They Found a New Guru

Betsy Ross Alan Rucker of CVTV tapes Rocky's testimony Those who remember The Lord of journalistic features. Gerald Ford's alternate news bureau which would the Universe - a 60-minute docu- America is the first project to get focus its attention on America's mentary whose subject was the underway (with additional support political hub and the people within young guru Maharaj Ji's descent from WGBH in Boston) and it is the new Ford Administration . Pack- upon the Houston Astrodome in hoped that by taking a closer look ing equipment into the White November '73 will recognize the at the traditional styles of broad- House, press conferences, meetings same video verity touch applied to cast journalism to date, new and of Con&Tess and embassy parties, Top Value Television's latest ven- more effective ways of presenting TVTV is promising to furnish a ture - Gerald Ford's America. It's information may be developed. glimpse of the Washington we don't part of a year's experiment backed TVTV, who first gained recogni- ordinarily see - in a way we don't by WNET and The Television tion with their unconventional ordinarily see it. Laboratory to work with TVTV in porta-pak coverage of the 1972 Gerald Ford's America is being developing new ways of working Republican and Democratic Nation- recorded on half-inch tape - 80 per with low cost portable videotape al Conventions, collaborated with cent black-and-white and 20 per technology. Five or more experi- the Lab last year to produce The cent color - to perhaps change the mental projects are intended to be Lord of the Universe - television's economics of broadcast journalism completed by the end of the year first nationally broadcast program as well. The final 120 minutes of which will explore new approaches recorded entirely on half-inch tape. tape will be divided into four pro- to broadcast journalism, the video- This past August, the fifteen mem- grams : the first will examine the tape magazine, late night informa- bers of the group began to prepare public image of Gerald and Betty tion-as-entertainment shows, fast- for Gerald Fords America by trav- Ford and the intriguing process by breaking news events, and short eling to Washington to set up an (Continued on Page 7)

The New York State Council on the growth of such awareness." Arts has awarded funds to the Funds were also made available Television Laboratory for the for the continuation of a short-term fourth consecutive year since the residency program for several New Lab's formation in February, 1972. York State artists (to be selected The support, which totals $94,000, later in the year - see page 3), and will be used primarily for the pro- for the purchase of Consolidated duction of a first-of-its-kind 26- Video Systems' new time base cor- week series to air over WNET/13. rector. The series, which is scheduled to The New York State Council on begin airing in January, will show- the Arts has played an important case works by the video commun- role in the Lab's'development as a ity, concentrating mainly on those center for experiment and tech- produced by New York State-based nology. The first grant in 1972, artists. made possible the purchase of Said Lab's Director David equipment needed to transform Loxton, "This grant from the Coun- Studio 46 into a working labora- cil for such a series enables us to tory -- items included cameras, explore something we've believed in monitors, recorders, editing decks, for a long time - that there is a and the Paik/Abe Synthesizer. significant body of works being Funds were also made available for Lydia Silman, NYSCA produced by independent video an artist-access program which makers that warrants weekly ex- enabled artists of all walks to ex- tribution to the Council-funded posure on the public television plore the Lab's facilities on a short PBS series, CAROUSEL. The artist- system. We feel that audiences are term basis. In 1973, a subsequent access program continued through demonstrating an ever increasing grant enabled the purchase of addi- that year with Council support. In awareness in the possibilities of tional equipment, a stipend for the 1974, NYSCA supported the pro- television and that this series will residency of Nam June Paik, and duction of the 90-minute live provide a me °ting place for the production funds for tie Lab! cow special, The Klevhion Sbow -- a panoramic look at the history of television which explored, new ap- proaches to the information-as- entertainment format. It also made funds available for the purchase of the CVS-500 time base corrector - a revolutionary piece of equipment which = the high uality transfer of half-inch black-and- white tape to two-inch broadcast tape. Under the same grant, six New York State artists were chosen to spend an extended period of time in the Lab completing innova- tive projects. And a PIP-8 com- puter was purchased in order to maximize the efficiency of studio functions while reducing and humanizing the technology - a system conceived by Nam June Paik. Lydia Silman, the Council's Acting Director of the TV/Media Program stated, "The New York State Council on the Arts has long supported facilities such as the Lag in their encouragement of indepen- dent artists. We feel that this grant is a very timely one - artists and audiences alike are ready for the kind of exposure the Lab's_ _weekly Early dollars from NYSCA helped build Studio 46. series will make possible ."

