Camera assistant courses - MONDEL – L’Atelier du Cinéma – Training Center for Technical Cinema and Television Professions

Camera assistant

Their tasks mainly consist of assisting the director of photography, the camera operator and/or the 1st camera assistant in the preparation, storage, and maintenance of the cameras and in the performance of certain other tasks related to the operation of the camera, including the preparation of the clapperboard and the writing of certain usage reports.

*Please note that the use of the masculine gender has been adopted to facilitate reading and is not intended to be discriminatory.

Course plan

  • What is a camera assistant?
  • Camera language: frames, shot types and angles
  • Units of measurement
  • The camera: film and digital
  • Optics: lenses, zoom, etc.
  • Optical accessories: filters and matte boxes
  • Camera supports: heads, steadicam, easyrig, cable cam, etc.
  • Focus
  • Electronics and power sources: batteries
  • V/A: monitoring and video return
  • Digital DIT
  • Synchronization tools
  • Special equipment
  • Preparing for a shoot
  • Working with drones and helicopters
  • Working with water: rain, pool, boat and ice field
  • Truck stowage, preventive and practical driving
  • Camera-car safety code
  • Final simulation

General skill courses

Here is the content of the general skill courses that takes place in the first hours of all training programs:

  • Act respecting owners, operators and drivers of heavy vehicles (Bill 430)
  • Awareness of the impact of filming on the living environment and residents
  • Financial income and personal taxation
  • First aid in the workplace
  • Hazardous products and WHMIS
  • History of Quebec cinema
  • Introduction to the union – AQTIS 514 IATSE
  • Introductory visit to a film set
  • Masterclass conference, open to the public
  • Notions of ecology: application of green sets
  • Occupational Health and Safety on film sets
  • Penal and criminal liability (Bill C-21)
  • Personal responsibility and rental equipment
  • Personal finances
  • Presentation of key positions in production departments
  • Presentation of the AQTIS-514-IATSE union agreement
  • Prevention of physical and psychological harassment
  • Preventive driving
  • Sanitary measures and the pandemic
  • Teamwork, interdepartmental interaction and hierarchy
  • The Actor’s role and relationship with the technical team
  • The Producer’s role and relationship with his technical team
  • Understanding direction and production documents