Camera Workshop

I recently took part in a camera workshop in school, where we got to terms with the cameras and tripods we would be using to shoot our films. This helped me to decide how practical it was to shoot certain scenes in my film and whether I had to change any of the shots from my storyboard so that they were more manageable. We started off by learning the following rules and techniques;

·         Rule of thirds, this is a straightforward principle that will help me to take well balanced and interesting shots. This important technique is where the camera is split into a grid with nine imaginary sections. The general rule is that the points of interest should occur at 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up the frame, rather than in the centre; as naturally we do not look at the centre of an image.

·         With this in mind we looked at how this rule works and how some directors break this rule by having the subject in the middle of the grid, which creates an uncomfortable scene and makes the subject appear daunting. This unconventional technique is something I would therefore take into consideration when filming my horror film, to create an uncomfortable shot.

·         We then looked at walking and talking distance. This is where you must make sure that the subject has enough room in front of them so that they do not walk off/lead the shot with the majority of the space behind them and create an uneasy frame.

·         We also looked at headroom; this is where you don’t want the shot to have excessive empty space above the subjects head. There should be little room above a person’s head in a shot, to ensure it looks comfortable for the audience.

·         We also looked at how to master a zoom. Before this workshop I would have assumed to have just stood as close as possible to the subject and then used the zoom to get closer. However, after comparing this to the new technique we learnt; standing within reasonable distance and then using the zoom to get closer to the subject, I found that it produced a crisper and more defined shot.

·         Once we had finished practicing the basic camera techniques, we moved onto learning about the tripods. Tripods are used to produce a steady frame, therefore making your film appear more professional. The length of them can be changed depending on what type of shot you are looking for; this is particularly useful, as my storyboard features numerous high angle shots, which will help to achieve these shots more affectively.

·         We ended the workshop with looking at how to shoot a conversation between two people. This put into perspective the numerous shots you need for each scene and helped me to understand how time consuming this process is going to be. For example, in a simple conversation, a master shot was used and two over the shoulder shots; one from each side of the character.