Free Studio

Description

of the Work Environment

The project's objective is to solve these problems to the convenience of the director, and in a way the producer's, by designing mechanical structures (frames, but the name conflicts with certain connotations so we settled for "structures") that can replace the job of a cameraman, maintaining fidelity to the human touch in handling objects, while adding mathematical precision for positioning, silent motion, and good amount of feedback and means of communication with the director.

 

1.2 The Studio Set

Every studio set differs than the other in many aspects; the position of cameras, the type of shots they take, the requirements on the motions the cameras perform and many other features they present.

To make this project more meaningful and useful a deign that satisfies the majorities of these requirements is to be proposed. To achieve this goal, experts in the field were consulted to come up with a studio set that covers the needs and hopes of a director with complex and rich motions that may be used in different locations and conditions, and the following scenario is proposed. The target TV show will host three visitors and the presenter; they will be seated on a round table facing its four quadrants. The required shots (by shots we mean the positions from which a video sequence is taken) are either static (the camera is not moving during the shot) or dynamic (shots are taken while the camera is in motion).

 

1.2.1 Static Shots

In the first case, and at any given moment, the director may need to have a view of one, two, or three persons in the same shot, so a good and flexible coverage is needed (wide angle of sight of the camera), this implies a degree of freedom in the movement of the camera on a horizontal plane to cover the needed angle. In addition, not all the guests are of the same height, thus another degree of freedom in the movement is added to allow for sweeping a vertical angle. Those shots (in the language of the business "cadrage") may be taken from close or from a certain distance, which means that the camera structure will have to translate on a linear path and a "tele-control" of the zooming should be provided.

 

1.2.2 Dynamic Shots

The second case of dynamic shots imposes many requirements on the cameras. First of all, the reason behind this kind of shots is basically the intro and closure scenes, plus some attracting scenes to get the attention of the spectator. In these shots full coordination between several sub-movements on different planes should be guaranteed; unperceivable vibration, not to the scale of the eye, but also to very small scales, because any small vibration may cause shaky scenes, especially on close-ups; silent motion because of the sensitivity of microphones, which means very low friction between the mechanical parts and silent motors (either by construction or by the choice of driving schemes).

 

The intro shot proposed starts from a static cadrage on the host of the show, face to face, moves gradually to take a top view of the studio set, or at least the show table; i.e. arc shape movement, and the order is reversed in the closure scene. After taking in consideration the cameras that will be used (Sony DSRPD170P), their angles of sight, their dimensions, and the facilities they provide, and consultations with experts in the field, it was decided to use five cameras to fulfill the above mentioned main requirements. Four of these cameras translate on four linear paths perpendicular to each others, hanging from the ceiling. The fifth camera is the intro-closure camera (despite what the name given to this camera suggests, it still can be used throughout the show to give a top view at anytime).

 

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