Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England
Last night we had dinner with a senior executive at a major UK broadcasting network – all to remain unnamed.
He’s interested in training his reporters to work as VJs.
All to the good.
We got into a discussion about what kind of equipment to buy for them:
Small Sony video camera
Sennheiser shotgun mics
RF mics
Final Cut Pro
Then we got to the tripods.
I say no.
He says yes.
I say no.
He says yes.
I say no.
This is clearly going nowhere.
He says that tripods are essential for a steady shot.
I say that the only time you need a tripod is for shooting things that don’t move, or for the occasional (very) press conference or long interview.
Other than that, I don’t want the VJs dragging around what is essentially a cumbersom and heavy piece of gear.
It only slows the whole process down and makes people less aggressive in where they will go and what they will shoot.
He says you need a tripod all the time to get steady shots – even in a place like a restaurant.
So this morning, at The Guardian Media Academy here in London we screened a piece that Rosie Gloyn shot during our VJ bootcamp in Bristol.
It’s a nice little story.
It is only the second story she has ever made.
And she shot it all without at tripod. I know for sure because we don’t issue any.
But it looks pretty steady to me.
The secret is in how you hold the camera.
Don’t put your hand through the strap.
Just cradle it in the palm of your hand.
And then, when you take the shot – DNMTC!
Do Not Move The Camera.
Simple
And it works.
3 Comments
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David Besemer November 18, 2011
I agree with the “no tripod” practice. Not only can you hold the camera steady enough, but you can usually find something suitable on which to anchor the camera or your arm to get an even steadier shot (e.g., fence post, table top, etc.). It looks like Rosie Gloyn may have used this strategy occasionally in the piece above, and it worked well.
kenny November 18, 2011
I take a tripod with me to each shoot. I usually leave it in the car. The only thing I ever end up using it for is time lapse shots or maybe a beauty shot of the sunset….yeah, that doesn’t move. When I first started doing VJ work, I was actually pretty shocked how almost perfectly still you can hold a camera. And with digital stabilization within the camera and “smoothcam” in FCP, heck, you almost never even need a tripod….almost!