For teachers, students and everybody
by Art Tibaldo
We do not shoot and process pictures and movies using film cameras anymore. Typewriters has long been replaced by personal computers. Smart phones and portable electronic devices with touchscreens and tiny storage chips has changed the way we communicate. In this age of new-media, it is not unusual to see young people amazed and perplexed at how we do things in the recent past....the analog systems and bare bones method. This e-Magazine attempts to share basic knowledge on media methods and techniques based on my three decades of experiences in mass media. The Author
TABLE OF CONTENTS -Basic Principles of Printing Explained -Desktop Publishing and personalized printing -Dit-dat-dit-dat: Morse Code and Telephony -Radio Communication -How movies were filmed, edited and screened -Of Moving Pictures, Talking Heads and Movie-TV Productions -Multi-media Editing About the Author: JOEL ARTHUR “ART” P. TIBALDO cnatelevision@gmail.com
A multi-media artist, Art Tibaldo finished his Bachelor Fine Arts degree Major in Painting from the University of Santo Tomas in 1982 following the conservative style of renaissance artists. Subsequently, Tibaldo undertook courses in filmmaking under the University of the Philippines Film Center in Diliman Quezon City and TV Program Production in Okinawa, Japan as a JICA scholar. As a struggling artist in the early eighties, the young Tibaldo honed his skills in photography and became one of Baguio's reporters as a photojournalist of The Weekly Highlander of Roces Publishing. He attended Acting & Directing workshops as independent or “indie” filmmaker and received scholarship grants from UP FILM Center, Goethe Institute and MOWELFUND. Tibaldo has since then produced award winning short films and video documentaries using the now obsolete Super-8 and 16mm film cameras. A pioneering member of the Baguio Arts Guild, he was tapped as weekly editorial cartoonist for The Cordillera Post from 1986 until the paper ceased circulation in 1989. During the twilight years of the Marcos regime, Tibaldo worked as VTR Editor under the defunct Maharlika Broadcasting System (MBS), Newscenter-4 until the EDSA People Power broke out. When media supporters loyal to incoming President Corazon Aquino took over MBS prior to its turnover to ABS-CBN as the rightful owner, Tibaldo decided to return to Baguio without regret of having been part of a national television network. His tasks and experiences at the newsroom of Channel-4 included editing news snippets, sports segments and election campaign sidelights of the 1985 political unrest. After his aborted stint with a national TV, Tibaldo volunteered to serve as Information Officer at the former National Media Production Center (NMPC) in Baguio City under the revolutionary government and new administration of President
Corazon Aquino. Having served the Philippine Government under five Presidents as an Information Officer of the Philippine Information Agency (Office of the Press Secretary), Tibaldo was hired as a Media Specialist of the Department of Trade and Industry-CAR. As television Technical Director and program host of Cordillera News Agency, Tibaldo has been producing local weekly cable television program dubbed "This is Baguio TV Show" of Skycable that his group initiated since 1993. An accredited broadcaster by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), Tibaldo taught in college as a part time instructor of the University of the Cordilleras (1993-2007) and University of Baguio (2008-2012 handling the subjects Electronic Media, Photography and Radio-Television Production to Mass Communication students. From the year 2007, Tibaldo turned himself into a curator and artist-in-residence by undertaking guided tours at the Baguio Media Museum and Animation Studio on per appointment basis which he himself established. This edutainment facility located right within the Baguio City’s university belt came as an offshoot of Tibaldo’s involvement with mass media, his passion for collecting vintage communication tools and his sense of fulfillment in teaching. Aside from a wide collection of communication tools and media gadgets, Tibaldo’s studio has a growing number of books on communication, culture and the arts. An environmentalist, Tibaldo is a member of the Baguio Regreening Movement and the Alay Sa Kalinisan. He co-founded the Eco-Walk Program that is now gaining popularity as a children's school in the forest that teaches value formation for the environment. As a newsman, Tibaldo contributes to local weekly publications and writes a weekly column focusing on consumers at Sunstar Baguio. Still with the Philippine government as Media Specialist of DTI, he is also a consultant of the Film Development Council of the Philippines and the Coordinator of the Baguio Cinematheque at the Casa Vallejo, the first Cinematheque in the Philippines established in 2011.
Basic Principles of Printing Explained In order for a symbol, letter, graphic or artwork to be mass produced on paper, an etched or engraved reverse copy must be made. Ink is then applied to the template using a roller and a paper before these are pressed together to create a positive impression. The Media Newseum explains this principle using a simple rubber cut template and hand made paper with a standard ink used for textile. The phots shown in this page shows the basic principle of printing from the woodcut technique to the most modern inkjet or laser printing. In fact, I can print a personalized postcard using my Benjamin Franklin press.
