The term broadcasting is colloquially applied to many types of video production and distribution such as:
terrestrial, satellite and cable networks
video production
corporate
education and training
video support units for organizations such as the police, fire, military and search and rescue services, etc.
With such a wide diversity of production objectives, there is obviously a wide range of techniques, yet they all share certain common techniques.
One essential shared characteristic is the need to communicate with word and picture. Whether the aim of a video is to sell a product, explain a technique or to entertain, the basic requirement is to find the appropriate method of presentation to suit the aim of the production. Telling a story through word and picture has a long history and the basis of any video communication can be simplified to the formula – what does the audience need to know, in what order and at what point in the production should they be told, and are the production methods employed adequate to fulfil these objectives.
A new entrant to the industry will be required to understand a range of customary techniques, to work to a set professional practices and develop a range of skills. Learning the ropes of a complex and diverse industry takes time. The first requirement is to recognize the need for training and to avoid trying to bluff your way through unfamiliar production methods without advice or instruction.
Industrial Process – An Industry
The audio/visual industry has a huge international turnover. For many millions of people, television is the prime means, and often the only choice of entertainment. Such a potentially profitable product requires tight budgetary control and efficient methods of production. Looking at the complexity of constructing a high rise building, it is self-evident that a number of specialist skills are required to complete the building on time, to a budget, and provide a structure that is safe, durable and fit for its intended purpose. Programme production has the same objectives with the need for a similar wide range of skills and expertise. It is easy to make the mistake of imagining that a long familiarity with television viewing provides adequate training to construct programmes. Frequently the mechanics of broadcast television are hidden or disguised by techniques invisible to the viewer. The usual reaction from viewers on observing a programme in production is to be amazed at the complexity and detail that is required. Television production is an industrial process that requires as much study and training as any other manufacturing process.
There are many separate craft skills that are required in video production. Each craft has a number of specialist abilities but all of the core skills of programme production share a knowledge of general programme making.
It is essential to be acquainted with the customary technique of different programme genres as well as having technical expertise and operational competence.
This shared body of expertise includes:
The ability to work under pressure to a tight schedule leading to a recording or transmission. The ability to prepare, anticipate and concentrate as an individual whilst working as part of a coordinated team effort.
The need to develop and expand craft skills and a complete understanding of the technology utilized for that craft.
The ability to work in a team. Many people are under the misapprehension that being difficult is an expression of artistic and creative temperament. By all means strive to achieve excellence but not at the expense of causing everyone around you difficulties by your tantrums. Enthusiasm and friendliness will get repeat work – develop your ‘people skills’. In television production you will always need the cooperation and support of your colleagues. Avoid copying role models who display cynicism and contempt for their colleagues and their job.
As well as being skilled at your chosen craft, personal qualities such as being resourceful and persistent, self-motivated, self-reliant with quick reactions, maintaining enthusiasm even for routine familiar programmes, displaying patience and tact in stressful situations (there are many in television), and keeping in good health, are equally important.
Multi-skilling is being flexible in approach, but more importantly, having a wide range of techniques and a knowledge of a variety of production skills. Television often works to a tight timetable and budget. Each member of the production team is expected to be competent and capable in the job they are undertaking.
Most television crafts involve making quick decisions, coordinating hand and eye and being aware of other craft activity around you. With such a practical profession, the four golden virtues most practised are preparation, anticipation, concentration and objectivity.
Preparation is essential for any operational activity controlled by time. Everyone in a production team must know what their role is, whether in a single twenty-five second shot or in a twenty-five minute continuous programme.
Anticipation avoids being surprised by events and therefore allows time to be created in order to deal with the unrehearsed or the unexpected.
Concentration on the job in hand focuses the mind and allows clarity of action.
Objectivity is necessary to avoid passing value judgements on the programme in production. The highest obtainable standards of technique should be applied whether you, individually, think the content is good, bad or indifferent.
Advantages and Disadvantages
If you start you career as a staff member of a large broadcasting organization you will probably receive support in training and instruction plus the advantage of continuity of employment and work experience. With a really large company you will probably be working with top-of-the-line equipment and have engineering support and spares when things go wrong. There is usually transport and overnight allowances for location work and free insurance, paid holidays, paid sick leave and a pension. Some of these advantages may have little appeal to someone who is metaphorically breaking-a-leg just to get behind a camera and work in the wonderful world of television. As a freelance, if do you actually break a leg, paid sick leave and a job to come back to when you are fit begins to have practical significance.
The downside of staff working is you may be stuck with a narrow range of routine programmes with little or no chance to develop creative abilities. The organization’s priority is for efficient allocation of staff which usually means long and irregular hours with little or no choice of programme content, or control of social arrangements. A ‘company’ man hands over the management of his/her time to the needs of the organization.
