Camera Systems and Camera Operation
Partnership with Duke Arts Create & Cinematic Arts
The Cinematic Arts Filmcraft Workshop Series
The Cinematic Arts Filmcraft Workshop Series is designed to give students the opportunity to develop hard skills in practical areas of filmmaking. It includes topics in cinematography, editing, post-production, and sound. It is aimed at filmmakers looking to advance their practice, as well as those interested in a first look at the techniques and technology of film.
The Fall 2020 Filmcraft Workshops are streamed from the Cinematic Arts Film Studio. Please join us Thursdays in September and October for live demonstrations, discussion, and Q&A.
Camera Systems and Camera Operation
iPhone to IMAX, cameras are systems configured around common subsystems–physical, mechanical, optical, electrical, digital, and chemical. A well-organized understanding of the purpose and function of each of these elements is invaluable if one is to execute complete creative control over the moving images they combine to produce. Similarly, awareness of how a camera’s systems affect functionality will help one choose the right camera for a given purpose, or scale up from a simple to a more complex camera.
While several camera systems are demonstrated and described in this workshop, it is not intended to teach the specific menus or controls of any particular model. Instead it provides a practical approach for quickly mastering the use of any camera. The goal: if you were pushed out of a moving taxi in a strange country, and the first thing you found after rolling to a stop was a cache of unfamiliar cinema camera equipment, you would be able to shoot a film by sundown.
About the Instructor
Steve Milligan is a professional cinematographer. Over the last fifteen years he has worked in long and short form documentary, narrative features, commercials, music videos, and projection design. He has been a lecturing fellow in the Duke Arts of the Moving Image program since 2015.
About the Location
This workshop will be streamed live via Zoom from the Cinematic Arts Film Studio. See link at top of page.