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Hello friends! Continuing my daily blog in anticipation of the all new episode of Kindred Spirits on Friday night at 9/8c on Travel Channel. This week we head deep into the Sterling Hill Mine in New Jersey, which if you’ve followed me for some time, you know I’m terrified of being underground. We don’t get to delve too deep into my claustrophobia issues on the episode, but it’s quite apparent by my body language and facial expressions that I am VERY uncomfortable, ha! Also, doesn’t help that the place is wicked haunted to boot and there were crazy sounds happening around us constantly.
Aaaaanyway, moving right along to today’s commonly asked question about the show…
WHY DON’T THE CAMERA OPERATORS POINT AT THE GHOSTS INSTEAD OF YOU? WHY DON’T YOU WEAR HEAD/BODY CAMS SO WE CAN SEE WHAT YOU SEE?
There are many reasons for this, so let’s dive in.
First of all, it is the camera operators job to focus on us. They are making a show about us and our investigation process. It is imperative that they capture as much of us and what we’re doing as possible because we never know how the investigation is going to end, so every bit of what we say and do could play in to what needs to be edited to tell the “story” for you as viewers. If they miss a key moment – a facial expression, a bit of dialogue, an action we make – they can’t get that back. So their instruction is to stay on us AT ALL TIMES. Even then, if we see something obvious, they will try to sweep in that direction to see if they can pick anything up, or at the very least, give you an idea of the surroundings we’re in so you know what we’re looking at.
Secondly, their cameras are just not like ours. Their cameras are much more involved and require a few seconds to set up a shot. They can’t just point it in any direction and pick up everything. Some lenses are designed for close up range, some are more tilt shift, some are designed for wide angle, so when they change the shot, they need a few seconds to adjust their lighting settings and focus. (Sorry my crew friends, I know it’s SO much more involved than that, I’m trying, ha!) Even then, if we are seeing something at the end of a long dark hallway, if there’s no lighting, their cameras will just pick up darkness. Even with IR cameras from Ghost Hunters days, they require IR light, if there isn’t any, you don’t pick up a thing.
Yes, our DVR cameras are capable of reaching larger spaces, and we blanket every location with as many of them as we can. But the quality is just not there in a camera like that to shoot a show with. Not to mention, even those require large amounts of IR light to capture a space.
The same goes for body/head cameras. We’ve tried them on many occasions, and the reality is, the footage is unwatchable. Without someone monitoring lighting and positioning, you get a bouncy shot that would make you, as viewers, completely seasick.
All of this means that we all do our best. We all have our jobs. Adam and I reposition our cameras through out our multi day investigations and put a lot of thought and planning in to where we decide to put them. The crew works their butt off making sure they can keep up with our craziness. Sometimes we get a wild anomaly on camera and sometimes our cameras are pointed right at it and it still doesn’t pick up.
It’s all the nature of the beast when investigating the paranormal. It’s highly unpredictable, sometimes frustrating, but mostly, utterly fascinating to me.
Thanks for continuing along as viewers and readers and we’ll see you on Friday night in the mine! *gulp*
~ a
PS. Shout out to our phenomenal crew at Paper Route Productions who have become like family to us over the years. You all do an amazing job and we love you!
18 Comments
This is the exact reason we created the 360 Ghost Cam that captures the entire room. https://www.ghoststop.com/360
Does having so much activity with cameras around you hinder your investigation any? I did a small snipit on a show once and having all the activity and people around was very distracting for me. I had much better results when I slipped off by my self to ivestigate alone. You must get used to it. You and Adam are doing a great job and I feel you do it for the right reasons. To Help, not so much as prove something is there.
How many cameras did you have around you? We only have 3-4 crew members with us. That’s smaller than the average paranormal team investigating together so we’ve never had an issue. 🙂
Thank you, Amy, for the behind the scenes information! Makes sense Looking forward to the new episode tomorrow!
Well now I understand why, thanks for letting us know.
I totally understand how difficult it is to get a Ghost on camera. But I’m hoping for that GREAT picture someday! Thank you!!!!!
As a pro videographer myself the new camera are a whole lot better than the old one BUT they are not point and shoot. They still need plenty of light. Shooting shadows in a dark hallway will never work. Let the DVR cameras get the ghosts. The pro cameras are there to shoot the talent.
Thank you so much for the explanation. It all makes sense to me, now. Looking forward to tomorrow as always!
Well stated and understood, thanks!
What about using body cams like cops do???
That is addressed in the blog above. Thanks!
I remember seeing an ep of Ghost hunters it was an old ep and thee was actually shadow the leaned out of a hallway as to look directly at the camera and then pop the head back in it wasn’t noticed until later but the building was old and the floors were dusty when they went do to that room there were no foot prints in the room so it was a ghost.
I totally agree with what you say especially about it takes time to set up. I work as security and I have see allot of ghost and shadows through out my life in the past I am currently at a building has at least one thing in there that I haven’t been able to explain and as for the camera pointing at the ghosts well here is an example I close the building and am the last person out and there have been a few of times where I see something and by the time I get my phone out and camera on it is long gone so I decided to bring in a recorder which kind of works just nothing clear so far and also by that time of night very early morning I am pretty tired and sometimes just want to go home lol
That’s so interesting! I’ve often wondered the same thing so thank you for shedding some light on that Amy! 🙂
Thank you for the explanation. Love the show
Thank you for taking the time to explain in such depth. It’s easy to understand what you are saying, and, of course, I love the show.
I can get what you are saying, but there are other ways to cover what you are seeing. One camera on you, another down the hallway, or set up a static camera.
One thing I think would be amazing is a 180° VR camera that records in true 3D. Set that in a corner or to one side of the hallway and post up the footage on YouTube VR. You could get a more realistic idea of size and distance.
Not that you aren’t nice looking, but I would rather see what you see! By the time the camera pans, it’s too late.
We have static cameras set up everywhere. If we decide to move to a new location in the moment, based on a sound or a movement, by the time we set up a static camera, what ever is there is likely gone. We also don’t have the budget to just hire a camera operator to solely point their camera in what ever direction we happen to be looking. A VR camera would not work in dark situations and in massive locations, do you know how many we would need? Again, just not feasible. 🙂
Thank you for the explanation!