Ask A Professional: Television and Film Edition

[Term]

Hey guys.

Ever thought about making a movie?

Interviewing some of your friends?

Editing together a montage or highlight video?

Want tips, tricks, advice?

As a professional camera operator, engineer, and producer, I'm at your disposal!

[Term]

No that's a fair question to ask and I probably should have mentioned something in my OP.

Here's a brief look at my résumé:

I've been doing video for roughly seven years. Graduated with honors in Radio/TV broadcasting with a concentration in Sports in Society.

I'm an award winning producer, from the National Broadcasting Society for my work on a weekly sports magazine program akin to SportsCenter on ESPN. I also won for a trailer I edited together for a short exposé I did on concussions in the NFL featuring neurologists who specialize in concussions, former NFL players and broadcasters.

I also shot several other documentaries and short films while in college.

After graduating I started my own production company which has completed several commercials for local businesses as well as helped provide video assistance for local events and private clients. I partnered with a college recruiting firm to provide video highlights, shot and edited, for parents of high school students to send to coaches.

I've been employed by several professional teams across all major sports, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. I've also worked for a non-profit new organization, but I highly suggest anyone thinking of that to never do it.

Currently I'm employed at one of the busiest arenas in the tri-state area as a camera operator and engineer as well at one of the area's regional sports networks as a camera operator, engineer, and audio technician. I have experience working in a studio environment as well as the field. Almost every job from Grip to Director I've done at one time or another.

[QT Melon]

What was the costliest mistake you made in your career, that helped you learn more about your line of work?

[Term]

What was the costliest mistake you made in your career, that helped you learn more about your line of work?

Well I'll give you two mistakes as they both sort of deal with different things but were equally devistating to me emotionally when they happened early on in my career.

The first was at an arena. I was doing camera at the typical broadcast angle for hockey. We have a specific time we need to be out on the floor ready to shoot because our video is used for the center-hung above the ice as well as all monitors throughout the building. For personal reasons I won't get into, I did not make it out in time to man my station for Pregame warm ups. I assumed I would have enough time to do what I needed to do and get out. I was severely mistaken.

I received an earfull from my director and then from the director of event production for the arena. See, especially in the broadcasting business, a call time is sacred. I prided myself on always being early, because to be late to a call time was perhaps the greatest sin a broadcaster could ever commit. I was essentially thrown in the doghouse after that and I was relieved when I realized they hadn't fired me over the incident. I think that was only due to the fact that up until that point I had an exceptional rapport with them as a normally reliable guy.

The second mistake was when I was asked by a few parents to tape a soccer game and then use the video to make a highlight reel. I charge parents $125 per shoot and $35/hour for editing for those kinds of things. So here comes the day of the event and I get my camera equipment and head out an hour away from my home to tape this thing. I had a couple of HD Cam tapes in my car so I figured I would just use those since they hadn't been used.

So I get there and start setting up my equipment, goin through all my checks about a half hour before the game. I first realize that my battery level was only giving me an estimated 40 minutes of power. A typical soccer game lasts about 90. I look through my bags and I realize I never packed a back-up battery. Unfortunately these arent the types of batteries you just walk into your local Best Buy and just pick up off the shelf. These are professional batteries which either need to be ordered or picked up at a specialty store, which I had no idea where to find one where I was.

I convince myself that I can still do this by conserving battery where I could, between stoppages of time and during lulls in the game. So I then put in one of my tapes and record on it as one of my other tests. I then recieve an error message that the tape deck wasn't clean. But I had seen that message before and I instantly remembered what happened. Leaving tapes in your car is the worst idea in the world. Tapes are temperature sensitive, and in a car, temperatures can fluctuate between hot and cold in extreme fashion when they're just sittin out in the elements. By leaving the tapes in my car I had essentially destroyed them and I was left with no stock to tape the games.

I then had to approach the parents and inform them that I would be unable to tape the game and left. I lost out on a lot of money because I did not properly prepare myself the day before and waited until it was game time to do checks on my equipment. And that hurts my reputation among parents. Luckily I was able to make a come-back this year and got a decent amount of business during the Fall Sports cycle, but now I'm extra careful about my equipment.

[Sonata]

OK since I am really interested in studying on the film industry...when I go back to college, what kind of classes should I take in order to learn more about film? I am hoping they are available since I still have an interest in film.

[Term]

[Term]

Oh! One last thing today.

What are those new fancy camera's Sony is making with that innovative stabilization tech? I can't remember the Nate Burr video or the name of them, but they have this funky lens sensitive apparatus where they move in the opposite direction of where the camera is shaking...I think that's how they work. To keep the picture overall steady while moving.

I saw that the tech is used in special spoons for people with tremors and will also be put in smartphones.

Well Optical Image Stabilization has been around for a few years now. Canon EF lenses have the option for the most part, but that has to do with how the four lens group in the camera is adjusted to compensate for camera shake using gyro sensors. Sony's version would be the Super Steady Shot.

I believe I've seen what you're talking about in a few smartphone commercials where it appears the lens itself is moving in a circular motion inside the camera based on how the camera itself is being maneuvered in 3D space. Essentially it makes the lens act like a biological eye with a vestibulo-ocular reflex that stabilizes images on the retina during head movement in a similar fashion as you're describing. Aside from that though I don't think I know nearly enough about that particular bit of technology.

[Sonata]

thanks so much for the tips, term! I actually took a film studies class in my senior year of high school and it was a really good class, I learned a lot from it. I will keep your advice in mind for when I re-apply for college.

[QT Melon]

While you mostly do sports, are you interested in cinematography and the effects of color palettes? Are there any movies that had particular palettes or shots you were inspired by?

[Term]

While you mostly do sports, are you interested in cinematography and the effects of color palettes? Are there any movies that had particular palettes or shots you were inspired by?

Wooo! Sorry meant to answer this sooner but work got the better of me today, haha.

Well when you start talking cinematography and color palettes, you'd be remiss not to mention Stanley Kubrick. Dude had vision and knew how to play with colors to help emphasize the tone of his films. The deep reds and blacks in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the gold and silver of decadence for Eyes Wide Shut, I could go on haha. The Coen Brothers I feel also have a great sense of color in their films, particularly Fargo and No Country for Old Men. Color also played a huge role in the movie Buried which has Ryan Reynolds spend the entire film in a coffin six feet underground and the various light sources change the color of the film playing on the emotions of both the main character and the audience. Extremely well done.

As far as shots, I've always been a fan of long drawn out tracking shots. One of the best accomplished shots like this was actually in the comedy Waiting where the camera flys around the restaurant looking into a typical dinner service and we get to listen in on the conversations of the staff and customers alike (that movie holds a special place in my heart because I used to work at a bar and grill and it pretty much hit the nail on the head of what it's like in that world).

Without going into a long list, I'll leave with one of the movies that's touched me the most as something which is inspiring on multiple levels and that's 12 Angry Men. The movie for almost the entire run time takes place in a single room. Yet the angles the camera shoots at as well as the few actual moves the camera makes just helps build the tension you feel as these men decide the fate of a young man accused of murder. And it's in black and white!