TELEVISION DIRECTOR


MY PHILOSOPHY ON DIRECTING




My main philosophy on directing is TEAMWORK!

TEAMWORK: First of all, always respect your crew and they will respect you. Second, always preplan and have a back-up plan in case something goes wrong! If your in production you should already know these two points, so I won't go into them. I do want to go into the importance of teamwork.I can't emphasize enough about the importance of teamwork in a production! I feel that it is the core of any type of production, whether it is in the field or in the studio. It does not matter how good you are or how experienced your crew is, if teamwork is missing, then your show will fall apart. Let me explain.
-Here is an example of TEAMWORK in the studio-
* 2:00 It is two minutes before air and you're directing a live two-on-four interview with a studio audience. The show is going up on satellite to fifty stations across the U.S. You're getting yourself ready to do mic checks and realize that on your wide shot there is a mic cable hanging off one of the guest chair. Also, the mic on the host is upside down. You ask your floor director, Gus to tape up the cable on the chair and to adjust the hosts' mic. * 1:45 Gus rushes with the tape to fix the mic cable (remember, you still do not have mic checks). You ask Gus for guest #1 to say a few words. Gus does not hear you because he is distracted with taping up the cable to the chair. * 1:15 Teamwork takes effect. Tracey, who is the operator on camera five notices that Gus does not hear you. Tracey says loudly, "Mr. Smith, we need a mic check, could you look toward the host a say a few words?" Tracey notices that Gus is still working on the cable. You ask Tracey to do the same thing for the other guests, while remaining at her camera. * :55 seconds More teamwork. Gus is almost finished but the upside down mic on the host has not been fixed yet. Karen, who is the operator for camera six (the wide shot) realizes that Gus will not be able to fix the mic in time. Karen asks you if she should help Gus since her camera is a locked down shot. You tell her to go. * 10 seconds. The mics are all fixed and Gus and Karen run to their positions. * LIVE You give the command, "fade up, mic, and cue talent!" You're live and the mic levels are perfect and the set looks neat. The teamwork took over, not skill. Because your crew worked effectively, the show started off great.
After reading this scenerio, you may be thinking to yourself "Well, if the floor director is distracted, of course one of the crew members will speak up. WRONG!!

One time I was with a producer friend and I went to see her show. The 
exact scenario that I just discussed was happening, but the major 
differnce? No Teamwork!! Here it is:

It was a one-on-four interview and the open tape was rolling and four mics
were not checked for levels. The result: when talent spoke, the VU levels 
were either too high or too low. This made the production start off with
a mistake! AND MISTAKES ARE NOT ALLOWED IN TELEVISION!!!!!!!!

Also,you must realize that no single person is responsible for a 
show. Even if you are a top-notch director, sometimes you just can't give 
the cues fast enough. Here is an example:

You're comming back from a commercial. You have an audience in the studio. You are rolling a tape bumper with effects and a camera 4 move. You also want the audience clapping. Then a few seconds later, you need camera nine to do a creep-in, mic, cue and super(lower 3rd). You might call it like this:
-Ready to roll 12, ready applause, ready mix applause, ready four move, ready track 12 (you have a three second roll on VT-12). -Roll 12, applause, mix applause, move, track 12, fade up!
(I've done shows like this before, and this was the easy part)
But, in less than a couple of seconds you have to give your next set of commands. You don't have time to give all your ready cues, so you depend on teamwork to take over. * The TD knows that the next event is camera nine so she gets it ready on the switcher. * Audio knows that mics need to be opened up next, so he gets them ready. * Camera nine starts the creep in and you say, "Push, dissolve, mic, cue talent, super in!" The transition looked tight! TEAMWORK!!!! The show is up and running and it looks good. I hope you realize that teamwork is very important. It makes everyone look out for each other and makes the show look awesome.

TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK, TEAMWORK!!!!!

And remember, always respect your crew!!!

(Please note, the examples I have given are in a NON-UNION shop.)

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Links to other sites on the Web

For more information on NET
Find a whole lot of info about WNVC-56
And more info on WNVT-53
For a free homepage CLICK HERE!!!!!!!!!
For info on WJLA 7 (ABC AFFILIATE)
For info on Newschannel 8

If you want to link me to your page please feel free to do so. If you want to know more about me, have any questions or comments, then just e-mail me. I look forward to hearing from you, LM.

My e-mail address is:
lminassian@comcast.net

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Special thanks to Karen,Tracey and Joel for their support!!

[MENU] THE WORK I DID AT NEWSCHANNEL 8 (OLD LOCATION)]
[MY RESUME] [WHAT I DO AS A DIRECTOR] [INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORK I DO AT AMERICA'S VOICE AND THE WORK I DID AT NET] [THE WORK I DO AS A FREELANCER] [INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORK I DID AT WNVT-53 and WNVC-56] [HOW TO BREAK INTO TELEVISION] [MY E-MAIL ADDRESS]


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TM 1996






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