Production Roles
This public-facing host introduces the show, interviews guests, and keeps the studio audience engaged across news, sports, or entertainment formats
Who is a presenter?
The small, clip-on microphone attached to a presenter’s or guest's clothing to pick up clear vocal audio during studio broadcasts
What is a Lapel/Lavalier Mic?
TV screens placed around the studio floor facing the presenters so they can see what is currently live on air, watch VT packages, or check graphics
What are floor monitors?
This scripted comedy format is traditionally filmed in front of a live audience on a fixed multi-camera studio stage (e.g., Friends, The IT Crowd)
What is a sitcom?
The essential health and safety document completed prior to studio entry to identify hazards like trailing cables, high-voltage lighting, and heavy set pieces
What is a Risk Assessment?
Positioned directly on the studio floor, this person acts as the Director's intermediary, relaying count-downs, cues, and health & safety instructions to talent and crew.
Who is the floor manager?
Mounted directly in front of the camera lens, this glass screen displays scrolling text so presenters can read their lines while looking straight into the camera lens
What is autocue?
A narrow, highly directional microphone designed to reject unwanted background noise from the sides and focus purely on audio straight in front of it
What is a shotgun mic?
The primary reason multi-camera setups are chosen over single-camera setups for live events like news broadcasts, sports, and game shows
What is efficiency of production / real time action coverage?
A bird's-eye architectural diagram outlining set construction, presenter seating, cable runs, and numbered camera positions across the studio space
What is a studio floor plan?
Stationed in the control gallery, this technician operates the vision mixer/switcher to change camera angles or play in graphics at the Director’s exact command
Who is the Technical Director/Vision Mixer?
The metal framework suspended from the studio ceiling where studio lights are clamped high above the floor to keep cables and stands out of camera shot
What is a lighting grid?
A wheeled frame attached to the legs of a standard camera tripod, allowing operators to smoothly roll cameras across flat studio floors
What is a tripod dolly?
In a standard 3-camera chat show setup, Camera 1 framing Subject A and Camera 3 framing Subject B leave Camera 2 in the center to cover this framing
What is a wide shot/2 shot?
he specialized script format split into two columns: one side displaying spoken dialogue/cues and the other detailing camera numbers, shot types, and vision cuts
What is a camera Script?
Working closely with the Director of Photography (DoP), this specialist creates and controls studio lighting to match the show’s visual style
Who is the Gaffer?
The standard 3-pin audio cable used to connect studio microphones, boom arms, and stage boxes to the sound mixing desk
What is an XLR cable?
A counterbalanced mechanical arm that holds a camera at one end, enabling dynamic sweeping overhead shots across a live studio audience or set
What is a jib/crane?
Pre-recorded, short edited video inserts played during a live multi-camera broadcast (such as news reports or contestant profiles) are universally known by these two letters
What is VT (Video Tape/Playback Insert)?
The daily operational document distributed to all crew detailing call times, rehearsal slots, meal breaks, and wrap times
What is a call sheet?
Not a single person, but rather the first assistant or second-in-command to the chief electrician (gaffer) or the head grip (key grip)
Who is the best boy?
The physical control board operated by the lighting team to adjust brightness levels, dim lights, or change color gels across studio fixtures remotely
What is a lighting desk?
The system of silent, non-verbal gestures used by the floor manager to give presenters timing countdowns, camera changes, and wrap-up warnings while studio microphones are live
What are hand signals?
Unlike single-camera narrative filmmaking which relies on post-production assembly, multi-camera television production performs editing primarily through this real-time process
What is Vision Mixing?
The chronological document used by the sound mixer and VT operator detailing music stingers, audio levels, microphones, and sound effect trigger timings in order
What is an audio/sound cue sheet?