Monday, January 17, 2011

Work of the video camera operator

By Glen Banks


Having a creative edge and knowing how to set up lights so that they create a specific mood is only a small part of a cameraman's work. A lot of cameramen are proud of their work, especially if they've joined the union. With a good editor, the end result of your work can look even better before and shock your audience.

To see your audience has been affected the way you wanted them is a treat as a cameraman. When the audience feels how you want them to after watching your movie, a sense of accomplishment arises within. The blood, sweat and tears that are poured into creating a movie are well worth it when the movie is said and done.

A cameraman claims the job of visualizing all the elements of the picture-and hardly anyone can do that with light-which is one of the hardest parts of my job as a cameraman. It takes patience and a good eye to assemble all elements creatively and think of creative lighting set-ups. Mimicking the feeling of "being there," with the camera also takes a good eye and agility. One must be fit in order to hold a camera without shaking for long takes, so build your muscle and your stamina!

The cameraman takes longer than everyone else in the crew because they have to prep the camera. Even though there are camera assistants, cameras consist of many small, delicate pieces and must be handled with extreme care. Working on set as a cameraman means you go to work early and stay late because of the camera and how long it takes to prep.

Normally, cameras are rented for productions, and each camera comes with many little pieces, each with their own case. For this reason, the cameraman and all the various camera assistants must show up to work early and stay late. Every little piece must be accounted for and nothing can be lost or damaged otherwise it's considered the production's fault.

Getting into the industry as a cameraman is very difficult and takes a lot of time, patience and work. Knowing everything about most cameras and staying on top of the new ones that come out is important so that you can have a wider base of "camera intelligence" and pick up more jobs. The more creative you are, the more people will want to work with you.

I think that freelance camerawork is the most difficult type of camerawork because it is never a promise. Sometimes projects will call you a week before you're scheduled to work and tell you it's been canceled. All cameramen start off as freelance as that's the only way to get noticed and get more jobs-unless you're somehow related to someone who can (and will) plug you in right away.

Half of the game is just meeting other camera people and networking. The Head Prop Master for Warner Bros. once told me, "In this industry, it's good to be nice to everyone because you never know when you may need someone even like a plumber. What if one of the toilets on set break onE day? You'll know whom to call, and he might even give you a discount! Happened to me!"




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