National Theatre Live

[Marineboy63]

Are National Theatre Live productions lit differently for filming?

I assume they can't use the normal performance lighting.

[timsabre]

Why not? I don't know the answer but I have seen an RSC-live and it was a normal show in the theatre with audience. So I would expect the normal show lighting and they set the cameras for that.

[sandall]

There will almost certainly be some extra lights that can be cheated in when the contrast is too great for satisfactory TV pictures, but there will have been a lot of discussion between the NT & TV LDs, to make sure the live audience don't suffer (ditto for RSC-live productions).

[timsabre]

It's an interesting question. The RSC ones tend to be shown in cinemas so perhaps in that more controlled display environment there is scope for allowing more contrasty lighting that wouldn't work for normal TV. Or maybe they have some very good racks operators. I think the RSC has its own in house video dept for doing the lives.

[AlanB]

I am the Colourist for all RSC, Royal Opera and Royal Ballet shows that have been shown "live" and then either "edited" or "packaged" for subsequent TV transmission or DVD release. I would speculate that the first part of the NT (and others) processes are similar to the routes taken by the RSC/ROH/RB.

 

The shows are "re-lit" for the "Live Transmission" by a TV LD, (one of not that many who tend to specialise in this genre), normally in collaboration with the Theatre LD (but not always). The tendency is to add a smallish amount of extra light to most scenes, quite often into the corners and to try and reduce the contrast (especially any followspots). As this is normally over the whole stage and whole show, most audience members probably won't notice any difference.

 

The amount of light needed by modern cameras is much less that a decade ago, but as the definition increases (ROH/RB are still HD 50i, RSC is UHD 50p) the light requirement is still greater to maintain the required depth of field in some of the more "moody" scenes in the show. The RSC are experimenting with HDR (High Dynamic Range) recordings to try and counter the inherent contrast difficulties with (say) a brightly lit actor standing in front of a very dark background which the eye can see very well in the theatre, but the range is beyond that of a standard TV picture.

 

All these live TV shows / Live Broadcasts are expertly racked by a select band of Rack Ops, so the live TX looks very good with only a few shots per transmission being anything other than perfect, usually those that involve brightly lit actors in white costumes.

 

When the edited programme is either broadcast on TV or released on DVD, a small number of crucial edits are made for "artistic" reasons. These edits will involve replacing the TX version with either ISO feeds from the same night (likely to be unracked) or shots from the rehearsal (the previous day(s)). These shots are then matched/graded to the main programme and along with some minor tweaks to iron out some of the live gremlins. The end credits may be changed, logos added/removed and the show is then ready for it's next outing.

 

Other things to consider is the environment the end product is viewed in. Shot to shot colour matching is more critical when the product is viewed at home than it is when viewed in a darkened room (cinema) as the home has fixed colour and luminence reference points within the persons view, whereas the cinema tends not to have these - and neither does the theatre.

 

Alan

[timsabre]

Thanks Alan that is really interesting.

[jmdh]

Thanks for the fascinating insights. I've seen the term rack operators/racking a couple of times in the thread: could someone expand that terminology? Google is unhelpful in this regard. From context I would guess it's people who work during a live broadcast to process pictures, but any more detail about the role/process and its history would be interesting!

[timsabre]

Thanks for the fascinating insights. I've seen the term rack operators/racking a couple of times in the thread: could someone expand that terminology? Google is unhelpful in this regard. From context I would guess it's people who work during a live broadcast to process pictures, but any more detail about the role/process and its history would be interesting!

 

On a multi camera setup, broadcast cameras are remote controlled to keep the pictures consistent between different cameras. The camera operator controls focus, zoom and framing but everything else (iris, gain, white balance etc) is remotely controlled using a CCU (camera control unit) and this is what the racks operator does - often there is just one operator racking all the cameras. In the US the job is called "shader".

 

The wikipedia entry for CCU does a reasonable job of explaining -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_control_unit

 

[bigclive]

Same system on the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo when it's being filmed by the BBC.

 

On the filming nights the lighting will be different with a softer look that suits the cameras, and as mentioned above, the followspots will be softened and dimmed down to avoid sharp contrasts. Extra lights are added to fill in dark gaps, especially where the cameras may be seeing areas not normally visible from an audience perspective.

[paulears]

Racks is probably the most invisible of TV jobs. Camera people frame and focus, and the racks people, as detailed above, expose the images for all practical terms. It's actually a very skilled job and I've been ticked off a couple of times for hunting for useful images in rehearsal - because I'd constantly be trying things out for practice, and etiquette is to tell them so they don't keep tweaking, thinking these are real shots and not just try-outs. Zooms from one end to the other need help from racks as the light drops off as the focal length increases. They often share the room with the LX folk, as often LX and racks are linked in terms of achieving the same end.

[sandall]

Racks is probably the most invisible of TV jobs.

Not always!! Back in B&W days I remember doing "racks" on a Sunday Cricket match at the Oval. Bright sun, deep shadows, only 4 cameras, so lots of panning in & out of sunlight :( :(

 

E2A: (back on topic). There was an article a few months back (one of Ian Dow's reminiscences in LSI?) from the TV LD's perspective, but Alan has explained the process perfectly.

 

 

[paulears]

Back in the late 80s, I remember Sony doing a presentation on their 'new' CCU remote that had preset buttons with a progression time for this very problem. You could prod button A to store the setting, then adjust for the progress into the shadow area, press B, and then set a time on a knob. Constantly going from light to shade (I think they used a Manchester United football game as a demo example) with a single button press. It didn't catch on at all, because the actual lever and rotary knob then did not relate to the current position, and you had to turn/move them to match the new level by watching LEDs go out! Don't think it ever made production, the people on the presentation who were real racks people hated it!

[gareth]

They often share the room with the LX folk, as often LX and racks are linked in terms of achieving the same end.

 

In 'old' BBC terms the racks op (vision operator) and console op (vision supervisor) are both part of the lighting department, upward progression being from the former to the latter.