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Kyle Cassidy is a visual artist from Philadelphia. Currently
he’s working on a feature-length production of Henrik Ibsen’s
Hedda Gabler and a top secret 360 video project.
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http://www.videomaker.com/?p=16909SHOOTING NOVEMBER 2019
and camera movement emphasizes that, in the
future, cars travel in three dimensions.The even CRAZIER camera moves
Ready to spin your camera around on a string?
What do you do when you have zero budget but
a really small and cheap camera? If you’re really
clever you invent a new camera move and build
a music video around it. Indie musicians Matt &
Kim attached a GoPro to a homemade stabilizing
fi n, put it at the end of a piece of rope and swung
it around their heads recording at 240 frames per
second. The results are amazing.WHY USE IT? You’re a genius with no budget for
equipment. Check out Matt & Kim’s Video for
Let’s Run Away.Putting it all together
Just because you’re not in school for video
production doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing
homework. You need to practice in order to im-
prove. Your mission, should you choose to accept
it, is twofold:
First, identify basic camera moves while
watching movies and television and deconstruct
them in your mind. Is the camera trucking or
zooming? Is the camera on a crane? Or is the op-
erator merely sticking his head out of a window?
Second, utilize all of the basic camera moves
in a production. Understanding how the moves
work gives you a series of new tools to help build
productions in the future. If you’re already using
all of the basic camera moves, consider buying
or renting a stabilizing rig or a jib for your next
production. Experimenting is half the fun of
making videos, and coming up with a new move
that wows viewers while helping to get your
story across is extremely satisfying.more often applies to the device that holds a
microphone aloft. For an extreme version of this
elevated camera move, consider using a drone to
capture an aerial perspective.WHY USE IT? You want to show things from a
different angle. One example is the crane shot at
the end of Robert Zemeckis’ 1985 “Back to the
Future.” In that scene, genius inventor Dr. Em-
met Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, shows
off his new and improved Time Machine, which
he has built out of a Delorean. The car takes off
down the road, and as the camera cranes up,
the car starts to fl y. The combination of actionFigure 8Figure 9Figure 10Figure 11390 C02 Shooting.indd 44 9/24/19 2:21 PMVIDEOMAKER >>> NOVEMBER 2019 45
with Thurston’s British style and humor.
He skips through time with stories
about his early days shooting with the
BBC all the way up to recent incidents
on a wildlife series for Netfl ix.
The chapters titles include “The
Glamour of TV”, “Finding Courage”,
“Don’t Try This at Home” and “Kings
of the Jungle.” Each chapter returns
to Thurston’s early days, then moves
forward through the theme.
In the chapter “Buttered Side Up”,
Thurston recounts many of his close
calls. For example, he was in Kenya in
1994 working on a BBC documentary:
“To my horror, draped on the trunk
I’m standing on, under an overhang-
ing rock, is a huge python. And it’ssliding towards me. With the drop
below me I have no choice. It is do or
die. I run straight back along the trunk
and leap over the python...”
Of course, the book is not all
dangerous encounters. Thurston alsoGavin Thurston has been on, in and
sometimes under every continent and
won dozens of awards in his 30 plus
year career. The UK native set out on a
new journey recently, detailing his life
as an outdoor cameraman. His book
is called “Journeys into the Wild” and
debuts in the US on October 29, 2019 in
hardback. The Amazon Kindle version
is available now.
If you are even slightly interested in
wildlife cinematography, this is a must-
read. If you have ever wondered what
goes on behind the scenes of those
great nature documentaries, Gavin
Thurston gives it to you. The cover
looks like a throwback to a children’s
book from the ’60s and the Forward by
Sir David Attenborough immediately
tells you this is no ordinary memoir.
Thurston says in the introduction
that this is the story of his career.
“This book is a meander through
those highs and lows, with some
plane crashes, wars, coups, near-death
experiences and a kidnap attempt
thrown in to boot.”Opening it up
Each account in the book begins with
a date and a location. You see latitude
and longitude in a handwritten script
written in the margin. Each story is toldspends time putting you into his sur-
roundings and describing the marvel-
ous creatures he captures on fi lm and
video — like in a submersible off the
coast of Costa Rica shooting parts of
the series “Blue Planet 2.”
He writes, “As we sink down the
light starts to fade. We pass a few
small shoals of fi sh and odd squid
swims by. Apart from that, there is
little else to see, the water just gets
deeper and deeper blue.”Our Recommendation
Thurston’s book pulls back the cur-
tain on the “glamorous life” of a wild-
life fi lmmaker. We read his struggles
with everything from wild animals
to airport baggage handlers. We also
get a glimpse into the heart of a man
who genuinely loves his work and
the outdoors. Ask for “Journeys in the
Wild” by Gavin Thurston at your local
bookstore. It’s available from Seven
Dials publishing (an imprint of Orion
Publishing Group Ltd. UK)Jeff Chaves was trained in video production in
the Army and has been involved in the industry
for more than 30 years. He and his wife run
Grace Pictures Inc.by Jeff ChavesGavin Thurston documents his wild life
We introduced you to Gavin Thurston back in 2016. He’s an award-winning outdoor cinematographer with
hundreds of productions under his belt including the PBS series Nature, the BBC’s Planet Earth and several
DisneyNature fi lms.STORIES FROM THE FIELD
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IN WILDLIFE CINEMA-
TOGRAPHY, THIS IS A
MUST READ.390 Stories From the Field.indd 45 9/24/19 2:22 PM