ROLE OF TELEVISION PERSONNEL

Quoting authorities and sitting examples , I discussed the role of personnel involved in television production

 Television is a communication device that sends visual messages through a medium accompanied by sounds to an audience.

 Television personnel basically refer to the people involved in the production process of television. These are the people who make it a reality for us to watch programs such as sports, entertainment, news and the like on television. Without these personnel, there would be nothing like television production in this country. There are two types of television personnel in the production process; these are technical and non technical personnel. Some technical production personnel are the camera operator, studio supervisor, floor manager, audio technician and the list goes on whilst non technical personnel also include the director, executive producer producers, assistant producers and the like.

       Now let’s go deeper and find out what television personnel do or the role they perform to make television a reality. First on the list is the Director. The name even says it all, he directs, controls the affairs of the production. On (p 392) of Zettl’s Television Production Handbook, he described the director as the one who produces the pictures and sounds that convey the intended message clearly; and can effectively recognize a scripts essential qualities and selects the elements that help to interpret it for a particular audience. The director exhibits artistic, psychological, coordinating and technical characteristics during production. Being artistic is to be creative and develops quality pictures and sound for the set. Playing the role of a psychologist enables him to get members to work as a team. This characteristic of the director is a broad one which is embedded in his role. The director does not ridicule anybody who makes a mistake but identifies problems and suggests solutions to them. He above all is to treat all members involved in the production with respect and can be firm, precise, assign specific functions to every member and must not be harsh. The director plays some roles such as working on shooting schedules with the production manager and also directs the performance of talents. It does not end there, but continues to supervise the camera crew and the editors. In drama for example, some directors can be hard as nails. The director is answerable to the producer since he is an employee of the producer of the project.

      In television production, an Assistant Director or (AD) is employed to assist the director. This person is equally important to the production of television. The assistant director assists the director in the control room by reading camera shots. The director is the one who instructs the camera man on the type of shots to take. The assistant then monitors the shots and its quality for the production.

       Another director who comes in to assist the director in the control room is the Technical Director or (TD). The technical director is to control or supervise the camera men and ensure proper lighting of the place for the production. He or she uses the switcher to switch out over the air. To sum it up, we can say that he coordinates the technical aspect of the production.

        The Executive Producer possesses ultimate authority when it comes to projects. This is the “bank” behind the project. The executive producer pays wages of all workers involve in the production. Money for the acquisition of materials needed for production is provided by the executive producer who is termed as the manager.

       According to Mike Crisp, the Producer is the overall financial controller of the production in smaller companies. Someone may say he or she produces, but what exactly does he/she produce aside financing the project? He is in charge of the whole production and responsible for all personnel working on the production. The role of the producer is basically to hire people for the production. If hiring alone is his only job, then his role would be easy to play. After hiring or getting the people to work with, he becomes responsible for them by providing accommodation for these people till the end of the production. In a situation whereby the talents would have to go to a place far away from their home, the producer ensures that there is a place for the talent or the performer to sleep, Food to eat and is well taken care of. How well the production crew is treated will make them to put in maximum efforts to ensure the success of the production. The role of the producer does not end here but goes on to draw up production schedules and get everybody to the production site. Transporting members of the production to location, whether by air or land is enough to motivate the entire crew to deliver as you expect. if personnel are going to drive all the way from their homes to shooting sites, will sometimes arrive late and tired to give their best. This makes the role of the producer very significant. The producer prepares the script and assembles all inputs necessary for the show- David Ghartey Tagoe. After writing the script, the producer expects his script to be developed. The producer of the most watched television series “Chorkor Trotro” for example, can sack the director if he does not go according to the script he (producer) has written. The producer is answerable to the executive producer at the end of productions.

      Like the director, the producer also has his assistant. The Production Assistant or (PAs) is employed to help the director and producer. The role of this personnel is to help in the preparation of the script and prepares the paper work for all aspects of the production. Zettl described his role as remote operations.

      The next key personnel brought on board by the producer is the Talent. This personnel has three characteristics which are actors, performers and announcers. The talent actor portrays someone else on camera while performer talent appears on camera in a non dramatic activity. The announcer talent reads narration but does not appear on camera.

      In the definition of television above, it’s stated that television is accompanied by sound. These are audio sounds controlled by the Audio Technician. Primarily responsible for the use and control of mikes during production. It’s this personnel who can tell which mike would best suit the program. Mixing the audio for the program is also a job for this man to perform. The audio technician can also create special effects in sound during the production of certain programs such as sit-com.

