CHAPTER 20

Production Style

“Drill down into what it is that excites you about the project and harness it. Your passion as a director is what will make the show happen. Make the show in your head and think through everything that could happen.”

Tony Gregory, Director, Fashion Rocks

Actuality: A type of production that is very transparent, even willing to deliberately reveal all of the production equipment and crew to help at “authenticity.”

Ambience: Production ambience influences the audience’s perception of the show. Some of the ambience factors may include music, graphics, and the set.

Display: An unrealistic, decorative way of presenting the subject to your audience. Game shows would be an example of a display type of production.

Treatment: The production method used to encourage the interest of the audience. There are many different styles or treatments than can be chosen such as narrative, comedy, news, documentary, etc.

There is no “correct method” of presenting any subject. Directors have tried a variety of approaches over the years. Some of these have become standard; others were just a passing trend. Techniques that have been used adroitly by some (such as background music) have been overdone by others, and become distractingly intrusive. Certainly, if you choose an inappropriate technique, you are likely to find your audience becoming confused, distracted, or simply losing interest.

VISUAL STYLE

Appropriateness

So what is appropriateness? In reality, it is largely a matter of custom, fashion, and tradition:

 Informal presentations usually take the form of “natural” situations. We chat with the craftsperson in his or her workshop, at a fireside, or while on a country walk.

 Formal presentations often follow a very stylized artificial format. We see people in carefully positioned chairs, sitting on a raised area in front of a specially designed set.

 Display is an unrealistic, decorative way of presenting your subject. Emphasis is on effect. We see it in game shows, open-area treatment (music groups, dance), and in children’s programs (Figure 20.1).

 Simulated environments aim to create a completely realistic illusion. Anything breaking that illusion, such as a camera coming into shot in a period drama, would destroy the effect.

 Actuality is a more transparent style. We make it very clear to the audience that we are in a studio by deliberately revealing all of the production equipment and crew. On location, the unsteady handheld camera and microphone dipping into shots supposedly give an authenticity to the occasion.

FIGURE 20.1
A display treatment is an unrealistic, decorative way of presenting the subject with the emphasis on effect. (Photo courtesy of CBS/John Paul Filo/Landov)

Routines

Some production techniques have become so familiar that it would seem strange if we presented them in any other way—such as a newscaster presenting an entire newscast in shorts or on a set with flashing lights.

Certain styles have become so stereotyped that they enter the realms of cliché—routine methods for routine situations. A number of standard production formats have emerged for productions, such as newscasts, studio interviews, game shows, talk shows, and others. If we analyze these productions, we usually find that styles have evolved and become the most effective, economical, and reliable ways of handling their specific type of subjects (Figure 20.2).

If we regard these formats as “a container for the content,” these routine treatments can free the audience to concentrate on the show. However, if we consider the treatment as an opportunity to encourage interest and heighten enjoyment, then any “routine” becomes unacceptable.

Clearly, a dramatic treatment would not work for many types of television productions. Instead, it is best to aim for a variety of camera shots, coupled with clear, unambiguous visual statements that direct and concentrate the audience’s attention. How many sensible meaningful shot variations can you take of people speaking to each other, or driving an automobile, or playing an instrument, or demonstrating an item? The range is small.

For certain subjects, the picture is virtually irrelevant. What a person has to say may be extremely important; what the talent looks like is immaterial to the message. It may even prove a distraction or create prejudicial bias. “Talking heads” appear in most television shows. However, unless the speaker is particularly animated and interesting, the viewers’ visual interest is seldom sustained. Changing the shot viewpoint can help, but may be a distraction.

FIGURE 20.2
Newscasts have become very routine in their presentations, freeing the audience to concentrate on the subject. (Photo courtesy of KOMU-TV)

Ambience

From the moment a show begins, we are influencing our audience’s attitude toward the production itself. Introductory music and graphics style can immediately convey a serious or upbeat tone about what is coming next. While hushed voices, quiet organ notes, and a slow visual pace can provide a reverential atmosphere, the difference between a regal or gameshow opening fanfare adjusts our expectations in other directions.

