Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film

AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
49%
risk level
POLLING
53%
Based on 156 votes
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
8.9%
by year 2032
WAGES
$58,230
or $27.99 per hour
Volume
22,970
as of 2022
SUMMARY
JOB SCORE
5.0/10

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Automation risk

49% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): Occupations with a moderate risk of automation usually involve routine tasks but still require some human judgment and interaction.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Assisting and Caring for Others

  • Finger Dexterity

  • Manual Dexterity

  • Originality

  • Social Perceptiveness

User poll

53% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 49% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?






Sentiment

The following graph(s) are included wherever there is a substantial amount of votes to render meaningful data. These visual representations display user poll results over time, providing a significant indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film' job openings is expected to rise 8.9% by 2032

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2021 and 2031
Updated projections are due 09-2023.

Wages

Moderately paid relative to other professions

In 2022, the median annual wage for 'Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film' was $58,230, or $27 per hour

'Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film' were paid 25.7% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $46,310

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2022 there were 22,970 people employed as 'Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 6 thousand people are employed as 'Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film'.

Job description

Operate television, video, or film camera to record images or scenes for television, video, or film productions.

SOC Code: 27-4031.00

Resources

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Comments

Mariusz (Moderate) says
I believe image upscaling, deepfake possibilities, and 3d scanning might in the future help AI to recreate hyperrealistic virtual reality based by data scanned by smartphones and animate it.
Jun 22, 2023 at 10:19 PM
anonymous (Moderate) says
Some aspects of camera operating and cinematography will be replaced by robots and AI. Particularly in the the more "creative" non-fiction fields as video generation from AI programs like DALLE-2 is only going to get better and easier to get it to do what you want.

Large chunks of productions are already left up to post, with MARVEL films having massive sections of their films which are completely finished in a computer. But there are certain real world aspects of cinematography and camera operating such as documentary and news coverage where there is no physical way to replace the DP or Director right now.

The AI or Robot would have to physically take a human form to talk and interview real world subjects, which will eventually happen, but not in the next 10-20 years
Jun 08, 2023 at 09:41 PM
Sprankler Sabboth says
Not exactly how an AI is gonna film events, music videos, weddings, even shorts. Maybe when they are robots and can move in the 3d world
Mar 31, 2023 at 06:48 PM
James (Moderate) says
Digital environments and completely digital production will drastically reduce the costs of filmmaking and will eliminate the need for real-world camera movement systems and operators.
Feb 22, 2022 at 08:09 PM
Emmanuel Pleasant (No chance) says
The ability to do this certain job requires creativity, imagination, and certain technical skills. Without these things, the cinematographic film will never be as good if a robot does the job.
Nov 19, 2019 at 06:57 PM
Le Reckless French Badger says
Don't worry we can lower your standards... And that is what we have seen in the past? With the lock down we have also seen that the audience worldwide does tolerate poorly framed and badly lit, self recorded program with a webcamish feel as long as it provided a sens of immediacy?
Emmanuel Pleasant, still I do agree with you... certain job won't do without the human being being in control but I do expect a lot scaling down in quality. Filmmaking is more accessible than it ever has been : the good, the bad & the ugly...
Jul 10, 2020 at 09:36 AM

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