Television studio production has changed dramatically with the influx of digital technology into the video industry. This section is designed to give the beginning student a very basic introduction into studio terminology and basic studio equipment. This will allow the student to develop a basic understanding of the new digital studio technology and equipment being utilized in the school's video studio today. This material should also be used as directed to complete any Review Questions Sheet that is assigned.
EARLY TELEVISION
The basic idea of television studio production was utilized in the early days of television. Since early television production was done "live" and broadcast directly into homes, there was no software or equipment available to accomplish much of the effects seen on television today. Therefore, the early pioneers of television and the engineering masterminds behind them had to create equipment to accomplish tasks that had never been done before. Most studio production relied on two to three very expensive cameras with operators to provide the television or video picture. It was the producer and director's job to assemble those raw signals into an entertaining television broadcast. The following equipment that is discussed was developed to help in the production of these television broadcasts and although the equipment has changed tremendously in size and cost, the tasks that they accomplish have not changed all that much.
VIDEO SWITCHERS
As stated above, most studios relied on two to three cameras to produce the images for a television broadcast. In order to create visual interest, the director of the broadcast would assign particular shots or points of view to each camera operator. The director would then use equipment in the studio control room to change the broadcast's point of view from camera to camera to keep the viewers interest and this also allowed for close-ups of different actors or news anchors to be mixed together before the final signal was broadcast out to the viewers. This utilization of multiple cameras was accomplished through the use of a piece of equipment called a "switcher".
The "switcher" had multiple "feeds" or live cameras attached to it. One of the camera signals would be selected by punching a button on the switcher. This would result in an immediate switching of the video picture by isolating that camera's signal, and allowing it to become the signal being broadcast. (Some switcher models had a "t-bar". The "t-bar" was a "t-shaped" handle that could be moved to create a smooth fade between cameras.) The director had only to then press another button to select one of the other cameras when the time was right for that particular shot. This "switching" of cameras led to the name of that particular piece of equipment.
This is certainly an oversimplification of the process. The synchronization of the signals was critical and other equipment was used to control "sync" to maintain a stable picture. Without synchronization between all sources, the images could roll either vertically or horizontally, break up completely, or at a minimum suffer extreme color shifts. Therefore a "genlock" system was used. Genlock is a system which allows the synchronization of two or more video sources, such as cameras. Without this synchronization, switching between sources would result in a momentary loss of image stability while the monitor or other equipment tried to lock itself to the new signal. This is not much of a concern for us in the digital equipment we will be using in the studio. However, it was of much concern to the early television stations and studios.
CHARACTER GENERATORS
In order to identify persons, places and things on television, it was necessary to use letters and graphics. Since there was originally no way to generate characters or titles from the camera, a special piece of equipment was developed. A "character generator" was used to generate text that could be used to introduce a program and identify the persons in the program. It also was used to generate "credits" to identify the people who helped in the production. In order to add action and interest to the titles, a few techniques were developed.
"Scrolling" or "rolling" credits means that the names and letters on the screen would start off screen at the bottom and quickly move upward to the top of the screen. As the text disappeared off the top of the screen or picture, more text would appear at the bottom.
"Crawling" credits sometimes were used to enhance titling as well. This technique is still extensively used on news and weather broadcasts to introduce breaking news and weather alerts usually along the bottom of the screen. The text usually appears on the right and disappears off the screen on the left. Both scrolling and crawling credits can and usually do appear over top of an existing video picture. This is called "superimposing" one image over another. This is also called an "overlay".
"Overlays" are used extensively in many types of broadcasts. They usually appear in the lower third position of a television screen and are used with text to identify celebrities or guests when they are shown in a particular scene being interviewed or presenting information. The most common type of "overlay" is called a "lower third".
CHROMA KEYING
"Keying" is a widely used technique in most studio productions. It is used most extensively today for weather and traffic reports on network news programs. It creates an illusion that the person is standing in front of a map or picture that is not really behind that person at all. "Chroma keying" is also the technique used by many special effects crews in producing some of the spectacular effects we view in movies and dramatic television programming. A chroma key is the removal of a color (or small color range) from one image to reveal another image 'behind' it.
The way that color keying is used in a news broadcast is quite simple. The weather person is not standing in front of a map at all. Most times they are standing in front of a green wall referred to as a "green screen". The key color (or chroma key) is green due to certain qualities that make it desirable for the technique. The weather person is then "superimposed" with the weather map through the use of a keyer. This is most often now done through the use of special software. When the image is broadcast, the illusion is created that they are standing in front of the map. They are actually looking off to the side at a television monitor where they see the composite image. This allows them to accurately point to certain areas of the map by watching the monitor.
This technique used to be accomplished through the use of an analog keyer/switcher. However, this could also be accomplished using certain video switchers that combined this technique into their product.
With a little understanding of the terms and techniques discussed above, the video student can couple that knowledge with some exciting new technology to begin producing television programming that can rival or even exceed programming that was produced in million dollar studios years ago. You will be learning a new digital solution for studio production called the Newtek "Tricaster". More details on that system will be covered in the next section. |
