First Aid Certificates

Rock Soldiers - MAX Mondays 9.30

I have been watching a show on MAX lately called Rock Soldiers which details the duties and responsibilities of Australian roadies. Below is a trailer.

Day 5 - Workplacement 30/9/11



Time Started - 9:30

Time Finish - 5:30
Total Hours - 8

Self Assessment Report -
Uniform: 4
Punctuality: 5
Initiative: 4
Cooperation: 5
Work Standard: 4
Development of Skills: 5

Today was my last day of workplacement at tcn 9. Today I was back in studio 3 for the filming of the 11am news, the 4.30pm news, various iphone updates, voice overs, live news breaks and qantas updates for the morning, afternoon and evening.  Unlike other places in the building there is always soemthing happening in studio 3 which is described by many workers as "The Sausage Factory". Also today I had to organise my gifts and thank you cards for people. My gifts were just some small boxes of chocolates and my cards were just thank you messages full of appreciation. Later on in the day Marco showed me where most of the workers pidgen holes were, so that's how I dropped off my cards and gifts.

When I arrived at the studio I was once again greated by Graeme who was setting up for the 11am news.
Today I really wanted to learn more about audio so I sat with the audio technician, Jimmy in the audio booth. Jimmy showed me everything there possibly was in the audio booth and in the studio. In the studio Jimmy showed me the 3 patch bays for the weather, sport and guest/host microphones. These patch bays are connected back to the mixing desk and assigned to faders. The most important patch bay is the guset/host patch bay which directly connects the microphones using the XLR connection that Jason showed me on Monday.

The next thing Jimmy showed me was the speakers that were installed in the audio booth. There were two different types of speakers one being Rogers speakers that Jimmy describes as having the best quality becaause of how old they were. The second speakers were Tannoy speakers.


Tannoy Speakers



Rogers Speakers

A compressor similar to the one
in the studio

The next thing Jimmy showed me was the audio compressor used to literally squash the sound wave when the frequency of the sound is too intense. Jimmy said this comes in handy when the faders get turned up past 10 on the mixing desk.  

The Digicart 2



The Instant Replay 2



The next things Jimmy showed me were the special effects players used to play music and sound effects during live broadcasts. The players were connected to a few faders on the mixing desk used to play the most important sound effects such as the closing song and the sting. Other less important sound effects such as the sound of horse's galloping or people laughing need to be played directly from the sound effect players. The two sound effect players are a DigiCart 2 and an Instant Replay 2.  

After this Jimmy showed me the standby mixing desk used in case the main desk went down due to technical malfunction. The standby desk is kept in a floor rack above the patch bay which is used as well as the standby desk. The standby desk specifically is a Yamaha DM1000. The desk is digital and features a screen that moniters the sound wave produced in the broadcast. The standby mixer is also complete with EQ tweakers.

The mixing Desk

Once Jimmy explained all the smaller parts of the audio booth he showed me how the main mixing desk worked. The audio desk is a Calrec mixer desk which is analog. On the desk there are around 26 different faders for guest, weather, sport and host microphones along with a standby fader for each. There are also faders to control the volume of networks 1-4, assets 1-4, harisses a, b, c and d, EVS 1 and 2, Viz 3, RTD, instant and digi. There are also faders for phoners 1 and 2 which is for audio that is coming in live from phone. The phoner calls are controlled through hybrid's 1 and 2. Some other features of the mxing desk include knobs that change the EQ on each fader. For each fader there are also options to change the foldback, pre fader and mix minus settings. Another important setting is how the sound is played through speakers mainly either stereo (distribution of sound through each speaker) and mono (distribution of sound through both speakers together).

Like on Monday and Thursday I saw the 4.30 news filmed from the control room. Unlike those other times I knew a lot more about what to do in audio. Overall my day was very enjoyable and the people I meet really went out of their way to make my work experience very enjoyable. Below is my employee assesment report completed by Marco.

