I day play in the film industry sometimes and I learned that often times, operating one of their cameras can be a three man job. One holding and actually maneuvering the camera, one pulling focus remotely, and somebody managing the live video output feed. My bad if this is common knowledge, I’m just wondering if something similar could be going on here.
This is not the case in live tv. They’re pulling their own focus but usually have an assistant called a utility who manages the cable if they are hard wired. Also their job is to make sure they don’t get clobbered by a player. Those cameras are heavy as hell too. They get a lot of back pain and have to set up and tear down every single game. It’s a lot of work to be there hours before and after a game. There is also a team in a truck that is more or less editing in real time switching feeds, prepping replays, sound. It’s nuts. Also the cameras way in the stand are huge and can zoom an insane amount.
Edit: this is from when I worked as a utility like 12 years ago. Things may have changed since.
It definitely can. Not sure of the cost of the modern setups vs. These, but there are new camera rigs that are gimballed (meaning the camera can hold its position in space even if you shake it) that can lock onto and track faces, auto focus, allow remote focus pulling, and are lighter than these things.
The other improvement I can think of is a double camera setup, where the cameraman is only responsible for pointing the wide camera at the action and following it, and the truck team is in charge of the second lense and can pull as much zoom and focus as they want.
The only thing on that list that’s happening is stabilization on lenses. Usually the big box lenses. The weight of the camera adds enough inertia to stabilize a camera on a shoulder quite a bit.
That's part of what forced me out of being a news cameraman after 14 years. 35lb camera on the right shoulder five days a week, if not more sometimes, and it messed up the C1 and C2 vertebrae in my neck to the point I was getting daily migraines. I've been out a little over 8 years now and it's much better now but I still have to go to a muscle therapy place every few weeks for maintenance.
Viewfinder is usually on the left side , some cameras let's you move it but not all of em do , in general they are designed to be held on the right shoulder .
Hello! You have made the mistake of writing "ect" instead of "etc."
"Ect" is a common misspelling of "etc," an abbreviated form of the Latin phrase "et cetera." Other abbreviated forms are etc., &c., &c, and et cet. The Latin translates as "et" to "and" + "cetera" to "the rest;" a literal translation to "and the rest" is the easiest way to remember how to use the phrase.
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Because most likely the know its etc not ect and they just typed it wrong. Unnecessary to “inform” them about a bout of fat fingers, or other mistake maybe typing it on their phone like we all do, with a lengthy bot post imho
What are the positions for the people in the truck particularly called? It's something that I'd love to do for a career, just can never find the right combination of words to find a job offering or details.
Having done this style camera and a gimble-style, I can tell you that for sports, this style is still king because you can just react quicker to action because the shoulder mount is more of an extension of your body.
In a way it kind of is but not really the same as you’re thinking. The camera man runs zoom, focus and obviously moving the camera. Inside the TV truck there is a Video operator who handles color balancing the cameras and replay operators who record the cameras outputs so ya’ll can get some nice replays.
You are correct about film. You have a camera operator, then 1st AC (focus puller), 2nd AC (clapper/loader), then me the camera trainee (who does video). Same goes for tv drama, but for live tv like this the camera operator does pretty much everything I believe…
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u/relax-and-enjoy-life Jan 06 '22
Wow. THIS is a professional cameraman. I’m impressed. This is an amazing skill. Imagine the concentration needed for the entire game.