Анна использовали наш зеленый экран, потому что ей нужно было снимать сегмент для концерта на Первом канале, режиссер Роман Родин. Содействие производству, известный артист Леонид Филатов и, редакторвидео, Тарас Кардашов. Леонид очень талантливый и известен своимисовременной одежды и счастливой энергией.

Студия была очень рада помочь Анне и ее команды. Это видео является свидетельством хорошим дном мы все имели. В конце песни, команда представляет Анне букет роз от Филиппа Киркорова.

В целом, каждый человек имел хорошое время благодаря таланту Ромин Родина - человек  очень профессиональный. Мы все очень счастливы, что встретили Анну и всех замечательных людей, которые работали с нами в этот день.

Carmen

Forgive the above attempt at being humorous.   I can’t help it given that I had such a great time leading a group of students to Tuscany, Italy not long ago.

And, yes, a teleprompter is an important part of my story.

Read on, please!

A friend of mine became pregnant and chose to stay at home with her family.  I happily went in her place.  Our small group was composed of several graduating students who had never travelled to Italy.

Campo dei Miracoli

Our trip began in Pisa (photos taken by yours truly) where we were joined by other groups and their guides from different countries.   Several languages were spoken and not everyone understood English.  I had to conduct the welcoming introduction in French, Spanish, Italian, English and Japanese, yes, Japanese!

It was not simply a question of saying, “Welcome” in each language.  I had to stir their interest after a long flight and inspire them to really delve into the history and beauty of Tuscany.  Clearly, my remarks had to be carefully crafted.  They were and the evening went smoothly with the help of that wonderful contraption, the teleprompter!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Another good friend (who lives in Florence and works for a local TV station) drove to Pisa to help me out.  I do know that I am very lucky to have such good, generous friends.  The trip from Florence only takes about an hour.

He brought a teleprompter operator with him who proved invaluable.   Stefano is one of those for whom speaking several languages fluently is effortless – a true polyglot.   He is the consummate professional – incredibly patient, informative and knowledgeable.   He was born in Livorno and has varied interests, including history and architecture.  I must share something else with you.

The Tower – still leaning!

He and Pilar, the guide from Barcelona, fell in love.

But I digress – I must impress upon you how amazing the use of teleprompter was.  I highly recommend it.

Carmen

Purchasing a Digital Camera for Beginners

 Determine what you need

Most casual users of digital cameras will only ever use it for point and shoot occasions, rarely ever experimenting with all the different functions.

 If you were to buy a digital camera tomorrow, what functions would you want to see it have as standard?

What would you use it for?  Just to help with the confusion that you may be feeling, some information on what to look out for is discussed below. The most important question you need to ask yourself is: what sort of photography are you interested in?

Think about and determine what kind of pictures you want to take with it.  If you are excited about becoming a digital photography enthusiast give it some thought.  Not  just any model will do. The financial outlay is always an important consideration – even if  you only want a basic model. Some people like to manipulate the images on their computer but this is only possible with more modern home computers. Some computer outlets can supply complete computer systems that include a digital camera, printer, software and other accessories, so you can be ‘up and running’ very quickly. Manufacturers usually do a deal with an image manipulation software company and supply it when you buy a digital camera, however, items such as printers and special paper will need to be purchased separately.

Another, sometimes under-used test is just holding it to see how it feels. Knowing how to hold a camera properly might help here too. Look at where all the controls are and see how easy they are to find and use. Before you buy a digital camera, check to see if it is supplied with batteries that are rechargeable,these can last for many hundreds of shots and will save a great deal of money. Some people buy their digital camera purely on the size of the screen,large screens make taking the picture so much easier.

Of course many are doing away with the viewfinder altogether as it saves space but it means it is relying on the LCD screen which is a drain on the batteries. This will be the most useful function you have. Despite the huge digital zoom power that many cameras boast, the images are never that clear. Remote controls and diopter adjustment are still quite rare but handy if you have them fitted although I would prefer to have a tripod socket if there were a choice. With this information, you can now figure out what you really need and want before you buy a digital camera.

I hope the above information was helpful – go out and buy a digital camera!

1)  Quickly explain to the presenter the importance of warmup — that it will make their job easier since they’re less likely to trip up on words when they’re warmed up.  Also they’ll sound a lot better!

2)  Guide them through these steps (you can do it with them).  Each one can be done three times (eg. for the first one, make the mmm sound up and down, up and down, up and down — 3 times)

- Make an MMM sound, up and down register.  Do the same for VVV, NNN, ZZZ, LLL, EEE, RRR.

- Have them say the alphabet as many times as possible till they run out of breath.  This gets them breathing in and out and breaks that ‘tight chest’ thing that so many non-actors get when speaking.  If they completely exhale even once, they’ll completely inhale and then they’ll breathe better throughout the taping.

-   Speak in a falsetto.  This warms up the whole voice and you’ll hear great resonance if you can get them to do that.  Speaking the alphabet is fine or reading from any text is okay.  If they’re self-conscious you can do this with them.

A warmed up voice!

“Here at Delta, our primary concern is your safety.  Our team is best in the business.”

The CEO is likely not trained in public speaking and he may not have even seen the script until a minute or two before taping begins.  A simple, easy tip is to offer him operative words to emphasize — those will dictate the meaning and really make the text clear.

So, what words would really make that little snippet of text sing?  It’s really your choice (and you’ll get better at finding operative words with experience) but a good starting place would be the words ‘safety’ and ‘best’.

It’s amazing the words people will emphasize when they are unaware of this technique.  They might hit ‘Here’ and ‘In’ which makes the whole thing confusing and weird.

