IntroductionWelcome| 00:00 | (music playing)
| | 00:08 | The thing I love most about shooting
interviews is the challenge of working with real people.
| | 00:15 | Every single interview is different,
and each subject has their own unique story to tell.
| | 00:20 | The challenge for us as filmmakers is
to capture the very best words and images
| | 00:24 | to tell that story in a way that our
audience will find engaging and compelling,
| | 00:29 | no matter what the topic.
| | 00:31 | Interviews--essentially talking to
someone on camera--might seem like a simple-
| | 00:35 | enough affair, but what you have to
remember is that just like everything else
| | 00:39 | in filmmaking, the professionals
that do it well make it look easy.
| | 00:43 | But the reality is that a lot of
planning, forethought, and effort goes into any
| | 00:48 | good video interview.
| | 00:50 | My name is Anthony Q. Artis, and this
course is Video Interview Techniques.
| | 00:56 | In this series of movies, I'm going to
teach you just about everything you need
| | 00:59 | to know to conduct and
capture a great interview on video.
| | 01:03 | I'll be focusing on the technical issues
of production and shooting, but also on
| | 01:07 | the very real practical and
psychological issues that you need to fully grasp
| | 01:11 | if you want to get the best
results from nonperformance on camera.
| | 01:15 | Some of the specific topics I'll be
covering in this course are how to craft
| | 01:18 | a good set of questions, what to look
for and what to avoid when choosing a
| | 01:24 | location, and how to stage your interviews so
they also visually help to tell your story.
| | 01:30 | I'll also do my best to debunk some
common misconceptions about shooting
| | 01:34 | interviews and give you some of the
insider tips that I've learned the hard
| | 01:37 | way over the years.
| | 01:38 | I'm the author of the Shut Up and Shoot
Filmmaking Guides and I've been teaching
| | 01:43 | filmmaking at NYU film school for the
last eleven years, and I'm excited to share
| | 01:47 | this brand-new interview course with you.
| | 01:49 | So take notes, listen and learn, as we
jump into video interview techniques.
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| Introducing the subject of the interview shoot| 00:01 | In the examples for this course,
we're shooting interviews and footage of a
| | 00:04 | series of short documentary podcasts
for a local shop that creates surfboards.
| | 00:09 | For this project, we conducted a series
of interviews with people who make the
| | 00:13 | surfboards at the board shop.
| | 00:15 | We also shot a series of interviews
with the surfers who used their boards
| | 00:19 | and then gathered all the B-roll, or
additional images we needed to support our story.
| | 00:24 | Even though some subjects may only
appear onscreen for a few seconds in the
| | 00:27 | finished project, the individual setups
and interviews actually took much more time.
| | 00:32 | But that's a nature of
documentary-style productions.
| | 00:35 | You gather a good deal of raw
footage, then mine it all for only the best
| | 00:39 | material that goes straight to
the goal of your project.
| | 00:42 | In this case, our goal was to educate
potential customers about the thought,
| | 00:47 | craft, and process that go into making
each and every individual surfboard.
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|
|
1. AudioChoosing the right microphone| 00:01 | Audio for interviews is a fairly simple
affair, since you usually have just one
| | 00:05 | speaker on a single mic.
| | 00:06 | But there are some decisions you
have to make, such as which mic to use.
| | 00:11 | Which mic you use for an interview is
dependent upon the particular interview
| | 00:14 | and audio situation you're in.
| | 00:17 | So let's run through a few common
scenarios and talk about some of the audio
| | 00:21 | strategies you would choose
for each scenario and why.
| | 00:25 | Now, for standard, formal sit-down
interviews, I personally recommend that you
| | 00:29 | stick with hardwired lav mics.
| | 00:30 | The advantage of using wired lav mics
over the more common shotgun mics are twofold.
| | 00:36 | Firstly, hardwired lav mics
are small and unobtrusive.
| | 00:40 | They're mounted on the chest area,
so they're also out of sight. Out of
| | 00:44 | sight, out of mind.
| | 00:46 | People essentially forget that
they have them on a few minutes later.
| | 00:50 | So that makes for a less self-
conscious and more relaxed interview subject.
| | 00:54 | The other reason I recommend hardwired
lav mics over wireless lav mics for
| | 00:59 | formal sit-down interviews is that they
can be powered by phantom power from a
| | 01:03 | camera or mixer, so you don't have to
worry about running out of battery power,
| | 01:07 | and you don't have to worry about
any wireless interference issues.
| | 01:11 | Anytime you can eliminate a
potential problem, I say do it.
| | 01:15 | I assure you that there were still be
ample challenges on set to deal with; no
| | 01:19 | need to create extra ones.
| | 01:20 | So hardwired mics is what I recommend
you use anytime you've got somebody in a
| | 01:25 | chair for ten minutes or longer.
| | 01:27 | Yet another choice for a formal sit-
down interview is a shotgun mic.
| | 01:30 | The shotgun mic is often the first, and
in many cases the only, external mic that
| | 01:36 | filmmakers will have starting out.
| | 01:38 | If you can only afford one mic,
it should be a shotgun mic.
| | 01:42 | A shotgun mic on a boom pole is hands-down
the most versatile mic setup you can own.
| | 01:47 | If you're doing an interview, I think
it can be a little distracting to have
| | 01:51 | someone standing a few feet away,
hovering a big object just above your head;
| | 01:56 | instead, if you need to use a shogun
mic for sit-down interview, I recommend
| | 02:00 | that you purchase a boom stand so that the
shotgun mic is held perfectly still and in place.
| | 02:05 | This will be considerably less distracting
and intimidating than a handheld boom pole.
| | 02:11 | Not to mention it's one
less person you need on set.
| | 02:14 | If you don't have a boom mic stand
you can simply prop the boom mic up on a
| | 02:19 | chair or MacGyver some other simple
solution to keep the pole in place with a
| | 02:22 | little gaffer's tape.
| | 02:23 | (Female speaker: So, Anthony, this is where the magic happens.
All the shaping for the boards primarily is done in this area.)
| | 02:30 | Anytime you have a moving subject,
such as someone giving a walking tour of a
| | 02:34 | workspace or demonstrating how to
make a recipe or any other situation that
| | 02:38 | involves a moving audio target, it's
best handled by a wireless lav mic.
| | 02:44 | When you mount a wireless lav mic on
the subject, they're free to walk, cook,
| | 02:48 | drive, work, or even play a sport,
completely unhindered by wires, and still have
| | 02:53 | crystal clear audio.
| | 02:55 | (Female speaker: Colors and things like that,
we use that all here for client space.)
| | 02:59 | Apart from moving subjects, wireless mics
are also the only effective solution to
| | 03:04 | getting good audio in wide shots or
certain intimate situations where a boom
| | 03:08 | operator in a scene
would really kill the moment.
| | 03:11 | Now, dialogue for many moving subjects
could also just as easily be picked up
| | 03:16 | by a shotgun mic on a boom, and it would
sound just as good, or in some cases even better.
| | 03:21 | So there's nothing wrong at all with
using a boom to cover these situations if
| | 03:25 | that's all you've got.
| | 03:27 | However, you should be aware that there
are some things you'll have to work around.
| | 03:31 | For example, a boom mic can be a
little distracting, as I just mentioned.
| | 03:34 | But also using a boom pole requires an
additional crewmember, and may limit some
| | 03:39 | of your camera angles, since you now
have to shoot around the boom operator.
| | 03:42 | So I think walk-and-talk and demo
interviews are easiest shot using wireless mics.
| | 03:48 | However a boom pole will sound just fine.
| | 03:50 | (Male speaker: There is nothing that just beats
being out there in the sunshine...)
| | 03:51 | Man- or woman-on-the-street interview
segments are typically recorded with a
| | 03:57 | handheld MIC when the scene involves
on-screen talent, such as a reporter or show host.
| | 04:03 | Using a handheld mic allows the
on-screen talent quickly go from person to
| | 04:07 | person with the microphone.
| | 04:09 | Handheld mics generally have cardioid
pickup patterns with the range of about 1
| | 04:13 | to 2 feet, so they're perfect for a
conversation between host and interviewee.
| | 04:18 | However, in noisy situations such as an
event with live music or speakers or a
| | 04:23 | party or a political rally,
handholding a shotgun mic is a better bet.
| | 04:29 | The more focused and narrow pickup
pattern of a shotgun mic will better hone in
| | 04:33 | on the subject speaking while also
diminishing somewhat the excessive background
| | 04:37 | noise you normally pick up
with a less-directional mic.
| | 04:42 | Keep in mind that you can usually
capture quality audio using many different
| | 04:45 | types of microphones.
| | 04:47 | However, some choices will
be more practical than others.
| | 04:50 | When it comes to audio, just like any
other task, half your problems are solved
| | 04:55 | by simply choosing the
right tool for the situation.
| | 04:58 | As you become more experienced,
you'll instinctively come to understand the
| | 05:02 | advantages and limitations of each type
of mic; but until then, you may wish to
| | 05:07 | review this movie and download my cheat
sheet entitled The Right Mic for The Job
| | 05:11 | from the project files of this course.
