Location Sound: The Basics and Beyond

I have spent a good deal of time teaching new reporters how to use a camera. With the current trend to one-man-band reporters, where the reporter finds the story, shoots it, writes the copy and then edits the package, it always amazes me that colleges don’t teach journalism students how to most effectively use a camera.

The first thing I recommend is to, when possible, use a tripod. It’s the best way to get a steady shot. Your camera may have built-in image stabilization, but it can only compensate for so much motion. $175-200 is the starting range for tripods that will be sturdy and offer smooth movements. Be sure to get a tripod with a head specifically designed for video

Many DV shooters like a simple, compact, and very effective accessory called a monopod. Essentially, it's a one-legged tripod. Even though they are extremely compact and easy to transport, monopods are an excellent tool to help you properly hold your shots.

However, in run-and-gun news or documentary photography it’s not always convenient or safe to shoot with a tripod or even a monopod .

So, I usually start by pointing something out across the room and ask the reporter to shoot it hand held. Normally they pick up their camera, zoom in and frame the object and hit record. On playback it quickly becomes obvious that the shot is bouncy and would give the viewer a case of sea-sickness.

Next, I tell them to zoom their lens all the way out and then walk across the room to a few feet from the object and shoot the object again.

It always seems to amaze them that the shot is without exception far steadier than their original shot.

When you zoom in, any camera movement is magnified proportionally to the amount zoomed in. By zooming out you eliminate any magnification of the shake and end up with a much more stable picture. This is why you always see TV news photographers up in people’s faces.

Shade Your Lens

Nothing will mess up a shot faster than sunlight shining directly on to the front of your lens. This can cause lens flares, or unwanted reflections and hot spots in the show. There are several ways to prevent this.

Most good cameras come with a lens shade or lens hood. A lens hood is nothing more than a visor, like the one in your car, to block light.

A matte box usually has a lens hood built into the design. The advantage of the matte box is that you can also drop different filters and gels in front of the lens.

Another solution is to use what is known as a flare buster, which is an adjustable lens shade attached to a flexible arm that's mounted in your accessory shoe. Not only will it help you reduce flare, it can be used to attach filters, reflectors, and hold small objects for close-up taping.

There are also a number of add on filters you can get for your camera. The first to consider is a polarized filter. This filter limits the directions light can enter the lens from. This limits flares but can reduce the amount of light entering the camera.

Another filter I recommend is a simple UV filter. I always recommend everyone make the investment in a UV filter for their camera because along with the increased sharpness a UV filter gives your picture, this simple bit of glass protects your lens and keeps it clean.

All good lenses have a protective coating on them that help prevent glare or refraction that can spoil the picture. When you clean your lens you run the risk of removing or damaging this coating. A UV filter keeps the prime lens clean and you will not have to clean as often, thus protecting the coating.

The best reason for a UV filter is that if for some reason any hard object impacts the lens it’s the relatively cheep UV filter that gets scratched or broken and not the big bucks lens.

Shade Your Monitor

While we are talking about shade, if you have one of the cameras with a LCD monitor, get a monitor hood to block sun. I'm old school and always tend to use the eye piece but I do use the monitor to show playbacks to the actor or client. On a sunny day it's almost impossible to see the screen without some way to block out the sunlight.

Use Manual Focus

Auto focus hunts for stuff to focus on, so if someone walks through the shot it will try and focus on them, getting your subject out of focus.

Auto focus also uses up a lot of battery power, so using manual focus and push focus (a button you can press for auto focusing) makes your batteries last longer. Always make sure your primary subject is in focus. To be absolutely sure, zoom in on the subject, focus, and zoom out.

Soften busy backgrounds so they don't distract viewers from your primary subject.

Manipulate your camera into opening up its aperture (do not change the shutter speed) by adding a neutral density filter. Some prosumer cameras have ND filters you can add with the flick of a switch.

If your camera does not have this setting screw on filters are available in a range of densities, usually one to four f-stops. The darker the filter, the wider the aperture and the softer the background. A polarizer will also work; they usually have a density of two stops.

We use this technique all the time in TV news photography. It gets rid of distracting images in the background. You want to minimize depth of field.

You achieve minimum depth of field by using the largest available aperture. In manual mode, the "exposure" setting controls this, ranging from the iris "open" (minimum depth of field, f/1.6 to 2.8 depending on zoom setting) to "f/11" (which has maximum depth of field). There are settings beyond open which add processing gain from +3db to +18dB, which normally you don't want because it increases image noise or grain, and the gain doesn't affect depth of field.

