ABSTRACT
Video programs are shot in an extremely wide range of locations; people’s homes, offices, factories, classrooms, halls, public buildings, campus studios, out in the streets, and the wide open spaces. Where we shoot the program may be vital to what we want to tell our audience, or it can be merely incidental. To some extent, the importance of the background, depends on you; on the way you approach your subject and the style and form you adopt. A dramatic play can be presented successfully in front of black drapes, and shooting the same play on location, or in a built setting, might add little to its emotional appeal. Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed on an open stage with no scenery. It was in the imagination of his audience. Today, broadcast documentary programs whisk a speaker around the world, one exotic background following another in rapid succession. Yet this kaleidoscope of pictures often contributes nothing to our understanding of the subject. It just gets in the way of the words! Effective backgrounds are more a matter of making wise choices, than having a big budget.
