Camera Operating

Two weeks ago we were introduced by camera opertating we were all put into groups and each group were given a camera to study. we learned all about the whiteening balence, the timecoad and the focus on the camera. We learned how to keep control of the tripod by bubbling the tripod so that the camera keeps still and so it would not move or wobble about. for bubbling there is this green circle with a bubble which we had to get into the middle of the circle so that the camera would be steady. The benefits of using a tripod was that it made the quality of filming better then if you had to handhold the camera. this is because tripods create a more steady effect. But there are also benefits to handheld camera because if you would want to create a dramatic effect in your filming. for example if you are filming a scene full of tension and drama you could create a lot of movement which tells us that the scene we are filming is an action piece and that there is tension within the scene that you are filming.


throughout our filming project we used the different types of camera angles which was part of the filming skill we are studying. We used 'Over the shoulder', 'Wide shot', 'Close up shots', etc. These camera angles created the effect of a variation of different viewpoints we had of the filming. They also taught us that without these camera techniques and angle the audience watching the film would not have a big reaction to the story line within the film. This is because these camera shot types create the effect of what mood and scene is in and it makes it clearer towards the audience what is going on in the film. For example tracking shots can give the effect of action happening within the filming. We learned about the framing and composition within the filming. This helped us understand the looking for space, head space and movement within the frame. the most important task we had to learn was the 180 degree rule. This was important because if this did not exist the audience would get confused with who was on what side of the filming. When we did our filming project we got actors and we learned what we needed to do to create a good effect on what was happening in the scene. for example we learned about spatial relationships to show what the relationship is between the two character, so for example if they were placed standing far away from each other or close to eachother this would show their relationship between the characters.


The mistakes our group made in our first practise was that we did not consentrate much on the 180 degree rule. This made our piece a lot more confusing for the audience to watch because they found it hard to understand what was going on within the filming. However next time we did this we improved on our mistakes and so it became a lot easier for the audience to understand what was going on and we also added on props like a phone, a table, a chair, etc. These props created more of an effect of what was going on. they made it more clear about what the characters were talking about and why they were talking about it.


We each direct the filming in turn to help the actors and to tell them what to do, Like when they had to start acting, etc. We said things like 'Stand By/ Standing by', 'Turn over/  Tunring Over', 'Action' and 'Cut'.

i enjoyed the experience of this project because i learned a lot more about how films work and what the fiming industry is all about. I found this project very interesting because learning about things like the different camera angles and the 180 degree rule made me learn about what they do in movies to create their effects on the audience.