Self Shooting – Film Like A Pro

COURSE OVERVIEW

NEXT DATES – JAN 8/9 AND JAN 22/23

Learn how to film from an industry professional. We’ll teach you how to use your camera to create well-composed, correctly exposed and focused pictures with great sound. You’ll also learn how to handle the most common filming situations so you have pictures which cut together well. By the end of the course, you’ll be confident and relaxed about setting up great looking (and sounding) interviews, filming attractive and usable non-sync (B-roll) material and filming action.

Lack of technical filming ability holds back too many careers – particularly for women – so our aim is to build your confidence, whichever camera you’re using. Group sizes are kept small so we can tailor learning according to your needs and interests. You’ll be taught by award winning documentary maker Nick O’Dwyer. Nick teaches self shooting regularly for the National Film and Television School, training courses for ITV Studios and Channel 4 and several universities including UAL and University of Oxford.

Check out the testimonials and Google reviews – consistently 5 stars.

COURSE Description

Take the fear out of the gear and learn how to film! A mix of classroom tuition and practical exercises to build your self-shooting confidence. You’ll learn:

• Where to stand and how to handle a camera to get steady shots in every situation
• The tecchie aspects of focus, exposure and white balance to ensure well-composed, correctly exposed and focused pictures.
• People skills – tips and tricks learned from 30 years in the TV industry.
• Choosing focal lengths and frames and camera positions to give you choices in the edit.
• Covering common situations – working with a presenter, interviewing people, filming meetings and how to film movement intelligently.
• Which auto functions to use and which to avoid.
• The vital importance of great sound – and how to get it
• Demystifying LOGs, LUTs and when to use them
• Key differences with mirrorless/DSLR filming/cine-type cameras.
• After initial tuition, you will film a series of exercises and get detailed feedback on your rushes.

Equipment

We supply cameras and sound kits. So you only need to bring yourself and a sense of humour and a willingness to make mistakes! Mistakes are great: it’s how we learn!

Client Feedback

"I learnt more in 2 days with you than I did in my whole journalism degree when it came to documentaries. I was expecting to feel overwhelmed because anything tech is not my forte, but instead, I left feeling inspired and excited at the idea of potentially being a self shooter someday."
"The whole course has been incredibly valuable to me in every sense from getting more out of my camera to creating engaging human content. Thank you for the fantastic teaching throughout."
"I had absolutely no previous experience of film-making, directing or using filming equipment. Through Nick’s supportive teaching, I now feel confident using high level film cameras, lenses and microphones and also how to compose a range of shots to make a professional looking film."
"Thank you so much, I can't explain how much you've increased my confidence within all of this."
"I have been on so many courses in my life, but I think the past week was one of the few times, where it was so easy for me to forget about everything else happening and just focus on what I was doing - I loved it!"

PRICE: £350 (freelance rate) £550 (corporate rate). Prices include VAT.

TIME: 10.00 to 17.30

GROUP SIZE: 4 maximum

DURATION: 2 days (10am-5.30pm)

VENUE: Oxford

Other Filmmaking Courses

One-to-One Teaching

Interviewing for Documentary