Com 240 : Introduction to Radio and Television

Dr. Janet McMullen

P-5 Assignment

Television Interview Assignment Sheet

Due____________________

For this assignment, students will produce and direct a five-minute news-interview program. Students will rotate through all crew positions at some time during the assignment. Each program will observe the following format:

Formal Opening: (15 to 20 seconds) Voice over introduction by announcer with a musical theme which should be on cart or disc trak. Music will fade up, fade under followed by the voice over. Then the music will fade up and fade out as camera dissolves from graphic to interviewee. Visual information will be provided by graphics or character generator other electronic means.

Informal Opening: (10 to 15 seconds) Camera will dissolve to an MCU or MS of either the host or host and guest. Music will fade out as interviewer is cued. Interviewer will look at the camera while delivering the informal opening.

Body of the Program: (approx. 3 ½ minutes) List of questions, follow-ups. Cameras will CUT between shots of interviewer and interviewee. Interviewer will always be seated camera LEFT. Interviewer and interviewee should look at each other during the body of the interview.

Informal Closing: (10 to 15 seconds) Interviewer thanks guest, and then turns back to camera, thanks audience, and promos next program. Carted music should sneak in under this close. Director should DISSOLVE to Formal Opening.

Formal Opening: (15 to 20 seconds) Director should cut all microphones, roll cart and dissolve to graphic. Carted audio will include music which fades up, then under the voice over announcer providing closing program identification. Then music will fade up and hold on the cart until the director tells the audio person to manually take it out as cameras fade to black.

JOBS:

Director/Producer: This is YOUR show. You coordinate the program title, format and structure with your host. You are the planner, the administrator, and (in the real world) the delegator of duties. In the interest of simplicity, for our production, director/producers will do some things which would ordinarily be done by other members of a production crew. Your jobs:

discuss with host and guest what the interview topic will be
prepare scripts of opening and closing

script for formal opening
script for formal closing

prepare graphics for your program

be sure to see the graphics chapter in the Burrows text for specific instructions
prepare opening graphic with the name of the program and the name of the announcer
prepare the closing graphic with the name of the program and "produced by...."

prepare the cart for the program you produce

this is the formal opening of the program and should follow the same format as the cart you cut for the P-2 assignment ( music up and under VO introduction; music should then reestablish and fade out)
the formal closing should mirror the opening in content and structure.

will direct the program on the day of the production

Technical Director: Responsible for switching shots as the director instructs and providing the next camera on the preview monitor. Must DISSOLVE between the body of the program and formal/opening-closing. Be sure you do NOT make switches unless you are instructed to do so by the director. Special attention will be paid to the TD's ability to do a DISSOLVE which is a new component of the TD job in this assignment.

Assistant Director: Take VTR levels and start and pause the VTR. Check VTR monitor. Watch clock and call time remaining audibly in the last minute, call time every five seconds. Should be ready to direct in case the director is unable to do so.

Audio: Get cart from producer and make sure it is cued. Take levels. Open and close mics. May be asked to do live VO for formal/opening closing. Be sure you get all mic set and turned on. Audio person must be sure to wear HEAD SET and not the head phones. You will need the head set in order to hear the director's cues. Coordinate levels with AD on the VTR.

Floor Director: Will wear headset on the floor, controls set by providing time cues, indicating which camera is ON and generally supervising the set. Keep control of the set at all times; enforce the sacred minute. Remember NOT to cue talent during the countdown. Wait for the director's specific command. Remember the cart will be running. Watch that camera people can move cameras efficiently and that cables are out of the way. If you need to do so, ask an inactive person to help with the camera cables.

Camera I: Operates Camera 1. Camera one will begin on graphics. When Camera 2 is taken, camera 1 will go to either a two-shot of the host and the guest or to the interviewee. On the third take, the director may ask this camera to take either of the aforementioned shots. At the end of the production, Camera 1 will return to the graphic for the final shot.

Camera II: Operates Camera 2. Camera two will open on the talent and may be asked to get a two-shot of the interviewer and interviewee near the middle of the production. At the end of the production, the camera may be required to pan left and zoom in from a two-shot to a ms of the interviewer.

