Friday, 29 April 2011

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

SITUATION:

The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (CFRB) began in England in 2004 when Dove’s sales declined as a result of being lost in a crowded market. Unilever, Dove’s parent company, went to Edelman, its PR agency, for a solution. Together, they conceived a campaign that focused not on the product, but on a way to make women feel beautiful regardless of their age and size.

The following summer, CFRB was brought to the United States and Canada. CRFB aimed not only to increase sales of Dove beauty products, but also targeted women of all ages and shapes. According to the CFRB website, “The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a global effort that is intended to serve as a starting point for societal change and act as a catalyst for widening the definition and discussion of beauty. The campaign supports the Dove mission: to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today’s stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves.”

In addition to changing women’s view of their bodies, Dove also aimed to change the beauty market. In an industry where the standard of beauty is often a size two blonde supermodel, Dove distinguished itself by using models that ranged from size six to fourteen. CRFB abandoned the conventional cynical method of portraying “perfect” women as beauty role models.


RESEARCH:
Dove commissioned The Real Truth About Beauty study as a way to explore what beauty means to women today. StrategyOne, an applied research firm, managed the study in conjunction with Dr. Nancy Etcoff and Massachusetts General Hospital- Harvard University, and with consultation of Dr. Susie Orbach of the London School of Economics. Between February 27, 2004 and March 26, 2004, the global study collected data from 3,200 women, aged 18 to 64. Interviews were conducted across ten countries: the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina and Japan.

The study evolved out of a desire to talk to women around the world about female beauty. According to the study, “Dove knows that the relationship women have with beauty is complex: it can be powerful and inspiring, but elusive and frustrating as well. We sponsored this study in order to probe more deeply into this intricate relationship. Dove wanted to understand how women define beauty; how satisfied they are with their beauty; how they feel about female beauty’s portrayal in society; and, how beauty affects their well-being.” This was the first comprehensive study of its kind.

The following statistics are a sampling of results from the study:
• Only 2% of these women describe themselves as “beautiful”

• About 3/4 of them rate their beauty as "average"

• Almost 1/2 of them think their weight is "too high"

The previous findings are particularly the case in the U.S. (60%), Great Britain (57%) and Canada (54%).
• Almost half of all women (48%) strongly agreed (8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale) with the statement that: “When I feel less beautiful, I feel worse about myself in general.”

• Just 13% of all women say they are very satisfied with their beauty, 12% with their physical attractiveness, 17% with their facial attractiveness and 13% with their body weight and shape.

• The study revealed that women see beauty and physical attractiveness as increasingly socially mandated and rewarded. Almost two-thirds strongly agreed that: “Women today are expected to be more physically attractive than their mother’s generation was” (63%); and, “Society expects women to enhance their physical attractiveness” (60%).

Larry Koffler, the senior vice president of consumer brands at Edelman, maintained that the research was vital to the campaign: “Without having a foundation in the global research study, which showed that the image of beauty was unattainable, we wouldn’t have had the credibility in creating the materials, in pitching stories and being able to answer some of the folks that didn’t agree with the campaign.”

After the initial study, Dove commissioned two more studies, one in 2005 and one in 2006. The additional information furthered Dove’s research about women’s perceptions of beauty across several cultures.

The later studies revealed the following data:

• 90% of all women 15-64 worldwide want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance (with body weight ranking the highest).

• 67% of all women 15 to 64 withdraw from life-engaging activities due to feeling badly about their looks (among them things like giving an opinion, going to school, going to the doctor).

• 61% of all women and 69% of girls (15 to 17) feel that their mother has had a positive influence on their feelings about themselves and their beauty.

• 91% feel the media and advertising need to do a better job of representing realistic images of women over 50.

• 97% believe society is less accepting of appearance considerations for women over 50 compared to their younger counterparts, especially when focused on the body.

• Nearly 60% of women believe that if magazines were reflective of a population, a person would likely believe women over 50 do not exist.

• 87% of women believe they are too young to be old.


AUDIENCE:
Target Audience: All women, all ages and of all sizes.

OBJECTIVES:
• Increase sales of Dove beauty products and new product lines

• Create dialogue, debate, and discussion about the true meaning of beauty

• Attract national TV and print media coverage

• Gain local press attention in the hometowns of models featured throughout the campaign

• Drive users to the CFRB Web site to share their thoughts and opinions about the campaign and beauty stereotypes

• Create a call to action for consumers to join the movement through website pledge that activate a donation by Dove for self-esteem awareness programs

TACTICS:

Advertising:
• Dove launched a global advertising campaign in October 2004 questioning whether “model” attributes, such as youth, slimness, and symmetrical features, are required for beauty - or if they are completely irrelevant to it. The ads each presented an image of a woman whose appearance differed from the stereotypical physical ideal, and asked the reader/viewer to judge the woman's looks by checking off a box.
o “Wrinkled? Wonderful?” featured Irene Sinclair, 95, of London, England with a wrinkled face and asked: “Will society ever accept old can be beautiful?”
o “Gray? Gorgeous?” featured Merlin Glozer, 45, of London, England with a natural mane of gray hair and asks: “Why aren't women glad to be gray?”
o “Oversized? Outstanding?” featured Tabatha Roman, 34, of New York, NY a plus-size woman and asked: “Does true beauty only squeeze into a size 6?”
o “Half empty? Half full?” featured Esther Poyer, 35, of London, England with small breasts and asked: “Does sexiness depend on how full your cups are?”
o “Flawed? Flawless?” featured Leah Sheehan, 22, of London, England with freckles and asked: “Does beauty mean looking like everyone else?”

• Each ad directed readers/viewers to www.campaignforrealbeauty.com where they could cast their votes.

TV Commercials:
Dove aired many commercials to reach the target audience, including the following:

• Commercial aired during the Super Bowl 2006
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1731400614466797113

• Commercial aired on February 2005 and had its world premiere as part of Donald Trump's "The Apprentice".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOLfyUcYfpo

• Dove Campaign for Real Beauty (Hong Kong)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fc2Ity4uV_Y

Website:
• Women can visit www.campaignforrealbeauty.com and cast their votes on the questions raised in the ad campaign. The website also allows women to partake in ongoing dialogue about beauty by posting to discussion boards, downloading several research studies about beauty, and hearing and reading what women around the world have to say.

Billboards:
• Dove placed mobile billboards in major cities. Each billboard challenged women's notions of beauty by encouraging them to cast their votes online. A featured interactive billboard, located in New York's Times Square highlighted and kept a running tally of the votes submitted for the “Wrinkled? Wonderful?” ad.

Panel discussions:
• The Campaign for Real Beauty launched in New York City on September 29 with a panel discussion about beauty. The kick-off was co-hosted by American Women in Radio and Television®, and featured Dr. Nancy Etcoff of Harvard University; Mindy Herman, former CEO, E! Entertainment Television; Andi Bernstein, Vice President, Special Projects, Oxygen Media and other media and beauty leaders

• Dove furthered the panel discussions on a grassroots level by partnering with the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, a not-for-profit educational organization that provides ethical leadership training and professional development for women, for two special weekend workshops held in Atlanta (October 8-10) and Chicago (November 12-14).

Interviews:
• Interviews with major television shows such as: Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Early Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The View and Oprah.

The Dove Self-Esteem Fund:
• Dove established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to raise awareness among young girls of the link between beauty and body-related self-esteem.
o Dove funds programs that raise self-esteem in girls and young women.
o In the US, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund works through the Unilever Foundation to sponsor uniquely ME!, a partnership program with Girl Scouts of the USA. Uniquely ME! helps girls ages 8-14 build their self-confidence through activities and programs.
o The Fund also supports BodyTalk, an educational program for schools in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Programs:
• Establishment of the Program for Aesthetics and Well-Being at Harvard University, through a grant from Dove, which will continue to study the way we view women in the media and culture and the effect that this has on women's well-being.

• Creation of a global touring photography exhibit, Beyond Compare, Women Photographers on Beauty, showcasing diverse images of female beauty from 67 female photographers, and showing beauty beyond stereotypes.


IN THE NEWS:
Press Coverage
After CFRB was launched, a slew of press was devoted to the ads in the campaign. The campaign was featured and debated across both print and broadcast media. CFRB was featured on national morning shows such as Good Morning America, The Early Show, and The Today Show. Moreover, CFRB was featured on popular talk shows such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The View, Oprah and The Tyra Banks Show. Overwhelmingly, the response of the media applauded the campaign, however CFRB was also criticized. In national and local newspapers and journals, CFRB was written about, debated and the press received responses from the public in the form of letters, online voting, and message boards. Of the 22 articles we found over a time period of 4 years (2004-2007), 17 articles covered CFRB positively, praising the campaign. Only five articles criticized the campaign.

PRAISE FOR THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL BEAUTY
• In the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, John Conroy applauded CFRB, saying “Thank you Dove. No, this isn't an op-ed piece from a ‘real customer’ discussing the benefits of the latest skincare line. I don't even use Dove products. But I am a fan. This is something far more serious, and real. This is about Dove's Campaign for Beauty. When did curvaceousness become the equivalent to chubby or fat?” Conroy went on to explain how body consciousness has become part of everyday life for men in addition to women. Moreover, he commented on how Hollywood starlets have evolved from voluptuous, like Marilyn Monroe, to the waifs of today, like Mischa Barton or Nicole Ritchie.

• PRWeek named CFRB the Consumer Launch if the Year 2006 in the article “Edelman and Unilever-Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty.”

• Barbara Lippert critiqued Dove’s most recent effort for Cream Oil Body Wash in a February 26, 2007 article. “Altogether, I give it three-and-a-half loofahs out of five. I guess it's a testament to how powerful the campaign has been in relaying its message so far.” Lippert was featured on The Early Show, talking about the ad. “…it goes against what everybody did for 50 years, which is make you anxious about how you look and, you know, make you think you need to be better. This is saying ‘You’re good enough.’”

• In the article “Ahead of the Curve” by Tanika White of the Baltimore Sun, White credits CFRB with starting a trend of showing average sized women in the media to change beauty perceptions. “Actress Sara Ramirez introduced the winner of a contest to create the newest Dove ad in a commercial during Sunday's Oscar telecast. On the TV hit Grey's Anatomy, Ramirez portrays Dr. Calliope "Callie" Torres, a full-figured doctor among waifish female interns. The Dove campaign appears to have started a bit of a trend. Other companies have caught on.”

• Dr. Joyce Brothers weighed in on the Dove campaign with an article in Advertising Age. In the article, Dr. Brothers presents a psychologist’s opinion on the boost that women receive from seeing ads like those featured in CFRB. “Dove helps show that we have come a long way when we no longer have to try to look exactly like every other woman who has been declared by some fashion magazine or film czar to be the epitome of beauty.”

• Molly Prior of Women’s Wear Daily called the campaign “gutsy” and chronicled the beginning of CFRB.

• In a January 12, 2007 article in Women’s Wear Daily, Michelle Edgar described the efforts of Dove in introducing Pro-Age Campaign. In the article, Edgar included quotes from the marketing director of Dove, Kathy O’Brien, describing Dove’s mission and describing the success of the campaign thus far.

• USA Today featured CFRB in an article about Dove’s 2006 Superbowl ad. Writer Theresa Howard called the ad “inspirational.”

