Camera Techniques

Course Description:

This one day course has been designed for those who have used a digital video camera but who need to understand and master professional camera techniques.

The course covers the techniques that will give your work a professional look, how to frame a subject, avoiding common mistakes, effective use of lighting and sound and how to shoot a professional quality interview.

This course includes the following modules:

Getting to know the camera

• Using Autofocus
• Zooming controls
• Auto Exposure
• Correct use of timecodes

Using the manual camera settings

• Turning off-auto exposure
• f-stops and aperture settings
• Depth of field and when to use it
• Shutter speed and its effects
• Camera gain and how to avoid it
• Balancing shutter speed, aperture and available light
• Exposing a difficult subject
• Using exposure lock to achieve a correct exposure

Framing a subject

• Using the rule of thirds to frame your subject
• Looking for diagonals to enhance your framing
• Wide, medium and close-ups
• Examples of good / bad framing

Simple camera moves

• The importance of a good tripod
• Pans, tilts and zooms
• How to use moves effectively
• Holding a shot

Lighting

• Using a simple key-light
• Using a reflector as a fill
• Three point lighting
• Ensuring correct colour balance
• Using natural lighting

Working with sound

• Using close mics for effective sound
• Using directional mics
• Using personal mics
• Setting sound correctly

Shooting an interview

• Framing basics
• The concept of �the line'
• Lighting the interview
• Sound levels
• Looking or not looking at the camera
• Shooting reverses, noddies, 2-shots and piece to camera
• How to shoot for easier editing

Questions and answers