Surroundings can also directly affect how convincingly we convey information. Certain environments, for example, provide a context of authority or scholarship: classroom, laboratory, museum, or other setting. A plow shown at work on the farm is better understood than if it were just shown standing alone in a studio with someone trying to explain what it does.

The Illusion of Truth

As you’ve seen, even when trying to present events “exactly as they are,” the camera’s angles, lens angles, image composition, the choice and sequence of shots, and other factors will all influence how our audience interprets what they are seeing. Keep in mind that the way a program is directed and shot has a significant impact on the final show. Where we lay emphasis, what we leave out, even the weather conditions (gloomy, stormy, or sunlight) will all modify the production’s impact.

In a documentary program, the audience usually assumes that they are seeing a fair and informative story. However, that will always depend on how the director tackles the subject:

 There is the hopeful approach—an “adventure” in which the director points the camera around, giving a “tourist’s view” of the events. This invariably results in a set of disjointed and unrelated shots. Sometimes, by adding commentary, graphics, music, and effects, it is possible to develop a coherent program theme. However, it can also be a disaster.

 Usually the director begins by researching the subject and then making a plan of approach. As discussed earlier, there are great advantages in anticipating and advance planning. By finding out about potential locations and local experts, the director can develop a schedule, arrange transport and accommodations, obtain permits, and so on. However, there is also the danger that preconceived ideas will dominate, so that you develop a concept before you arrive on location, and then reject whatever does not seem to fit in with the concept when you actually get there.

 Occasionally, we encounter the contrived approach, in which the director has staged what we are seeing—arranged the action and edited selectively. Dressed in their best, the participants put on a show for the camera, yet the television audience assumes that they are looking at reality.

Leaving aside ethics, even these brief (but real) examples are a reminder of the power of the image, and the director’s responsibilities regarding the way in which it is used.

Pictorial Function

Most television images are factual, showing subjects in a familiar way. However, by carefully arranging these same subjects, with careful composition and a selective viewpoint, you can modify the subject’s entire impact and give it a quite different implied significance. You can interpret the scene for the audience. You can deliberately distort and select reality so that your presentation bears little direct relationship to the actual situation—and you might do this to create a dramatic illusion, or to produce an influential force (advertising, propaganda).

Abstracting further, you can stimulate emotions and ideas simply by the use of movement, line, and form, which the viewer personally interprets. There are occasions when we seek to stimulate the audience’s imagination—to evoke ideas that are not conveyed directly by the camera and microphone. In this chapter, we examine these concepts and how they can be used.

Picture Applications

Because so much television program material is explicit, it is easy to forget how powerful it can be. Images can be used for a number of different purposes:

 To convey information directly (normal conversation)

 To provide context (establishing the location), such as Big Ben, to imply that the location is London (Figure 20.3)

 To interpret a situation, conveying abstract concepts (ideas, thoughts, feelings) through associative visuals, such as plodding feet suggesting the weariness of a trail of refugees

 To symbolize—we associate certain images with specific people, places, and events

 To imitate—pictures appear to imitate a condition (e.g., the camera staggers as a drunk reels, defocusing to convey loss of consciousness)

 To identify, showing features such as icons, logos, or trademarks associated with specific organizations or events

 To couple ideas—using pictures to link events or themes (e.g., panning from a boy’s toy boat to a ship at sea, on which he becomes the captain)

 To create a visual montage—a succession of images interplay to convey an overall impression (e.g., epitomizing war)

Production Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of persuasive or impressive speech and writing. Unlike everyday conversation, it stimulates our imagination through style and technique, by inference and allusion, instead of just direct pronouncement. The rhetoric of the screen has similar roots that directors such as Alfred Hitchcock have explored over the years to great effect.

It is amazing what the camera can communicate: without a word of dialogue, it can convey the whole gamut of human responses. For example, a veteran performer ends his brave but pathetic vaudeville act amid heckling from the crowd. He bows, defeated. We hear hands clapping; the camera turns from the sad lone figure, past derisive faces, to where his aged wife sits applauding.

FIGURE 20.3
Providing context for the audience helps them understand what is being said by the speaker. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy)

AUDIO STYLE

Imaginative Sound

The ear is generally more imaginative than the eye. We are more perceptive and discriminating toward what we see. Consequently, our ears accept the unfamiliar and unrealistic more readily than our eyes, and are more tolerant of repetition. A sound effects recording can be reused many times, but a costume or curtain quickly becomes too familiar after being seen just a couple of times.

