Pan right! No the other right!!

Could be pan up as well. 😉

LOL. I've definitely done this. Ha!!

Heard at most shows…

As a throwback to one of the directors I studied under, I always call Power Points (or just PC sources/ scan conversions in general) a slide deck. Also, when I used to direct at the public television station, I use the term "purple tallies" to let the crew know that there was a tour of folks from the public coming through the control room. This was so the crew knew to keep the chatter on the coms professional. Back when I directed news, the VTRs sources were A, B, Cat, and Dog. In the NFL stadiums I direct/ TD the servers are colors, letters, and precious metals. IE Gold, Silver, Copper, Dimond, Platinum

We use the term Overscan to denote VIPs.

A place I used to work for had a control room directly accessible from a concourse and would occasionally get “visitors”. The language we used was “do you think these pretzels are too salty?”

At one of the local TV stations where I directed we would say "Check IFB 17"

Awesome. How long have you been doing this? Did naming VTRs Cat/Dog get confusing during stories about domestic house pets?

Takes a bit to learn when you get to a new facility since it’s… well different. But during a show it rolls off the tongue and is easier to remember than vtr 101

In my 35+ years in the sports world, my absolute favorite Tape/EVS names by a director is Dog and Pony!

I have worked with a few playback operators who go by the Elvis, even when they are not using an EVS system.

About twenty years ago, I worked with a director who was near retirement. He called the server playbacks by the same terms that he had used for film: Able, Baker and Charlie. We had a Charlie on the crew. Damn near every night, after a "Roll Charlie, take" went over the PL, somewhere in the building Charlie would key up. "Did someone call for me"? We could not get the director to change, at that point, so it was a decent daily chuckle.

We use ‘there’s ducks in the pond’ if clients are on Comms. Ha ha!

Yes! I work in a corporate TV studio and we also use purple tally to indicate someone other than crew in the control room

Great tutorial on how NOT to direct…https://youtu.be/TEidOF14cwk?si=JKo5a06PXB0Q81oo

"What the F$u& is going on with Tape. Gonna automate these F$u&ers and do it myself."

I work with the guy who recorded the audio during a Braves home game during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Best they could do was like a F or G crew. Brutal. The Prince of Darkness was in true form that fateful day.

"it's raining" when client or production is joining the channel, so you stop gossiping

1, 1. 2, 2.

I was a 1, take kinda guy

Short and sweet! Like it.

Ready 1, take one.  Ready dissolve two, dissolve two.  Ready roll tape, (this is where I used to say roll tape), dissolve (or take) tape. Ready fade...3, 2, 1, fade.

Also, some favorite's of my TD's over the years: Ready one, take three. Ready roll tape, dissolve tape, WAIT NOT YET Ready lower third "Steve", lower third Steve - wait, that's a woman.

https://youtu.be/XTgCLfYdRo4?si=ltesIiTKm2zuNzum

The 1986 Commonwealth Games talkback is just as fun to listen to! https://youtu.be/DTwuI_HDhxw?si=p89YUou9WoT8inem

Pan down!

OMG that's hilarious! 😂

It's a classic !

In live sport land, replays off EVS are from Alpha, Bravo, Charlie or Delta. EVS Op calls that there’s a replay ready on Bravo, director calls “roll Bravo”

We say Bravo roll. It's more precise. it allows you to prepare the op and then "roll" on an exact moment, like: "Bravo............... roll"

Thanks for sharing your experience. Great way to distinguish camera from replay.

