TV Technical Operations

Introduction to TV Camerawork

The Basic Principles of Camerawork

There are a number of basic visual conventions used by the majority of cameramen operating broadcast cameras. Many of these standard camera techniques were developed in the early part of the twentieth century when the first film makers had to experiment and invent the grammar of editing, shot-size and the variety of camera movements that are now standard. The guiding concept was the need to persuade the audience that they were watching continuous action in ‘real’ time. This required the mechanics of film-making to be hidden from the audience; that is to be invisible. Invisible technique places the emphasis on the content of the shot rather than production technique in order to achieve ...