In many television shows, the audio is taken for granted, while attention is concentrated on the visual treatment. Yet without audio, the presentations can become meaningless (e.g., talks, discussions, interviews, newscasts, music, game shows), whereas without video, the production can still communicate.

Audio can explain or support the image, enriching its impact or appeal. Music or effects can suggest locale (seashore sounds), or a situation (pursuing police siren heard), or conjure a mood (excitement, foreboding, comedy, horror).

A nonspecific picture can be given a definite significance through associated sound. Depending on accompanying music, a display of flowers may suggest springtime, a funeral, a wedding, or a ballroom.

Sound Elements

VOICE

The most obvious sound element, the human voice, can be introduced into the production in several different ways:

 A single person addressing the camera, formally or informally

 An offscreen commentator (voiceover) providing a narrative (documentary), or the spontaneous commentary used for a televised sports event

 We may “hear the thoughts” of a character while watching the talent’s silent face, or watching the subject of the thoughts

 Dialogue—formal discussion or the informal natural talk between people, with all its pauses, interruptions, and overlap

EFFECTS

The characteristic sound image that conjures a specific place or atmosphere comes from a blend of stimuli: from action sounds (footsteps, gunfire), from environmental noises (wind, crowd, traffic), and from the subtle ways in which sound quality is modified by its surroundings (reverberation, distortion).

MUSIC

Background music has become “required” for many programs. It can range from purely melodic accompaniment to music that imitates, or gives evocative or abstract support.

SILENCE

The powerful dramatic value of silence should never be underestimated. However, silence must be used with care, as the audience could easily perceive it to just be a loss of audio. Continued silence can suggest such diverse concepts as desolation, despair, stillness, hope, peace, or extreme tension (we listen intently to hear whether pursuing footsteps can still be heard).

 Sudden silence after noise can be almost unbearable: A festival in an Alpine village, happy laughter and music, the tumultuous noise of an unexpected avalanche engulfing the holiday makers…then silence.

 Sudden noise during silence creates an immediate peak of tension: The silently escaping prisoner knocks over a chair and awakens the guards—or did they hear him after all?

 Silent streets at night … then a sudden scream.

 The explosive charge has been set, the detonator is switched—nothing happens … silence.

Sound Emphasis

You can manipulate the volumes of sounds for dramatic effect: emphasizing specific sources, cheating loudness to suit the situation. A whisper may be amplified to make it clearly audible, a loud sound held in check.

You may establish the background noise of a vehicle and then gradually reduce it, taking it under to improve audibility of conversation. Or you could deliberately increase its loudness so that the noise drowns the voices. Occasionally, you might take out all environmental sounds to provide a silent background, perhaps for a thought sequence.

You can modify the aesthetic appeal and significance of sound in a number of ways. For factual sound, you can use:

 Random natural sound pickup (overheard street conversations)

 Selective pickup of specific audio sources

For atmospheric sound:

 By choosing certain natural associated sounds, you can develop a realistic illusion. (A rooster crowing suggests that it is dawn.)

 By deliberately distorting reality, you create fantasy to stimulate the imagination. (A flute’s sound can suggest the flight of a butterfly.)

Sound Applications

As with visual images, sound can be used for a number of different purposes:

 To convey information directly: Normal conversation

 To establish a location: Traffic noises that imply a busy street scene nearby

 To interpret a situation: Conveying abstract concepts (ideas, thoughts, feelings) through associative sounds (such as musical instruments used to convey feelings)

 To symbolize: Sounds that we associate with specific places, events, moods (such as a fire truck’s siren)

 To identify: Sounds associated with specific people or events (such as signature tunes)

 To couple ideas: Using music or sound effects to link events and themes, such as a musical bridge between scenes, or aircraft noise carried over between a series of images showing the plane’s various stops along the route

 To create a sound montage: A succession or mixture of sounds arranged for comic or dramatic effect. For example, separate sound effects of explosions, gunfire, aircraft, sirens, and whistles create the illusion of a battle scene

Offscreen Sound

When someone speaks or something makes a sound, it might seem logical to show the source. But it can be singularly dull if we do this repeatedly: She starts talking, so we cut and watch her.

