Practical Camera Work

Fri, Sep, 10th

Today in the lesson at 9am until 12.45pm, we were taught about the recording and performing side of music, such as: camera angles, zooming into main focuses, how to switch between the cameras for the best effects and how to show more enthusiasm when on stage. This was a practical lesson where we split into our ensembles and performed 1 of our songs in front of cameras while the rest of the class worked behind the cameras and with switching between them. The ensemble I was associated with performed first. We performed "Shine by Takethat". I was on the cajon, Micah was on the piano, Brodey on bass and Declan on guitar. I got some criticism from my lecturer about how I didn't show any enthusiasm while performing so I shall keep that in mind for the next time.

It was then the other ensembles turn to perform and our turn to work behind the cameras. Declan was in control of our movements with the camera. This is becuase he had a view of all of the cameras on one screen and could choose between each one to be live. While Declan controlled the movements, me, Micah and Brodey were behind the cameras. There was: camera 1, camera 2 and camera 3. Each one of us had a head set on which were all connected together. This allowed us to communicate through the loud music on a higher scale. This also allowed us to hear the instructions Declan laid out for us. He communicated by addressing us as the number of camera. Example: "camera 1, zoom in on a certain focus" or "camera 3, focus on the singer" etc. He also mentioned which number camera was live each time he switched them which gave the other two cameras time to readjust from the last instruction into the next. We then went to where Declan was controlling the cameras and watched how it went. For our first time it didn't go too bad.although there were a few minor problems such as: not being able to hear the instructions so clearly and not being fast enough moving the cameras.

I feel like this experience has helped us realise the way we would like our performances to look. This experience can also help with work experience hours. This is because if there is any performance, we now have the knowledge of how shots can look more effective.