If you open up the aperture, you let more light in, so you may need to reduce the light e.g.. with a ND filter. The camera may have an internal ND filter or you can use external ones. Also, the more your camera is set towards the "tele" end of the zoom range, the more apparent the effect. At the widest angle zoom setting, the depth of field is always fairly large.

Learn When to Pan, Zoom and Use Other Moves

One of the most common video mistakes is making constant movements and adjustments.
A Zoom lens has a variable focal length and so camera "moves" can be made without actually moving the camera. Professional videographer's use the zoom very sparingly and generally prefer to move the camera. Amateurs love the zoom and can create some very nauseating motion by combining zooms and rapid pans. A zoom changes the angle of display so spatial relationships also change.

Most cameras in the prosumer price range do not have interchangeable lenses and only come with a zoom lens. For the most part this is done to keep prices down and should not be seen as an excuse to zoom all over the place. Most major motion pictures are shot with fixed focal length lenses. The only time a zoom lenses is fitted to the camera is when a zoom is called for in the shooting script.

Be deliberate when making adjustments, don't make changes without a reason. Take a shot of something and leave it there for 10-20 seconds, stop the recording and take another shot. Don't quickly pan the camera from one subject to another. When panning and zooming, use slow, smooth, and deliberate motions. This will make your videos much more watchable.
Shot Composition

Before you hit record, look at your shot and see if you have everything in it that you want and that it is framed nicely. Do this as you would if you were taking a still picture; prior to pressing "record," not after. Good shot composition uses the "Rule of Thirds." This is where you treat the screen as being divided into a tic-tac-toe pattern. When framing a person, you want their eyes on the top line and the center of their head on the left or the right line (i.e., facing inward). Although this may cut off the top of the subject's head, it will provide the proper balance and really make your shot look professional.

Perhaps the most important photography composition is understanding the Rule of Thirds.

Rule of Thirds states that:
The image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph. Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would.

Locating the interest on one of the intersections will create a balance and interesting look to the viewer eyes. If we put the object(s) in the center, it is usually creates a monotonous and static feel.

Learn To Shoot With Both Eyes Open

Shooting with both eyes open is a trick that news and sports photog's learn early in their career. It takes some practice but it allows you to see what's going on in the viewfinder as well as around you. In the case of news and sports it’s a matter of safety.

See The Full Picture

Always keep an eye on what is in the background of your shot. Avoid potted plants sprouting from people’s heads etc. Don’t let your background distract from your subject. Check for reflections, I'm lost count of cameras and boom mics I have seen in mirrors or other reflective surfaces. Note what any signs say in the background. Be aware of people in the background. It's amazing how normal, rational, adults turn into idiots or have to say hello to their mother when a camera is pointed in their direction

My favorite shot is of a news reporter standing in front of a house that that the police are cleaning out after a drug bust. The reporter is telling the story while in the background an officer is hauling out a box of sex toys.

Title Safe Area And Action Safe Area, NTSC Safe Zone

When shooting and editing movies it is important to keep the action within “action safe” and “title safe” areas.

Safe area is a term used to describe the areas of the television picture that can be seen on all television screens.

Since the early days of television the bezels that surrounded the rounded picture tubes were different from set to set and manufacturer to manufacturer. Standards were established to ensure important picture areas were transmitted to everyone regardless of their set.

On Screen text and any titles should be kept in the center 80% of the screen, within a guideline called the Title Safe Area.

To make sure that your audience will not miss any important action in your film, the vital parts of your scene should take place within the central 90% of your frame, a guideline called the Action Safe Area. Why? It's because what's outside the action safe area is invisible on most TV sets.

The safe action area is defined as the area in which “all significant action must take place”, and the safe title area is where “all the important information must be confined to ensure visibility on the majority of home television receivers.”

The safe action area occupies the center 90% of the screen, giving a 5% border all around. The safe title area occupies the center 80% of the screen, giving a 10% border.

So what’s this mean when you are shooting and editing. Never put captions, titles or credits in the outer 10% border around the video. It may not show up on all TV’s. You also want to make sure important action is with the 5% border.

Many cameras and video editors allow you to overlay guidelines so you can keep track of the safe zones. Read your help files to see if your software has this feature.

