Lesson Info
12. Camera Rigs & Gear
Lessons
Class Introduction
10:34 2How Photography Skills Translate to Film & Video
16:46 3Terminology
07:58 4Concepts
06:43 5Opportunities Within Video & Film
24:33 6Crew Roles
14:34 7Interview - writer & Producer, Julio Vincent Gambuto
29:13 8Phases of Video - Pre Production
14:37Phases of Video - Story Color & Design
16:36 10Production
05:57 11Post Production
08:01 12Camera Rigs & Gear
10:05 13Camera Movement
21:18 14Camera Placement: Interview Set Up
15:46 15Communicating Your Vision & Expectations
11:36 16Production Protocol
25:57 17What Gear Do I Need to Get Started?
27:12 18Photo Lighting Techniques that Translate to Video
08:58 19Shots You Need for Coverage
26:20 20Planning Your Shots
05:09 21Moving into Post Production
08:41 22Available Tools & Assets
12:01 23Understanding Continuity Basics
11:08 24Editing and Media Considerations
07:32 25Video Examples with Final Post Production
06:59 26Opportunities to Start Incorporating Film & Video
09:53 27Lone Wolf vs. Collaborative Approach
05:23Lesson Info
Camera Rigs & Gear
we're gonna really fun segment with lots off camera movement. So that means we're going to talk about all the different moves you can make with the camera. Will not all of them, but a good portion of them. Good starter package. And we're also gonna talk about the what and the why about moving the camera. So, you know, camera moves advanced the story, and they inform us how we're supposed to feel about the action on the screen so that, like, all of the other layers of storytelling that we've talked about so far, create shape, color, music, all these different elements of postproduction, the way the camera moves as we go back to that slide I talked about earlier with the second separation between the skills we bring his photographers and the things we need to learn Now we're in that were in that spot right now is that you need to understand about camera movement. And Giulio spoke about this as well because the camera move, it definitely informs the storytelling. So we're gonna talk about...
those things we're gonna go through some, uh, gonna show you a little bit of equipment that is necessary for moving the camera about. We're gonna talk about the different camera moves and we're gonna demonstrators, many of them as we can in this room. So the first thing I want to show you is this is the cinematographer one cinematographers I work with. His name is Powell Robinson, and one of the pieces of equipment that we used that was very versatile. It's called the Dana Dolly. Now a dolly on the highest levels is something that moves the camera in and out toward the subject and away. Ah, Dana Dolly will also act essentially like a slider or truck shot which goes side to side. So this is a shot where we were moving side to side on the Dana Dolly, which basically you get upset of rails that you can buy even at Home Depot. And then they mount right onto this sort of skateboard track that you mount your fluid head on top of, and then you can also use it in that direction, which gives you a dolly shot, which is a nice, smooth pushin movement. And we'll talk a little bit about that later. This is some of the people on our crew this is, Ah, camera mounted on sticks, which is what we talked about earlier. The tripod, that is, This is what sticks look like. We have them in setting. You can also put them on wheels and move them around. We'll talk about how that might be a great way to combine one piece of equipment to make several different types of shots in a film setting sort of little hacks and cheats that we're going to talk about. Ah, this is the fluid head. They come in. All different shapes and sizes were basically what it does, is it? It moves the camera side to side in a pan motion have also moved on an access up and down in a tilt emotion, so we'll talk about that a little bit as well there. These are also all different scale in terms of size and weight, based on the cameras you use also of expense. So all different levels of camera movement equipment and at every level you can afford certain things. This is a really basic camera rig. The thing on the front is called a mat box. Now Matt boxes there to create shade around your lens, but also gives you the opportunity to drop in filters, whether those be nd filters or that you are specialized types of filters to give you a different kind of a look. But the map box will definitely provide that. It also comes sometimes with barn doors. So, like when you've seen on lights, the barn doors could be on the front of the camera as well. Things on the bottom there. Like pipes, they're connected to these brackets. That's called rails that will be sitting where the camera actually mounts onto the rails. But the rails enable you to build out the camera in different ways so you can get longer rails and get shorter rails. You can touch hand camp hand brackets to it. There's a lot of different things that you can build out your camera to, how you want to move it. Thing on the left is called a follow focus. Now those come also digitally, but basically what the follow focus does is it has a gear right here that turns the gear on the lens. Now cinema lenses have their own gearing, but you can create a cinema lens by having this collar that you put around the regular camera lens for DSLR, and you can gear it into your follow focus, and this helps you move and focus the camera as your camera is moving about. Um, the handheld, the hand grip on the top, sort of a carry handle. We can show you were gonna be able to show you that later. But there's also other things you can mount to your camera rig. You can mount your monitors to it. You can