Practical 4

This week's task was to film a moving camera interview about Brighton nightlife. We had to film from three different angles, whilst recording the dialogue with the boom microphone. Jessie and I took it in turns with camera and sound.


1) Camera follows pair from behind

I was responsible for camera work on this shot. I tried to keep the framing centred on the subjects whilst we walked, but this was quite difficult to do as it ended up looking very shaky. Moreover the boom sometimes appeared in the shot, so I tried to keep a fair distance from it.

2) Camera follows the pair from the side

For this shot I was responsible for sound. I held the boom mic quite low down so that it didn't appear in the shot, however this meant that the sound was very muffled, especially since Ruth (left) was speaking into her scarf. I also found it very difficult to keep up with the subjects and Jessie on camera as they were moving.

3) The pair walks towards the static camera

I found this easier as I only had to follow the subjects and not the camera, which gave me more freedom to move without stretching the wire too far. However the microphone still did not pick up a lot of the audio since I stood too far away, in an attempt to avoid being in the shot.

Overall this exercise was quite difficult. I think that if we are filming moving action, it would be best to use a clip microphone. Using the boom mic should be restricted to interviews where the subject is still and possibly indoors, so that it doesn't pick up too much ambient noises.