DEBATING ‘REAL BEAUTY’
• The article “Why Dove Ads Are So Controversial” by Susanna Schrobsdorff for Newsweek, described the controversy surrounding reactions to CFRB and wondered “Are the women in the company’s new ad campaign too big to sell beauty products, or have our minds gotten too small?” Schrobsdorff peppered the article with quotes from various sources on both sides of the debate. Furthermore, she argued if it was really the size of the models in CFRB ads or the way the ad was photographed. “While photographer Ian Rankin may have been going for a refreshing, natural look, the unretouched photos turned out to be the equivalent of full-length passport shots of women in what looks like underwear meant for jogging. One has to ask whether even celebrity beauties like Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé Knowles, or Kate Winslet would inspire the same harsh critiques under those less-than-flattering conditions.” The emails that Newsweek received following the article were printed in an online mail call supported CFRB. “Betty from Chattanooga, Tenn., writes: ‘It's high time someone starts promoting healthy women instead of sticks with imperfections airbrushed out. Women who wear sizes 6 to 12 are NOT fat…’ Christine from St. Louis writes: ‘I just read this article and am surprised that anyone would be hostile to Dove's campaign. I think it's about time that companies started embracing the reality of how women in America look.’”

CRITICISMS OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL BEAUTY
• In the Lansing State Journal, gender columnist Matt Katz questioned why there wasn’t a campaign similar to CFRB intended for men. Citing that men are increasingly more self conscious about their looks, Katz maintained that “women can no longer claim a hold on vanity.”

• Bob Garfield of Advertising Age was swayed over time by CFRB. In a July 25, 2005 article Garfield criticized Dove, calling the campaign self-righteous and hypocritical. The models, he said “…are all still head-turners, with straight white teeth, no visible pores, and not a cell of cellulite…they represent a beauty standard still idealized and, for the overwhelming majority of consumers, still pretty damn unattainable.” In the article, Garfield gave the Dove ads a 2.5 star rating out of 4. In an October 30, 2006 article, Garfield seemed to have changed his mind. “From the beginning, the ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ had the makings of something extraordinary, celebrating a concept of beauty far broader than the anorexic, breast-implanted, tricked-up Barbie doll of the culture’s fantasies.” Garfield praised the viral-video released on the internet entitled “Evolution.” “…They’ve latched on to a powerful idea here and have demonstrated magnificent sensitivity in following it through.” In this review of the CFRB, Garfield gave the ad 4 stars.

• Richard Roeper, of the Chicago-Sun Times and of Ebert-and Roeper fame, included comments in a July 19, 2005 article “How come women can’t get the message: Listen!” In the article, Roeper commented that “Chunky women in their underwear have surrounded my house…I find these Dove ads a little unsettling. If I want to see plump gals baring too much skin, I’ll go to Taste of Chicago, OK? If that makes me sound superficial, shallow and sexist – well yes, I’m a man.” Readers responded by calling Roeper “an idiot,” “a Neanderthal,” and “a sexist loser.” Roeper received such overwhelming angry answers from his readers that he wrote a full article the next week clarifying his comments. Roeper included the comments written to him in response to the article and included a list of “Things I never said” but did not back off of his comments regarding CFRB, saying “I’m sorry if you’re average sized or overweight and it’s made your life more difficult. I’m sorry if you or someone you love had an eating disorder. I’m sorry we don’t live in a world where everyone is judged by what’s on the inside. I’m not sorry for what I wrote.”

• Also in the Chicago-Sun Times, columnist Lucio Guerrero devoted a column to criticizing the campaign, saying “Really the only time I want to see a thigh that big is in a bucket with bread crumbs on it…ads should be about the unrealistic, the ideal or unattainable look, for which so many people strive.” He also called Dove hypocritical, saying “The folks at Dove want us to embrace our ‘real beauty’ and love who we are no matter what we look like. If that’s the case why are they selling firming cream?”

RESPONSES TO CRITISICM
• In response to the articles written by Roeper and Guerrero, author Wendy McClure responded with a piece called “The Fat Between the Ears” which was also featured in the Chicago-Sun Times. McClure blasted her male counterparts calling the criticism heaped on the CFRB models as “crude.” McClure praised CFRB as “an extremely well-calculated promotion for soap and cosmetic products; an effort to challenge unrealistic media images; a controversy.” She also warned that we, as a society, need to pay attention to the negative responses to campaign “as crude as they sound, and as much as we would like to brush them off as ‘part of the controversy’ or ‘typical dumb guy talk.’ Because they’re not just dumb. They’re unreasonable. And why should we have to accept them as typical?” McClure went on to describe how ads in Manhattan and in the UK had been vandalized with spray paint or stickers reading “Fat isn’t Glamorous” and “Who ate all the pies?” and urged readers to avoid dissecting the CFRB models as well as other women portrayed in the media. McClure ended by reminding women that they need not base themselves on the view of men, she writes, “And this isn't about whether men's fantasies are unrealistic or stupid or shallow or shameful. Men are certainly entitled to their preferences. Having preferences is one thing; expecting the world to cater to them is another. Men aren't obligated to consider every woman beautiful, or for that matter, to make every woman feel good about herself. But by the same token, nobody owes you a nice view, guys.”

• In an interview with MSNBC.com, Deb Boyda, part of the ad team that put together CFRB, dismissed the criticisms, saying “"We are telling them we want them to take care of themselves, take care of their beauty," she said. "That's very different from sending them the message to look like something they're not." The article went on to interview women who have been touched by the ad: “In Chicago, woman after woman passing by a huge Dove billboard said they think the company has done just that. ‘Most girls don't have that type of body (of a model) and they know they won't get to that,’ said Gaby Hurtado, 22. ‘But seeing this they say, “I can do that.”' Boyda said besides women, dads of daughters also have offered praise for the ads. ‘They can imagine a day when their daughter has to look in the mirror and say, “You know, I have big thighs and I am not beautiful any more.’”

Press Vs. PR Message

In many of the articles written about CFRB, information and statistics on the campaign came directly from Dove, including the Dove Global Study. According to PRweek, the publicity for CFRB generated more than 650 million imprints during the summer of 2005 alone.

Of the 22 articles collected for this project:

• 18 directly discussed some aspect of an ad made by Dove for the CFRB.

• 10 had a direct quote from someone representing Dove or Unilever.

• 17 used some element of a press release to add to their story.

• 7 mentioned the CFRB website

• 6 mentioned the Dove Global Study and/or used statistics from the study.

• 17 articles covered CFRB positively, praising the campaign.

• Only 5 articles criticized the campaign.


Overall, Dove did an excellent job of controlling how their campaign was presented. Media coverage was in line with what was sent out as the message from the organization. In the five articles that criticized the campaign, only one used information from Dove. The other articles were based solely on the opinion of the author.


CURRENT:
Commercial Competition
• The winner of a commercial competition for Dove made a guest appearance on “Good Morning America” on February 27, 2007. The 22-year-old creator, Lindsay Miller, stated on national television that doing everyday, silly things when no one is watching is what makes people beautiful. The commercial, one of more than 1,000 entries, featured Miller singing into a pink hairbrush and dancing in the shower. Miller told “Good Morning America” anchor Chris Cuomo that this is what makes people beautiful, not their outer appearance. Miller’s commercial ends with the line, “Cuz what’s better than knowing you’re beautiful, even when no one is looking? That’s real beauty. Love Dove.”

• Accompanying Miller on “Good Morning America” was “Grey’s Anatomy” actress Sara Rameriez who presented the commercial at its debut on Sunday night during the Oscar’s. Rameriez stated that “Beauty comes in many different shapes and many different colors," and goes onto explain that the campaign tells women "you are beautiful just the way you are."

Dove Pro-Age
• According to a global study conducted by Dove, nearly all women over the age of fifty would like to see a change in society’s view on women and aging. Women over the age of fifty also believe that if the media were reflective of the population, a person might not believe that a woman over the age of 50 even exists. To combat these beliefs, Dove is positioning itself as the first global beauty brand to talk to women about aging in a positive tone.

• This is the second phase of the Campaign for Real Beauty and is known as pro-age. Pro-age celebrates women over the age of fifty by challenging the idea that only the young are beautiful.

• The initiative has materialized into a global communications campaign featuring images of real women who reveal their grey hair, age spots and curves to uncover the fact that women are beautiful at any age.

• Dove has also introduced a first-of-its kind pro-age product line designed specifically to meet the needs that older women may experience in relation to their skin and hair. The packaging of the products features a larger font size and highlights active ingredients that will help maturing hair and skin.

• This phase of the campaign was born out of the fact that women over the age of fifty are under-represented in society.

• According to Dove’s recent study, “Beauty Comes of Age,” 87% of the women surveyed believed that they were too young to be old, and 91% believed that the media needs “to do a better job of representing realistic images of women over the age of 50.”

Thinness in Models
• Janice Min, editor of US Weekly, is quoted in an Associated Press article on February 5, as saying, “It amazes me, the whole world has shrunk.” She then goes on to say, “For once, an establishment has set forth that there is something wrong with this. Things may not change completely, but women may look and say, ‘maybe there’s something wrong with THEM, and not me.” This is the message of Dove, who launched the Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004 after a study found that only 2 percent of women worldwide described themselves as beautiful.

• In the article it was almost as though Dove were being portrayed as an expert, an “establishment” that has set forth to make a change in how women view their bodies and themselves.

EVALUATION:
While the exact current information about CFRB has not yet been determined because the campaign is ongoing, here is some of the information that was evaluated after the initial launch:

• In the summer of 2005, the Dove campaign received nearly four hours of broadcast time, including more than 10 minutes on The Today Show. On that day alone, more than 60,000 people visited the CFRB Web site.

• During the summer of 2005, the campaign also secured coverage from 62 national television programs, securing more than four hours of broadcast time, including: The View, Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, Oprah, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Early Show and The Jane Pauly Show.

• CFRB also received feature coverage in high-profile print outlets, landing the cover of People magazine. Coverage included USA Today, The New York Times Magazine and Allure. The campaign received more than 1,000 placements in print, Web, television and radio, far exceeding expectations.

• The campaign generated more than 650 million impressions during the summer of 2005.

• According to Dove, sales for the products featured in the ads increased 600 percent in the first two months of the campaign.

• As of June 2005, more than 1 million visitors had logged onto www.campaignforrealbeauty.com and shared their thoughts about the campaign.

• Awards
 PR Week’s Consumer Launch Campaign of the Year 2006
 PRSA’s Silver Anvil ‘Best of’ Award 2006
 Grand EFFIE Award 2006

Times of India's 'Teach India' Campaign


Abstract:

This case is about The Times of India's (ToI) social marketing initiatives. Though TOI was one of the largest circulated newspapers in the world, it was criticized for promoting 'yellow journalism'. In order to build its brand image, TOI adopted a social marketing strategy and projected itself as an agent of social change by launching a series of social campaigns highlighting social issues. One of them was 'Teach India'.

The 'Teach India' campaign was launched on July 6, 2008, with the objective of providing education to the unprivileged children in India and eradicating illiteracy. The campaign was inspired by TOI's earlier initiative 'Lead India' launched in August 2007.
According to the feedback received from the 'Lead India' campaign, India would not be able to lead unless its populace was literate and that there was a need for citizens to come forward and contribute to the cause. It was for this purpose that the Teach India campaign was launched. The campaign was divided into two phases. The first phase invited citizens of the country to volunteer with a non-government organization (NGO) in their locality and spend two hours a week teaching underprivileged children. The second phase, which started at the end of 2008, selected students from top educational institutes all over the country who were willing to dedicate two years to teaching the underprivileged.

