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Design a Studio |
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By Phillip L. Harris So, you want to build a TV studio. Well, before you can do much more than dream, you need to answer some questions: PRE-THINKING What is the purpose of the studio? A. To produce a program in a small amount of space B. To produce a program as well as teach students how to do all the technical jobs involved with television production. (This would mean a larger control room in order to accommodate many students rather than a large closet to accommodate 2 students) What is the purpose of the class? A. Produce a program B. Training students to enter the job market as broadcast journalists? C. Training students to enter the job market as television production personnel? Who is your audience going to be? A. Students in your class who will watch tapes and DVD's fellow students make B. Students in your school who will watch closed circuit television programming that you make, for example the school announcements/news program C. The general public who will watch via your cable TV system If your answers to the above questions are all A, then you do not need to concern yourself with transmission or streaming or cable hook-ups or "head end units" The level of equipment you need does not have to be very robust at all. In fact, you can get along quite well with consumer level gear available at electronics stores. If your answers include B’s or C’s, then you will need somewhat more sophisticated equipment because you not only must produce the programming but you must also manage to get it into a transmission system in order to get it to your audience. As to what specifically that transmission system needs to be will be determined by your school technology officials and/or the cable technicians in conjunction with the school officials. The good news is you don't need to worry about this other than contacting the people who do need to worry about it – the technology officials in your school system. What is your class size? What is your budget for equipment? What is the size and shape of the physical environment that you must construct your studio in? Do you have the capability to construct walls to subdivide a large space into smaller spaces? For example, convert a large classroom into a studio and control room. Do you have access to multiple rooms already? STEP TWO Every teacher will be working in a different environment so the physical construction issues need to be examined briefly. At least one of these three scenarios should fit your particular situation: 1. First, are you looking at actual construction of space, walls, electric, plumbing, etc? That is, are you qualified and/or approved to handle the physical construction of what you need or is it time to contact an architect and/or contractor? If so, you need to get them in the loop at this point. Provide them with the answers to the above questions and they can begin plans for you to approve. 2. Or, do you plan to be your own contractor (make sure you have school approval for this, you have secured the appropriate permits, and you’re covered by insurance.) 3. Or, are you going to work within existing structural limitations and make only minor “adjustments” to the structure (Translation: convert a classroom into a studio). At all times remember that you do not own your building. You must receive approvals from your administration and under no circumstances should any unqualified person do anything in a school with any electric or plumbing items. While it is true that many teachers will fall into category 3 above, that does not mean that the most bang for the buck can’t be obtained. Let’s look at the bare necessities: Divide a large classroom into two rooms with a door between them and windows between them. We need a large as possible room to be the studio itself and a smaller room to house the control room equipment. Do we need more than these two rooms? Not really – that is the bare minimum. Can we use more than these two rooms? Absolutely! Let’s look at the use and function of other spaces.
a. classroom – having a classroom in addition to the studio/control room will allow a show to be in the production phase at the same time a class is being conducted. It provides space for those who are not involved in the program being shot rather than being underfoot in the studio.
b. storage room – for props, costumes, set pieces, spare equipment, remote/portable equipment for checkout to use on location rather than to be used in the studio
c. editing room – editors can be placed in the editing room once again allowing editing to occur while a program is being conducted or a class is underway. A moderately sized editing room could house several editors if office-style cubicles can be created to separate editors from one another and help them hear their respective audio tracks clearly.
d. Makeup/dressing rooms
e. Restroom
f. Flat and set piece storage rack area
g. Audio booth – a soundproofed “closet” where students can record narration tracks for their footage
h. Office/tape library – area for the teacher to conduct business with individual students as well as a storage place for previously produced programming
As stated earlier, it is possible to do all this in one large converted classroom but if more rooms are available, more effective education can occur. If additional rooms are employed, placing as many windows as possible and appropriate in order for the teacher to monitor activities better is recommended. If windows are not an option, then inexpensive cameras can be placed in each room and connected to monitors that the teacher can view easily. |