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| Mounting a lavalier microphone| 00:01 | Okay, let's go over another simple but
essential skill you are going to need to
| | 00:06 | shoot interviews, and that is
how to properly mount a lav mic.
| | 00:09 | Notice I said the word "properly."
Think about the situation when someone shows
| | 00:14 | up to an interview nicely dressed, the
filmmaker has found the perfect backdrop,
| | 00:18 | fussed with the lighting for 30 minutes;
then the same otherwise detail-oriented
| | 00:23 | filmmakers proceed to leave the mic wired
dangling down the front of the subject's outfit.
| | 00:27 | It's distracting to the audience,
and it just looks unprofessional and sloppy.
| | 00:32 | So I'm going to show you a much neater
and more professional way to mount lav
| | 00:36 | mics on your interview subjects.
| | 00:38 | It's a simple three-step technique
that takes a minute to learn, but a
| | 00:42 | little longer to master to the point
of being able to do it quickly in the heat of production.
| | 00:45 | But master it you must if you want to shoot
interviews and have them look more professional.
| | 00:51 | Okay, step one: put your lav mic into the tie clip.
| | 00:56 | Tie clips come standard with most models.
Hide the wire by having your subject
| | 01:02 | drop the mic transmitter or capsule
down inside the clothing. Then tuck the
| | 01:06 | accessed wire into their waistline or pocket.
| | 01:10 | Now, fellas, if you're working with
female talent, you want to step away or
| | 01:13 | turn around and give them a moment of privacy
while they drop it down their shirt or dress.
| | 01:18 | We're going to always be professional
and courteous with all of our talent.
| | 01:21 | Tell them to just leave the lav mic
dangling out of their neckline with a few
| | 01:25 | inches of slack. You're going to mount
and adjust it after the wire has been
| | 01:29 | hidden under their clothing.
Step 2 is the trickiest part.
| | 01:34 | Form the wire into a little U-shaped
loop and place the loop inside the clip
| | 01:39 | just like this. Use the
clip to hold the loop in place.
| | 01:45 | And lastly, step 3, put the clip into place
on the lapel or the neck of pullover shirts.
| | 01:51 | Again, you're going to use a clip to
hold your loop in place; only this time
| | 01:56 | it's held in place on
the inside of the clothing.
| | 01:59 | Ideally, you want to place the mic in the mid-
chest area, a few inches below the neck line.
| | 02:05 | This technique can be a little trickier
than it looks to get the loop just right
| | 02:09 | and actually secure the wire in place,
but once you practice it a few times and
| | 02:13 | get a few interviews under your belt,
it'll be just like tying your shoes.
| | 02:17 | So this technique is an obvious mount
for anyone with a button-down shirt,
| | 02:21 | jacket, as will as maybe sweaters;
however many times you will have a subject
| | 02:25 | that's wearing a T-shirt or top that
has a round crew neck like this, no tie,
| | 02:31 | no lapel, no problem.
| | 02:33 | All you going to do is twist that bad
boy sideways and everything else is the
| | 02:37 | exact same as I just showed you.
| | 02:39 | Now, if you're using wireless lav mics,
you normally place the mic body pack
| | 02:44 | somewhere on the back of your
subject's belt or waistband.
| | 02:48 | If the subject is wearing a jacket, the mic
body pack could also just rest in their pocket.
| | 02:53 | Make sure you neatly tuck away
any extra slack from the wire.
| | 02:57 | In the case of hardwired lav mics,
you can just have your subject either drop
| | 03:01 | the mic capsule in their pocket or
run the wire out of the back of their
| | 03:05 | clothing and just let the
capsule rest on the floor.
| | 03:09 | If your subject needs to get up and
answer the door or go to the bathroom or
| | 03:12 | anything like that when they are
wearing a hardwired lav mic, simply disconnect
| | 03:16 | the XLR cable and have them hold the
capsule in their pocket until they return.
| | 03:21 | Your audience won't always notice the
professional effort you gave in mounting
| | 03:25 | the mic so it looks just right;
however, they would definitely notice whenever
| | 03:29 | you get it wrong, and it will look sloppy and
could take attention away from your content.
| | 03:35 | Know this: a professional-looking interview is all
about constant attention to detail, even
| | 03:41 | how you put a lav mic on a lapel.
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|
2. ShootingScouting locations| 00:00 | One of the first decisions you are
going to have to make is where you want to
| | 00:04 | shoot your interview.
| | 00:05 | So, in this video I am going to
discuss how to scout and choose a good
| | 00:09 | location for your interview.
| | 00:11 | There are two important considerations:
practical-technical issues and storytelling.
| | 00:17 | First let's start with the most basic
practical features we need in an interview
| | 00:21 | location, starting with permission.
| | 00:24 | Are you actually welcome there?
| | 00:26 | This is an issue particularly when we are
talking about corporate-owned locations;
| | 00:30 | we always have to make sure we get
permission to shoot from the actual location owners.
| | 00:35 | Your interview's subject may be a
surgeon at the hospital, but he doesn't own
| | 00:39 | or run the hospital.
| | 00:40 | Often, well-intentioned subjects will
tell you that it's fine to do an interview
| | 00:45 | at their workplace or organization,
but they may not be aware of company
| | 00:48 | policies and internal political issues
that govern when and where a video can
| | 00:53 | actually be shot there.
| | 00:54 | So, to avoid any embarrassing
situations, make sure that you always get
| | 00:59 | permission from the
actual owner of the location.
| | 01:01 | The second important consideration when
scouting is to try to find an interview
| | 01:06 | space that you have control over.
| | 01:07 | What do we want control over?
Everything that might possibly affect our shoot:
| | 01:13 | people, noise, lighting, and electricity.
| | 01:17 | You want to ask yourself a series of
simple practical questions, such as, Do I
| | 01:21 | have enough outlets and
electricity in the room to plug in my lights?
| | 01:25 | Can I control the light?
| | 01:27 | Is that a conference room only lit
by a florescent lighting or daylight?
| | 01:30 | Do other people need to
use or pass through the space?
| | 01:33 | Now, you are not always going to know all
these things ahead of time, but as many
| | 01:39 | of them as you can figure
out beforehand the better.
| | 01:42 | Now, the next thing to think about--and
this is extremely important--is that your
| | 01:46 | interview location must--I
repeat, must--be good for audio.
| | 01:51 | Can you record good,
clean audio in this location?
| | 01:56 | No matter how good it looks, if it
ain't good for sound, it's not a good
| | 02:00 | location for an interview. So, what else?
| | 02:03 | Visual storytelling. A plain white room is one
of the worse-case scenarios, if not the worst.
| | 02:10 | You want to avoid plain
white walls like a telemarketer.
| | 02:13 | So, here's how we are going to put
boring frames on our do not call list.
| | 02:17 | Use a poster, a cloth backdrop, a window
view, a cookie-pattern, anything you can
| | 02:23 | to break up boring, bland, lifeless white walls.
| | 02:28 | In the lighting movie of this
interview course, I discuss some specific
| | 02:31 | techniques to overcome the
challenge of plain white walls,
| | 02:34 | so make sure you check that one out
as well. But rather than plain-white
| | 02:38 | walls, our ideal goal is to look for
visually appropriate settings that will
| | 02:42 | help us tell our story.
| | 02:45 | What we're asking ourselves is, what
is in this environment that visually
| | 02:49 | expresses something about my
subject or my interview topic?
| | 02:52 | So, even if the audience doesn't know
who that person is, they still have clear
| | 02:56 | visual clues about what it is they do,
or what it is that they're talking about.
| | 03:01 | The ideal is that someone could freeze-
frame your interview and still be able to
| | 03:05 | tell something significant about
your subject or your subject matter.
| | 03:10 | What's going to clue them in?
| | 03:11 | The props that you include in the shot.
| | 03:14 | If your subject is a doctor,
the stethoscope around their neck, the poster of
| | 03:18 | a human heart on the wall, the medical
books on the shelf, the model skeleton
| | 03:22 | in the corner are all props or objects that
will help visually portray the subject matter.
| | 03:27 | So, we want to always look for
topic-appropriate props and objects that will
| | 03:33 | visually communicate
character, setting, and theme.
| | 03:37 | That means from time to time you are
going to have to move furniture or bring
| | 03:41 | in other props and decor as desired.
| | 03:44 | Whenever it's practical in a
documentary-shooting situation, I recommend
| | 03:47 | always taking advantage of the natural
features of a location, particularly the lighting.
