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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

LESSON 01

CREATIVITY AND IDEA GENERATION FOR TELEVISION

Importance of Television among other media

In this age of Globalization and information mass media are indispensable tools of communication and

in this era of science and technology the space and time have been squeezed.

History witnessed the traditional warfare, followed by Cold warfare, Psychological warfare and then the

modern warfare but in today's media warfare the words are weapons and the satellites are the artillery

and due to information imperialism it's the matter of information haves and information have-nots.

Other tools of Communication

Leaflets, pamphlets, flyers, brochures, booklets, books, magazines, digests, posters, mountings,

buntings, flags, banners, billboards, hoardings, radio, film, theatre.

Purposes of television

Information

Education

Edification

Acculturation

Persuasion

Propaganda

Entertainment

Amusement

Info-tainment

Picture is the base of Television Production

Earlier the term of "Motion picture" came based on the same fact that on the screen there were "pictures

in motion". Later the term was replaced by the "Film" and "Movie".

Phases in preparation of a TV programme

Pre-production phase

Production phase

Post-production phase

The first stage involves the "library work" i.e. research and script writing.

The second stage involves the "leg work" i.e. field and studio work.

The third stage involves the "laboratory work" i.e. editing and mixing.

The prime job of a Producer is to:

Generate an idea of a programme

Presentation of the idea

Refine that idea for production

Develop a concept

Decide the contents

Engaging a researcher

Getting the script written

Hunting the talent i.e. actors, anchors, newscasters

Preparing the Programme Budget Estimate

Making the arrangements

Coordinating with different sections

Discussion with the set designer for indoor programmes

Reconnaissance or survey of location for outdoor programmes

Discussion with the cameraman

Planning for the programme

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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

Casting of artists and performer

Scheduling the recording

Rehearsals of the participants

Recording the programme with production crew

Editing the programme with Editor

Audio mixing

Adding graphics

Making title and promos

A good director and producer need to carry on all these steps to the best of his capabilities and to the

optimum level of his efficiency. Better the programme planning and the time management, greater the

quality and value of the production. The creativity will not be well on screen if the whole process is not

executed properly and timely.

Video Procedures

TV Production Crew Positions

Following is a list of crew positions you could encounter in a multi-camera television production. Not

all positions will be filled all of the time--smaller productions will not have some of the more

specialized job duties or one person will fill several positions. Larger productions will have more

specialized positions and assistants or associates to provide, well, assistance. For a detailed description

of the job performed by each, see your text.

Producer: Executive, Associate, Line, etc.

Director: Associate, Assistant, Floor, Technical

Writer

Set Designer

Makeup/Wardrobe

Talent

Audio Engineer

Video Engineer

Videotape Engineer/Operator

Camera Operator

Production Assistant

It is important that each person understand and perform his/her job responsibilities with maximum

efficiency. Multi-camera television production is team-work, and for the team to operate effectively, it

must coordinate and communicate. While the television production process may at times appear to be a

confusing ballet (lyrics in Italian), there is a method to the madness. Please read and put into practice the

following procedures for studio set-up and strike.

Future Trends

High Definition Television

Production

Production and transmission need not share the same technical system. In fact, as long as a production

standard is readily convertible to the transmission standard, it makes a great deal of sense to use two

different systems, according to many HDTV experts. For years, broadcast television has used 35mm

film as its acquisition format and as a source for transfer to NTSC video for post-production and

distribution. Despite the availability of HDTV production technology since the mid 1980s, 35mm film

remains the premier worldwide acquisition standard for high-quality television. In fact, all the talk of

HDTV may have resulted in the promotion of film as a production format. Due to all the uncertainty as

to which HDTV transmission system will finally prevail, many producers feel that the safest route is

still to shoot on film; they reason that they will eventually be able to transfer the film images to

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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

whatever HDTV system wins out. Currently, the closest thing that the video community can promote as

a worldwide production standard is D-1, which records both 525- and 625-line systems. The NHK

1125/60 system was being promoted as a worldwide standard with the assumption that once the material

has been recorded and edited, it can be down-converted to either NTSC or PAL, or even transferred to

film. And once the HDTV distribution systems have been standardized, the 1125/60 video could be

converted to whatever HDTV transmission system is required. The unknown variable here is the quality

and cost of the conversion.

