Production design (Oct 1951-Aug 1952)

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effect as their sister "backprojection" in motion pictures. In an average 4 set TV show, those sets should be placed adjacent to each other, allowing actors and technical equipment to move rapidly from one set to the other. It is the T.D. (Technical Director) who, with long drawn-out dissolves, provides enough time for a happy, noiseless changeover. The ideal set, from the Art Director's point of view, will have at least 3 interesting angles. To achieve this goal, the set must have certain openings somewhere, where one of the 3 cameras will be planted during the show. Now, there is, for instance, the possibility of the split curtain, the foreground piece built on a dolly, to be moved in and out according to requirements; the sliding picture or the hidden opening, built into the set according to camera height, preferably 5' 6". A TV Art Director lives by his wits. Due to the restrictions in time, money and space, he has to find new approaches to the new medium To a certain extent he can rely on the 525 horizontal lines of the electronic camera which put a mild film over all the shortcomings in his set. However, the basis principles of motion pictures, the use of contrast of light and shadow, should even be more employed in television where the breaking up of wide flat walls into smaller units is more noticeable on the miniature TV set screen. This brings up the question of colors to be used. It is well known in professional circles that the television backgrounds require 1/10 of the light an ordinary motion picture set must have. Consequently, all lighting equipment — "babyspots," "juniors," seniors"— are clamped to the reinforced top of the set. A web-like net of iron pipes is rigged Page 21