TV News Cameraman ... My First Day.

Being a Freelance TV News Cameraman is second nature to me now. The long unsocial hours, weekends are a time i used to have off, and regular working hours seem such a long time ago. As does a regular pay packet. Having been a regular freelancer for nearly fourteen years though i have got used to it.

I do remember my first day as a news cameraman. Having been hired for just one day by the regional BBC News i felt that this was my one and only chance to see if i had what it takes to do the job. To me at the time it was a big deal. A very big deal. If i messed up on the first day i knew that they wouldn't ask me back again, so i had to get it right. That day i was paired with another, long serving, experienced cameraman. We were to follow a Tory politician as he canvassed the Hampshire town of Eastleigh during the 1997 general election.

General election 1997 ... my first job.

I didn't know it then, but i do now, that it doesn't take two cameramen to film this type of local job. One cameraman would have sufficed. I suspect now that i had been given the job as a test by the producer that hired me. It was a busy period news wise, and another freelancer on the books would have been helpful. Don't forget that at that time, the little Z1 style of cameras didn't exist for broadcast news, so another freelance cameraman with his own kit was a welcome addition to the newsroom call out list.

The real camera work was being done by the other cameraman, and what i filmed didn't really matter. I was tasked with filming cutaways and little sequences to fill gaps, and generally keep me out of the way. So i filmed what i thought were good sequences and cutaway shots that i thought would blend in nicely with the other cameraman's work. I made some stupid errors that day. I was so nervous that on one occasion i forgot to press the VTR button, so some shots i thought i was getting, were not being recorded to tape.

Press the record button stupid.....

When the day was done and the rushes had been returned to the studio, i waited anxiously for the finished piece. They ended up using two cutaway shots that i had filmed, the rest was of course, the good work of the real cameraman, who eyed me suspiciously throughout the course of the day. But i had done my best. I had filmed what i thought was right, and at long last,  a piece of my camerawork, however small, had been broadcast on the BBC News that very day. I was a happy man. I was even happier when, a short time later that day, the producer came over to me to ask if i was available for another days work.

From a previous article by Paul Martin.

http://www.media-attention.co.uk

I Spy With My Little Eye...

I spend a great deal of my time sat on my arse, waiting for something to happen. That's just the way it is as a TV News Cameraman. My working life is one long view of various locations around the south of England.

You are feeling very sleepy......

Take today for example, I arrived to cover a court case at 0900 and I am still waiting for something to happen at 1400. Whilst my journo is in court, warm, with company, and no doubt swimming in coffee, I sit outside in the rain and wind. Waiting like a coiled spring, ready to pounce upon the subject like a ravenous mountain lion.

I also have a fertile imagination. I like to watch people walk by and guess what they do, or what I think they are up to. Lawyer, shopworker, secretary, builder, or even people scuttling to their cars for an illicit encounter with their PA.

But most of all I like to spot the slack jawed halfwits, walking to court for their date with the judge. You can spot them far off, badly fitting suit and trainers, baseball cap, and accompanied by a posse of sportswear clad dimwits with mungbeans for brains. I just wish that my camera eyepiece could be replaced with a 50 calibre scope with the hardware to match.

Paul Martin
http://www.media-attention.co.uk

TV News Cameraman ... Starting Out.

I am always being asked this one particular question. Every TV News cameraman i know gets asked the same question. "How did you start in the industry?" The start of any news cameraman's career is as varied as a start in any media career, but times are changing rapidly in the news industry and ways in are becoming clogged with more and more people just starting out in their chosen line of work.

News cameras ... rapidly changing.

There are of course a great many ways to become a news cameraman. The obvious choice is to study film making or photography at university or college, Media studies and TV production courses are now widely available around the country. Is that the best way to start? ... Maybe, maybe not. Taking three years out to study your chosen career seems a good idea, and it is. But these days there are no guarantees that a job will be waiting for you when you graduate, far from it.

I have lost count of the times i have been approached by young people for jobs. People who have graduated and find themselves without work in a media industry awash with graduates. Sorry guys, but that is just the reality of the situation right now.

There is of course another way. Getting a jump of three years on your university peers and going out there job hunting for work at the bottom of the industry pile. Runners, Cable basher, Courier. Get the foot in the door and work your way to the top. Good idea, commendable and shows good work ethic. But again, think about all those graduates you will be competing against for that job. It's never going to be easy.

Cameramen ... kept behind bars.

There are a few trainee jobs out there, the BBC, SKY, ITN and others do occasionally advertise paid internships and full time camera position jobs, but they are few and far between, and when advertised, are hopelessly over subscribed. That's not to put you off, you may just be the lucky one.