| | 03:54 | Keep an eye out for practical or pre-existing
lights that you can also use to your advantage.
| | 03:58 | I am a fan of track lights because they
often have strong halogen bulbs, can be
| | 04:03 | tilted or twisted to aim where I like,
and as a big added plus, most modern track
| | 04:08 | lighting is generally
installed with a dimmer switch
| | 04:11 | so you can adjust the
intensity precisely and on the fly.
| | 04:15 | Another great quality to have in an
interview location is some depth or space
| | 04:20 | behind your subject.
| | 04:21 | Shooting someone right up against a
wall really flattens out your frame and
| | 04:25 | doesn't give your audience much
visual information to work with.
| | 04:29 | Apart from just giving you more space
to work and set up equipment, shooting in
| | 04:33 | a room that allows you to frame up a
deeper shot with plenty of space behind your
| | 04:37 | subject will go a long way in helping
boost your production value by A) giving
| | 04:41 | your interview more of a big-budget
wide-open visual feel, and B) allowing you
| | 04:46 | to use a long lens, or zoom into full
telephoto to get a more cinematic shallow
| | 04:51 | depth of field. So, the bigger or
longer the space the better for the camera.
| | 04:57 | Remember, the cold kiss of death of
any video in the documentary genre is to
| | 05:02 | show a bunch of talking heads
over bland, boring backgrounds.
| | 05:06 | Even though it's an interview,
essentially just someone talking, we still want to
| | 05:09 | keep the focus on our visual storytelling.
| | 05:12 | While your subject's mouth is telling
a story to the audience's ears, your
| | 05:16 | composition, camera work, and lighting should
all be working to show the story to their eyes.
| | 05:23 | Audio or video alone are powerful
storytelling mediums, but when used together
| | 05:28 | effectively, you get
storytelling dynamite. Boom, boom, baby!
| | 05:33 | Audio, visual!
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| Using backdrops| 00:00 | Now, in this movie I want to discuss
some other types of backgrounds and
| | 00:05 | settings that we might wish to use
for interviews, such as cloth backdrops,
| | 00:10 | cycs, and black duvetyne, and a few other
creative variations for location and studio shooting.
| | 00:15 | Let's start with an oldie but a
goodie, and that's the cloth backdrop.
| | 00:21 | Cloth backdrops can be handy for
solving two common interview issues.
| | 00:24 | The first issue is the lack of a suitable location.
| | 00:27 | If your location is particularly
plain or camera-ugly or otherwise
| | 00:31 | inappropriate for the topic and tone
of your project, a cloth backdrop can
| | 00:35 | really be an instant lifesaver.
| | 00:37 | Your audience will never know that
you were really shooting in a cluttered
| | 00:40 | garage or a budget hotel room.
| | 00:43 | The second issue that cloth backdrops
help is maintaining a consistent look.
| | 00:48 | It allows you more control of your
color palette and background textures so you
| | 00:53 | can choose something that
conveys the exact feel you want.
| | 00:57 | Professional photo backdrops can be a
little pricey, and I also think they have a
| | 01:01 | tendency to make your videos look
like everyone's high school yearbook.
| | 01:04 | As a cheaper and more creative
alternative, any fabric store will yield a
| | 01:09 | multitude of more attractive and artistic
choices, one of which is sure to work for you.
| | 01:14 | Look for a nice large piece of fabric
with an interesting texture or pattern
| | 01:19 | that's at least 6 x 10 feet.
| | 01:21 | Of course the bigger the piece of fabric,
the wider the shots you can compose with it.
| | 01:26 | The possibility of looks and
feels you can achieve are endless.
| | 01:31 | Lighter-colored fabrics such as
standard canvas are more flexible because you
| | 01:35 | can gel the lights on them so
they appear any color you like.
| | 01:39 | Now, darker fabrics such as rich red or
blue velvets will give you a more formal
| | 01:43 | look, but will require more
light to get them to look right.
| | 01:47 | Reflective fabrics also create
an attractive and dynamic look.
| | 01:53 | Make sure you drape or pleat the fabric to
create some interesting ripples in the fabric.
| | 01:58 | These ripples will add to the
overall texture by creating some depth and
| | 02:02 | interesting bands of shadow.
| | 02:04 | Remember, lighting is as much about
the shadows as it is about the light.
| | 02:09 | Try to light your fabric
from an angle for best results.
| | 02:14 | Some translucent fabrics may
also look good lit from behind.
| | 02:17 | Experiment to see what
looks you can come up with.
| | 02:21 | Ideally, you use spring clamps to hang
backdrops on a dedicated backdrop stand
| | 02:26 | or rig two c-stands with the long global arms.
| | 02:30 | However, if those are beyond your
budget range, one down-and-dirty substitute
| | 02:34 | is to use a cheap portable wardrobe
rack like the kind you'll find at any
| | 02:38 | big-box store--Target, Walmart, Kmart;any place
with a mart on the end will likely carry them.
| | 02:45 | Another technique that can help you
overcome unsuitable or unpredictable
| | 02:49 | interview locations is isolating your
subject against an all-black background.
| | 02:54 | You can do this in two ways:
the easy way or the tricky way.
| | 02:58 | The easy way is to just hang some
duvetyne in place of your backdrop.
| | 03:03 | Now, duvetyne is a special
light-absorbing deep black fabric sold in theatrical
| | 03:08 | and film-lighting supply stores.
| | 03:10 | Most flat non-reflective black
fabrics will also do the job.
| | 03:15 | Unlike cloth backdrops, we don't
want any pleats or ripples this time.
| | 03:19 | Instead, we want our black fabric to just
hang flat, so we can even get away with
| | 03:24 | mounting this directly to a wall when necessary.
| | 03:26 | The technique here is simple.
| | 03:29 | Light your subject as normal, but avoid
extra light spilling on the black fabric
| | 03:34 | by making sure your subject is at
least 5 feet away from the background and
| | 03:38 | using black wraps or flags to
help block any straight light beams.
| | 03:43 | If any light hits the background,
the illusion of black infinity is easily lost
| | 03:47 | and you setup will look exactly like
what it is: a crumpled piece of old fabric.
| | 03:52 | For the best results, try to get a
bright light on your subject and no light on
| | 03:57 | the background, which will allow you to
shoot at a higher f-stop, the higher the
| | 04:01 | f-stop, the more the black will disappear.
| | 04:05 | Yet another variation on this
minimalist type of setup is to flip the script
| | 04:09 | completely and for an all-white
infinity background, placing your subject in a
| | 04:13 | clean and sterile infinity environment.
| | 04:15 | There are two easy ways and one tricky way.
| | 04:19 | Let me break them down.
| | 04:21 | The easiest, and of course most
expensive, way is to shoot in a studio that has a
| | 04:26 | white cyc and lots of soft lighting.
| | 04:29 | A cyc, or cyclorama as it's formally
known, is just a special wall in the studio
| | 04:34 | that occurs smoothly at the bottom
where they would normally be an angle.
| | 04:38 | The result onscreen is at the camera
loses all perception of depth, and it looks
| | 04:43 | more like the whitespace just goes on forever.
| | 04:47 | Now studio time is expensive, but large
white rolls of paper, now those are more
| | 04:52 | affordable and portable.
| | 04:54 | If you're only doing at interview, the
average roll of seamless photo backdrop
| | 04:58 | paper is plenty big enough to create
the same effect as a cyc by curving the
| | 05:02 | paper smoothly as it nears the
floor then extending it a few feet more.
| | 05:07 | Be careful not to wrinkle or tear the
paper, but if you do, just let it roll
| | 05:11 | and set up a new cyc.
| | 05:14 | Now, the third way is a little trickier
and low budget, but it will give you a
| | 05:18 | very similar cyc effect, with some limitations.
| | 05:22 | Normally, a plain white room is an
interview curse; however, if you use a
| | 05:27 | little down-and-dirty imagination, you can
turn that video liability into a video asset.
| | 05:32 | Let me show you how.
| | 05:33 | You want to find the cleanest, whitest
sectional of wall, then use a soft and
| | 05:38 | well-diffused light source to light it nice
and even. No hot spots and no shadow areas.
| | 05:44 | We are going to just paint the wall
with a flat even coat of soft white light.
| | 05:51 | Then you want to open your lens almost
to the point of blowing out the picture.
| | 05:54 | Seat your subject a few feet away from
the wall and light them with another very
| | 06:00 | soft lighting source.
| | 06:01 | And there you have it: a
low-budget white cyc, cyc out.
| | 06:05 | Now this technique won't really work on
walls with shiny white paint, only walls
| | 06:09 | with flat matte finish.
| | 06:12 | But as long as you keep your interview
to tighter, medium, and close shots, you
| | 06:16 | can totally sell the
pseudo-cyc effect to an audience.
