Blog — MWilson Media

Since 2015, I have been fortunate enough to learn a craft that a lot of people in my profession have deemed pointless as in the not so distant future, it may be dead.

To learn this skill I've walked hundreds of miles, filmed thousands of hours of broadcast television and met more guests, chefs, musicians and performers than I can possibly remember.
And I've done it all in a space no larger than 30ftX25ft

I am of course talking about being a Studio Camera Operator.
Obviously.....

For me it all began when the previous Studio Cam Op/Graphic Designer on our team left.
Don't ask how those two skills combined, it's a much longer story and will only leave you with more questions than answers.

Joe was his name and he was moving on to pastures new, meaning a full-time replacement would be needed.
Until this new person could be hired however, they needed someone on the team to fill in.
I was the obvious choice for reasons that escape me, since I had never touched a studio camera before.
So on the Thursday before Joe left, I was supposed to be sent upstairs to the studio to shadow him for a bit and learn the ropes.
Unfortunately things conspired against us meaning that through neither his nor my fault, my shadowing and his imparting of knowledge ended up being a 15 minute crash course of how the controls worked, what the director would be expecting and generally what was expected from me in a studio environment .

*Terrible things will happen if you press the button underneath this tape*

It was agreed by the producers that the following day, which was to be Joe's last, I would essentially do all the studio camera work for our live show and Joe would watch over me, keep me right on camera positions and basically make sure I didn't mess up.
Again, things conspired against us and because we were short staffed, I was sent out on another job so I missed my chance for his excellent tutelage.

Consequently this meant the 15 minute crash course I had on Thursday was the only chance I got at learning how to operate the thing, until I was quite literally thrown in at the deep end on Monday.
Fortunately for me, Joe had left a couple of diagrams taped to the camera so I had an idea of where things were supposed to go during the live show.
To say I was nervous would have been an understatement, but from memory it seemed to go off more or less without incident.
You may have to ask others about it though, it's basically a blur in my mind.

Of course, as is the way of these things, my temporary stint on studio cam turned into months as a suitable replacement couldn't be found, all that meant though was it gave me the opportunity to hone my skills.

The Studio Cam, or Ped as we called it (Ped being short for Pedestal Camera), if you didn't know is a movable camera on wheels, able to elevate in height and move in any direction the operator wishes.
It has a centre, horizontal steering wheel for controlling the direction of movement and the height control is gas powered.
The gas is pressurised and is basically a large hydraulic system.
Getting the correct amount of gas in is a bit of trial and error, as it depends on the weight of the rig you're putting on.
The goal is to have the camera stay at one height without needing to lock the centre column and make it easy to adjust on the fly.
Too much gas and it will always rise up, too little and it will sink, you're looking for a Goldilocks amount.
We had a situation once where the engineers from the workshop had re-gassed the system, as they have to from time to time, but they had done it when the camera was off the Ped being serviced and more importantly, hadn't told us.
Consequently I came in the next day. to find the rig about 12ft in the air!
I tried to adjust the height but couldn't budge it, I assumed a lock I didn't know about had been engaged so went to fetch Connie, the person in charge of Vision in the studio.
Both of us ended up hanging off the Ped with our full weight trying to pull it down, but it would not move even a fraction.
The boys from the workshop were called in and they sheepishly came upstairs when nobody was around to let some of the gas out!

Mine wasn't the only camera on the studio floor however, there were 3 others which were controlled remotely, these can be commonly known as Hot Heads.
Connie was in charge of these 3 cameras, operating the pan, tilt, zoom, focus and iris. The only thing she couldn't control was their physical position or height, so my job was to move these 3 cameras to various marked positions on the studio floor, as well as operating my own camera.
Connie and I had to work in relative harmony with each other.
From her position in the Vision Gallery, her only view of the studio was through the cameras, so I had to ensure the area around the cameras was always safe and clear of people when she was panning them around to their next position.

