We run this · Shooting on 35mm
35mm bodies and magazines, handled from the first hour.
Film is back on HETV drama and features, and few working crew have loaded a magazine. Loading, threading, stock handling and camera reports a lab can read, then a shoot with no monitor to check. Others teach this too, and they are named below.
The detail
| Detail | This course |
|---|---|
| Where | the Ken Adam Building, Pinewood Studios |
| Entry requirements | Aged 18 or over. Nothing else. |
Who it is for
For camera crew, and for people who will be camera crew.
Working digital crew who have never touched film
Focus pullers and operators who came up on digital and are now being asked whether they have loaded. This lets you say yes.
Camera trainees and 2nd ACs
Loading is the 2nd AC’s job on a film unit.
Directors and DoPs considering film
To understand what you are asking a department to do, what it costs, and where the risk sits.
What it covers
The magazine and the stock, then a shoot with no monitor to check.
Loading and unloading in a changing bag and in a dark room, threading, stock handling, the colour tape system and camera reports a lab can read. Then a shooting day with no monitor to check, which is the part that cannot be rehearsed dry.
Who it is not for
Come to this with a camera department already behind you.
- Not for people who have never worked in a camera department. Camera Department is the prerequisite.
- Not a super 8 or 16mm course, although much of the handling transfers.
- Open to people aged 18 and over.
Camera built up on a slider, crew working behind
Somebody else runs these too
GBCT and the NFTS teach film loading too, and both are worth your time.
Guild of British Camera Technicians (opens in a new tab) · taught by members who loaded professionally
Hands-on short courses taught by working GBCT members, with film loading fundamentals as a core subject. Open to members and non-members. The Guild states its training carries no accreditation; nobody’s does, in camera.
National Film and Television School (opens in a new tab) · five days, in person
16mm / 35mm Camera Familiarisation: the NFTS lists it as five days, in person at Beaconsfield. Longer than this course.
What you leave with
Your rushes and your negative report, back from the lab.
The material you loaded and shot, with the report, including, where it happened, the roll that went wrong and why. Plus a Crew Card entry and a certificate, each naming only what you were seen to do.
Apply
Register your interest.
Tell us which course and we come back with dates, cost and what support may be possible. If you have never been on a unit, say so.
