COMM 3650 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Tungsten, Black Metal, Broadcast Engineering
9 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Master control refers to the transmission control of the TV station itself. Incoming and outgoing
microwave and satellite signals are received/transmitted in this area and the final output mix of
the station is controlled here.
Hubbed stations are controlled from a “grouped” master control - controlling the outputs of
several stations - and can thus share various signal-processing and transmission equipment. -
smaller tv stations
Large curtains or panels of fabric called cycloramas are common in TV studios. Cycloramas,
also called “cycs”, are mounted on tracks, come in many colors, and most studios will have two
or more that surround all or most of the studio. Hard cycs can also be found in TV studio set-
ups; essentially a set piece, a hard cyc is a large, curving platform (shaped like a skateboarding
quarter-pipe). Hard cycs are used when utilizing software-generated, “virtual” sets.
The lighting grid is made up of pipes called battens and the lighting instruments hang from
these using large C-clamp mounts.
The crew members that are responsible for hanging and aiming the lights are called Gaffers.
The video signal that is generated can be acquired using one of 2 different scan protocols
(progressive or interlace).
Risers - a platform to raise the height of the desk
Flats - vertical panels that provide a background or “flat wall” to the rear and sides of the desk.
● One type of common flat wall is called a duratran - a large image printed upon
transparent material (plexiglass) and backlit.
● A cheaper alternative to the duratran is the use of a large, independently “fed” studio
video monitors (LCD panels) or video projection.
Scene dock - set materials and props are typically stored inside this adjacent or attached room.
Storage room that’s connected to the studio and is also accessible from the outside of the
building.
The production crew member responsible for studio set-up and assembling the set is called a
Grip.
The weather forecast is delivered in front of a green screen or chroma key colored cyclorama
(or chroma key wall) toward the back of the primary set. The unusual and highly saturated
color of the background permits the weather anchor’s camera image to be keyed over/layered
over the weather GFX.
On the walls of the studio are hook-up jacks for audio, video, clock, intercom, and other signals
that run between studio and control room. These hook-up jacks are located together and are
called patch panels.
Control Room
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Monitor wall - centers on two larger video monitors that display Preview (PVW) video
(positioned left) and Program (PGM) video (typically positioned right).
Multi-viewers are very large monitors that can display multiple video feeds at the same
time. The screen is simply divided or arranged into two larger screens (preview and program)
and/or smaller screens (video sources).
The GFX computer can create, store, and recall different kinds of graphics: character
generation (CG), still-store (SS), 2D and 3D animations. CG is the creation of
alphanumerica text as a video signal. A good example of CG is when the anchor’s name is
keyed (layered) over a camera image of the anchor. The still-store function centers upon still-
image processing, like a frame “freeze.”
Today, pre-recorded material is “played” from a digital disk recorder (DDR) or video server of
some type
The engineer is responsible for the Camera Control Units (CCUs). By using the waveform
monitor and vectorscope, the Engineer can adjust how each camera “sees” individual colors
and values (like red, green, blue, black, and white) so that the cameras are “balanced” or
matched. During the program, the Engineer (or dedicated staff called “shaders” - aka Video
Operators) can use the CCUs to make adjustments to the iris settings of the camera lens or to
“ride gain” - adjust the strength of the video signal level. -from the control room
Media Asset Managers (formerly “Tape Librarians”) are in charge of managing the video,
graphic, and audio assets of a particular TV show, TV station, or network. They also help with
organizing and archiving current programming and other newly acquired or created assets.
---------
Blocking - the placement of talent and cameras and figuring out how and where they are going
to move during the program. This is also referred to as staging, and is more complex for
dramas and comedies than it is for news and public affairs programs, but everything needs
some form of blocking. Staging involves the relationships of the talent with each other and with
the cameras.
Directors often draw blocking diagrams to help them visualize the shots ahead of time.
Script Mark Ups
● < or F.I. - fade in
● (3) - camera number 3 (circled)
● KEY or K - key
● T - take
● <> or D - dissolve
● W - wipe
● > or F.O. - fade out
● Q - cue
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
● ______| - at this point, cut, dissolve, or cue
● D.I. - Dolly in
● D.B. or D.O. - dolly back or dolly out
● [READY (2)] - prepare camera 2
● [(3) TO ____] - camera 3, get ready for….
● 2S - shot of 2 people
● 3S - shot of 3 people
● O/S - over-the-shoulder shot
● CU - close-up shot
● MS - medium shot
● LS - long shot
● ECU or XCU - extreme close up
● MLS - medium long shot
● MCU - medium close up
Take - quick cut from one shot to another
The first rehearsal may be a start-and-stop rehearsal - where you interrupt the rehearsal every
time there is a major problem, correct it, and continue.
Another approach is uninterrupted run-through, where you take notes during the
production on the flaws and plow through the rehearsal regardless of what happens.
Finally, there’s a dress rehearsal which is theoretically the final rehearsal, a complete
full-scale run-through after all the problems are straightened out. This is rarely true though in
practice.
During the production, the director can talk to the talent with an interrupted feedback (IFB)
system (aka a telas) - small earpiece in talent’s ear.
The AD has to work with both body time (the actual length of the program’s content including
host’s closing summary but NOT the closing credits) and program time (total length of show
from fade in to fade out, including credits).
Color bars (aka test pattern) are the red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, white, and black
bars that an engineer uses to make sure the color recorded on one machine plays back
appropriately on another machine.
Tone is a sound used to calibrate volume, usually a 1 kHz signal, recording along with
the color bars. Use this tone to make sure the sound registers at the same reference level on
all meters (0 dB analog; either -12 or -18 or -20 dB digital, depending on the device).
A slate gives identifying information, including the name of the program, date recorded,
name of director, and take number if multiple takes are recorded.
Key - an image, usually text, cuts into existing image like a stencil or cookie cutter.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Master control refers to the transmission control of the tv station itself. Incoming and outgoing microwave and satellite signals are received/transmitted in this area and the final output mix of the station is controlled here. Hubbed stations are controlled from a grouped master control - controlling the outputs of several stations - and can thus share various signal-processing and transmission equipment. smaller tv stations. Large curtains or panels of fabric called cycloramas are common in tv studios. Cycloramas, also called cycs , are mounted on tracks, come in many colors, and most studios will have two or more that surround all or most of the studio. Hard cycs can also be found in tv studio set- ups; essentially a set piece, a hard cyc is a large, curving platform (shaped like a skateboarding quarter-pipe). Hard cycs are used when utilizing software-generated, virtual sets.
