TV Studio Production - Cross Shooting

In today's practical lecture, we were asked to split in to our groups and create a short interview so that we could film it and learn about how to use cross shooting with the cameras.
Firstly, we had to sort our group issues out because the person who was our presenter decided that they didn't want to do it anymore, so this left us in a pickle. This person and another group member were not in for the cross shooting exercise either so the 3 of us remaining had to sort the issue out. Basically we decided that because nobody else in the group wanted to have to fill in for someone, we would have to use a presenter from a different show.
We have now got a new presenter for the show we are filming on the 21st November so I feel relieved that the issue has been resolved because I did not want there to be any problems when it comes to recording the show.

As for the cross shooting exercise, we went away and created some questions for a fake interview. When we got back in the studio we went through the exercise in groups and we got to observe the other groups doing their cross shooting.

Cross shooting is related to shooting an interview setting where the cameras that are on the opposite side of the subject film that subject. Here is a quick diagram I created to help explain.

So as you can see, the camera that is on the opposite side shoots the subject. The reason for this is because you want to get the best shot possible of the persons face; especially if you have a famous guest! Shooting the subject with the camera that is closest to them does not give the best shot that you can get because it usually results in a profile shot of this person. You should always aim to get the best shot which is being able to see both of the subjects eyes, this way the viewers can see their emotions and fully engage with the show.

My Reflection

When we did the exercise, we walked through all of it step by step and looked at what works and what doesn't when doing cross shooting. I learned a lot today about always looking for the best angle even if it means moving the camera to an extreme position. I found that going through the steps and the lecturers allowing us to make mistakes was the best part of today. This way I knew that I had to improve in certain areas but I also surprised myself by knowing a lot more than I thought! I love this module and I feel that I learn the most from it, especially with having two wonderful lecturers who still get excited about our work and working in TV!

You Learn Something New Everyday
TV Studio Production is awesome! Wish we were doing this module for the whole year!

Speak Soon!