| | 06:20 | Now the other more common background
technique that I haven't mentioned is green screen.
| | 06:26 | If you shoot green screen of course
in the edit room, you can make your
| | 06:29 | background any setting or image you like.
| | 06:31 | Green screen is more involved than I am
going to get into here, but the creative
| | 06:35 | opportunities are endless.
| | 06:36 | So, definitely check out Green Screen
Techniques for Video and Photography here on lynda.com.
| | 06:43 | Unpredictable location shooting just
comes with the territory of documentary and
| | 06:48 | reality-based project.
| | 06:50 | Choosing a backdrop or black or white
infinity effect as a background is just
| | 06:54 | one more technique to keep
in your filmmaker's toolbox.
| | 06:57 | Whether you use these techniques to
hide an unattractive location or just
| | 07:01 | because it's just the right look and
feel for your video story, it's always
| | 07:05 | smart to keep a variety of
background choices and tricks in your pocket.
| | 07:10 | The key to dealing with the
unpredictable elements of documentary-style
| | 07:13 | filmmaking is to be as prepared as
possible and to already know the solution as
| | 07:18 | soon as you encounter a problem.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Interview lighting tips| 00:01 | I don't believe that anything will give
you more production value bang for your
| | 00:05 | buck than good lighting.
| | 00:07 | I would rather shoot with a mediocre
camera with great lighting then with a high-
| | 00:11 | end camera with mediocre
lighting any day of the week.
| | 00:15 | A huge part of the look of your
project is determined by the skill of the person lighting it.
| | 00:19 | Money spent hiring an experienced
lighting person or time spent better honing
| | 00:24 | your lighting skills is
never money or time wasted.
| | 00:28 | Good lighting is the cheapest and
easiest thing you can accomplish to add more
| | 00:33 | production value and a more
professional look to your work.
| | 00:37 | Contrary to what some people may think,
good lighting does not take a lot of money.
| | 00:42 | However, it does take some know-how
and some creative problem solving,
| | 00:46 | some of which I'm going to
share with you in this course.
| | 00:49 | Now, I already covered lighting tools,
accessories, and four-point lighting
| | 00:53 | pretty extensively in my Fundamentals
of Video Cameras and Shooting course,
| | 00:56 | so make sure you check out that course
if you would like to learn how to light a
| | 01:01 | formal interview and get into much
more detail about various lighting
| | 01:04 | instruments and accessories.
| | 01:06 | But in this course, I want to talk about some
interviews-specific lighting tools and issues.
| | 01:11 | Let's start with the lighting kit itself.
| | 01:14 | I recommend a small portable 304
light kit, it which will probably run you
| | 01:20 | somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 to $1000.
| | 01:22 | You just need a kit with three lights
and three stands, power cables, pretty
| | 01:27 | much everything you need for most interviews.
| | 01:29 | Keep in mind that $700 to $1000 for a three
light kit is actually on the cheaper side,
| | 01:35 | so you may wish to rent a full
lighting kit just for the days as you need it
| | 01:39 | until you're ready to buy your own.
| | 01:41 | With that in mind, a much less
expensive and more portable type of light I
| | 01:45 | would like to use to supplement my
lighting kit is a Chinese lantern, also
| | 01:48 | known as a China Ball.
| | 01:50 | These are nothing more than standard
paper lanterns that you buy at any lighting
| | 01:54 | store or your local IKEA.
| | 01:56 | However, they've long been used by
cinematographers because they create
| | 02:00 | beautiful soft, warm light.
| | 02:03 | They also weigh next to nothing,
collapse flat, and use much less power than
| | 02:08 | other film-lighting sources.
| | 02:10 | Once you've got the light socket unit
and the lantern, you'll still need something
| | 02:14 | to hang your China Ball on.
| | 02:16 | Traditionally on set, we'd
use a C stand with a global arm.
| | 02:19 | However, C stands cost
$150 and you may find them a little too
| | 02:24 | cumbersome for the nimble demands
of documentary and corporate work.
| | 02:27 | All the C-stand is doing in this
case is holding up the China ball.
| | 02:32 | You know what else will also hold a
china ball other than a $150 C-stand? How
| | 02:37 | about a $25 microphone stand with a boom arm.
| | 02:41 | Add a sandbag to the base if
necessary and you're in business.
| | 02:46 | And as an added practical bonus, when
you're not using the China ball, you may
| | 02:50 | find the mic stand also highly
useful for holding a microphone.
| | 02:54 | Free your mind and your budget
will follow people, every single time.
| | 03:00 | Another lighting store item that you'll
find highly useful with China balls and
| | 03:04 | other lighting instruments is a dimmer,
which allows you to quickly and easily
| | 03:08 | adjust the brightness of any light source you
plug into it, so it saves you time and manpower.
| | 03:15 | If you buy a dimmer, remember to read
the package on the bottom of the dimmer to
| | 03:20 | make sure that it can handle the
wattage of the light you're using.
| | 03:23 | I've found household dimmers
rated to handle up to 500 watts.
| | 03:26 | Any light over 500 watts and
you'll probably need a more expensive
| | 03:30 | professional dimmer model.
| | 03:32 | Now another item that comes in handy
for interviews is a cucoloris, or cookie as
| | 03:36 | they are more commonly known.
| | 03:38 | A cookie is a lighting tool used to
create a texture or certain pattern or
| | 03:42 | design on a wall when a
light is shined through it.
| | 03:45 | So, an otherwise boring flat wall
can be made to look more interesting.
| | 03:50 | Other types of cookies can be used to
fake shadow from windows and blinds.
| | 03:55 | You can buy cookies from professional
film and theater lighting dealers or with
| | 03:59 | a little cardboard, scissors, and some
imagination, you can make your own cookies.
| | 04:04 | Just make sure you keep your lights safe,
2-3 feet away from your cardboard cut out.
| | 04:10 | A C-stand with a global arm is the
ideal mounting tool for a cookie, but again,
| | 04:14 | you may also find than an inexpensive
mic stand with a boom arm can work as a
| | 04:19 | down-and-dirty substitute.
| | 04:21 | Now let's talk about some other
interview-specific lighting issues.
| | 04:25 | One of the things you want to avoid
when lighting interviews is having your
| | 04:28 | subject's shadow on the wall behind them.
| | 04:31 | Just because you're an amateur doesn't
mean you want to work to look like it.
| | 04:36 | So, let's quickly check out three
simple techniques to get rid of wall shadows.
| | 04:40 | Generally, you'll want to use some
combination of pulling your subject away from
| | 04:44 | the wall and raising the light a little.
| | 04:46 | And if that still doesn't fully do the trick,
try lowering the camera height slightly.
| | 04:54 | Another lighting trouble spot
for interviews is reflections from
| | 04:57 | subjects wearing glasses.
| | 05:00 | Reflections on glasses that show up on
camera can often be remedied by making a
| | 05:04 | slight adjustment in the height or
angle of the light causing the reflection if
| | 05:08 | it's coming from your key light.
| | 05:10 | If the reflection is caused by another
light on set that's not aimed directly at
| | 05:13 | your subject, you may be able to
block the reflection from hitting your
| | 05:17 | subject's glasses by simply using
a flag or big piece of cardboard.
| | 05:22 | If you know your subject will be
wearing glasses, I think a polarizer filter
| | 05:26 | would be a wise investment for your project.
| | 05:29 | Polarizer filters help diminish
reflections so you can better see through
| | 05:33 | transparent but reflective
surfaces like glasses and windows.
| | 05:37 | And as an added benefit, polarizers
also make video hotspots a little less hot,
| | 05:43 | so you get more of a filmic look.
| | 05:46 | In addition to polarizers, you'll
want to advice your subjects to wear
| | 05:50 | anti-reflective glasses like the
kind of that I'm wearing right now.
| | 05:54 | So, that's all of the
interview-specific lighting know-how I have time to
| | 05:58 | share with you in this course.
| | 06:00 | Of course, you'll still need a full
selection of gels and a few other lighting
| | 06:04 | accessories, all of which I go over in
full detail in my course, Fundamentals
| | 06:08 | of Video Cameras and Shooting, where I
also cover all the nitty-gritty of other
| | 06:13 | types of lighting sources in the ins and
outs of actually setting up four-point lighting.
| | 06:17 | So, check out that course for much
more on lighting tools and techniques.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Staging an interview| 00:01 | Now I want to talk about
how we stage our interview.
| | 00:04 | By staging I just mean the physical
placement and relationship between the
| | 00:08 | interviewee, the interviewer, and the camera.
| | 00:12 | First, let's start with the
person sitting in the chair.
| | 00:14 | In fact, let's start with the chair.
| | 00:17 | The most important thing to look out
for when it comes to chairs is that
| | 00:21 | the chairs don't move.
