📸 A Day of Learning: From Video Shoots to Award Shows 🏆
Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a video shoot and an award show? Join me as I recount a day filled with valuable lessons, unexpected challenges, and a ton of fun with my mentor. From the intricacies of set etiquette to technical skills, here's a glimpse into the insights I gained throughout the day.
1. 🎬 Navigating Set Etiquette: The Silent Art of Movement
Ever found yourself on a film set wondering about the do's and don'ts of movement?
When is it ok to walk around the room and when should you stay still?
I certainly wondered this during our morning video shoot with a couple of city council members running for re-election.
We set all the cameras, lights, monitors, and audio up for filming their commercial and then started recording.
Turns out, walking around the room DURING the camera rolling is not good.
One crucial lesson I picked up was the art of silent movement.
Why is it essential, you ask?
On a day of filming you sure move a lot and log a lot of steps, but for the few minutes where your talent is recording their lines > walking around at that exact moment or those few minutes during a shoot can introduce unwanted noise.
Everything from the rustling of your clothes to your footsteps to the floor creeking.
The importance of maintaining a quiet set became evident, emphasizing the significance of paying attention to the crew.
2. 🔋 Overcoming Battery Woes: The Show Must Go On
While on a small project I was given an “extra” camera to record a bonus angle.
Now, mind you, it wasn’t a critical angle or really a planned shot, it was just a bonus angle - but the point was that I could get some time behind a camera.
Unbeknown to me the battery was getting low!
Now what do you do when faced with a low battery warning in the middle of a recording?
DO NOT INTERRUPT!
I made the mistake of abrubtly interrupting the take and stopping the whole shoot to tell that my battery was getting low.
It hadn’t died, it was just telling me that it was low.
The damage was done though, I’d killed the soundbite and interrupted the shoot.
Instead, in the future, I learned a good lesson.
Don’t interrupt the shoot!
If the camera is still recording, resist the urge to announce technical difficulties.
This ensures that you capture continuous, unbroken footage, even if the battery is on its last legs.
What I should have done, was wait until we finished recording that soundbyte or the interviewee asked another question and then swap batteries then - and especially given this was a bonus angle just to get some time on a camera... woops!
Thankfully I learned my lesson, and the show went on.
3. ⚠️ Safety First: secure those C-stands
One thing my mentor always double checks me on is securing the stands.
A C-stand is a pretty hefty little stand but he always double checks that we have a sandbag over the tallest (and longest) leg.
This is important to ensure that the stand has a low center of gravity and won’t tip over.
The other thing that’s stressed is that the weight is to the “right” (clockwise) of the grip. Meaning it’s in the self-tightening direction.
Another thing is that the arms aren’t just pointing out into the air away from the stand - as they are a definite blinding potential for a stabbing.
It’s our job as crew to ensure and maintaining a secure and hazard-free filming environment.
As the curtains closed on an eventful day filled with video shoots, technical revelations, and unexpected lessons, there was one final moment to capture – a group photo after the award ceremony. Join me in reliving the joyous culmination of our day.
About the Author: Connor
I’m a film student getting my feet wet in the video production world of Minneapolis and St Paul, MN.
Follow along for more at www.ProvidFilms.com