Television Production Handbook By Roger Inman Greg Smith Television Production Handbook By Roger Inman Greg Smith ©1981-2006 Roger Inman & Greg Smith. All rights reserved. Television Production Manual ii Television Production Manual INTRODUCTION There are essentially two ways of doing television. Programs are shot either in a specially designed television studio using several cameras which are fed into a control room and assembled in "real time," or they are shot using a single camera on location and assembled later in an editing room or on a computer. Obviously, almost all non-professional video is shot using a single camera. That makes it what the pros call "electronic field production," or EFP. In electronic field production, the director is like a composer of music, creating and assembling images and impressions, fitting them together carefully, weighing the quality and importance of each as he goes. He works much as a film director would, in a linear fashion from one shot to the next, one scene to the next. He is dealing with only one picture and one situation at a time. Since the program will be edited later, he can shoot out of sequence, repeat shots, and record extra shots to be included later. Electronic field production allows for a richness of scene and artistic creativity born sometimes out of necessity and sometimes out of opportunities suggested by the location itself. Professionals spend most of their time planning, scripting, and organizing their productions. The amount of time spent actually recording the program is surprisingly short compared to the time spent preparing for it. Each program goes through several important stages, from development of the concept through planning and scripting, then on to set design or location scouting, acquisition of performers and rehearsal. Along the way, the producer schedules his equipment, finds a competent crew, and brings all of the necessary elements together for actual production of the program. Television is an amalgam of many diverse disciplines. Professional productions often depend on the skill and cooperation of many people, as well as the ability of the producer and director to bring these people together in a cooperative effort. On the other hand, with digital technology, it is also possible to be a "one man band," performing all of the various functions yourself, and produce a “broadcast quality” program. While this book will deal with many of the techniques of production, it doesn't pretend to tell you how to iii Television Production Manual do anything. After all, rules are made to be broken. Or ignored. Still, picking the mind of a professional television producer will help you get better results every time you pick up a camera. iv Television Production Manual Contents THE CAMERA ...................................................................................................................................... 1 LENS CONTROLS 1 Iris .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Zoom............................................................................................................................................... 2 Focus .............................................................................................................................................. 3 ELECTRONIC CONTROLS 4 Pedestal .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Gain................................................................................................................................................ 4 White Balance ................................................................................................................................. 4 Viewfinder....................................................................................................................................... 4 TELEVISION LIGHTING .................................................................................................................... 5 LEVEL 5 ABSOLUTE ROCK BOTTOM 5 CONTRAST 6 COLOR TEMPERATURE 7 LIGHTING TECHNIQUES.................................................................................................................... 11 Key Light ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Back Light..................................................................................................................................... 12 Fill Light....................................................................................................................................... 12 Background................................................................................................................................... 12 MOVEMENT 13 CROSS LIGHTING 13 LIGHTING FOR DANCE 14 HIGH CONTRAST 14 LIMBO 14 BACK LIGHTING 15 APPLICATION 15 LIGHTING AND IMAGE RESOLUTION16 THAT “HOMEY LOOK” 16 COMPOSITION AND CAMERA MOVEMENT ............................................................................... 19 COMPOSITION 19 CAMERA MOVEMENT 27 BASIC AUDIO ..................................................................................................................................... 31 TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY 31 EQUIPMENT 33 PRODUCTION TIPS 38 BASIC VIDEO ..................................................................................................................................... 41 NTSC VIDEO 41 v Television Production Manual DIGITAL VIDEO 47 VIDEO SOURCES 48 MONITORING 53 Vectorscope................................................................................................................................... 54 Meters........................................................................................................................................... 54 Switching ...................................................................................................................................... 55 ORGANIZATION OF MATERIALS.................................................................................................. 57 ADDITIONAL VIDEO ........................................................................................................................ 61 TITLES AND ARTWORK 61 Character Generator..................................................................................................................... 62 Live Cards..................................................................................................................................... 62 Slides ............................................................................................................................................ 63 Film .............................................................................................................................................. 64 Computers..................................................................................................................................... 64 RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.................................................................................................. 67 PEOPLE ON CAMERA 67 COPYRIGHT70 EDITING AND PROGRAM CONTINUITY.......................................................................................... 73 WS - MS - CU SEQUENCES; USING CLOSE-UPS 75 JUMP CUTS AND THE THIRTY DEGREE RULE 76 The Thirty-degree Rule.................................................................................................................. 77 DIRECTION OF MOTION AND THE 180 DEGREE RULE 78 CUTAWAYS AND INSERTS 79 SHOT TIMING AND PACING 81 CUTTING SOUND 81 VIDEOTAPE EDITING 82 Tape to tape editing....................................................................................................................... 83 Editing modes: .............................................................................................................................. 83 The Control Track:........................................................................................................................ 84 SMPTE Editing: ............................................................................................................................ 84 COMPUTER EDITING 85 Analog Video Capture ................................................................................................................... 86 Digital Capture ............................................................................................................................. 89 GETTING THE WORD OUT................................................................................................................. 91 VIDEOTAPE 91 CD 91 DVD 92 Making a DVD .............................................................................................................................. 93 THE INTERNET 94 ARCHIVING YOUR WORK 96 GLOSSARY.......................................................................................................................................... 99 vi Television Production Manual vii Television Production Manual The Camera We're well on our way to the world of fully automatic "point and shoot" television cameras. Smart cameras are great most of the time and they certainly cut down on the common mistakes most people (even pros) make from time to time. When automatic operation doesn't work, though, the results can be pretty bad. Knowing what the