Television

E

TV in Australia

Many countries developed a mixture of commercial and public-service stations. Australia, for example, developed a mixed system at about the same time as Britain. By 1957 the bigger cities had six channels, two run by the state-controlled Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and four by commercial owners. However, whereas many countries’ regulations have limited the ownership of both press and TV outlets, publishing companies quickly established a dominance of commercial Australian TV channels.

F

1950s and 1960s

The great boom in TV came in the 1950s and 1960s, and was brought about by a number of important social changes. Greater affluence, easy credit on consumer goods such as TV sets, and reductions in the length of the working week all served to pave the way for the rise of TV as a mass medium. In 1948 there were fewer than 100,000 sets in the United States; by 1959 there were more than 50 million, and 88 per cent of American homes contained at least one receiver.

TV’s cultural importance rose in proportion to its popularity. The mid-1950s have often been portrayed as a “golden age” of American TV production, as talented writers and performers increasingly turned to the greater exposure and rewards available in the new medium, and away from radio and the cinema. Many critics hold a similar view of British TV in the 1960s: there was a new realism in the portrayal of working-class life in situation comedies (sitcoms) and soap operas (soaps), compared with the sometimes patronizing tone of earlier British cinema and theatre. Satire programmes and current affairs interviewers challenged authority figures in an unprecedented way.

Nevertheless, although TV had become an important new leisure form, and cultural resource, it was far from omnipresent. Much of the world still had little or no TV service until the early 1960s, such as Indonesia (began services, 1962), Singapore (1963), and Pakistan (1964). Even within established channels, programming seems sparse by comparison with today’s standards: in the late 1960s, the BBC’s main channel still ran from only 4 p.m. until 11 p.m.

V

TV Production

A

Key Production Roles

Although viewers often come to associate programmes with particular performers, a great many people are involved in the making of a TV programme. Television production processes vary considerably across different institutions, systems, and programme types. In general, the central figure is the producer, who develops the programme concept, puts together a budget, supervises planning, and approves the final edited version of the programme. Whereas the authors of novels and the directors of films often become celebrities in their own right, many important TV producers remain unknown outside the industry.

In TV, the director is responsible for executing production, and consulting with various technical and creative staff about how the programme will look and sound. Although some programmes are written by a single author, many are scripted by a committee process. US sitcoms such as Roseanne employ large teams of writers.

An increasingly important function within TV is that of the researcher, who helps to develop ideas for use within a programme, and whose work often overlaps with that of a writer. A job as researcher is now a common entry-point for newcomers to the TV industry.

Other key roles in TV production include the set designer, lighting director, sound engineer, make-up artist, and, in studio production, the floor manager, who acts as the director’s eyes and ears on set, and who passes on cues to presenters and other participants from the director.

B

Studio Recording

In the early days of TV, much production was live, and took place in the studio. Today, fewer programmes are transmitted live, because TV recording allows mistakes to be edited out. The news is the main category of programme that continues to be transmitted live (though interspersed with recorded reports). In fact, although TV news has the appearance of a spontaneous response to events, much of the content of a daily bulletin is planned in advance, according to a news diary. Public relations staff keep editors, producers, and journalists informed about up-and-coming events, and there is a strong reliance on scheduled political events, such as the release of unemployment figures. At joint editorial meetings, senior figures decide which of the day’s events deserve most attention, while maintaining the flexibility to make way for some unexpected, breaking news.

In studio production of a whole range of TV programmes, whether live or recorded, the control room is the hub of the process. Here, key personnel sit before a tinted screen, looking out on to the studio. Below the screen is a bank of monitors, which show the director and colleagues what images are available on the different studio cameras (usually three), and from other sources, such as an outside broadcast link (called a remote in the United States), titles and graphics generators, and pre-recorded film and video. A master monitor displays what is being transmitted or recorded at any one point.

With the director, who attempts to control the process from a central seat, the following people will also be in the control room: an assistant director, a vision mixer (or switcher), who controls the fading, mixing, and switching of images, and an audio engineer, responsible for checking sound levels. The control room communicates with the studio floor via a voice-link over headphones and earphones. The presenter must be able to listen to the control-room talk, and speak to the audience at the same time.

C

Location Shooting

Increasingly, however, as video cameras have become lighter and more mobile, TV filming is taking place on location. Documentaries, sport, and news reports have always relied on outside locations, but even traditionally studio-bound genres such as soaps and sitcoms use location shooting more and more. News journalists in distant locations are now expected to combine technical knowledge with reporting skills. As audiences and editors expect news to be as immediate as possible, reporters use an array of technical devices, such as satellite phones, to transmit compressed video signals directly back to the news operation.