REFLECTION ON CREWING AT 1700

On my first day of placement at SYN, I was sent straight to the Channel 31 studios, was introduced to the team made up of an executive producer, producer, two hosts and several other bodies to fulfil the rest of the crew – a director, audio guy, graphics operator, vision switcher, floor manager and the camera operators. Before this day I had no idea what roles were required to produce an hour long tv show, but this was precisely why I opted to do my placement at SYN: to gain an insight to the mediums of radio and television. As a music student it seemed important to me (and interesting) to learn hands on about the mediums through which most people experience music, to be able to imagine ways to contextualising great content in a form accessible to people of all walks of life.

After using the brawn I had to help put together the sets, I was told I would be operating the cameras for the show. The floor manager for the day gave me brief run down on how to operate the expensive looking equipment on wheels (a dolly) and before I could reflect on my lack of experience, we were live, on air, and every time the red light glowed on my camera it meant that it was through my lens the thousands of people watching were viewing the action. It was fun, I liked being able to frame interesting and good looking shots – compensating for the height difference between the hosts, filming the instruments of the band who were performing live In the studio, following the director’s feedback through my headphones to reduce the “head space” and a get a “mid shot.”

The next week I graduated to floor manager, which meant teaching the other new camera operators how to focus their lens and line up their shots (that’s how SYN works, you learn quickly on the job, and in no time you’re showing others the ropes). I had the additional responsibility of counting down to when the show would be live with the code of hand signals.

It’s a role that is primarily based on effectively carrying out orders to produce another’s artistic vision but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for some creative intuition as well, as the director doesn’t spell out every shot that you should do. So you need to be on your toes, making sure your lenses are focused and being aware of how the scene is changing.

KEY SKILLS

•   Clearly communicating directions from director to others.
•   Camera operation skills: framing effective shots
•   Learning quickly on the job and under pressure
•   Teamwork: ensuring knows what their role is and is empowered to carry it out
•   Eye for detail, knowing when to use one’s intuition