Synchronization in Audiovisual Media: Editing and Information

Synchronization and Asynchronization in Audiovisual Media

The simultaneous presence of images and sounds can produce asynchronization, a poor combination. This involves contradictory relationships between expressive systems. Therefore, we seek an asynchronous or synchronous reinforcement and expressive interaction.

Audiovisual Editing

Editing integrates and provides coherence and unity to the various expressive components: visual, aural, and written, both simultaneously and in succession. It is what constructs the definitive account of the facts and produces the meaning, the semantic value.

Theory of Double Articulation

This refers to the linkages between images and words. Two quite opposite models of developing television information have emerged: one based on the spoken word and the other on visual expression, without considering that the contribution of one may vary the other. However, each particular news event and the resources available in each case must be taken into account.

The information content sets the tone; the images provide more specific information relating directly to the facts. Interviews are recorded first because they can contribute new data, facts, or references. The worst that can happen is discarding something that is later needed during editing.

Sequential enumerative editing is guided by the oral expression itself, with corresponding synchronized pauses for enumerations, ensuring an accurate correlation between image and language.

There are situations in which file images or generic situations, such as people wandering the streets, are used. These reflect a reality and acquire a different meaning in context.

The Action of Assembling Information

The assembly establishes the order and sequencing of images based on the information story conceived globally and in relation to the oral expression. The spoken word is always crafted in relation to the images, which form the core unit of the news.

The relationship between oral expression and image generally avoids redundancy. The combination of both requires a correlation of cadence and rhythm between them, subject to reporting requirements and the decoding ability of viewers.

Complexity and Acceleration of Information Presentation

On TV, there has been a trend towards a greater accumulation of expressive systems, a plurality of approaches, and an increase in rhythmic cadence. This complexity is compounded by the speed of accumulation and rapid changes in shots.

To the torrential information flow, synchronous-asynchronous editing, and sequential assembly, we must add the complexity and acceleration of the treatment and presentation process. The presentation should not be accelerated, as this would create difficulties in decoding.

The Need for Informative Style Books

It is increasingly common in TV stations to find graphic design manuals that set standards for the treatment of continuity, self-promotion, program genre differentiation, etc. However, style books are just as critical for news content.

Style books are documents that list the ways in which each station wants to provide information. Within the general principles of television news, there is a variety of possibilities for different approaches.