Multi-Tasking
Shoot like a cameraman, think like an editor
Paul Webb
Cameraman/DOP Full Member of OZCREWS
That’s the approach that earns lighting cameraman Paul Webb repeat work.
Webb – everyone in the business calls him Webby – volunteered for edit training on top of his early camera assistant training at Channel 9 in Brisbane.
“I figured it would be a lot more beneficial because I had aspirations of going overseas, and you just become a better cameraman if you’ve learned to edit from the start,” he recalls.
“It opened up a lot of doors for me, I used to get trips away purely because I could shoot and cut stories on locations and send them back.”
By the end of 1994 Webby was working in LA as a freelancer on an international journalist visa which allowed him to work for foreign based media outlets.
“LA has bureaux from pretty well every country,” he remembers, “I was there for four years and did a truck load of entertainment. The last year was awesome because I got my first taste of shooting docos, working for the BBC.”
These days Webby concentrates on lifestyle shows, documentaries and reality shows.
But he says the training and experience in the journalistic environment means he shoots better coverage today.
“When I do a single camera shoot on my own with soundie and producer, I’m constantly thinking, ’if I was editing this what would I need?’ It’s instinctual now.”
“Shooting drama you might get three or four rehearsals but if you are doing a single camera reality shoot and stuff is happening, you’ve got no chance to pick up that shot up later. You have got to capture what your talent is doing there right now.
“Basically it’s a lot to do with listening to the story-line because you have to pick the moments to go and grab your cutaways.”
“When dialogue gets boring or they go off topic you’ve then got to rack back through your head thinking of the cutaways you need to cover the particular sequence just shot. Then you quickly grab them on the fly.”
Survivor is the show that pretty well defined reality shows, and Webby was part of the camera team drawn from all over the world who were nominated twice for Emmy awards.
“That show gave me a wealth of amazing experience shooting with a bunch of talented guys that come back twice a year and produce a show that still rates 14 million viewers every Thursday night.”
He says it is a complete contrast coming back and shooting documentaries where you never know what you are walking into.
“When I shoot documentaries I have got all my own lighting gear but how much depends on how much excess baggage I’m allowed to take. Still, it’s amazing what you can make look good with a limited amount of stuff,” he says.
Webby arrives at local shoots with a Land Cruiser loaded to the gunwales with camera gear, lights, a lightweight track dolly and a mini jib. His workhorse camera is a Sony PDW709 Digital Betacam but he rents HD cameras as needed. For time lapse he puts a Canon EOS 30D on a remote rotating head while underwater gear completes the tool box.
“I’ve been diving since I was 16,” he says, “I do a lot of underwater shooting on Survivor, and Great Barrier Reef travel shows from the UK and elsewhere.”
Despite all the experience Webby seems to still have buckets of enthusiasm, “at the end of the day I love what I do which is to just try and provide the best possible images.
“Hopefully if those producers and editors like your work then you end up on the to-call list.”