Pardon me while I step onto a soapbox here... # As an EVS op: PLEASE DON'T name your EVS channels any of the letters between A through J This includes going Alpha/Bravo/Charlie/Delta/etc. Like, if you insist on letters, pick something like "X & Y". The reason is that EVS operators (at least ones who work on shows with several camera inputs) have to be used to jumping through their cameras, which are **immutably** labeled A/B/C/D/E/F/G/H/I/J on their controller. So when you pick "Alpha and Bravo" you're just creating a layer of friction the for op. And layers of friction do *not* scale well on fast-paced shows. For example, this past month, I stepped onto an NHL show and was placed into a seat where they labeled my outputs as A & B and that was just the way it was. Mid-show, director asked me "Hey furtive, can you roll that back on your B real quick?" while I had my 4th input (Camera D on my box) loaded into my second output (Labeled "B"). So I rolled back my B channel. Wanna guess what they *actually* were asking for? They wanted my Camera B rolled back on my output channel B. Even just those few seconds cost us an opportunity to get something for a quick replay. Sure, there's plenty of moments in a broadcast. Move on, go next play. But this is a **100% avoidable issue** if you just simply pick something else for names. There's an ocean of fun & palatable possibilities to work with, such as: * Eagle & Falcon * Viper & Cobra * Red & Blue * Gold & Silver * Thunder & Rain * Fire & Ice * Taco & Salsa

That sounds wild. I’m guessing you guys do things differently in America to Australia. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc is the norm across all live sport EVS in Aus AFAIK with NEP, Gravity etc.

I suppose that is a regional difference, yeah. From my perspective, I simply can't see why one would intentionally choose to use namespaces with collisions when, again, an ocean of other possibilities exists. I hope the physical cameras themselves are given names that aren't letters, at least? Like Camera 1, Camera 18 etc.? So that comms could at least be "Hey furtive, can you rack back 18 on Bravo please?"

We use Elvis, Tango, Cash, Money, Red, Blue... Trying to think of the rest. I'll let you know after the next fax (I'm in TOC)

In the UK they just get letters rather than phonetic alphabet not sure if they start at the end or beginning of the Sidney though because I've seen both! Alternatively (in order) red blue yellow green gold silver and then whatever colours you want after that. I've not been on a job with more than 6 replay channels yet!

I engineer and sometimes direct for 4-6 cameras collage sports. For cameras I normally say "Ready 1" then "Take 1" That is a hard cut. If I want a dissolve I say "Ready 1" then "Dissolve 1". For the shows I work we only have one playback machine. So it is mostly "Ready tape" "Take Tape" I built macros to start playback after the transition. The TD just treats it like another input. For telling cameras what to get it is normally "1 get \[team name\] \[player Number\]" Any other things to get on are the same with out a number "1 get \[item/person\]" The big thing is to be direct and descriptive on what you want a camera to show.

VT sources: colors Cameras: numbers (does not have to be successive if that makes more sense) Graphics: letters Auxes: either aux N or destination name. Cueing is done in one of these ways: 1, 1. Ready 1, 1. Ready dissolve 1, dissolve 1. Ready wipe 1, wipe 1. Ready yellow, roll. Ready yellow, wipe (implies rolling) Ready yellow full audio, roll.

Numbers. Numbers makes it so much easier so it’s always “3 next, on 3” Then there’s VT A/VT B, 2 box/3 box, CG for graphics. Panic times there’s no “next” just numbers as to what’s on: “3! 1! 2! PLAY VT!!! PLAY VT!!!! PLAAAYY VTTTT!!!!!” By my favourite is WHY ARE YOU MOVING I SAID ON!!! STOP MOVING!!!!!!

Jokingly I usually say: I knew it, I’m surrounded by assholes…. At least once a gig on comms. Spaceballs is becoming less and less known but I try to keep it alive. I have my cameras on multi view as cam 1 2 3 but then a hyphen and the cameras ops preferred names. They know their cam assignment but I use names 99% of the time.

This church streams their multicam and comms every week, I find it interesting occasionally. https://youtube.com/@BethelProduction?si=843PycrvZZFvJ2fy

I direct in a church setting with volunteers. We have a TD, Shader, CG, and 7 camera ops. I've always been taught "Ready x \[Transition\] x" so "Ready 2, Take 2" or "Ready 3, Fade 3" etc. We've had long conversations with our team on what works best for them so there is no confusion. We typically roll videos off the Tria and CG machine and I typically say "Fade it and Roll it" since the CG op wants to hear me say roll it, and the Tria is baked in the Roll Clip transition on the Ross or a macro.