Start With Color Bars and Slate

color bars At the beginning of each new tape, slate it with at least 30 seconds of bars and then slate the date and production for at least 5 seconds. This is really important with used stock. This will really help in editing. Also, the tape at the very beginning and end of your cassette will have more glitches and sound and color irregularities.

If you have a complicated edit and will have a lot of scenes and takes it's a good idea to slate shots and develop a technique you can use through out the shoot. Most often it's "Scene" then "Take," but I have seen Scene #3 Take A. (If you make it all the way through the alphabet you are doing something wrong, but if you do just continue with something like Scene #3 Take AA or A2 etc.)

Another way to establish important tape or shooting facts quickly (without having to press any buttons) is by simply speaking into the camera's microphone, then go back to being quiet and letting the camera record what is happening.

If you forget to slate a tape or scene, turn the slate upside down and put it in at the tail of the show. When you play it back you will know it's a tail slate because it's upside down.

Shoot For The edit

When you're shooting your video, be aware of how you'll be editing the story. Perhaps there is an element in the shot to the left or right that could be panned to/from at the beginning of each shot, or perhaps even the panning itself can be incorporated as part of a transitional element.

This technique like any other, may be over used if there are several scenes to be cut, so think about how many scenes you may be shooting. Change elevation and angel, switch from a wide angle to a tighter shot,. this will provide more flexibility when editing.

Take Two

When possible, shoot the same scene twice from two different angles or focal lengths. Shoot wide and then get in close, taking one high shot and then one low shot, or whatever other creative angles you might find. Get some "B-roll," shots you can cut away to/from. For instance, you might shoot the winning field goal at the end of the game with a wide angle, but don't be afraid of asking someone to kick the ball into the net again after the game, or better yet, shoot medium or close shots from time to time during the game. These can be used to prolong the moment, or provide more information

White Balance Tricks

Get or make a white balance card. Some slates have a white background that make a great white card.
I find that most instances, any white surface (i.e. white t-shirt, sheet of paper, piece of foam core) placed in your key light (whether it's direct sunlight or an artificial source) is more than adequate for white balance.

I wouldn't waste money on a gray/white card unless you plan to use it for motion picture or still photo purposes. The most important thing is to set the white balance and then check the color rendition of the scene by eye. It may be necessary to use a mix of light (i.e. some direct sun, some artificial light) to achieve the proper balance for the desired color
rendition.

More useful than an expensive white card is a color correction gel swatch book, (samples of gels used for motion picture and still photo lights). I've found that you can shift the white balance to a more appealing look by holding a bit of color correction gel in front of the lens while white balancing.

For example, to warm up a scene, hold a piece of 1/8 or 1/4 blue in front of the lens while white balancing. This tricks the camera into thinking your white reference is just slightly bluer than true white and it adjusts accordingly. Now pull the gel away and zoom out to get a look at your subject.

If the scene is too warm, try balancing again with no gel or a slightly less blue gel. To go with a cooler look, try using the Orange gels.

These swatch books are available from companies like Lee Filters and Rosco, and can generally be acquired for free at pro photo stores and expendable supply houses. If possible try to get your mitts on the larger "Cinematographers Edition" books.

Shoot A Reverse Angle And B-Roll

A reverse is a shot of the interviewer asking a question or reacting to an answer (a noddie). You will see them commonly on TV where the shot flicks from interviewer and interviewee. They are often used to‘re-create’ an interview and are commonly used to hide an edit in a persons question. So if you see a person answering a question and then the camera cuts to a reporter nodding then you can be sure that they have edited the answers. If you are not careful, when you shoot a reverse you can end up crossing the imaginary line, or breaking the 180 degree rule.

It’s also a good idea to get a shot of the person who is being interviewed just listening to the interviewer ask the question. I always shoot an over-the-shoulder of the interviewer where I can see the back of the interviewers head and the person who is being interviewed listening to the question. That way I can add an audio voice over of any question I want and then cut to a medium close up of the person who is being interviewed answering the question.

B-Roll covers a lot of territory. It might be close-ups of what the person is talking about that you can cut over the talking head to increase your audiences understanding of what is being said. Some B-Roll can be used to demonstrate a feeling. For example, if you are talking to a man who has lost his wife to cancer, you might add in a cut to him rolling his wedding ring on his hand. This shot visually points out his loss in a way that cuts directly to the heart of the matter.
Generic B-Roll might be a close-up of a pen taking notes, or of a person’s foot tapping on the floor. It can be used to punch up the emotion of the shot, but its main purpose is to use in covering jump cut edits. B-roll shot can truly enhance your video. "A picture is worth a thousand words," etc. Look for these interesting secondary shooting opportunities.

