ABSTRACT
The review of the nature, functions, and categories of the arts in chapter 7 and the discussion of criticism’s purposes, approaches, and applications to television genres in chapter 8 provide the necessary framework for the close study of the compositional principles pertaining to television. This chapter examines the major formulas (compositional rules or production techniques) that should be employed in creating television programs with unique artistic qualities and aesthetic merits. Specifically, the first section provides a brief review of the debate regarding television as an art form; the second section examines the major compositional principles of the visual communication media arts in general; the third section discusses, in greater detail, the particular rules of composition and production techniques pertaining to television and cites examples of where such techniques are applied.
