Ever since I was a kid, television had always fascinated me. I even had the Lego 'Live Shot' TV truck, and the Play-mobile 'TV studio' set. It's hard to pinpoint why it was such an interesting profession at a young age, but I guess the fact that everybody sat down to watch the work of these people was enough to encourage my interest.
(Yes, I've always been an attention-seeker, and what could be better than having my pictures broadcast for all to see!)
In my mid-teens, I started doing some teenage radio shows on the local community access station when a regional TV station opened up in our area. The group of us at the radio station decided that a teenage TV show would be a great addition to it! After meeting with a producer and discovering that our lack of TV experience was holding us back, a few of us (the more 'technical' ones of the group) started doing weekly work experience at the station. Thankfully, I had already spent a bit of time fooling around with the home camcorder, and had managed to find lots of useful books to get educated on some of the finer points (eg floor manager hand signals, multi-camera ob's and simple editing.)
Over the time I learnt a lot, just from work experience. Eventually I was offered to come assist on a weekly sports OB (Outside Broadcast), which would be paid work. Hurrah! My climb through the ranks had begun, and what better place to learn than on an outside broadcast... rain, wind, high camera platforms and the ever-looming threat of all the electricity cutting off, right in the middle of a game!
Now, about five or six years later, I can safely call myself a 'professional', thanks to everything I have learnt on the job. Yes, trial and error is a dangerous method, but it'll teach you things you could never learn in a broadcasting school. What do you do when you're about to go live on a 1 hour, grand-finale show to the station's most popular late-night series.... and the main router freezes up, locking the studio's signal inside it and not delivering anything through to the master control room? Solutions to problems such as these can only ever be learnt through doing them, and you'll come off better for it.
Today I routinely shoot, edit, direct, and produce at the same station which hired me for work experience. I've managed to deliver products to large national clients, including directing shows for national TV networks. Most of all though, I've managed to build up a sense of confidence and a 'bullet-proof' attitude towards my work, thanks to having encountered many of the worst possible things whilst live on-air, or editing that last-minute VT, or trying to line-feed to a client on the other end of the country!
My advice to people who want to become a cameraman is to:
1. Teach yourself as much as you possibly can before you even get near a TV station. There are plenty of great books out there, and hundreds of websites. Some information may be confusing if you don't already know the terminology, but with a bit of careful thinking you might just be able to work it out yourself.
2. Teach yourself more by either going to a school or getting some on-the-job experience. Broadcasting schools are great if you have no other reliable options, and you can afford them. And if you have a local station in your area, show them your interest and enthusiasm, and start getting involved in any way you can. Remember that your next employer will only hire you based on what you've been able to do, and what you can say you'll be able to do... so you'd better find a way to do it! Get involved with everything possible, learn as many skills as you can, and constantly try to keep teaching yourself new tricks, methods, equipment and skills.
Being a cameraman, or any TV crew, is not just about knowledge or ability. It's also about attitude, resourcefulness, and being able to go out there, do the job, not complain about it and make it enjoyable everyday!
