Dr.Ted Home Page    Back to Studio Production Course   What I Learned at Practice Sessions

At BCAT the studio and all the equipment shown below is available free to certified BCAT producers 7 days/week to produce their shows. When not being used to produce a show it may be used for "practice" mo-fr at 10-1, 1-4 and 4-7, Sat at 1 and 4 and Sun ?? by calling 'Public Equipment" at 718 935 1122 x 211. (There two functional studios at BCAT: the "full  production" studio (with its control room) and a "mini-production" smaller and less-well equipped used most often for teaching and practice.

 
Equipment used by the CHARACTER GENERATOR operator: Keyboard, mouse, PC with character generator software above and TV Monitor below  to show the "slates" he produces for the production at hand. A slate is any text  you see in the "lower third" of any video film images. for instance if you see my image on film and you see my name flash beneath it that name was produced by the character generator operator and the equipment shown above. All the slates are prepared at the start of the show and the director of the shoot orders them to be shown at the right moment by saying "take" slate 1 (2) etc.you can see the CG 4.1 manual by clicking on this link (CG 4.1 link to CG Manual PDF). The icon on  the desktop that opens the Character Generator software "CGS 4.1.1"  

The tools of the teleprompter operator: Monitor, Keyboard and screen speed scrolling hand controller. Screen speed scrolling hand controller WinCue LT: The software icon on the desktop

A TP screen as it appears to the TP operator and the talent who reads it. Monitors for Cam 1 and Cam 2 presently displaying "BARS" 

These 4 monitors labeled CAM 1, CAM2, CAM 3 and CAM 4  are previewing what each of the cameras are viewing at the moment. For example, The director orders the SWITCHER operator: "PREVIEW CAM 1" and the switcher pushes the button labeled "CAM1" and the images being filmed on CAM 1 are projected on the PVW monitor. When the director says "TAKE (or GIVE ME) CAM 1" the SWITCHER hits the button "TAKE" CAM 1 button. The images of camera 1 are now projected on to the PGM monitor. It is the PGM images that are being recorded.

 These monitors are labeled "PVW" (on the left) and "PGM" (on the right): PVW (preview) PGM (program". Whatever is being shown on the PGM monitor is what is being recorded on film for airing. Whatever "footage"remains after the editor has eliminated the "bad" footage is the "show".

When a "show" is being filmed (which usually take about 3 hours) the director is constantly giving orders to the control room crew (4 people) and the floor manager who is overseeing the camera operators and the  "talent" (the performers, speaker, etc.) Inside the control room you can hear the director constantly giving orders like: preview cam2...take cam2,  preview cam 1.. take cam 1... cam1 pan in...cam3 pan right, cam3 dolly in... cam1 lose head space...cam 1 focus etc.

 

The "PVW" (Preview Video) monitor and the PGM monitor (Preview what is actually being recorded on the VTR-R The two Decks sitting above the VTR  Monitors are called the "Automixer 1 and the AutoMixer 2: They are used assigner to Channel 11 and are used to allow the addition of more MIC inputs to the AB (Big-band productions).

Monitors that displays what Cam 1 and Cam 2 and Robotic camera are focusing on;

Above the Cam 1 and Cam 2 monitors see the the VTR-R and the VTR-S Monitors which display  audio-visual media (VHS tape or MiniCam tape) placed in the VTRs (see two decks just below this photo.

 The switcher box: allows the operator to command which camera is the camera recording the performers/action and consequently what is actually being recorded on film..

The bottom row of buttons permit the director to "preview" on the PVW monitor what a given camera is seeing":  Black screen, Utility (bars), Cam1, Cam2, Cam3, Cam4.
The middle row of button is identical to the bottom row. When the director says "Take 4" he wants the operator to  hit the button on the middle row marked Cam4 which makes Cam4 the "live camera" (the red light on the top of the camera now lights up...what it is "seeing" is being recorded. A good operator  reacts almost instantly to the directors orders "preview camX" and "Take camX".

 

 
  NOT shown and sitting on the desk above the VHS player (also not shown)  is  a small control box which allows you to operate the VHS player "remotely" i.e, it permits you to operate the deck controls (play, rev, stop, fast forward, Reverse without having to go to the front console of the deck itself.

The VHS PLAYER deck sits just above the two RECORDER decks  (it is not visible) and when enabled plays back what the the two decks shown here have recorded:  The VTR-R(ecord) and the VTR-W(rite) These two decks record what is being visualized on the PGM monitor. The top deck is where you shoot to Super VHS and the bottom deck  is where you place your mini-DV film

  

Recording Control Box

  
 

The "Recording control box above  is a mere 10" x 6" in size. But if the AB operator fails to hit the big red button and the red button to the left of it your show never gets recorded the VTR-R. i.e. your show does not get recorded. I saw one student do just this and waste 15 minutes of a show that was "NOT BEING RECORDED" BECAUSE THE STUDENT FAILED TO HIT THE TWO BUTTONS.