Get Creative With Your Video Camera

Here are some of the techniques you can use to add a little visual variety to your videos.

Get on your knees or climb a tree. Take the viewer to a place they wouldn't’t normally go. Put the camera on the ground to get that unique perspective. Shoot from surrounding buildings or towers, where ever you can find to climb on. The ground also serves as a decent tripod. Shooting high will give you that overall establishing shot that you know you need. I have a Hi-Hat for my tripod head that allows me to get one my lens about 14 inches from the floor with full fluid head use.
Don’t just shoot a tight shot. Instead, go super tight–as tight as your lens can focus tight. These shots are gold because they are as visually jarring as they are visually interesting. They also make for excellent transitions between scenes.
Look for that subject perspective shot. An example of this would be a shot following the feet of a mailman trudging through snow, or following a toddler around from their low perspective. I think too much of what we shoot tends to be tripod or eye-level. You just have to anticipate when to drop the pod and move with the action.
Let the action leave or enter your frame. Doing so allows you to compress time in your video. You can quickly transition to a different scene after the subject leaves the frame. It also helps you with sequencing, allowing you to edit together a wide, medium and tight shot of your action.

Turn off your auto focus and try a manual shift-focus shot. Try starting with a blurry shot, and then quickly bring your subject into focus. Or try racking your focus from a foreground subject to a background subject. It is pretty effective when done right. Just make sure you are rock solid on a tripod!
Layer your shots with foreground elements, just like you would as a still shooter. They are more complex to see, but done well, they really ratchet up the visual variety of your video.
I don’t do this often, but at times it can be effective. Use a slow shutter speed to blur movement. I have used it on people dancing and it gave the video clip an interesting romantic look, especially if I followed the action in time like a pan shot with a still camera.
Try speeding up the action or slowing it down either in camera or in your video editing program. Here, I am careful how I use this. Like the slow shutter shot, it has to be done for a reason. Don’t speed up the action just because it is cool. Do it because it adds something to your story such as compressing time. Over and under cranking your video is already overused, so be selective.
Shoot more telephoto shots. One thing I have learned since I got the tripod religion is that a solid, tight telephoto shot will fill your frame with intimacy. Because video cameras have so much depth of field, anytime you can make the background go soft so that our subject pops, you should do it. While tight on your subject, don’t forget to pull out and shoot a medium and wide shot. It’s an instant three shot sequence.

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Other Tips:

Name That Tape

Label tapes. Label them by date, order, or make up a system, but label those tapes. And when you capture those tapes, use the name of the tape as part of the capture folder. If you're not using tape, such as with the P2 Cards, then label a file folder with a unique name prior to transfer. You might even consider putting a text file in the folder describing the contents, as this will help you in the sorting of tapes. Some NLE's such as Sony Vegas (professional version) offer searchable media managers that will help locate a specific file when you need to find it quickly. At the end of the day, if the file isn't labeled, it doesn't exist in the digital sense. Computers are for making life easier; help the computer do its job by labeling that information.

Black Your Tape

This is a debatable subject between videographer's. For many years I have been told by some to black the tape and told by others at the best it's a waste of time and at the worst it will wear down your heads.

For me, it's half and half. I always black used tapes. I tend to do this in a studio deck attached to a black burst generator, and not in my camera. With new tapes I use a tape rewind to fast forward and rewind the tape before use.

Time code is the language of video. It's the system your camera uses to assign a unique number to every frame you shoot, enabling you to accurately log your scenes and find them later without burning out your camcorder's drive mechanism shuttling back and forth in search of that elusive magic moment. Clean time code is also required by many video-editing applications for batch processing. Even if the application you're using now doesn't need clean code, as is the case with Apple's iMovie, another (such as Adobe Premiere) might.

The best way to maintain time code is to make sure you never start recording when your LCD monitor is displaying a blue screen (some camcorders show black instead). If you were to start taping with a blue screen, then your time code would start from zero, even though you're somewhere in the middle of the tape. That's what we call "broken time code." What you want instead is continuous footage without any blue screen breaks. That way, a time code number will be assigned to every frame.

Because unbroken time code is of vital importance, sometimes pro shooters will black the tape before they go out on location. They simply load a brand-new blank tape into the camcorder, put the lens cap on, mute the sound, press the record button, and let the tape roll for its duration. Now time code has been established for every second on that cassette. No more blue screens! Then they simply rewind the tape, label it, and they're ready for assignment. No matter what happens during the excitement of shooting, the time code will remain unbroken.

