Single-Camera Video Production

Single-Camera Video

Production

FIFTH EDITION

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Single-Camera Video

Production

FIFTH EDITION

Robert B. Musburger

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON

NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO

SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

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Notices

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Musburger, Robert B.

Single-camera video production / Robert B. Musburger. – 5th ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-240-81264-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Video tape recorders. 2. Video recordings–Production

and direction. 3. Camcorders. I. Title.

TK6655.V5M88 2010

778.59–dc22

2009040290

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-0-240-81264-9

For information on all Focal Press publications

visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com

09 10 11 12 13 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATION

To my mother, Mary Tomazina Wemple Musburger Houska, for teaching me

the value of integrating art and technology.

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii

Additional Comments on the Fifth Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Chapter One

Production Philosophy . . ..........................................2

The Production Process .........................................2

Importance of Goals-Audience Analysis . . . ...........................4

Importance of Workflow . . . .....................................6

Difference between Studio and Field Production . . ......................8

Importance of Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Chapter Two

The Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Connecting the Real World to the Digital World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Limitations of Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Audio Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Measuring Audio Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Video Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Changing Light into Electrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Scan Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Measuring Video Signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Video Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter Three

The Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Equipment Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Camera Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Handheld Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

HDV Professional Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Broadcast Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Digital Cinema Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Specialized Digital Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Image Sources and Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Tubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Focal Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Depth of Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Viewfinder and Camera Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Viewfinder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Camera Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Bars/Gain Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Color Temperature Control/Filter Selector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Camera Supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Tripods and Body Mounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Cranes, Dollies, and Pedestals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Handholding the Camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Digital Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Recorder Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Connecting Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Cable Coiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Power Connectors and Plugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Audio Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Video Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Digital Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Microphone Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Electronic Impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Element Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Pickup Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Mounting Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Contents vii

Nonmicrophone Audio Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Which Audio Track to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Floodlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Focusing Spotlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Fixed-Focus Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Controlling Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Power Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Color Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Measuring Light Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Lighting Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Contrast Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Chapter Four

The Production Process: Preproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Preliminary Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

The Proposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Legal Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Script Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Scene Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Shooting Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Script Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Single-Column Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Dual-Column Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Organizing Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Storyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Location Scouting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Site Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Organizing Equipment and Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter Five

The Production Process: Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Production Stages and Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Setting Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Field Equipment Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Camera Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

viii Contents

Audio Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Prompting Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Sets and Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Lighting Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Controlling Color Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Controlling Light Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Contrast Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Basic Three-Point Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Backlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Key Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Fill Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Kicker and Set Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Multiple or Moving Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Creative Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Mood Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Lighting for Time, Date, and Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Directing and Rehearsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Directing Talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Rehearsal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Shooting and Framing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Standard Shot Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Framing Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Aspect Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Critical Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Lead Room or Edge Attraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

The Rule of Thirds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Creating Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Subject Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Camera Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Movement through Zooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Z-Axis Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Graphic Force Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

The Third Movement: Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Shoot to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Continuity of Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Continuity of Direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Contents ix

Continuity of Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Cover Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

In-Camera Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Iris Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Roll or Rack Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Swish Pans and Zooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Reversing Polarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Digital In-Camera Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Logging and Striking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Striking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Chapter Six

The Production Process: Postproduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

The Soul of Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Editing Depends on Aesthetic and Equipment Knowledge and Skills . . . . . . . . 196

Editing Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Basic Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Process Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Nonlinear Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Linear Electronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Nonlinear Electronic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Editing Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Physical Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Choices and Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Technical Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Editing Operating Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

Basic Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Adding Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

The Aesthetic Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Output-Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Preparing to Output/Export . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

x Contents

Output Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Destination Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Chapter Seven

Your Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Internship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

The Application Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Re´sume´ Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Composing a Cover Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

The Portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

The Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Contents xi

Introduction

This text has been written to provide three groups of video enthusiasts with enough

information to produce acceptable single-camera video productions: the media produc￾tion student, the professional who needs a refresher on the basics, and the first-time

video camera owner. It is a basic, introductory book designed to point the beginner in

the right direction. This is not an advanced book in preproduction research and

writing, nor is it a book on advanced techniques in electronic editing. Each of those

subjects deserves its own title.

I wrote this book from three points of view: first, from that of an instructor introducing

the techniques that lead to quality video productions utilizing a single video camera;

second, from that of a practitioner who has spent 50 years working in professional

media and learning the contents of this book the hard way—by making mistakes until

I finally got it right; and third, from that of an academic fielding 20 phone calls a week

from people new to electronic production who desperately want information about

single-camera video production.

This book outlines the process of working with a single video camera from beginning

to end, with an emphasis on the actual production process. First, though, you must lay

some groundwork before you pick up your camera. The video camera and the record￾ing medium used remain two complex pieces of equipment, despite efforts to simplify

them. The process by which a video image is created is also complex, and you must

understand it in order to properly utilize the benefits and master the restrictions of the

medium.

The first chapter of the book outlines the production process, emphasizes the impor￾tance of goals and audience analysis, explains the production workflow process, and

discusses the importance of technology. The second chapter contains a simplified

explanation of how and why video and audio signals are created. It also describes

the technical restrictions of a digital system. The third chapter describes the equip￾ment: cameras; recorders; and audio, lighting, and mounting equipment. With the first

three chapters providing a firm base, the fourth chapter carries you through the

production process from preproduction planning (much more important than most

beginners realize) to setting up, rehearsing, shooting, and striking. The fifth chapter

details the digital process by exploring lighting and audio techniques. The sixth

chapter concentrates on the digital nonlinear editing process, techniques, aesthetics,

and the importance of shooting for the editing process. The final chapter outlines

methods to move your career beyond the classroom: finding and earning an internship,

preparing for the interviewing and job search process, and approaching your first and

next job.

As the media production world rapidly moves toward an all-digital environment, I have

included those changes that are critical for single-camera production. From experi￾ence, I am aware that the rapid changes require new information on virtually a weekly

basis. I have attempted to anticipate some of those changes, but at the same time,

I have avoided making any wild guesses as to the next level of production develop￾ments. There are too many new concepts and proposals in the works—some of them

will be working years from now, others will be gone within 6 months. All we can do is

watch, take advantage of what the field has to offer, and remember that it isn’t the

paintbrush that makes the difference, it’s the mind and the hands of the artist.

Introduction xiii

Additional Comments on the

Fifth Edition

The layout of this text includes major changes from the old format, in which editorial

copy was placed on one page with illustrations on the facing page. In the new format

presented here, figures and photographs are interspersed with the editorial copy as

needed to illustrate or clarify a point. More than 100 new figures and photographs

replace drawn figures.

The emphasis will expand on the concentration of digital equipment and production

techniques applicable to field video production and nonlinear postproduction. New

sections on production workflow, audience analysis, modern formats, distribution

methods, and career planning extend the value of this book.

A key factor in the move of media to an “all-digital” production format is the realiza￾tion that all media must start in an analog format, and for humans to comprehend the

messages, the messages must be returned to an analog format. Media converted to a

digital format may be easily manipulated without loss of quality but cannot be viewed

or listened to until converted into a form a person’s eye and ear can interpret. For that

reason, some analog theory and technology remain as critical parts of this book and

will remain so until humans can directly interpret a digital signal.