Focus on yourself! Shooting your own standup

In a world where many of us are now shooting our own material and interviews, TV reporters are being called upon to shoot their own standups, often with disastrous results.

Shooting a standup is an art in of itself. But shooting your own standup, ie., trying to be in front of and behind the camera at the same time, is challenging. The key is to get the basics right so it doesn't look/sound woeful - and check the results before packing up and leaving the location.

Here you can find a few pointers on shooting your own standup - based on my own experience:

1) Find a good backdrop facing the sun.
If you're shooting your own standup, it's very easy to forget the basics of shooting as you worry about what you're actually going to say. Just throw the camera up, stand in front of it, and then talk, right? No. If you do that, you'll screw it up.

Pay attention to what is behind you. If you don't have a shooter to check for objects that appear to be protruding from your head or sticking out of your arm, you have to check yourself. When framing yourself using your flip-around view-finder (common on most modern professional cameras) look carefully at the screen to check for comical things. Stare at the screen a while because sometimes they're not obvious. Check for things that are moving in the background and could be distracting to the viewer.

Also, make sure the backdrop is actually interesting. It's something else to think about, but it's important. Make sure you are facing the sun. You need to be lit properly and you have noone to hold a reflector for your. It's a shooting basic, but easy to forget while worrying about other things.

If the sun comes out and goes in during your standup, start it again. Nothing looks worse than a standup that starts out brightly lit and ends up dark.

Framing. It's difficult sometimes to see whether or not you're centered correctly when shooting your own standup. Be sure to take time to check you are framed in the way you want. A badly framed standup looks crap on television.

2) Stay with the basics.
Your camera probably has a lot of settings and I would normally recommend using them. But when shooting your own standup, it's going to be very difficult to make many adjustments past the ND filter and focus. I usually try to put my camera on auto except for basic things like those I just mentioned.

Make sure you are in focus. If you are shooting your own standup using auto focus, your camera could easily focus on something else happening in the background if it tends to do that. Figure out where you are going to stand, then place an object, such as a bag, there. Go back to the camera and focus on the object. That should mean you will be in focus when you stand in that place.

Check your audio. Read the script into the mic while watching the levels. Make sure your levels are set correctly before you stand in front of the camera to record. You wont be able to listen to the standup on headphones as you deliver it.

If you are happy with the basic settings you can play with other things to make your standup look better. You can play with the depth of field, for example, but keep an eye on the view finder between takes to make sure it looks ok.

3) Don't look shifty.
Your eyes may wonder without you even realizing it. When you have a shooter helping you, they can tell you if you're doing something daft. Make sure your eyes are on the camera lens at all times. In fact, check your appearance in general. You can't see yourself without a mirror, so take a mirror with you.

4) Don't stand too close to the camera.
Standups just don't look good if you are too close to the lens. Carry extra cable with you when you go to shoot a standup so you can stand a good distance away.

5) Use a lav unless you need to have a mic-flag.
Sometimes you have to use a mic-flag in your standup. If you don't, use a lavaliere. If you're holding a mic, it's a recipe for strange arm positions to creep into frame. A lav lets you keep this possibility to a minimum.

6) Ignore idiots.
For some reason, shooting your own standup seems to bring morons out... a bit like how crickets come out when the sun goes down, or raccoons when you put out the garbage. Suddenly a group of people appears - staring, pointing and often laughing - while you do you thing. Don't engage them or they will stay. Try to completely filter them out and focus on what you're saying. Worrying about an audience of idiots will make you fluff your lines. Sometimes staring back menacingly at them helps. Try not to lose your temper when people blast their car horns as they drive by. Just tell yourself that you have a much better life than that person, and you hope they die soon.

7) Check your results.
When you're finished, go back though the tape to make sure you have a useable take. There is nothing worse than getting back to your desk and realizing there are no takes without issues. It doesn't take long to check. You will be glad you did.

All in all, shooting your own standup is quite difficult. But many of us do it these days. With a little bit of practice and patience, the results can be quite good. But without taking time to ensure quality, the results can be a total catastrophe.