TV PRODUCTION PROCESS

- BY IMRAN RAZA
 What is TV Production?
• Have you ever thought what goes behind any television program
production?
• Or, have you ever noticed the names of the people involved in
production process that appear on television after the program ends?
• While watching television, as viewers, we are largely unaware of the
production complexities.
• But professional television production, regardless of whether it is done
in a television studio or in the field is a complex creative process in
•The entire process of creating a program may involve developing a script,
creating a budget, hiring creative talent, designing a set, and rehearsing
lines before filming takes place.
•After filming, the post-production process may include video editing and
the addition of sound, music, and optical effects.
•The creation of a television show begins with an idea for a program and
the development of a script.
•A television network may also require a commitment from one or more
well-known actors before financially committing to film a show.
•Producing a show involves three main stages: pre-production, principle
photography, and post-production.
 Types of TV Programmes?
• Daily soaps
• Music based programmes
• Film based programmes
• Reality shows
• Educational programmes
• Live events
• Standup commedy
• News based programmes
 Pre-Production Stage
• This stage includes everything you do before entering the studio or reaching
the shooting location.
• It involves idea generation, research, scripting, discussions with all the crew
members and talents (actors), arranging equipment, video / audio tapes,
properties, costumes, sets designing or location hunting and booking of
editing shifts.
• Pre-production activities involve the planning, budgeting, and
preparation needed before shooting begins.
• In all it involves planning everything in advance.
• This is very essential to get desired results.
• Productions of great complexity, such as a telethon or a live-awards
ceremony, may take months of pre-production.
• Three key people involved in pre-production are the production
manager, director, and casting director.
• The production manager's first tasks are to produce a preliminary budget,
hire the location manager, and locate key crew department leaders.
• The first essential production decisions are the location of shooting and a
start-of-production date.
• The director's first activities are to review the script for creative changes,
begin the casting process, and select assistant directors and camera
operators.
• The culminating activity of the pre-production process is the
final production meeting, attended by all crew members,
producers, director, and often, the writer.
• Led by the director, the pre-production team reviews the script in
detail scene by scene.
• Each element of production is reviewed and any questions
answered.
• This meeting can last from two hours to a full day depending on
the complexity of the shoot.
 Production
• This is the stage when youStageare on the studio floor
or on location and are ready to shoot or are actually
shooting.
• It includes managing all the facilities, handling of
talent and crew members, controlling the crowd,
shooting without hurdles and solving any problem
related on the spot at that time.
 Post-Production Process
• This is the third stage of program production.
• It is the stage when you get the final shape of the program.
• It includes cutting the recorded visuals into appropriate length,
arranging the visuals in a proper sequence, use of desired effects for the
visuals or text / captions, commentary recording, music/song recording,
and final assembly of the entire program.
• It begins with the completion of filming and continues until the
project is delivered to the network for airing.
• The two main activities of post-production are the editing, or assembling,
• Editing may begin during production. In single-camera shoots, the
film from each day is reviewed at a later time by the director,
producer, and network in the order in which it was shot.
• These films, called dailies, are then broken down and assembled into
scenes by the editors.
• The first full assemblage is shown to the director, who makes
further editing changes and creates the director's cut.
• Thereafter, the producer and the network make changes until a final
cut is created.
• The final stage of post-production is the addition of optical effects,
such as scene fade-outs or dissolves, insertion of titles and credits;
• The post-production process can take as long as eight weeks
for a movie to three days for a situation comedy.
• Commonly, all optical effects, titles, and music are rolled in
during the production of soap operas, game shows, or talk
shows–greatly reducing post-production.
 Machinery and Equipment for the
Production Process

• Imagine you had to paint something on a canvas.

