Angeline
PBS SoCal Studio Tour
Hi! I’m Angeline. I’m a junior journalist for La JaJa Kids. A place where children can do many exciting and interesting things. I like to do many things such as sports, most typically basketball, I also like to sing, dance, play piano and violin. I have many other hobbies, but now is PBS time!
PBS SoCal and PBS Kids are two different channels. PBS Kids are shows for kids obviously. They teach youth developing children education. Learning their ABC’s, their 1 2 3’s, nature, history, and covering most of the subjects in elementary school. PBS SoCal is more for adults. They talk about arts, media, education, life, nature, and so much more you can’t even list.
On August 19, 2015, I went to Costa Mesa, CA PBS SoCal to have a inside look of TV magic. The secrets in their wonderful and entertaining shows. PBS SoCal employees works together in the same building of course. But the sections where we went was only the first floor. We still got to get a close look at the technology that is used over there. First is the inside lobby lounge. A cardboard Elmo greets you in the room. They have two TV’s inside to show the channel on PBS Kids and PBS SoCal. Then you walk into a hallway with a cookie monster at the end of the corridor. On you right is a room with all these hi-tec electronic panels. There are three seats. Can you guess which three people sit in those three chairs? Those three people are the most important people on the set. The director, the producer, and the executive producer. On the screen there are a few boxes where are labeled on the bottom which tells you which camera and spot it is at.
Next to the screening room is the sound room. The room is really small so the sound inside stays inside nice and loud. There are sound sponges so it sucks up the sound from the outside. When they are airing the show they must not talk because any sound could erupt the noise in the show. There are special types of windows in the room. They are soundproof windows so no sound can come in. There are also electrical panels in the room to set different volumes in the mics and speakers.
Next to the sound room is the make-up room and “green” room. The green is actually brown. You see it was green in 1948. They kept it that name as probably a tradition. The room is now used for a waiting area if it is not your turn on set, also used for a lounge where you could sit and talk. Attached to it, is the make-up area. You do all your make-up and touch ups in that room. They have a air vacuum so that it is easy to clean up the powder without smearing it. They have special lights so that they can see what they actors/actresses look like when they are on stage/set. Everyone has to wear light make-up even if they are a guy or a girl. It’s to smoothen out our skin feature on the camera.
Last, is the set area for PBS SoCal. They have really big cameras that look heavy and hard to move but they actually have a type of gas called, nitrogen to make it easier for them to maneuver the camera. Nitrogen is a gas with a chemical element with the lightest pnictogen and at room temperature. If the actor or actress forgets there line they are in luck. The camera has a special type of glass panel on it that can show words. It is called transcription. It is a projector on the bottom of the piece of glass that is angled to show the actor or actress the words on the camera so when they read it they are looking directly at the camera. Then on the right of the area is where they do the part of “Viewers like YOU!” They take calls and go online to see if anyone would like to join the PBS “Family”. By what I mean is to donate some money to PBS. Many viewers call so much that PBS needs more equipment to accommodate the requests from the viewers.
This tour was a great experience and I wish that I could see more of their fascinating work. After all PBS is a great t.v channel for kids and adults. Their main goal, is not to make more money, but there main purpose is to pass along education to the world.
