Television Microphones

Journalist 3 & 2 - Introduction to Journalism and other reporting practices
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Figure 14-18.—Unbalanced (left) and balanced station identification visual. television set and must be used according to its gray scale value. The best way to test colors is to check them with a color television camera and monitor. You will find that brown, purple, dark blue and black appear black on a monochrome television; red, medium blue and medium green appear dark gray; light blue, chartreuse, gold and orange appear light gray; and pastels, bright yellow, light gray and tan appear almost white. Even a color television system acts as a filter — it only sees a portion of the hue (color) and saturation (color strength) that the human eye can see. Most color cameras have trouble with the colors red and orange. Saturated colors cause excessive video noise or color stretching over the entire screen. Stripes or color banding also may show up as color vibrations, thus disrupting the picture. Stay with basic, solid colors — primarily blues and greens — and avoid supersaturated reds and oranges. Studies have revealed that color may influence our judgments of size, weight and temperature, and even affect our psychological state of mind. Colors are viewed as “high energy” or “low energy.” Cool colors are considered low energy; warm colors are termed “high energy.” Make sure you avoid using two colors that have the same value on the gray scale. BALANCE AND COMPOSITION Balance and composition are also important factors when you design television visuals. For full screen visuals, make sure the design is balanced and aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. Try to visualize the final, on-air picture before you use it in a production. An example is the station identification visual shown in figure 14-18. LETTERING Letters too small or too thin will not be seen by the viewer. A general rule of thumb is not to use letters smaller than 15 to 20 percent of the essential area. If the visual is too busy or includes too much material, it will probably distract your audience. Five or six lines of 15 to 20 characters is considered the most a viewer can handle at onetime. TELEVISION MICROPHONES LEARNING 0BJECTIVE: Recognize the types of microphones used in television productions. Sound plays a vital role in the television communication process. Most human intelligence is transmitted through sound; therefore, good quality sound is an important part of television. However, good quality sound is rather difficult to achieve at times because sound sources may be in motion, talent may speak to the camera and not into the microphone and microphones must sometimes be hidden from the view of the camera. To help solve these audio problems, you should have a basic understanding of television microphones. Microphones are usually classified according to the way they pick up sound, also known as their polar pattern. Sound in physical terms is the vibration of air particles or small fluctuations of air pressure that spread like waves from a source of sound. Human ears respond to this change in pressure within a sound field. Similar to a human ear, microphones respond to the change in air pressure created by sound waves and convert the fluctuations of pressure into electrical current. 14-19

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