concepts of media
production and the relationship the writer needs to maintain with
the production staff and crew. The writers attitude should not be
one of fear of the process; rather, the writer should maintain a curious cooperation as the process continues, accepting the reality that
compromises will have to be made on the original script as the
process moves forward.
Production simply is the physical process of translating the writers original concept into a completed project that may be recorded, distributed,
and archived. The language of production evolved from live theatre,
motion pictures, radio, television, video, and, now, digital processes. It
is at times an unique vocabulary that a writer needs to be acquainted
with in order to communicate with the production personnel.
In production of audio, video, and digital, as used in Web-based
and interactive productions, media, the writer must choose the best
techniques to depict the concept the writer proposes in the script.
A wide knowledge of production techniques is not necessary for a
writer, but enough knowledge to provide a means of understanding
how the production process operates is helpful.
Be Sure To
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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Exercises
1.
Additional Sources
Print
Alten, Stanley R. Audio in Media. 7th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Publishing, 2005.
Benedetti, Robert. From Concept to Screen: An Overview of Film and Television
Production. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2002.
Block, Bruce. The Visual Story: Seeing the Structure of Film, TV, and New
Media. Boston: Focal Press, 2001.
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Web
www.aes.org
www.art.net
www.computerhistory.org
www.eia.org
www.fcc.gov
www.howstuffworks.com/hdtv1
www.hollywood.com
www.itu.ch
www.smpte.org