Before shooting even a frame you need to know the whole story you’re trying to tell and how this footage fits into it. Knowing in advance will give you a much better idea of what you need and from which perspective.
A useful technique for telling a story is the summary. They outline the point of the story, the characters involved and show you where it will lead. Pulling key words or phrases from the summary will assist you in decided what and how to shoot. Creating a summary is essential to telling it. You need to know the angle, for both the filming side and the journalistic side, if there is one. While planning is essential for a good shoot, you must always be ready for the unexpected. Always be prepared to react if something happens or the story develops in a hurry.
The summary will give you an idea of the sequences needed to shoot the piece. It doesn’t matter if it’s an interview, news piece or a wedding, they will all need some kind of sequence to tie them all together and make the end result a seamless one. You need to plan cutaways and cut-ins, overlaps and overshoots. Overshoots are where you get more material than you need in order to give a margin when it comes time to edit. If you need five shots, film eight then if anything goes wrong you have spare material to work with.
In a shot film the person, then the thing, then the person and the thing. This is an old adage that has been passed down throughout the ages when talking video production. It offers a variety of angles and images for when it comes time to edit. Changing shot size, angle and zoom will also help create an interesting a diverse, yet cohesive piece.
The five shot rule is also useful when filming. The five shots are close up, close up on the face, wide shot over shoulder, and a different angle shot. Each of these can sequence together seamlessly and portray the whole picture. If you only shoot from one angle, then only one perspective is seen, then when it comes to editing, you only have two choices, use it or lose it.
A good cameraman will always shoot much more than they need. The situation being recorded may never happen again, or be very difficult to stage. Therefore you only have one chance to get the footage, so it had better be good, and offer options when it comes to editing. This is why the overshooting and the five shot rule are so important. Once the footage has been obtained, the story can be told in a number of different ways with all this information. Shooting from a single angle, with a single shot limits the feature quite a lot.
These are just a few tips to enable you to become a better cameraman, movie maker, editor, producer or whatever. If you are recording a single moment in time, just make sure you capture it all.
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