Camera Work: Learn from the Pros (page 3)
TV Programs
And what about TV programs--you know, the stuff that occasionally interrupts the otherwise steady flow of commercials? What can we learn from the pros who make TV shows?
How about scale and intimacy.
Makers of TV programs all adjust their material quite consciously to the modest scale of their medium. Most monitors are small (even a "35-inch screen" is actually around 28 inches wide by 21 inches high) and resolution is relatively low. To accommodate these realities, pro videomakers work close to their subjects.
Watch a theatrical feature like Terminator II and then study an action TV show--say, NYPD Blue. You'll notice that the TV program stays much closer to its subject. Long shots are less frequent and stay on-screen for shorter periods. Three-quarter length shots ("loose singles") frequently substitute for full shots. Medium (waist) through closeup shots are best.
These tactics are intended to bring the show close enough for the viewer to see it clearly--and you might well adopt the same style.
The other reason for shooting close-in is intimacy. What TV may lack in scale and resolution it makes up for in human interest. For psychological reasons that are still researched and debated, we feel a more direct and personal connection to the people on TV than to those towering gods on the theatrical screen.
Recognizing this fact, professional TV program makers concentrate on people and their human emotions. It's been said that no matter what the official subject might be, all TV is really about people.
And for your programs, that might just be the most useful of all our tips from the pros. Your viewers aren't held by the birthday or the wedding or the idea of saving wetlands. Instead, you capture their attention and keep their interest by presenting the people engaged in these things and the emotions aroused by them.
A video that features people can survive all sorts of other faults, but without humanity the most accomplished program will fail to move the viewer, regardless of its skill and cold perfection.
Good shooting!