 It sits on the desk to the right of the SWITCHER. At the order to "Roll Tape" the person in charge/control of this box hits the "Play" and "Record" buttons and announces ”Tape Rolling”  When he sees the digital frame counter on mini-monitor # 2 is "rolling"  he announces to the control room Director and crew "Tape is rolling…we Have Speed". 

 

  

The Clear Com Box  (Just behind the black robotic camera control box)

The communication equipment used by the director to give commands that control/guide action of the crew personnel IN THE STUDIO and THE CONTROL ROOM. (One of the three little white buttons above it is a "Reset" button.

Above the orange counter is a clock (12 11) showing the time. At BCAT the studio is available free to certified producers 7 days/week to produce their shows. When not being used to produce a show it may be used for "practice" mo-fr at 10-1, 1-4 and 4-7, Sat at 1 and 4 and Sun ?? by calling 'Public Equipment" at 718 935 1122 x 211scheduled for a  FREE. You must complete your production in the hours you are allotted lest you encroach on the next producer's time allotment. THAT IS WHAT THE CLOCK IS FOR.

The orange counter (00 00) keeps track of the how many of the 60 minutes (miniDV) film has been used in the "shoot"/"production".

the equipment being used to record the quality of audio-visual content of the production  (THE BLACK BOX IN IN FRONT OF THE KEYBOARD IS THE ROBOTIC CAMERA CONTROL BOX)

  
   
    The CD player deck:  The audio-board operator is in charge of placing all audio-music tapes in this deck. He "lines up" the audio to be played at the exact right moment the director says "PLAY MUSIC" OR other directions in which audio is required to complete the production.
I HAVE BECOME AVID ABOUT LEARNING THE "AUDIO MIXER" . AS  A RESULT  I HAVE TAKE 6 HOURS OF PRACTICE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IT AS A PRELUDE TO PRODUCING A SERIES OF SHOWS WITH THE TITLE OF "DrTed Presents:"

See what I learned in my practice sessions:

See The Mackie 8.b CONSOLE  AudioMixer  Essentials-- Ver. Dr. Ted -- A condensed version of the 72 page Mackie Manual

NOW SEE THE MACKIE 1202LZF 3  MINI-AB USED IN THE "MINI-STUDIO" AND SIMILAR DEVICES USE TO INPUT AUDIO AT EACH OF THE  7 EDITING STATIONS AT BCAT

 
The Audio-Control Board and a close of  how the various rows are labeled to remind operator what the channel is controlling  download the 72 page Mackie Manual here  

Panoramic view of the major equipment in the control room from left to right: PVW monitor, PGM monitor top left, in front and below the PVW and PGM monitors are the Switcher and the Robotic Camera controller  behind the Switcher is the "Iris control" boxes. Just behind the Switcher is the Control room -Studio floor communication box (see mike thru which director speaks to "Floor manager".  To the right of the Switcher and above are the 4 camera monitors and in front of them is the Audio Control board.  Just to the right of the top two camera monitors is the Audio tape deck  The top most black box is one of two audio amplifiers (SPEAKERS) permitting the director to hear what is happening on the studio floor. To the far right is the Character (Slate) generator generator.

 The "BIG STUDIO" wall box:  There are two sets of boxes like the ones shown above and both sets are identical: One near the "window" and one near the "door". The red-colored ports on box on the left are labeled "mic" 9-16  and can be used as additional  mic inputs if needed. They represent channels on the audioboard being used with other devices in the control room. Not easily seen below them are 8 ports called "Send outs"  in to which are connected the studio loud speakers (usually called "monitors" or "wedges") which allow audio signals  (persons talking/singing in to mics and music being generated in the control and the studio stage) to be heard at any volume desired in the studio.  The box on the right has for red colored red ports labeled "Manual mix mic in to which microphones are plugged and four blue ports label Auto mix l (line) in" to which "line" devices are plugged such as: TELEPHONE, WIRELESS MIC, CD and TAPE CASSETTE, B-ROLL and BARS and TONE

[NOTE]  BOOM MICS AND LAVALIER (MIC) AND "58" (SHURE SM58) MICS ARE NOT "LINE" DEVICES AND THEREFORE  DO NOT REQUIRE THE  "FLIP" SWITCH TO BE DEPRESSED INDEED THEY MUST BE UP

 

 

The Wall Box in the teaching studio   Unmanned (ROBOTIC) camera (Cam 1)
View of some studio lights mounted on the ceiling The video monitor Teleprompter attached to front of camera (looks like a mouth
The flat panel projects the script material on to the the big obliquely mounted panel    
 
Dr. Ted at the controls of one of the movable cameras mounted on its pedestal: left hand controls the focusing of the camera on the subject and the right hand controls the ability to zoom in and out. Feels very space agey and like you were driving a motorcycle.   Dr. Ted standing between a blue and a black Cyclorama (background) curtains ("cykes")
 
Dr. Ted with Lyra Garzon popular and well-known BCAT teacher, and documentary film maker standing in front of two of the digital film cameras used in the BIG PRODUCTION STUDIO. (See the WALL boxes.)   The studio light control panel  and the two banks of lights that control the many many lighting boxes hung from the ceiling