notes : Learning Videography

Video editing software provides the ability to warp time, allowing the videographer to review and examine the work just done, providing feedback on technique.

Shooting live TV is a sport that I enjoy. I operate a camera at events as part of a crew consisting of several cameras, sound people, director, producer, TD, CharGen, floor director, etc.

During the event I'm so busy responding to the director's instructions, I am not able to critically study the results that I'm producing, so it's hard to pick up the subtle things that could be improved.

Recently, I did an event where I recorded my camera's signal in camera, and sent the signal to the PixBox switcher at the control room. After the event, I logged the tape to computer using the capture function in PremierPro, then used the edit function to review my work.

It's easy to just watch the video this way, and it allows you to zoom in so that a particular few seconds loop. This time warping zoom using the "jog-shuttle" controls on the edit window reveals shakes, auto_exposure glitches, tracking errors, framing errors, pans that were smooth and those that were not.

Examining the work using the editor would be vastly more valuable if the crew chatter over the intercom was also recorded on the tape. I'm going to figure how to do this, and jump to the next level in learning. Without the directors instructions to me, it's hard to know when I was live, when I was hunting for the shot, etc. It would also be good to have the talley light signal on tape somehow.

I would urge folks who want to learn good camera technique to sit down with a non-linear computer editing setup and take a close look at your work. Take notes on what works, what doesn't work. Look at critical focus, exposure, stability, composition. Looking for the sequence of shots ( establishing, mcu, cutaway, head shots, reaction shots, etc. ), looking at the recording of metadata, ease of logging, etc.

This is simply the fastest way to reach journeyman performance with your camera.

Bruce Bagnoli