To execute the campaign, TOI tied up with select NGOs in the field of education in multiple cities across India. Corporations, schools, and social organizations also lent their support to the campaign. The campaign was promoted through print, television, online, outdoor and on-ground events. While the campaign won some of the most prestigious advertising awards, experts remained divided in their opinion on whether TOI had adopted a genuine approach to initiating social changes in India or whether it was just a marketing gimmick to enhance the brand image of the Times Group.

Issues:

» Understand various issues and challenges is social marketing.
» Study the social marketing campaigns launched by ToI and analyze whether ToI was successful in achieving the objectives of its campaigns.
» Understand the role of cause-related marketing in enhancing brand image.
» Explore ways to make the Teach India initiative could be made sustainable

Introduction

On December 16, 2009, leading Indian English daily The Times of India's (TOI) 'Teach India Let's Learn to Teach' (Teach India) campaign won the prestigious Grand Effie4 award for the Best Integrated Campaign of the Year.

The award was given to JWT India for successfully executing the campaign. On selecting the campaign for the award, a jury member said that it was "a truly outstanding campaign that drove a real sea change in social attitudes, 'Teach India' won the Grand Effie convincingly due to its boldness and creativity, delivering real cultural relevance and, above all, outstanding business results."6 Launched on July 6, 2008, by the Times Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) wing of The Times of India group, in association with United Nations Volunteers7(UNV), the Teach India campaign was a social initiative whose objective was to build the nation by improving literacy and providing education to the unprivileged children in India.

The idea behind the campaign was to bring together people who wanted to teach and those who wanted to learn. The campaign invited educated Indians to serve as volunteers and teach underprivileged children...

The 'Teach India' Campaign

Although the idea to launch the campaign was initiated in 2007, it took four months for TOI to develop the Teach India program. The campaign was launched on July 6, 2008. It was divided into two phases...

Results

According to the Times Group, the 'Teach India' campaign created a lot of buzz and within three weeks of the program being launched in July 2008, a total of 88,710 people had responded. Of these, 55,035 applied for the program...


PR CAMPAIGN

JAAGO RE



Agency: Integrated Brand-Comm Pvt. Ltd.
COMPANY PROFILE
brand-comm is a leading communications consultancy company in India with offices in 
seven cities (Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad) and 
presence through affiliates in all Indian States. The agency offers a comprehensive and, 
where possible, integrated range of services across brand consulting, advertising, and public 
relations. In addition, it offers Integrated Talent Communications (Internal Communications) 
which assists companies in communicating with internal clients / employees to meet their HR 
objectives of retention.
The agency believes that experience and insights are the key to effective communication  –
this fact is demonstrated by their team, which consists of professionals who come from a
diverse background of communication practice areas. Together, they deliver value through
research-led insights and precision-led execution for clients representing a cross-section of
industry.
In less than a decade, brand-comm has created tremendous value for companies in industries
including Information Technology, Retail, Cement, Fashion & Apparel, Education,  Health
and FMCG.


„JAAGO RE! – ONE BILLION VOTES 
CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES THE “SHUT UP AND 
VOTE” CAMPAIGN
Campaign Summary:

Jaago Re! One Billion Votes is a non-partisan nationwide movement launched by
Janaagraha and Tata Tea to awaken and enable the citizens of India, especially the
youth, to register for voting. The mission is to register the entire of India (One Billion
Voters) for voting in the next 5 years, in order to better Indian democracy. The
campaign focuses on empowering the youth of India to lead this change.
In the launch year (2008 -09), the campaign is targeting urban voters in India’s top 35
cities, which represents one-third of India’s urban population. The campaign is
targeting to register 4 million voters before April 2009 elections. From next year
onwards, the campaign plans to target Tier 2 cities and eventually rural India.
Going beyond mass media messaging, Jaago Re! One Billion Votes seeks to address
the fundamental challenges in the process of voter registration which prevents
millions of Indians from registering as voters. The uniqueness of this campaign is the
way technology has been innovatively leveraged to simplify the voter registration
process. At the heart of the entire campaign is its website www.jaagore.com.
For the first time in India, www.jaagore.com brings to the citizens the following
facilities:
 An online registration engine linked to an interactive GIS application, which
helps anybody to fill their voter registration form within 5 minutes.

 After submitting details online, citizens can take a printout of their voter
registration form, and get driving directions with the help of a map to submit
the registration form to the designated official in their constituency.

 After dropping their forms, rather than chasing the system for confirmation,
www.jaagore.com sends periodic SMS and email updates to citizens
confirming them of their status, thereby handholding the voters until they are
eventually registered. The objective is to build a customer-service model (similar to what banking firms offer today) around the needs of a voter, by
integrating internet and mobile technologies.

 The campaign website has been created as a ONE STOP SHOP for all voting
and election related queries, election news and updates.
Tata Tea’s Jaago re! Advertising campaign for the current year (2008-09) will play a
significant role in spreading mass awareness on this campaign. The TVC delivers a
strong message to the youth on voting (Agar aap soyenge to desh kaise jagega!) and
directs them to the website www.jaagore.com to register for voting.

Jaago Re! One Billion Votes believes in empowering the youth of India to lead the
change, themselves. The campaign has a significant Outreach program covering 11
key cities. Beginning 1st November 2008, talks will be organized in more than 200 of
India’s largest colleges and companies, to spread the message of the campaign and
organizing ON THE SPOT voter registration drives, backed by the technology of the
campaign.
Outreach will be largely volunteer managed and will give opportunities to
Institutions and Individuals (especially youth) to make a difference in this campaign.
Each of these 200 institutions will play a leadership role in this campaign by
registering 100% of their students / employees for voting, and further conducting
drives in 5 more campuses. Each institution will setup a Jaago Re! One Billion Votes
chapter comprising of youth volunteers from within the institution, who are
passionate about leading the cause  of voter registration. Institutions who have
already committed their support include Infosys, Wipro, St. Xaviers Mumbai, St
Josephs Bangalore etc.
There are opportunities for NGOs as well to get involved in this campaign by
partnering in Outreach at a National, Regional or City level. PRIA (Participatory
Research in Asia) and LokSatta Aandolan are two NGOs who have already joined
the campaign as Outreach Partners.
Besides Outreach, there are several other ways in which corporates and media
houses can play an active role in promoting this campaign. Yahoo, Mid-Day group,
OnMobile, ACL Wireless, Map My India etc. are few corporates who have already
taken leadership in partnering this campaign.
It is a joint initiative of Janaagraha (a Bangalore based NGO working on urban
governance reforms) and Tata Tea Ltd. This partnership represents a unique tie-up
between the civil society and corporate sector to bring about large scale social
change.Most importantly, it’s the youth of India which is running this campaign. Out of the
10 member dedicated team from Janaagraha that is running this campaign, all of
whom are less than 30 yrs of age, five are alumni from IIT Madras. All of these youth
had voluntarily given up their private sector jobs to work dedicatedly on a cause
they believed in.
The campaign has an eminent Advisory Board which includes NR Narayanamurthy,
T S Krishnamurthy (ex Chief Election Commissioner of India), Rakeysh Mehra (Film
maker and Director, Rang de basanti) and Tariq Ansari (MD, Mid-Day group).
The campaign has been endorsed by the Election Commission of India.


Introduction:
Janaagraha and Tata Tea initiated the “Shut up and Vote Tour” campaign across the
country as part of their ongoing  Jaago Re! One Billion Votes campaign.  The
campaign aimed at leveraging the platform of music to encourage the youth to vote
and be the difference they seek.
The unique campaign witnessed rock shows by a pioneering Indian Rock Band  –
‘Thermal and a Quarter’ across 5 major cities viz Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi
and Mumbai during the last week of March.
A music video under the same name ‘Shut Up and Vote’ was also developed by the
Bangalore based Rock Band, Thermal and a Quarter. The video aims at highlighting
the importance of participation of youth in the electoral process in a language that
youth understand and associate with Music!
The five-city rock tour started in Chennai on March 20 and ended in Bangalore, the
headquarters of the campaign.
The Client: Janaagraha
Brand-comm’s client, Janaagraha, is a non-profit organization that works with
citizens and their governments to improve the quality of life in our cities and towns.
Since its foundation in 2001 by Swati and Ramesh Ramanathan, Janaagraha has
worked consistently to address issues of urban governance.
The campaign was a joint venture between Tata Tea and Jaanagraha, the Tata tea PR
was taken care of by Vaishnavi Communication.
Client Objectives:
The agency was approached by Janaagraha to initiate PR activities for the campaign.
The rationale behind the use of PR efforts was because, although the Jaago Re
campaign had already gained some mileage through its advertising campaign, PR
efforts were required to create visibility for the Rakesh Omprakash Mehra campaign
as well as the shut up and vote tour  in order to create awareness and to initiate
young voters to register.

The main objectives of the campaign were:
1. To ensure maximum number of voter registrations by making the process
easier.
2. To create a platform that will motivate the Indian youth to participate actively
in the electoral process of the country.
3. To have a far reaching and lasting impact on the future of the country, the
Indian youth. The strategy adopted for the same were twofold:
 First: to create visibility about the campaign itself through a media event,
where Rakesh Omprakash Mehra was roped in to visit various colleges across
the country.

 Secondly: through the launch of the Shut up and Vote tour by the band
‘Thermal and a Quarter’ through a press conference in Bangalore.

The campaigns roll out/process:
 Rakesh Ompraksah Mehra interacting in the colleges in Delhi and Chennai
about the importance of voting.
 Shut up and Vote tour launch press conference in Bangalore
 Shut up and Vote Tour in select cities (Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata,
Mumbai).
 Panel discussions, involving Rahul Bose and representatives from Tata Tea
and Janaagraha
In all these activities brand-comm played a considerable role in creating media
presence for the event, handling media at the event and translating them into
substantial coverage in both print and electronic media.
In the launch year (2008 -09), the campaign was targeting urban voters in India’s top
35 cities, which represents one-third of India’s urban population. The campaign is
targeting to register  4 million voters before April 2009 elections. From next year
onwards, the campaign plans to target Tier 2 cities and eventually rural India.
Jaago Re! One Billion Votes has been able to draw considerable attention to the
importance of voting, and provided a platform to facilitate voter registration. While
it is difficult to quantify the final impact, the fact that we enabled 6 lakh online voter
registrations itself makes this the most successful registration drive in Indian history.
For brand-comm the Jaago Re campaign was one of the most important PR
assignment. Through this PR campaign brand-comm could recognize its true
potential as a national PR agency as the campaign demanded consistent media
communication in 6 cities. To make such a huge campaign successful one must be
prepared for the challenges that come with it.
Some of the challenges which brand-comm had to face were:
 Frequent change of dates and venue for the events

 Last minute change for the spokesperson who was to be available for the
press gathering

 Shortcomings in the venue

 Logistic issues

brand-comm was able to overcome these challenges through smooth co-ordination
with the team handling the campaign and prompt decision making process. The
agency was also blessed with a competent team in each of the venues who were able
to handle crisis diligently.