A halfway stage between staff and freelance status is the contract, or a retainer guaranteeing so many days work. Some of the staff advantages are shared but there is the opportunity to move on to more fulfilling work (if it is available), at the time of your choice. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of freelancers can be selective in their choice of work. It is almost an eleventh commandment that a freelance never turns down work if he/she is available. Networking, having a broad range of contacts and being known to as many independent production companies as possible is one way of ensuring continuity of work; but it is no guarantee, and freelance working can be just as restrictive and routine as some types of staff work. Working in the television industry is enormously attractive to many people leaving college or school. Competition is intense for the very few companies that offer training. Failure to gain access to a trainee job leaves many people no alternative but to seek work as freelancers.
The Business Requirements for a Freelance
A freelancer is a one man/woman self-employed business. To succeed it requires the business ability to organize work, tax, insurance, purchase of equipment as in other one-man businesses. In addition, television free-lancers need a broad range of skills and the ability to sell themselves. With thousands upon thousands of young hopefuls attempting to get a toe-hold in the broadcast industry, it is definitely a buyer’s market and a freelancer must have a wide range of skills and qualities to attract a buyer – and to get repeat orders.
When contemplating working as a freelancer, points to consider are:
Equipment: There are as many types of freelance work as there are methods of video production. A very rough classification is freelance work using an employee’s equipment and freelancers using their own equipment or hired-in equipment.
Owning equipment: The main reason for owning your own equipment is control. It may take about three months to come to terms with a new format camera, for example, in order to fully exploit its potential. During that time, your own equipment can be customized to suit your particular area of work. Equipment hired for the day requires a wide range of experience of TV technology in order to quickly provide a competent service. Many programmes cannot budget for ‘familiarization’ time or tolerate incompetence with unknown equipment. In freelancing, your reputation is as good as your last job. It is essential that you are fast, efficient and reliable.
Leasing equipment: Owning your own equipment is expensive and there is always the problem of when to re-equip with new technology and how to finance the purchase. This cost must be passed on to your ‘clients’ but it could make your daily rates uncompetitive. Leasing equipment or long term hire is another option. This allows you to pay for the use but not the ownership of the equipment. This avoids the expense of replacing redundant equipment but consistent employment will be needed to service a large monthly payment. Bear in mind that if you purchase or lease equipment, the cost of ownership is not just the lease payments, but the cost of service and maintenance.
Suitable equipment: Buy or lease the equipment that is suitable for your intended area of work. Decide where your market is and what equipment is required, e.g. do not buy a top-of-the-range camera for competitively priced wedding videos.
New or secondhand: Decide if you need to buy new or is there secondhand stock that will be suitable for your intended use. If you buy secondhand get it checked by someone other than the seller.
Maintenance: When you have bought the gear, look after it. Keep it clean, and serviceable. Use a qualified maintenance engineer if routine servicing is beyond your competence (e.g. head replacement in a camera). Just like a car, a camera will have an hourly running cost which needs to be taken into account when costing invoices.
Insurance: Similar to car insurance, ‘all risks’ policies can include electrical or mechanical breakdown which can take effect once the manufacturer’s guarantee has expired. Other insurable assets to consider are normal office contents, computers, mobile telephone, lap tops, and of course, cars. There are also earnings protection insurance policies against equipment failure, illness or accident, and public liability policies protecting your liability to third parties for bodily injury or damage to their property arising out of the work that you do. Employer’s liability is obviously your liability to persons whom you employ and in the UK, that is a compulsory requirement under the terms of the Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance Act. Finally, you may also be liable for covering hired equipment.
Finding work: Freelancers sell themselves, their skills and their approach to the job. To get employment opportunities you have to go and see people. Who do you contact? Asking other freelancers for an introduction may not produce results. Most freelancers will not recommend another technician unless they have previously worked with them. For a commission, agencies may find you work or act as an answering service for a monthly fee, but the reputable ones will need to establish your competence before recommending you to a client. It is unfortunate fact of life that you need experience to get work, but you need work to get experience.
Accountants: An accountant can help you with the Inland Revenue and working as a freelancer. In the UK you may need to register for VAT and the Department of Social Security for self-employed stamps.
Technology and technique intertwine. How you do something in broadcasting depends on what equipment you are using. It is not simply a question of being told which button to press in order to get a professional result. In television camerawork, for example, an understanding of camera technology plus the ability to exploit and take into consideration the attributes of the camera and the lens characteristics are the basis of practical programme production. Although television and film production can only be created with technology, there seems to be a growing trend to ignore the mechanics and simply trust auto-technique features. Most equipment is now wrapped up with auto features in the hope of being user-friendly to technophobic customers, but technical operators must aim to understand what is happening when they are operating equipment rather than passively pressing a button and hoping the equipment ‘will do the rest’.
Keeping up to Date
One of the enduring characteristics of television broadcasting is that it is in a continuous state of change. New equipment, new techniques, new broadcasting outlets are introduced almost annually. Each change in technology requires evaluation in order to understand how it can be exploited in production. Keeping up with change is a crucial requirement, otherwise your skills will be as redundant as old equipment.
Working in a Mass Medium
Television is the most popular form of mass entertainment world wide and can exert an enormous influence on its audience. Everyone working in programme production has to take this into account when considering how their particular contribution can affect the audience.
