Camera Operators

A Day in the Life

A director is the painter of a movie or a television show, however the camera operator wields the paint brush. It's a rewarding job on a daily basis for people who are artistic, detailed-oriented and have good communication skills.

Your area of specialization as a camera operator determines the course of the day. If you work as a camera operator in the exciting movie industry you'll spend a lot of time figuring out the best angles and the types of cameras to use to capture a shot. You'll use your personal style and technical skills to get the desired footage.

During part of the day you may use stationary cameras but you may also operate a camera mounted on a track so you can move around while filming the action. You may also spend time during the day sitting above the ground on a crane filming the action. As a camera operator in the movie industry you'll continually be taking orders from and collaborating with the cinematographer and the director.

Not all camera operators in the film industry work on expensive movie productions, you may work on educational, small-budget industrial or documentary films. If you work on small productions you might be in charge of all shooting and lighting.

Studio camera operators work in broadcast studios using their skills to record an array of studio broadcasts including situation comedies, talk shows, news broadcasts, sports television and game shows. Behind the scenes as a studio cameras operator you'll operate a camera mounted on a pedestal for a huge part of your work day.

At the beginning of every work day, before filming the broadcast, you'll have to make sure the equipment is properly working, however You don't have to fix equipment, a technician will take care of equipment problems for you.

During the pre-show rehearsal, which happens every day, you'll get instructions from a studio director and assistant director about the shots and angles they want you to capture. During rehearsals you'll get blocking notes which help you anticipate people moving on the set.

Throughout the day you'll receive auditory cues from the director through a radio headset. As a studio camera operator you have to be very attentive to cues from the director and also the action on the set.

Electronic news gathering operators work on location with reporters to produce an array of newscasts for television. As an electronic news gathering operator you'll often travel to places with interesting developing stories. At times, you may have to move quickly on location in order to capture the action for the viewers at home.