Essentially, you will need a brush, colours and a
palette.
• Similarly, if you want to make a good program on
television, you need some essential equipment like
camera, lights, sound recorder etc.
Camera
- The most basic equipment in any and every production is the
camera.
- In our lives also, many of us or our friends must have used the
camera for capturing various events.
- If you carefully look at any camera, you will see a lens in it.
- This lens selects a part of the visible environment and produces
a small optical image.
- The camera is principally designed to convert the optical image,
Lights
- Have you ever tried to see something in dim light? It’s difficult to see.
Isn’t it ?
- Now imagine seeing in the dark.
- You must be wondering how it is possible to see in the dark?
- Just like the human eye, the camera also cannot see without a certain amount of light.
- There comes the role of lights in television production. Lighting any object or
individual has three main purposes:
1. To provide the television camera with adequate illumination for technically
acceptable pictures.
2. To show the viewers what the objects shown on screen actually look like, say, for
instance, if there was no light in the room, we would not have been able to see how
Microphone
- You may have seen a microphone being used by people to talk on various
occasions.
- Have you ever wondered why we actually use microphones ?
- Just as you have learnt that the camera converts what it sees into electrical
signals, similarly the microphone converts sound waves into electrical energy or
the audio signals.
- But the sounds that we produce are very feeble in nature and, therefore,
cannot be sent to larger distances.
- Therefore it is amplified and sent to the loudspeaker which reconverts
them into audible sound.
- There are different types of microphones available for different purposes.
Sound Recorder
- Radio is an aural medium where as print relies on visual content.
- However, television combines compelling visuals with the
personal immediacy of the radio.
- This audio visual character gives it great power in conveying
realism in a convincing way.
- Television sound/audio not only communicates information, but
also contributes greatly to the mood and atmosphere of the visuals
that come along with the audio on screen.
Videotape Recorder
- As we all know that television is an audio-visual medium, we
need to record both audio and visual components.
- While the sound i.e. audio is recorded on sound recorders,
visuals are recorded on video tape in a videotape recorder.
- Most of the television program that we see are recorded on
videotape or computer disk before they are actually
telecast.
Post production editing Machine
- In television programs, before we actually telecast a program on television, we need
to do the post production.
- In the post production stage, you select from the recorded material, those visuals
which seem to be most relevant and copy them onto another videotape in a specific
order.
- This is called editing.
- The post production editing equipment/machine helps to edit the program after it is
recorded.
- While many of the elaborate editing systems may help you to obtain the desired
results, most of them cannot make the creative decisions for you.
 Key Professionals Involved in TV Production
• Television production is a team effort.
• The team consists of creative talent as core members and there
are other support staff also.
• The members may be required to perform more than one role and
that depends on the type of organization or a production house,
and the type and scale of the production.
• Regardless of the specific job functions of the various
Producer
- In television program production, the head of the
production who is called a producer is in charge of the
entire production.
- The producer manages the budget and coordinates
with the advertising agencies, actors and writers.
- The producer is also responsible for all the people
working on the production front and for coordinating
technical and non technical production elements.
Director
- Who is a Director?
- In a television production, the Director is in-charge of
directing the actors and technical operations.
- The Director is ultimately responsible for transforming a
script into effective audio and video messages.
- Where the camera will be placed, what type of visuals need
to be taken, where the actors will stand, all these are
controlled by the director.
Production Assistant
- The Production Assistant facilitates all that is required for
the smooth execution of the television production.
- Both the producer and director are assisted by the
production assistant.

Actors
- Actors are the personnel who perform different roles
according to the requirement of the script.
Script Writer
- One of the basic requirements of television production is the
script.
- The script gives all the details of the program such as the
dialogues, the list of actors, details of the costumes, the
mood required to be created for each scene and their
respective locations.
- A script writer is the person who writes the script for the
program.
Anchor
• An anchor is a person who presents a program formally
• For example, news anchors present news on television
on television.
while there are also anchors who present reality shows
like Sa re Ga Ma Pa and Indian Idol.

Cameraperson
• Camerapersons operate the cameras.
• They often do the lighting also for smaller productions
• They are also called videographers.
Sound Recordist
- A Sound recordist records the complete sound track (dialogue and sound of the
program.
- The sound recordist is also responsible for background music involved
throughout the program.

Art Director
- The Art Director is the incharge of the creative design aspects, which includes set
design, location and graphics of the show.

Costume Designer
Property Manager
- The property manager maintains and manages the use of various set
and properties.
- It is found in large productions only, otherwise the props are
managed by the floor manager only.