Sunday, 3 April 2011

DIGITAL MEDIA


You may have heard of digital media, but you may have no idea what it is and how it can help you out when it comes to marketing. It's definitely important that you get up to speed so you can use this to benefit your business. Basically digital media refers to any type of electronic media out there. Today media can be accessed in many ways, including with hand held devices like mobile phones, laptops, desktops, mp3 players, and more.
Digital media must be stored in an electronic way, so there is a lot of digital content on the internet today, including text content, pictures, audio content, as well as video content. Through the history of internet, digital media has been developing in various ways. Here's we'll take a look at how it has affected the Internet and ways that it may be integrated moving forwards.
One type of digital media is text; this in fact represented the very first explosion of this type of content out there on the Internet. When the Internet first got big, there was an explosion of content on the web, especially with all the text editors and word processing options out there today. Larger companies started to put date on computers instead of storing it in cabinets, and the internet definitely allowed a great way to share, transfer, and store content as well.
As the Internet grew, images began to appear. Instead of just text emails, soon people could send photos, and soon photo sites for sharing photos began to pop up. Then in the middle 1990s, audio began to become an important part of digital media with the mp3 files that could be easily used. Soon music and more was shared online with sites that allowed you to share audio.
Last in the digital media development was video. YouTube definitely made video sharing a hugely popular form of modern media distribution, and this is continuing to grow as we speak today. Now with new technology seen in things like the iPhone, this new form of virtual media is available in handheld devices as well, and no doubt this sector is only going to continue to grow in the future.

Monday, 24 January 2011

NEW MEDIA

Online Communication

Online communications today is about forming connections, creating community, and organizing action in previously unimaginable ways.
Blogs, celebrity web sites and search engines are contemporaries
Video conferencing, E-mails, chat rooms etc.

Advantages 
Communication-from one place to another corner of the world
Information-any kind of news data etc
Entertainment-Movie ,songs & games download
Services- World Wide Web,Telnet ,Electronic Mail, FTP - File Transfer Protocol, Chat, Newsgroups
E-Commerce- buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems

Disadvantages
Theft of Personal information-Internet Banking
Spamming- sending unwanted e-mails in bulk
Virus threat-trojen, Melissa.A
Pornography-Portrayal of explicit content

Features Of Online Communication
E Mails-Electronic Mail, Unique name that consist of user name and domain name that identifies users.   E.g.- kartik_arora@gmail.com
Chat rooms-Typed conversation that takes place on a computer,Yahoo messenger,Gtalk etc
Community websites- A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media  
    Facebook,twitter,orkut hi5
Blogs-Regular updated journal format to reflect interest or opinion of the author
Newsgroups-Online area where users discuss a particular subject
Websites-It is a collection of related web pages
E Papers-Electronic newspaper

ISP
Short for Internet Service Provider, it refers to a company that provides Internet services, including personal and business access to the Internet. For a monthly fee, the service provider usually provides a software package, username, password and access phone number. Equipped with a modem, you can then log on to the Internet and browse the World Wide Web and USENET, and send and receive e-mail. For broadband access you typically receive the broadband modem hardware or pay a monthly fee for this equipment that is added to your ISP account billing.
In addition to serving individuals, ISPs also serve large companies, providing a direct connection from the company's networks to the Internet. ISPs themselves are connected to one another through Network Access Points (NAPs). ISPs may also be called IAPs (Internet Access Providers).
Internet
The term Internet has been coined from two terms, i.e., interconnection and network. A network is simply a group of computers that are connected together for sharing information and resources. Several such networks have been joined together across the world toform what is called as the Internet.
The Internet comprises thousands of local area networks, groups of computers including government supercomputers, campus-wide information systems, local area networks and individual workstations.
Internet Society (ISOC) defines Internet as a ‘global network of networks’ enabling computers of all kinds to directly and transparently communicate and share services throughout the world using a common communication protocol.
There exists a set of rules which governs the the sending and receiving of data on the Internet .
These rules are implemented in two parts in the network software and are called Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).
These two are collectively called TCP/IP. For sending large block of text/data to another machine, TCP divides the data into little data packets. It also adds special information e.g. the packet position, error correction code etc.
To make sure that packets at the destination can be reassembled correctly and without any damage to data. The role of IP here is to put destination addressing information on such packets
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a set of rules for exchanging files (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web
HTTP defines how browsers request web pages from servers and how servers transfer web pages to clients i.e., in essence it defines the interaction between the web client and the web server.
HTTP request messages for the objects in the page to the server. The server receives the requests and responds with HTTP response messages that contain the objects.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)-FTP is a standard Internet protocol. It is the simplest way to exchange files between computers on the Internet.
FTP is commonly used to transfer web page files from their creator to the computer that acts as their server for everyone on the Internet.
Each host computer on the Internet has its own unique address. To identify a host on the Internet, three addressing systems have been evolved: A numerical system called IP addressing, a hierarchical naming system called the Domain Name System, and an addressing system called URLs, which are used for identifying sites on the web.
IP address: Each computer has a unique numerical address, such as 202.54.26.82
Domain name: Each computer must have a unique name, such as www.iitd.ac.in
Uniform Resource Locator: Address of file(s) to be accessible from a host computer


           

Saturday, 27 November 2010

BASICS OF CAMERA, LIGHT & SOUND

Lighting For Video

Video lights are divided into two main categories: bare bulb or fresnel (pronounced "fruh-NEL"). The bare bulb light is pretty straightforward -- a light bulb surrounded by a reflector. Also referred to as open face or open light, these lights use the reflector to focus the light's rays. All open face lights have uneven lighting, though higher-end versions mitigate the effect somewhat.
Fresnels, on the other hand, use a lens as the primary focus mechanism. They produce intense, focused light and usually have a longer reach than their open face cousins.



Video lights are usually known by the types of bulbs they use, and there are quite a few different types, so be forewarned! Here's a quick rundown:
Incandescent: Most household lamps contain this type of bulb. The home variety is usually very warm (around 2900K), but you can purchase professional incandescent bulbs at cooler temperatures. These types of bulbs are known as photoflood. When you use these lights, your initial investment is very low, but unfortunately, they rarely last very long.
Tungsten-Halogen: These little bulbs are smaller & more efficient than incandescent, but they're also more expensive! Sometimes referred to as quartz bulbs, they're normally rated at 3200K. Lights in this category include Arri's Arrilite 600-Watt Focusing Flood or Smith-Victor's 600-Watt Open Faced Tungsten.
Fluorescent: Regular fluorescent bulbs, such as those found in an office, produce greenish light and are hard to match with daylight or tungsten. But professional fluorescents do exist. Fluorescents have a very long life, produce soft light & generate virtually no heat.
HMI (Hydrargyrum Medium-arc Iodide): If you're willing to shell out some dough, these lights are daylight-balanced and extremely efficient. HMIs produce almost three times the amount of light as Tungsten-Halogen for the same amount of power. You can look at the 1.2KW Fresnel or the 400-Watt soft light for examples of lower cost HMI lighting fixture options.
Carbon Arc Lamps: You might best recognize these lights by their marketing application -- spotlights outside a car dealership making light circles in the sky! Large productions often use them for simulating daylight or for lighting large areas. But inexperienced users need not apply! Carbon Arc lamps have unique power requirements and a trained electrician is usually required for operation.
Lighting Accessories
Barn doors, adjustable flaps that can be fastened to light's rim, are used to control light rays & block unwanted spill.
Scrims, also used for light control, are circular wire mesh screens that are placed in front of the light. They effectively cut down a light's intensity while retaining its color temperature.
Softbox is a white-faced box which fits over the front of your lights. You use a softbox to both diffuse & soften light striking your subject. This "soft light" produces gentle shadows and smooths out wrinkles or textures.
You can also use an umbrella to get that soft light look. The light shines into the umbrella, and the umbrella's white or silver interior reflects and diffuses the light rays back onto the subject you are shooting.
Gels are an indispensable part of any videographer's light kit. These dyed plastic sheets mount in front of a light or clip on to barn doors. You can change a light's intensity and/or color by the type of gel you use. Some of the most common gels include neutral density, which cut down a light's output; CT Blue, which balances your lights to daylight or HMIs; & Orange, which balances your light to tungsten.



Controlling the Light’s Colour

Color Temperature
All light sources have a distinct color that is rated using the Kelvin temperature scale. When we talk about color temperature, we are not talking about heat, but the color of the light that we see. Simply stated, indoor light is around 3200K, outdoor light is 5600K and fluorescents around 4200K. We use these numbers as starting points because in reality the color temperatures can vary quite a bit depending on the light source. For instance, outdoor color temperatures can range from 5000K to 12000K depending on cloud cover and time of day.

The human eye is capable of seeing many color temperatures of light at one time and interpreting the colors correctly so that when you are indoors, looking out a window, you see the grass as green and the sky as blue. You will also see white & colors correctly under the indoor light. Cameras however can only see one color temperature at a time. If your camera is set for daylight, it will see indoor lighting as very orange. This is why the photos you take in your living room without flash with daylight film look orange (or set to indoor on your digital camera). If your camera is set for indoors, the scene out your window will look very blue.
When you white balance your camera, you are setting your camera to see white as white under the light in which you are shooting. The real trouble comes when you have multiple sources of light, each with a different color temperature.

Turning Indoor into Outdoor
If the interior location you are shooting in has a lot of windows and bright sunlight streaming in, don't close the curtains, use it. The light coming through the windows will make a great back light or fill light for your scene. However, what do you do about the video light you are going to use as your key light? It is rated at 3200K -- the indoor light setting. Simply attach a Blue gel to the front of the light and it converts the light to 5600K and becomes an outdoor light! White balance your camera using the outdoor setting & you will have a beautifully lit scene.

Turning Outdoor Light into Indoor light
If your interior setting has a few windows and you want to use the light as a fill light but your main light source will be video lights, you can also change outdoor light into indoor light. Get a sheet of Orange gel and place it over the window. While to your eye it will look a little strange, to the camera, it will look as if it is seeing through a clear window and the sky will be blue, the leaves green and the school busses bright yellow.



Fluorescents
If you shoot video in offices, fluorescent light fixtures can cause a myriad of problems. When you white balance your camera to match the video lights you set up for your shoot, the fluorescent lights in the office will give surfaces a nasty green tint. You could turn out the office lights and just use your video lights, but that creates other problems such as a need for more fill light. Having enough fill makes the scene look more natural. What you can do is counter balance: either place an aqua colored filter in front of your video lights to convert them to the same color temperature of the fluorescents, or place reddish orange sleeves over the fluorescent tubes to convert them to the same color temperature as your video light kit.

The next time you go to a movie and see an office scene with the city shining outside the window, you can be assured that they have used color correcting gels.

Final Correction
While correcting the light from your lighting instruments or the windows is important, your hard work will only pay dividends if you remember to white balance every time you change positions. Even when shooting outdoors you can have a variety of color temperatures.

Take the time to white balance every time you change camera positions or directions. Remember, when your camera sees white as white, the other colors in your scene will be right.


Tips and Tricks on Video Lighting
Lighting Indoors:
1. Don't place your subject in front of a bright window. Move the subject to a place where the light source (window) falls on the front. If that is impossible, frame the shot tighter so most of the window is not visible.
2. Turn on as many lights as possible to offset the stronger sunlight behind the subject. Use the manual aperture setting to counteract the camera's desire to over compensate.
3. In situations where you have a choice to use sun light or incandescent, use the former. Sunlight is more colorful than the house lights. Remember to white balance for the dominant light source.
4. At night with incandescent light sources, you'll have more freedom to move both the subject and the light. Again, it's a good idea to keep the light source out of the frame, but this time you don't have to compromise framing, just move the light. Another reason to remove the light from the frame is because table and floor lamps (practicles) sometimes leave a halo around the subject when placed in the frame.
5. Try to mold the light across from one side of the subject to the other so the difference between lighter and darker helps create the illusion of three dimensions.