Weekly Series . . . . . Artists-In-Residence . . . . . In January, the Television Laboratory plans to begin a Following the successful initiation of a short-term weekly series on WNET/13, showcasing a broad range artist-in-residency program last year, the Television of examples offer oftelevisioninnovative and creative utilization of Laboratory at WNET/13 'Mshes to again this video and the medium. This series will be season an opportunity for several artists to each spend offered to as large an audience as possible, through the a few weeks at the Lab working on a project of their cooperation of the public television system. (See own design. Development, rehearsal and production opposite page.) costs and a stipend to the artist will be covered by the We are inviting everyone who is interested in Lab . participating to send us their tapes. The TV Lab is We would like to receive written descriptions of equipped to handle most videotape formats, within the proposed projects, including estimates of equipment, current capabilities of time base correction to broad- amount Vstudio time required and other people who cast quality. All tapes submitted should be original might be involved in a project, etc. Though we realize material or as high-quality dubs as possible. this will be difficult, we would appreciate the pro- Every tape submitted will be screened and consider- posals being as specific as possible, In addition, please ed for broadcast on the series, which will run from send resumes and information about any previous January to June, 1975. After screening, and, if experience, and work. necessary, transfer to 2" tape is completed, we will proposals will be submitted to an advisory panel return your tapes for as quickly as possible. If we decide Lab evaluation, with final selection to be made by the to include your tape in the series, we will contact you. staff as soon as possible thereafter. This artist-in- Any you submit must be yours or materialall which residency program will run between now and June of you havetape full permission to use, including necessary 1975 and is open only to New York State residents. It rights and clearances for public television broadcast. is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. Please send your tapes to Carol Brandenburg, Send your proposals and accompanying material to Television Laboratory at WNET/13, 304 West 58th St., Carol Brandenburg, Television Laboratory at New York, N.Y. 10019. Be sure to include the WNET/13, 304 West 58th St., New York, N.Y. 10019. compfeted form below and please allow at least six If you have any questions, please call the TV Lab at weeks for return delivery. WA (212) 2624248.-4A

Name

Address

I Address (If tape should be returned to a different address, please note.)

Phone Number

I Title of Taps

Running Time

Format

Peter Crown, Ph.D. down to two factors. A show which scored high on the DYNAMICS factor would have many sets, much intercutting, and a large number of A vast amount of research has been characters who speak frequently, done to study the effects of televi- but for short periods of time . The sion program content upon UNFAMILIARITY factor has to do audiences. A frequently employed with the degree familiarity with method of study involves classi- both visual surroundings and with fying shows according to content the character on the screen. These categories (such as Crime-Detective, two measures combined are re- Western, Comedy-Variety, Game ferred to as DYNUFAM. shows, etc .), and then assessing When applied to the 58 TV viewing patterns as to the amount series, the DYNUFA.M measure of viewing done in each category by gives similar scores to shows that groups of different ages, education seem to be similar on an intuitive evels, places of residence and so basis. There are in addition, differ- on. ences between shows in the same a This method implies a basic priori category, such as situation premise which states that the ef- comedies. For example, Mary Tyler fects of programming on viewing Moore and That Girl are low on habits are due to the overt content UNFAMILIARITY as compared of the programming . Radically with the Beverly Hillbillies and Hogan's Heroes viewingdifferent approaches to assessing which are higher on patterns have recently been Pear Crown UNFAMILIARITY . The authors suggested. One of these approaches After point out that it is these non- appeared in a recent article publish- the other. sedpg the room for intuitive differences which can be ed in Wommunications Reseamb" a given amount of time, the viewer valuable when the measure is entitled "An Information Theory cannot gain any additional informa- applied to the prediction of behav- treasure for Television Program- tion from the shot. Entropy, then, ior, such as viewing preferences. ming" by James H. Watt, Jr. of the reflects both the form of the pro- As a test of DYNUFAM. as a University of Connecticut and gram in stimulus terms, and infor- measure of program form, the Robert Droll of Rensselaer Poly- mation processing by the viewer. authors compared DYNUFAM with technic Institute. Putting this together, a program two other measures of program- Their method of approach is to with a Righ score on Verbal In- ming - one assessing violence consider the lower-order elements cidence Entropy would indicate "a content and the other using a priori of program form, such as the fre- large number of character verbaliza- categories (e.g. Westerns, - Quiz quency of occurrence of a given set tions being randomly interspersed ." shows, etc.). Actual viewing pat- location, and then to base a mea- From the viewer's standpoint, this terns for these series were related sure of programming on the least would imply a greater difficulty in more closely to the DYNUFAM abstract elements that can be de- discriminating among characters measures than to the other two fined- In other words, a television and in keeping up with their inter- measures. program can be construed as a relationships. Similar reasoning is The implications of this research sequence of visual and auditory invoked for the other measures. Set are quite interesting. For example, stimuli over time, an approach Incidence Entrog, for example, if it is known that a viewer has a which does not depend on inter- relates to the difficulty in recog- preference for shows with certain pretation of content. nizing spatial or visual locations. DYNUFAM scores, one could more The five basic measures used are These measures of rograni forum accurately assess which show he Verbal Incidence (i.e. frequency of were applied to 168 sows from 58 would prefer from a choice of character verbalizations), Verbal series broadcast by the three com- several if the DYNUFA.M scores for Time, Set Time, Set Constraint, and mercial networks. In order to be these other shows were known . Nonverbal Dependence (i.e . visual useful, the measures should be Also, the fact that viewing patterns emphasis). These measures are com- stable for different shows within are related to a measure which is bined with the concept of "en- the same series. This in fact is what completely non-content oriented is tropy", which is defined as the happened. Correlations for entropy in itself fascinating. This does not degree of uncertainty reduction in measures of different shows were mean that DYNUFAM character- the receiver (viewer). The impor- fairly high, and were statistically istics are the only ones which in- tance of the entropy concept can significant. fluence a viewer's selection of be illustrated by considering two Usinv a statistical technique shows. It does mean that on a identical camera shots of an empty called factor analysis, it was found statistical level, viewing is related to morn, one lasting twice as long as that the entropy measures boiled non-content variables.