| | 00:23 | A shifting or twisting subject is
problematic for lighting and framing,
| | 00:28 | so that means we want to avoid swivel
chairs and definitely no swivel chairs on wheels.
| | 00:35 | Beyond chairs, stools are good for
more of a minimalist look, and to prevent
| | 00:40 | subjects from slouching.
| | 00:41 | Sofas also work if your interview is in
someone's home, and in the case of kids,
| | 00:47 | teenagers, or certain athletes and
performers, the floor or grass might also be a
| | 00:51 | natural and appropriate
place for interviewees to sit.
| | 00:55 | More important than a chair is the
placement of your interview subject in the space.
| | 01:00 | One thing you want to avoid
whenever you can is shooting someone right
| | 01:04 | up against a wall.
| | 01:06 | Apart from the issue of wall shadows,
it really flattens out the image and
| | 01:10 | constrains your subject in the frame.
| | 01:12 | It just doesn't give your
audience's eyes must to take in.
| | 01:16 | In short, it looks lame, low-budget,
lackluster, lousy, and light on imagination.
| | 01:22 | So rather than jamming out subjects up
against a flat wall, it's preferable to
| | 01:27 | position them more towards to the center
of the room for a much more interesting
| | 01:31 | composition, with greater visual depth.
| | 01:34 | Now, having said all that, if you're
stuck in a tight space or other situation
| | 01:38 | where placing a subject against a wall
is your only realistic option, it's still
| | 01:43 | best to shoot your subjects at an angle
so you can add some depth to the frame
| | 01:47 | by shooting longways down a wall.
| | 01:51 | Likewise, shooting into a corner will
also give you a more three-dimensional and
| | 01:55 | visually interesting frame than
shooting flat against a wall.
| | 01:59 | Another thing that we want to avoid are
backgrounds that is too busy and distracting.
| | 02:04 | It's nice to have some movement in
the background detail sometimes, little
| | 02:08 | things like fish swimming in a tank,
trees blowing in the breeze, the swinging
| | 02:12 | pendulum of a grandfather clock.
| | 02:14 | But you want to be careful you don't have overly
busy background with too much movement that
| | 02:19 | could distract your audience, such as a
merry-go-round, a hurried crowd of shoppers,
| | 02:23 | or a volleyball game.
| | 02:25 | If you find that a busy background is
your only real choice, you can always
| | 02:29 | significantly lessen the distraction
of the background by shooting the scene
| | 02:33 | with a more shallow depth of field
so the background becomes soft focus.
| | 02:39 | If you're not sure of all the ways you
can achieve a more shallow depth of field,
| | 02:42 | check out the "Shallow depth of field"
movie in my Fundamentals of Video course.
| | 02:47 | Now, one thing that you want to
always pay particular attention to is
| | 02:51 | your subject's eyeline.
| | 02:53 | The term eyeline just refers to where your
subject appears to be looking in the frame.
| | 02:59 | The best and most natural eyeline is
one when your subject is looking just off
| | 03:03 | to the left or right of the camera.
| | 03:06 | In order to have an engaging
conversation, the subject needs to be looking
| | 03:09 | at the interviewer.
| | 03:10 | So to get the most natural-looking
eyeline if you're the interviewer, you
| | 03:15 | want to be seated at the same height
as a camera and just to one side so that
| | 03:20 | your eyes are on the same axis as the lens.
| | 03:23 | If your subject is framed left,
you should see to the right side of the
| | 03:27 | camera and if your subject is framed right,
you should sit on the left side of the camera.
| | 03:32 | Think of the camera lens as your third eye.
| | 03:34 | One thing I sometimes worry about
during an interview is whether my head is
| | 03:38 | actually going to bump the camera lens
because that's how close I like to sit
| | 03:42 | sometimes to make sure I get a sweet eyeline.
| | 03:46 | When the interviewer is not sitting
close to the same axis as the lens, it can
| | 03:49 | make for a really weird eyeline
that your audience will probably find
| | 03:52 | distracting and annoying.
| | 03:54 | All they'll be wondering is, what
is he staring at offscreen?
| | 03:58 | Lastly, make sure there's also adequate
lighting on the interviewer's face, even
| | 04:03 | if the interviewer won't be seen on camera.
| | 04:07 | It's very important for the
interviewer to maintain good eye contact, so the
| | 04:11 | subject should always be able to
actually see the interviewer's face.
| | 04:15 | If there's not enough ambient light in
the room, you may need to put a separate
| | 04:19 | light on the interviewer.
| | 04:21 | Now let's talk a little about
something else related to eyeline and
| | 04:24 | that's subject framing.
| | 04:27 | Another decision you're going to have
to make is how you're going to position
| | 04:30 | your subjects onscreen:
| | 04:31 | on the left side facing right, on the right
side of the frame facing left, or dead center.
| | 04:40 | It doesn't really matter, but you
want to have some type of rhythm or
| | 04:43 | storytelling logic to your decision.
| | 04:46 | When shooting projects with multiple
interview subjects, I usually like to mix it up.
| | 04:50 | Some people frame left and some
people frame right just so there's some
| | 04:54 | visual variety to my shots.
| | 04:56 | However, if we want to go a little
deeper and get all Scorcese with it, we can use
| | 05:01 | our choice of subject framing as
yet another layer of storytelling.
| | 05:03 | For example, if you're shooting a
political documentary or any other subject
| | 05:08 | presented with two sides, you can frame
people according to their side of the conflict,
| | 05:13 | one side all framed left and
the other side all framed right.
| | 05:16 | And the third choice that I haven't
discussed yet is to frame the subject in the
| | 05:21 | center, looking directly into the camera.
| | 05:24 | (Nicole: Hi, my name is Nicole Sullivan
and I'm the shop owner.)
| | 05:29 | This is a very powerful technique
to make a direct appeal or emotional
| | 05:32 | connection to the audience.
| | 05:34 | It psychologically puts the audience
in the interviewer's chair and makes
| | 05:38 | them feel much more like a participant rather
than the traditional audience role of observer.
| | 05:44 | Having subjects look directly into
the camera is rare for interviews.
| | 05:47 | The documentary maker Errol Morris
who directed The Fog of War is probably best
| | 05:51 | known for this powerful and
very emotional style of interview.
| | 05:56 | If this is something you'd like to
try, study how and when it's used most
| | 05:59 | effectively to get the best results.
| | 06:01 | One of the challenges I really enjoy
about shooting documentary-based projects
| | 06:06 | is that every location is different
and presents a new set of filmmaking
| | 06:10 | problems to be conquered.
| | 06:13 | The key to victory is having ready-made
solutions for the most common challenges,
| | 06:17 | like the ones I just discussed.
| | 06:19 | As you review this course and gather
more experience, you'll quickly come to
| | 06:23 | understand exactly how seemingly little
decisions can have a big impact on the
| | 06:28 | professional look of your final interview.
| | 06:30 | Remember, you've got a stage it
right if you want it to look tight.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Getting coverage with a single-camera shoot| 00:01 | Ideally, we would like to always capture
an interview from at least two cameras,
| | 00:05 | but the reality is that many of us
can't really afford a second camera and
| | 00:08 | camera operator on our shoots.
| | 00:11 | Fortunately, with a little know-how
and foresight, it's actually pretty easy,
| | 00:15 | through the magic of editing, to make
it appear that you were shooting with two
| | 00:19 | cameras even though you only had one.
| | 00:21 | (Anthony: So, tell me, Nick: Do you have a
favorite surfboard that you've ever made?)
| | 00:27 | (Nick: Uh, well, I do! Well, I've made a lot of
different surfboards of course.)
| | 00:32 | Shoot your interview as normal, alternating
between medium or close-up shots of your subject.
| | 00:37 | Then, immediately after you've
covered all your questions, you're going to
| | 00:42 | go back and ask a few other
questions that you recall your subject being
| | 00:46 | most animated about,
| | 00:47 | only this time you're going to get
some different angles. As long as you don't
| | 00:52 | actually show your subjects mouth moving,
you can get a variety of shots to help
| | 00:56 | you round out your coverage such as
close-ups of hand gestures that they speak,
| | 01:00 | a foot nervously tapping the floor, or
fingers fiddling with the wedding ring.
| | 01:05 | From the same camera angle, you could
also ask to or three questions, only this
| | 01:10 | time you can pull out wide or back the
camera up if necessary to get a nice shot
| | 01:15 | of your subject over the
shoulder of your interviewer.
| | 01:17 | So now you've got three different
visual elements to help you open up the look
| | 01:22 | of the interview and make it easier to edit.
| | 01:27 | Lastly, if you plan to include the
interviewer in the scene as well, you can
| | 01:31 | take a few minutes and move the
camera to the opposite side of the setup to
| | 01:34 | get an over-the-shoulder shot of the
interviewer asking questions from the
| | 01:38 | subject's point of view.
