Television Program Making

Book excerpt: This book is for anyone starting out or hoping to work in the ever-expanding world of television and video. Everyone involved in a TV or video production is contributing to the program making process. They all need to know and understand how it happens. Whatever you want to end up doing, whether you are part way through a course or starting from scratch, this book gives you all the essential information you will need. It takes a practical, step-by-step approach, based on the author's own 25-year experience of producing, writing and directing for broadcast television and the corporate sector on both video and film. It describes the roles people perform, the equipment they use and what it does. In simple, easy-to-read language it explains the grammar of shooting and editing and offers first-hand advice on treatments, scripts and budgets. As well as covering the technical aspects of both single and multi-camera production, it also looks at the editorial elements that create a successful program. With practical examples it demonstrates how best to turn ideas into reality, how to obtain successful interviews and how to put together programs that work. Colin Hart has his own production company making programs for corporate clients. He trained as a single and multi-camera director in local televison news and for ten years worked in BBC Current Affairs producing and directing for Nationwide and The Money Programme.