A Studio Tour

Whatever their size, most TV studios have a similar basic form.

Studio features

Considerable care and know-how go into successful studio design. Careful acoustical treatment of the walls and ceiling suppresses random echoes and reflected sounds. The level smooth floor surface allows quiet judder-free camera movement. A silent powerful air conditioning system maintains a comfortable working temperature.

Most of the studio floor is marked out as the staging area (setting area) – apart from a safety lane/fire lane around its edges, which is left free for easy access. Here all the action (performance) takes place within prefabricated settings or sets. These may be augmented by large cloths, drapes or scenic units hung from overhead support rails (scenic battens).

In small studios, most lighting fittings are attached to an overhead pipe grid or to ceiling tracks. Larger studios use a series of overhead battens/barrels/bars to suspend lamps. Other lamps may be supported on telescopic floor stands, or rest on the ground. The direction, coverage and brightness of each lamp is carefully adjusted to create an appropriate technical and artistic effect.

Around the studio walls, various services are available, including; power supplies, camera cable outlets, lighting and scenic hoist controls, mike points.

TV cameras

Most studios have two or three cameras mounted on wheeled dollies (usually rolling iripodsor pedestals). Each has a long cable linking it, via a wall outlet, to a camera control unit (CCU) in a nearby ‘apparatus room’. This two-way cable carries various supplies, synchronizing pulses, intercom, etc., and the picture signal (video) from the camera.. After adjustment by a video engineer (shader, video operator), each camera’s picture is routed to a production switcher (vision mixer) in the nearby production control room. Here the director and his team sit, selecting from cameras’ shots and other picture sources (videotape, film, slides, etc.).

Support areas

Larger studios usually have a nearby storage area where scenery and props can be held in transit. Another room may store various operational equipment, including lighting fittings, cameras, sound boom, picture monitors, loudspeakers, to leave the studio floor clear while settings are being built. Other facilities may include makeup and dressing rooms, etc.

The TV studio system

This simplified diagram shows how video and audio sources are royted to their respective selection points.