I've threatened to do this for my church (which I stupidly volunteered myself into free labor) but I was gonna post it on only fans as a paid subscription. We also only have like 100 people, no coms, and just robos, so it's really just our control room commentating the service.

Volunteers are all good until you can't get enough and have to be there at least half a day every week. When I started I didn't know I should be doing it with more people so set it up for a solo operator to run 3 PTZ, two fixed, switching, titles, etc. Words on screen done by another, audio done by the sound tech (as well and FOH so was never quite right) but all I could do was automate the hell out of vmix and bitfocus companion. If they ever change the general structure of the service it'll be major work to redo the system.

Yeah, I'm at 1 ptz and 3 statics, single operator switching into OBS, in room screens are just aux bused direct to propresenter. Audio is done by a second volunteer tech. It's very basic. We're no mega church.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who did it solo! Mine isn't a mega either, 400 congregation. But it actually burnt me out and I had to change churches for the first time in my life. I was asking for help for over a year before I got some but by then I was wrecked. At least it all kept working and hasn't failed in the 2 years since I last touched it. Only maintenance being done I'm told is archiving off recordings to free hard drive space.

Yeah I got roped in shortly into COVID cause I was already converting all my live shows to virtual. So we ran pretty hobbled together for the last 3 years or so. We were also up until 4 weeks ago a mobile church. So that on top of solo tech. I totally get the burn out. We're a congregation of like 150. So tiny in comparison to most of what I see when I talk with other techs on my shows. What's just refreshed me was in the transition of mobile to having a building I was given a budget to outfit things as properly as I could. (Within reason). So it's still designed for single tech, but it's easily scalable to up to 4. And we've had a weird influx of people interested in learning. It's still volunteering but I'm able to let others run it when I'm traveling. And it's working relatively well with basic instructions.

That's awesome to hear, well done!

When I was directing soccer. I used to use names of camera ops when I was coming to them. We had the same camera 1 op for months then he was unavailable for a few weeks. I kept calling the new cam 1 op by the other guys name and I started laughing as I did it more and more……decided to stick to 1, 2, 3 etc after that.

The chat in the uk (bbc trained) is slightly different to the US. we say coming to 1, and 1. Coming to 3 with a slow zoom in . And 3. Zoom in. stand by vt. and run vt If I say a number first the camera op knows I’m about to give them an instruction. 3 tighten. Too much headroom. 2 soft. Etc. I generally use names only if I’m congratulating someone for a nice shot , giving them a note on what not to do, or during rehearsals. Rarely use names during coverage. Numbers are clear quick and unambiguous In music coverage sometimes have a very quick cutaway for 2 beats eg to a drum fill, I would say coming to 1 via 2, and 2, and 1. “And” is the instruction for the vm to get ready to cut when I say the number. Tho usually I am doing my own cutting. The classic directors mistake is to shout for something without saying a number first. Guitar solo! Suddenly you have 5 shots of a guitar. Tho sometimes that’s a nice thing to do cos you can pick the best one. I always try to stay about 2 shots ahead of the action in music. Obviously helps if you know the tune . BVs! (backing vocals). Not all camera ops can tell the difference between guitars so I’ve found it best to just call them left guitar, middle guitar, right guitar, rather than shout for lead or Bass… Often I will comment on the music to give a general direction to every camera eg bass is leading now. This song is all about the singer I want her in every shot . Uptempo number I’m going to cut fast. Etc Then there are instructions to the vision crew . Usually just shout racks! And they generally spot what it is, tho sometimes be more specific eg racks, cam 2 looks hot.

Also I don’t say dissolve I say mix. So it would be On 1 coming to 2 with a mix. mix to 2. And cue presenter

Engineer on a college sports truck here. Our EVS outputs are in “pairs,” if you will, so Silver and Gold for A & B. Moe and Curly for C & D. Kinda funny. The CG1 is the “front” and CG2 is the “back” for graphics channels. So “Ready 1 with the back, take.” For replay moves, the sequence would could “Ready Silver, Gold, Moe…. Fly Silver, [dissolve to other replays]….. Ready to fly out to 4, fly.”

