I’m often asked how to make sequences flow. How to join one shot to the next and make it seem natural and interesting. In order to try and answer that question I’ve jotted down six thoughts that, if followed, will really help any aspiring film maker. In this business you never stop learning and I’m sure in five years from now I will have many new thoughts on the subject. For now though this is the best I can do. I would have liked to write ten tips but I ran out after six Any extra tips and advice would be greatly appreciated in your comments. . .

I’ve posted a film below that I hope will illustrate some of the points and help you to see the way I operate:

6 tips for shooting and editing sequences from Chris Parkinson on Vimeo.

1) Always know your opening shot: If a Director asks you if you have an opening for them you should always know exactly what it is. I devote a lot time on any shoot to finding a strong opening.

2) Always get a broad variety of shot sizes: If you want to make the Editors life easy then make sure you have a huge big wide shot and a very tight close up, these will edit with almost anything.

3) Don’t be afraid to move around: Many Cameramen plant their tripod in one spot and shoot everything from the same position. It’s boring! Move around, sit on the floor, look for a high angle – go crazy, you can never be too creative.

4) Think Sound: I always say the “Amateurs think pictures, pro’s think sound”. I really believe that. Always look for shots that give great sound – a gate creeking, a tap being turned on, a car door closing. They give you a chance to bookmark the start and end of a sequence with an upsound. When Editing it’s always the first thing I look for.

5) Try and build your interviews into your sequence: I always like to do my interviews “in-situ”. If you can, build the interview into the sequence then it doesn’t jar with the audience. If you are filming a man fixing a tyre then why not throw him a question while he’s still doing it? Why stand him up and film him next to a sign?

6) Always know your end shot: See tip number one – exactly the same principal. I once read an interview with a Doco Director who said “there is only two shots that matter, the first and the last.” Although I don’t totally agree with him I do feel he is onto something. . . If the first shot is boring do you keep watching? If the last shot is boring do you remember the piece? No I thought so.

TV Cameraman Nick Woolley Shooting in Baghdad

Shooting a PTC in Moscow - 2006

I love to film – to capture the moment as it develops. There is though one element of News films that I usually dread shooting – The Piece to Camera or PTC. They often seem contrived and can disrupt the flow of a piece. But we do work in a business where Reporter involvement is seen as crucial to adding gravitas and establishing their authority and credibility. For me the only pieces to camera that really work are those where you are “in the thick of it” – dodging bullets in Afghanistan, at the front of a demonstration or in the middle of a riot. The reality is that these action PTC’s are quite rare and so time and again we are forced to make something from nothing – Bring to life a dull background while still appreciating that Reporters always want to look good – no matter what the circumstances.

There are no golden rules to shooting a good PTC and every situation is different. I’ve put together a short clip reel of PTC’s I’ve shot over the last couple of years and I hope they will give some idea as to how I often try and lift the story with an engaging PTC. I don’t claim that they are all great, but I hope they might give a few ideas to anyone just starting out or looking for some inspiration.

Shooting Pieces to Camera: Some examples of my work from caparkinson on Vimeo.

If I ever see a PTC in front of a sign or against a wall then I want to throw a shoe at the TV. My advice to anyone starting out in News is always to avoid the cliché. Add some movement and make it feel that the Reporter is really in the middle of the action. I love to use foreground, to move past objects and then reveal who is speaking. I don’t buy the argument that claims you should only move for a reason – that it should be motivated? Isn’t a good shot motivation enough ? We are trying to appeal to and grab the interest of viewers bombarded by Hollywood movies and the flashy music videos. Are we going to stick to the old and boring “news style” or we going to grab our viewers and turn them away from the internet by offering new and interesting ways of shooting and editing news.

As always I welcome your feedback and would love it if you post links to some of your own work.

The World Cup is finally over. It’s been an amazing month in South Africa that has seen my team travel from Rustenburg to Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein. I’ve been working with Correspondent Andrew Harding and we’ve been lucky enough to have many films commissioned for the BBC News.

In Thokoza park, Soweto. 11/06/10

As Bafana Bafana took on Mexico in the opening game we headed into Soweto to capture a taste of the atmosphere and to see what it all meant to the Sowetans. It was a day I’ll never forget, the atmosphere of excitement and togetherness bringing me close to tears more than once. The film we made really captured a sense of how people felt and reflected the fact that this country would never be the same again.

Soweto welcomes the World Cup – World cup begins in Soweto from caparkinson on Vimeo.