You can use offscreen sound in many ways to enhance a program’s impact:

 Once you have established a shot of someone talking, you might cut to see the person he or she is speaking to and watch their reactions, or cut to show what they are talking about. The original dialogue continues, even though we no longer see the speaker. As you can see, you can establish relationships, even where the two subjects have not been seen together in the same shot.

 Background sounds can help to establish location. Although a medium shot of two people might fill the screen, if the background sounds have been used appropriately, the audience will interpret whether they are near the seashore, a highway, or a sawmill.

 Offscreen sounds may be chosen to arouse our curiosity.

 A background sound may introduce us to a subject before we actually see it, informing us about what is going on nearby or what is going to appear (the approaching sound of a diesel truck).

 The background sound may create audio continuity, although the shots switch rapidly. Two people walk through buildings, down a street—but their voices are heard clearly throughout at a constant level.

Substituted Sound

It is often difficult to find a source for a specific sound, requiring us to create a substitute. There are several possible reasons for this approach:

 No sound exists, as with sculpture, painting, architecture, inaudible insects, and prehistoric monsters.

 Sometimes the actual sounds are not available, not recorded (mute shooting), or not suitable. For example, the absence of bird sounds when shooting a country scene; location sounds were obtrusive, unimpressive, or inappropriate to use; or the camera used a telephoto lens to capture a close-up shot of a subject that is too distant for effective sound pickup.

 The sounds you introduce may be just replacements (using another lion’s voice instead of the missing roar), or artificial substitutes in the form of effects or music.

Background music and effects should be added cautiously. They can easily become:

 Too loud or soft

 Too familiar

 Distracting

 Inappropriate (have wrong or misleading associations)

Controlling Sound Treatment

Various working principles are generally accepted in sound treatment:

 The scale and quality of audio should match the picture (appropriate volumes, balance, audio perspective, acoustics, etc.).

 Where audio directly relates to picture action, it should be synchronized (like movements, footsteps, hammering, other transient sounds).

 Video and audio should normally be switched together. No audio advance or hangover should occur on a cut.

 Video cutting should be on the beat of the music, rather than against it, and preferably at the end of a phrase. Continual cutting in time with music becomes tedious.

 Video and audio should usually begin together at the start of a show, finishing together at its conclusion, fading out as a musical phrase ends.

The Effect of Combining Sounds

When we hear two or more sounds together, we often find that they interrelate to provide an emotional effect that changes according to their relative loudness, speed, complexity, and so on:

 Overall harmony conveys unity, beauty, or organization.

 Overall discord conveys imbalance, uncertainty, incompletion, unrest, ugliness, or irritation.

 Marked differences in relative volume and rhythm create variety or complication.

 Marked similarities result in sameness, homogeneity, mass, or strength of effect.

Selective Sound

In recreating the atmosphere of a specific environment, the trick is to use sound selectively if you want the scene to carry authenticity, rather than try to include all typical background noises. You may deliberately emphasize, reduce, modify, or omit sounds that would normally be present, or introduce others to convey a convincing sense of location.

The selection and blend of environmental sounds can strongly influence the interpretation of a scene. Imagine, for example, the slow, even toll of a cathedral bell accompanied by the rapid footsteps of approaching churchgoers. In developing this scene, you could reproduce random typical sounds. Or, more persuasively, you might deliberately use audio emphasis:

 Loud busy footsteps with a quiet insignificant bell in the background

 The bell’s slow dignity contrasted with restless footsteps

 The booming bell overwhelming all other sounds

So you can use the same sounds to suggest hope, dignity, community, or domination—simply through selection, balance, and quality adjustment.

Instead of modifying a scene’s natural sounds, you might augment them or replace them by entirely fresh ones.

AUDIO/VIDEO RELATIONSHIPS

The picture and its audio can interrelate in several distinct ways:

 The picture’s impact may be due to its accompanying audio. A close shot of a man crossing a busy highway:

 Cheerful music suggests that he is in a lighthearted mood.

 But automobile horns and squealing tires suggest that he is jaywalking dangerously.