mount your batteries to it. So basically it's like an Erector set. You can build it any which way you like. So So this is one of the DP's I work with. His name is Alex, so Alex likes to work on a gimbal. So the gimbal is sort of a three axis gimbal, and you've seen these with IPhones as well, where you can basically mount your IPhone in a three axis gimbal, and it will gyroscopic Lee move around and stay level, no matter how you move it. So Alex is in what's called an easy rig, which is a way to stabilize the camera that the backpack thing he's on, it's sort of a modified easy rig and he's got the camera on a gimbal, and, of course he's on electric skateboard. I do not recommend you doing this without experience. Alex has been on a skateboard his whole life, so this is Powell again, and this is a true easy rig. So the basically comes up over your back, and I think sometimes they even call this a scorpion, something like that where basically the camera is suspended from a string. So it's basically helping you take the weight of the camera and be able to move the camera smoothly so it feels like a handheld shot. But it's a little smoother, and it also helps the cinematographer move the camera around in a way that is much easier than carrying it. So it's kind of distributing the load over your back. This is for a video that actually just came out yesterday. This is him again in the same video shoot, but now he's got those hand handles on their connected to the bottom of his rails and also on the easy rig. So now the camera is stabilized in two different ways, and he's also carefully and very, very safely rigged into the back of that truck. Do not just stand in the back of a truck with a camera. That is a very, very bad idea. He is professionally rigged in by his key grip and his key grip, who rigs him into things like this travels with him. So this is Alex again now wearing Steadicam. So this is, ah to camera Steadicam. He's got one at the bottom and he's got one at the top. He's got his monitor mounted to the top. You could see his follow focus there. That white dial on the top camera. This whole contraption that's connected to his body is on basically gyroscopic kind of movement gears, where the camera will always be smooth. No matter how much you move it, it will always have sort of like a suspension system, like in your car. So some of the most famous, um, films that initiated the use of Steadicam you are the one that everybody's really familiar with. This Rocky right, the running up the stairs in the scene, a rocket that was filled with the Philadelphia Museum is, I think, the first mainstream use of a Steadicam in a feature film, and then the other one that's really famous from that era is the shining When you when When Jack Nicholson is running through the and chasing the boy through the maze. Those are the two very early examples of Steadicam. So you get a sense of Steadicam is a way to move through space without the camera jostling too much. And there's another camp, another shot of Alex with a steady camp. So this is, Ah, camera on a crane or jib, also called a boom. There's a lot of different names for this, and that way the camera will be able to move up and down in space and be it. Also be able to tilt. You can actually mount it on a gimbal so that it actually has its 360 degree moves. Ah, lot of times when you're in this room that you'll see that high shot and then they come in on the instructor that is, Ah, that is a crane shot. You could also not all of these air mechanized, some of them or more manual so with wheels and turns and dials and follow focused. So that's that's a crane shot and in the drones of course you're familiar with drones and what they're giving us, and the fact that all of those shots that used to be made this way with helicopters are now made with drones for a lot less money. So, like, you know, in our film that we just completed, we have several drone shots in the film that we would have never been able to afford otherwise, because and they look beautiful in their steady and they look absolutely match with the footage really beautifully because these things have become really advanced. So, um, okay, any questions on the gear or anything that's come in based on those first couple of slides or anybody here if you have a question about any of that stuff, if let's say you're in a position to maybe pick up one or two of those pieces of gear, maybe what would you start off with? Or what? Some of the most, uh, most common thing just yet set used definitely. Ah, fluid head and sticks. And like I said earlier, if you put those sticks on wheels on castors, that actually you can actually make some moving shots that way, so that way you could make some of the most basic basic of shots. So I would say first a set of sticks and a good fluid head, and then some kind of a hand rig where you can, where you can shoulder carry the camera because it's very common, particularly in documentary filmmaking, where a lot of that is sort of guerrilla filmmaking, where your hand holding the camera And if you have ah, good shoulder rig or or chest rig where you can actually just move the camera through space. That way you can actually get a lot accomplished. So if you have just just a really good hand rig with, you know, the kind of elements that I suggested a good follow focus, a map box and then a good fluid head and a set of sticks. That's a great starter kit right there.
Ratings and Reviews
Nev Steer
A very well explained class on starting in film production from the viewpoint of a person with a successful photography background. Thanks Andrew.
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