 

 

Day 4 - Workplacement 29/9/11

Time Started - 9:30

Time Finish - 5:30

Total Hours - 8

Self Assessment Report -

Uniform: 5

Punctuality: 5

Initiative: 4.5
Cooperation: 5
Work Standard: 4
Development of Skills: 5

Today at my workplacement I was in News Edit the offices were the news scripts were written, were the details are gathered and where the vision that is filmed is edited thus news edit. Before my day began I got news from Marco in the morning regarding Eric the other boy I was doing work experience alongside. Marco informed me that Eric would not be returning due to his behaviour the day before while he was in studio 3 during the recording of the 11am news. From what I understand Eric was telling the director how to do her job whilst really offending her, he then preceded to call someone a f@#$%t during the live broadcast. After this Marco sent Eric to news edit where he then began to offend the editors and by calling their job boring. He was later escorted off the property by security and not alowed back on the premise again. Hearing about this made me realise how professional and unopinionated to work in the TV industry.

Upon making my way to news edit Marco told me how most of the news editors come from on air tapes then later become producers making their jobs as equally important as any other in the company. In news edit I was introduced to Kym one of many editors. Kym told me his day begins at 2am so that he has enough time to prepare material for the early news. Kym uses a program very similar to imovie that allows him to cut and paste vsion into a sequence. The footage Kym uses comes from vision filmed outside of the studio, off the internet and also at times from other networks like 10 and 7.  The news editors are in close communication with the script writers in terms of duration and content so that the vision matches the script. Communication is mostly done through email. So editors know what vision needs to be completed and who is doing what vision a cue sheet is devised that is used by all. The cue sheet also allows the directors in the news studio to see what is ready for broadcast. News edit was quite intersting to watch because of how stressing it was at times when things did not come in on time.

After a couple of hours in news edit I was sent by Marco to news connections which is where outside data is organized and collected. News connections is located directly behind the glass panel in studio 3. While I was working with my supervisor there I was advised not to stare directly at the glass. While I was there the employees were collecting data for A Current Affair that evening. After a couple of hours here I was sent ot lunch. Below is a video from studio 3, which you can see news connections in the background.

After lunch I was sent once again to studio 3 for the filming of the 4.30pm news with Wendy Kingston. Graeme was also there. Before filming for the evening news began there was a number of other things including qantas news updates for travelling passengers, live news broadcasts and iphone updates. While filming these Graeme told me specifically how the cameras worked. The brand of cameras used by the studio is called Cambotics, which is a company that specialises in robotic cameras. Their movement generally controlled by a joystick and touch pad. The touch pad lists all the different types of shoots that each camera can do which can also be cue up or be moved to during filming. Below is an article about the cameras being installed in studio 1.

The joystick which controls the cameras

http://broadcastengineering.com/automation/magna-supplies-channel-9-sydney-with-robotic-cameras-0414/
  

Frame similar to that in the studio



Another feature of the cameras is a screen which allows you to frame around a host depending on their height. In the middle of the frame there is a cross which ideally needs to line up with the middle if of the neck, the knot on a tie or adams apple. These cameras use framing rather then aiming. Like in studio 1 Graeme is also responsible for the colour and focus of the cameras which is controlled the same way through the iris and colour knobs. Along with these controls Graeme also has to control how the cameras are panned, tilted and zoomed in/out. While filming a iphone segment I was lucky enough to be given a practical job. I had to swap the type of camera shoot using the touch panel from a wide shoot with a graphic on one side to a normal straight on shoot of the host. The camera movement was done while a news real was being played so the camera movement would not be noticed.

A lighting cosole similar to
the one I used

As Graeme's jobs are very limited in studio 3 he is also incharge of the lighting. Most of the lighting is pre programmed meaning that there are certain faders that control the lights for certain shoots. The lighting console is made by a company called Express. During the 4.30 news I was also lucky enough to have another practical job. I was to swap the lighting settings on the console as the camera angles changed. This was simply turning one fader down and another up. Like swapping the camera shoots the swap had to occur at a time when the swap could not be seen by the audience such as when a sweaping graphic is played.

The inside of the studio

Before my day ended I also got a chance to talk with the directors assistant. Her main job as an assistant is to control the graphics on the show, everything from the rating to promos to 9 watermark. Her other main job is counting in all the production team for the start of a broadcast from an online cue sheet made in a program called ENPS. Out of all the production team the assitant director probably has the most work.