Two glitches in the HDTV production process are still being resolved. One is constructing an imaging

device that has both the resolution and the sensitivity necessary to produce an image suitable for HDTV

pictures. Tubes, which were quickly replaced by CCDs in almost every other production environment,

have disappeared more slowly from HDTV camera. Tubes still have an edge in resolution, and

resolution is, of course, central to the whole idea of HDTV. The tubes used in some HDTV cameras

were high-gain, avalanche rushing amorphous photoconductor (HARP) tubes. Unfortunately, resolution

is achieved at the expense of sensitivity. The smaller the focus of the electron beam, the higher the

resolution and the lower the sensitivity, thus requiring more light on the set. Especially when compared

to the newer and faster 35mm film stocks, HDTV production using tube cameras required extra lighting,

which in production means more fixtures and increased setup time. Another complication has involved

achieving the necessary optical resolution for the lenses used with HDTV cameras. While lenses for

high-quality 35mm film production have evolved to become high quality imaging tools, the history of

video production has not, until HDTV, required similar performance.

Also known as advanced television (ATV), extended-definition television (EDTV), and improved-

definition television (IDTV), HDTV is an improved television system with at least double the horizontal

and vertical resolution, wider aspect ratio, and superior audio when compared to the current television

broadcast standards, e.g., NTSC and PAL.

With approximately twice as many scan lines as current television systems, a larger screen with a wider

aspect ratio, and six-channel, compact-disc-quality, surround sound, the HDTV experience will

approach projected 35mm film. According to CCIR Report 801, HDTV is described as able to replicate

reality when the viewer is seated three screen heights away from the display. Higher resolution, better

color reproduction, separate color and luminance signals, a wider and perhaps larger screen, and life-

like audio will all be combined to make the HDTV experience larger than life, especially when

compared to the current NTSC system. HDTV also has professional and business applications beyond

television entertainment. Some suggested applications for this new technology include; telemedicine,

computer design, and teleconferencing. Yet another suggestion is that HDTV will finally make possible

a concept sometimes referred to as electronic cinema. The concept is to create a network of video

theaters with distribution by direct-broadcast satellite. This approach would provide an alternative to

traditional film print distribution.

Major players in the race to bring HDTV to market have been the global economic superpowers: Japan,

the United States, and to a lesser degree, the European community. The Japanese, who began working

on HDTV in 1969, have been delivering a domestic HDTV service via their multiple sub-Nyquist

sampling encoding (MUSE) system since 1991. And while the US has focused on terrestrial broadcast

of HDTV signals (due to concern for local broadcasters' interests), Japan has moved ahead with DBS

delivery systems. But even after several years of trial delivery, only 25,000 Hi-Vision sets were sold due

to high cost.

Despite Japan's worldwide dominance in consumer electronics hardware and the US's role as the world's

chief supplier of programming, the European community has been determined to be a participant in the

development of HDTV standards which will impact on their electronics and broadcasting industries.

The European market had been at odds with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) system for

some time due to its incompatible frame rate (1125 scan lines; 60 fields per second). Europe is on a 50

hertz, 25 frame systems with its PAL and SECAM systems. Converting from or to a 30 frame system is

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TV News Reporting and Production MCM 516

both costly and a technical compromise, according to European sources. In fact, Europe's tentative

development in 1987 of its own HDTV system, Eureka 95/HD-MAC, along with the International

Telecommunication Union's (ITU) decision in 1986 to delay a vote on an HDTV standard, thwarted

Japan's hopes for a world-wide standard.