On 11 May 1985, an outside broadcast unit was covering a football match in the north of England when a crowded stand caught fire. The match was abandoned as thousands of people struggled to leave the stadium. One cameraman close to the blaze managed to escape, other cameramen on the opposite side of the pitch turned their cameras on to the stand and became instantly ‘news’ cameramen. At first, no one knew the full horror of the situation but it became apparent as bodies were carried on to the pitch that many people had been killed. On realizing what was happening, some football fans turned their anger onto the TV cameraman and pelted them with missiles shouting ‘ghouls – turn the cameras off’. The pictures the cameramen produced were seen world wide and alerted many people to the dangers of stadium fires and provoked changes in stadium design. Television is not the glitzy, glamourous business many newcomers to the industry imagine it to be and many people in their working career will face just as hard an ethical and professional decision as the cameraman covering that particular football match.
As well as the qualities already discussed, there are many important aspects of being a television professional that are sometimes overlooked.
Timekeeping
The transmission of television programmes are timed to the second. A train can be delayed for five minutes and affect hundreds. A television programme delayed for five minutes can affect millions and have a knock-on effect for the rest of an evening’s schedule. Every member of the cast and crew is vital to the success of the production and their timekeeping should be as precise as the running time of the programme.
Make certain, as a courtesy to your colleagues and to the efficiency of the production, that you are always ready to begin rehearsal, recording or transmission at the required time. There are often large numbers of cast and crew involved in a production and your arrival two minutes late can keep every one of them waiting.
Chatting to the Artistes
Most front-of-camera people appreciate a friendly crew to modify a working atmosphere that often appears cold, technical and high pressure. Before a recording or transmission a presenter may be mentally running through his or her lines and moves and preparing for their performance. Avoid trying to engage them in informal talk which may distract and disturb their concentration at this crucial time.
Transmission Lights
Check the warning lights above doors leading to operational areas and do not enter if a red or amber light is flashing or is on. This means the area is engaged in a transmission or recording. Wait for a blue light signifying the area is in rehearsal or line-up before entering. Check with the appropriate person (floor manager or stage manager, etc.) that your presence will not disrupt the rehearsal/recording.
Working in Front of an Audience
Wear appropriate clothing for the programme format. For example, a church service is a solemn act of worship and people may easily be offended if a technician appears to show disrespect for their beliefs by lounging around the church in jeans and sweat shirt. At formal events you may be required by the production company to wear formal clothes. At pop shoots and concerts you may appear conspicuous if you are not wearing informal clothes.
As well as appropriate dress, remember that the audience is there to watch the performance. If their attention is distracted by your behaviour their reaction and response to the programme will be diminished. As well as practising an invisible visual technique, try to be inconspicuous when working in front of an audience and, whenever it is possible, move out of their sightline to the performers.
Working as a Team
The individual skills of many crafts combine to work together under the guidance of the director to transmit or record a programme. In live television, once a transmission (and sometimes a recording) has started there is no opportunity to stop and sort out production problems or make substantial alterations to the camera coverage of the programme. The basic requirement of live television is to get it right first time – there are no retakes.
With single camera location production, the priorities are different, but the same need for collaborative team work exists. The pressures of budget, time and distance require speed of application and the tight discipline of a close-knit unit. Without the back-up and facilities of base staff, and often working with hired-in, unfamiliar equipment, a small location crew need all the mutual assistance and support each member of the unit can offer.
Production Team
Live and recorded ‘as live’ production methods rely on every member of the production team perfecting their input into the programme at the moment of transmission. All the different skills employed – performance, lighting, sound, vision control, vision mixing – interact, and the quality of the production is only as good as the weakest contribution. If one member of the team is badly prepared or lacks sufficient experience to resolve production problems, their incompetence will eventually affect the rest of the production team. The speed of multi-camera productions relies on everyone getting it right, first time.
Everyone wants to work and achieve the highest possible standards in their particular craft area, but television production is a group effort and good television techniques are working practices that enable other crafts to achieve a high standard of performance as well as the individual.
Perfect sound may be provided by a boom position that inhibits camera movement or a microphone position that casts shadows and intrudes into the shot. This may be perfect sound but it is bad television production sound. A shot that is composed with so much headroom that there is no space for the boom microphone to get close to the performers may be a great shot in isolation but it is also bad television production practice.
An awareness of the day-to-day problems of the other skills within the production team and a willingness to reach a compromise on one’s own production demands will improve the quality of the whole programme. Monopolizing rehearsal time to get your particular problems sorted out may possibly prevent someone else resolving their difficulties.
Your contribution to the team effort is by:
Being competent in your own job. This helps other craft skills to do theirs because they are not wrong footed by your operational errors and misjudgements.
Being consistent in operational technique and reproducing accurately on transmission any part of the programme that was pre-rehearsed.
Having an understanding and a respect for other people’s skills and being willing to adjust your work to help resolve their production problems.
Having a willingness to compromise from the ideal coupled with the judgement to assess the minimum standards that are acceptable.