While I was at 9 today I also came across the name Scu which is the union that most of the 9 employees belong to. My day overall was very enjoyable. Tonight I have to prepare some thank you cards for all the peole I have worked with over the past week.  

Day 3 - Workplacement 28/9/11

Time Started - 9:30
Time Finish - 6:30
Total Hours - 9

Self Assessment Report -
Uniform: 4

Punctuality: 5

Initiative: 5
Cooperation: 5
Work Standard: 5
Development of Skills: 5



An auto cue similar to the
one in the studio



Today at workplacement I was sent to studio 1 where Kerri-Anne, The today show and the 6pm news is filmed. I get to stay back till 5.30 today so I can watch the 6pm news being filmed. Once again I took the train and the bus to the studio and also walked up the huge hill. In studio 1 I was greeted by the technical director Graeme who is responsible for the maintenance of the auto cue's and all the cameras used mainly their colour and focus. Graeme showed me around the control room and the studio floor where at that time they were filming the end of Kerri-Anne or KAK for short. In the control room there is a long desk up the front of the room where the director, assistant director, switcher, lighting director and technical director sit. Behind them on another desk are the producers. Beside them in a seperate booth is the audio director. Unlike studio 3, studio 1 does not use robotic cameras but rather the cameras are controlled by camera operators. Three cameras are mounted on tripods and two are roaming cameras.

The control room

 During a commercial break Graeme sent me to an outdoor section of the studio were a cooking segment with Alvin from mastercheif was being filmed. Outside there were 2 mobile cameras filming along with the floor manager.  Graeme told me that for large scale demonstrations, the crew film these segments outside in a seperate part of the building such as the bistro or the car park. Upon making my way back to the control room I was fortunate enough to run into Kerri-Anne in the corridor and have a brief conversation with her. She looks so young in the flesh only because she cakes on the make up.

 

Lighitng Desk similar to the
one Stewart uses

Once back in the control room Graeme introduced me to Stewart the lighting director. Stewart is in charge of making lighting plan, all the lights in the studio and he is also responsible for making the host look as good as possible while reducing how much light and glare they are exposed to. Stewart is also responsible for coordinating his two lighting assistants. The lighitng desk that Stewart uses controls the brightness and colour of lights as well as any diming or fading out that needs to be done.



Fresnel Light



Stewart was able to show me the master lighting plan of the studio which had an array of par cans, fresnel lights, soft lights, flood lights and profile lights. He also showed me some specific lighting plots used for different segments that were filmed ie advertorials. These lighting plans show things like behind lights and direct lights. While with Stewart he also showed me a lighting plan he was completing a performance the next day involving a piano.

During a commercial break I was allowed to go onto the studio floor. There I watched the crew film an segment called "ninja nanna" about a 85 year old great grandmother who was learning karate. For this segment a large unfurnished section of the studio was used meaning that news lights had to be used and tested and the position of a couple of cameras had to change. Below is a video of the segment.

The Kerri-Anne Set

Once the filming for the Kerri-Anne show had finished the crew had to set up the studio to film an editorial that would be played in future episodes of Kerri-Anne. The advertorial filmed today was for a rotating hair iron which included 4 models. In order to set up for the advertorial the set used for Kerri-Anne had to be taken down and replaced with a special set specially used for advertorials described as the fluro set. The people reponsible for moving the sets are refered to as stagies who also are responsible for placing props, furniture and aditional visual features such as flowers and vases.

In advertorials the lighting also had to be changed by Stewart and his lighting assistants. On the walls of the studio are various cables used in lighting, audio and vision. The lighting cables connect into inputs on the sets so that they light up and can be used as backlights. Safety with the lighting cables is full maintained with bumps being put over cables that run through pathways. The cables are also coiled in a figure 8 style and duc taped down to the floor.