If you don’t have a black generator you can tap into your camera, just leave the lens cap on the camera and hit record.

An added advantage to blacking your tapes, especially new tapes, is that if any loose oxide is on the tape one pass on the heads will get rid of it. Running the tape from the beginning to the end also eliminates and spots where the tape might be stuck to its self in the stack and spools the tape on the reel at a constant tension. Both of these will reduce digital dropouts on your tape and if you get a bad tape out-of-the-box you find out in the shop, not in the field where you might lose the tape and the shots you have already taken.

Consider Your Tape Stock

Back in the day when we were shooting film, none of us would even consider shooting a project with unknown quality or cheep film stock. Why would you be any less cautious with your recording tape?

Film consists of a backing or binder, basically a strip of plastic that is coated with layers of dyes that react to light and end up, after processing, as your master. Videotape is much the same as it also consists of a binder and a layer of oxide that your recording is magnetically imprinted on.

Always buy a brand name and the best quality tape you can afford. Better quality tape stock is less likely to have an inconsistent oxide coating that can cause digital drop outs in your camera master. High quality tape is also less likely to have loose oxide on the tape, damaged or poorly manufactured cassette box or a damaged binder that can clog or damage the expensive heads of your camera or even the camera itself.

I'm not selling tape so I don’t care what brand you use. However I do recommend you pick a brand name and stick with it.

The reason for this is because video tape has a lubricant on it that keeps the heads scanning smoothly across the tape and reduces heat build up from friction. As long as you are using a brand name tape this lubricant stays fluid and does a fine job. The problem is that when you mix different brands of tape and lubricant together they tend to become sticky and gummy. This gunk then clogs heads and ultimately reduces head life because of increased friction.

Pack Well

Every videographer has their favorite video goodies that they keep in their bag, but there are some basic things that every videographer should carry with them. One thing is a special lens cleaning cloth that does not scratch the lens, commonly used for glasses these cloths are great for wiping down the camera lens or LCD screen. Personally I prefer lens paper.

Another is an extra battery (put the money into buying an extra long life battery so you "never" run out).

It's also good to carry a set of RCA cables (video cables) because you never know when you'll need them.

Always have a roll of Gaffer tape to secure cords and other things. This could save you a lot if some one falls over your cords and takes you to court.

Always carry extra light bulbs (lamps). There is no excuse for going home because the lamp burned out and you didn't have an extra. (What amateurs call a light bulb, pros call a lamp. A lamp is pit in a lighting fixture or just a fixture. Talk the talk.)

Make sure you have plenty of power cables or even a drop box if you are doing a lot of lighting.

Best Camera/Shooting Tips:

Learn Your Camera

Keep The Camera Steady

Shade Your Lens

Shade Your Monitor

Use Manual Focus

Soften Backgrounds

Learn When to Pan, Zoom and Use Other Moves

Learn To Shoot With Both Eyes Open

See The Full Picture

Title Safe Area And Action Safe Area, NTSC Safe Zone

Start With Color Bars and Slate

Shoot For The edit

Take Two

White Balance Tricks

Shoot A Reverse Angle And B-Roll

Get Creative With Your Video Camera

Other Tips:

Name That Tape

Black Your Tape

Consider Your Tape Stock

Pack Well

E-mail to request a DVD demo with past work.
E-mail us at - jimsawyereditor@gmail.com

NATIONAL & STATE LEVEL AWARDS:

Best Camera/Shooting Tips:

Learn Your Camera

Keep The Camera Steady

Shade Your Lens

Shade Your Monitor

Use Manual Focus

Soften Backgrounds

Learn When to Pan, Zoom and Use Other Moves

Learn To Shoot With Both Eyes Open

See The Full Picture

Title Safe Area And Action Safe Area, NTSC Safe Zone

Start With Color Bars and Slate

Shoot For The edit

Take Two

White Balance Tricks

Shoot A Reverse Angle And B-Roll

Get Creative With Your Video Camera

Other Tips:

Name That Tape

Black Your Tape

Consider Your Tape Stock

Pack Well

E-mail to request a DVD demo with past work. E-mail us at - jimsawyereditor@gmail.com

NATIONAL & STATE LEVEL AWARDS:

E-mail to request a DVD demo with past work.
E-mail us at - jimsawyereditor@gmail.com