| | 01:40 | Don't forget to light the
interviewer, if you haven't already.
| | 01:43 | If you're shooting on light, you can just use
the same key light you used on your subject.
| | 01:47 | If moving the key light causes
a noticeable difference in lighting
| | 01:51 | continuity on the subject, you can
always just do away with the over-the-
| | 01:55 | shoulder shot and shoot the interviewer
in a clean, medium or close-up, as long
| | 01:59 | as they repeat a few of the key questions.
| | 02:03 | In the final chapter of this course,
we'll show you how all of these shots come
| | 02:07 | together and editing.
| | 02:08 | So clearly, getting dynamic single-
camera coverage takes the longest, but it's
| | 02:13 | quite doable once you know the process
and well worth it for the choices you
| | 02:17 | open up in the edit room.
| | 02:19 | The biggest thing to be aware of is
continuity when you're faking these
| | 02:23 | shots after the fact.
| | 02:24 | So look back at the footage you just
shot if necessary and pay careful attention
| | 02:28 | to how the subjects are sitting and
where they have their hands so you can
| | 02:32 | accurately re-create that moment visually.
| | 02:35 | Now, to be clear, we're not faking any
part to the interview content per se; the
| | 02:39 | content is all going to be whatever
your subject said when you were rolling.
| | 02:43 | We are just trying to get some
additional shots to allow us to cut away from the
| | 02:48 | single shot of someone sitting in a chair.
| | 02:51 | The secret to getting good
single-camera coverage of anything is to learn to
| | 02:55 | constantly visualize exactly how
your segment will cut together.
| | 02:59 | Over time, editing in your head will
become second nature, and you'll always get
| | 03:03 | enough coverage, even if you only
have one camera at your disposal.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Getting coverage with two cameras| 00:01 | So I just showed you how it's still
possible to get good coverage with a single
| | 00:05 | camera and a little foresight.
| | 00:06 | It's not a complicated process,
but it does take more effort, time, and
| | 00:11 | attention to get it right.
| | 00:13 | Of course the easiest and best way to
get good interview coverage is to shoot
| | 00:17 | with two or more cameras.
| | 00:19 | Shooting any scene with multiple
cameras has two big advantages.
| | 00:24 | First, you instantly have twice as many
shots to choose from, so you can create a
| | 00:29 | more visually dynamic and interesting scene.
| | 00:32 | Second, your scene will also cut
together more smoothly, since the shots will
| | 00:36 | always match up, just as we've been
cutting easily back and forth between
| | 00:40 | multiple cameras for this course.
| | 00:42 | And lastly, two cameras mean you always
have a better alternative to cut to when
| | 00:47 | you have camera mistakes such as
a botched zoom or a bumped camera.
| | 00:51 | Now, if you have two cameras onset,
you can do all of these things much faster
| | 00:56 | because you can capture some
of these shots simultaneously.
| | 01:00 | So, let's take a look at how we might
cover some of these things if we had two
| | 01:03 | cameras rolling at the same time.
| | 01:06 | A typical approach for a single-person
interview would be to have one camera
| | 01:10 | shooting a close-up of the subject,
while the second camera shooting medium or
| | 01:14 | wide shots of the same subject.
(video playing)
| | 01:16 | Of course, if you plan to feature the
interviewer in you're finished project,
| | 01:24 | the second camera would be used to
shoot the interviewer, so you could capture
| | 01:28 | all the questions and reactions simultaneously.
| | 01:30 | (video playing)
| | 01:34 | Yet another two-camera approach would be
to have one camera locked down on a medium
| | 01:39 | shot of the subject,
(video playing)
| | 01:41 | while the other camera alternates
between capturing close-ups, hand gestures, and
| | 01:46 | over-the-shoulder shots.
| | 01:50 | And shooting with three cameras
really opens up even more possibilities.
| | 01:54 | On those occasions when I'm able to
shoot with three cameras, I typically have
| | 01:58 | one camera holding on a close-up, another
camera shooting on a medium shot, and a
| | 02:04 | third camera is used as
a handheld roving camera.
| | 02:08 | This technique allows me to get a
wide variety of much more creative camera
| | 02:12 | angles and even add in a little movement.
| | 02:17 | Regardless of how many cameras you end
up shooting with, you should still stick
| | 02:20 | to the basic filmmaking principle of
always having a conservative safety shot,
| | 02:26 | usually a medium or wide shot, that you
can always cut to no matter what happens.
| | 02:31 | One of your key goals when shooting an
interview segment should be to get enough
| | 02:35 | different camera angles or coverage to
allow you to keep your audience visually
| | 02:40 | engaged with your video story.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Collecting B-roll and specialized shots| 00:01 | So we just covered techniques to make
sure you get enough different camera
| | 00:04 | angles of you interview, but most
projects will be best served by additional
| | 00:08 | imagery that illustrates, complements, and
otherwise helps to visually tell your story.
| | 00:13 | A person sitting in the chair is still
just a person sitting in the chair, no
| | 00:18 | matter how many angles you cover it from.
| | 00:20 | The same static subject can only be
onscreen so long before your audience starts
| | 00:25 | to visually, if not
completely, disengage with your story.
| | 00:28 | Instead, we want to keep all of
visuals freshen and poppin,' baby, and that means
| | 00:33 | getting plenty of B-roll, cutaways, and a few
sweet camera moves to help us tell our story.
| | 00:38 | So to smoothly edit your subject's
comments to condense time without using jump
| | 00:42 | cuts, you will need to insert
completely different shots during the editing
| | 00:47 | process that will allow you to cut away
from one part of the interview and move
| | 00:51 | to another. Hence we get the term cutaway.
| | 00:55 | Cutaways are generally going to be
individual shots of anything relevant to
| | 00:59 | your interview, character, or location.
| | 01:02 | Most often they're close-ups but
medium and wide shots can also work:
| | 01:06 | a family picture on the wall, you're
subject to nervous hand gestures, or in this
| | 01:11 | case a rack of surfboards
showing some works in progress.
| | 01:15 | Anything that captures the character of
the location, says something about this
| | 01:19 | subject, communicates more information
about the scene, or helps you tell your
| | 01:24 | story more effectively
will make for a good cutaway.
| | 01:28 | Shoot as many and as much as you can,
even if they seem mediocre or don't
| | 01:33 | really seem to help tell your story,
because you will always need something to
| | 01:37 | cut away to an editing.
| | 01:39 | Time after time, cutaways will help you
out of difficult problems during editing.
| | 01:44 | They takes such little time to shoot
but can add so much to a finishing.
| | 01:50 | If you only have a short time with your
subject, you're going to have to figure
| | 01:53 | out how to best get some supporting images.
| | 01:56 | I recommend you try to grab some
B-roll immediately before and after the
| | 02:00 | interview, of the subject doing whatever
they would naturally do in their environment.
| | 02:06 | As with cutaway shots, any B-roll you
shoot may be needed in editing to make a
| | 02:10 | problem segment work, to cover a
problem with another shot, or it might be just
| | 02:15 | the right shot to make visual poetry.
| | 02:18 | Ideally, the B-roll relates directly to
the topic at hand, but often you have to
| | 02:23 | settle for mundane activity that just
shows your subject in action in their
| | 02:26 | natural environment.
| | 02:28 | The best-case scenario is to schedule
some separate or additional time to fallow
| | 02:33 | your subject and shoot action shots.
If you arrange this with them ahead of time,
| | 02:38 | you'll be able to determine the most
appropriate and visual activities and
| | 02:41 | events to capture for your project.
| | 02:42 | So we already talked about coverage,
but we haven't talked about camera work yet.
| | 02:49 | Because you're essentially shooting a
person talking in the chair doesn't mean
| | 02:52 | that you can't do something to add a
little movement and visual excitement to
| | 02:56 | your main shoot--the cheapest, easiest,
and most effective little thing you can do
| | 03:01 | to add in an appropriately timed
dramatic zoom to your interviews.
| | 03:06 | Let's say your interview subject is
starting to get emotional as they're telling of
| | 03:09 | the triumphant story of how they won
the first world surf championship after
| | 03:14 | three years of trying.
| | 03:16 | Just as that first tear begins to
well up in their eye, you're going to ever-so-
| | 03:21 | gently zoom in, slow and steady from a
medium shot to a close-up, as the tear
| | 03:26 | rolls down the cheek.
| | 03:27 | To pull this off you have to be able to
anticipate and time where the subject is
| | 03:33 | going with the story before they get
there, and then meet them at just the
| | 03:37 | perfect moment for the height of drama.
| | 03:41 | Be careful. It's easy to botch a
dramatic zoom by stopping too soon or zooming
| | 03:45 | in too close to a bad composition.
| | 03:47 | If you ever do botch a zoom by letting
up to soon on the zoom control, just stop
| | 03:52 | and let the shot rest there.
| | 03:54 | The audience will never know that you
screwed up unless you panic and try
| | 03:59 | to complete a botch move.