The actual lights on the ceiling have to be manually moved by Stewart and the lighting assisants making it the hardest and most time consuming process. The process was made especially more long as the set kept changing. At first there set comprised of a glass table and 5 seats, two for the hosts and 3 for the models as that is the standard set used in advertorials. Stewart and his lighting assistants used a long reaching pole to adjust the lights by tilting them, focusing them and adjusting the windows so that the lights did not reflect off the glass, the light matched the skin tone of the host and there wasn't too much glare in the hosts eyes. To test the lights a touch screen panel was used to turn specific lights on and off and control how bright the lights are. A volt reader was also used to read how much light was being exposed to one section of the set. It is used by holding it up behind a persons face, pointed towards the light and pressing a button to get the reading. The lights had to be perfect which is why the process took so long.

But as soon as the client arrived at the studio they decided they wanted the set changed to allow movement and space. Instead the table was taken out and a level was used to seperate the hosts and the the models. The lights once again had to be changed. While the lights were being changed I was lucky enough to be able to talk to the assistant audio technician called Dan. Dan told me about his jobs as an audio assistant and also how he got to that stage in his career. As an audio assistant Dan is responsible for setting up all audio equipment and also for microphones on the studio floor and any problems that may occur mainly with the clip on microphones. Dan said that most of these problems mainly come from the cable, pack or earpiece. He also told me that the ideal position for placing a microphone on a person is in the middle of the chest in front of any jewelrey or fastenings on clothing. All the mcirophones used various people also need to be at the same height so the volume is balanced. Dan's careers path was very different to Jason's as he started out studing physics and the theory behind sound and then did a coarse specially designed for audio in multimedia.

Once filming for the advertorial began Dan gave me a communication radio so I could listen into the conversations between the stage manager, director, camera operators, sound crew and audio assistant. Most of the things discusssed included angles, switching cameras and count downs. On the studio floor the stage manager was responsible for cueing in the hosts. The advertorial overall took a very very long time to film due to how complex the product was and how perfect the client wanted the advertorial. The importance of customer service as really stressed today. Filming for the advertorial lasted until 2.30 so after it was done I went to lunch. Below is another advertorial shot by someone else for the product.

One of the Huge TV's

After I came back from lunch the production were finishing up filming a shoot of just the product alone. After this set up began for the 6pm news with once again the sets and lights being changed. While the studio was being set up I was put into the hands of Graemes 3.00 replacement, William. While it was quiet William let me have a play with the color and brightness effects of the cameras. For basic light and dark all you have to do is move the joystick known as an iris.The colors are split into six different knobs 3 for the white settigns of red, green and blue and 3 for the black settings of also red, green and blue. Out of all the colors green has the greatest effect on the picture. The main point of the colors is to adjust the vision compared to skin tones. One of the other things William is in charge of is the huge TV's that have images played on them during broadcasts such as a harbor backdrop or the weather.

While there was time to spare I went into the audio booth and had a talk with the audio director Bill and audio assitant Jason who I meet on Monday. Bill briefly explained to me how the audio mixing desk worked. Unlike the one in studio 3 the desk is digital meaning that ant eq manipulation can be seen on a screen. But like the desk in studio 3 sound effects and music are part of the audio job. The music and sound effects are controlled through a touch panel and are played on cue from the director. The music that is picked to be played during a show is picked by the executive and usually matches the scene being filmed. Accroding to Bill it is the nicest mixing desk in the complex. Jason's job as the assistant was very similar to Dan's being he was resonsible for the microphones.

Peter Overton

Before filming for the news began a promo was recorded to be played during a commercial. While doing the first take the audio became very bouncey due to how hard the set was, so the promo had to be recorded again. The news host for tonights broadcast was Peter Overton. Because of his low voice the eq in audio had to be adjusted quite a bit. During the broadcast there were no serious problems in audio or lighting but there was a bit of a problem with the vision during the weather as the graphics were out of sync with the autocue. Beside this the broadcast was a success and the news was quite enjoyable to watch. Tommorow I'm hoping to see a lot in news edit.