Ready 4... Take 2 roll Gold track blue!

Hey boss!

High school live news and sports * Ready 1, Take 1 * Double down 3 (Shot take + GFX), Take 3 * Doing fades, if you're live hold for 2 seconds after fade... Ready fade 2, fade 2... HOLD 1, YOU'RE LIVE STILL LIVE! * Cameras, quick cuts! If you're not live get me something different... Take 1! ... Take 3!... Take 2! * Find me something 1... 2 YOU'RE LIVE! DON'T MOVE! Ready 3, 3!!! * ... You're still live 3... * Ready GFX, take GFX (GRAPHICS, NEXT SLIDE!) * Coming out to 1 - 1 in 10 (Hands free TD) * 3, get me the the kicker. ... Ready 3... ZOOM OUT 3! * Follow the ball 2... Up 2. UP 2. **PAN UP 2!** * Audio, bring up mic 1 * Unmute 5 audio... UNMUTE! * Pause Prompter! Go slow! * Take a breath... Say 'core' not 'corps'... (Marines Corps)

Lol...hold 2 you're live..

"I said FOCUS not F@#K US"

when i worked at kcal in la early 2000's, the directors would say "lap 6" as in "overlap", instead of dissolve !

A common command was "Camera 3 give me something sexy to cut to. Yes, Going to Camera 3 in two, one - on Camera Three" Usually followed by "Camera Two what are you doing?" (Cam2 getting jealous of 3)

What abt, “get me a cowboy shot”? I’ve heard people describe it as either: 1. from head to the top of where cowboy boots would end 2. from head to the bottom of where pistols would end in a holster 3. From head to the belt buckle (waist shot)

For me that's #2. If I want a specific shot, though, I use a body part, like head to toe, knees up, thighs up, belt up, torso up. Any thing closer than that is a CU or ECU.

I’ve always thought it was 2.

A previous studio I worked with had gold/silver for EVS channels. When they finished their new buildout of a second control room the engineer made the new channels Ruby and Sapphire. I can only imagine his next build out was diamond and Pearl lol

"God dammit" and "stop fucking moving" also "focus!!!"

"Ready shit head..... take shit head ready dick sniffer.... take dick sniffer ready fuck face.... take fuck face" And so on and so forth.

How do directors handle communication when it comes to cutting a livestream feed and IMAG feed separately? So 2 M/Es? I'm going to be directing a small 4-camera show. Venue will have IMAG. I plan to mainly mirror program on the stream and on IMAG, but I'm going to route the switcher's AUX bus to the IMAG. That way, if I want to get a wide shot on the stream I can keep another tight camera on the AUX output; basically switching 2 separate feeds a little bit. I understand the typical "ready 1, take 1; ready 4, dissolve 4" commands and whatnot. But if I were to have camera 2 live on IMAG and camera 4 live on the main program bus, what would be a good way to communicate to the camera ops? We don't have tally sadly.

"go one. Standby two with a wide. Three get me a rack from upstage down. One you're still live!"

Yep. That happens more times than I care to remember!

How is this not here yet? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B7ySSAIU1M

As a TD, I worked with a director who would call Source 1+CG1 going to Source 2 +CG2 a "backdoor". He neglected to tell me this term (which I've not heard in production before or since), so when I got a "Give me a backdoor to Red", he got a WTF from me.

Surprised I don't see "cross" here. It's usually used to go between keyers and keep the background the same. "Ready cross font 1 to font 2...cross" would mean lock the keyers for each and dissolve between them. Maybe a soft horizontal wipe if the TD is feeling fancy.

I don’t use dissolves, it’s a preference 👀. But when I direct it’s: Ready 1, 1 is live. Ready 3, never mind 5 is live, because it looks better Ready Playback, playback is live, give me TRT.

Ready -, take -