Desktop Publishing and personalized printing A dedicated photograph sent as a postcard, a drawing on paper with personal notes, a cut handmade paper used as a book cover, a rubber stamped letter envelope and a knife etched piece of plywood hung as a signboard are things that we can do with just the basic materials and tools that we use everyday. With basic computer programs such as Window’s Microsoft Word, MS Publisher or even Powerpoint, one can already mass produce several paper based publications such as: newsletters, brochures, flyers, pamphlets, postcards, business cards, greeting cards and newsmagazines among others. With graphic tools such as Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator and In Design, one can layout a huge billboard with high resolution graphics. This however requires a good quality image once a photograph is required. A common and basic technique employed by graphic artists working on a huge billboard with photographic images is to take detail shots of a subject in parts and stich those shots using a graphic tool which in this case, Adobe’s Photoshop is the most favored graphic program because of its photo-stich capability. I will discuss photo restoration, image enhancing and color correction in the succeeding chapters
Dit-dat-dit-dat: Morse Code and Telephony Before the age of telephony, there was a period of telegraphy which gave us the Morse Code system that uses dots and dashes that we often referred to as the long and short codes of an obsolete messaging system. I'm sure that the sight of gadgets such as these will transport us back in time to the period of our grandparents.....reason perhaps why a media and postal museum can be a good historical project to be considered in local towns to bring back significant memories of the past. The Baguio Media Newseum features the works and innovations of Samuel FB Morse, Thomas Alba Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and Guglielmo Marconi which I often refer to as the Four Horsemen of the Information Super Highway. There was a time when Electronic Communication Engineering, students were required to master the Morse Code and be able to communicate with it in order to pass the licensure examinations. Today, modern telephones integrates the basic technologies introduced by these geniuses but transmits sound through digital tech and wireless technology.
Radio Communication Sounds German but radio is the wireless transmission of signals through free space by electromagnetic radiation of a frequency significantly below that of visible light, in the radio frequency range, from about 30 kHz to 300 GHz. These waves are called radio waves. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space. Information, such as sound, is carried by systematically changing (modulating) some property of the radiated waves, such as their amplitude, frequency, phase, or pulse width. When radio waves strike an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. The information in the waves can be extracted and transformed back into its original form. Not anybody can have access to radio broadcasting as only the trained and accredited announcers can go “on-air�. In the Philippines, only licensed Electronic Communication Engineers are allowed to operate the facilities of a broadcasting station and only well trained broadcaster and those accredited by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas can (KBP) can rightfully transmit messages through the airwaves. I received my KBP accreditation in 2008 with DZEQ Radyo ng Bayan as my radio station.
How movies were filmed, edited and screened Before, we shoot with reels of film and have them shipped to Australia or Hong Kong for processing which takes a week or two. For economic reasons, we got black and white negative or positive print-copy for editing. We used acetone or adhesive tape to glue or connect spliced and scratched film ends and we used a separate magnetic tape for its audio counterpart. Using the film viewer of 16mm or 8mm editing machines, we match the sound of the recorded voice from the tape by carefully looking at the movement of the persons lips thus the term “lipsynch�. In most movie or film productions, they use a clapper or a clapboard in order for the editor to have an easier reference as to the number of takes or cuts by listening to the clap sound from the audio tape. Both film and audio tape recording are then matched at the editing deck for review before these are sent to the lab for the final print copy.
Of Moving Pictures, Talking Heads and Movie-TV Productions A team of high school students accompanied by two of their teachers went to the Baguio Cinematheque to see me for some helpful guides and tips on television broadcasting. Below the silver screen of the seventy five seat community movie house, I said to the students seated in front row that television is very much unlike movies that once moviegoers gets inside the movie house, they become captive audiences for ninety minutes or so. Television is very much different because the audience or viewer holds a small device called a remote control and they are free to switch from one channel to another depending on their likes and what interests them while in front of the boob tube or flat screen. I emphasized however that both media format captivates audiences in consideration of the visual appeal, sounds and total impact or what I call the VASTI combined citing the importance of defining moving pictures, clear sound and good direction of all elements presented. The actor’s and actresses’ faces are shown in great detail when projected “bigger-than-life” at the silver screen therefore they should look credible enough to convince the viewers of the role they play. On the other hand, TV broadcasts are measured by its varied contents from news reports, soaps, reality shows, and even weather reports and commercials. TV programs are most often shown on smaller screens and that is the reason why producers, directors and editors compress as many visuals or tight shots in every segment because every viewer wants to see more moving pictures at different angles. Television shows provide the viewers with wide shots to establish the location setting, medium shots as well as close ups of personalities that orchestrate the program. In television, the program director takes control over flow of the show from technical matters to the overall presentation whether it is for news or noon time shows. Cameramen were trained to capture and focus captivating scenes in every live or canned production that’s why their eyes are not always glued at the camera’s viewfinders but they are always on the lookout to what’s happening around them. In production sets that has multi camera units and monitors, the technical director or editor uses a mixer to switch from one camera take to the other and feeds the video output to the live feed or media recorder. A TV show always starts with a short clip called opening billboard (OBB) and ends with a closing billboard or CBB.
