38
Television Production & Broadcast Journalism
pre-production:
Any activity on a
program that occurs
prior to the time that
the cameras begin
rolling. This includes
production meetings,
set construction,
costume design,
music composition,
scriptwriting, and
location surveys.
production: The actual
shooting of the program.
post-production:
Any of the activities
performed after a
program has been shot.
This includes music
beds, editing, audio
overdubs, titles, and
duplication.
distribution: The fi nal
phase of production,
which includes DVD
authoring, DVD/
videotape duplication,
and distribution to the
end user.
the producer and director make the hiring decisions regarding the rest of
the production team. As decisions are made, the producer and director
must constantly be aware of the budget. Compromise is necessary to bal-
ance and successfully complete all aspects of the program production.
The producer interacts with a majority of the production staff on a day-
to-day basis during all four phases of production—pre-production, produc-
tion, post-production, and distribution. Pre-production refers to any activity
on the program that occurs prior to the time that the cameras begin recording.
This includes production meetings, set construction, costume design, music
composition (Figure 2-2), scriptwriting, and location surveys. Production
refers to the actual shooting of the program. Post-production involves any
activities done after the program has been shot until the fi nished program
is completed, including music beds, editing, audio overdubs, and titles.
Distribution is the fi nal phase of production and includes DVD authoring,
DVD/videotape duplication, and distribution to the end user.
In a broadcast news facility, the producer coordinates the content and
fl ow of a newscast and is very involved in the decision-making process
during the daily morning production meetings. In a news environment,
this is an extremely high-pressure, important position. Typically, a pro-
ducer has earned this position by working for years as a reporter, and has
a keenly developed “reporter ’s sense.”
The producer is involved in deciding which stories will be aired, the
order in which the stories will appear on the newscast, and in develop-
ing promotions and “ahead at 11” teasers for the upcoming newscast. The
producer is the person who decides whether to interrupt a newscast in
progress to report breaking news, and feeds the breaking news directly to
the anchors through their earpieces.
A television newsroom may have several producers; reporters work
for and report to their assigned producer. In the hierarchy of a television
newsroom, the producers work for and answer to the news director, who
makes the fi nal determination on the content of the newscast.
Figure 2-2. Using a
Musical Instrument Digital
Interface (MIDI) computer
program, a composer
sends notes directly
from the keyboard to the
computer. The notes are
placed on sheet music
and can be printed, so the
music can be performed,
recorded, and placed
into the soundtrack of the
production.