Camera Workshop 2

 For the second workshop (Tuesday 28th jan) we started with learning about the 180 degrees rule and the rule of thirds. The 180 degrees rule is where when you have a person facing certain direction you can only shoot with in 180 degrees to the side of which you shot first. This is so that the audience doesn't think that the actor has switched the way that they are facing, therefore not confusing the audience. The rule of thirds is where you have the person located on the left or right third of the screen. This is useful to create more interesting and well composed shots.

We were then taught that you shoot with a wide shot then a mid shot and then finally a close up. This helps with the continuity of the filming making sure that everything is in the exact same spot that is was in the previous shot making it look as if it is at the same time and nothing has been moved around.

We were then taught the importance of marks and also how important it is for the actor/actresses to hit their marks. It is about having the actor in the perfect spot of where the camera is looking at and where the focus is set at.

You shouldn't watch the footage back on set due to a couple of reasons. First of all it wastes a lot of time where you could be taking more shots, and second of all it may make the actor/actress conscious of what they are doing and will do something unnatural to make up for it, therefor making the shots after look fake and forced.

'Action' is said after the camera has started rolling due to the fact that actors may come in too early if the camera starts after 'action' is said (can always be cut out in editing). It is the same with 'cut' but the other way around where it is said before the camera stops rolling.