Technical Specifications

Every production contract comes with a Technical Specification (TechSpec) which you must read prior to signature of the contract to ensure that you are able to comply with it. Your chosen workflow route will be checked by your Broadcaster who will want to verify that you have thought through the process from shoot to delivery and that you are complying with their Tech Spec at each and every stage of production. See Broadcaster's Requirements.

 

Technical Specifications are often complex, wordy and hard to understand so seeking help from people who know is a good idea.  So always let your post production facility see the Tech Spec prior to starting your production. They will have a lot of experience and will be very helpful in planning your post production workflow - they don't want it to go wrong later down the line either, because it causes them a lot of hassle too. Fixing the process further down the line is costly and embarrassing.

Some parts of the Tech Spec such as allowable editing codecs and how many seconds to leave before the programme clock are the realm of the editor and you should make sure that he or she is fully aware of what's needed.  Likewise audio specs such as sound levels, dynamic compression and audio track configuration should be given to the dubbing editor and you probably don't need to have a full understanding of this part of the Tech Spec - just know that someone else does need to understand it fully and has had time to read it, think it through and advise you accordingly. The Tech Spec will also have an effect on your acquisition formats so it's important to make sure you choose cameras which comply with the Tech Spec.

Once you understand all the requirements of the Tech Spec. you can start to design your workflow and make sure that it meets technical compliance during your shoot and equally as importantly during your edit.