Before You Book Camera Training for Your Crew: A Checklist
Callum Reid sets out the questions worth answering before a newsroom commits to field camera training, from crew mix and kit to what each session should leave behind.
Start with the stories your crews actually shoot
Before any session is planned, write down the last ten jobs your crews covered. Not the ones you wish they were covering, the real ones: a council meeting that overran, a road closure, a protest that moved halfway through the afternoon. Training is only useful when it matches that work, so the list becomes the brief. If most of your output is static interviews with a little cutaway material, a course built around chasing fast-moving events will spend its time on skills you rarely need.
Look for the pattern in what goes wrong. Missed shots at the start of an event, shaky footage while walking, audio that fails when the crowd grows, interviews framed so tightly the edit has no room to work. Each of these points to a different kind of session. Naming the two or three problems that cost you most gives the trainer something concrete to build around, and gives you a way to judge afterwards whether anything changed.
Be honest, too, about how much of the problem is technique and how much is circumstance. A crew sent out with ten minutes' notice and a faulty battery will not be rescued by a better grip on the camera. Separate what training can fix from what belongs to planning, and take the second group to your workflow conversation instead.
- List the last ten jobs your crews covered
- Pick the two or three problems that cost you most
- Separate technique faults from planning faults
Who needs to be in the room
Field camera sessions work best when reporters and camera operators train together. A reporter who understands why the operator wants ten seconds of steady wide shot before the first question will make the whole job smoother, and an operator who knows what the reporter needs for the piece to camera will frame it correctly the first time. Splitting the two groups often leaves each side with a different idea of what good looks like.
Think about experience as well. A mixed group of seasoned operators and people who picked up a camera last month can work, but only if the session is built for it. Newer people need time on the basics of exposure, focus and holding a shot, while experienced crews usually want to spend their hours on moving subjects and awkward light. Decide in advance whether you want one group or two shorter ones.
Finally, count who covers for whom. If a single operator is booked every day, releasing them for a session has a real cost. Agree cover first, and keep the group small enough that everyone gets hands-on time rather than watching someone else handle the camera.
- Train reporters and operators in the same session
- Decide whether experience levels need separate groups
- Arrange cover before anyone is released
Kit, location and the day itself
Ask whether people will train on their own cameras or on borrowed ones. Using the equipment crews carry every day means habits formed in the session carry straight over, and any quirks of a particular body or lens get dealt with. Borrowed kit is fine for introducing new techniques, but expect a short settling-in period and plan the timing around it.
Location matters more than people expect. A session in a quiet room teaches little about shooting fast-moving events. You want somewhere with real movement: people walking, vehicles, changing light, a bit of noise. That may mean a public space near your base, with the permissions and common sense that implies. Check the weather plan too, because mid autumn can turn from bright to grey and wet within an hour.
Think about how long people can usefully concentrate. Short practical sessions tend to hold attention better than a full day of lectures, and they fit more easily around bulletin schedules. Half a day with a lot of shooting will usually teach more than a full day of slides.
- Decide between your own kit and borrowed kit
- Choose a location with real movement and noise
- Keep sessions short and mostly hands-on
What a good session should leave behind
Ask what people will have in their hands at the end. Useful sessions leave footage the crew shot themselves, reviewed together, with notes on what worked and what did not. Reviewing real clips teaches faster than any description of technique, because everyone can see the shot that drifted or the interview that lost its edge in the wind.
Written takeaways help, but only if they are short. A one-page reminder of the habits the group agreed on, such as where to stand at the start of a developing event, how to protect audio, and when to stop moving and hold a shot, will be used. A thick manual will not. Ask to see what the trainer normally hands over before you agree.
Also ask how the session fits with the rest of your output. If your editors are still receiving footage with the same problems a fortnight later, something was missed. Agree beforehand who will look at the first few packages afterwards, and what you would expect to see differently.
- Expect reviewed footage shot by your own crew
- Prefer a one-page set of agreed habits to a manual
- Agree who checks the first packages afterwards
Questions to put to any trainer
Ask how recently the trainer shot news themselves. Techniques for fast-moving events change with kit and with the way bulletins are cut, and someone who has not been on a live story for years will teach from memory rather than practice. A working camera operator, who still goes out on breaking stories, will bring current examples and honest warnings.
Ask how the session adapts if the group turns out different from what you described. A good trainer will want to see your crews' recent work beforehand and will be prepared to change the plan on the day when something unexpected shows up. A fixed script is a warning sign.
Ask what is not covered. Camera technique is one part of a story's life; editing, scripting and transmission are others. Being clear on the edges of a session stops disappointment later and helps you decide what else, if anything, you need to arrange separately.
- Ask how recently they shot breaking news
- Ask how the plan changes if the group differs
- Ask plainly what the session will not cover
Putting the checklist to work
Take the answers from the sections above and put them on a single page: the stories you shoot, the problems you want fixed, the people attending, the kit, the place and the outcome you expect. If you cannot fill in a line, that is the question to settle before you book anything. A newsroom that arrives at a conversation with this page usually gets a more useful proposal.
Then decide what success looks like in plain terms. It might be fewer unusable opening shots, steadier walking footage, or reporters who position themselves better at a live scene. Pick one or two measures you can see in your own output within a few weeks, rather than aiming at a general improvement nobody can check.
Last, keep the decision reversible where you can. Start with one short session for one group, look at the results, and extend only if the footage shows it was worth it. That approach costs little, and it keeps the training tied to the work crews do every day.
Deciding on camera training is mostly a matter of knowing your own output well: the stories, the faults, the people and the kit. Work through the checklist, put your answers on one page, and start small. If you want to talk it through, the contact page is the place to begin, and I am happy to look at a few recent packages before any session is planned.