News Camera Head Shot Tips

Video Transcript

"Alright, in this segment, we're going to learn what an OC or on camera shot is and how to set it up properly. Now just like I said, OC means on camera. A lot of times it's also going to be referred to as a head and shoulders, or an HS. Usually it is done on your main camera, that way it can be your set shot, your go to shot in case something goes wrong. That way you can obviously go to it. Now to set it up, what you're going to want to do is of course, focus your shot like we did in the first segment there. And then from there you're going to want to set it up. Usually you want to leave a good, not a good amount of room above the head, but enough head room so it doesn't look like you're cutting the head off. Now on your view finder on your camera, you do have a ten percent reduction from what they will see on TV. So from there, of course, your view is going to be a little different than theirs. So you want to leave a little extra room. It may look a little awkward to you, but it is going to be the right shot. Now also, of course, your Director will tell you how to set up your shot. So if it is a little off, of course, they'll correct you on it. But from there what you're going to want to do then is you get behind your camera, obviously, zoom in, focus like I was saying. You always want to focus on the eyes, that way you get a good focus on your subject. Then you zoom back out and set your shot. Now our shot here, we didn't have an extra person handy so we had to improvise a little. But just to give you a good idea, your head you want to be, I'll say, on your screen in real life increments, probably half an inch to a quarter of an inch, quarter of an inch, away from the top of the screen is where you want their head. Now this one, we basically just have a chair with a shirt draped over it as our body, so it's going to be a little wider than a normal person's body. But as you can see, it's got a little room on each side, so it does have a good spacing and it is pretty good shot composition."