How to become Media Technical Directors/Manager in 2024

Media Technical Directors/Manager Coordinate activities of technical departments, such as taping, editing, engineering, and maintenance, to produce radio or television programs.

Media Technical Directors/Manager is Also Know as

In different settings, Media Technical Directors/Manager is titled as

  • Broadcast Director
  • News Technical Director
  • Newscast Director
  • Operations Director
  • Production Director
  • Production Manager
  • Studio Director
  • Technical Director

Education and Training of Media Technical Directors/Manager

Media Technical Directors/Manager is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Media Technical Directors/Manager

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Media Technical Directors/Manager

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Media Technical Directors/Manager

Training Required for Media Technical Directors/Manager

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Media Technical Directors/Manager in different industries are

What Do Media Technical Directors/Manager do?

  • Direct technical aspects of newscasts and other productions, checking and switching between video sources and taking responsibility for the on-air product, including camera shots and graphics.
  • Test equipment to ensure proper operation.
  • Monitor broadcasts to ensure that programs conform to station or network policies and regulations.
  • Observe pictures through monitors and direct camera and video staff concerning shading and composition.
  • Act as liaisons between engineering and production departments.
  • Supervise and assign duties to workers engaged in technical control and production of radio and television programs.
  • Schedule use of studio and editing facilities for producers and engineering and maintenance staff.
  • Confer with operations directors to formulate and maintain fair and attainable technical policies for programs.
  • Operate equipment to produce programs or broadcast live programs from remote locations.
  • Train workers in use of equipment, such as switchers, cameras, monitors, microphones, and lights.
  • Switch between video sources in a studio or on multi-camera remotes, using equipment such as switchers, video slide projectors, and video effects generators.
  • Set up and execute video transitions and special effects, such as fades, dissolves, cuts, keys, and supers, using computers to manipulate pictures as necessary.
  • Collaborate with promotions directors to produce on-air station promotions.
  • Discuss filter options, lens choices, and the visual effects of objects being filmed with photography directors and video operators.
  • Follow instructions from production managers and directors during productions, such as commands for camera cuts, effects, graphics, and takes.

Qualities of Good Media Technical Directors/Manager

  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Media Technical Directors/Manager

  • Analog editing systems
  • Audio boards
  • Camera control units
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital editing systems
  • Digital video cameras
  • Digital video effects units
  • Laptop computers
  • Linear editing systems
  • Master control switchers
  • Non-linear editing systems
  • Personal computers
  • Robotic cameras
  • Studio lighting
  • Tape machines
  • Teleprompters
  • Video servers
  • Videotape recorders
  • Vision mixers
  • Wireless microphones

Technology Skills required for Media Technical Directors/Manager

  • Adobe After Effects
  • Adobe Audition
  • Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Apple Final Cut Pro
  • Atlassian JIRA
  • Autodesk Maya
  • Avid Technology audio visual editing software
  • Avid Technology Media Composer
  • Avid Technology Pro Tools
  • C
  • C++
  • Character generator software
  • Facebook
  • Linux
  • MailChimp
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft SQL Server
  • Microsoft Word
  • Oracle Database
  • Perl
  • Pinterest
  • Python
  • Salesforce software
  • Side Effects Houdini
  • Social media sites
  • Software development tools
  • Structured query language SQL
  • Swift
  • The Associated Press ENPS
  • Unity Technologies Unity
  • UNIX
  • UNIX Shell
  • Word processing software
  • YouTube