Presentation 270409

Electronic News Gathering – The Basics Information Department NWFP - Peshawar April 27 – 30th 2009

DAY ONE

Journalism? • Journalism is the business concerned with producing news reports and editorials through various types of media including newspapers, magazines, radio and television, and the Internet. • Journalists—be they writers, editors or photographers; broadcast presenters or producers—serve as the main purveyors of information and opinion in contemporary society. • "News is what the consensus of journalists determines it to be."

Electronic Journalism? • Electronic journalism - known as "EJ" - is most associated with broadcast news where producers, reporters and editors make use of electronic deleting devices for gathering and presenting information in telecasts and radio transmissions reaching the public. • The editorial systems available provide journalists with tools for fast and flexible assembly and delivery of electronically gathered and edited news reports.

Electronic News Gathering?

• ENG is a broadcasting (usually television) industry acronym which stands for ‘electronic news gathering.’ • In its early days, the term ENG was used by newsroom staff to differentiate between the NG (news gathering) crews that collected TV news with traditional film cameras and the new ENG crews who collected TV news with new electronic analogue tape formats. • Film needed to be processed before editing, unlike tape where footage could be edited fairly quickly, thus dramatically reducing the turn-around time for a story. The use of film in news gathering virtually disappeared by the early 1980s.

Electronic Field Production? • Electronic field production (EFP) term referring to ‘television production’ which takes place outside of a formal studio, in a practical location or special venue. Some typical applications of electronic field production include, awards shows, concerts, major newsmaker interviews, political conventions and sporting events. • Electronic field production (EFP) places the emphasis on highquality, multi-camera photography, advanced graphics and sound.

Television? • Television (TV) is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white") or color, usually accompanied by sound. • The word is derived from mixed Latin and Greek roots, meaning "far sight": Greek tele (τῆλε), far, and Latin visio, sight (from video, vis- to see, or to view in the first person). • Commercially available since the late 1930s.

AUDIO / VIDEO (AV) AUDIO: AUDIO The sound portion of the videotape. Frequencies within the normal hearing range of humans. VIDEO: 1: Picture portion of an electronic visual system. 2. All-inclusive term for electronic visual reproduction systems; it includes television, cablevision, corporate media, and video recording.

Who Does What and Why? • Producer: Producer The person in-charge of launching entire production. • Associate Producer: Producer Who sets up schedules for the talent and crew and who generally assists the producer. • Director: Director The person in-charge of working out pre-production (before the production) details, coordinating the activities of the production staff and on-camera talent, working out camera and talent positions on the set, selecting the camera shots during production, and supervising postproduction (after production) work. • Technical Director: Assisting a director in the control room is typically a technical director who operates the video switcher.

Production Phases The production process is commonly broken down into • 1: preproduction • 2: production and • 3: postproduction

Pre-Production • Usually only commences once a project has been developed and is green-lit. • At this stage a project will generally be fully financed and have most of the key elements. • The most important phase of production is preproduction. • In preproduction the basic ideas and approaches of the production are developed and set in motion. It is in this phase that the production can be set on a proper course or misdirected (messed up) to such an extent that no amount of time, talent, or editing expertise can save it.

Production • In production phase - program is created and shot.

Post-Production • The editing process after the video footage has been shot. • The final stage of the process, normally involving picture editing, sound design, visual effects and outputting the footage to a format suitable for release.

The Camera

Without TRIPOD Camera handling tips

The Camera

The Studio Camera

SHOT FRAMING

The Shots

There are three types of shots that are friends and saviors of the editor: Cover, Cutaway and cut-in shots.

Cover Shot

A cover shot is an illustration of what is being talked about or referred to.

Cutaway & Cut-in

Cutaway and cut-in shots are similar, except that a cutaway is a shot of items that are not included in the previous or following shot.

The Lens

DEPTH OF FIELD

There is often confusion between the terms depth of field and depth of focus. Depth of field refers to the image in front of the lens, and may be thought of as relating to the field of view. Depth of focus refers to the elements in focus behind the lens at the plane of focus. The depth of field is the distance between the nearest and the farthest subjects from the lens that will appear to look sharp.

Shoot for Edit 1. Continuity for Action As the subject picks up the pencil in the WS, the CU must be shot so that the rate of picking is the same and the same hand and pencil are used. This seems like a logical action. 2. Continuity for Direction If the WS shows the subject facing to the left and the reporter right hand reaches across the frame to the left, then the CU must show the hand moving to the left 3. Continuity for Location Continuity of location includes Lighting, background, and audio.

