TELEVISION AND THE PUBLIC

The viewer switches on the set and settles down to watch the colorful programmes. For most viewers, most of the time, it is as simple as that, and who would have it otherwise? Yet to make this possible involves one of the success stories of modern technology and many specialist engineering skills – in the studios, the control rooms, the technical areas, the Post Office switching centres, the colour control rooms. And behind it all the broadcast equipment industry, the research and development engineers, the network planning and administrative staffs, the transmitter design, construction and maintenance people, the aerial engineers and the riggerswho climb the 1,000 ft masts…the list is long and yet the aim of them all is to ensure that they pass on to the next link in the chain a television picture or music bit as good as it reached them. Seldom can so much skill have been used with the sole aim of doing nothing!

“We have got an extremely good television system at the moment, so why all this talk of improving it? Forget the technology and concentrate on the programmes!” One can indeed understand and sometimes sympathise with this viewpoint. But then one remembers that, even today, programmes are moulded and defined by the technology. Producers and directors still say “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could only…” and then enthuse about the programmes they could make with lighter cameras that would work with natural lighting and never drift out of registration; news editors fume at the difficulty of providing “live” coverage from far-away places; company accountants are horrified at the cost of “machine-time” in post- production editing; artists grumble at the number of technicians who get between them and their audience or the “noisy” pictures that can result from multiple generations of editing; while everybody who works in the studios is convinced that the picture was fine leaving them (a view shared of course by transmitter engineers who blame the set makers who blame the broadcasters who…).

The simple truth is that, to critical eyes, the pictures seen on a domestic set are not consistently “perfect” although those seen in the UK certainly stand comparison with anywhere in the world.

Every engineer has his own ideas as to how we could achieve more consistent quality while providing more flexibility to the programme people. Many of the solutions are based on techniques for handling the signals in “digital” form (systems which process the picture by using sort of extremely high-speed Morse code technique). Others believe that there is still scope for improving and extending the more conventional “analogue” systems.

Ex.1 Transcribe the following words and practice their pronunciation:

Technology; engineering; area; equipment; research; administrative; maintenance; aerial; rigger; extremely; sympathise; enthuse; technician; techniques; coverage; audience.

Ex.2 Give Russian equivalents for the following phrases:

To settle down to watch a programme; who would have it otherwise; the research and development engineers; construction and maintenance people; the aerial engineers; the sole aim of doing nothing; why all this talk of improving it; to sympathise with someone’s viewpoint; programmes are moulded and defined by technology; to provide “live” coverage; far-away places; to be horrified at the cost; post-production editing; there is still scope for improving.

Ex.3 Answer the following questions about the text:

1. Do you agree that special engineering skills are of great importance for the quality of a programme? How can engineering skills influence a TV programme?

2. What is the role of the network planning and administrative staff on Russian TV?

3. Why does the author state that, even today, programmes are moulded and defined by the technology? Do you agree with his viewpoint? Why?

4. What professionals working on TV are mentioned in the text? Enumerate them in accordance with their importance from your viewpoint. Give your arguments.

5. What kind of conflicts can arise between opposing groups or opposing ideas or principles on TV?

6. What is the role of engineers in producing television programme?

7. Do you know how many people are involved in producing television programmes? Whose skills do you usually appreciate most of all?

8. Can you name your favourite professionals working on TV besides newscasters, commentators and anchormen?

Ex. 4 Explain in English what is meant by the following phrases:

Live news broadcast; current affairs programme; to achieve more consistent quality; to stand comparison with; post-production editing; to provide more flexibility to programme people; to be involved in producing television programmes.

КУРС

ВАРИАНТ №1

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.005 сек.