'AS LIVE' PRODUCTION: Camera Workshop with Del

Today we had our first workshop in the studio with Del. 

We got back to basics with the cameras to check everyone knew how to frame and focus the cameras before moving into more technical activities. 

We set up the cameras ensuring they were white balanced, framed and focused. We did a camera line up pointing at a grey scale chart and then an image of a woman to ensure everyone's cameras were showing the same image with the same colour tones - this is done before a live studio production to make sure all images match as the shots are being live edited by the vision mixer so can not be colour corrected. 

The grey scale chart shows all shades of black and white with a black hollow square in the middle. This is the truest black as no light is reflected back out - all light is absorbed in the square.

This is the image of the woman used to check the skin tones of all cameras match.

Once this was done we learnt about racking. We went into the vision control room where the cameras are usually racked. We won't be racking the cameras for our production, instead the camera operators will be manually adjusting the camera settings. In the vision control room, a person can control the exposure of all the cameras - they can open and close the iris to adjust the amount of light let into the camera. They look at a WFM (wave form monitor) to determine how much light is needed.

Once all the cameras were matched up, we tried some different activities with the cameras - ones similar to things we could be doing in the live production.

We tried zooming in as far as we could on a small detailed object (e.g. a coin) and seeing if we could maintain focus on it as it moved around. This is useful for if we have any small detailed objects in the show (e.g. detailed fashion accessories) which we want to get extreme close up shots of whilst the model moves around.

We also did a similar activity where we attempted to keep a subject framed and focus as they moved towards the camera. This will be helpful for shots in the show where the presenters or models are moving. 

We then went into the gallery to have a go at vision mixing. 

To use the desk, you place your four fingers on the different keys (using the little finger for camera 1, ring finger for camera 2, middle finger for camera 3 and index finger for camera 4). When cutting between cameras you keep your eyes on the screens. The director calls the shots using language such as "standby one" to preview the shot and "cut one" to put the shot to transmission. The right hand is then used to mix with the t bar. I was nervous to vision mix but actually ended up enjoying it - if I hadn't got the role of producer, vision mixing is something I think I would be interested in.