The Three Types of Continuity

Rule of Third

The original video standard frame ration has been 4 units wide by 3 units high (4:3).

HEAD-ROOM

• Headroom is the visual distance from the top of the talent’s head to the top edge of the video monitor. • Too much headroom means that visually, there is too much space between the talent’s head and the top of the picture. Although it is uncommon, it is possible to have too little headroom.

LEAD-ROOM - 1

• Leadroom is the visual distance in front of a moving object (like a car passing by) or in front of a visual composition of a person’s head. • If the subject on camera is looking to the right or the left, “room to look into” should be provided.

LEAD-ROOM – 2

Nose Room

The original video standard frame ration has been 4 units wide by 3 units high (4:3).

The Philosophy In our culture, the eye starts at the upper left, proceeds to the lower right, and comes to rest there. For that reason, egocentered television program hosts usually insist on being framed on the right; higherquality newscasts place the visuals on the right; and, almost universally, prices, addresses, and other critical commercial information are framed on the right.

The Culture The cultural values attributed to camera movements also affect the relative value of the positions within the frame. If the frame is divided into nine areas – upper left, lower center, upper right, middle left, middle centre, middle right, lower left, lower centre and lower right – the position considered the most beneficial for passing information to the audience is the lower right.

Camera Movement I Even though video is moving art form, the individual frame is essentially a still photograph. The manner in which each picture is framed can add to or subtract from its perceived movement. There are three basic means of creating movement in either video or film: by moving the subject, by moving the camera, and by editing. SUBJECT MOVEMENT: Subject can move in three directions within the frame: on the horizontal (X-axis) or vertical (Y-axis) from the camera. Z-axis movement are the most powerful and should be used judiciously.

It is an unrealistic movement and should be used with great caution.

Camera Movement II Camera Movement: The second way to create movement is by moving the camera: on its pan head, panning left or right, or tilting up or down. If the camera has a means of raising or lowering on a center shaft, this movement is called pedestalling up or down. Movement through Zoom: Supplementary movement created within the lens is the zoom. A zoom movement is created by carrying the focal length of the lens, which increases or decreases the angle of view. The Zoom, especially with a motorized control, is an easy and flexible movement.

It is an unrealistic movement and should be used with great caution.

Z-Axis Do’s & Don’ts Video, like painting, photography and cinematography, is a two-dimensional art form. The picture has only a height and width as received on a receiver/monitor or shown on a screen. The depth, or third dimension, of the picture is perceived; it does not actually exist as a third dimension, but it appears to exist. This three-dimensional appearance is important to any visual medium. News TV particularly depends on the Zaxis to compensate for its smaller screen and lower resolution compared with photography or motion picture film.

The Three Types of Continuity

Connectors Audio

Connectors Video

Connectors Digital

MICROPHONE

Microphones are categorized in three ways: by their electronic impedance, by their element construction, and by their pickup pattern. In addition, microphone choices are also made on the basis of their specific purpose or the type of audio pickup required.

MICROPHONE

AUTOMATIC GAIN CONTROL (AGC) Circuit that maintains the audio or video gain within a certain range. It prevents overdriving circuits, which causes distortion, but can increase signal-to-noise ratio.

Tripod

Tripod is a three-legged stand for a camera, used to stabilize and elevate the camera.

DAY TWO

TV Reporting Formats

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

OC-VO (On Camera & Off Camera) OC-GFX (Graphics) OC-VO-SOT (Sound on Tape) News Package (N-PKG) Feature Package (F-PKG)

6. VOXPOP: (Latin phrase, literally means voice of the people, term for interviews of members of the "general public". 7. Beeper / Video Beeper 8. AS-LIVE / LIVE

Video-Related Abbreviations 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

OC = ON CAMERA VO = VOICE-OVER VO/SOT = VOICE-OVER FOLLOWED BY SOUND ON TAPE SOT/VO = SOUND ON TAPE FOLLOWED BY VOICE-OVER PKG = PACKAGE FX = GRAPHICS OR EFFECTS SEQUENCE ESS = ELECTRONIC STILL-STORE CG = CHARACTER GENERATOR

9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

CAPGEN = CAPTION GENERATOR LIVE = MICROWAVE OR SATELLITE REMOTE MX = MICROWAVE SAT = SATELLITE DVE = DIGITAL VIDEO EFFECTS MC = MASTER CONTROL CAM = CAMERA CAM 1 = CAMERA ONE KEY = KEY SHOT

THE RUN-DOWN

WHY is important!

