From the earliest days of television, the camera operator – also known as a photographer or videographer – has been a vital part of broadcast news. NBC News cameraperson Bob Riggio, who has worked for the network since the 1980s, has seen the field develop from video cassettes and analog editing to livestreaming and cloud servers.
“We’d hook up to news trucks, satellite trucks, microwave trucks. In this day and age, we use a small little [transmission] box called ‘LiveU,’” said Riggio. “You can go live from anywhere at any time. You could go live from your phone now with a simple app.”
No matter the equipment you use, or whether you’re filming in the U.S. or abroad, the principles of shooting good video and professionally recording interviews remain the same for a camera operator. NBC News and NBCUniversal camera operators shared with NBCU Academy their advice for shooting news footage in our latest lesson above and in the discussion below.
What is your top advice for shooting news video?
Jim Long, NBC News Cameraperson: Don’t learn technology, learn storytelling. We should be focusing on the people we’re literally focused on.
J.B. Rutagarama, NBC News Cameraperson: You want to do your job and capture the moment, but at the same time you want to tell the much bigger picture.
David Lom, NBC News Cameraperson: When you shoot, slow everything down. As you get more experience, you get more creative with the angles, the cameras, the lighting. If you know the gist of the story, you can mentally prepare yourself for what you’re going to shoot.
Beth Brown, WRC-TV News Cameraperson Get off the tripod. Early on in my career, I made the mistake of always leaning on my tripod, and when I got back to the station I had nothing but shaky video. Even if the shot is not perfect, at least it will be a still shot and somewhat usable if you set the shot and leave it.
One thing I think about is, what can I shoot for someone who’s not here with me experiencing this? How can I make the story clear to them?
Kuba Wuls, NBC News Cameraperson: There are lots and lots of tutorials and videos online. Read the user’s manual. You want it to be an extension of your arm or your eye. You have to be ready for anything.
What is it like to be out in the field?
Miguel Toran, NBC News Cameraperson: We are regularly traveling with 20, 25 cases. That gets very challenging. Sometimes you get to a place in the middle of nowhere and there are no rental cars that fit all your equipment.
Rutagarama: You always have to be prepared. You have to have backup of backup of backup. I have three cameras and the cellphone is my failsafe, in my pocket. Shoot with that if everything else fails.
Brown: I make sure I pack rain gear for myself and my camera, to make sure I protect my equipment.
Lom: Sometimes there’s lightning, and that will end everything. The [equipment is] metal. Sun beating down on the gear, sometimes lights will overheat. Brutal cold — last winter filming in the Arctic Circle, the cameras tended to freeze up on us. The light, the batteries stopped working. These are things you don’t ever really know until you get there.
What’s your advice for audio?
Toran: Audio is 50% of the story. If you’re in a demonstration, you have your eye on the viewfinder, you don’t know what’s happening around you. You need a sound person to keep you honest about what’s around you.
Wuls: It’s easier for a camera operator to work with an audio engineer. I can focus on the visual aspect of the job. It’s one less thing for me to worry about. Make sure you have good headphones to monitor audio the whole time.
Brown: Hide your mic cord. Early on in my career, I made the mistake of being somewhat sloppy and putting the mic on a subject with the wires hanging. So I take the few extra seconds to make it look clean and hide it under their shirt.
What do you like the most about your job?
Wuls: I get to work with different people almost every day. It’s a great environment where you can bounce ideas off of each other. It’s like, walk into a candy store, pick any candy you want — “candy” being ideas and ways to do things.
Toran: Getting into places that you wouldn’t see if you were just a civilian. You ride in helicopters, cool planes.
Lom: I like the adventure of it all. You get to see and do things that most people will never get the chance to do. It’s kind of the good, bad and the ugly.
Rutagarama: We film hours of video and then everything gets condensed to a few minutes, but we’re able to tell the story we set out to do. We have a lot of content left on the cutting floor, and it would be great to tell the longer story somewhere down the line, but the end product was amazing. I was really proud of what we did.
