Learning How Shadow And Light

Shape The Illusions Of Television

By Tanjua Damon

Television sets can be found in most homes across America. Middle school students received a behind the scenes look at the truths about the mass medium and how they can view television in a more controlled way.

Greg Van Antwerp, community access supervisor for Charter Communications, spoke with the students who participated in the after-school program organized by Newtown Youth Services entitled “A New Way to Watch TV.” The hour and a half program gave students an inside look at how television is produced and a tour of the television production facilities at Charter Communications.

Mr Van Antwerp told the students that Charter provides cable access to 14 different towns, including Newtown. The provider serves over 59,000 subscribers through ten satellite dishes located in New Milford, he said.

Community Vision 21, the community access channel, allows the public to express their first amendment right, according to Mr Van Antwrep. The Federal Communication Commission has ordered cable providers to supply one channel for community use.

“You have to give something back to the community,” he said. “You have to open up the air waves for one channel so people can give their opinions.”

Television is two dimensional, according to Mr Van Antwrep. Lighting is one thing that is used to help figures seen look real. He showed this by putting a participant in the hot seat of being in front of the camera and showed how the lighting worked.

“It is three point lighting – back, key and fill light,” he said. “You don’t want to get rid of all the shadow completely. It helps us represent depth so he looks three dimensional, but he’s not.”

The students learned that much of television is not real, but only a box with lights, according to Mr Van Antwrep. Although television shows things that are real, they are not actually real.

Mr Van Antwrep used the example of a window and a television to show his point about things being real. With a television the figures seen can not be touched or communicated with, but when looking out a window, interaction can take place with what a person sees.

When watching television, there are ways that people can see how the product being shown is produced. With sound and colors together, the eye misses a lot of what is actually happening on the screen, according to Mr Van Antwrep. There are ways to be a more controlled television watcher.

“If you watch television with a critical eye you can see how it is produced. Turn the volume down or mute the television. Notice what you see,” he said. “You can also turn the volume back up, but don’t look at the television and see what you notice.”

Turning the volume down allows the watcher’s eye to better see how the program was produced, how things were edited, according to Mr Van Antwrep.

Television is made up of red, blue, and green dots, Mr Van Antwrep said. Having a blue background allows for images to be added in. For example weathermen use a blue screen which is blank, but the maps are added in through the production process.

“Producing television is like having a zillion crayons,” he said.

Many of the students who attended the after-school program thought it was interesting to see how programs are put together and shown to the audience.

“It was cool,” Nick Smith said. “I got to know what TV was more about.”

The special effects were also attractive to the middle school students.

“I think it was really cool,” Jenna Moser said. “There was a lot of special effects.”

The control room with the keyboards, screens, and gadgets also was a big hit.

“I thought it was a lot of fun,” Jackie Kerin said. “I learned a lot. It was fun seeing yourself on the screen. I liked looking at the controls and seeing what they did.”