TV Broadcasting Week 6

This week we went over the terminology that generally gets used whilst shooting the video of any news piece you are likely to do. A lot of the terms are general terms for the types of shots that you want to get, or the motion that the camera will make during a shot. These terminologies have been explained below.

Shot Sizes:

è Extreme Long Shot – this is mostly used for capturing the environment around a subject without focussing on the subject matter itself. This is used when the environment is very important.

è Very Long Shot – The subject of the shot is about one third of the frame.

è Long Shot – The subject covers a majority of the frame, but you can still see much of the background as well. This is normally used when you are following the subject’s motions or movements, as you can still see their legs moving at this point.

è Medium Long Shot – This cuts the subject off at the knee, and is normally very similar to a Long Shot except that it is not used for any motion shots, as you can no longer see the motions of the legs.

è Mid-Shot – This cuts below the waist, and is normally used to capture upper body activity.

è Medium Close Up – This is normally used for Interviews, as it cuts off just below the shoulder and keeps the focus on the subject and what they are saying.

è Close Up – This cuts off below the chin, and is better for focussing more on the face and eyes.

è Big Close Up – This shot cuts off around the chin for a bigger emphasis on the face and mouth.

è Extreme Close Up – This shot focuses purely on the eyes and their movement. This can either create mystery or comedy depending on their use.

Framing:

è When you shoot at diagonals, you create a better sense of depth and variation than shooting a subject square on. So whenever you can, shoot from an angle as this creates a much more interesting and dynamic shot.

è The positioning of the subject tells the audience a lot about the action of the scene – where they’re looking, where they’re walking, how they’re sat, everything speaks visually about what could be happening next. So, frame your shot according to the action that is taking place, and think about what you want the framing to do for the video.

è The Rule of Thirds is a fantastic rule to follow for framing your shots. Basically, this rule means you split the framing into thirds width ways and lengthways over the shot so that you can get a better composition from the shot. The subject of the shot should be framed within one of these thirds so that it creates a much more dynamic and interesting shot rather than, once again, just shooting something square in the shot.

è Using low angles and high angles creates different impressions of what you want from the shot.

Crossing the Line:

è This is the line that you use for shooting. The “line” exists between two subjects and you have to decide which 180 degrees side you are going to shoot from, as crossing the line creates confusion over the directions of the actions taking place in the shot. So, for example, if you have two people talking to each other on a bench and you go to take over-the-shoulder shots, then crossing the line would make it seem as if one of them is facing away from the other. Crossing the Line is an easy mistake to make, which is why it is all the more important to recognise where your line is when you start shooting so that you do not fall into the trap!

è Having said this, there is one way to get around crossing over the line, and that is to simply capture a tracking shot of the action whilst crossing over the line, so that then when you cut to shots you’ve taken from the other side of the line, the action is no longer confusing.

Movement:

è Tilt – This is an up and down motion of the camera, pivoting on the tripod. When you freeze on the first and last shots as well, this works out as giving you 3 different usable shots.

è Pan – Like a tilt, this is a side to side motion pivoting on the tripod.

è Track – This is actual movement with the camera, so that it makes a natural movement of the eye.

è Zoom – This squeezes the picture and is an unnatural movement to really make, so it should only be used sparingly and when you really need to.

With that, we were divided into groups and went out to capture video. Each group was given a scenario of a news story that wasn’t true but could still be likely to happen, and create a small news package around that story. The scenario the group I was in took was the one about a Tesco’s store being build on the grounds of Winchester University, removing one of the fields there. We went out and captured some general views of the University and a couple of interviews with each other before editing them together into a short package. The results of this will be viewed next week...