Shooting the right shots

Whatever kind of camera you end up with, you will need to capture a variety of shots to make the edit run smoothly. If you’ve planned well, you’ll go into a shoot with a list of shots that you need to capture, and it’s very satisfying to tick them off as you go.

The shots you need will vary from shoot to shoot, but it’s rare that you can simply capture a subject once from a single angle and be done. Nearly always, you’ll want to capture two different kinds of footage: A-roll and B-roll.

A-roll

This is simply the primary video that you need to capture. If people speak on camera or to a camera, that’s A-roll:

Figure 2.14: A subject talking on camera? That’s A-roll (from Brad Olsen’s Off the Tracks)

In dramas, a scene where people are talking is A-roll, and in a corporate piece, the interviews are A-roll. This is the spine of the story — the driving message keeping the viewer’s attention — and it can be captured on one or more cameras:

Figure 2.15: A subject on camera, but not talking? That’s probably not A-roll (from Brad Olsen’s Off the Tracks)

The term A-roll isn’t widely used today, but it’s still a useful descriptive term for your primary story-telling footage. Yet without A-roll, we wouldn’t have…

B-roll

This is a secondary video that illustrates or augments the A-roll. In a corporate video, if a CEO is talking about how proud they are of their new website, then the B-roll could be a shot of someone using that website on a phone or computer:

Figure 2.16: A related keyboard shot that you could use to cover an edit? That’s B-roll (from Brad Olsen’s Off the Tracks)

In an interview, maybe you have a close-up of the interviewee’s hands moving, doing their normal tasks around the office, or an over-the-shoulder shot from behind the interviewer. B-roll can also include shots of the location of an interview to use at the beginning of a piece to set the scene:

Figure 2.17: A scene-setting wide shot? That’s also B-roll (from Brad Olsen’s Off the Tracks)

How much B-roll do you need? Lots. A handy rule for B-roll is 5 x 5 x 5, which means that for each subject, you should capture 5-second shots, from 5 different angles, at 5 different focal lengths. In the edit, you will need the flexibility that these shots will give you, and viewers will notice if you simply repeat the same shots or the same angles. A camera operator can’t shoot enough B-roll, and an editor never wants less.

Movement

B-roll can be static, a fixed shot from a tripod, or moving, which could be hand-held, or a pan, tilt, or dolly on a tripod, slider, or gimbal. Slow, subtle movements can be used as a way to bring life to an otherwise static shot, but there’s no shame in using a tripod. Where possible, I try to capture both static and moving options together:

1. Start recording while static.
2. Wait for 5 seconds (hold on to your shot).
3. Pan or tilt smoothly to a second position.
4. Finally, wait for another 5 seconds (hold on to your shot again).
5. Stop recording.

This gives me flexibility in the edit because I can use the static first part or the static second part if I need a still shot, or I can use the movement in between, with or without the start or end of that movement. Static shots and moving shots don’t always work well next to one another, so give yourself a selection of both types and ways to move between them. If you’re shooting with a hand-held device, keep your movements slow and intentional:

Figure 2.18: With a gimbal, your hand can go way out to the side, but the camera stays rock-solid

As you shoot, visualize how it’s going to look in the edit, and shoot footage to be edited. You’ll do a better job as a shooter if you know how editing works, and it’s easier to edit footage that was shot with editing in mind.

Focus pulling

If you don’t have a good tripod or the environment isn’t big enough to allow movement, you can try to get fancy without moving by using a focus pull (also known as a rack focus). This requires a real lens with manual focus, and the process is simple:

Figure 2.19: Focusing from the back to the front

Start with a foreground subject in focus, wait for a few seconds, then smoothly shift the focus to an object in the background. Wait for a few seconds, then come back the other way. Repeat if you missed the focus. This provides movement without physically moving. Cinematic mode on the latest iPhones can fake this, and while it’s usually pretty good, it’s not flawless.

Different perspectives

B-roll is your chance to bring interesting shots to your edit, so experiment with low angles, high angles, or cameras mounted on an object in the shot. Use high frame rates for dedicated slow-motion shots that need it. Consider using a moderately high frame rate (50 or 60 fps) for all B-roll footage to allow you to choose between normal and 50% speed in the edit:

Figure 2.20: This slow-motion close-up of beer being poured is a great scene-setter

Use macro lenses for extreme close-ups or drones for a bird’s-eye view. The reason why most general snapshots look the same these days is not that they’re all shot on phones, but that they’re mostly shot from eye height looking straight out. Get down, up, close, and far away, and you’ll bring a variety that your clients weren’t expecting.

Framing

In both A-roll and B-roll, the composition of the frame is important, and your approach to this will depend on whether you’re oversampling (for example, shooting 4K for a 1080p deliverable) or not. If you’re shooting in the same resolution that you want to deliver, you’ll have to frame things pretty accurately on set and learn the terminology, such as medium shot, close-up, and so on:

Figure 2.21: Shooting the same subject from multiple angles gives you editing choices

However, if you have an extra resolution to play with, you should shoot a wider scene than normal and make the final crop in the edit suite. This gives you the freedom to zoom in on a subject for emphasis or zoom out to make room for a title next to your subject. It will also help if your client suddenly requests a deliverable in a new aspect ratio, such as square (1:1) or vertical (9:16):

Figure 2.22: Shoot the top shot in high resolution and you can crop to either of the other two frames

You’ll find many guides for composition out there, but the “rule of thirds” is a good one to bear in mind, and it is probably built into your camera. Here’s an iPhone screen:

Figure 2.23: The rule of thirds can be enabled in Settings, under Camera

Over your frame, imagine (or turn on!) a grid that breaks the screen up into three parts vertically and horizontally. When composing, place interesting things (such as a subject’s eyes) at the intersection of these lines, 1/3 of the way across and 2/3 of the way down the screen.

Review — shooting the right shots

Within A-roll and B-roll, you’ve got many ways to compose your shots and many ways to move your camera about. If you’re shooting yourself, it’s easy to start simple and build up from there. After all, if you’ve got the basics covered, you can safely experiment with unusual angles and shots that don’t work every time. Even if you’d prefer to stay firmly in the editing bay, now you know what to ask your collaborators for.

Next, you’ll find out what to do when a single device isn’t enough.