Day 2 - Workplacement 27/9/11

Time Started - 9:30
Time Finish - 5:30
Total Hours - 8

Self Assessment Report -
Uniform: 5
Punctuality: 5
Initiative: 4
Cooperation: 4
Work Standard: 4
Development of Skills: 4

Today was my second day of workplacement at channel 9. Once agin like yesturday I took the train then the bus to Willoughby and once again walked up the really steep hill to the studio. Today I was in the on air tapes section of the complex or the place where the commercials are inserted into the gaps between programs. As well as providing channel 9 Sydney with commercials they also provide commercials for Channel 9 Melbourne, Go in Sydney, Brsibane, Melbourne and Darwin and Gem in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. All the commercials are put together in different studios because different states require different commercials.

My day in on air tapes began in Channel 9 Sydney with Stuart. When I got there there wasn't much to do as it was a very unbusy time of day, it would not be until prime time that it would get busy. Stuart like many of the other employees in the studios communicated using communication boxes. Stuart also used emails to communicate with others in the complex mainly about complaints from manufactures about their commercials going to air. One of these complaints came from a company called marble works who claimed that their ad had not been played. Stuart then checked the tape with the commercial in its line up to see if it had actually been played. Another incident Stuart had to deal with was a complaint from Just Jeans. The manufacturer stated that the blues in the jeans were too dark so they sent another tape to Stuart with the correct colouring. Stuart concluded that the colours may of faded due to how the commerical had been downloaded from the ineternet which is how most ads are obtained. Below is the ad that was complained about.

After a couple of hours with Stuart I was then sent to the Go office where the commercials were put together for Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Darwin. The man I was working with showed me the ad cue were the commercials are cued and listed with their durations next to them. He also infiormed that each ad must have a specific time limit of either 15, 30, 45 or 60 seconds in order to be put into the cue for 3 minutes. Also listed in the ad cue was the graphics that appear on screen during the program like ratings, the channel 9 logo anf promos. He also told me that ads that were cued but not ready in time to be broadcast were replaced with promos and community service announcements. What I noticed when watching all the various state channels going at once was that the program being played was the same but the ads were different yet still ran for the same amount of time. For go in Sydney and Melbourne there were back up networks that could be swapped to manually incase there was a problem with the current network. After a couple of hours in Go I was sent to lunch.

After lunch I went back to Channel 9 Sydney with Stuart. After an hour stuart was replaced by Kate. Kate showed me exactly how tapes are brought to the studio and cut in order to be played on air. Each commercial would begin with a 10 seond count down. From the first vision that appers Kate would have to fast forward two frames usng a analog stick then cut the video using a computer. The tape would then be ejected at put into a large storage system witht the capasity to hold 1000 tapes. While with Kate during prime time I witnessed her taping all the A Current Affair and news promos recorded in studio 3. I also saw Kate looking through and checking what was called black board ads, the promos that say "brought to you by".

Also in the studio behind where Kate was working was a man who checks all the imported programs that were to air that night like two and a half me and charles angels. The man would have to check for things like graphics and subtitles. With these tapes with the actucal program there would also be a back up tape in case there was a problem with the original.

The tapes used by bothe Kate and the man are able to hold up to 20 commercials on them and are blacked out after use and reused  for other commercials. When I say that tapes are being used I mean VHS video tapes. When I first arrived in on air tapes I did not expect there to be such old technology used but rather DVD's or digital technology. While discussing this with Stuart he told me that within 5 years times there would be a new on air tapes studio opening in Frenches Forest which would be entirely digital. Overall today my work experience was not very eventful but I am excited to be working in studio 1 tommorow.

Day 1 - Workplacement 26/9/11

 

Time Started - 9:30

Time Finish - 5:30

Total Hours - 8

Self Assessment Report -

Uniform: 5

Punctuality: 5

Initiative: 4

Cooperation: 4

Work Standard: 5

Development of Skills: 5



The front entrance to the studio.

Today was my first day of work experience at tcn channel 9. Dressed in my smart casual clothing my day began with a train trip to Wynyard, then a bus ride to Willoughby and finally a walk up a very very steep hill to the channel 9 studios. Also doing work experience was Eric, as part of his TAFE course. At 9.30 I was greeted by technical director Marco Snickers and given my pass which allowed me access to the studio every day for the rest of the week.

