7.2 TOOLS 116 Shots across landscapes and aerial views have been made easier to capture by the use of drones. They are also called mikes or mics for short. What are walk-and-talk interviews? SCREEN TOOLS Filming Essential tools for filming depend on the type and purpose of shooting and include: high-quality video cameras with a good set of lenses, including wideangle, standard, and telephoto options. Less sophisticated and expensive ones like camcorders are used for amateur shooting; a sturdy tripod or other stabilisation equipment, if the camera doesn t need moving; gimbals, to move the cameras around; shoulder mount rigs, to carry the camera on a shoulder; a dolly, a wheeled cart which allows the camera to be moved smoothly back and forth. Audio Microphones are usually incorporated in cameras, but external ones improve the quality of the audio: omnidirectional ones capture sounds from every direction, shotguns or directional ones capture them from a specific direction. You can choose from among: wireless microphones for walkand-talk interviews; shotgun microphones for every situation, since they are set on top of the camera; boom pole: giraffa bumping: a sobbalzi fill: di riempimento gimbal: sospensione cardanica lavalier: bavero rig: attrezzatura shock mount: supporto antiurto boom pole mics for group interviews or crowd scenes (a shock mount on the pole will keep the mic steady and avoid bumping sounds); lavalier mics, small microphones clipped on to a piece of clothing, for high-quality sound and the elimination of background noise. 266 PEOPLE AND INSTRUMENTS Headphones allow the sound to be monitored while shooting so as not to have unpleasant surprises at the end. Lighting Lighting is a complex operation which allows for different effects. Some essential tools are: light reflectors, which take advantage of ambient light; softboxes, which cover bulbs to create a soft fill light; camera lights, which help cover ugly shadows; three-point lighting (for inside shooting) with: key light, the brightest, focusing on the subject; fill light, eliminating the shadows created by the key light; backlight, separating the subject from the background and creating depth. Extra tools Other crucial accessories are: cloud storage, hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and/or memory cards to ensure sufficient storage for video and audio; external monitors, to provide a larger, more accurate view of the shot for critical focus and exposure; extra batteries, to power cameras and other equipment.