On December 2nd, public television Cuba only for a few days. Although though they were surprised to see audiences viewed an intimate por- their visit was restricted, their inter- the two tiny women carrying and trait of an intriguing country paint- est had been piqued enough to operating their share of the gear. ed skillfully by the three members work toward gaining full permission "We handled that camera like a of New York City's Downtown from the Cuban government to baby", says Keiko, "holding it care- Community Television Center. make an eventual prolonged stay. fully between our knees on bumpy Cuba was the subject of the un- After two years of correspon- cars and trains . We were so afraid it precedented 60-minute documen- dence and clearances, the Down- would break, and then how would tary entitled Cuba - The People, town Community Television Center we get parts?" taped in half-inch color last spring was granted unrestricted access to During their six week stay, they by Keiko Tsuno, Jon Alpert, and Cuba . Shortly before official per- toped interviews with people from Yoko Maruyama. They were one of mission was granted, however, JVC of Cuban life - doctors, the few American television crews had introduced the first half-inch students, teachers, farmers, house- to enter Cuba since Fidel Castro led color videotape system on the mar- wives, children - in hospitals, hous- to obtain the ing complexes, fields, bars, uni- the country to revolution in 1959. ket. The group tried versities Keiko, Jon and Yoko's six week model in the States for the expedi- - asking sometimes found that only three sensitive questions. Unlike indepen- stay in the island country resulted existedtion, but all in 45 hours of color tape which was hue -- and were for dent journalists Frank Mankiewicz time-base corrected at the Televi- demonstration purposes. Deter- and Kirby Jones who were ad- sion Laboratory using the new mined to use the camera in Cuba, mitted to Cuba in July to film an CVS-504 time base corrector. Yoko Maravarna flew to Tokyo to interview with Fidel Castro, the The Downtown Community purchase the system and arrived Downtown Community Television Television Center, situated in the back just in time to make the (Center was not particularly inter- heart of New York's lower cast side scheduled departure from the ested in speaking with government was founded by Keiko, Jon and United States. Accompanied by authorities and officials . Their Yoko in 1970 ".. .to provide needed interpreter Carlos Diaz, they made attention was focused more toward services for an exploited, media their entry into Cuba in April 1974. showing what life was like for the starved community. Using porta- The first days in Cuba were spent average person. "Had we been given ble videotape equipment to pro- test taping and experimenting with a choice between an interview with duce informational programs they the equipment which included the Castro and an interview with a lesser worked to give the community "thethe JVC color camera and deck, two government official," says Jon, "we necessary intercommunication it half-inch black-and-white cameras would have chosen the latter." has lacked for so many years." In for back-up, a Panasonic deck, two The up was able to achieve 1972, curious about how a socialist monitors for playback, and a micro- remarkable rapport with the Cuban country might handle the social phone. The Cubans, who "sincerely people, due in part to the subtlety problems they encountered during like Americans", treated the four of the equipment and to their own their work in New York's melting and -their collection of equipment enthusiasm. "We were taping pot, Keiko and Jon ventured into with good-natured curiosity, al- (Continued on page 7) The Cubans loved to entertain for the camera Peter Crown, MIT, resident at the Lab whose work has focused mainly on the physiological and psychological effects of television, was invited to deliver the keynote address at Video Expo V held at Madison Square Garden October 1-3 . Dr. Crown spoke about the psychology of television-watching and how applications of the new video technology can benefit work in that area.

