One of the things that makes a great documentary cameraman or woman is the ability to ‘cover an event’ with a single camera so that when it’s edited, it looks as if it was filmed from lots of cameras from lots of different angles.
The secret is to shoot these three types of shots so that you give the editor (which may be you) as many options as needed to produce a slick finished product.
(I’m assuming you don’t need to film an event in its entirety, which will be the subject of another post.)
Shot sequences
Create a ‘shopping list’ of shots in your head before you even get to the event. This is a good practice to get into and will give you a place to start. Imagine you’re shooting a birthday party outside on a sunny day.
1. Wide Shots (WS). Shoot a number of these as a static WS, then a pan into that same shot from an interesting landmark, etc. These WS need to run for at least 15 seconds. This is the shot that sets the scene and orients the viewer as to where it’s all happening.
2. Mid Shots (MS) Shoot at least 10 different mid-shots. For this you need to move in closer and preferably shoot from a different angle from where you shot the WS. Chose a group of people and again, make sure you get at least 10 secs of each of these shots. Rather than ‘follow the action’ – try and let the action, talking, eating etc happen ‘within the frame’.
3. Close Ups (CU). This is where you really focus in on what is happening with close ups of faces, food on the table, cute babies, the guest of honour, etc. These shots need to be at least 5 seconds long, in focus and nice and steady. I often shoot these hand-held, but I make sure they’re rock steady – which does take practice.
If you focus on getting these three types of shots, you can edit them in any number of ways, but without them – your footage won’t have the visual variety that you need.
