Here I’ll discuss a very simple way to avoid this problem, manual focus. There are appropriate times and shots to “go manual” but we will certainly not be shooting all manual all the time in most of our church services at Mainstreet. I’ll assume that you understand the difference between manual and auto focus. So let’s start with locating the auto focus switch on our equipment.
FIGURE A:
Figure A displays the location of the switch which once you know where it is and how it feels is easy to locate “blind”. It is located on the closest portion of the lens and is at the bottom of a series of switches. Knowing where it is and how it feels is important as the director may ask you to jump in and out at various times throughout the service. You’ll need to do so without jarring your picture in case you are the live shot. Gently click it toward you for manual and away for auto. The next time you serve on a Sunday morning, try practicing before each service so this activity is produces a smooth transition.
Stay In Auto: You might be asking, when Chris? When should I be in manual and when should I be in auto. Calm down, I’ll cover that right now. Generally, we want to start out in auto focus since the first subject that we shot is typically the announcer and there is no time to focus them before go-live. There is also not usually a whole lot of subject competition so the auto focus feature typically does a nice job.
What about the music? We will almost never jump out of auto focus during worship. There are exceptions but very few of them and will be directed from the booth.
Stay in Manual: The most noticeable and portion of the service is the sermon. This is where we often see the lens guessing as to what we want. When we are attempting to make Marty’s head 15 feet tall, we certainly don’t want our cameras to be guessing about anything. As soon as the sermon starts a few things need to happen right away. First, everyone grabs the best shot of the speaker that they possibly can get as quickly as they can get it. We’ll all be doing this in AUTO. As soon as the lights are up and the director likes a shot, he’ll call it and that operator is to just keep the shot, nothing else. Quickly the two cameras not live need to go extreme close up on the speaker’s face using AUTO focus. Let your lens do the heavy lifting here. If you have nothing but face with a giant hose in the middle it will give you a crisp shot. Now you can click it into manual and zoom out. You will now have your focus set at all zoom levels wider then XCU.
Now the director at this point has a live shot still in auto so he’ll (we have no ‘she’ directors so I am not being sexist…if you are a ‘she’ and want to learn to direct, let me know) cut to one of the shots in manual so the first camera can set focus. Ideally, this all happens within the first 30 to 60 seconds of the sermon and everyone is in manual with one close up, one knees up and one safe shot.
Sometimes while in manual, you’ll lose focus. The safest way to recover is to click into auto, let it set and back to manual. This is where a good eye and a gentle touch is required. You can also manually adjust using the front focus ring located on the lens. When focusing using either method, watch out for those crazy arm flaps. Marty likes to talk with his hands. If he has one of those arms extended in front of him and you try to auto focus, it is very likely (depending on shot composition) that your lens will try to focus on that hand. Thus, one of the reasons we jump out of auto in the first place.
You hold control of the camera and the quality of your shot. Sometimes the director will ask you to go in or out of auto. If this happens, don’t be offended (but do go buy some glasses). Sometimes it is easier for the director to see how sharp or fuzzy a picture is on the monitor that it is for you on that tiny little LCD.
Good luck, have fun, and stay “sharp”.
It is completely up to the video director where you position this camera. Feel free to move it from week to week to see what you may like or dislike. One other shot that I'd like us to try is aimed straight down the keyboard.
The camera does not produce the best quality as it is a simple Sony HandiCam and the lighting is not always ideal from up stage. However, I think the dimmer lighting actually enhances the affect and if you can time your use of this shot with a feature of the instrument you are aimed at, you just might find that the lighting is more than sufficient.
If you (as director) choose to move the camera, keep a couple things in mind.
One other thing...or two, or three, this shot should be used for short periods of time. Try to time it to the music and keep it to 5 to 7 seconds. I'm not sure how this shot will look on the house display as I did not try it this past week. If you find yourself wanting to use it fro a special, just make sure you try it in rehersal first to make sure it looks alright.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, there is another post that you probably have not read yet...and honestly that one is more important than this one, so please read on...and leave any comments that you might have. I'm looking for feedback.
Shot B
I can almost hear the question rattling around in your head right now..."Why not keep shot B throughout the whole sermon?" That's a good question and is the approach that we attempted at first. However, we found that while Marty was seated, that shot B was ... less than flattering. Add to that the fact that the IMAG Marty is now much smaller in shot B, and the visual decision was made.
Please take a look at this clip as well as reviewing larger chunks of the sermon at Vimeo (http://bit.ly/DkQN6). I'd like feedback on our use of lower thirds. Is the camera transition distracting? What other thoughts do you have?
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