Camera movement and static shots are both essential tools for TV news reporting, but how do you balance them to create engaging and informative stories? In this article, you will learn some tips and techniques to use camera movement effectively and avoid common pitfalls that can distract or confuse your viewers.
Camera movement can add dynamism, emotion, and context to your TV news stories, but it also comes with challenges and risks. You need to consider the purpose, the pace, and the quality of your camera movement, and how it relates to your story, your subject, and your audience. Camera movement can enhance your storytelling, but it can also undermine it if it is overdone, unnecessary, or sloppy.
Wide shots are good establishing shots for showing your audience where you are and the surroundings. Close ups work for engagement and exposing detail. Adding movement to a shot - an interview for example - works when you want to bring your audience in to a conversation or bring them out of the conversation at the end of the interview.
There are different types of camera movement, such as zooming, panning, tilting, tracking, and handheld, and each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. You should use camera movement when it serves a specific function, such as showing the scale, the location, or the action of a scene, or revealing something new or important to the viewer. You should also use camera movement when it matches the tone, the mood, or the emotion of your story, such as creating tension, excitement, or empathy.
Camera movements can be quite effective, when used correctly. They can emphasize a point or change a mood but it does need to make sense. And it’s important the movement is not jerky. Smooth movements are best.
Camera movement can also be detrimental to your TV news stories if it is overused, irrelevant, or distracting. You should avoid camera movement when it does not add any value, meaning, or clarity to your story, or when it contradicts or confuses your message. You should also avoid camera movement when it compromises the stability, the focus, or the composition of your shots, or when it makes your viewers dizzy, nauseous, or annoyed.
Beginning videographers often want to pan around a room or space to show the audience what is on the scene. Instead, use an interesting wide shot or two, and edit in more close ups and medium shots to show additional perspectives of the place. After all, the camera isn't the only tool that can help an audience understand what a location is like, editing and sound can also help establish a scene.
To balance camera movement and static shots in your TV news stories, you need to plan ahead, practice, and edit carefully. You need to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve with your camera movement, and how it fits into your overall narrative and structure. You need to rehearse your camera movement, and check your shots for smoothness, accuracy, and consistency. You need to edit your footage wisely, and use transitions, cuts, and pauses to create rhythm, contrast, and continuity.
I typically avoid a lot of camera movement unless it's motivated because I'm following action handheld or panning to show more of a location than can be seen in a static shot. Contrary to popular belief, camera movement has little to do with making a story "feel" faster. Pacing is established through the use of editing and sound.
Shooting a shot sequence to appear in order on your camera can help save time with editing. Another option to ensure you have a good variety of shots is to always get twice as many medium shots as wide shots AND at least twice as many close ups as medium shots.
Camera movement is a skill that requires practice, feedback, and refinement. You can improve your camera movement skills by watching and analyzing other TV news stories, and observing how they use camera movement to tell their stories. You can also practice your camera movement skills by experimenting with different techniques, settings, and equipment, and recording and reviewing your results. You can also seek feedback from your colleagues, mentors, or instructors, and learn from their suggestions and critiques.
Camera movement is not only a technical skill, but also a creative one. You can use camera movement creatively to add your own style, flair, and perspective to your TV news stories, and to make them stand out from the crowd. You can use camera movement creatively to surprise, challenge, or delight your viewers, and to show them something they have not seen before. You can also use camera movement creatively to express your own voice, vision, and values as a TV news reporter.