This one-day workshop will teach you how to make the most of lighting interviews, pieces to camera and talking heads. It is aimed at journalists, self-shooting producers and other filmmakers using DSLRs or small cameras.

This workshop will be equip you with an understanding of the role of lighting in creating good television pictures. You will be taught how to use Dedo lamps and the differences between hard and soft light sources. You will gain an appreciation of how light can ‘sculpt’ a presenter’s face on camera.

You will also learn how to set up simple three-point lighting suitable for shooting an interview or a piece to camera, and be given a simple understanding of colour temperature, camera exposure and of using colour to introduce drama, mood and style.

Participants will be expected to have used a DSLR, broadcast or other DV camera. This workshop is aimed at those with experience of shooting but no previous experience of using lights.

No equipment necessary except a notebook. Please bring with you any examples of good or bad interview lighting that you have spotted on television (bring these along as screenshots on your phone, files on a laptop or email them to peter.price@ppmtelevision.com so that we can share them with the group).

About the trainer
Peter Price specialises in high-end TV production for global audiences on BBC World News. He has recently travelled the world to direct the AIB award-winning My City travel series for BBC World News and BBC.com. In 2012 he directed and produced the Africa Beats and LatAam Beats music performance series for the BBC HD channel. Currently a technology reporter for BBC Click (BBC World News/ BBC 2), he previously produced Digital Planet for World Service radio. Before joining the BBC, Price worked as the lighting designer on two youth musicals at the Edinburgh Fringe and lit countless stage plays, comedies and rock concerts at his school’s 250-seat theatre.

Image via Shutterstock

Camera skills, interview techniques and essential safety tips – this one day workshop will cover what you need to know before setting off as a one-man- or one-woman-band video journalist.

The session will focus on cross-platform camera skills to help you get the best picture and sound quality for your story, and to make sure you get the most out of your equipment.

Setting off on assignment can leave you with a daunting to do list and there will invariable be challenges and obstacles once you are in the field. This workshop will help you to plan ahead, think about what you’ll need to take with you, and teach you to create time for your story rather than your logistics.

Find out all that you need in your video journalist’s toolkit from veteran freelance cameraman and Frontline Club founder, Vaughan Smith.

What you’ll learn:

• Getting to grips with your video camera: setting, composition and framing
• Shooting sequences: how to tell stories and follow the action
• Lighting, audio and interview techniques
• What to pack
• Finding the stories
• Safety and digital security tips

Watch Smith’s report Blood and Dust, documenting 10 days of life and death on a US Medevac helicopter in Afghanistan, for which he won the 2011 Prix Bayeux in the grand format television category.