What's Been Researched?
To learn more about jibs to make sure it is used to it's maximum potential for the studio production, I begun to research interesting tips and techniques which can be handy when using the jib. I eventually came across a London based cameraman/DoP called Daniel Haggett, whom blogged a post called 'camera jib technique'. Here, he simply bullet pointed advice when using the jib plus a short video consisting of some of the work he has done with a jib, which relates back to his bullet point advice.
Below is a link to the blog:
http://www.danielhaggett.com/blog/177-camera-jib-technique
Key Advice & Techniques
Below are some notes which I took from reading his blog, which I will try to incorporate into the studio production.
Perfecting Complex Shots
Remaining relevant to a studio, Daniel discusses how to begin with simple shots until you get used to the feel of the jib and gain more confidence with it. This consists of simple swinging up and down shots. Once you feel more confident, he then explores into making more complex shots, such as the diagonal shot I will be using in the studio (reaching from the television to the panelists). To get this right, Daniel mentions that you should create a rough start and end point in the motion and work around this.
As well as this, to make this movement easier, he advises to slack the tension of head of the crane to enable lighter movement, however slacking this off too much can cause the jib to become unstable and almost tilt. This can also be made easier by adjusting the sand bag (which we use to balance the crane of the jib) to enable this tension to become more balanced, furthermore helping to make the diagonal movement lighter however firmer.
Stay Wide!
A simple yet important tip Daniel mentioned was to keep the camera at a wide shot. This is mainly because it keeps a much more effective shot when using the jib, as having a wide shot makes it easier to see that there is movement in the camera. As well as this, anything which isn't a wide shot is likely to have more wobble in the shot which is never good. Staying wide helps to make a shot seem more dramatic!
Having an Object in the foreground to Focus on
A way to keep jib shots most effective is to have an object placed in the foreground of the shot. If there isn't anything in the shot, it'll make the movement within the shot seem almost imperceptible and bland, as if the camera is barely moving. This is relevant for the studio as we will be having a table placed in the centre of the set up (in front of the panelists), meaning the camera could start from a low shot and tilt up whilst focusing on the table, helping to create a dramatic sweeping shot.
Although not applicable for the studio, this can be made dramatical by focusing on an obscure object for the shot, such as a tree, plant, wall, etc.
Adding Some Height
Another word of advice would be playing around with the height of the jib. As it is unordinary to see what the studio may look like at a high angle, it could work effective to have a shot starting from the top height of the studio and working it's way down. This can also work the other way - having a shot which almost begins on the floor of the studio leading to the top of the studio could look dramatical and help add some layers into the studio shots.
The Pace of the Jib
Of course, the pace of the jib is considerably important. As the jib is being used in a studio, it must have a consistent and reliable pace - it cannot be in one shot too slow, then much faster in another shot. The movement of the jib itself has to be reasonably slow to reduce any chance of a wobble whilst live on camera.
Using a Monitor
It is almost essential that a monitor should be used whilst operating a jib purely so that you can see everything, and every shot you are doing much clearer instead of squinting down to the end of the jib on the camera screen. This will help to reduce the chance of moving the jib off-shot and perhaps missing the edges of the studio, and more importantly making sure that the framing of every shot is almost perfect. For example, if tilting up and down, it could be easy to tilt to the side by accident if not using a monitor. Having a monitor will enable you to easily correct any small mistakes which could lead into a major mistake on the live show.
One of Daniel's Videos Using a Jib - Promoting a House (find at the bottom of his post)
This is a video helping to promote and sale a unique house in the south of France. Throughout the video, you can see several jib shots which all seem to work considerably well - he has a shot which swings over a wall to reveal the house and it's swimming pool, panning right to left across the swimming pool, and so on. It is clear that the tips mentioned above can work effectively for this kind of environment and has high potential to work in the studio as well. He even alters the speed of the jib so it moves fast to quickly slowing down which makes it much more effective (however this cannot be used for the studio as it is filmed live). Nonetheless, I will take this research and get in contact with the directors to see whether any of these ideas can work. I have a couple of ideas, such as:
- Using the blue and purple boxes (which are part of the studio set) as a focal point to enable a tilt to
look more dramatic. This would work by placing these at the bottom and in front of the table.
- Starting shots which are very high, then tilting low.
- And vice versa - almost being on the floor, tilting up to the top of the set.
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