Camera Coach

Now, why in the heck would I talk about the TD (Technical Director) on a site for new cameramen? Well, just as I talked about the VO as the 5th Beatle of the camera crew, the TD / cameraman relationship is really important too. To understand your role with that TD person, you kinda need to know some insight into their world; On real shows, with real budgets, and real expectations – the reason they have that intense look on their face before showtime and seemingly, way-too serious attitude is because they know that when the show does start, their world could very easily begin to unravel. You see, the TD on those shows is responsible for everything that goes out on the air, or is recorded or wherever your show is going after it leaves their fingertips. And – they are sitting right next to the director and in front of the producer. Both of who may be screaming, angry, frustrated, confused, excited, un-intelligible, dim, or the worst……… un-experienced. The TD’s role is to take everything that is involved in the show, interpret what the Producer wants, decipher what the Director needs and get it done. It is the ultimate crew position though and is also the first position to know when a show is about to tank. And it’s not a fun chair to sit in sometimes. It is the real TD that knows what every person on the crew needs to do their job the best and can do things to buffer what is offered to the Director and what is actually uses. For a simple example; a TD can wait a millisecond before switching to a camera that the Director has called – just to allow for a slight bit of better focus – but not too long so the Director thinks they are unresponsive. Now that’s talent! A good TD knows that a Director might actually mean “take two” when they say “take three”.

These true TD’s are also responsible to do a technical run-through of all the systems to be used during the show before the Director sits in the big chair. The board, the monitors, communications, tallies, sound, pictures, playbacks, records, lighting, etc. are all items to be checked off before the show starts.

Generally, it is the TD that ensures the production area is ready for when the production team arrives.

Sometimes though, your TD could really be just a Switcher. That is, someone who just pushes the buttons that go with the commands that the Director calls. In those cases, they usually are not experienced enough to be worried about the Director’s needs. And even more common on smaller shows – the Director will switch their own show. In those cases though – everyone has to really step up to the challenge of their own positions because the Director / TD will be very involved in the mechanics of the TD position. Unfortunately, because of budgets (or lack of) or lack of knowledge, or worse yet, lack of a concern for the show’s professionalism, this super-combo position is getting more and more common. In fact, It’s fairly common on some corporate and entertainment shows to add the VO position to the job description.  Sometimes, thankfully only sometimes, it will be decided that the TD will ride levels on the audio board and control the record decks as well as playback a DVD player, a tape machine and some sort of DVR. Even worse is when the TD/Director/Audio/VO/Tape Operator is expected to run the controls for the screen images too – in addition to whatever else the client/producer throws at them at the last minute – “Oh, by the way – we have a video from our cell phone we want to play back” Personally I think this a wrong way to produce a TV show or a video presentation. Sure, it might all go just fine if everything is running smoothly and all the components are operating the way they should be. But what happens if something fails? Everything we use is man-made and electronic, right? Now what? Something will be compromised. Now the show, or event, or presentation has lost a little bit of its professional quality and perhaps brings the viewer into the realization that they are watching a production and not getting lost in the presentation as they should. Again, remember that the less of a budget and more hats that everyone is required to wear, the more everyone needs to be diligent in performing their own jobs. There is no room for slackers. Even volunteer slackers.