Then it will look like the mistake that it was.
| | 04:03 | Now, if you feel pretty comfortable with
all the standard interview conventions
| | 04:06 | and really want to spice it up, you can
add in some well-timed and artful camera
| | 04:11 | moves using a slider, which slides the
camera smoothly short distances on rails;
| | 04:16 | a jib, which can do Swooping camera
moves and emphasize height; or a dolly, which
| | 04:25 | can smoothly roll the camera any
distance and track movement as it goes.
| | 04:29 | Now, sliders are the least expensive
and the most common solutionm but with
| | 04:35 | some practicem all three pieces of
equipment--sliders, dollies, or jibs--can be
| | 04:40 | used to create smooth flowing camera moves
that will raise your production value considerably.
| | 04:47 | Of course, regardless of which piece of
equipment you're using, they all involve
| | 04:50 | more expense, time, and setup.
| | 04:53 | The biggest challenge of the shooting
interview-based projects is finding ways
| | 04:57 | to visualize those interviews and make your
project more than just a talking head onscreen.
| | 05:03 | When you can do that consistently,
you're well on your way to shooting more
| | 05:06 | energetic and professional-
looking interviews that tell a vibrant
| | 05:10 | three-dimensional audio and visual story.
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| Instructing interview subjects| 00:01 | In general, I always recommend
that you keep your technical and stage
| | 00:05 | instructions to regular
people to a bare minimum.
| | 00:08 | Anyone who is not a professional
performer or otherwise used to being on camera
| | 00:12 | is likely to be a little nervous and
can easily become overwhelmed by too many
| | 00:16 | instructions to stand here, look
there, and make sure they're in the light, et cetera.
| | 00:20 | So whenever possible, try to make the
necessary adjustments on your side of the
| | 00:26 | camera to accommodate them.
| | 00:27 | So we don't want to tell them too many
things, but there are still a few key
| | 00:31 | things we need to tell our
subjects before we begin to shoot.
| | 00:35 | Remind your subject of the focus of
your interview and tell them approximately
| | 00:39 | how long the interview is going to be.
| | 00:41 | Be considerate of any time
constraints they give you.
| | 00:44 | Be forthright and honest about your
approach and what's expected of the subject
| | 00:48 | in terms of answers and candidates.
| | 00:51 | If there are sensitive personal
issues at hand, make sure you discuss how
| | 00:55 | they will be treated.
| | 00:57 | If complete spontaneity is not necessary
for your interview, you might even wish
| | 01:01 | to email or tell your subject a few of
the questions you'll be asking ahead of
| | 01:05 | time to allow them time to
think of how they want to respond;
| | 01:09 | the more they know in advance, the more
comfortable many people will feel with
| | 01:13 | the interview process.
| | 01:15 | Just before the interview starts, give
your subject some basic instructions that
| | 01:19 | will help them relax, and more important,
these instructions will keep you from
| | 01:23 | pulling out your hair in the editing room.
| | 01:25 | I know what I'm talking about on this one.
| | 01:28 | Also, don't forget to ask your subject
and everyone else in the room to turn
| | 01:32 | off their cell phones.
| | 01:33 | So here are the four things I recommend you
say to every interviewee before the camera rolls.
| | 01:40 | Number one, so Nicole, I am
going to ask you not to look into the camera, just look at me.
| | 01:46 | This is just a conversation between two
friends from fifteen feet away, so forget
| | 01:50 | about all these lights and things.
| | 01:52 | You want to impress upon your subject
that the interview process is just a
| | 01:55 | conversation between you and them.
| | 01:59 | Looking directly into the camera or
stealing glances is disturbing to the
| | 02:02 | audience, which is accustomed to people
looking at the interviewer just offcamera.
| | 02:06 | Number two, I am going to ask you a
question and I want you to just wait a beat
| | 02:11 | when I ask you question and then I am going
to ask you to answer in a complete sentence.
| | 02:15 | So, if I say, "Where are you from?" instead
of saying, "Chicago," you would say, "I am
| | 02:19 | from Chicago" and whatever else
you would like to add in there.
| | 02:22 | Now this will give you the ability
to isolate the subject's answer in
| | 02:26 | postproduction and omit your own
questions and voice from edited segment.
| | 02:30 | This will keep the focus on your subject
and give you more choices during editing.
| | 02:35 | It's also always a good idea to mic
yourself as well, so you can clearly hear
| | 02:40 | your own questions and preserve the option
to edit them later if you change your mind.
| | 02:45 | Number three, also feel free to
restart if you feel like you messed up or you
| | 02:50 | misspeak; it's not a big deal. We are
not broadcasting live, so any answer you
| | 02:53 | want to restart, feel free
to go ahead and restart that.
| | 02:56 | Remind your subjects that nothing
they say is being broadcasted live, unless
| | 03:00 | it actually is, and that you will
be cutting out any obvious mistakes,
| | 03:04 | misspoken words, or anything else
that will betray them unfairly or that's
| | 03:08 | irrelevant to your project.
| | 03:10 | Let them know it's perfectly fine to
restart an answer or pause together their
| | 03:15 | thoughts anytime they need to.
| | 03:18 | Number four, and also, before we get
started, do you need any coffee or anything
| | 03:23 | else, you have some water for you over
there, but is there anything else you
| | 03:24 | need before we get started?
| | 03:28 | Female Speaker: No, the water is fine, thank you.
| | 03:30 | Even if they say no, always
keep some water at the ready.
| | 03:34 | Talking for twenty minutes straight
or longer will test anyone's voice.
| | 03:37 | They may want something else
like a cup of coffee or soda.
| | 03:40 | The more relaxed your subject is,
the more they're going to talk freely.
| | 03:46 | Lastly, keep some tissues on hand if you
think things might get emotional. And that's it.
| | 03:51 | These are real people, not performers,
| | 03:54 | so we want to keep
instructions to a bare minimum.
| | 03:57 | So to review all four things you are
going to ask your subject just before
| | 04:01 | shooting, here they are again.
| | 04:02 | Number one, don't look into
the camera; just look at me.
| | 04:08 | Number 2, wait until I complete my
question, then answer in a complete sentence.
| | 04:15 | Number 3, don't worry if you
make a mistake or misspeak.
| | 04:19 | It's okay to restart your
answer if you'd like to.
| | 04:21 | Number 4, would you like some coffee,
water, or anything else before we begin?
| | 04:29 | Remember, the whole point of these
instructions is to make your job easier and
| | 04:33 | to help your subject relax
and just enjoy the conversation.
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|
|
3. Types of InterviewsUnderstanding one-on-one interviews| 00:00 | So now I'm going to talk quickly,
very quickly, about formal interviews.
| | 00:06 | Essentially, most of the movies in this
course assume we're dealing with typical
| | 00:10 | one-on-one formal interviews,
| | 00:12 | so almost all the advice and techniques
I give can be directly applied to your
| | 00:15 | standard interview format.
| | 00:17 | By formal I generally mean any
interview format that's prearranged on a set
| | 00:22 | topic that's in a standard
question-and-answer format.
| | 00:25 | As far as the interview production
itself, that's also going to be formal.
| | 00:29 | So that means shooting in a location
we've chosen just for the interview,
| | 00:33 | putting the camera on a tripod, miking
up a subject in the chair, and usually
| | 00:38 | setting up formal three- or four-point lighting.
| | 00:40 | In most of the other movies in this
course I discuss all the specifics of
| | 00:44 | staging and shooting formal interviews,
so the only advice I'd like to add to
| | 00:49 | that in this movie is about how to
maintain intimacy in formal one-on-one
| | 00:53 | interview situations.
| | 00:55 | One of the words you will probably
notice I keep repeating in this course is
| | 00:58 | the word conversation.
| | 01:00 | I'm really trying to drill it into
your head not to think of an interview
| | 01:04 | as just you asking a series of
questions down the line as someone else answers
| | 01:08 | them, but rather more like to the everyday
conversations you have in life, only an
| | 01:13 | interview is a guided conversation.
| | 01:15 | The problem is that as soon as you
add in all the formal artifices of
| | 01:19 | microphones and lights and staging,
you've automatically set up a bunch of
| | 01:23 | barriers to your goal of trying to have a
real conversation with someone oncamera.
| | 01:28 | Unfortunately, a formal interview
is far removed from the reality of
| | 01:32 | everyday conversations.
| | 01:34 | However, there are still a few
things we can do to restore some sense of
| | 01:37 | normality and intimacy to our conversation.
| | 01:41 | Most of them involve stripping away
some of those artificial things so we can
| | 01:45 | keep it realistic, you would
say. You still say that, right?