 The audio impact may be due to the picture:

 A long shot of a wagon bumping over a rough road; the accompanying sound is accepted as a natural audio effect.

 But take continuous close-ups of a wheel, and every jolt suggests impending breakdown!

 The effect of picture and audio may be cumulative: A wave crashes against rocks along with a loud crescendo in the music.

 Sound and picture together may imply a further idea: Wind-blown daffodils along with birds singing and lambs bleating can suggest spring.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. How is “appropriateness” determined with visual style?

2. Describe three of the various sound elements.

3. What are some of the effects of combining sounds?

4. How can audio make the video more powerful?

INTERVIEW WITH A PROFESSIONAL: DAVE GREIDER

Briefly define your job: I work mostly with short-form content like commercials, promos, trailers, etc. I mostly edit, but also produce and shoot.

What do you like best about your job? No question: working with world-class people. I’d rather work on a public relations video with knowledgeable pros than a highly creative music video with people who have no clue what they’re doing. I also love coming up with creative solutions for a client and then knocking it out of the park.

What are the types of challenges that you face in your position? It is difficult to know which projects to take on. Do you accept the highest paying or the most fulfilling? Do you take one for lower pay in a field you want to work in hoping its going to open the door for something better? If you’re excellent at what you do, finding work won’t be a problem, deciding what to do will.

How do you prepare for a production? I lay out all the styles, references, shot list for the cam op or DP long before we set foot on set so they know exactly what I’m looking for. Same for the producer—we should have already gone over all the details, the call sheet should already be sent, schedule finalized, etc. Then on set, if everyone does their job, you get to steer the ship as the director. There’s nothing more beautiful when a plan comes together.

What suggestions or advice do you have for someone interested in a position like yours? Be absolutely excellent at a specific function. I decided postproduction, so I learned everything I possibly could about editing (digital asset management, post workflows, codecs, etc). Then I surrounded myself with people way smarter than me and learned from them. I’m always learning, always reading, always working on something, which has led me beyond the world of post. It’s all about building relationships. In summary, figure out what you want to do and learn as much as you possibly can, become a master at teaching yourself and learning from others.

FIGURE 20.4
Dave Greider, Freelance Editor, Director and Producer

Dave Greider freelances in production and post for a variety of companies in Los Angeles. His main clients include Associated Press (Corporate Services department), 20th Century Fox (New Media Promotion), Oprah Winfrey Network, Sony Pictures, and various other production companies big and small. He works mainly with short-form content such as commercials, promos, and trailers. Dave usually edits, but also produces and shoots.

INTERVIEW WITH A PROFESSIONAL: JEREMY RAUCH

Briefly define your job: I report/shoot regional sports, put together stories, and anchor/produce shows on the nightly newscast.

What do you like about your job? I meet a lot of new people and encounter many unique stories covering daily events, then I get to tell those stories with my own flavor and writing, which makes the job very rewarding.

What are the types of challenges that you face in your position? By far, what content to include in a show and what to leave out. You are faced daily with what stories/highlights take the precedent when fitting into a newscast. Inevitably, someone watching will be offended that their story wasn’t featured.

How do you prepare for a production? That varies depending on the production: reporting or anchoring. I’ll give both sides. (1) Reporting on a story: learn as much as I can about the person(s) I am doing a story on, try to have a visual map of what shots I’m looking for, and determine what materials (camera, mic, lighting, tripod, tape, etc.) I will need to execute the story. (2) Anchoring the news: Check all media outlets for up-to-date stories (and refresh, refresh, refresh), gather all of the stories I need to put into the newscast, and write the show in the newscast: rundown, edit video, print scripts, put on makeup, and hit the set.

What suggestions or advice do you have for someone interested in a position like yours? Don’t ever let anyone discourage you by saying things like, “The job market is tough,” “This is a dying business,” or “It’s impossible to make it in this biz.” Be confident but never cocky. Be prepared to work hard without having a sense of entitlement. Be persistent and positive (job searching). Have fun!

FIGURE 20.5
Jeremy Rauch, Anchor/Reporter

Jeremy Rauch is an anchor, reporter, and producer at WICS-TV in Springfield, llinois.