Talent/Interviewer: Interviews guest on camera and delivers one minute of current news. Should prepare copy on floppy disc in an ascii file for teleprompter. Prepares and delivers informal open and close script and list of questions to director. Talent should dress appropriately for the production and concentrate on a professional appearance on camera.

Talent/Interviewee: Is interviewed on camera. Should concentrate on clear communication, professional appearance, and making an interesting program. Meet with interviewer prior to production so topic of interview may be determined. Interviewee will have the same production number as the talent/interviewer.

Graphics: Supervises/ switches graphics during the program.

Evaluation:

Students will receive a PRODUCTION GRADE and a CREW GRADE, so this production will result in TWO grades of equal value. The production grade will be based on evaluation of your role as producer/director. It will consider your control room performance, organization of the program, execution of all job assignments, pre-production planning and overall finished product. The crew grade will be based on our performance in positions in the rotation OTHER than producer/director. Your overall performance, attitude, execution of your responsibilities, and preparation will be considered. If you wish to make comments on your crew performance in a particular program you may do so in your producer/director's report, but be sure to indicate which production you are discussing and your crew position (ABC-3 for example).

Good Luck!!

TV COMMANDS FOR INTERVIEW PROGRAM

Remember to think about the commands as a logical outcome of the things you have on the air. If you think about everything that has to be "on", the commands should simply flow from that.

REMEMBER: Camera 1 is on the GRAPHIC and Camera 2 is on the INTERVIEWER

Time	Director's Cues	AD's Cues
-1:00	One minute; places everyone; quiet on the set	1 minute
-:30	30 seconds, ready camera 1, ready camera 2, ready to roll cart, ready to roll tape.	30 seconds .....25 seconds......20 seconds
-:15	15 seconds, roll tape	15 seconds
-:12		Tape is rolling
-:10	10 seconds, stand by	10 seconds....9...8...7...6...
-:05	Five....four....three....two....roll cart, fade in on 1	5...4...3...2....1
:00	(At this point the program is on the air )	Time is now called in time remaining for the program. AD will call time in 15 second intervals
-4:57	Ready to DISSOLVE to 2, ready to fade cart and open talent mic, ready to cue talent.
-4:50 (approx)	Dissolve to 2, open mic, fade cart, cue talent

At this point, the interviewer will be welcoming the guest or doing a brief newscast. Director should consider the following during this portion of the program:

Get the people talking on camera. Anticipate when one speaker will stop so you can be on the correct camera when the other begins speaking.
Make sure your shots are balanced (the same amount of head room, etc.)
Vary your shots; don't stay on a medium shot for the entire program. Go to a two-shot at some point, go to a closer shot.
Be sure you have a two-shot on camera 2 during the last 1 minute of the program so that camera 1 can go back to the graphic.
When the interview is over and you are on that two-shot, have the camera operator zoom in and pan left to a MS of the Talent during the informal close. (Have the camera person practice this before the program begins.)

approx 1 minute remaining	Camera 2 get on a two-shot..... Hold 2, 2 Take. Camera 1 get the shot of the graphic	1 minute.........
-:45	45 seconds. Tell talent to wrap it up. Ready to DISSOLVE to camera 1 and roll cart	45 seconds
-:30 seconds	Cut interviewee mic ......Roll cart.....Dissolve to 1...cut talent mic	30 seconds.....25......20.....
-:15 seconds	15 seconds. Ready to fade cart and fade to black.	15 seconds
-:10 seconds	10 seconds, ready to fade to black.	10 seconds...9...8..7..6..5..4...3..
-:02	fade the cart, fade to black	2...1...
-:00	Stop VTR. We're clear. Thank you cast and crew.	Stop the VTR

Directors should watch monitors and think on your feet. Commands should go something like this...

Hold one...
One take, hold two
Two take, hold one....

(The idea here is that as soon as you take on camera, you're holding the next so you're ready to take it as soon as you need it.)

At the conclusion of the assignment, students will fill out a Production Report just as they did for the P-4 assignment. Reports should have the Production Report Cover Sheet attached. It is due the class day after your production group completes the assignment.

While this assignment may seem intimidating at first, the key is planning and for TD's to be sure to learn the dissolve process. After completing the P-4 assignment, this one should seem a lot more manageable. (Don't worry.)

Dr. Mc will provide instructions about the camera movements in class.

Dr. Janet McMullen

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