Before my work placement commenced I was given a tour of the complex. I was taken level 3 of the building were the news edit rooms rooms were and also studio 3 was were A Current Affair and the 11am and 4.30pm news was filmed. Next I was taken to level 2 of the building were the on air tapes office was (the place were the commercials are played), were the audio booths where, were network connections was and most importantly were all the wires and technical cables were stored. Finally I was taken to the ground level of the building where the engineering office was, were I was to be today, to studio 1 were shows like kerri-anne and the 6pm news was filmed and finally I was taken to studio 2, the biggest studio in the complex used to record the footy show, the Sunday footy show and funnist home videos and other shows with live audiences. While in studio 2 I noticed the wide range of lights used hanging from the ceiling including par cans, profile spots, intelligent lights and fresnels. While in studio 2 I was also shown the audio mixing booth that still used a functional 25 year old mixing desk. 

The Cable Tester

Following my tour I was sent to my engineering to commence my work placement. Engineering is very similar to techincal or ICT support as they fix any problems with mixing desks, televisions or other devices. The engineers also make various wire connectors using crimpers and various screws and bolts. While in engineering I witnessed engineer Alex test the cable connection in fader 7 on the audio mixer in studio 1. Alex used a cable tester very similar to the one we have at school. The problem was not with the cables but with what setting the audio technicaian had the mixing desk on. After that problem was fixed I went with Alex to replace a television on level 4 of the building where the executives offices were. Alex told me that they mainly used LG tv's as they are cheap and work very well. After this I was sent to lunch.

Once I came back from lunch Marco sent me to the network cables/ connections office which can basically be described as the control centre for outside material from other connections eg Melbourne, London and LA. As well as this newtwork connections also deals with the frequencies and transmission signals used in live broadcasts. What I found interesting about network connections was how with the flick of a button you could talk to someone in LA. While in network connections I also noticed the first of many communication channel boxes. Most of the studios and offices have these boxes to communicate with all parts of the building. By flicking one of the buttons on a channel down you can communicate with that person in the channel and by flicking it up you can listen to what the other person is saying in the channel. 

Examples of Robotic cameras



Auto cue

After three hours in network connections I was sent to studio 3 for the filming of the 4.30 news with Wendy Kingston. What amazed me most about studio 3 was the cameras. Unlike studio 2 and 1 the cameras are not manouvered by camera operators but the cameras are robotic, controlled by the technical director. Along with the robotic cameras auto cue machines were also widely used in the studio. The autocue machines were actually cameras that reflected text into the cameras lens so that a host can look directly into the camera while saying their script. What also amazed me was the glass window behind the presenters in the studio which displayed the news edit room behind the window. Marco described the mirror as being the most expensive piece of equipment in the building as it is darkly tinted, blurred and placed on a 16* angle to ensure that the lights in the studio don't reflect off or through the screen.

A clip on microphone similar to the
 one Jason showed me

While in the studio I was lucky enough to talk to the audio technician, Jason. Jason showed me the audio mixer and the clip on microphones used on the hosts. These microphones were described as very fine microphones with two cables that feed into an XLR connector that goes into a patch bay on the news desk then into the audio mixer. As an audio technican, Jason is also responsible for the various music and sound effects described by the director as a sting. While waiting around for the news to start I talked to Jason about how he became an audio technician. He told me how he started out as a music producer in year 11 then fell into tv as the music industry detereorated. As I am interested in the music and audio industries Jason told me that employers look for people with engineering degrees from universities such as JMC and SAE.

My pass to get in.

Before the live filming commenced Jason did a line check with Wendy Kingston the host and also various reporters in locations outside the studio. The live broadcast began with a count down from 10 to start the program. After this Jason cued the opening music and voice over. Throughout various times in the program Jason controlled the volume and eq of the various presenters and also the sound effects present in the show including various wosshes and musical sounds. The broadcast however was not without its faults. At one time in the broadcast Jason was too late in turning up the volume of a guests microphone so briefly there was silence. Also a signal was lost during the broadcast so a section of the bulliten was cut short. Aside from these faults the braodcast was good to watch and interesting. After the broadcast I was done for the day.