After the first day our priorities temporarily shifted to covering the England team and their fans. We headed to the sleepy village of Phokeng, just outside of Rustenburg for the England vs USA match. It’s an odd place to host such a big game and we made a film reflecting the clash of cultures between the hard drinking fans and the bemused locals. Just after we finished editing I shot this film on my i-phone to give a taste of the neighbourhood. And yes we did use that bizarre camper van as our edit vehice

As the tournament progressed and England were knocked out following that disastrous showing against the Germans we moved on to cover Ghana’s big game against Uruguay. The night before we produced a piece that really gives a taste of the spirit that helped the Ghana team to do well. Here’s two clips I pulled from the rushes that you might enjoy. In the first Ghana’s biggest supporter gives his match prediction and in the second the fans sing a song about me:

With Ghana crashing out to Uruguay on penalties we concentrated on putting together two end of tournament legacy pieces. The first looked at South Africa’s improved image abroad and the second was a deeper, more thoughtful piece that examined how South Africans themselves saw the impact of hosting the World Cup. I had an idea to use “postcards” to introduce each character in our film rather than the more traditional set up sequence. I feel it worked.

South Africa World Cup – final film from caparkinson on Vimeo.

Covering the World Cup has been an exciting, nerve wracking and tiring experience. Although I’m glad it’s over it has been a pleasure to see this much-maligned country step up and impress the rest of the world. I hope it can keep it up.

Fini Color Correction Before / After Reel from Patrick Inhofer on Vimeo.

I just saw this excellent example of how colour grading can really help your pictures and enhance any film. Patrick Inhofer has launched his new website The Tao of Color Grading which hosts numerous tutorials in this complicated art. I’m new to manipulating pictures but find it a fascinating subject. In my latest film below I used Matte effects and colour correction to help me to improve the feel of one or two of shots. As always feedback is appreciated.

South Africa World Cup – final film from caparkinson on Vimeo.

Did you see the Argentina versus Mexico match on Sunday? If so did you spot this short clip of the touchline Steadicam Operator getting smacked by Argentinean goal scorer Gabriel Heinze? Maybe the Cameraman was a bit too close but surely the reaction was unwarranted?

With the FIFA World Cup going on here in South Africa I’ve had very little time to update the blog. I have though discovered a couple more amusing videos that I wanted to share. . .

once the World Cup is over I promise to get back to the blog and to keep updating the content. For now though check out @caparkinson on twitter for regular updates.

This is genius! Keep watching. . .

Dangerous old lady:

I wander how many of us would have the strength of character to put the camera down in sympathy with striking colleagues?

Bad positioning!

Come on seriously, you saying you’ve never done this?

How many times have you disagreed with the words in a Piece to Camera?

Short but amusing – this is why you shouldn’t run backwards:

This one makes me proud. . . A cameraman shows Ronaldo some of his football skills

Strictly speaking this is a photographer not a Cameraman but it is still awesome. Great to see a celebrity bully get what he deserves. . .

A classic, I’m not sure if it’s for real or not but who cares?

With the World Cup looming, I decided to publish an old blog post here on caparkinson.com that I wrote during the Beijing Olympics. My life was very different then but I hope it will give you a sense of what it’s like to cover a major International sporting event.

I figured if I was lucky I’d get to go to a club once during the Olympics. I was wrong, over the three weeks I was in beijing I managed to make some shapes on various dancefloors and really experience what I have come to regard as the best nightlife in the world. We were working hard but also making the most of a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The time difference between China and the UK was a killer, but on a long organized assignment like the Olympics your mindset is different. There’s not the adrenalin and fear that comes from an Embed with the military or following tribal violence in Africa. Instead you have this overwhelming urge to get out into town and experience the place.

My team was great and  we had the perfect Chinese translator. J. was a local who’d lived in the States and knew the sort of good times we wanted to find. Her and her friends were great fun and took us to lots of Beijings most happening Clubs, Bars and Restaurants. There was “8-Block” which was so cool I would never have been allowed in if it had been in London, “The crazy world of Suzy Wongs” a fantastically cheesy meat market which could rival anything in Newcastle or Manchester and “Coco Bananas” with its impromptu firework displays at the bar.

A video I put together after the Games as a way to remember some of the emotions I felt

When you wanted to wind down there was the massage places which are on every corner. . I went twice to one just behind the media village where we were staying. After hard days of filming they were a great way to wind down and let the stress eb away. I can promise though there were no happy endings, I think the girls were on their best behavior!

The highlight of the games for me was the way the Chinese treat anyone tall and blonde like a movie star. I lost count of the number of people asking to have their picture taken with me. The funniest occasion was when I was having dinner with another cameraman who is neither tall nor blonde, while I became the centre of attention in the restaurant swapping email addresses with all at the next table and having my picture taken the whole time he was ignored and sat chewing his noodles in disgust.

I’ll miss China, the friendly people, the amazing food and clubs, the shopping and of course the huge array of beautiful, elegant women. Perhaps being at the Olympics gave a false impression of the place, but it has made a mark on my soul, a mark that I know will not leave in a hurry.