The Studio Manager is the personnel who represent the director on the studio floor during a telecast-David Ghartey Tagoe. In production, the director cannot risk being picked up by the microphones when giving instructions to talents. With the help of headsets, the director can give information to the studio manager also known as the Floor Manager to relay the message to the talents. On our visit to the studios of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation last year, I witnessed that the floor manager was cueing the performers when they were on air. I also realized that he was trying to avoid being caught on camera or coming in front of the camera constantly reminding the talents about time they had left. The floor manager communicates to talents on the show in hand sign language since his or her voice can be picked up by the microphones.

       The director and producer all have personnel to assist them. The same applies to the floor manager who has people called Floor Persons or Strange hands to assist him in the production.

       Other personnel cannot be ruled out in the production process is the Editor. His role is performed after the shooting. The editor makes sure that the video and audio recordings blend the segment. The editor’s performance of editing to the success of a production is far greater than most people realize. This is done to remove or filter the video or sound recorded for viewer’s consumption. David Rising argued, that editing is done to condense filtered materials that are interesting, exciting and fits the producer’s specifications. The editor can therefore make or unmake a production.

       The Lighting Director comes in as the next personnel to ensure that the lighting of the studio is done well to promote the success of the production. The lighting production gives the overall look of the production and the director sees to it. This personnel is also responsible for arranging the lighting equipment, sets up the light and checks the light for the shoot. In the studios of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, we were told that lighting the place for a program is very technical. Some lights are very bright and they produce a whether to use of heat, but it’s the duty of the lighting director to know a thousand watts or six hundred and fifty watts of light.

       Before a talent appears on camera, a Makeup Person is required to help with cosmetics. He takes care of the talents and makes sure that they look good before appearing in front of the camera. The makeup person does not only concentrate on the face on the talents alone but on their hair as well.

       Camera Operator cannot be forgotten as television personnel. They work with the director, lighting director and the audio technician to prepare the set for each shot. This is more than just operating the cameras. Camera operators mount cameras for shots and ensure its technical quality. For better shots, the camera operator works hand in hand with the lighting director to make his work simple and ensure quality pictures. They also perform various and special camera movements like zooming in and out. On air, he can dolly, pan, truck and tilt the camera to give viewers a quality pictures on television. The camera operator however does not take shots at will, but is instructed on the type of shots to take by the director. The success of the production can depend on the camera man’s focus on taking good and quality shots during the production process.  

       Television personnel are a lot and involve the Video Recorder Operator who operates the video recording equipment. Monitoring the video quality is his job to satisfy the viewer on the director’s specifications.

       Set Designer is charged with designing the set for the shoot. This personnel can manipulate colors to suit the program. In designing the set, the set designer takes into consideration the program before designing for the shoot. A designer cannot design a set depicting celebration when the shot is about the death of somebody. This was confirmed by personnel at The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation during my visit to the studio.  

       To promote consistency when it comes to shots taking and scenes, a Continuity Secretary is employed to take notes of the production process. If the shooting of the program cannot be completed in a day, he/she can tell the director where they stopped the last time. This enables the director to remain on track.

       Before the whole show kicks off, personnel appointed to put the ideas on paper. Writer is the personnel responsible for writing the scripts for the program.

       The next personnel is the Gaffer, who is described by Jeremy Orlebar as the chief electrician. In the course of the production, he can be fixing broken down equipment to enhance the efficiency of the program. The gaffer is not allowed to operate any of the equipments but handles light instruments, cables and other electrical equipments.

       The Microphone Boom or Grip Operator is responsible for moving equipments to the shooting sites or unto the set. The personnel also known as the Stage Hand knows very well where particular equipment should be placed for quality caption.

       Character Generator (CG) is the personnel who is also important when it comes to television production. Its role is to produce quality graphics during and after the production. During interviews or live events, he or she identifies important personnel and the identity revealed on the screen of our television. At the end of every production, the character generator rolls credits on the screen. This shows the importance of every member to the production process.

       Video Engineer is the personnel who repair the video equipments during and after production. The appropriate maintenance of the production materials is also part of his job. It takes extensive training in electronics for a video engineer to operate equipments used in master control operations and transmission by satellites or any other medium.

       In the view of Jeremy Orlebar, Runners who are parts of television personnel, runs for anything anybody wants. They are also charged with errands to make tapes and deliver scripts to other personnel of the production. Runner is the lowest job in the television production.

Referees:

            Olebar, J.(2002) Digital Television Production: Arnold a member of the Hodder Headline Group.

            Crisp, M.(1998) Directing Single Camera Drama: Focal Press Limited.

             Zettl, H.(2003) Television Production Handbook: Thomson Wadsworth Publishing Company.

             Rising, D.(1997) Film, Video ,Photography: Kogan Page Limited.