Wednesday, 9th September 2015
In preparation for the EVAs event, we needed to get familiar with the equipment that was used within a studio. We went into the theatre to set up and use some of the equipment that is used in a TV studio.
Floor:
Tripods:
In a TV studio there are two types of tripods, there are the Dolly tripods that are moveable tripods with wheels and there are Static tripods that are the heavier type of tripod. When using tripods, always lock them off (tighten the tilt locks), this is because if they aren’t locked off, then the camera will tilt back and potentially fall off the tripod and break.
Communication units are used to communicate between the camera operators on the floor and the people who are working in the Gallery. One thing to remember when using the communication units is the people who are working on the cameras on the floor have the communication unit switched on, but not have the microphone switched on. This is because the people who are working on the cameras on the floor don’t need to reply to what’s being said to them, they just follow what’s being asked of them.
Gallery:
For the camera to stream the footage to the monitors in the Gallery, multicore cables are connected to Junction Boxes, these same cables are connected to the Junction Boxes to the Servo Box. The Servo Box is what connects a specific Junction Box to the Servo Box. So you can tell the difference between the different cameras and which multicore cable is connected to which Junction Box, each of the multicore cables have a different number of yellow bands on them, so the cable with 1 yellow band is the cable that is connected to camera 1. The cameras have two on buttons. The first on button is on the camera itself and the second one is in the Gallery, both of which need to be switched on before the camera can stream the footage to the monitors. There are 8 monitors in the Gallery, one of which is a monitor that shows ‘true colour’. This monitor is one of the best monitors that shows whatever is on it in the best colour.
Health & Safety:
For Health & Safety purposes, there should be at least 1 meter of space between where the camera is positioned and the fire exit. If the camera is on a Dolly tripod and is placed near a fire exit, this camera can easily be moved out of the way of the fire exit a lot faster than a camera that is on a Static tripod.
Joshua Sumner 