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Reed School of Media and Communications

Wide, Medium, Tight, Tight, Tight: How I Found My Footing Behind the Camera

Garret Bates |

It was an interesting start to the week as I had to find my footing for the first show. I am glad to have started this off with volleyball, as the repetition of sets and similar plays over and over gets you comfortable with the camera, being in that environment, and grabbing different footage than just the play on the court. Being able to start with that helped because the challenges that you face in volleyball that might make you miss a point or two are not as big of a deal compared to later in the week when I filmed something like football. The interview spot with volleyball was also harder, so going through it in that environment was definitely good to get it out of the way and learn from my mistakes.

I was proud of my ability to make an adjustment to this when it came to the football interviews later in the week. I want to continue to improve the interview process though, as I found that getting quality, professional video to be one of the harder parts of my week. Gathering footage in real time was certainly more enjoyable for me.  On that note, the different environments played a bigger role than I originally thought when it came to the content.  

Garret Bates filming in the Hope Coliseum

Practices are obviously the easiest, but they can have more downtime and fewer hype moments than a game. The games have the challenge of having less time to process things, and a couple of the shots I got have sideline people stepping in the way, which is something I can learn from.  

Finding moments in the week to look back on and improve upon will only make this experience more enjoyable as the weeks roll on. I need to get better at monopod usage. I feel as though I can hold the camera pretty steady, but when using the monopod, I find it to be almost harder since it's lighter with less of a wide base than something like a tripod, so it can wobble more easily when turning it.  

Garret Bates filming in the field at Milan Puskar Stadium

I felt like something I enjoyed and was really good at was just being cooperative. At the end of the day, it's the reporter's true vision, and I'm there to add input, but more importantly, to just understand what they are truly seeking to accomplish. I felt as though I did a good job of keeping people calm in times of emotional strain. Using words of encouragement and being an emotional support animal at times goes a lot further than people realize. 

I think the skill I learned most this week was just the emphasis on what professor Jim said during “Jim Time,” which was “Wide, Medium, Tight, Tight, Tight,” and trying to perfect the mentality of getting all types of shots and putting emphasis on moving often after every two to four shots.  This was something I felt I did a good job with, collecting the most unique shots from new angles and continuing to diversify this will only continue to improve the show and improve my work for the future.

I look forward to working toward bettering my work and improving in the coming weeks.