Notes on Multi Camera Production

Lighting:
Each light has its own socket and number, these are the names of some of the lights used in the TV studio;

Horestant tubed lights - create a soft disperced lighting
Barn doors - the black flaps around a light that contripute to determing where the light goes
Small spotlights - Concentrated hard light.
Tuncston flood light - used to light scenery
Demapack - where you control the lighting

STUDIO
TERMINATION
OUTLET
BOX

The studio we use uses black curtains and black curtain racks, the main reason for this is it helps to absorb an waste light, where as white would reflect the light.

On set roles:
There are on average, 11 key roles in set of any televion production:

Director - in charge of what happens during production. To be most effective at this role, you should be quick, clear, and incredibly good under pressure.
Assistant director - tells people off when they are doing something wrong and occasionally help the director when needed to.
Producer - In charge of the content of the production
Cameraman - the male/female who controls the camera. to be the best, you should be creative, and not be affraid to try weird angles and shots.
Camera operating assistant - the person who carries the cables from the camera to insure they dont get damaged
Talent - the stars of the show, be it actors, actresses, hosts, hostess, contestants, news reporters etc. The best talent are those who are most comfortable infront of a camera and who speak at the same sound level instead of being really quiet and then really loud.
Floor manager - has direct contact with the director during production, the floor manager checks that everything runs smoothly and also that the camera operators do as they are supposed to. The best type of floor manager are those who are always one step of head, who can see things that will help the talent, the director, the sound ops and of course the cameramen. And also understands the floor lingo.
Floor managers assistant - helps the Floor manager do her/his job.
Spare sound op - normally used to fix a sound problem with a mic if something goes wrong.
Sound operator - is in control of using the audio mixer and making sure that all the transmissions do not exceed 0 dB
Lighting - they control the lighting, they determine which lights to use and which lights need to be dimmed.

While producing, the director may remove the producer from the studio.
Talk back systems are used during productions so that the directors voice can be heard at all times, each camera man, assistant and floor manager will have to wear one and they are not allowed to be removed until told to do so. They are mainly refered to as Cans.

Analouge & Digital:
Almost as equipment nowadays are digital and not analouge. Mics, Stob + Audio desk all give off an analouge signal. Its only when it reaches the DN 300 HDD that the analouge signal is converted into a Digital signal. The Audio desks used can take up to 12 mics each, also inside every CD player there is a little chip that is an Digital to Analouge Converter (DAC) and in the DN 300 HDD there is an Analouge to Digital converter (ADC)

We measure sound in decibels (dB), while recording, you always have a volume unit meter. (Vu meter) Vu meters have three levels, Green, Orange and Red. Speech is always in the orange bar, normally coming in at levels -18 to -9, you should never let the sound hit 0. If it hits 0 then when you play back the sound it will be distortioned and horrible to listen to. You should always try and keep the sound between -12 and -21/-24, and lower than that and it will be very quiet, and any higher and you will get terrible distortion.

Cinematography;
There are a few technical names that you need to know in order to get anywhere during production,
Pan - Moving camera side to side.
Tilt - Moving camera up or down.
Crab - Moving camera to the left or the right
Track - Moving the camera back or forward
Its always best to try and avoid using a zoom, as our eyes don't zoom, it can look un-natural, The red light on the top of a camera is called a Tally light, this shows that your camera is being used and is live.