In my experience it's been shooting with whatever you and your helpers can carry. It's often hand held but if you've got someone to carry a tripod that's a bonus. Zero to near-zero setup time.

For example, you might be alone with your camera and on-camera microphone shooting whatever you need to shoot. It could be b-roll (filler shots) or it could be impromptu interviews.

Or...It could be a cameraperson, director/producer/interviewer, a boom operator/mixer, and a production assistant or grip carrying your tripod, field monitor, and a flex fill (+ tapes and batteries). The setup in this situation is pretty much the same, you're still mobile, but you can do a little more because you've got help.

Rob Mack

Shooting without any control over the action that you're shooting.

Yep, that's me.

That's the camera defo. I've read that it comes from B-Ball, where you'd run with the ball and then "shoot" or gun at the hoop.

In any event, both scenarios imply that I'd be making the best out of a fluid and ever changing situ, BUT with one target in mind. In BB it's the Hoop and points, with camerawork it'd be the best I could do.

Grazie

@Grazie:

Excellent analogy.

In my case I am shooting divers on vacation. I try to be selective and get myself into places where I can get the best footage, but it's all unrehearsed, candid camera style. Some divers look great in the water. Others do not (that's when pan/crop comes in handy, as in pan/crop that big cloud of silt they are kicking up behind them).

I always suspected that's what run and gun meant, but I wanted to be sure. Thanks everyone.

Kimberly

Kimberly, if you're doing it underwater maybe it should be called "swim and spear".

and if i were doing kimberly's gigs it'd be; paddle and flop

The real point of the BB analogy is that one runs to a position and then shoot/gun. Anything taken getting from A to B is discarded. Meaning, the important bit IS the shot, all the dribbling, is a means to an end.

After all, BAD camerawork is BAD camerawork. Being prepared with good sound, light and steady is where the Gun=Shoot happens.

Grazie

I've always heard that term as applied to a tv news crew.
Run to the first story, shoot (gun) it, run to the next one, shoot it, etc.

Mike

"Shooting without any control over the action that you're shooting.

Sadly, sometimes i find when i'm shooting this way i also have an appalling lack of control over the camera and cameraman as well. *sigh*

in bb watch the washington carolina game today... washington known as a run and gun team

in video, watch the scramble for interviews at the end of the game.. run and gun video

I agree with Mike about news gathering.
The crew had to be in a state of readiness.
Cameras were prepared with a striped tape, charged batteries in the
wireless and on the camera. When an event occured they would run
and grab a camera on their way to the vehicle.

When they arrived at the scene there was no time for setup.
Lighting was provided on the camera itself. After the reporter gathered
the information needed it was packaged (edited with lead-in) and delivered
back to the station. Either by driving back (in the days of 16mm film)
or relayed today by microwave or uploaded via FTP.

It's basically all of the above. News shooters definitely do a bit of run and gun shooting, documentaries sometimes work this way, people doing corporate work do it, wedding videographers do it... the idea is to pick up the camera and go shoot whatever happens in front of you.

You end up leaving a lot on the cutting room floor this way but tape is cheap and cards are reusable.

I'd go along on some of these fishing expeditions back when I was doing grip/electric work. It's good to have someone with you to carry extra gear and also to keep you from stepping in front of streetcars or into swimming pools.

One other thing that sometimes gets left on the cutting room floor is a sense of ethics. It's very easy to get caught up in the moment thinking "I'M A JOURNALIST AND MUST GET A SHOT NO MATTER WHO GETS HURT" when you're doing run and gun shooting. The best course is to think through these things before you pick up the camera. The basic guide is that no one should get hurt due to your actions.

Rob Mack