Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film Operate television, video, or film camera to record images or scenes for television, video, or film productions.
Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film is Also Know as
In different settings, Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film is titled as
- Camera Operator
- Cameraman
- Master Control Operator (MCO)
- News Videographer
- Production Technician
- Studio Camera Operator
- Television News Photographer
- Videographer
Education and Training of Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Required for Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Degrees Related to Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
- Bachelor in Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/Techn
- Associate Degree Courses in Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/Techn
- Masters Degree Courses in Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/Techn
- Bachelor in Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technician
- Associate Degree Courses in Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technician
- Masters Degree Courses in Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technician
- Bachelor in Cinematography and Film/Video Production
- Associate Degree Courses in Cinematography and Film/Video Production
- Masters Degree Courses in Cinematography and Film/Video Production
- Bachelor in Documentary Production
- Associate Degree Courses in Documentary Production
- Masters Degree Courses in Documentary Production
Training Required for Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in different industries are
- Audio and Video Technicians
- Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians
- Broadcast Technicians
- Media Technical Directors/Managers
- Avionics Technicians
- Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers
- Lighting Technicians
- Sound Engineering Technicians
- Motion Picture Projectionists
- Film and Video Editors
- Remote Sensing Technicians
- Remote Sensing Scientists and Technologists
- Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians
- Calibration Technologists and Technicians
- Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment
- Aircraft Structure, Surfaces, Rigging, and Systems Assemblers
- Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers
- Robotics Technicians
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers
What Do Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film do?
- Operate television or motion picture cameras to record scenes for television broadcasts, advertising, or motion pictures.
- Compose and frame each shot, applying the technical aspects of light, lenses, film, filters, and camera settings to achieve the effects sought by directors.
- Operate zoom lenses, changing images according to specifications and rehearsal instructions.
- Use cameras in any of several different camera mounts, such as stationary, track-mounted, or crane-mounted.
- Adjust positions and controls of cameras, printers, and related equipment to change focus, exposure, and lighting.
- Confer with directors, sound and lighting technicians, electricians, and other crew members to discuss assignments and determine filming sequences, desired effects, camera movements, and lighting requirements.
- Observe sets or locations for potential problems and to determine filming and lighting requirements.
- Instruct camera operators regarding camera setups, angles, distances, movement, and variables and cues for starting and stopping filming.
- Label and record contents of exposed film and note details on report forms.
- Read charts and compute ratios to determine variables such as lighting, shutter angles, filter factors, and camera distances.
- Set up cameras, optical printers, and related equipment to produce photographs and special effects.
- View films to resolve problems of exposure control, subject and camera movement, changes in subject distance, and related variables.
- Reload camera magazines with fresh raw film stock.
- Read and analyze work orders and specifications to determine locations of subject material, work procedures, sequences of operations, and machine setups.
- Prepare slates that describe the scenes being filmed.
- Edit video for broadcast productions, including non-linear editing.
- Set up and perform live shots for broadcast.
- Assemble studio sets and select and arrange cameras, film stock, audio, or lighting equipment to be used during filming.
- Test, clean, maintain, and repair broadcast equipment, including testing microphones, to ensure proper working condition.
- Stay current with new technologies in the field by reading trade magazines.
- Set up and operate electric news gathering (ENG) microwave vehicles to gather and edit raw footage on location to send to television affiliates for broadcast.
- Direct studio productions.
- Design graphics for studio productions.
- Write new scripts for broadcasts.
Qualities of Good Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
- Audio equalizers
- Automatic film processors
- Batteries
- Cable compression crimp tools
- Circumaural headphones
- Digital light meters
- Digital multimeters
- Directors' viewfinders
- Distortion analyzers
- DJI Go 4
- DJI Pilot
- DroneDeploy
- DroneLogbook
- Electronic field production EFP cameras
- External monitors
- Fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles UAV
- Flash memory data storage devices
- Gun solder irons
- Hex key sets
- Iris rod wrenches
- Landing pad
- Measuring tapes
- Mobile mountings
- Movie production cameras
- Multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles UAV
- Pencil solder irons
- Portable cranes
- Portable video monitors
- Power generators
- Precision nut drivers
- Real-time spectrum analyzers
- Remotely controlled cameras
- Safety barriers
- Satellite broadcasting trucks
- Straight blade screwdrivers
- Studio cameras
- Studio lighting
- Television signal generators
- Torx driver sets
- Video positioning equipment
- Videocamera lens filters
- Videocamera tripods
- Waveform monitors
- Wireless audio/video AV receivers
- Wireless audio/video AV transmitters
- Zoom lenses
Technology Skills required for Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe After Effects
- Adobe Creative Cloud software
- Adobe Dreamweaver
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Apple Final Cut Pro
- Apple Final Cut Studio
- Avid Technology audio visual editing software
- DaVinci Resolve
- Email software
- Google Drive
- Litchi
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Pix4D Pix4Dcapture
- YouTube