Camera Foundation
- Lesson1 of 8
- Time50 min
- Safety gateMust be passed
Safety in the camera department
Outcome
Identify the hazards a camera trainee meets (heavy kit, cables, batteries, heights, vehicles, weather) and act safely on each, before touching any kit.
Mapped to 3 ScreenSkills checklist lines
- ScreenSkills camera trainee skills checklist · Core responsibilities: "Route and secure cables safely, avoiding trip hazards and blocked access"
- ScreenSkills camera trainee skills checklist · Core responsibilities: "Maintain battery supply: charging, labelling, safe storage and sequencing"
- ScreenSkills second assistant camera / clapper loader skills checklist · Core responsibilities: "Read risk assessments from production and comply with all safety requirements"
ScreenSkills checklists are guides, not accreditation. This course is not endorsed by ScreenSkills.
Watch
2 films · about 30 minutes
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More like this: 2nd AC, clapper loader and loading film path · Production sound path · Scheduling and the AD department path
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Why safety comes first
- A camera package weighs as much as a person once it's built, and it lives on heads, dollies, cranes and vehicles. Trainees are the most likely to be hurt, because they carry the most and know the least.
- This lesson is a gate. You must pass its check before the rest of the course opens.
The trainee's hazards
- Manual handling: cases are heavy and awkward. Team lift, use the trolley, and never carry so much you can't see where you're going.
- Cables: monitor and power cables run from camera to video village. Route them along walls and edges, tape or cover them where people walk, and never across a fire exit or doorway.
- Batteries: camera batteries are high-capacity lithium-ion. Charge them where the 2nd AC says, label them, keep terminals covered, and never use or charge a battery that is swollen, dented or hot. Take it out of use and tell the 2nd AC.
- Never leave a camera unattended on a stand or head. If it has to be left, someone stays with it, or it comes down.
- Heights, cranes, camera cars and tracking vehicles are rigged and run by grips and drivers. Camera trainees work near them only when told, and never ride or climb without the grip's say-so.
- Weather: rain covers on, cables out of puddles, and nothing electrical in standing water. Shade monitors and lenses from the sun.
Who says what
- Your HoD is the DoP; your day-to-day lead is usually the 2nd AC (clapper loader). Follow the production's risk assessment and the 1st AD's safety briefing.
- If something feels wrong, say so. Anyone can stop work.
Check
3 questions drawn from 8 · pass mark 80% · safety-critical questions must be right · 3 attempts in 24 hours · new questions each time
Watch the films to open the check.
Do
Hazard spot: the camera base · 15 minutes
Read the scene. Tick what you would act on or report, then write the order you'd deal with them in, and why.
Exterior, light rain. The camera base is under a pop-up shelter. A battery charger sits on a case with six batteries; one is warm and bulging at one end. A monitor cable runs from the camera across the path to the honeywagons. The B-camera is on sticks on the path with no one beside it. Two lens cases are stacked three high on a trolley. A camera report sheet is weighed down with a mug. The 2nd AC has asked you to bring the long lens to set.
How it's marked
- Takes the swollen battery out of use and tells the 2nd AC first
- Does not leave B-camera unattended
- Re-routes or reports the cable across the path
- Re-stacks the trolley safely
- Explains the order by risk
Met or Not yet, with a comment from a trained reviewer. Until accounts open, open the model answer after you submit and mark your own work against it.
Model answer (open after you submit)
First the battery (fire risk): off the charger if safe, away from flammables, tell the 2nd AC. Then B-camera: stay with it or call someone to take it down. Then the cable across the path (trip, and it's raining): re-route along the edge or tell the 2nd AC. Then re-stack the trolley so it won't topple. The mug on the report is a minor fix. Then fetch the lens, telling the 2nd AC why you were held up.
Reflect
Record
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Moving on doesn't complete a lesson. A lesson is complete when the films are watched, the check is passed and the task is marked Met.