American Cinematographer - September 1992 - 46

Networks

Keep Pace in Post Race

by Daniel McKinny
Cinematographers, producers and
directors involved in the production
of television shows bring all of their
creativity and technical skill to bear
on the task.
Long hours and hard
work are the order of the day. When
a show is contracted to be aired on
network television, that Herculean

effort ends up within the plastic shell
of a videotape.
With a feeling approaching

West Coast program

provider, the
integrated dub that results from the
commercial integration process, a
dub which is one generation down
a

from the delivered master, is the dub
that will be broadcast to the West
Coast affiliates.
ABC currently airs shows
for the Eastern and Midwest regions
from ABC New York. The Western

that of post-partum depression, the
creators hand that tape over to the
network. When they get home, kick
off their shoes, and flip on the tube
survey their handiwork, what they
see
may bear only a passing resem¬
blance to the images they so carefully
crafted.
What happens after a televi¬
sion show is turned over to a net¬
work and before it lights up the home
to

screen?

Recently, several network
asked that very question.
The process at ABC, as de¬
scribed by Robert A. Young, Vice
President for ABC Broadcast Opera¬
tions and Engineering, begins by
sending a technical specification
document to each of the production
companies and post houses con¬
execs were

tracted for

specs

a

show. These technical

basically follow the SMPTE

standard, with

some

additional

specifications unique to ABC. The
tech spec document requests that the
producer deliver two copies of the
show on 1-inch type C videotape.
These copies are typically direct dubs
from the color-timed edited master.
The show is then screened

evaluated and accepted, it goes to
commercial integration, where it is
formatted for air. During this pro¬
cess,

all commercials, promos and

bumpers

are

inserted and the show

is encoded for closed

captioning.
Assuming that the show has been
delivered to ABC in Los Angeles by

44

American

Cinematographer

hour dramatic show that the pro¬

ducer, director and cinematographer
had decided, for one reason or an¬
other, needed an un¬

As the networks go

usual look.

digital, higher quality
images will reach the

argument, let's say the

small

For the sake of

screen.

show

was
photo¬
graphed dark and with

overall orange cast,
dark and orange
than other shows but
an

more

net is aired from ABC Los

still within the video parameters set

The New York

by the network. When the techni¬

Angeles.
facility receives its
copy of a show generated on the
West Coast in one of three ways. If it
is delivered early enough, it is
shipped to New York, in which case
the integrated dub is the one that ul¬
timately is broadcast. Young de¬

cians make that first dub with com¬
mercial integration, for example, do

they set it up according to the color
bars provided by the transfer house
and let it run? What kinds of infor¬
mation do they use to determine how

scribes other scenarios: "Some shows
are delivered
extremely late, and
then we feed it via satellite back to

bright

New York and they record it for play¬

actually there by design?

back. In some cases we actually feed
the Eastern net because the delivery

"It's a combination," Young
replies. "When we get things that are
going to be aesthetically unique, we
ask that the production companies

so late. The
goal is to have a pre¬
shipped tape to New York. How¬

is

or dark the show should be?
Is there a way for them to know that
the "funny-looking" orangeness is

it's not unusual to use the sat¬
ellite in the beginning of the season
because the new shows often come in

let us know so that we're on board,
and they usually do. We always use
the same color bars as supplied, and

late. We have actually been on the

additionally there are pieces of infor¬
mation encoded in the vertical inter¬
val that are also references."
If the show comes in early

ever,

so

air with

a

show, waiting for the last

piece to come in."

by a technician to assure conformity
to ABC broadcast standards. Once

They also have an interest in
quality control of color and density
values, having painstakingly crafted
those values during production.
Young was asked how ABC's qual¬
ity control methods would function
with respect to a hypothetical oneware.

Generation

Gap

enough and is shipped to New York

bution have an interest in how many

for air, it is complete with bars and
the vertical interval reference signal.
If it is transmitted to New York via

generations the show will experience

satellite, the bars and vertical interval

before the viewer sees it, whether
those generations are the result of

signal

Cinematographers photo¬
graphing shows for network distri¬

tape-to-tape dubs, satellite transmis¬
sions, or local broadcasting hard¬

September 1992

are

stripped before transmis¬

sion. Young says, "You do lose some
control when you do that, but we've
done it for a long time. We run tests
American Cinematographer - September 1992

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