Every now and again, a television network, production company, showrunner, or streaming platform sends us into the field with one camera to capture an entire unscripted scene. In these situations it’s imperative that the camera operator has a solid understanding of how a scene is edited together in post production. This involves intuitively directing the on-camera talent through the narrative process, being agile in capturing multiple angles without excessively breaking up the talent performances, and subsequently going back for cutaways so that the editor has plenty of footage to work with in order to complete the scene. A GoPro or two is quite helpful in these situations. Here is a sample of some single camera work by D.J. Dierker, that would have ideally been shot with a multi-cam crew but that has been effectively captured via “one man band.”
D.J. Dierker is a cinematographer and producer based in Denver, Colorado.