Lighting Outdoors:
Nighttime: Most of us come across the difficulties in lighting outdoors at night.
1.    Don't place subject directly below light, this will cause harsh shadows under the eyes, nose & chin. Headlights from a car can work but they are hard & will act like spots: try bouncing them also to diffuse the light. I've seen flashlights bounced off clothing work, but this is really tricky.
2.    Moonlight is unlikely to work well, no matter how bright it looks to your eyes. In any event, move your auto focus and aperture to manual. At such low light levels, the auto sensors do not work well.


Available Light Outdoors: Daytime
1.    A sunny day is okay, but overcast is better situation. An overcast sky gives diffused light, creates very little shadow and you can shoot all day. If there is full sun, your subject may cast deep shadows, since sunlight is very hard. The stronger and higher the sun, the deeper and more contrasty the shadows, so there's not much opportunity to create 3D molding. Try to avoid shooting from 11:00am to 2:00pm. During this time, the sun is high and creates overhead lighting, which is very flat. In this situation put your subject under a tree in the shade, but don't show too much of the sky as background, since the dappled light under a tree will contrast strongly with the full sunlight in the background.
2.    Keep the camera angle higher so you can avoid too much bright sky or a burnt background. Sunlight provides plenty of light for a reflector, however. Position your subject in shade & then use a reflector to bounce sunlight onto your subject.
3.    If you have to deal with varying light intensities, because the subject is moving, for example, set the aperture to manual, take a reading of the brightest and darkest areas and then set your f-stop or aperture in between the two.
4.    If full sunlight with a beach or snowscape setting is unavoidable, at least position your subject with sun to the side so they don't have to squint directly into sun.
5.    If available, you can bounce light from the sun with a white sheet, poster board or foamcore. You don't need a big piece, just enough to illuminate the face. The upshot is to avoid sharp shadows and great contrast. Some shadow is good on people, because it results in a stronger three-dimensional look. In shooting inanimate objects, less shadow is desirable because you want to see all the detail that shadows may hide.
6.    If the light is too hot, your camera may overexpose the shot or over compensate in auto mode. What you really need is a neutral density filter. These gray filters don't change the quality of the light, just the intensity. They screw on to the front of your lens & come in 2-stop increments. Also, if you want to shoot sky & create fuller & deeper looking images, try a polarizer, it acts like a ND filter but changes the quality of the light much like polarizing sunglasses.

Using Dimmers
In an indoor situation where you have bright light from a table lamp or floor lamp, try using dimmers. Dimmers are very easy to make & you can safely wire one into an extension cord without too much trouble. If you are in a situation where the lights are bright just whip out your hand dandy home made dimmers and make that light as bright or dim as you want without the need to rearrange the furniture. The color temperature of the light will change, but as long as you white balance first, you should be OK.
Make the light work for you. Don't let the light make you work. 


Lighting

Video & Photography, both use light, reflected from subject to create images. Therefore light is a key element. In earlier days, its main function was to provide illumination to subject essential for capturing image on film. But today, lighting can be used to express (or even repress) chosen aspects of subject, such as texture, form, depth, detail & mood.

Characteristics of Lighting
Following are the key features of lighting to bear in mind:


  • Direction
  • Quality / Intensity
  • Evenness
  • Contrast
  • Colour
  • Source




Direction
FRONT LIGHT
Here light source is directly behind the viewer's point of view. This type of lighting is often unappealing if the light source is hard - there are exceptions and in some situations very attractive images can come from soft frontal lighting.

Front lighting doesn’t substantially helps in revealing form or texture since the shadows are mostly hidden from view, as a result it can make things look flat. It can help conceal wrinkles and blemishes and so is quite often used in product shoot.




SIDE LIGHTING
It is good for showing form & texture and lends a three-dimensional quality to objects. Shadows are prominent & contrast can be high as a result.

Side lighting is generally attractive & is often used to great effect: it is the kind of lighting encountered at beginning & end of the day & as such is often seen in photographs.

Potential drawbacks: areas of the image can be lost in shadow, and it can reveal imperfections such as wrinkles.

BACK LIGHTING
Back lighting is where the viewer is looking into the light source. It is usually a high contrast situation and can often look very atmospheric & dramatic.

·         Back lighting can make most mundane subjects look appealing.
·         It is also a very effective way of revealing translucency.
·         Silhouettes are a common feature of backlit scenes.


 TOP LIGHTING
It is slightly more unusual situation. It can be encountered in sunshine at midday, in some interiors & in situations such as stage lighting.

In soft light it is an effective way of showing form. But underneath hard lights one will have black holes for eyes since their eye sockets will be in total shadow.

It is rarely used by artists.
The very fact that it's not often seen, it can be used to create an uncomfortable feeling.


BOTTOM LIGHTING
Lighting from directly below the subject is even more unusual, than top lighting. In a natural context this might happen if someone is standing over a campfire, or holding a torch. It would definitely lend a strange appearance to even the most familiar things since what is usually seen in light & shade would be reversed.

Think of a person shining a torch onto their face from below: the shadows appear to be upside down.

In the very rarity, this kind of lighting can be used to creative effect.




SOURCE OF LIGHT
Natural: Sunlight, Moonlight,
Reflected Daylight etc.
Artificial: Flash, Lamps, Studio Lights, Street Lights etc.

Natural light
Natural light comes in a wide range & difference between them can be enormous. The main source of natural light is sun. However it varies in characteristics at different times of the day & weather conditions, turning it into different forms ranging from hard & warm to soft and cool lighting.
This image probably represents the most straightforward kind of light the sun gives in terms of character.
Being translucent, clouds also have a major impact on colour & character of sunlight. Light traveling through clouds, is deflected by water particles present in them. This causes rays to bounce around & emerge from it in several directions (diffusion).


Natural light is not necessarily outdoor, nor is artificial light exclusively indoor. Some of the best outdoor shots use flash to "fill" harsh shadows, while an indoor scene may rely entirely on filtered window light.
Artificial & Indoor lighting
Light indoors has a different character to that found outside. With human beings in control of light source there is an added twist; that a light is often designed for a specific purpose. e.g. household lights are to give appealing, generally diffused light whereas office lighting is more functional & cost-effective.
Generally, most artificial light sources are diffused (major exception being spotlights) to soften light & shadows it produce. Even sunlight indoors is diffused as it bounces between walls, floors & ceilings.

Household tungsten lights are most commonly encountered form of indoor lights. These use incandescent bulbs & can be found in overhead bulbs to lamps and side lights. The colour of these tungsten lights is strong yellow/orange.
Mixed lighting
Its common to see mixture of natural light & artificial light, especially during dawn & dusk leading to an interesting mixtures of colours & intensities (since natural light & tungsten light have complimentary colours in blue & orange). When using a combination of artificial & natural light, (exterior or interior) one or other of these light sources must be colour corrected.



Firelight and candlelight
Light that comes from a flame is even redder than incandescent light from light bulbs & we actually perceive it as orange / red. These light sources are often placed much lower than incandescent lights & also are often moving as light from fire & candles flickers.



Street lighting
Street lights are deep orange, and they have a very narrow spectrum. This makes everything under them appear very monochromatic orange.
In between two or more street lights objects will cast multiple shadows. And also, pool of light underneath them is quite small & fades into darkness quickly, making streets at night very high in contrast.


Quality / Intensity
Light Quality is used to label effect light has on photograph. Light quality breaks down into two basic types - HARD and SOFT.

Hard Light is very bright and hence creates harsh, hard shadows on a subject. As a result of this, range of details seen of the subject is diminished.
Also depending on the direction of the light, hard shadows make a major impact on the texture and shape of a photo; affecting the mood of a photo dramatically. 
An example of hard lighting can be seen in the photo of cactus plant. Here brightness range or the difference between white & black is too high. 

The solution with hard light is to Soften it with a reflector - to add light to the shadow side.

A pure soft light has NO shadows. It is a light that comes from no specific direction and is often seen on an overcast day. Because there are no shadows, it is called flat lighting because things look flat under this sort of light.
It is diffused, displaying better range of details of the subject.
Soft light is usually a little low in contrast and will often have a brightness range between white and black of less than one f stop or aperture.


Lighting Contrast / Lighting Ratio
It is difference between amount of light falling on shadow areas & areas of subject that are brightly lit. It is usually measured in stops & sometimes expressed as a ratio.

Low contrast images (or images with high key lighting) will not have a high amount of difference in light (usually 2 f-stops or lesser) while in a Low key / High contrast image the amount of light difference will be too high (5 to 7 f-stops).

 High key images generally have predominance of white & tend to look bright & airy. They’re often soft with very light shadows due to amount of reflected light bouncing around. In nature high key lighting is found in fog & snow.

Low key images have very little light in them. Contrast is high & the lighting hard. The most obvious setting for low key lighting is night time, storms and in interiors. To increase or decrease the contrast of a scene, additional lights can be brought in.

Some photographers deliberately work with extreme light contrast. This is usually done to achieve mood of a scene.

COLOUR
To understand the importance of color as a characteristic feature of lighting, one has to first understand that where exactly does colour comes from.

Where Does Color Come From
It is due to selectively absorption & reflection of certain wavelengths of white light.

Therefore colors are primarily affected by color of light source. Sunlight or light from bulb looks white to us (containing mixture of all colors in varying proportions) but in reality the colour of these sources vary considerably.

Light from midday sun, is bluer compared to sunrise or tungsten lamp. To produce what appears to us to be normal/accurate color, image must contain same colors as in original scene.

In order to establish a standard for defining the color content of light, colour temperature is used and quoted in degrees Kelvin.

Color temperature scale ranges from lower color temperatures of reddish light to the higher color temperatures of bluish light.
Colour temperature, as defined in a photographic context, is only concerned with characteristics of the recording medium, & this is measured according to ratio of light between blue & red region.

When light sources of varying colour temperatures are being used together, they should be colour corrected as required to conform to a single colour temperature output. In general you will be matching for either daylight at 5600 degrees Kelvin or artificial light at 3200 degrees Kelvin. A range of colour correction filters, are available for this task.
A camera film balanced for 3200 degrees Kelvin will reproduce images lit by a 5600 degree light source with a blue tint, or conversely a camera balanced for 5600 degrees Kelvin will produce images lit by a 3200 degree light source with an orange tint.


Continuity Problems
Aesthetic Editing Jumps

1)Crossing the Line of Action or Action Axis.

2) Abrupt Changes in Image Size
3) Shooting Angle
4) Continuity of Appearance

Technical continuity problem
Any noticeable, abrupt, or undesirable change in audio or video during a production is referred to as a technical continuity problem

Audio Continuity Problems
Audio continuity problems can be caused by a wide range of factors including shot-to-shot variations in:
background sound
sound ambiance (reverberation in room, mic distance, etc.)
frequency response of mic or audio equipment
audio levels .



Video Continuity Problems
Video has its own continuity problems; for example, changes in:
color balance
light levels; exposure
camera optics; sharpness
recording quality
Entering & Exiting the Frame   

LENSES
Focal length = distance from the optical center of the lens to the focal plane (target or "chip") when the lens is focused at infinity. It is generally measured in millimeters.
Zoom Lenses came into common use in the early 1960s. Before then, TV cameras used lenses of different focal lengths mounted on a turret on the front of the camera, as shown on the right.
Zoom lenses use numerous glass elements, each of which is precisely ground, polished, & positioned & can be repositioned to change magnification of lens. On zoom, these lens elements move independently at precise speeds.

With Prime Lens, focal length of lens cannot be varied. Prime lenses are more predictable in their results. Prime lenses also come in more specialized forms, like, super wide angle, super telephoto, etc.

Angle of View: It is directly associated with lens focal length. Longer the focal length (in mm), narrower the angle of view (in degrees).
 When you double the focal length of a lens, you double the size of an image on the target; and vice versa.

