The Inside Track on Working in a Television or Video Production Studio

First, let me define the differences between what we will call studio and location production. Knowing this will enable you to adapt these techniques for your own career aspirations or income source. We will begin with studio production. Studios vary in size and have many different applications. But whether they are producing a sitcom in Hollywood, a talk show in Chicago, or a local news report, they all fundamentally have similar crew positions and responsibilities. A studio crew normally consists of a producer, director, technical director, audio technician, lighting technician, camera operators, and a floor or stage manager. Depending on the studio, this crew may range in size from about ten to fifty or more people. Other positions such as video playback, computer graphics, teleprompter, script supervision, statistic researchers, production assistants, audience ushers, crews for the previously mentioned positions, and others may also apply.

Let us keep it simple. We will use a local newscast as an example, an environment you will most likely encounter first. Depending on station size the newscast will usually have a news producer(s), or the anchors may even assume the role. In basic terms, the news producer decides which stories will be read and televised, oversees script content and rundowns (crew scripts), and makes final decisions during the broadcast. Some of the content for this daily live telecast may even be decided upon at the last minute. The director then assembles the crew and distributes the rundowns, making any final notations. The rundown informs the camera ops which camera will be on, which shot to use, at what time, and on which anchor during the telecast. There may be three to four cameras used during the broadcast, but sometimes the floor manager may operate one or two of them. The floor manager uses hand signals to communicate with the anchors, and is the communication line to the director during down time.

A teleprompter operator will then load the finalized script into the computer. During the newscast, they will scroll the on-camera script following along while the anchors are reading it. We will discuss how a teleprompter works in a later segment. We now move into the production control room and the crew in there. Contrary to popular belief, newscast titles and graphics are inserted live onscreen during the broadcast. The video segments that reporters and news editors cut only have video and audio. Instead, they compile a title list for each segment. The list for each video story specifies when all titles are to be onscreen. Those lists are for the cg operator. The cg operator types in the information, compiles another list for the different cg graphic pages, and recalls them live during the broadcast.

Are you still with me? The video playback operator has every tape that to be broadcast. There could be 30 to 50+ segments played during a one-hour newscast. They sort the video segments, cue the tapes for playback, or digitize the tapes into the playback computer. The crew rundown indicates to the audio tech what anchor microphone is to be heard at which time. It will also indicate any music to be played, which video segments will have sound (some do not), and when each will be played. The technical director prepares the video switcher and sets it up for special shots (box, chroma key, titles, etc.). The td will also make tests before the newscast and ensure that everything (cameras, cg, live feeds, tapes, etc.) is properly functioning. In most cases, the director does not actually push the buttons to insert video inputs. That is normally left to the technical director, who is familiar with most equipment and is on their way to becoming a director. The director usually sits at the back of the room reading along with the script and rundown, and issuing commands during the newscast.

Okay the stage is set. Everything and everyone is prepared and ready. What is about to happen is in a calculated and detailed framework. Everyone knows which camera to look at, what stories will be read, how much time they have to read them, and which stories will be seen. The crew is ready, and everybody waits for the cues. Heard over the crew's headsets are last minute instructions from the director. The director's eyes are on the clock, fifteen seconds to air. Over the intercom the master control operator begins to count them in, "ten, nine, eight..." The director joins in, "Opening tape in three, two, one, roll tape!" The video operator begins playback, "rolling!" The director responds, "and take, volume up." The td switches the input and the audio tech raises the volume. The master control operator says over the intercom, "Okay, it's all yours." The opening video runs exactly twenty seconds. The director cues them in, "Coming to the studio in ten, nine eight..." The floor manager repeats the countdown aloud in the studio until the final three seconds. The director brings them in, "and cue, mic, take!" The audio tech lowers the opening volume and brings the mics up. The td switches to studio, and the anchors cued. The newscast begins.

Communication and intercoms are extremely important during the telecast. The crew constantly listens for commands from the director as to when each event in the script will happen. The clock dictates how much time they have to get through each item listed in their rundowns, during this first segment before commercial break. The newscast soon takes on a life of it's own. Some news stories take longer. Some take less time than expected. Due to time restraints, the producer may delete a story from the script at the last moment. A video segment might not play correctly and the anchors may have to cover for it. During each commercial break, there is discussion about changes in the script. They are a little behind schedule, but not by much. They can make it up in the final segment. In the meantime, they are back on air. You may hear, "Oops, that's not the right title." "Font out! Font out!" Sometimes emotions may rise. When a mistake happens, you can hear colorful language over everyone's intercoms. Tempers subside and they get through the telecast on schedule, then master control takes over. Afterwards everyone is happy and satisfied in presenting a good newscast.

This daily routine goes on every day at your local news station. A newscast is a complicated and split second process. Everybody has a responsibility and each must perform it well, on time and on cue. It is the usual training ground for television employment. The intensity is somewhat less than a newscast in other types of studio productions (talk shows, variety shows, sitcoms, etc.), but not very much. In other types of studio programs, there are also additional people behind the scenes in R&D or other positions. Now if you take everything on the road, like to a sporting event, it is a remote location production. It is very similar to a studio production, only without a studio. A sporting event shoot is even more intense than a newscast. A remote production is also labor intensive. You have to set everything up and strike it all down when you are done.

Even so, a remote shoot is still regarded a studio production. A location production is a different animal in itself. There are some similarities, but the process is much different and more like filmmaking. In the next segment, we will examine what entails in a location production.