“It's very foolish to learn the how without the why.” ~ George Lucas, award-winning writer, producer, and director of the Star War films

Hit the target audience

• PLAY WITH EMOTIONS : In order for your story to have value and a lasting effect, it must in some way affect the audience emotionally. This assumes both knowledge of the prime directive and the target audience, and it ends up being a key to your personal success.

The Target

• We have an interest in other people, especially in "experiencing the experiences" of other people. • We're interested in people who lead interesting (romantic, dangerous, wretched, or engrossingly spiritual) lives.

The Responsibility

1: PROFESSIONAL - keep in mind, the content of a production, good or bad, tends to rub off on the reputations of those who produce it -- and even on the sponsors who support it. 2: SOCIAL - If a democracy is to be successful, the news media have a social responsibility to bring truth to light - Even though that truth may be unpopular.

DAY THREE

Lighting

Lighting practice is based on 2 suppositions: that there will be enough light for the camera to create a reasonably useful picture and that the appearance will fulfill the look that the director desires.

INSTRUMENTS The function of lighting at its simplest level is to provide enough illumination so that the camera can reproduce an image. The complexity of lighting and lighting techniques is drawn from the need for the instruments to serve the aesthetic needs of the medium—that is, to set mood, time, and location and to draw attention to the critical portions of the frame.

Lighting – Basic 3 Point

Lighting practice is based on 2 suppositions: that there will be enough light for the camera to create a reasonably useful picture and that the appearance will fulfill the look that the director desires.

Lighting – Basic 3 Point

The three different "points" in this type of lighting are the key, the fill and the backlight. Each performs a separate task, and the whole would suffer without any of them.

Lighting – Definitions The Key Light The key is, as the name suggests, the most important light - it's the primary light source that provides most of the illumination on your subject. You place this light about 45 degrees to the model's right or left and about 45 degrees above, aimed straight at the face. The Fill Light The fill light is about two stops dimmer than the key - you can soften it by backing it up, changing the power setting (if your lights have variable power) or using a diffuser to cut back the amount of light. Usually place it on the opposite side from the key light, at about the height of the camera. Use shadowing to make the two sides of the face look different, so try your fill light at an angle of 15 or 25 degrees, and adjust it to suit your aesthetic. The Back Light The back light illuminates lights the space above and slightly behind the model. Its purpose is to give some sense of separation between the model and the background. Using it in a dual purpose, the backlight can also become the background light, rimming the back of the subject while spilling across a background, especially one with some texture, such as fabric.

Typical Lighting Setup

Spot Light – Flood Light Beam Spreads

Spot Lights Seven types of spotlights categorized on the basis of their functionality include, the plano convex, ellipsoidal, Fresnel, Parabolic Aluminized Reflector (PAR), PAR Pin, Beam Projector and Followspot spotlights.

Fresnel Spot Light

The Fresnel spotlight is named after the French physicist Augustine Fresnel who designed the "Fresnel" lens. Fresnel lenses are mostly used in lighthouses.

Barn-door: a four-flap sheet metal lighting accessory mounted to the front of a lighting instrument that permits greater control in how a light is aimed.

Basic 3 Point Lighting

Lighting Situations

3 1. Key Light 2. Fill Light 3. Back Light

4 1. 2. 3. 4.

Key Light Fill Light Back Light Set Light

5 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Key Light Fill Light Back Light Set Light Kicker Light

Controlling the shadows

Backlight: lighting instrument located 45 degrees up and to the rear of a talent position. A backlight provides visual separation of the talent from the background.

Lighting – Complex - 01

Multiple lighting sources need to be set without creating multiple shadows

Lighting – Complex - 02

Multiple lighting sources need to be set without creating multiple shadows

PART FOUR

Hand Cues

Verbal Cues STAND BY: This is a call for quiet on the set or location, especially from the cast and crew. It means they must give the director their undivi ded attention and wait for the next cue. ROLL TAPE: This is the cue to the tape or camera operator to start the tap e rolling and recording and must be followed by – SPEED: (By the tape or camera operator): This cue indicates to the director that the tape is rolling and recording, up to speed and locked in, ready for the call for action ACTION: This indicates to both the cast and crew to start their rehearsed action, speech, movement, etc. CUT: This cue means to stop recording, acting, or any other action. It is an indication from the director that either the required material has been recorded or that something has gone wrong and to continue would be a waste of time.

Tape Log Sheet

Edit Decision List

From Shooting to output

Digitizing Steps

Non Linear Editing Process

NLE

Schematic of Microwave Relay

Schematic of Satellite Relay

CONCLUSION

Plan for the worst and Advice

Shoot for the best!

Shabbir Hussain Imam - 0300-959 2491 - [email protected]