A Camera Operator uses a camera to capture moving images in events and scenes. Depending on the assignment, they may be called a Motion Picture Camera Operator (Filmographer), Television Camera Operator, or Video Camera Operator (Videographer). A videographer is a person who practices videography. ...
A Motion Picture Camera Operator is the second person on the totem of the four-person camera crew working on a feature-film for the cinema. This team is always headed by a Director of Photography (or Cinematographer). The Operator's duties embrace working to one degree or another with the Director, the Director of Photography and the actors in devising camera setups - angles, lenses to use, etc - and choreographing the dynamics of camera tracking moves on dollies or cranes to best interpret the dramatic scene. When shooting, the Operator is solely responsible for both physically operating the camera (ie, 'pointing' it while looking through the lens), and for the composition of any given framing throughout any given shot. This article or section should include material from filming production roles Film crew and equipment on a location shoot. ... Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel, AFC, meters Audrey Tautou on the set of A Very Long Engagement. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Choreography (also known as dance composition) is the art of making structures in which movement occurs, the term composition may also refer to the navigation or connection of these movement structures. ... Dolly can refer to several things: dolly, a familiar term for a childs toy Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal Dolly Parton, American actress and singer Hello, Dolly, a 1969 musical Steadicam, Film-making equipment camera dolly, Film-making equipment Motion compensation, camera motion, back and forth movement... A tower crane with a pivoted main boom A crane is a tower or derrick equipped with cables and pulleys that is used to lift and lower materials. ...
Their answer to the problem of camera orientation was to hand-hold the camera and to use two cameramen -- one to hold and aim the camera, and the other to crank it via a flexible drive shaft at the required steady rate of 16 frames per second.
At the camera end, the rotating shaft is attached to the driving spindle of the mechanism and the outer tube is fixed to the camera case.
At the other or operating end, the rotating shaft is fitted with a crank handle and the outer tube is attached to a bearing arranged as a handle to be gripped by the operator with one hand while he turns the crank handle with the other hand.
For example, the cameraoperator can be stationary and shoot whatever passes in front of the lens, or the camera can be mounted on a track, with the cameraoperator responsible for shooting the scene from different angles or directions.
Cameraoperators in the film and television industries usually are hired for a project on the basis of recommendations from individuals such as producers, directors of photography, and camera assistants from previous projects or through interviews with the producer.
Employment of cameraoperators and editors is expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2012.