I’m always on the look out for important videos that will help to inform and educate myself and other Cameramen. I felt it was time that I gathered some of the most relevant and interesting in one place for readers of my blog to check out. If you have any others you think should be here then let me know and I’ll post a follow up.

Firstly I wanted to draw attention to the history of our craft. I always imagine that being a frontline Cameraman in World War two must have been even more intense than it is for us today. The battles that much bigger, the chances of being killed that much more. Below is the first clip from a Documentary about the the cameramen of WW2, there exploits and what they saw.

But as we all know, today although the fighting might not be on such a grand scale it can still be intense, nerve wracking and incredibly dangerous. Here is an excellent film by my colleague Robbie Wright that he shot while embedded with the US Marines in Falluja:

The growing problem for all Journalists in todays environment is that we often become a target ourselves, either accidentally or because we are seen as “the enemy”. Below are a number of films that show how quickly we can become targets and how serious this can be. Some of the films are graphic and quite disturbing:

Not all predicaments a cameraman finds him or her self in are life or death. Even in our own countries the Police can turn nasty and arrest you for no reason. The Cameraman below was detained though later the charges were dropped and I understand that the Police Officer was later fired:

And then there are the self inflicted, pointless problems that we sometimes have to face. I still do not understand why the Cameraman in the film below kept following these guys once he had gotten his shots. He was later fired when the footage from a rival network was aired.

And finally the trailer for a film about stills photographer James Nachtwey. An excellent insight into the life and thought process of one of the worlds best known Photojournalists. Enjoy.

I hope these films have given you something to think about. If you have any films that you think I should include in a follow up piece then please comment below.

Here is an excellent Doco made for American channel PBS. It was shot entirely on a Canon 5D mark II DSLR camera. For more info on this shoot then check my earlier blog post.

teenagers performing at the Asec Mimosa Academy, Abidjan

The humidity was unbearable and the sun beat on the top of my head like Rio carnival drums. I couldn’t believe that these young kids could play football at such a blistering pace in these conditions. The teenagers at the Asec Mimosa Academy are some of the most gifted and hard working footballers in Africa. The Academy has been described as the “Crown jewell of African football” and offers players not just coaching but also an education.

We were here to make a film about football in Ivory Coast. With their appearance at the 2010 World Cup imminent and Ivorian Striker Didier Drogba claiming the English Premier League Golden Boot it seemed the perfect time to visit. I’d never heard of Mimosas before but they are one of the top Club sides in Africa and have been supplying talent to European leagues for a long time. Former players include Saloman kalou, Emmanuel Eboue and brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure.

Mimosa Academy training, taken using hipstamatic on my i-phone

So what is the secret of their success? Well, there are many. Firstly it is well funded by local investors and its sponsor, Sifca – one of West Africa’s biggest agro-businesses. This funding allows excellent facilities including two well kept pitches, a fully functioning school and a dorms for the kids to stay in. They also have a busy team of scouts who scour Ivory Coast looking for potential.

The problem though, and this goes for all of Africa, is keeping hold of their talented youngsters. Nearly all of their National squad play in Europe and all of the young players aspire to move abroad at the first opportunity. There is still little money to be made in local African leagues, the average first division player in Ivory Coast earns just two hundred and thirty Euros a month. Attendances are tiny, even big games struggle to achieve a crowd bigger than a few hundred. These problems mean it is unlikely that in the near future an African team will be strong enough to win the World Cup, but they are developing quickly and from what I saw at Mimosas the next generation promise to keep pushing the boundaries of what the continent can achieve.

As the training came to an end I filmed as the kids removed their boots and began a series of drills using a tennis ball. Amazingly they were able to perform keep-ups without dropping it. They then did a co-ordination routine that involved a series of complicated dance steps. I couldn’t imagine English players being able to maintain a straight face while clapping and dancing but to the Ivorians it is an important aspect of their skills training. It seemed to be working.

For our finished film on the BBC then check out this link. . .

In my never ending quest to find cool new bits of kit and achieve different angles and styles for my news reports I have just ordered the GoPro HD Camera. Unfortunately I had to order it from B and H in New York so I’m not going to be able to test it for a little while. In the meantime I have been searching the net to find out as much about the camera as I can. It seems to be an awesome camera perfectly suited to action sports.

An example of what the GoPro camera can achieve, it comes with a waterproof case as standard:

Sunset from Alan Fendrich on Vimeo.

and here’s another filmed by a base jumper:

GoPro HD HERO camera: Base Jump Movie from GoPro on Vimeo.

It shoots either 1080p at 30 fps or 720p at 60 fps. This is a bit of a hassle for those of us who shoot PAL but I’m assured that Apples Compressor software does a good job changing the frame rate to edit with.

GoPro also have an excellent array of accessories, check out the film below for a good idea of what is available:

NAB 2010 – GoPro HD now with live output from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

I should receive my GoPro at the end of November so I’ll be sure to post a review as soon as possible.