Played on TV shows couple of times, once even live. Hated one of those shows, but did it anyway for greater good (band exposure). Played good every time, but shooting lasted too long and I didn't enjoy it. I do my best to avoid it.
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Anybody ever been on TV?
- Thread starter Bunk McNulty
- Start date
Did you win?.....
Oh, no no no no. I got creamed badly. My final score was 2400, the multi-game returning champ's was... I don't even remember any more, 15,000 or something. He went on to win the Tournament of Champions. But it was good enough for second-place, so I ordered my Carvin with the consolation prize money...
Hi,
In addition to that, one Christmas season we had to be up at the crack of dawn to be on the KTLA morning news with Wendy Burch.... Invalid Link Removed
We really didn't get on camera very much for this segment. Oh well.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Twice on the tube for me.
The first was in 1957 as a 7 year old kid on the original Walt Disney's Disneyland TV show. I was part of a family living in the House of the Future. My segment was using the futuristic electric toothbrush (which was hardwired to the wall. LOL).
View attachment 2790270
Fast forward 59 years for my second TV appearance. A local cable broadcast from our city's concert in the park series.
I'm front and center in the black GK t-shirt.
View attachment 2790272
Ok, ok, so I was just in the audience but I WAS on TV
Credit where credit is due... I was there to see our own Mr. @BassCliff and the Kelly Rae Band.
Thank you Cliff for the opportunity to be on TV once again.
View attachment 2790274
In addition to that, one Christmas season we had to be up at the crack of dawn to be on the KTLA morning news with Wendy Burch.... Invalid Link Removed
We really didn't get on camera very much for this segment. Oh well.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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Decent cameras are getting cheap and that's great.
The problem is, and just like playing a musical instrument, good equipment doesn't make you a good videographer.
More video by amateurs gets crappier every day. If you don't understand lighting, composure, framing, depth of field and other stuff like that, your video will not be very interesting.
The biggest blunder I see these days with cell phone video are people who hold their phones vertically to shoot something to watch later on a TV. It forces you to have a tiny picture on the large screen. Hold your phone horizontally and it will be able to fill the entire TV screen. Nothing says, I gave this absolutely no thought whatsoever, more than that.
My "day" job is a freelance TV camera operator. If you see me on TV, something probably went very wrong! I really don't like being on the front end of the lens. I've shot everything from Olympic soccer and World Series baseball to championship badminton, and everything in between for sports, as well as music/entertainment and corporate stuff. (The more hats you wear, the more work you get.)
A few pointers which I truly hope will be helpful - -
My advice as a musician would be the same as if you were going into the studio. It has worked well for my band: pre-production is a huge deal as far as the MUSIC goes. Know the tunes you will play absolutely cold. No mistakes - really! Ignore the cameras, relate to each other. That WILL come across in the video, but do NOT ham it up - that will translate poorly. Unless, of course, that's part of your show....
Others' advice about studio sound levels are spot on - loud will not work, be prepared for that. Unless you're lucky enough to be shooting on a true soundstage, a TV studio is a smallish, boxy room, and club/arena sound levels will be truly deafening in such a place. Think about it. 
Also the advice about talking to the show's producer if possible about bringing in your sound guy and console to give them a pre-mixed feed is a good idea, if you have enough time to do your own setup with your own mics, etc. If not, just go with the flow and hope the audio guy/A1 knows something about music. You can be helpful but not bossy about things like mic placement and so on.
From the TV end of things, unless you're outdoors, the studio lights will very likely be hot, and even then, if the stage is lit, you just might be hot anyways. And as mentioned, red and green are colors to avoid - they just don't look so good on TV. White can be troublesome - just don't dress in all white, or your face may disappear as the electronics try to handle the brightness. Blues, blacks, off-white, etc. will look better, but if you use black, have something off-setting to get some contrast. A previous poster mentioned something about the floor manager positioning the players - if where you stand is important, explain - politely - why you need to be where you need to be, and try to reach common ground.
Depending on how much creative content you are allowed, a brief rundown of things like solos (love those closeup shots of players' hands!) can be helpful for the director and camera crew to anticipate what's coming up next, but DO NOT try to direct the show for them - that's the director's job, and many will resent the effort, and could really adversely effect the product. (Remember, you are on their turf for the show.) Think of it as a sort of overview script/shotsheet. It will probably go out the window once you start, but, hey, you tried, LOL.
A dress rehearsal/sound check would be nice, but don't count on it.
And above all, be polite and helpful, pay attention/be early and sober, have fun, make your music as best you can.