So which route did i take? None of the above. I knew i wanted to be a news cameraman since leaving the army at the age of 28. I had no real qualifications to do the job, and had never used a broadcast video camera before. To cut a long story short, i had enough money to buy a new camera, lens, and microphone, and that was all. Over the next six months i taught myself through trial and error how to use the camera. I read and re read the instruction manuals and every how to book i could find.

More importantly though, i watched the news. All of it. Every channel and every bulletin. I watched every report and asked myself why certain pictures made it into the report, what sequences worked, the pieces to camera by the journalists, The length of the sequences and what words were being put with the video. I took apart each piece and asked myself why that report made it onto TV. I also practiced filming shots and sequences, framing and composition of the shots, and what every little button on the camera did and what happens when you press it.

After six months or so, i decided to look for freelance work. Every broadcaster i approached turned me away citing lack of knowledge, lack of a CV, and lack of experience. That was if they replied to me in the first place.

Persistence is the key here. I very nearly stopped looking, thinking that my rise to the top of broadcasting was a non starter. However, following one interview with a man at the BBC regional news in Southampton, i walked away with a days freelance work. 1 days work. That was in 1997, and i still work there today.

Based on original article by Paul Martin.

Paul Martin
http://www.media-attention.co.uk

Video: Citizen Journalism.

I recently wrote an article about the rise of citizen journalists and the like. Whilst doing a little further research i came across this video which takes a look at starting up on your own. So if you have an active interest in this area of journalism take a look ...



With the huge uptake in cheap, affordable good quality cameras, and the fact that nearly everyone now owns a mobile phone with video and photo capabilities, nearly anyone who has a mind to can become a citizen journalist.

Thinking about it, maybe this is the future of ultra local news gathering. Small, niche independent organisations going about their business supplying news, information, and gathering content where the big news broadcasters don't touch. Local newspapers love this sort of content, and can easily outstrip the local broadcasters with a pool of citizens willing to take the risk and go it alone. Whether there is a living wage to made from this though is another matter.....

You can see their website HERE. Very US orientated, but you will get the idea nonetheless.

Please Don't Make Me Go Out There.....

Life's a bitch. I have come to this conclusion having just got around to cleaning up the shithole that passes for my office here at chez ukcameraman. Not only did i find old bits of kit that wouldn't surprise and astound the Lumierre brothers, in amongst the fluff, wires and something that had come to life in a dark recess under the desk, i found a large pile of work diaries from the past 14 years.

Old diaries ... memories of past glories and cock ups.

Wow!! I can hear the cries of astonishment from historians, tv producers and hollywood film makers rushing to my door demanding the film rights to this pot of fluff covered and slightly soiled tv gold. Well, no. It garnered nothing more than a raised eyebrow from me and a slight eagerness to relive days gone by.

So, after finishing the office clean for this decade, i made a coffee and sat down to read about my adventurous life over the last 14 years. And that is why i came to the conclusion that life is a bitch. You see, being a TV News cameraman, and a freelance one at that, i tend to be sent to various places around the South of England where something news worthy has occurred. By news worthy, i mean death, destruction, hard luck stories, violence of one form or another .... and politics.

As i read on, i plunged into a world that i can't believe i live in, let alone gone out with my camera and filmed. Take for example 20th February 2004. I filmed a story about the homeless, quick shots of a war memorial that had been vandalised and a story about a secondary school teacher being assaulted by a student. That was just one day out of the whole pile of 14 years worth of memories. It's a wonder that i didn't go home that night and cry myself to sleep.

Here's one: Thurs 18 May 1998. It simply reads 1430 - 1845 hrs, BBC, Interview. Family of girl killed by drugs and misdiagnosis.

Have i really been able to do this job for the past 14 years and come out the other side having met these people on what seems like a weekly, if not daily basis? It certainly looks like it, for i have forgotten them. I cannot recall their names or see their faces or recount the story to you.

Here's another: Fri 4 Feb 1998. 1300 - 1730 hrs, Fatal road crash M27.

That's it. that's all it said. No name, no how, why or sentiment. I got in the truck, drove to the scene and filmed a piece for the news that night without another thought. It's what i always do and is what i probably always will should i be doing this for another 14 years. But having read through the diaries, I gave a passing thought to the poor souls who's life has took a turn into the path of the blazing lights of the news truck, and consoled myself that the next job could be this......

Tues 10 Oct 2000. 0900 - 1700 hrs, UK Conker championships. Whitchurch.

My life is blessed. Bye.