*A shot of myself in action and one of the Hot Heads, pictured on the right, during a performance from Saint Motel*

*Jacob's first show by himself, I was so proud*

Eventually a full-time Studio Camera Operator/Graphic Designer (again, don't ask) was found and so I went from student to teacher.
I distinctly remember Jacobs first time in the studio and operating the camera.
He was just as nervous as I had been, if not more, so I done my best to act casual and as if there was no stress involved, but in a live studio environment, it can become quite stressful pretty quickly if you're not paying attention.
I'll always try to help someone out if I can, my view is there's no shame in asking for help and we all have to start somewhere.
Fortunately for Jacob, time had been set aside to teach him how to operate the Ped, so for his first few days he was shadowing me as I tried to explain things to him, giving him more and more hands on time, before finally letting him operate the camera for a full live show.
He was a natural and picked it up pretty quickly after that.
I got to know him pretty well and we got on great

A year later however, Jacob had decided to move on to another opportunity, so for his last show, I made sure I was in the studio to see him out.
We've stayed in touch and worked on other projects together, and I am fortunate enough to count him as a good friend.

Myself and Jacob after his last show.... also featuring an excellent photobomb by Connie

After this, the people in charge decided that it was not worthwhile to employ someone as a full-time Studio Cam Op, so it more or less fell to me to do it the vast majority of the time.

The daily role on the studio camera consisted of filming a band that had been booked, any pre-recorded guest interviews and promos for the show.
But the set was used for more than one show however and we would routinely be filming cooking shows, a weekly entertainment roundup, politics, compilation programs and a late night talk show.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said I'd filmed thiusands of hours and walked hundreds of miles in that studio!
All good things must come to an end however and eventually the powers that be decided on a new direction and consequently the show has ended.
By this point a rota system had been put in place amongst myself and my colleagues for the studio camera and so I wasn't doing it as routinely as I had before, but when I heard the show was ending I volunteered to operate the camera for the final episode.
It was a matter of pride to myself that I do it, as I had easily used it the most and spent the most time on the studio floor out of all of us.

So for the final show, I operated the oh so familiar controls one last time, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't somewhat emotioanal.

I daresay I'll get to use a studio camera again at some point, but if I don't it was nice to end it where it all began.

- M

These days, you expect footage to be digitised and easy to ingest into your editing suite of choice, but when a documentary is sent your way that requires a lot of old footage, you sometimes get to have the fun of looking at a physical footage library.

And that's exactly what I've spent a few days doing over the past six weeks.

This is way bigger than your old VHS tape

Myself and a producer have been tasked with making a thirty minute documentary about an iconic theatre that is about to go through a multi-million pound face-lift and overhaul.
Consequently I've had to watch a lot of footage from the past 50 or so years, picking out suitable interviews, GVs and rehearsal shots, with the goal of combining it with interviews I've shot over a couple of days.

Looking at old footage is always fascinating.
It not only gives you an insight into the world around you, but it also lets you see how things were done, filming wise, back in those days.
Tilts, pans and slow zooms were the most that was allowed it seems, though I suspect that was probably down to the size of the equipment rather than a lack of creativity.
Seeing familiar places and how they have or haven't changed is really compelling, but even more so is seeing familiar faces and how they have changed.
Presenters and newsreaders you grew up watching never seemed to really change, but it's only once you see an image of them from your childhood you realise how different they now are.
Alas it seems, age really does catch up with us all.
However listening to a grumpy sound man be very short tempered with a presenter was a particular highlight, especially considering the presenter seemed to be more concerned about the ambient noise of busses, pedestrians and noisy lorries, than the sound man did.

I'd be lying however if I said I've been looking through the archive by myself.
No, the person who has really been doing most of the work is Mel.
All I've done is given a description of the type of footage I'm looking for, and like a hero she's trawled through the databases and dug through the shelves of tapes looking for the right ones.
She then hands them off to me and I get the easy job of looking at them and then either discarding it if it's not of any use, or logging a timecode so that when I take them to the Ingest department they can find the clips I'm after, rather than taking in a whole tape.
Mel also showed me how to use the tape decks and viewing station, although that didn't go particularly well the first time as not 30 seconds after she'd left me, the tape deck broke and was put out of action for a day or two.
She insists that it wasn't my fault and that it happened because the tape was dirty and the deck was old, but I think she was just being kind.

Fortunately for Mel, but unfortunately for me as I was enjoying looking at all these old tapes, we now have all the footage we require so my wander through the archives is over, but if I've learned nothing else from this experience it's that you shouldn't take your librarians or archivist for granted.
Not only do they have the keys to a potential treasure trove, but they're also responsible for labelling and logging all the footage they're given, so they are the ones who'll know of a long forgotten tape or find you that vital piece of footage you need.
Don't underestimate them.

To Ped, or not to Ped.....

Tapes, who knew they were still a thing?