Hey, I know - my company probably uses a couple thousand sheets of laminate per year. But even your expensive laminates (the most expensive stuff we use is around $4/s.f.) are a heck of a lot cheaper than actually making the desk out of maple/cherry/shiny steel.
Also - “carpenter” seems to be almost an insult to certain workmen, while “cabinetmaker” doesn’t. I’ve never understood the difference, but was willing to call them whatever they wanted to be called if it meant they’d actually work on my job.
Very interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing thus far. Honestly, I never would have guessed that many of them weren’t built so well; indeed they are given great attention to detail. It’s interesting to hear of the hand-me-down desk, as well.
And, one time when I was bored and watching the local news, I did a mental scale-measuring job by comparing the body width with the size of the desk, and I realized that the desk itself wasn’t much larger than a standard office desk, and the anchors were pretty squashed together. Taking this into account with the studio room that was viewable on camera, the area appeared no greater than the size of a two-car garage. News sets look so cavernous on television compared to their size, as is the case with a lot of studios or installations.
Another thing—I’m noticing that there is a bit of glass on the desktops these days. Is there a monitor hidden down there? If so, what’s usually displayed?
I guess I’m interested in anecdotal accounts of the stagecraft used in television news in general, past and present, as well. If anyone was willing to share accounts of that also, that would be great. Is it pretty much done as cheaply as possible, while maintaining the look?
Some of those desks you’re looking at don’t even exist. I visited several booths at the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) convention last year where they were demonstrating “virtual sets.” The talent can be sitting behind a simple green (or blue) box, and everything else–including shadows and reflections–is computer generated.
The real desks are like any other prop or set. The part that’s visible to the camera is built to look good. Actually, BobT was correct in the first place. While “real” desks with drawers and such are built by cabinetmakers or woodworkers, props and sets are typically built by carpenters. Furniture is made to look good up-close. Prop desks only need to look good from a distance. On camera, you can’t tell whether it’s laminate, veneer, spray-painted MDF (a very common material), or even plastic or sheet metal.
The sheet of glass on the desktop generally isn’t concealing a TelePrompTer (watch the capitalization–it’s a brand name), because they don’t want the talent looking down during a broadcast. The prompter is attached to the camera, with an angled reflector over the lens, so the talent is looking directly into the camera lens and reading the script. The glass on the desk is covering a screen where they can see notes, and watch any video cut-ins that may be running.
I intentionally lowercased it. Most people use “teleprompter” as a generic term regardless of the brand of the specific device they’re talking about (if any). “TelePrompTer” is a trademarked name for a particular brand of cueing device; however, “teleprompter” is a commonly used term for any cueing device regardless of the brand. TelePrompTer’s competitors can’t put that word on their machines, but I am free to use the word as a generic if I wish and no one can do anything about it.
I always look in the dictionary when I need a definition. American Heritage dictionary defines carpenter as:
car·pen·ter n. 1. A skilled worker who makes, finishes, and repairs wooden objects and structures. --car·pen·ter v. car·pen·tered, car·pen·ter·ing, car·pen·ters. --tr. 1. To make, finish, or repair (wooden structures).
Visit something like Universal Studios sometime; the first time you compare an awe-inspiring prop (on the screen) with its real-life, balsa-wood-and-a-slap-of-paint counterpart (in person), you realize how deceptive a camera can be.
In answer to the third question of the OP, an old news set from WGN-TV wound up being used at a station in downstate Illinois, so there’s at least some market for recycled sets.
When I worked in Winston-Salem, NC, there was a professional staging company in the next workshop to ours. They said they made news sets for stations around the country, The shop was a large open space filled with half-finished projects and power tools. Carpentry seemed to be the main building method; they occasionally welded metal parts into place but most sets were made of wood and plastics like styrofoam.
I think they were associated with the local community college or Wake Forest University.
Of course they can’t. No trademark police will show up at your home if you say teleprompter instead of TelePrompTer (or kleenex instead of Kleenex or xerox instead of Xerox or…). Since the purpose of this board is to fight ignorance, I thought I’d throw out the correct usage.
Yes, I do understand that it’s not ignorance in your case–you’re aware of the correct usage and you’re using it generically on purpose. That doesn’t mean the other folks reading the thread know it, and a little extra knowledge never hurts.
On rereading my original post, it sounded a little harsh. My apologies. It wasn’t meant to be a criticism–just additional information.
I think mostly they get sold to less well-off stations or handed down to school programs. When I was taking Broadcast Journalism classes at [official-sounding voice] The Edward R. Murrow School of Communications[/voice], we had a news desk and the surrounding set donated from a local news station that was upgrading. It had the prompters under the plexiglass panels and everything.
[QUOTE=Metacom]
[li]using the meaning of the word in the dialect of English I’m used to speaking–maybe it means something different in Australia[/li][/QUOTE]
In Australia they’re called “Chippies” which covers the gamut of most woodworking.
(Electricians are called “Sparkies” and Plumbers are called “Plumbers”)
And mine was a bit snippy. My apologies as well. The topic of using trade names as generic terms has become a bit of a hot button with me over the years on this board. Among the general public, there seems to be a big misunderstanding regarding what kind of control commercial enterprises are allowed to exert over private uses of language.
I actually look at the issue the other way. I’ve dealt with a couple of prompter companies over the years whose products I really like. Why use the term “teleprompter” to promote their competitor (TelePrompTer).
I became very sensitive to this when competing in a field where the largest competitor’s company name was the generic term for the product (they acquired the copyright). My business had to fight hard to get schools and media to stop using their company’s name to refer to our products!