Floor Manager
- A Floor Manager is in charge of all the activities on the studio
floor.
- He coordinates talents, conveys the director’s instructions and
 Script Writing & Story Board

• The Script
- A script is made up of a series of scenes.
- A screenplay or script is a written work by screenwriters for a film, video game, or
television program.
- These screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of
writing.
- In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are
also narrated.
- The number of scenes will depend on the length and content of your film.
- The script includes detailed information on the aural and visual
aspects of your film, or, in other words, everything that is said
and seen in your film.
- Everything that is said is the dialogue.
- When writing your script, think about the content and delivery
of your dialogue.
- Who is talking? What do they need to say? You may also
consider using voiceovers.
- A voiceover(VO) is when a character/person’s voice is heard
• Format of a Script
- The format is structured in a way that one page usually equates to
one minute of screen time.
- In a "shooting script", each scene is numbered, and technical
direction may be given.
- The standard font for a screenplay is 12 point, 10 pitch
Courier Typeface.
- The major components are action and dialogue.
- The "action" is written in the present tense.
- The "dialogue" are the lines the characters speak.
- Part one states whether the scene is set inside
(interior/INT.) outside (exterior/EXT.), or both.
- Part two states location of the scene.
- Part three, separated from Part two by a hyphen, refers to the
time of the scene.
- Each slug line begins a new scene.
• The Storyboard
- The Storyboard consists of drawings which show what the key shots
will look like in your film, and how the shots and scenes will flow on
from each other.
- The drawings can be simple, like a comic strip version of your film.
- The Storyboard comes from, and works alongside, your script and
shooting script and demonstrates the ‘feel’ or atmosphere of your
film.
- A storyboard is a graphic organizer in the form of illustrations or
images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a
 Editing
• Film editing is a creative and technical part of the post- production
process of filmmaking.
• The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film, but
increasingly involves the use of digital technology.
• The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining
them into sequences to create a finished motion picture.
• Film editing is described as an art or skill, the only art that is unique to
cinema, separating filmmaking from other art forms that preceded it,
although there are close parallels to the editing process in other art forms
Stages in Editing
• Editor’s Cut
- There are several editing stages and the editor's cut is the first. An editor's cut (or
"Rough cut") is normally the first pass of what the final film will be when it reaches
picture lock.
- The film editor usually starts working while principal photography starts.
- Likely, prior to cutting, the editor and director will have seen and discussed
"dailies" (raw footage shot each day) as shooting progresses.
- Screening dailies gives the editor a general idea of the director's intentions.
- Because it is the first pass, the editor's cut might be longer than the final film.
- The editor continues to refine the cut while shooting continues, and often the entire
• Director’s Cut
- When shooting is finished, the director can then turn his or her full
attention to collaborating with the editor and further refining the cut
of the film.
- This is the time that is set aside where the film editor's first cut is
molded to fit the director's vision.
- While collaborating on what is referred to as the "director's cut", the
director and the editor go over the entire movie in great detail; scenes
and shots are re-ordered, removed, shortened and otherwise tweaked.
- Most directors and editors form a unique artistic bond in this stage of
film production.
• Final Cut
- Often after the director has had his or her chance to oversee a
cut, the subsequent cuts are supervised by one or more
producers, who represent the production company or movie
studio.
Types of Editing
• Linear Editing
- Linear editing was the original method of editing electronic video
tapes, before editing computers became available in the 1990s.
- Although it is no longer the preferred option, it is still used in some
situations.
- In linear editing, video is selectively copied from one tape to
another.
- It requires at least two video machines connected together — one
• Non Linear Editing
- In this method, video footage is recorded (captured) onto a computer hard drive and
then edited using specialized software.
- Once the editing is complete, the finished product is recorded back to tape or optical
disk.
- Non-linear editing has many significant advantages over linear editing.
- Most notably, it is a very flexible method which allows you to make changes to any
part of the video at any time.
- This is why it's called "non-linear" — because you don't have to edit in a linear
fashion.
- One of the most difficult aspects of non-linear digital video is the array of hardware and
software options available.
• Offline editing
- It is the process in which raw footage is copied from an original
source, without affecting the original film stock or video tape.
- Once the editing has been completely edited, the original media is
then re-assembled in the online editing stage.

• Online editing
- It is the process of reassembling the edit to full resolution video
after an offline edit has been performed and is done in the final
stage of a video production.