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Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

LESSON 33

ENVIRONMENT OF TV BROADCAST

As we work at a TV broadcasting house we need to be familiar with some of the elements

most frequently occurring and talked about in and around the TV studios.

It is very much like a radio broadcasting house where people who are involved in the radio

production in any manner need to know the frequently used references that makes

communication worthwhile for the all working as a team.

Since working as a member of TV production team requires knowledge of far more than

working for radio production, the specifics of the things found frequently in the environment

helps a great deal in accomplishing the task.

All these are regarded as supporting factors to strengthen TV broadcast.

Optical Illusions

The TV broadcast is a camera work most of the time. This means the viewers of any

broadcast are dependent on what they see besides also decoding the voices they hear.

To create so much to be seen a situation or a setting is created too often in a TV broadcast

whereby it is communicated which actually does not exist in the form as viewer see them or

believe it. These are called optical illusion what you see and believe is there, is actually not

there as such.

For instance a person is talking and behind him is a window; this is what a viewer is seeing.

There may not be such a thing but the impression of a window has been created by other

means. Similarly a corridor is not much long, but camera trick makes a viewer believe it is a

long corridor. It may be a case to establish height of a building, mountain or a pole.

POV

This means point of view. Basically it is about camera work which keeps the direction of the

people who are talking to the viewers, or each other, on a correct angle.

This is a most embarrassing situation for a producer if POV is not kept. All the people

involved, even the talent and the crew staff, and are supposed to know this basic concept in

TV broadcasting. This problem frequently arises during an interview where the interviewer and

the interviewee are supposed to be seeing each other as they talk during their question-

answer session.

Apart from interviews, the POV must be understood for programs like the talk shows or

seminars where an anchorperson has to turn to other participants or audience in the studio to

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Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

know their opinion. At the same time when audience and the expert are making answers, their

POV must be adjusted in a way that it appears that they are talking to each other.

Verbal and Non Verbal combination

TV broadcast is a combination of verbal and non verbal communication. The body gestures

must support what is being said. It would cause lot of confusion if movement of hands or

shaking of head go the other way the words being said are suggesting. For instance if you are

asking someone to go, the gesture of hands should support it, and not that it negates the

verbal command. For instance, if you have to ask a person to leave the room, your verbal

command must be supported by the gestures of your hands or the movement of your head.

Only this combination would complete the whole piece of communication. It would be a

ridiculous situation it the verbal or non verbal combination does not match with each other.

Depth of Field

In radio broadcast a producer is very much concerned about the distance between the talent

and the microphone. A slight imbalance in this matter may spoil the whole production,

especially in discussions or dramas.

Likewise people working for a TV broadcast must understand what depth of field in the sense

of camera is. All the range of a distance which is in the sharp focus of the camera is referred

to as DOF. Any small movement within that range may alter the whole meaning of the

broadcast. That is why a TV director is most disturbed when some undesirable action or

movement takes place within this range. Different cameras, or lenses used in cameras, have

different DOF.

Props

If you are watching a TV broadcast, you may be seeing a number of articles lying here and

there. Some of the articles may be in use of the talent/s and the others remain idle throughout

the scene. In the TV jargons these articles are called props and all the people concerned with

the TV broadcast must have a clear understanding of those.

The props which are brought into action like a book, vase, chair, clock, stick etc are referred to

as active props and the others like an ash-tray, pen-holder, magazine etc are called passive

props and are used only to enhance the non verbal value of the broadcast.

Contrast

We may not get a chance to learn about it in any other session. Contrast in TV broadcast is

the difference in intensity of light at one point (of the set) and the other. Point to learn is to

know that if the difference is more than 1:30 a camera can't tolerate it and would start showing

the dark spots. The problem is compounded with the fact that human eye can absorb a

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Introduction to Broadcasting MCM 411

difference of 1:100 so what a contrast director or a talent is seeing at the set would be very

different what camera can read. For example we can see a match with half the ground under

blazing sun and the rest under shadow but a camera cannot observe it the same way due to

its little tolerance range in reading the contrast.

This has to be kept in mind for teams which go outdoor for recording news reports in particular

so that the broadcast quality is not compromised.

Chroma Key

Keying means cutting electronically colored part of the TV picture which is in the background

of the subject, make it transparent and replace it with some other image from another source

to composite a new image altogether . As in weather reports, program titles

Camera speed film speed lens (aperture) speed