I often underline words in the prompter to help the presenter/actor hit the right words.  So the prompter might look like this:

Operative words underlined

Our Sound Stage C has a customizable News Show / Talk Show set.  It is equipped with three pedestal cameras,  lighting grid and direct fiber connect to the main control room for up-link

Astoria-Studios-Stage-C CU

to the satellite via dishes on our roof.  We have teleprompters, Interrotrons, Tricaster 450 and 850 Extreme for WebCasting to the Net.

Astoria Studio Kitchen Green Room Studios A, B, C

Satelitte Dishes on roof of Astoria Studio Building

TV Studio Stage B News Set

Astoria NYC TV Station and video studios are all connected via fiber to dishes on our roof which broadcast TV to the world via satellite.

The stage has three professional pedestal cameras.  Also available are:

TriCaster 850 Extreme, Teleprompter, Jib, Red Epic Camera, Scarlet X, Sony F900, Sony F100 and Arri Alexa.

We can WebCast to the Internet from all studios,

Studio B is directly connected to the  machine room and master control room .

CLICK ON PICTURE TO ENLARGE

Satelitte Disheson our roof carry TV signal to the world

Astoria Studio Master Control RoomAstoria Studio Machine Room B

Astoria Studio TV Stage B News Set

Astoria Studio Stage B clAstoria Studios Stage B cr

Astoria Studios Stage B News Set ws

Tip #1:  Talent dictates speed.  Basically, all you are doing when prompting is following along with them — when they speed up, you speed up.  When they slow down, you slow down.  And keep their words right by the cursor.  It’s not rocket science and after prompting for an hour or two, this dawns on any operator.  You are not governing the pace, they are.  But often talent doesn’t understand this.  And often directors don’t understand this.  They often think that you are somehow dictating the speed.  But don’t explain it to people or argue with them if they imply otherwise (see tip #3), just know that they dictate speed, you just follow.

Tip #2:  When prompting, keep the text just above the mid-point of the screen.  Sometimes talent has their eyes right where they’re reading, often somewhat ahead of where they’re reading.  But never will they be looking at what they have just read.  So keep that part of the screen (the area they’ve already read) relatively limited on the screen.

Here’s an example of a well-positioned cursor:

Tip #3:  I learned this through trial and error and quite a few tricky situations.  Often talent is nervous on the first take or two and they’ll often bark out a command such as, ‘Can you slow it down?’ or ‘It’s going too slow’ or whatever to us prompters.  When I was greener, I used respond by saying ‘I’m following your speed’ or something like that.  I would try and explain that I am not dictating their speed, they are dictating the speed and I am following.  But without fail, trying to explain is a mistake.  Even though you are scrolling consistently, following their pace, the best response is simply, ‘Absolutely’ (with a smile).  Do not argue with them, just smile and agree and do the same good job next time around.  Without fail, on the next take you will have happy talent who will sing your praises — ‘Oh, that was great.  Just how I wanted it.’

Taking care of talent is of the utmost importance.  They should feel cared for and kept in a good mood.  They have a hard job and under stress, their job is harder than any of ours because they then have the added burden of acting through that stress.  As teleprompters, or DPs, or grips, we can be under stress, but our subtle emotions are not being recorded.  So take care of the talent!

Tip #4:  Be pleasant and courteous, and economical with your words.  Television and Video sets often look casual —  Producers, talent, and directors chat and laugh.  But don’t be fooled — this is serious business and there is often lots of money on the line.  This chatty, joking stuff is greasing the wheels of their communication.  It’s work, and very serious work even though it might appear to be casual.  Your job as prompter is to be friendly, but don’t jump into the conversation.  Let them be the stars of the set.

Needless to say, American Movie Company has the best equipment and best operators in the business.  Give them a call for all your teleprompting and green screen needs!

Call 212-219-1075 for tour and pricing.

The new Stage A  is a medium-sized, full green cyc sound  stage.

Astoria Studio : Green Screen StageA

Please ignore the black curtain as it is drawn for this particular shoot and serves to prevent green spill on the subject.  When

Satelitte Dishes on Studio Roof

the black curtain is drawn back, the green is revealed as a full three walled green cyc including a green floor .The floor too is green and the black pads serve only to protect the green and stop more green spill.  They are easily removed for full “head to toe shots”.

This stage is part of our new complex of stages in Long Island City, Queens. It is directly across the street form the R train, near Silvercup and Kaufman Stages.  There is on street parking. Additional studio space within the building will soon be available.

It is a true sound stage and is perfectly quiet.  Nearby, are green rooms, kitchen, make up and wardrobe rooms, etc.   Stage includes all lights for the cyc and the talent as well as power.

We have a full professionally equipped sound booth at an additional charge.

The stage is fully wired with fiber to satellite. (Available at additional charge)

Studio Lobby

We can provide Red cameras, Red MX, Red Epic, Red Scarlet X and Arri Alexa cameras as well as Sony FS100′s and Canon 5D with Red Rock Package. Teleprompters, Interrotrons along with full TriCaster 450 Extreme, TCX 450, TriCaster 850 and full WebCasting support.

Stage R comes with full green cyc, grid with lights for the green as well as for the talent, a Panasonic  HMC 150 – 1080 camera and 32 GB cards or a Panasonic  HPX 170 with 32BG and 2 16 GB P2 cards with tripod and a studio manager.

Master Control Room

Please call Bill at 917-414-5489 for  pricing and a a tour.

Astoria-Studio-Audio-Both-Control-Rm

Audio Booth Astoria Studio

Studio  Fiber to Satellite Control Room