Zoom Ratio
Zoom ratio is conventionally used to define focal length range for a zoom lens. If the maximum range through which a particular lens can be zoomed is 10mm to 100mm, it's said to have a 10:1 (ten-to-one) zoom ratio. But this does not shows that what is the minimum and maximum focal length of lens. A 10:1 zoom lens could have a 10 to 100mm, or a 100 to 1,000mm lens, & the difference would be quite dramatic.
To solve this problem, we refer to the first zoom lens as a 10 X 10 (ten-by-ten) & 2nd as a 100 X 10. First number represents minimum focal length & second number the multiplier. So a 12 X 20 zoom lens has a min focal length of 12mm & a maximum focal length of 240mm.

Motorized Zoom Lenses
Originally, cameraperson manually controlled zoom lens. Today built-in, variable-speed electric motors do a much smoother & more controlled job. We refer to these electric zooms as servo-controlled zooms.

Perspective Changes
 The use of a wide-angle lens combined with a limited camera-to-subject distance creates a type of perspective distortion. The parallel lines along the sides of the building appear to converge toward the top. The building appears to be leaning backward.

You get even more distortion using an extreme wide-angle lens when you get very close to subj. If this is not the effect you want, the solution is to move back & use the lens at a normal-to-telephoto setting.

Lens Speed
Lens speed is the maximum amount of light that can pass through the lens to end up on the target. However we need a way of governing the amount of light entering the lens. For this we use the aperture or iris.
It is measured in f-stops. The "f" stands for factor. An f-stop is ratio between lens opening & lens focal length. More specifically, the f-stop equals the focal length divided by the size of the lens opening.
f-stop = focal length / lens opening
the smaller the f-stop number the more light the lens transmits.
1.4,  2.0,  2.8,  4.0,  5.6,  8,  11,  16,  22
<== more light      less light ==>
Depth of Field
We define depth of field as the range of distance in front of the camera that's in sharp focus.

DIGITAL ZOOM & OPTICAL ZOOM
Most people who have used a 35mm camera or an APS camera are aware of only optical zoom. Optical zoom uses the optics (lens) of the camera to bring the subject closer. Digital zoom is an invention of digital video cameras. It is not uncommon to see digital videocams with 300x digital zoom.
For our purpose, digital zoom is not really zoom, in the strictest definition of the term. What digital zoom does is enlarge a portion of the image, thus 'simulating' optical zoom. In other words, the camera crops a portion of the image and then enlarges it back to size. In so doing, you lose image quality. If you've been regularly using digital zoom and wondered why your pictures did not look that great, now you know.
Is digital zoom therefore all bad? No, not at all. It's a feature that you might want in your digital camera (in fact, all digital cameras include some digital zoom, so you can't really avoid it), especially if you don't care about using (or don't know how to use) an image editing software. So, as far as digital zoom is concerned, you can do it in camera or you can do it afterwards in an image editing software. Any cropping and enlarging can be done in an image editing software, such as Photoshop.
So, when a digital camera is advertised with 3x digital zoom, no big deal. You can achieve the same 3x (and in fact as much as you want) digital zoom effect in an image editing software. The advantage of doing it later is that you can then decide exactly which portion to crop and how much to enlarge (3x, 4x, ...). If you do it in camera, image quality is irreversibly lost.
Someone in a digital camera forum once mentioned that he uses digital zoom because it might mean the difference between capturing a great shot or not at all. Umm, let's think about this a bit. True, if by zooming digitally in camera you get to see what your subject is doing and thus can capture the shot at the right moment. Not quite true, if it's something like a landscape shot, and the mountains ain't going nowhere fast, because you can achieve the same cropping and enlarging effect after the fact in your image editing software. So, it's really up to you, if you know what you're doing.
What, therefore is the rule of thumb, when it comes to using zoom? Here it is: Always use optical zoom. When buying a camera, choose one that warns you that you are about to use digital zoom or that allows you to disable digital zoom (most do). If you do use digital zoom, use it only if it does not appreciably impact your image quality. If you rarely print past 4x6 in. photos, digital zoom may not adversely affect you.
When comparing cameras, you should always use optical zoom. There is no point in comparing digital zoom with digital zoom or optical zoom with total zoom. Always compare optical zoom with optical zoom.
Optical Zoom vs. Resolution
What about optical zoom vs. resolution? Sigh! Now y'all know that we cannot and should not be comparing apples 'n oranges, but we still try. The question I often read about goes something like this: "Which is better: 2 megapixels resolution with 3x optical zoom or 3 megapixels resolution with 2x optical zoom?"
The megapixels resolution of a digital camera can be thought of as the number of pixels available to capture an image. With a 2 megapixels camera, you have 2 million pixels to record an image. With a 3 megapixels camera, you have 1 million extra pixels to record the same image -- in other words, you are able to capture the image in more detail.
Whether you zoom or not does not affect how many pixels are used to capture the image. So, zoomed at its maximum, a 2 megapixels 3x optical zoom digital camera will still have captured a 2 million pixels image. Likewise, a 3 megapixels 2x optical zoom digital camera will always capture a 3 million pixels image.
The real question behind the question is, "So now if I use digital zoom to zoom in with the 3 megapixels camera and simulate a total zoom of 3x, will the resultant image quality be less, the same, or still better than the one I captured with the 2 megapixels 3x optical zoom camera?" You follow so far?
With a 2 megapixels digital camera, you can make good 4x6 in. prints, and maybe even 5x7 in. prints. With a 3 megapixels digital camera, you can make good 8x10 in. prints. So, as far as image quality is concerned, the 3 megapixels camera is better. Unless you are always going to take pictures at max. zoom, the 3MP camera is better because at 2x optical zoom and less, it is always capturing images with more detail than the 2MP camera.
What we are really trying to say is this: do not compare. You've got to decide what is more important to you: resolution or optical zoom? If the answer is both, then find a digital camera that has both. It's that simple. If it's outside your pocketbook range, then choose a digital camera for what is more important to you.
We usually recommend buying a digital camera with at least 3 megapixels resolution because of the better image quality. A 2x optical zoom is disappointing, but not necessarily a show-stopper. A 3x optical zoom is standard with most consumer digital cameras. Some ultra-compact digital cameras may be able to provide only 2x optical zoom. We never bother to check how much digital zoom a camera provides, and ignore the marketing hype surrounding it. We always disable digital zoom in camera, choosing to do our own cropping and enlarging in an image editing software.
Optical vs. digital zoom? There is no contest. Only optical zoom matters when selecting a digital camera.
Added September 16, 2004:
Smart Zoom
Recently, a new type of digital zoom has appeared on the market, pioneered by Sony, called "Smart Zoom." Smart Zoom can be viewed as an "ethical" digital zoom which avoids interpolating the image and so avoid degrading image quality. Smart Zoom works only if you select an image size smaller than the full available image size. So, for example, if your digital camera is capable of producing a 5MP image, Smart Zoom is available only if you select to save your images as 4MP or less.
Say, your digital camera is 5MP and you select to save your images as 3MP. So, in effect, you are forfeiting 2MP of image data (extracted from all over the image area) that the digital camera's sensor has captured and now has to throw away [you hope the camera makes the right decision and does not throw away important image data]. Enter Smart Zoom that says, "Hey, instead of throwing away 2MP of good data from all over the image area, why don't I crop out all the pixels starting from the outside perimeter? When I've cropped out 2MP of image data all around, I have 3MP left over and that's what you want, right?" Notice, the 3MP image does not have to be interpolated and enlarged back to 5MP as traditional digital zoom does (because you elected to save it as 3MP, remember?). So, in effect, you've basically more or less retained the same image quality but you have to save your resulting simulated zoomed image in a smaller image size. Of course, if now you turn around and enlarge it in post-processing, you will be limited to what a 3MP image can be enlarged up to without image degradation.
I call Smart Zoom "ethical digital zoom" because it is not made available at full image size -- this would cause image degradation. The smaller you elect to save your image, the more smart zoom power you have available (folks, you're basically just cropping the image without re-enlarging, which you can also do at any time in post-processing). I would personally not recommend cropping down below 3MP, which means that Smart Zoom is useful only in digital cameras with 4MP and above.
So, our recommendation still holds. If you want zoom power, only optical zoom matters! Smart Zoom is the better form of digital zoom, but what you gain in simulated zoom power (again, you're just cropping), you lose in image size. There's no free lunch.
Again, don't buy a digital camera based on digital (traditional or smart) zoom. Always compare optical zoom with optical zoom. If you are comparing 2 digital cameras with the same optical zoom, but one has smart digital zoom and the other has traditional digital zoom, then the smart zoom has a slight advantage. But personally, I wouldn't even look at that because there are a lot more important features to differentiate the cameras.







In many situations, you may want to get "close" to a subject without moving physically closer—for example, when you don't want to break the mood of a scene, when you can't get closer because of an obstacle, or when the object of your attention might enjoy having you for lunch. The zoom control on your digital camera will let you get "close" enough to capture that bigger image. It will also let you zoom out to include a wide angle of view.
Digital cameras may be equipped with an optical zoom lens, optical and digital zoom settings, or a digital zoom only.


What is optical zoom?
Optical zoom lenses physically extend to magnify your subject. A motor controls the lens movement. When you press the switch to "W" or "T," the subject is either magnified or reduced in size. The "W" stands for "wide-angle" (reduce). The "T" stands for "telephoto" (magnify).




What is digital zoom?
Digital zoom crops your image and magnifies the result of the cropping. This magnification process is called interpolation. To make the cropped area bigger, digital zoom makes up, or interpolates, pixels to add to the image, which may give less than satisfactory results.
Using the digital zoom allows you to get closer to your subject when you want to be discreet about taking pictures, like at a graduation or a religious ceremony. Sacrificing image quality to capture the moment is more important than not getting the picture at all.
If you plan to use this mode, purchase a telephoto lens attachment so you don't have to use the digital zoom. Of course, you may use the digital zoom along with the telephoto lens attachment.
Setting up your digital zoom features depends on the type of digital camera you have. In general, the camera will allow you to zoom continuously from optical to digital or stop the optical zoom and then press the zoom switch a second time to engage digital zoom. Check your camera manual to determine your zoom settings.

Writing for Visuals

We do not watch news on TV just to get the latest news. The radio does a better job. We do not prefer television because we want to get all the news: local, national and international. The news paper does a better job.
We, as television viewers, benefit from TV newscasters because they transport us to the scene of action. The news is packaged and delivered to us. For this, a reporter must be able to relate words and pictures in a news story. Words fill in the factual details that pictures omit.
While the pictures are indeed important, it is the narration behind the film, in most instances, that is responsible for the success of visual news stories on television. Poorly written narration can hurt the effectiveness of visuals, but appropriate narration can greatly improve even poorly shot visuals. Writing to background graphics is the same as writing a story to visuals.
There are three basic rules which must be followed by the TV reporter writing for visuals:

a)               Do not cram your video narration full of details.

b)               Relate words to the pictures when telling the story. The narration and pictures must go hand in hand.

c)                Carry the viewer into the story by describing it the way it happened. Although the narrator may begin with a brief opening summary (without pictures) telling the viewer the main points of the story, it should be told as it happened, not necessarily in a chronological order.

Writing narration to blend with the visuals is one of the most difficult skills in broadcast reporting. The language must be crisp, the timing exact and the words have to click with what appears on the screen.


