Careers In Television

People inclined to have a career in television may be glad to know there are several types of jobs in the television industry. But basically, careers in television may be divided into two: on camera and behind camera.

On camera careers
TV Newscasters – are personalities who are mostly known for reading the news or giving commentaries in front of the camera. Most TV newscasters were either picked from the team of reporters or prominent personalities.

Presenters and talk show hosts' jobs are to facilitate discussions about certain topics and give commentaries as well. Talk show hosts highly contribute to the success of a talk show aside from other factors. Famous talk show hosts are David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey.

Behind camera careers in television
Television camera operators. These people can be divided into two categories: studio and OB operators; and field operators. The former is part of a team whose shots are taken as portions of a program. The latter bring their cameras and position them in any location, usually recording footages to be edited later. The footages they take may be shown live as in the case of news reports; and the field operators usually work with some people like presenters, reporters, sound operator, etc.

The sound operators have several roles in a television program. They may operate a mixing console within a studio or a control room for an outside broadcast. They mostly perform tasks confined to or sound-related or operate a mixer in another location outside the studio.

A television videotape (VT) operator is the person who records or playback any video material in a live production or post-production editing. This job can either be easy or demanding depending on the level of production required.

Technical Director. There are two types of technical director: 1) those that operate vision control and/or switching equipment and 2) those involved in technical/engineering management support. The first type of TD takes part in the production crew and he may take the position of vision switcher or CCU controller. The TD is responsible for monitoring all the technical aspects related to video sources. The second type of TD supervises all technicalities required in a production such as planning, assisting equipment functions as well as failures, and training staff on how to operate production equipment.
The careers in television mentioned above are just some of the opportunities that await aspiring television job seekers. Other behind camera careers in television are: director, producer, VT director, floor manager, account executive, makeup artist, and cable puller.