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ENVIRONMENT OF TV BROADCAST:Optical Illusions, POV, Depth of Field

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Introduction to Broadcasting ­ MCM 411
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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
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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
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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
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Table of Contents:
  1. BROADCASTING:Historical Facts about Radio, Wireless and Radio
  2. CLASSIFICATION OF PROGRAMS:NEWS, Language, Sensationalizing
  3. CURRENT AFFAIRS:Talk Shows, Discussions, Seminars, Live Shows
  4. OUTDOOR BROADCASTING I:VIP Movement, Suddenly Assigned Events
  5. OUTDOOR BROADCASTING II:Pakistan Day March Past, General Elections
  6. CURTAIN RAISER:Political, Financial, Sports, Academics
  7. RADIO FEATURE:Personality Features, Features on Events
  8. MUSICAL PROGRAMS:Classical Music, Light and Film Music, Folk Music
  9. RADIO DOCUMENTARY:Narrative, Dramatized, Imagination, Close to places
  10. DISC JOCKEY:Women in Focus, Daily/ Weekly Division, Making Titles
  11. VOICE IN BROADCASTING:Speech, Accent, Loudness, Stress
  12. NOISE:Physical, Medium itself, Problem at sender’s end, Semantics
  13. STUDIO:Drama Studio, Studios for Talk Shows/ Discussions, Music Studios,
  14. RADIO DRAMA I:Stage Dramas, Early Radio Dramas, Ethics, Classification
  15. RADIO DRAMA II:Selection of director, The Playwrights, Script, Voices
  16. ADVERTISEMENT – INCOME GENERATION:Similarities, More Analysis
  17. ADVERTISERS’ APPROACH:Dramatized, Dialogue based, News
  18. FM – A NEW GENERATION IN BROADCASTING:Low Cost, The Difference
  19. MICROPHONE TO TRANSMITTER:Amplifiers, Modulator, Transmitter
  20. WRITING SCRIPT FOR RADIO BROADCAST:NEWS Script, Interviews
  21. INTERACTIVE BROADCASTING:On-line, E-mails, Interview, Views in News
  22. REVISION:CURRENT AFFAIRS, RADIO FEATURE, MUSICAL PROGRAMS
  23. HISTORY OF TELEVISION:Early History, The Black & White Images, Color Television
  24. PAKISTAN TELEVISION (PTV):The Excitement, Timing, Live Broadcast
  25. BROADCASTING LAWS:Laws in the 19th century, Press Council of Pakistan
  26. REPLICAS OF RADIO BROADCAST:The Staff, News Reading, Programming
  27. NEW SCRIPT WRITING AND DIRECTION TECHNIQUES:TV Script
  28. SETS:Permanent Sets, Hot & Cover Sets, Special Sets, Economical
  29. CAMERA SHOTS – THE VISUAL LANGUAGE:Angle Shots, Movement shots
  30. LIGHTS IN VISUAL BROADCASTING:Light Temperature, Light and Distance
  31. INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR:NEWS and Interviews, Dramas and Music
  32. BROADCASTING AND MEDIA IMPERIALISM:The truth in the debate
  33. ENVIRONMENT OF TV BROADCAST:Optical Illusions, POV, Depth of Field
  34. BUDGET:First Part, Second Part, Third Part, The Sponsors
  35. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST OF DIFFERENT RADIO AND TV FORMATS:TV NEWS
  36. CURRENT AFFAIRS – FROM RADIO TO TV:Seminars, Interviews
  37. PRE-PRODUCTION:Brain Storming, Scripting a new program, Approval
  38. PRODUCTION & POST-PRODUCTION:Booking Shifts, Rehearsals
  39. TV ADVERTISEMENTS – MONEY WITH ENTERTAINMENT:Early Phase, Getting Spots
  40. ENIGMA OF MORE CHANNELS:The Investment, Fresh Ideas, Closure of channels
  41. ANCHORPERSON:Appearance and Confidence, Job Opportunities
  42. COMPARISON BETWEEN RADIO AND TV BROADCAST:The Difference, Script
  43. TERRESTRIAL TO SATELLITE TO CABLE TV:Cable Network, CD Channels
  44. CAREER IN BROADCASTING:Production, Direction, Lighting Director, Script Writer
  45. REVISION (LESSON 23 TO 44):Broadcasting Laws, PEMRA, Budget