Traditional Promo Production

Producing syndicated promos is a relatively simple, but time-consuming, task that every station that broadcasts syndicated programming must do several times daily. For a single syndicated program, as many as ten to twelve promos must be produced each day. Currently, there are two ways that stations can produce these promos: Using the Control Room or a Dedicated Edit Room.

Control Room

Stations can use a tape of the recorded promos and produce them through a control room. The steps used in this process are as follows:

1. Assemble a production team consisting of a technical director, audio operator and a tape operator.
2. Reserve a control room for the scheduled time when the necessary staff is available.
3. Pre-screen the tape of the raw promos (The production crew does this so they can make the appropriate edits on the fly.)
4. Produce each promo by manually inserting audio and video tags onto the ends of the promos in real time.
5. As the crew produces the promos, a tape operator records the promos on a second VTR. The entire crew must back up and correct the promo if a mistake occurs.
6. An operator must file the completed promos into the station’s playback system. The operator manually enters all of the following information for each promo:  house number, SOM, EOM, air date and promo name.  Filing of the promo then occurs in real time.

Challenges with this type of production:

• Requires devoted time from three operators, two VTRs, and a production control room.
• Occasionally leads to overtime labor when the control room is used for scheduled productions or must be used for unexpected productions such as breaking news
• Raw video must be pre-screened leading to longer production times
• Potentially results in a lower quality product because edits are done on the fly
• Manual insertion of audio and video tags is an inefficient and imprecise process
• Wear and tear on Control Room equipment and VTRs
• More time required to file into Station Playback System

Dedicated Edit Room

Stations can use a tape of the recorded promos and edit them through a dedicated edit room. The steps used in this process are as follows:

1. Schedule an editor and an edit room at several different times during the day.
2. An editor must ingest the tape of the raw promos.
3. Mark edit points on the tape of the raw promos.
4. Edit appropriate audio and video tags onto the end of the promos.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each version of the promo (i.e. Monday, Tomorrow, and Today versions of the same promo).
6. Render a timeline.
7. “Dump” edited promos to tape.
8. An operator must file the completed promos into the station’s playback system. The operator manually enters all of the following information for each promo:  house number, SOM, EOM, air date and promo name. Filing of the promo then occurs in real-time.

Challenges with this type of production:

• Requires devoted time in an edit room for a significant portion of the day (This may lead to out-of-house productions due to the lack of available in-house edit rooms.)
• Requires devoted time from an editor for a significant portion of the day (This can lead to the occasional need for free-lance editors to complete special projects that could be finished by the station’s personnel.)
• Other staff (or free-lance editors) must be available when an editor is sick or on vacation
• Must capture video and lay back to tape
• Occasionally requires overtime labor
• Wear and tear on edit equipment and edit VTRs
• More time required to file into Station Playback System
• Lower quality video because the process requires three generations of video to reach a finished promo