Television cameras comes in many formats and sizes. A studio camera is heavy but steady while an electronic news gathering (ENG) camera is quite handy that usually goes with a collapsible light but strong carbon fiber tripod. Studio cameras connects to the main mixer and recorder with a cable while the ENG camera records on magnetic tape. Mini discs or flash drive. Recorded “shoots” are later reviewed, trimmed and added to the editor’s timeline or storyboard for the final production or news report. Sometimes, the reporter reviews the interview take onsite using a headset so she or he can suggest a “soundbite” to the editor.
The television host or anchor of a talk show tries to create a triumvirate atmosphere by masterminding the discussion with the guests with the viewers in mind. There are shows that has actual audiences right at the set but most TV programs like this community cable talk show only has the technical crew and the guests. The person at far right , Jaime Luzano is actually a veteran radio broadcaster joining me as accessional co-host.
For live productions for example, the actual rendition of a television program can be summed up to just about 10% to 15% of the whole effort as there are other preparatory elements such as; production design, reservation for the chosen venue, casting, script writing, set designs, props and costume rental, catering, sound, camera and lights preparation, talent booking, crew orientation, transportation even hotel reservation among others. Even nationally aired productions such as the yearly State of the Nation Address by Philippine Presidents commands a no-nonsense preparation that does not only require the technical expertise of the Radio Television Malacanang (RTVM) people but also the whole gamut of the Philippine bureaucracy for the packaging of the Presidential speech which is more or less a compilation of administrative reports and plans of action. In the Philippines, there are small scale television productions that operates in the provinces and cities and most of these are the public affairs segments of cable TV operators. What is great with community television programs is that it gives an alternative to Manila based national broadcasts by showing local talents and featuring local issues and concerns. Since 1993, barely two months after my training in Japan on Video Production, the Cordillera News Agency together with Nuvue Cablevision initiated the first ever community television show in Baguio after a workshop conducted at the University of the Philippine-Baguio. With broadcast executive Jing Magsaysay, writers Baboo Mondonedo, Rolly Fernandez, Laida Lim Perez, Peppot Ilagan, Nonnette Bennett, Helen Tibaldo of the Philippine Information Agency and Prof. Patricio Lazaro of UP as among the convenors, we started the first and longest running community TV program in Baguio or maybe in the whole Philippines, the “This is Baguio TV Show” which still runs up to now. We did a live coverage during the 1995 local elections with Peppot Ilagan, Domecio Cimatu, Miel Laoyan, Lilian Oliva, Carlota Leung and students from the Baguio Colleges Foundation, Saint Louis University and UP-Baguio and that started the regular community news programming by Skycable-Baguio with Andrew Pinero and Jojo La Maria as among the newscasters. A 1994 link up between the Philippine Information Agency, DZEQ Radyo ng Bayan-Baguio, Skycable Baguio and the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club with the Cordillera Association of Regional Executives (CARE) as the main sponsor gave birth to the regular “Hours with CARE”- Kapihan Sa Baguio with my wife Helen as the main host. With community television, Baguio Community soon had other local public affairs programs operated by VIACOM and Mountainview cables. What is great with such community programs is that it can go on even if the expected guests failed to show up. In such instances, the hosts can always fill the gap as we did recently with veteran radio broadcaster Jimmy Luzano who now shares his time with me every 3rd and 4th Thursday at Cordillera Skyline aired over Skycable-12.
Just like in some movie sets and weather reports, green or blue screens are used as backdrops during the shooting but is seen in actual broadcast replaced with either a fixed background picture or a computer generated image (CGI). The trick is done with the use of the Chroma Key effects of the studio audio-video mixers. Above photo shows the broadcast news set of People’s Television Network and lower photo shows me with a typical community television set using two 3CCD cameras and a video mixer.