HTH!
A few pointers which I truly hope will be helpful - -
My advice as a musician would be the same as if you were going into the studio. It has worked well for my band: pre-production is a huge deal as far as the MUSIC goes. Know the tunes you will play absolutely cold. No mistakes - really! Ignore the cameras, relate to each other. That WILL come across in the video, but do NOT ham it up - that will translate poorly. Unless, of course, that's part of your show....
Others' advice about studio sound levels are spot on - loud will not work, be prepared for that. Unless you're lucky enough to be shooting on a true soundstage, a TV studio is a smallish, boxy room, and club/arena sound levels will be truly deafening in such a place. Think about it. Also the advice about talking to the show's producer if possible about bringing in your sound guy and console to give them a pre-mixed feed is a good idea, if you have enough time to do your own setup with your own mics, etc. If not, just go with the flow and hope the audio guy/A1 knows something about music. You can be helpful but not bossy about things like mic placement and so on.From the TV end of things, unless you're outdoors, the studio lights will very likely be hot, and even then, if the stage is lit, you just might be hot anyways. And as mentioned, red and green are colors to avoid - they just don't look so good on TV. White can be troublesome - just don't dress in all white, or your face may disappear as the electronics try to handle the brightness. Blues, blacks, off-white, etc. will look better, but if you use black, have something off-setting to get some contrast. A previous poster mentioned something about the floor manager positioning the players - if where you stand is important, explain - politely - why you need to be where you need to be, and try to reach common ground.
Depending on how much creative content you are allowed, a brief rundown of things like solos (love those closeup shots of players' hands!) can be helpful for the director and camera crew to anticipate what's coming up next, but DO NOT try to direct the show for them - that's the director's job, and many will resent the effort, and could really adversely effect the product. (Remember, you are on their turf for the show.) Think of it as a sort of overview script/shotsheet. It will probably go out the window once you start, but, hey, you tried, LOL.
A dress rehearsal/sound check would be nice, but don't count on it.And above all, be polite and helpful, pay attention/be early and sober, have fun, make your music as best you can.
HTH!
Excellent advice jeffbrown.My "day" job is a freelance TV camera operator. If you see me on TV, something probably went very wrong! I really don't like being on the front end of the lens. I've shot everything from Olympic soccer and World Series baseball to championship badminton, and everything in between for sports, as well as music/entertainment and corporate stuff. (The more hats you wear, the more work you get.)
A few pointers which I truly hope will be helpful - -
My advice as a musician would be the same as if you were going into the studio. It has worked well for my band: pre-production is a huge deal as far as the MUSIC goes. Know the tunes you will play absolutely cold. No mistakes - really! Ignore the cameras, relate to each other. That WILL come across in the video, but do NOT ham it up - that will translate poorly. Unless, of course, that's part of your show....
From the TV end of things, unless you're outdoors, the studio lights will very likely be hot, and even then, if the stage is lit, you just might be hot anyways. And as mentioned, red and green are colors to avoid - they just don't look so good on TV. White can be troublesome - just don't dress in all white, or your face may disappear as the electronics try to handle the brightness. Blues, blacks, off-white, etc. will look better, but if you use black, have something off-setting to get some contrast. A previous poster mentioned something about the floor manager positioning the players - if where you stand is important, explain - politely - why you need to be where you need to be, and try to reach common ground.
Depending on how much creative content you are allowed, a brief rundown of things like solos (love those closeup shots of players' hands!) can be helpful for the director and camera crew to anticipate what's coming up next, but DO NOT try to direct the show for them - that's the director's job, and many will resent the effort, and could really adversely effect the product. (Remember, you are on their turf for the show.) Think of it as a sort of overview script/shotsheet. It will probably go out the window once you start, but, hey, you tried, LOL.
And above all, be polite and helpful, pay attention/be early and sober, have fun, make your music as best you can.
HTH!
Do you think they should check with the producer about the use of chroma key and what colors to avoid?
So my TV chroma key story...
Chroma key for non-TV folks is adding in a background that isn't really there.
You see this mostly on TV weather. The weather person actually stands in front of a Green screen (Blue back in the day) and the weather map is inserted into the picture everywhere the weather person's camera sees that shade of green. If the weather person wore a green sport coat his whole upper body would disappear, replaced by the weather map.
So we had this idiot of an assistant GM who was producing a show. He advised people to not wear Blue clothing because they were going to use chroma key. He said if they did, their underwear would show up on TV.
Also, never wear red or plaid. You will go back in time.
