Most facilities have an area that controls video and audio signals to air and that also houses the center’s servers and perhaps some videotape decks. At televi- sion stations, both prerecorded and live programs and commercials are fed through master control. Programming that is to be broadcast is then fed to a transmission facility, from which the program is broadcast.
A video and audio library is often nearby. Program graphics, such as names of guests, show credits, and so on, may come from a character genera- tor in the studio control room, a central area in the master control or tape room, or a separate “graphic area.” More sophisticated graphics may be sent from an art department to the studio or to master control and then the studio. Almost all studios are digital now, with the exception of an analog playback machine or two.
Recording
In film, 35 mm and 16 mm formats have been the standard for many years. Digital media have taken the place of tape in almost all phases of television production. Production may be recorded on any one of a number of tape or hard-drive formats, with rec- ognition that tapeless operation is or soon will be the norm. In the past, digital formats included Digital Betacam, DV Cam, and DVC Pro. A facility might also still have a cartridge machine that had been used for commercials or some Betacam SP, 1-inch, 3/4-inch U-Matic, VHS, and SVHS machines
for viewing.
Some programs record the show, or segments of the show, on both a master and a protection. Other
programs record the output of each camera, called isos (as in ISOlated feeds), independently and edit the program later. Some programs record all cameras as isolated feeds and the switched feed as well.
Audiorecording may also be necessary, so the tape operation area may use a server, a DAT deck, or even a 1/4-inch or cassette deck. The audio facil- ity will probably have a computerized suite for han- dling digital audio. As is the case in production, postproduction requires that if you know you’re going to need a particular piece of gear, it’s essential to ask about it and reserve it beforehand. The only thing for certain is that you can take almost nothing for granted.
Feeds
Outside feeds may come from a telephone line, a microwave, or a satellite. If feeds are needed, then arrangements need to be made in a timely fashion. Most of the time, the director and the producer don’t get involved in how that happens but expect the engineering staff to handle that part of the broadcast requirements.
Library
The video/film and audio library used to be kept close to the control area. It was easier to get to any needed materials if they were stored nearby. Furthermore, the temperature demands for storing tape and film in a library were similar to those required for the tape operations area. Servers, on the other hand, require much less room than tape and can be accessed from anywhere on or off a facility. Nevertheless, there is still a need to maintain the old tape libraries, since archival footage is often still needed. This is particu- larly true for news programming, where stories may be reused. In the case of national disasters, where sev- eral days’ worth of stories are created, accurate filing becomes very important. This is particularly evident when a specific element of the story is needed weeks or months later.
In the age of tapes, bar coding became a stan- dard, and tapes were located based on the layout of the room and the shelves. With the advent of hard drives, material can easily be accessed, but locating a particular story still presents filing challenges.
Once, after returning from shooting a commercial on location, I discovered that someone at the editing facilities library had inadvertently taken recently shot material from our shoot and, although it was clearly
labeled, was about to use it as stock for another job. At that facility it was common practice to reuse com- mercial stock, and they had a poor system, if any, for controlling the release of materials prior to reusing them. Needless to say, we did not work there again.
Library protection should also extend to main- taining the privacy of your material. If you’re shoot- ing Ford commercials, you probably don’t want Chevrolet to have access to its competitor’s newest campaign.
Last, the construction of the library or vault should afford protection in case of fire or other natu- ral disasters. Undoubtedly, that protection comes with the understanding that there are limits to any protection. The needs of storage apply to digital media as well as to 1/4-inch audiotape, film, video- tape, computer data, and occasionally slides.
Figure 2.25 is an example of a well-designed tape library.
Telecine
Material that comes from a source that needs projec- tion—films or slides—must be transferred before it can be integrated into a video program. Telecine is the area where this is done. The material is transmit- ted to a color-correction unit, either by direct scan- ning or through projection onto a cathode-ray tube, or scanned by a rotating camera, line by line. This allows for correction of the colors, hues, contrast, and luminance, and at times the framing. The output is transferred as the corrections happen. Commercial
production fine-tunes this process so each scene is analyzed and optimized, while stations tend to find a general level and use that instead.
Graphics
Electronic character generators and digital graphic devices may be used for nothing more than supering names, but they can be used for a great deal more. A character generator usually produces type and some print characters in different fonts, sizes, place- ment, and color, while a graphic generator is more often used to create whole frames of “art.” These are usually frames scanned or imported from exter- nal sources or from computer-generated media.
Many productions require some way of letting the audience know who is speaking. Usually, white letters at the lower third of the screen indicate to the audience who is speaking, where they are, whether they are live, on location, and so on. Those words are “keyed” over the person who is speaking in type that is called “supers” (although they are really “keys,” not “superimpositions”). At many stations, particu- larly in news operations, they are referred to as “iden- tifiers” or “locators.” They are generated from a character generator. Not all character generators are the same. Some handle type justification more easily than others. Some have a very limited number of fonts. Some older programs have a very limited num- ber of “pages” that can be stored. It is wise to make the program’s needs known early enough so a match can be made with the available equipment.
The more complicated graphic capabilities associ- ated with state-of-the-art graphic installations are usu- ally in the art department. These may include hardware and software from Silicon Graphics, Discrete Logic, Avid, and Quantel, with names such as “Henry,” “Flame,” “Deko,” and “Inferno.” More accessible gra- phics programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are also used. Although the art department is responsi- ble for the graphics that appear on air, the same depart- ment may design program logos, stationery for the station, promotion material, and newspaper ads as well. The video graphics they prepare are a part of daily tele- vision fare, such as the still billboards for upcoming pro- grams or promos for various commercial interests. Often segments within the news will display a story icon. A graphic representation of a fire, a child in a crib, or handcuffs, for example, is keyed or wiped in behind the newscaster. The graphic will be produced on a graphic generator fed to the studio or a frame storage device and then sent to master control or the studio.
Figure 2.25 A videotape library with sliding shelves that holds an extensive backlog of taped materials.
The graphic is then integrated into the program through the technical director’s switcher.
Graphics such as a panelist’s digital photo- graphs may be supplied to the facility as a file and then integrated into the program. The file can be delivered on a CD or even via e-mail. It’s wise, how- ever, to make sure that the quality of the file con- forms to the station’s “airworthy” requirements.