A well anchored studio camera can be zoomed steadily at 48X magnification to get extreme close up or reaction shots of subjects but hand held production shoots is only tolerated in news broadcast especially if it is an immediate or breaking news leaving the cameraman no other choice but to shoot a scene from the shoulder. There was a time back in the 80s and 90s when a TV crew called electronic news gathering (ENG) team are composed of a reporter, a cameraman and a VTR man that also doubles as soundman. The network assigns a vehicle usually pickup trucks that can also carry a set of lights and a tripod. Below photo shows a celebrity program host interviewing a school official who also represent the local farming community. The microphone held by Miss Iya Villania has a foam to diffuse wind noise which are common in outdoor shots. It is also common to have several takes in an interview and sometime the most unusual fact surfaces and I call this the “eureka effect�..
Video Documentary - A good video documentary need not require a well trained production crew. An industrial grade equipment and a good Director who can guide the talents and makes them feel at ease and comfortable in front of the camera are all it takes to shoot special assignments. Of course, the post-production or the editing phase requires a good editor but in most cases, both Director and Editor are the same person. Various computer based editing programs that uses the simplified timeline and storyboard format are available online. Microsoft has its bundled Windows Moviemaker and Apple has its i-Movie and these are just perfect for a video documentary. I often tell students not to be engrossed with the special effects of these programs as it even makes the total program look cheap and amateurish once it uses the spin and tumble transitions and likes.
Multi-media Editing Editing for movies, video documentary and television news programs have basically common procedures of integrating “selected cuts” into the timeline but the later must have to be done in the shortest possible time as the final output must be ready for the “newsfeed” once the news segment requires it. Though most editors are competent visual artists in their own rights, TV news editing is likened to a “literature in a hurry” as its requires immediate dissemination and the best editors are found working in BBC, CNN, CNBC, Fox News and other international syndicated networks
Positioning the right material at the proper spot at the edit line
In my video documentaries, I first capture the taped shoots into a computer using the capture program of my editing program. It is a lot easier to use a 3CCD camcorder that saves sound and video data into a disk drive, or flash drive that usually either SD Card or Memory Stick depending on the camera brand. It is my practice to save all raw materials in a dedicated external hard drive that I mark as source. Photos needed for the final editing can also be saved in the source hard drive but the music and recorded narration can remain at the “My Documents” folder of Drive C. Knowing the limited capacity of the RAM or random access memory of every computer, I avoid doing multi-tasking during editing and always right-click Switching the right button at the right time the refresh button from time-to-time and whenever I notice some dragging or slowdown effect of the program. Timeline and Story Board Just like the photo above showing a girl looking at my still photo transparency album, storyboard editing is putting the right visuals or “cut” at the best position in the album to help build or support the flow of a particular story. The storyboard format follows a succession of boxed images representing each shot and this format is often followed by scriptwriters when they need to present a visual concept to a producers using thumbnail sketches. Timeline is a linear positioning of audio and video materials that shows the time with corresponding frame of each added shot. Timeline can be expanded and compressed to check total length and flow with the added special effects, soundtracks and titles layered as seen through the computer monitor. What used to be called a letter box format or the screen size of the boob tube that conforms to a 3:4 dimension similar of an 8MM or 16MM frames has been altered and upgraded a bit to match the configuration of PC monitor thus the 720 X 480 aspect ratio or 720p became the standard at the turn of the 21st century. But today, we see more and more wider screens that almost conforms to the dimension of cinema with the 1080p aspect ratio.
Saving material time by discussing guide questions first before the take and taking notes even if the activity is being recorded on tape. Notes helps editors find tape content and soundbites.
"Lights...camera...action!" Here are photos taken at the Media Newseum showing students and visitors having an experiential learning on various media technologies as applied for radio and television. The Media Newseum located within the university belt of Baguio City is the first of its kind in the Philippines that offers a guided techno-demo on media methods and techniques.
