Paul Cave - Camera Operator
What does your job involve ?
On a feature film and commercials, a camera operator's job is to look through the camera to compose and film the shot. You'll usually work as part of a four-man crew, including the director of photography (DOP), the focus puller and the clapper boy.
However, on documentaries and corporate films, the set up is a bit simpler - the camera operator is basically the cameraman who does all the lighting and filming.
On a feature shoot, the camera operator works with the director to compose the shot. The DOP is above him in the department and does the lighting and needs to know what the camera operator is looking at.
We start to work out what the scene will involve from the script in terms of character and setting. We will talk with the director and the DOP and involve the focus puller so we know in advance what technical issues we might have on the shoot.
In film, the script normally starts with a wide shot setting the scene. You have to work out all the camera angles, following eye lines of people who walk across the screen and making sure that you match the main theme of the shoot.
The job has changed an awful lot. It used to be that you would work your way up from the camera floor as a clapper boy, then a focus puller, camera operator and finally a DOP. The training would be on the job and you would pick up skills all the time.
Now, more and more people are coming out of film schools having learnt from books and teachers. You can go out on film sets with no practical experience.
How did you get into the business ?
I started about thirty years ago. I applied for lots of jobs and found work at a Documentary company at Denham. They hired me out to lots of companies like Movietone News, where I covered events like the Farnborough Air Show and The Derby as a documentary cameraman. I learnt everything on a 35mm camera.
After three years, they hired me out to work on commercials at Pinewood. I was only used to documentary work where a cameraman and assistant make up the team. When I came to do my first job in the studio, I was hired out as a clapper boy.
On the first day when I went out to put the clapper board on I left my dusty footprints on the carpet, therefore ruining the shot as it was a wide-angle lens. That's the sort of experience you can't pick up unless you do practical work on a film.
Then I went freelance and have been working on documentaries, commercials and features ever since.
I was a clapper boy for a good 15 years, working on films like Superman. In the 1980s, I worked as a focus puller on commercials. I became a camera operator three years ago.
What kind of skills do you need for the job ?
You have to be very flexible, amenable and able to converse with other people. People with artistic backgrounds are able to push on and develop their skills. You also need to be able to put up with the irregular hours and freelance nature of the work.
You meet lots of people who start out and then leave the business quickly because they don't like not knowing where their next job is going to be coming from or the long hours don't suit them.
What training have you done recently ?
With a Skillset Film Future bursary I did a two-day course at the National Film School on Hi-Definition cameras - the new generation of cameras. Because I have come from working with film, I wanted to learn about the new medium and improve my technical knowledge of the cameras.
On a feature film and commercials, a camera operator's job is to look through the camera to compose and film the shot. You'll usually work as part of a four-man crew, including the director of photography (DOP), the focus puller and the clapper boy.
However, on documentaries and corporate films, the set up is a bit simpler - the camera operator is basically the cameraman who does all the lighting and filming.
On a feature shoot, the camera operator works with the director to compose the shot. The DOP is above him in the department and does the lighting and needs to know what the camera operator is looking at.
We start to work out what the scene will involve from the script in terms of character and setting. We will talk with the director and the DOP and involve the focus puller so we know in advance what technical issues we might have on the shoot.
In film, the script normally starts with a wide shot setting the scene. You have to work out all the camera angles, following eye lines of people who walk across the screen and making sure that you match the main theme of the shoot.
The job has changed an awful lot. It used to be that you would work your way up from the camera floor as a clapper boy, then a focus puller, camera operator and finally a DOP. The training would be on the job and you would pick up skills all the time.
Now, more and more people are coming out of film schools having learnt from books and teachers. You can go out on film sets with no practical experience.
How did you get into the business ?
I started about thirty years ago. I applied for lots of jobs and found work at a Documentary company at Denham. They hired me out to lots of companies like Movietone News, where I covered events like the Farnborough Air Show and The Derby as a documentary cameraman. I learnt everything on a 35mm camera.
After three years, they hired me out to work on commercials at Pinewood. I was only used to documentary work where a cameraman and assistant make up the team. When I came to do my first job in the studio, I was hired out as a clapper boy.
On the first day when I went out to put the clapper board on I left my dusty footprints on the carpet, therefore ruining the shot as it was a wide-angle lens. That's the sort of experience you can't pick up unless you do practical work on a film.
Then I went freelance and have been working on documentaries, commercials and features ever since.
I was a clapper boy for a good 15 years, working on films like Superman. In the 1980s, I worked as a focus puller on commercials. I became a camera operator three years ago.
What kind of skills do you need for the job ?
You have to be very flexible, amenable and able to converse with other people. People with artistic backgrounds are able to push on and develop their skills. You also need to be able to put up with the irregular hours and freelance nature of the work.
You meet lots of people who start out and then leave the business quickly because they don't like not knowing where their next job is going to be coming from or the long hours don't suit them.
What training have you done recently ?
With a Skillset Film Future bursary I did a two-day course at the National Film School on Hi-Definition cameras - the new generation of cameras. Because I have come from working with film, I wanted to learn about the new medium and improve my technical knowledge of the cameras.
