TV Production Techniques and Teaching Efficiency

Educators who venture into the realm of television immediately encounter this question: What equipment is required, and what can be done with it? This paper attempts to provide some basis for an intelligent answer. In designing the research from which this report derived, attention was focused upon basic television production techniques. A series of instructional segments were produced utilizing these techniques; a second series was subsequently produced with the same instructors and subject matter, but with more elaborate techniques. The two series were then presented for viewing by various student audiences. A control group viewed the first series; an experimental group was shown the second series. Preliminary knowledge of subject matter was determined by a pre-test; degree of learning and retention were measured by an immediate posttest, and a delayed post-test. Those data were then analyzed by means of standard statistical instruments. In collating and appraising the obtained results it was apparent that a one camera production, with true flat lighting, utilizing close-up camera coverage and a modicum of technical skill and imagination, was as effective as the more elaborate production in ordinary lecture-teaching situations.