The Center for Media Study in Buffalo, New York sponsored a conference in Albany, New York on the C.U.N.Y . Campus Center Ballroom November 21., 22 . The Televisionconference theme was Educational Communication Centers and the Arts. Among the participants were the directors of the country's three video centers : Fred Barzyk of WGBH's Experimental Workshop, Paul Kaufman of the National Center for Experiments in Television, and David Loxton of The Television Labora- tory at WNET/13.

Howard Klein, Director for the Arts of The Rockqklkr Foundation, testified before the Subcommittee on Foundations of the Senate Finance Committee. Mr. Klein delivered his testimony on the role of private foundations in public broadcasting and summarized The Rockefeller Foundation's funding activities in public television since 1962. He stated that since the foundation did not have sufficient funds in the area to underwrite a major series such as Sesame Street, it made the decision to concentrate monies on the pre-production aspects of television. "Recog- nizing the concentration of artists in the New York area and the fact that WNET713 at that time reached 25%) of the total U.S. audience for public television, the Foundation cooperated with the station in establishing the WNET Television Laboratory - the first such major laboratory with its own facility."

Studio 46 was closed for a period of time primarily to remove the video monitoring system from the control room, to install the new RuttlEtra synthesizer and to complete the interface of the PDP-8 computer. The hardware aspects of the renovation are almost complete and software programming will commence shortly.

Candi Harper has joined the Lab staff as coordinating producer of the new 26-week video series which will begin airing in January. Candi, who was previously associated with WNET as a production assistant and then associate producer on several series' now works with Grass Roots Video outside of Denver, Colorado. Her knowledge of broadcast television and half-inch formats will be of valuable assistance in the preparation of the series. Russell Connor, Director of The Cable Arts Foundation, will be the series host.

