The basic principles of camerawork
There are a number of basic visual conventions used by the majority of cameramen operating broadcast camera/recorders. Many of these standard camera techniques were developed in the early part of the twentieth century when the first film-makers had to experiment and invent the grammar of editing, shot-size and the variety of camera movements that are now standard. The ability to find ways of shooting subjects and then editing the shots together without distracting the audience was learnt by the commercial cinema over a number of years. The guiding concept was the need to persuade the audience that they were watching continuous action in ‘real’ time. This required the mechanics of film-making to be hidden from the audience; that is to be invisible. Invisible technique places the emphasis on the content of the shot rather than production technique in order to achieve a seamless flow of images directing the viewers’ attention to the narrative. It allows shot change to be unobtrusive and directs attention to what is contained within the frame and to smoothly move the camera to a new viewpoint without distracting the audience.
Alternative technique
There are alternative conventions of presentation, which intentionally draw attention to the means of production. The production methods and camera movements are emphasized in order to simulate the realism of the unrehearsed shot or to remind the audience that they are watching a piece of fiction. Similar to news coverage, it appears as if the camerawork is surprised by the action. Camera movement in this alternative technique is often restlessly on the move, panning abruptly from subject to subject, making no effort to disguise the transitions and deliberately drawing attention to the means by which the images are brought to the viewer. This breaking down or subverting of the standard convention of an ‘invisible’ seamless flow of images has a number of different forms or styles. In general, television production has adopted the ‘Hollywood’ model of invisible technique.
A coherent technique
The point of this brief history of camerawork is rather than simply committing to memory a list of dos and don’ts about TV camerawork it is better for you to understand why these visual conventions exist. There is a coherent technique behind most TV camerawork. The way a shot is framed up, the way a zoom is carried out, the amount of headroom you give to a certain size of shot is not simply a matter of personal taste, although that often affects shot composition, it is also a product of 90 odd years of telling a story in pictures. The development of invisible technique created the majority of these visual conventions. Knowing why a camerawork convention exists is preferable to simply committing to memory a string of instructions. You can then apply the principles of invisible technique whenever you meet up with a new production requirement.
The aim of invisible technique is to convince the audience that they are watching a continuous event in ‘real’ time.
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shots are structured to allow the audience to understand the space, time and logic of the action |
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each shot follows the line of action to maintain consistent screen direction so that the geography of the action is completely intelligible (e.g. camera positions on a football match) |
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unobtrusive camera movement and shot change directs the audience to the content of the production rather than the mechanics of film/television production |
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invisible technique creates the illusion that distinct, separate shots (possibly recorded out of sequence and at different times) form part of a continuous event being witnessed by the audience. |
This is achieved by:
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unobtrusive intercutting (see Editing topics) |
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camera movement motivated by action or dialogue (see Camera movement, pages 126–30) |
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camera movement synchronized with action |
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continuity of performance, lighting, atmosphere and action. |
The basic aims of television camerawork can be summarized as:
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to produce a technically acceptable picture (e.g. correct exposure, white balance, in focus, etc.) |
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to provide a shot that is relevant to the story or event in a style that is suitable for the genre (see Camerawork styles, page 132) |
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to provide a shot that will hold the audience’s attention (e.g. by the appropriate use of framing, camera movement, composition, lighting etc.) |
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to provide shots that can be cut together (see Editing topics). |