Broadcast Field Study
CMS 3510 Sports / CMS 3511 Performing Arts
Spring 2015
Syllabus
Basic Camera Concepts
Sony Handycam
Two* ways to shoot:
- Hand-held (HH)
2. Tripod (T)
Hand held vs.
Tripod
Examples - unpredictable situations, protests, unplanned interviews "man on the street", special field level shots at sporting events, worm's eye view, battle documentation, cinema for rough unstable look, unusual environments like underwater. Horror movie running through the woods. Cinéma vérité, literally "true movie." Jean Rouch invented it as a documentary technique of real life. 'Anti-cinematic.'
Examples - studios, anywhere with production lights, planned interviews, press conferences, lectures/speaking events, standard sports coverage shots, nature shots, timelapses. Cinematic, sweeping, smooth.
Hand-held
Tripod
Other ways of shooting....
SET UP
camera + tripod
Tripod Movements
Turning left and right is known as "panning" or pan left or right. Looking up or down is known as "tilting" or tilt up or down.
ZOOM
focus
IRIS
Zoom
Narrow or widen the frame of the shot without moving the camera. Operated by the pressure sensitive Zoom rocker, smaller automatic zoom rocker on top, and the manual zoom ring.
Iris
Closing or opening the aperture to allow more or less light to enter the camera lens. A wider, open iris is needed in dark situations to let in more light and get as much detail as possible. A contracted, smaller opening is needed in harsh light situations when you want to get good detail, you are limiting the excessive light so you don't overwhelm the camera (ie blown out). Auto iris vs. manual iris.
iris function
Focus
Controlling how far away the field of focus is. Focus is sharpening the image so that objects aren't blurry. Objects that are different distances away will each have different focus settings -- "focal length." You can also control "depth of field", which is how deep your field of focus is. In a "Wide Depth of Field" everything looks like it is in focus. In a "Shallow Depth of Field" only one object is in focus. To "Rack Focus" means to change the shallow depth of field from one object to another. Auto focus vs. manual focus.