Vision News is inviting essays and opinion pieces from readers. Contribu- tions should be from 300 - 500 words. Include self-addressed stamped envelope. $50 upon publication. Send to Editor, Vision News, 304 W. 58th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019.4k (Continued from Page 1) (Continued from Page 5 ) US! Fn Which that image is maintained; the crowds in the stands at a baseball WS second program will turn the game one day", relates Jon, "and cameras on the press, "recording we were using a sun gun which was the news media as it records the apparently blinding the players on December, 1974 Vol. 2, No. 2 event" ; the workings of Congress e field . The Cuban television The Television Laboratory News is and elections are the topics of the cameras turned into the stands on published by The Television Labora- third program ; and the last program us, taping them, and from then on, tory at WHET/13, a division of The takes an intimate look at the whirl- wherever we went, we were recog- Educational Broadcasting Corporation, wind social style of Washington. nized from our appearance on at the corporate address, 304 West Those who are looking for the Cuban TV." 58th Street, New York, New York conventional news reporter will not The group feels that it has paint- 10019. Telephone 212-262-4248 . find it here . Instead, TvTv pre- ed a true picture of the Cuban and sents "impressionistic political his country, having explored just Editor/Writer reporting", appearing on camera about every facet of life from Diane English almost as actors in a news drama . government to the status of women. Had they been able to Design remain longer, they would have Joel Shukovsky followed up on several stories . But The Television Laboratory at WNET/ time was short, as was the money 13 is supported by grants from The which came from their own person- Rockefeller Foundation and the New al resources. York State Council on the Arts, with Upon returning to the States, special project support from The Jon, Keiko and Yoko tried to sell National Endowment for the Arts. their documentary to CBS, ABC and NBC news . All three network Director news units rejected the tape mainly David Loxton because they are held responsible Administrative Assistant for what they broadcast and adhere Carol Brandenburg to a policy of not accepting work by independent journalists. The Secretary Downtown Community Center Stephanie Wein then brought the rough edit to the Lab who presented the project to Production Manager TVTV's Anda Korsts and the Iranian the WNET programming depart- Darlene Mastro Ambassador in "A Night at the Embassy". ment. The Lab and WNET then Supervising Engineer Plus, the same innovative use of co-ordinated arrangements for John Godfrey graphics and structure which is a underwriting, tape transfer, editing distinctive mark of TVTV's work in facilities, and national distribution Engineer the past will be an integral part of over public television. Philip Falcone Gerald Ford's America. The goal is Hopefully, the success of CUBA to present information in a more - THE PEOPLE will demonstrate Artists-in-Residence creative and interesting way. several things to the television in- Peter Crown Recently, Ron Powers of the dustry, summarized by Lab Direc- Ed Emshwiller Chicago-Sun Times said of TVTV, tor David Loxton : "There is no Nam June Paik "...its use of ports-pak videotapes denying that half-inch tape has David Silver and its anticonventional blend of come of age. Out of it has grown a TVTV art, journalism, politics, and satire, very new personal sort of journal- @1974 The Television Laboratory at is easily one of the most creative ism - one which must now be . forces in American TVs mostly seriously considered by all the net- WNET/13 stagnant universe." In announcing works as an inexpensive and very the project, Lab Director David viable means of distributing infor- Loxton stated, "it is hoped that the mation." over all demonstration of the proj- The Downtown Community ect will help set new standards" of Television Center is supported by professionalism for independent the New York State Council on the Arts . Funds for CUBA - THE Send comments and information to : video and ports-pak users across the Editor, The Television Laboratory country who are all potential and PEOPLE were supplied by The News, 304 West 58th Street, New valid sources of broadcast informa- Corporation for Public Broad- York, New York 10019 . tion." casting and Ford Foundation.A By John Godfrey, camera to be used for such exten- Supervising Engineer sive purposes. its main advantage is that it's about half the weight of The technology of television is the standard porta-pak, making it changing with amazing speed. It really ideal for mobility. It consists was only a year ago that the Lab of two 3/4-inch tubes, making ° . had put its CVS-500 black-and- capable of excellent definition hvhite time base corrector to the of a 400 line resolution under the test with The Lord of the Universe right conditions. However, there - the first nationally broadcast were some serious drawbacks to the program recorded entirely on half- JVC which became apparent during inch tape. In the past few months, usage. The first is that it gives color has appeared on the half-inch maximum quality image under only scene and the Lab has acquired a the most ideal lighting conditions. CVS-504 color time base corrector The automatic gain control (ACC), - this time having not one, but two gears to be too sensitive to han- opportunities to test the system. cl e brightness and shadow in the Top Value Television (TVTV5, urith same image, or color temperature Gerald ,Ford's America, and The change - causing sometimes a 7 Downtown Community Television line video bounce and a definite Center with Cuba - The People, swing to blue. This can sometimes mobile . Unfortunately, this deck have both chosen to use two sepa- be corrected by the right nionitor, employs a I3-wind system which is rate half-inch color cameras, the but is not correctable during trans- somewhat of an annoyance to wind Sony and the JVC respectively, for fer to two-inch without color cor- and rewind. Although the Sony has their individual programs, providing rection. The second difficulty is the a single one-inch tine which some- us with a unique op ortuniry to JVC's loose-wrap deck which just times causes a "ground glass" look comment on the performances of about rules out any walking or such to the image, it is more efficient in these pioneer systems . Although movement while taping. This is compensating for light levels and both are a breakthrough in tecll- quite paradoxical because of the therefore gives a better over all nology, there are advantages and camera s ideal walking weight. texture to the image. It has a softer disadvantages to the Sony and the TVTV has been using the Sony ACC and so far we have encounter- JVC. DXC 1.600 color porta-pak with a ed no violent video bounce. TVTV The JVC model, GC-48®0-U, used Sony 8400 deck for about six has found no real problems with by The Downtown Community weeps . This camera is the standard the camera or the deck so far, but Television Center for six weeks in weight, yet it does have a tight has packed along a black-and-white Cuba was the first JVC color wrap deck maF°;ng it easily more Tivicon to compensate for low light levels that the Sony might not be able to handle. So far this hasn't been necessary. Both cameras need a certain warming up time to break them in and "unstick" the new tubes - but the Sony tube needs careful han- dling and could burn out easily. Readers should take into con- sideration that both these systems were used for the first time by TVTV and The Downtown Com- munity Television Center, and that these criticisms are intended only as an impetus to improve the tech- nology early on. The appearance of workable low- cost portable color systems is a real boon to the medium. Aside from effecting eventual change on the econonncs of the television indus- try, it lends new life to the many groups of people who are working with half-inch formats for valuable Jon Alpert and Keiko Tsuno with the JVC . experimentation.