Rishabh Jain (4A)

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TELEVISION PROGRAMME AND PRODUCTION

Assignment-01

1. Characteristics of Television

Television is an audio and visual based broadcast system. Television has a greater
influence on audiences because it uses both sound and Visuals in its broadcasting
system.

1. An audio-visual Medium:
One of the characteristics of television is that it is an audio-video based system
which makes it easier for people to understand and retain information for a longer
period of time. Also, the presence of both audio and video creates a sense of
experience for the audience with a detailed version of the event. It also conveys
emotions much better than any other broadcasting medium.

2. Wide Reach:
As we witness advancement in technology everyday, television is no more a
luxury and pleasure for urban people. Television now serves people in urban as
well as rural areas due to its wider reach.
Television’s wider reach and high credibility makes it a really powerful medium to
showcase worldwide politics, sports, ideas and events everywhere.

3. Medium of Immediacy:
Television is a medium of immediacy as tv reporters capture and broadcast any
event when it is happening.Also, tv production operates on fixed time units which
makes it a disciplined production too. Also, live production helps in increasing
credibility of television among people.

4. Advertiser:
Television because of its vast reach is also a salesman as well. Business and
brands advertise their products and services on television which provides them a
vast reach to actual customers and eventually an increase in sales.
 5. Always available:
Television is always available to an audience and it is not time dependent like
newspapers which are available at a particular time.
It is always available to give news updates and entertainment programmes are
also available for entertainment whenever someone wants.

6. Transitory medium:
Television is considered a transitory medium because it is practically impossible
for viewers to record every programme they see on it. Television has a large
output and lack of permanence and hence television is considered a transitory
medium.

2. Importance of Television

Television plays an important role in our everyday life. Importance of television is as

follow:

1. Source of entertainment:
Television has a major role in providing entertainment to viewers. Also, television
programmes are also used for educational purposes. It serves as a medium for
basic education to some sections of society.
For example: “Shaktimaan” was a fictional programme that came up with the
concept of good over evil which used to teach children about manners and
behaviour.

2. Source of information:
Television acts as a major source of information in our modern world. We just can
not expect a day without television. The category of programmes and their
objectives may vary but they always end up enhancing viewers’ knowledge.
For example: Channels such as “DISCOVERY” aim to show informative content
mainly dealing with science while “ANIMAL PLANET” focuses on showing
documentaries and series about wild animals.

3. Stimulates the economy:

Global media sector of television provides jobs to many skilled workers across
the world. Also, commercial television acts as a great source of advertising
medium which leads to generation of great revenue. This revenue helps in
production of even much greater and better programmes for viewers.
4. Helps in brand building:
Television has a wide reach among all types of people and so it is helpful for new
as well as existing brands in strengthening their position among consumers. It
keeps consumers aware about all the new ideas, services,products and projects
which makes it easier for consumers to make the best choice for them.

5. Television as an Influencer:
The constant debate sessions and broadcasting for different events gives the
audience sufficient information to develop a perspective of their own. Sometimes
this may be used to spread propaganda but still people have a broad set of
information about any agenda.

6. Propagation of different cultures:

Television programmes help in propagation of different cultures especially in
India where we experience a great diversity. It is often seen that advertisements,
films and soap operas use this diversity as a means to gather a greater
audience. And this way, people from different places get to know about other
cultures and their practices.

7. Call for a cause:

Television acts as the fastest medium to create a “Call to action” during any
natural disaster and emergencies. It also plays an important role in reaching out
to people through different programmes for different campaigns such as
responsible alcohol consumption, healthy eating and much more.

3. Different Television Programme Formats

Television uses many different types of formats to deliver messages to

audiences. Proper selection of format is important with the target audience and
message that has to be delivered.
Taking television programmes on a broad spectrum, they can be classified into
two main categories:
1. Fictional programmes
2. Non-fictional programmes

Fictional Programmes:
Such programmes either deal with less reality or no reality. These
programmes are mostly based on stories or novels.
 1. Animation :
Cartoon programmes broadcasted for mainly children are a part of
fictional programmes which targets children of age 1-10 mainly
when it comes to animated programmes.

2. Soap opera:
Soap operas are also fictional programmes that deal with very less
reality. Initially, operas were only broadcasted once or twice in a
week but after observing an increase in viewership, operas are now
being broadcasted everyday.

3. Series:
Television series is the format in which the character and theme
remains the same but tv-series are usually supposed to be
open-ended and do not have a predetermined number of episodes.

4. Advertisements:
Most of the advertisements are fictional advertisements which the
story revolves around the product or idea which is being advertised.

Non-fictional:

Non-fictional programmes are those programmes which deal with reality only and
have no fiction included. A few non-fictional programmes are as follow:

1. Documentary:
Documentary is one of the main non-fictional programmes which portrays
reality only and can be related to any genre such as history,
tourism,science etc.
Channels like discovery, animal planet, Nat Geo, History Tv-18 are a few
popular channels for such programmes.

2. Live Show:
Events like live news, cricket match, sports events, live events such as
independence day parade, republic day parade in india are a few
programmes which are broadcasted live on channels.

3. News programme:
 This is the most common type of non-fictional format where news
channels telecast news which is based on reality. Even after introduction
of dramatization, news still remains to be based on reality and facts.

4.Storyboarding

1. The method of presenting shots in pictorial form shot by shot(in a

sequence) is known as storyboarding and the pictorial representation is
known as Storyboard.
2. Storyboards are generally sketches(drawings) in rectangles on a sheet.
3. Storyboards can be referred to as a demonstration of our final video
production on paper in a comical form.
4. It helps in assessment of flow of video and director’s perspective for
video’s production.
5. Storyboards are also useful for brainstorming and optimizing human and
material resources.
6. Storyboard also helps in deciding the best possible camera angle,
elements needed in a shot, character movement, transition and special
effects that we may use in between two shots.
7. Storyboarding also reduces mistakes such as missing any shot during
video production. It works as a checklist for the director during production
to make sure all shots have been taken.
8. Storyboards are most helpful in showing interaction between characters. It
is most handy when working on short duration production such as
commercials or public service messages.

Process of making storyboard includes mainly four steps which are as follow:

1. Step 01:
Before plotting scenes, we need to draw rectangles on a sheet and we should
make sure that there is some space between two rectangles for description of
shot and information about audio related to that shot.

2. Step 02:
Before starting with pictorial representation, one should prefer to write dialogues
related to that scene under the rectangle.
3. Step 03:
In this step, the sketching part takes place. Directors often prefer to have
minimal elements in sketching with the fact that elements of continuity are
maintained. In this step, we mainly work in sketching how the shot should look
like. With advancement in technology, we also have softwares for creating
storyboards.
Softwares like Adobe Photoshop, storyboarder, storyboard fountain are used for
making storyboards.

4. Step 04:
This step includes mentioning camera movements, camera angles, special
effects, transitions and extra notes about all the things mentioned above.

5. Script Breakdown:

Script breakdown refers to tagging different elements of a scene. It is done so

that we can have a better understanding of the scene and it’s shooting
requirements.
It is also important for preparing schedules for production and budgeting our film
production.

When talking about script breakdown elements, it includes person, object or any
process that can be identified in creating a scene breakdown. A few elements
are as follow:

1. Cast/characters
2. Props
3. Set dressing
4. Costumes
5. Make up
6. Vehicles
7. Stunts
8. Special effects
9. Live stock
10. Sound
11. Music
When needed, it is the casting director’s job to make sure that there are enough extras
on set to fulfil any requirement for successful production and avoiding any
mishappening or lack of manpower.
Nowadays , we have many softwares and applications for performing such tasks in an
efficient manner.