My children do this intentionally with the green screen at the science museum.
- Bring clothes and basses of different colors. You'll be surprised how colors in real life appear to be very different colors when seen on TV.
- Be nice to everybody.
- The makeup artist and lighting guy control how you look.
- The camera operator controls how much of you is seen.
- The producer and director and editor control how often and how much of you appear in the final vid.
A couple of decades ago I was in a band that won a contest and had a local TV station produce videos of three songs from our CD.
The station put the videos on a tape or disc they'd play between the end of Raptors/Leafs/Blue Jays games and the beginning of the news broadcast.
The airplay cheques from SOCAN were nice to receive, even tho the amounts were small. I think I bought a pizza with the first one.
Couple of times in the late 80s & 90s; Top of the Pops, The Tonight Show, Joan Rivers Show, Pat Sajak Show (He had a late night show at one point), Live concert broadcast in Europe, Live From Juan Le Pins, A & E network Energy Show.
TBH I've played many of those and I wouldn't really say it's pro video.... But it is better than what I can do on my cell. Anyway it's basically just like any show you just get up there and play! Well at least for me. If it's at a studio that kinda sucks cause you have to wait in these awkward rooms that make you feel like you in a principals office or some poopie like that! If it's at a bar that's the best as it's familiar and you can act yourself better, you just don't get that great vibe from the studio. And at the studio they get you all set up, and then you wait. Or it's hurry, hurry, hurry and your all like ***, let's go go go, and your performance sucks or your playing too damn fast now that people are rushing you like crazy, or some other poopie happens. It's usually a shagaroo!
I believe we’ll be playing in a high school auditorium. Will there be an audience of high school kids? Guess I’d better find out.
First thing, you won't get a "pro video" for your trouble. Community cable producers and technicians are, by definition, amateurs. Hobbyists or, at best, aspiring professionals trying to gain experience. Not necessarily bad, but not professional. Even among so-called "video professionals" bonehead mistakes can, and will, get made. I spent nearly 40 years as a professional front-of-house sound mixer in popular music and musical theater. In the live entertainment industry we referred to them as "vidiots". Believe me, they earned the nickname many times over.
Case in point. My last pop music touring job was FOH for a small-record-label, hard swing, blue-eyed R&B band. We were invited to perform three songs on a local-network-affiliate television station's afternoon "magazine" show. We performed regularly and drew very well at one of the best-known local nightclubs. It SHOULD have been a thoroughly professional situation. We loaded in our stage gear, microphones, and monitors. I cooked up a monitor mix for the band in the studio and created the stereo mix for the station's broadcast. Since I was in the studio with the band, I monitored the broadcast mix on full-ear-enclosure headphones. The mix sounded great leaving my console, BUT it turned out to have a significant 60 cycle hum in the station audio booth. It was probably due to a ground loop. Thing was, I didn't know about it until after the session (too late to fix) because the bonehead "station audio technician" (I use the term loosely) didn't bother to mention it. It could have been fixed up front with ground lifts or isolation transformers and there was plenty of time to address it, but I wasn't informed. Grrr............ Perfectly good tracks ruined by laziness and unprofessionalism. You have to understand, among vidiots, sound takes a distant back seat to image; they perceive it as a necessary evil, nothing more. Of course sound will be of paramount importance to your band, so be prepared to do EVERYTHING, check EVERYTHING (including the mix in the booth), provide EVERYTHING to make things work right. Over 40 years, I could not count the number of times some vidiot sound technician looked at something as simple as an IL-19 isolation transformer as some sort of arcane, semi-magical device that fixed a problem he had frequently. I could easily count (on two hands with fingers left over), the number of times a video crew showed up with their own.
All of this is not to say you should not do the telethon. It could prove to be fun and good PR for your band. Just don't expect the vidiots (especially on community cable) to be any kind of competent when it comes to sound. Prepare and act accordingly.
Greg
My band played on the ESPN Summer Sizzle Series like 17 years ago with hostess Kiana Tom. We made good money and bought a new PA, plus put some money in our pockets.
We brought our own surfboards and was surfing during the breaks. The series was shot on the beach just north of Malibu. And yep...we are wearing shorts.
We brought our own surfboards and was surfing during the breaks. The series was shot on the beach just north of Malibu. And yep...we are wearing shorts.
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LMAO ...I remember her. She was one of the more popular fitness videos on the regular channels. Those fitness shows came in a perfect time in my life. BTW she aged REALLY WELL!
How the hell did you concentrate on playing? Hopefully you had the setlist nailed in advance.
