Your Public Best - Lillian Brown [106]
Television Cameras. Television cameras have unique capabilities. As mentioned earlier, today’s cameras are greatly enhanced, which means that they show features the human eye normally would not see. As the camera approaches your face, or when your face occupies a major portion of the screen (a “tight shot”), it does not go out of focus at the point the human eye would lose clear vision. The camera or its lens keeps coming closer; therefore, it enhances, penetrates, and exaggerates your image. It reveals details that you cannot or would not ordinarily see with your naked eye; you have to check the monitor to see what the camera reveals. The lens flattens an image, and the lights cast shadows which the camera recognizes and displays. Thus, certain features are enhanced, such as circles under the eyes, wrinkles and beard, distorted colors, and reflections from shiny jewelry.
This explains why television makeup is essential—to help negate those pounds and years that the cameras add to your appearance and to compensate for the distortions caused by the overhead lights and enhanced cameras. (Again, see the sections on TV makeup in chapter one.)
The cameras also enhance gestures and movements—making them seem bigger than they might otherwise look. Only by looking at the monitor can the director or you gauge the relationship between objects on the set.
The camera has mobility, which allows it to go back and forth, up and down, or to pan right and left. The camera follows the performer, and you usually do not have to make any adjustment or concession to it. When instructed by the director, cameras can move in for a close-up or move back for wide shots. The focus or depth of field can be changed by lens adjustments.
Different makes of cameras exhibit different characteristics in colorimetry. For example, some tend to be on the warm side and have a tendency toward red, whereas others appear to favor blue and are called “cool.” Some cameras have a tendency to make pictures appear hard, show excessive detail, and overshoot the borders surrounding an image. Many of these characteristics can be compensated for by lighting, makeup, and a knowledgeable staff.
Cameras mounted on a boom (tongue) or a platform called a “high hat” are capable of long-range, wide studio shots. Boom-mounted cameras are more flexible than floor-mounted ones and generate sweeping creative shots.
The Floor Manager and Taking Camera and Time Cues. The floor manager, or floor person, wears a headset allowing him or her to communicate with the director in the control room. The floor manager responds to instructions from the director and lets him know what is going on in the studio. The floor manager (or someone such as the audio person or a camera person) will fasten your microphone on your clothes and tell you where to sit and which camera to look at. He or she will give you or your interviewer time signals and starting and stopping cues (see below). He or she will point at the camera that is about to go on you, and if necessary, tell you in advance how to move from one place to the other. He or she will also tell you when the studio is clear and the show is over.
The camera directly facing you is usually your principal camera. There may be times when you receive a cue to look directly at it, and other times you may be asked to look at a different camera, such as when you are answering a question from a listener. However, during a typical interview when you are the only guest, you will probably be asked to look at the camera only when you are being introduced and thereafter to ignore the cameras and speak to your interviewer.
The standard opening cue is a hand pointing to the lens, then a countdown of five seconds: five fingers, four fingers, three fingers, two fingers, one finger, and then a downward slash motion with the hand. The “five-four-three-two” second cues are often given orally as well