There are many aspects to the production of television, all of which cost money. According to our textbook, Media and Culture, “…roughly 40 percent of a new program’s production budget, include the technical, or “hardware,” side of production: equipment, special effects, cameras and crew, sets and designers, carpenters, electricians, art directors, wardrobe, lighting and transportation.” Those are known as the below-the-line costs. The field trip I took to the studio on the Sacred Heart University campus displayed most of these below-the-line costs. This studio was student run so the producers of the campus news were two students but the director was a member of the faculty. The floor manage (the one in charge behind the camera) was also a student as well as the anchors. This studio was very similar to the one we had at my high school. Except at my high school the news was shot in front of a green screen and there was no real set other than that. The studio at my high school was smaller than the one we saw on the field trip to the studio and did not have all the same technology that this one had but for a high school with a low budget it was an impressive set up. In high school I never took a class in the studio but I have been in the room enough to get a good sense of the equipment and how our news was produced. In my high school studio they shot the news with a multi-camera set up similar to the one we saw at SHU. Another similarity is that the news at my high school was also student run. There were student hosts and a student crew which were responsible for the cameras, the lighting, special clips, and audio.
The process I saw in the studio on our field trip was first a run through of the anchors speaking but none of it was being recorded by the cameras. There was communication between the director and the students as well as guidance and instruction from the student producers to the rest of the student staff. There was one person on each camera and two anchors. There were two people in the back room and also the director and producers watching the news as it was being filmed controlling audio and giving instruction to the people behind the cameras. The floor manager was a student behind camera B (the middle camera) and she was receiving information through headphones and giving directions through hand signals to the anchors as well as the two other people running camera A and camera C on her left and right. Although the run through of the news we saw was hopefully not close to the final product because it was pretty rough around the edges, we got to see how real television was produced.
An example of a television show shot with a single camera is One Tree Hill. One Tree Hill was aired on television starting in 2003 and ended in 2012 with nine seasons. An example of a television show shot with a multi-camera set up is Friends. Friends was aired on television starting in 1994 and ended in 2004 with ten seasons. The differences between a show being filmed with a single camera and a show being filmed with three cameras is that when filming with one camera you are able to film one person and all of their lines at one time without whoever else is in the scene to be present. By being able to film all of one actors lines at a time they then were able to cut what they already filmed and then place it in order correctly after filming the other actors or actresses lines that were also in the scene. With a multi-camera set up everyone in the scene has to be present. Also with a three camera set up you are limited to filming in certain sets. With three cameras filming in an actual room with four walls rather than a set with three walls, the cameras will get in the way of each other and will end up being in the background of some shots.
It was significantly tougher than I thought it would be to find an article or video about behind the scenes of the filming of One Tree Hill. Most of what I found were highlight clips and interviews with the cast regarding gossip. However, I was able to find a blog that discussed some of the information about the multiple sets used during the show. Some of the show was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina and after the show finished its final season the outdoor basketball court that was built for the show was then torn up and removed. As mentioned earlier One Tree Hill was filmed with only one camera. This was the most logical approach for this show because it was often filmed inside homes, schools and other buildings with four walls which makes the most sense to film with one camera instead of three.
http://www.onetreehillblog.com/behind-the-scenes/
The process I saw in the studio on our field trip was first a run through of the anchors speaking but none of it was being recorded by the cameras. There was communication between the director and the students as well as guidance and instruction from the student producers to the rest of the student staff. There was one person on each camera and two anchors. There were two people in the back room and also the director and producers watching the news as it was being filmed controlling audio and giving instruction to the people behind the cameras. The floor manager was a student behind camera B (the middle camera) and she was receiving information through headphones and giving directions through hand signals to the anchors as well as the two other people running camera A and camera C on her left and right. Although the run through of the news we saw was hopefully not close to the final product because it was pretty rough around the edges, we got to see how real television was produced.
An example of a television show shot with a single camera is One Tree Hill. One Tree Hill was aired on television starting in 2003 and ended in 2012 with nine seasons. An example of a television show shot with a multi-camera set up is Friends. Friends was aired on television starting in 1994 and ended in 2004 with ten seasons. The differences between a show being filmed with a single camera and a show being filmed with three cameras is that when filming with one camera you are able to film one person and all of their lines at one time without whoever else is in the scene to be present. By being able to film all of one actors lines at a time they then were able to cut what they already filmed and then place it in order correctly after filming the other actors or actresses lines that were also in the scene. With a multi-camera set up everyone in the scene has to be present. Also with a three camera set up you are limited to filming in certain sets. With three cameras filming in an actual room with four walls rather than a set with three walls, the cameras will get in the way of each other and will end up being in the background of some shots.
It was significantly tougher than I thought it would be to find an article or video about behind the scenes of the filming of One Tree Hill. Most of what I found were highlight clips and interviews with the cast regarding gossip. However, I was able to find a blog that discussed some of the information about the multiple sets used during the show. Some of the show was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina and after the show finished its final season the outdoor basketball court that was built for the show was then torn up and removed. As mentioned earlier One Tree Hill was filmed with only one camera. This was the most logical approach for this show because it was often filmed inside homes, schools and other buildings with four walls which makes the most sense to film with one camera instead of three.
http://www.onetreehillblog.com/behind-the-scenes/