  Carry the viewer into the story by describing it the way it happened. Although the narrator may begin with a brief opening summary (without pictures) telling the viewer the main points of the story, it should be told as it happened, not necessarily in a chronological order.

Writing narration to blend with the visuals is one of the most difficult skills in broadcast reporting. The language must be crisp, the timing exact and the words have to click with what appears on the screen.



 The Nature of a Sound Wave

Sound is a Mechanical Wave

Sound and music are parts of our everyday sensory experience. Just as humans have eyes for the detection of light and color, so we are equipped with ears for the detection of sound. We seldom take the time to ponder the characteristics and behaviors of sound and the mechanisms by which sounds are produced, propagated, and detected. The basis for an understanding of sound, music and hearing is the physics of waves. Sound is a wave which is created by vibrating objects and propagated through a medium from one location to another. In this unit, we will investigate the nature, properties and behaviors of sound waves and apply basic wave principles towards an understanding of music.
As discussed in the previous unit of The Physics Classroom, a wave can be described as a disturbance that travels through a medium, transporting energy from one location to another location. The medium is simply the material through which the disturbance is moving; it can be thought of as a series of interacting particles. The example of a slinky wave is often used to illustrate the nature of a wave. A disturbance is typically created within the slinky by the back and forth movement of the first coil of the slinky. The first coil becomes disturbed and begins to push or pull on the second coil; this push or pull on the second coil will displace the second coil from its equilibrium position. As the second coil becomes displaced, it begins to push or pull on the third coil; the push or pull on the third coil displaces it from its equilibrium position. As the third coil becomes displaced, it begins to push or pull on the fourth coil. This process continues in consecutive fashion, each individual particle acting to displace the adjacent particle; subsequently the disturbance travels through the slinky. As the disturbance moves from coil to coil, the energy which was originally introduced into the first coil is transported along the medium from one location to another.

A sound wave is similar in nature to a slinky wave for a variety of reasons. First, there is a medium which carries the disturbance from one location to another. Typically, this medium is air; though it could be any material such as water or steel. The medium is simply a series of interconnected and interacting particles. Second, there is an original source of the wave, some vibrating object capable of disturbing the first particle of the medium. The vibrating object which creates the disturbance could be the vocal chords of a person, the vibrating string and sound board of a guitar or violin, the vibrating tines of a tuning fork, or the vibrating diaphragm of a radio speaker. Third, the sound wave is transported from one location to another by means of the particle interaction. If the sound wave is moving through air, then as one air particle is displaced from its equilibrium position, it exerts a push or pull on its nearest neighbors, causing them to be displaced from their equilibrium position. This particle interaction continues throughout the entire medium, with each particle interacting and causing a disturbance of its nearest neighbors. Since a sound wave is a disturbance which is transported through a medium via the mechanism of particle interaction, a sound wave is characterized as a mechanical wave.
The creation and propagation of sound waves are often demonstrated in class through the use of a tuning fork. A tuning fork is a metal object consisting of two tines capable of vibrating if struck by a rubber hammer or mallet. As the tines of the tuning forks vibrate back and forth, they begin to disturb surrounding air molecules. These disturbances are passed on to adjacent air molecules by the mechanism of particle interaction. The motion of the disturbance, originating at the tines of the tuning fork and traveling through the medium (in this case, air) is what is referred to as a sound wave. The generation and propagation of a sound wave is demonstrated in the animation below.


In some class demonstrations, the tuning fork is mounted on a sound board. In such instances, the vibrating tuning fork, being connected to the sound board, sets the sound board into vibrational motion. In turn, the sound board, being connected to the air inside of it, sets the air inside of the sound board into vibrational motion. As the tines of the tuning fork, the structure of the sound board, and the inside of the sound board begin vibrating at the same frequency, a louder sound is produced. In fact, the more particles which can be made to vibrate, the louder or more amplified the sound. This concept was also demonstrated by the placement of the vibrating tuning fork against the glass panel of the overhead projector; the vibrating tuning fork set the glass panel into vibrational motion and resulted in an amplified sound.
In the tuning fork demonstrations, we know that the tuning fork is vibrating because we hear the sound which is produced by their vibration. Nonetheless, we do not actually visibly detect any vibrations of the tines. This is because the tines are vibrating at a very high frequency. If the tuning fork which is being used corresponds to middle C on the piano keyboard, then the tines are vibrating at a frequency of 256 Hz - 256 vibrations per second. We are unable to detect vibrations of such high frequency. But perhaps you recall the demonstration in which a high frequency strobe light was used to slow down the vibrations. If he strobe light puts out a flash of light at a frequency of 512 Hz (two times the frequency of the tuning fork), then the tuning fork can be observed to be moving in a back and forth motion. With the room darkened, the strobe allows us to view the position of the tines two times during their vibrational cycle. Thus we see the tines when they are displaced far to the left and again when they are displaced far to the right. This is convincing proof that the tines of the tuning fork are indeed vibrating to produce sound.
In a previous unit of The Physics Classroom, a distinction was made between two categories of waves: mechanical waves and electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves are waves which have an electric and magnetic nature and are capable of traveling through a vacuum. Electromagnetic waves do not require a medium in order to transport their energy. Mechanical waves are waves which require a medium in order to transport their energy from one location to another. Because mechanical waves rely on particle interaction in order to transport their energy, they cannot travel through regions of space which are devoid of particles. That is, mechanical waves cannot travel through a vacuum. This feature of mechanical waves was demonstrated in class using a segment from a laser disc. A ringing bell was placed in a jar and air was evacuated from the jar. Once air was removed from the jar, the sound of the ringing bell could no longer be heard. The clapper could be seen striking the bell. but the sound which it produced could not be heard because there were no particles inside of the jar to transport the disturbance through the vacuum. Sound is a mechanical wave and cannot travel through a vacuum.

Sound is a Longitudinal Wave

In the first part of Lesson 1, it was mentioned that sound is a mechanical wave which is created by a vibrating object. The vibrations of the object set particles in the surrounding medium in vibrational motion, thus transporting energy through the medium. The vibrations of the particles are best described as longitudinal. Longitudinal waves are waves in which the motion of the individual particles of the medium is in a direction which is parallel to the direction of energy transport. A longitudinal wave can be created in a slinky if the slinky is stretched out in a horizontal direction and the first coils of the slinky are vibrated horizontally. In such a case, each individual coil of the medium is set into vibrational motion in directions parallel to the direction which the energy is transported.


Sound waves are longitudinal waves because particles of the medium through which the sound is transported vibrate parallel to the direction which the sound moves. A vibrating string can create longitudinal waves as depicted in the animation below. As the vibrating string moves in the forward direction, it begins to push upon surrounding air molecules, moving them to the right towards their nearest neighbor. This causes the air molecules to the right of the string to be compressed into a small region of space. As the vibrating string moves in the reverse direction (leftward), it lowers the pressure of the air immediately to its right, thus causing air molecules to move back leftward. The lower pressure to the right of the string causes air molecules in that region immediately to the right of the string to expand into a large region of space. The back and forth vibration of the string causes individual air molecules (or a layer of air molecules) in the region immediately to the right of the string to continually move back and forth horizontally; the molecules move rightward as the string moves rightward and then leftward as the string moves leftward. These back and forth vibrations are imparted to adjacent neighbors by particle interaction; thus, other surrounding particles begin to move rightward and leftward, thus sending a wave to the right. Since air molecules (the particles of the medium) are moving in a direction which is parallel to the direction which the wave moves, the sound wave is referred to as a longitudinal wave. The result of such longitudinal vibrations is the creation of compressions and rarefactions within the air.


Regardless of the source of the sound wave - whether it be a vibrating string or the vibrating tines of a tuning fork - sound is a longitudinal wave. And the essential characteristic of a longitudinal wave which distinguishes it from other types of waves is that the particles of the medium move in a direction parallel to the direction of energy transport.


Sound is a Pressure Wave

Sound is a mechanical wave which results from the longitudinal motion of the particles of the medium through which the sound wave is moving. If a sound wave is moving from left to right through air, then particles of air will be displaced both rightward and leftward as the energy of the sound wave passes through it. The motion of the particles parallel (and anti-parallel) to the direction of the energy transport is what characterizes sound as a longitudinal wave.
A vibrating tuning fork is capable of creating such a longitudinal wave. As the tines of the fork vibrate back and forth, they push on neighboring air particles. The forward motion of a tine pushes air molecules horizontally to the right and the backward retraction of the tine creates a low pressure area allowing the air particles to move back to the left. Because of the longitudinal motion of the air particles, there are regions in the air where the air particles are compressed together and other regions where the air particles are spread apart. These regions are known as compressions and rarefactions respectively. The compressions are regions of high air pressure while the rarefactions are regions of low air pressure. The diagram below depicts a sound wave created by a tuning fork and propagated through the air in an open tube. The compressions and rarefactions are labeled.

The wavelength of a wave is merely the distance which a disturbance travels along the medium in one complete wave cycle. Since a wave repeats its pattern once every wave cycle, the wavelength is sometimes referred to as the length of the repeating pattern - the length of one complete wave. For a transverse wave, this length is commonly measured from one wave crest to the next adjacent wave crest, or from one wave trough to the next adjacent wave trough. Since a longitudinal wave does not contain crests and troughs, its wavelength must be measured differently. A longitudinal wave consists of a repeating pattern of compressions and rarefactions. Thus, the wavelength is commonly measured as the distance from one compression to the next adjacent compression or the distance from one rarefaction to the next adjacent rarefaction.
Since a sound wave consists of a repeating pattern of high pressure and low pressure regions moving through a medium, it is sometimes referred to as a pressure wave. If a detector, whether it be the human ear or a man-made instrument, is used to detect a sound wave, it would detect fluctuations in pressure as the sound wave impinges upon the detecting device. At one instant in time, the detector would detect a high pressure; this would correspond to the arrival of a compression at the detector site. At the next instant in time, the detector might detect normal pressure. And then finally a low pressure would be detected, corresponding to the arrival of a rarefaction at the detector site. Since the fluctuations in pressure as detected by the detector occur at periodic and regular time intervals, a plot of pressure vs. time would appear as a sine curve. The crests of the sine curve correspond to compressions; the troughs correspond to rarefactions; and the "zero point" corresponds to the pressure which the air would have if there were no disturbance moving through it. The diagram below depicts the correspondence between the longitudinal nature of a sound wave and the pressure-time fluctuations which it creates.


The above diagram can be somewhat misleading if you are not careful. The representation of sound by a sine wave is merely an attempt to illustrate the sinusoidal nature of the pressure-time fluctuations. Do not conclude that sound is a transverse wave which has crests and troughs. Sound is indeed a longitudinal wave with compressions and rarefactions. As sound passes through a medium, the particles of that medium do not vibrate in a transverse manner. Do not be misled - sound is a longitudinal wave.

SOUND RECODING & THEORY PRACTICE
THE NATURE OF SOUND


The Sound Wave


Sound begins when an object vibrates and sets into motion molecules in the air closest to it. These molecules pass on their energy to adjacent molecules, starting a reaction - a sound wave - which is much like the waves that result when a stone is dropped into a pool.  
The transfer of momentum from one displaced molecule to the next propagates the original vibrations longitudinally from the vibrating object to the hearer 



Sound Motion in Air - Elasticity
What makes this reaction possible is air or, more precisely, a molecular medium with the property of elasticity.

 Elasticity is the phenomenon in which a displaced molecule tends to pull back to its original position after its initial momentum has caused it to displace nearby molecules. 