-Opened the Baguio Media Museum and Animation Studio, a one-of -a-kind edutainment center where one can learn how communications evolved from cave paintings to the modern use of information technology. Tibaldo serves as the in-house curator and museum director. The facility has a wide collection of old media gadgets, photographs and art works aside from a darkroom, radio announcer's booth and a television studio. -Published several websites and online social networks promoting the rich upland cultures of Northern Philippines. Tibaldo is an active member of the Igorot Global Organization-RP Council of Elder (check site at: http://tibaldoarts.tripod.com) -Cited in Baguio City through a Sanguniang Panglunsod Resolution No. 057 Series of 2006 “Commending Mr. Joel Arthur Tibaldo for his participation in the Exhibition of Customs and Creativity: The Arts of DOWNSIZED MEDIA - Believe it or not but the virtual equivalent of my the Upland Philippines in celebration of The Centennial of Philippine turn-of-the-century media gadgetry shown in this album is that of one Immigration to Hawaii held on 08 February 2006 at the East-West 30GB smartphone. My iPhone is capable of recording HDTV quality Center Gallery, Hawaii, United States of America”. Artist-inmovie, 6+ Megapixel stills, digital audio (which is better than a metal Residence at East West Center, Hawaii oxide tape) recorder, voice recorder, calculating numbers, GPS, alarm -Served as visual Ethnographer-in-Residence and Lecturer at the clock, timer and others. In terms of cost, the amount of the small mobile unit is peanut compared East-West Center Gallery and University of Hawaii from Feb 07 to 18. Gave a series of lectures on “Images of Cordillera Through Visuto the the other gadgets combined. I give short lectures on how media and communications evolved from ancient times to modern use of digital al Ethnography” at the Leeward Community College and Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu, Hawaii. technology at the Media Newseum on per appointment basis. -Awarded as Outstanding Alumni of the MPHS-BCHS-BCNHS or Art Tibaldo’s Major Achievements as a Multi-Media Artist: City High for his achievements in culture and the arts. -Participated in a group art exhibit dubbed “Ugnayang Sining Tomasino” at the GSIS Art Gallery and Galleria de las Islas in 2013 with fellow Fine -Received major Media Awards namely: -Television Cameraman of the Year Award (2005 by BCBC) Arts graduates of the University of Santo Tomas. -Television Anchorman-Program Host of the Year Award (2005) -Resource Person and Lecturer during the 2013 Filipino-American His-Print-Contributor of the Year Award (2005 by BCBC) and tory Month Celebration in Hawaii as a filmmaker and representative of -Nanay Rosa Bautista Journalism Awards (UB 2007) Baguio City in maintaining sisterhood ties with Honolulu. Received a citation from the Honolulu City Council dated October 31, 2013 recogniz- -Hosted community TV programs over Mountainview & Viacomm ing Art Tibaldo for his extraordinary efforts for strengthening and uphold- Cable TV and produces a regular documentary show aired over ing the ties between the sister-cities of Baguio and Honolulu. Skycable-12. -Coordinated the participation of 60-70 students during the Sineng Pambansa Film Production Workshop and assisted the City of Baguio and the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) in the conduct of the First Baguio Film Festival. (2011) -Organized the “Art Encounter in November (2010)” and “Music Mix in March (2011)”, a multi-disciplinary art exhibit and concert at SM City Baguio -Initiated 3D Animation Trainings in tie-up with the University of Baguio Mass Communications Department and the Baguio City National High School-Special Program for the Arts. (2010) Baguio Centennial Independent Film Festival (2009) -Co-organized the “Ay Apo, May Shooting sa Baguio” Indie Film Festival with Kidlat Tahimik in tie-up with the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (2009) -Guest of Honor and Commencement Speaker during the 2010 Baguio City National High School graduation exercise. Tibaldo was also invited as resource speaker in numerous functions in Baguio and other places like the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila on communications related topic. -Delegate to the III Delphic Games in Jeju, South Korea (2009) and participant to the Documentation Category
-Organized an Eco Warriors Powwow (2004) that involved three hundred children of Baguio as a vanguard to the city's natural resources. As an offshoot, successive environmental programs were undertaken like the “24 Hours In Busol” and “Eyeball-on-top-of-hill” pictorials and online advocacy. -Elected President and Chairman of the Board of the Save Our Street Children Foundation Inc. (SOSCFI) Attended the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus General Assembly in New York to present the programs of the SOSCFI for funding. SOSCFI provides assistance to over a hundred low income families of Baguio. -Chosen as one of the OUTSTANDING CITIZENS OF BAGUIO (2003) for Journalism, Culture and the Arts during the Baguio Charter Day celebrations. The recognition entitled Tibaldo to sit as a member of the Society of Outstanding Citizens of Baguio-SOCOB. Since 2008, Tibaldo was appointed as member of the annual search and screening committee for the Outstanding Citizens of Baguio. -Art Facilitator, Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam, Malacca, Malaysia 2002 -Co- founded the ECO-WALK Program that received the UNEP Global 500 Award. Tibaldos daughter, Tam Jewel received the award in Shenshen, China in behalf of ECO-WALK and the children of Baguio.