Placing the camera on a dolly means you’re going to have a good time pulling focus. Besides the fun, dolly shots can also be very challenging. Successfully pulling focus on shots like these will depend on the consistency of a good dolly grip, but also how well you placed focus marks.
Camera Assisting
How to Get Better at Pulling Focus, Slating, and Being a Badass AC
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7 Things Camera Assistants Can Learn from Twitter
Camera assisting and Twitter couldn’t be further apart. One requires a strong technical knowledge of physical equipment, while the other centers around sharing brief messages with friends. But despite that, after spending a few years tweeting, I’ve seen that Twitter has a few things to teach camera assistants — even if they are fundamentally different.
How to Align the Camera and Match Shots
There will often be times where a cinematographer wants a camera assistant to match two shots, such as a close-up of one character to be identical to the other. There will also be times where you may be asked to come back to a shot and match it exactly. Doing this isn’t hard, it just takes a little bit of time and a trusty old tape measure.
Slating the Alphabet from Apple to X-Ray
On many productions, scenes are slated with numbers accompanied by a letter, such as 27A or 56D. When slating, the 2nd assistant camera must then shout out those scene numbers, but instead replacing a corresponding word with the letter, much like the military does. So, which words go with which letters?
Ready to Wrap for Lunch? Do This First
If you’re like me, you appreciate the small amount of time on set during lunchtime to eat, relax and maybe even sneak a quick nap. Of course, as a camera assistant, your first priority is the camera. This is how I keep the camera safe during the extended break and you should be doing something similar if you aren’t already.
5 Common Focus Pulling Mistakes
On Friday, I wrote a post that detailed ways to become a better focus puller over the weekend. Now that you’ve had time to improve yourself, I’d like to take a few moments to address some of the more common mistakes that are made while pulling focus. Are you guilty of any of these?
Two Actors, One Mark, Easy Solution
When it comes to marking actors, the process is fairly straightforward. However, sometimes it can actually end up being quite confusing: for instance, suppose two actors, with two different colors of paper tape, have to end up on the same mark at separate times in a scene.
3 Simple Ways to Become a Better Focus Puller Over the Weekend
Do you find pulling focus to be tough? You’re not the only one. As Sam Garwood says, it’s “a really simple really difficult job.” The physical act is easy, but the mental pressure is immense. Even if you’re an experienced focus puller, honing the skill is an ongoing battle.
How To Never Forget the Names of Talent Again
It can be embarrassing to be trying to get an actor or actresses attention when you don’t know their name, especially if you’ve already met. Whether you’re marking at their feet or pulling focus to their eyes, there are inevitably situations where you will need to speak directly to the on screen talent. Remembering names can be difficult, but you don’t always have to — there’s another way.
Zen and the Art of Camera Assisting
Camera assisting, I believe, takes a great deal of mental focus and zen can help push the mind to hone it’s power to the fullest extent. There are many zen proverbs that can offer advice about camera assisting and filmmaking in general. In this post, I’d like to take a look at some of my favorites and what they have to say about a career in film.