  Sound Motion in Air - Compression
As a vibrating object moves outward, it compresses molecules closer together, increasing atmospheric pressure.
Compression continues away from the object as the momentum of the disturbed molecules displaces adjacent molecules and so produces a crest in the sound wave.    


Sound Motion in Air - Rarefaction
When a vibrating object moves inward, it pulls the molecules farther apart and thins them, creating a rarefaction.  
This rarefaction also travels away from the object in a manner similar to compression, except that it decreases pressure, thereby producing a trough in the sound wave.  
Audio Control Devices: Boards, Consoles, & Mixers

Various sources of audio must be carefully controlled and blended during a production.
Beyond this, audio sources must also be carefully & even artistically blended to create the best possible effect.

The control of audio signals is normally done in a TV studio or production facility with an audio board or audio console.
 
Audio boards and consoles are designed to do five things.
1.Amplify incoming signals
2.Allow for switching & volume level adjustments for a variety of audio sources
3.Allow for creatively mixing together and balancing multiple audio sources to achieve an optimum blend
4.Route the combined effect to a transmission or recording device
5.Manipulate specific characteristics of audio (including left-to-right "placement" of stereo sources, altering frequency characteristics of sounds, and adding reverberation)
For video field production smaller units called audio mixers provide the most basic controls over audio.

Audio Mixer Controls
Audio mixers & consoles use 2 types of controls:
1.selector switches
2. faders. 

Monitoring of Sound
Level Control and Mixing
Audio mixing goes up to the total subjective effect as heard through the speakers or earphones.
During long pauses in narration you will probably want to increase the level of the music somewhat, and then bring it down just before narration starts again.

In selecting music to go behind narration, instrumental music is always preferred.
 





Using Audio From PA Systems
In covering musical concerts or stage productions a direct line from a professionally mixed PA (public address) system will result in decidedly better audio than using a mic to pick up sound from a PA speaker.
An appropriate line-level output of a public address amplifier fed to a high-level input of a mixer can be used. However, be careful, feeding a high-level PA signal to a mic input can damage the amplifier.
 
VX-2000
Part number: DCR-VX2000

General
·         Video input type
·         Camcorder
·         Digital zoom
·         48 x
·         Optical sensor size
·         1/3 in
·         Optical sensor type
·         3CCD
·         Min illumination
·         2 lux
·         Image effects
·         Slim, Sepia, Still, Trail, Stretch, Monotone, Old Movie, Flash Motion, Negative Art, Solarization, Black & White, Luminance Key
·         Image stabilizer
·         Optical
·         Video head qty
·         2
·         PCM digital sound
·         16bit (48KHz / 2 channels), 12bit (32KHz / 4 channels simultaneously)
·         Digital scene transition
·         Random, Black fader, Overlap fader, Monotone fader
·         Min shutter speed
·         1/60 sec
·         Max shutter speed
·         1/10000 sec
·         Slow shutter modes
·         1/4sec, 1/8sec, 1/15sec, 1/30sec
·         Shooting modes
·         Normal movie mode, Digital photo mode
·         Shooting programs
·         Night mode, Lesson mode, Sports mode, Sunset & moon, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority
·         White balance
·         Presets, Automatic
·         White balance presets
·         Indoor, Outdoor
·         Exposure modes
·         Manual, Program, Automatic
·         Flash type
·         None
Lens System
·         Lens aperture
·         F/1.6-2.4
·         Optical zoom
·         12 x
·         Lens system type
·         Zoom lens
·         Min focal length
·         6 mm
·         Max focal length
·         72 mm
·         Auto focus
·         TTL contrast detection
·         Filter size
·         58 mm
·         Equivalent 35mm focal length
·         43.2 - 518.4 mm
·         Manual focus
·         Manual, Automatic
·         Zoom adjustment
·         Manual, Motorized drive
Memory / Storage
·         Media type
·         Mini DV
·         Image storage
·         Standard 640 x 480 : 60 - With 4MB card, Fine 640 x 480 : 40 - With 4MB card, Super-fine 640 x 480 : 20 - With 4MB card
·         Flash memory
·         1 x 4 MB - Memory Stick
·         Recording speed
·         LP, SP
Viewfinder / Display
·         Display type
·         LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.5 in - Color
·         Display form factor
·         Rotating (270°)
·         Display resolution
·         200,640 pixels
·         Viewfinder color support
·         Color
Audio Input
·         Audio input type
·         Microphone
·         Microphone type
·         Built-in
·         Microphone operation mode
·         Stereo
·         Microphone technology
·         Electret condenser
Expansion / Connectivity
·         Connections
·         1 x Microphone, 1 x Headphones, 1 x Composite video/audio (input/output), 1 x S-Video input / output, 1 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire/i.LINK), 1 x Control-L (LANC), 1 x Flash terminal, 1 x DC power input
·         Expansion slots
·         1 Memory Stick
·         Cables included
·         1 x A/V cable, 1 x S-Video cable
Additional Features
·         Video input features
·         DPOF support, Built-in speaker, Backlight compensation, Progressive scan CCD system
·         Remote control
·         Remote control - Infrared
·         Software type
·         Picture Gear 4.1 Lite
·         Included accessories
·         Eyepiece, Lens cap, Lens hood, Software kit, Memory storage adapter, Camcorder shoulder strap
Power
·         Battery type
·         1 x Camcorder battery - Rechargeable - Lithium ion
·         Mfr estimated battery life
·         90 min
·         Power supply included
·         Power adapter - External
Physical Characteristics
·         Width
·         4.5 in
·         Depth
·         13.5 in
·         Height
·         5.7 in
·         Weight
·         3.1 lbs

                 Video Cameras
Just like a still photography camera, the basic requirement for a video camera is also LIGHT.
The sensitivity of camera towards light is dependent upon the quality of camera.
In order to establish a standard for defining the color content and camera’s sensitivity towards light, colour temperature is used.
   


CAMERA;TYPES OF VIDEO CAMERA

During more than five decades of existence of television industry ,the video camera has undergone a number of important changes. A half century ago there was only one kind of color television camera, a massive heavy device with three huge image sensing tubes these tubes were very larger than any Broadcast T.V. Camera today.


But today advancement in technology and in video processing makes video a great medium of communication .Video shoot will recoded on C.C.D (charge couple device camera)/digital handy camera, since the result is that the image quality is better



 



                 MAJOR CAMERA                 
COMPONENTS


All camera have three major components:

1.The lens that transmitted the light into the camera body and form the image on the camera sensor.
2.The camera head/Body containing the camera image sensor.
3.The view finder that allows the camera to compose the elements making up of a shot
        In earlier days there were basically tubes type Camera were used to form the image but now due to the advancement in technology the C.C.D (charge couple device) camera will be introduce to carry forward the function.
CAMERA
We all know that Lens capture the light reflected from the surface or scene and transmit it to the light senstative surface of the camera .In the camera the light senstative surface is either of a sold state or an older tube type imagining device which is used to convert the light energy intoelectrical energy. In video production there are basically two types of camera:
1.Photo conductive tube type camera(till,1960-70)
2.Charge couple device camera (C.C.D) till date   
In early days till mid 1960-70most of the camera produces B/W (monochrome) image. In those days the camera, light rays are reflected by the surface, reaches  the tube type imaging devices inside the camera called a vacuum tube These tube mainly converts the signals of light energy identical patterns of electrical energy
1.THE PHOTO CONDUCTIVE TUBE CAMERAS;
The Photo conductive tube is made up of glasses. light rays reflected from the surface of the lens are splits into three major components RED,GREEN,BLUE. usually called the RGB factor .The optical prism system which in turns which in turns project them to photo senstative tube. The tubes follows these path in a very identical manner any misbalance to this internal system. 
The prism block after receiving three components Red, Green, Blue. through the lens surface reflected down the blue color down to the imaging device designated for blue & similarly reflected up the red pattern upward to the imaging device red. But the prism block only allows only the green component to pass through throw them to straight to the imaging device designated to green  these three colors are re-arrange themselves to form an image inside the camera.
THE PRISM BLOCK: The prism block is highly senstative to camera. It is consist of the sensor associated with each of the color component of the light source which is highly fixed in the company at the time of designing the camera any displacement to this alignment of sensor or prism may cause damage to the whole camera & require the full replacement of the camera body.
CHARGED COUPLE DEVICE CAMERA (CCD) The change coupled device or (CCD) is also called a chip which is demonstrated in 1967.
      In the charged coupled device instead of photoconductive tubes the signal are formed into tiny discrete pixels which when formed are coupled with its associated longer to form an image which go to the system of the camera. Each compromised with a light sensitive material and a storage device.
There are various characteristic of C.C.D:
1.LONGITIVITY
2.STABILLITY
3.POWER
4.STRENGTH.
CAMERA TYPES
1.STILL PHTOGRAPHY CAMERA
2.FILM CAMERA
3.VIDEO CAMERA
Video Camera
1.Electronic News Gathering Camera
Studio Camera
2.Vacume Tube Camera
SINGLE CCD CAMERA
2 CCD CAMERA
3 CCD CAMERA

ENG CAMERA
Portable
Has VTR
Is used for all field recordings

STUDIO CAMERA
Does not have VTR
Only gives an output which is cut
  by Vision Mixer in PCR (Production
  control room)
Is used for all Live transmissions and
  recordings.

Single CCD Camera
Single CCD
Used both for Chrominance and Luminance
Cheap but Quality is not very professional

Two CCD Camera
Two CCD
One for Chrominance & second for Luminance
A little expensive than single CCD.
Quality is better but can not be called professional

Three CCD Camera
Three CCD
One for each Primary Colour + Luminance
üRed + Luminance
üGreen + Luminance
üBlue + Luminance
Expensive than previous two models.
Professional Quality.

Pickup Tube/ Vacuum tube Camera
Three tubes filled with gas
One for each Primary Colour + Luminance
üRed + Luminance
üGreen + Luminance
üBlue + Luminance
Very Poor Quality, Now Obsolete.

VIDEO FORMATS
1. ANALOG
2. DIGITAL
3. OPTICAL

VHS
Developed by JDC

Width is ½ inch

Lines of resolution – 180

Consumer quality, became highly popular                                                                            
BETA MAX

Developed by SONY
Width is ½ inch
Lines of resolution – 180
Difference between VHS &  Betamax is just the casing
Betamax is now obsolete.


U-MATIC

 Width is ¾ inch
Lines of resolution –
Low band - 220
High band - 240
Superior band - 280
Initially used for industrial & broadcast purpose


BETACAM
  introduced by Sony
   Betacam - 1982;
   BetacamSP – 1986
 LoR – 550-700
UVW
PVW
BVW
Tape width – ½ inch

HI-8
  Developed by Sony
 LoR – 400
Tape width – ¼ inch
Preferred because of small size


Super-VHS
Developed by
   Panasonic
LoR – 250-400
Tape width – ¼ inch
Comparable format to Hi-8, Obsolete from market now.


Mini - DV
Developed by Sony
LoR – 500-600
Tape width - 1/8th  inch
Small size, High quality, recordable on
DV – SP
DV – LP
DV – CAM 






DVC Pro

Developed by Panasonic

LoR – 500-600
Tape width - 1/8th  inch
Format comparable to DV-CAM, good format but expensive, low backup in delhi.





Digi-Beta



Developed by Sony
LoR – 800
Tape width - 1/4th  inch
Combines the advantages of Beta and Digital recording.


High Definition
Developed by Sony
LoR – 2000
Tape width - 1/8th  inch
Video’s answer to film, but incompatible with all other formats

Optical Disc

DVDs, CDs Hard Discs etc