| | 01:48 | So here are some quick tips on how to
make your formal interview a little less
| | 01:52 | formal and keep it real.
| | 01:54 | One, turn the record light
and beep off in the menu.
| | 01:59 | Whenever you hit the record button,
most video-cameras beep and activate a
| | 02:03 | little red light on the front of the camera.
| | 02:05 | This makes people even more
aware that they are being videotaped.
| | 02:08 | Turn both of these
functions off in the camera menu.
| | 02:11 | Two, keep the camera at a distance.
| | 02:15 | If you can get your camera a good 20
feet or more away from your subject, it's a
| | 02:20 | whole lot less intimidating
for the person in the chair.
| | 02:22 | Now when they look around, all they are
going to see is two things, the lights
| | 02:28 | and the other person they are talking to.
| | 02:30 | And speaking of lights, tip number
three is to use less formal lighting.
| | 02:35 | If you're particularly worried
about a subject being nervous, and it's
| | 02:38 | appropriate for the look of your project,
you might consider using the natural
| | 02:42 | light in the environment or using
Chinese lanterns, which I discussed in the
| | 02:45 | lighting movie of this course.
| | 02:47 | And that's pretty much all I have to say
about formal interviews, oh, accept for
| | 02:51 | everything I say in the 20 or so other
movies of this course that all cover
| | 02:56 | tips and techniques for
shooting formal interviews.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Conducting a man-on-the-street interview| 00:01 | Okay, in this movie I want to talk a
little about conducting man-on-the-street
| | 00:06 | interviews. Just like it sounds, these
are unplanned, impromptu interviews with
| | 00:10 | the general public at a given place or event.
| | 00:13 | Typically, you would shoot man-on-the-
street interviews for a project or segment
| | 00:16 | that called for public opinion on a certain issue,
| | 00:19 | instant reaction to a big event like
a court verdict, or just to get a random
| | 00:23 | sampling of public opinions on anything.
| | 00:26 | It seems simple enough.
| | 00:27 | Just find a group of people and
stick a mic in their face and hit the
| | 00:30 | record button, right? Well, not exactly.
| | 00:33 | It's true that man-on-the-street
interviews aren't that difficult to shoot, but
| | 00:37 | there are a few guidelines that you
should keep in mind that will save you a
| | 00:41 | lot of wasted time.
| | 00:42 | The biggest challenge most of you will
encounter will be finding enough men and
| | 00:46 | women on the street who are
actually willing to talk to you.
| | 00:49 | There is this myth that everybody
wants to be on TV or to be interviewed by
| | 00:54 | someone, and it's simply
not the case in reality.
| | 00:57 | Most people are actually a little
nervous about being on camera, especially when
| | 01:02 | they are caught off guard.
| | 01:03 | People on the street or
on the street for a reason;
| | 01:06 | they've got places to go and things to
do, so it's often hard to get to someone
| | 01:10 | actually agree to an interview on the spot.
| | 01:12 | If one out of ten people you ask agrees to an
interview, I consider that a pretty good ratio.
| | 01:16 | So, one of the first important
decisions of a man-on-the-street interview is
| | 01:21 | where and when to conduct your interview.
| | 01:24 | People in the financial district on the
way to work, somebody in the middle of
| | 01:27 | their job or on the way to an event are
much less likely to stop and even listen
| | 01:31 | to what you have to say,
| | 01:33 | let alone take the time to
answer a series of questions.
| | 01:36 | Think of those annoying people that
stop you on the sidewalk or at the mall to
| | 01:40 | sign a petition to save the butterflies.
| | 01:41 | Well now you are that annoying
person, only you have a camera.
| | 01:44 | So, the first thing is, we want to try
to find a place where most people are
| | 01:49 | unhurried and unworried.
| | 01:51 | Otherwise, we are going to be all
day trying to shoot four interviews.
| | 01:55 | I recommend that you try to solicit
people and shoot your man-on-the-street
| | 01:59 | interview someplace where people are
already gathered for fun and leisure:
| | 02:02 | your local tourist hotspot, the
crowd milling about at the end of a
| | 02:06 | performance, the artsy shopping district.
Weekends, evenings, and lunch hour are all good times
| | 02:12 | when people are more likely to be relaxed
and willing to stop and talk for a few minutes.
| | 02:17 | Now, crew-wise man-on-the-street
segments are best done with the team of two to
| | 02:22 | three people, at least one of which
to be outgoing with a friendly smile.
| | 02:27 | This would typically be the producer
or on-screen talent for your shoot.
| | 02:31 | So, the idea is that the camera can
be all set and ready to roll on a shot,
| | 02:35 | while the producer finds a person interview.
| | 02:38 | And if you have a third person, while
one interview is going on, they can be
| | 02:42 | soliciting people for the next
interview to save you even more valuable time.
| | 02:46 | Now, if you need to get a lot of
man-on-the-street segments, you might even
| | 02:50 | consider setting up signs
| | 02:51 | so interested people will come to
you. This will work best if you write
| | 02:55 | something fun or intriguing on a sign to
entice people to come over and talk to you.
| | 03:00 | Now, shooting man-on-the-street
segments is pretty straightforward.
| | 03:03 | It's almost always going
to be one take, one camera,
| | 03:06 | so a single medium close-up shot
is usually all you'll need to get.
| | 03:10 | One thing to look out for
is people in the background.
| | 03:13 | I told you before that most people
don't want to be interviewed on camera.
| | 03:16 | However, for some reason, everybody
wants to make faces and do silly things in
| | 03:20 | the background the second you actually
start shooting an interview in a public place.
| | 03:24 | So, try to find the camera position
that makes it harder for people to get in
| | 03:28 | your shot. If something funky does
happen in the background while you are
| | 03:32 | shooting, just smoothly zoom into a
tighter shot or subtly shift your camera
| | 03:36 | positioned so that they're
no longer in the background.
| | 03:38 | Of course, if you are shooting with
shallow depth of field, this becomes
| | 03:43 | much less of an issue.
| | 03:45 | As for lighting, you will almost always
be outdoors or in a well-lit public space,
| | 03:49 | so lighting is usually not an issue.
| | 03:52 | It's always nice to use a camera light
for this sort of interviews, because it
| | 03:56 | really makes a subject pop out from
the background, so it's nice to have, but
| | 03:59 | it's not a necessity.
| | 04:00 | A reflector can also do the same
exact thing, albeit a little more
| | 04:06 | compromised to find the best angle
to capture and bounce the sunlight.
| | 04:09 | Now, when it comes to audio, it's usually
not practical to try to mic people with
| | 04:13 | a lav just to get a quick soundbite
or two. Plus its one more thing that's
| | 04:17 | likely to scare them all.
| | 04:18 | So, for man-on-the-street segments, we
typically use a handheld cardioid mic.
| | 04:23 | Remember, you want to maintain control
of your mic at all times, so you can
| | 04:27 | control the pacing, interrupt with a
follow-up question, or cut them off if they
| | 04:32 | start going on too long.
| | 04:33 | You don't want somebody
delivering a 10-minute monologue for your
| | 04:35 | two-minute segment.
| | 04:38 | Now, if you're in a noisy environment
like the lobby of a crowded theater, you
| | 04:41 | could use a shotgun mic as a handheld mic.
| | 04:43 | The shotgun mic well much better
hone in on just the voice of the person
| | 04:48 | speaking. And if you have the extra
manpower, a shotgun mic on a boom pole will
| | 04:53 | also do an excellent job.
| | 04:55 | However, as I said before, a boom pole
might be a little scary and intimidating
| | 04:58 | for regular people on the street.
| | 05:02 | Now, if you are shooting solo and also
have to act as an interviewer, you can
| | 05:05 | either let your subject hold their own
mic or put a shotgun mic directly on your
| | 05:09 | camera, using a mic shock
mount or the built-in mic bracket.
| | 05:14 | A mic mountain on the camera is a
little farther away from your subject than we
| | 05:18 | normally like to be to record dialogue,
| | 05:19 | but as long as the environment isn't too
noisy, it will serve you well for man-on-
| | 05:24 | the street segments when
you're shooting all by yourself.
| | 05:26 | Regardless of what type of mic you use,
I recommend using a windscreen anytime
| | 05:31 | you are shooting outdoors.
| | 05:33 | If you shooting on a windy day or in
a naturally windy environment like the
| | 05:36 | beach, you may have to find a good
shooting spot near some building or other
| | 05:40 | structure that naturally
blocks a prevailing wind.
| | 05:42 | Lastly, if you want to add a little
touch of professionalism and branding, you
| | 05:47 | might consider buying something called a
mic flag, which is just a little square
| | 05:51 | cube that slips onto a handheld microphone.
| | 05:54 | Print out just show logo on a four
little slips of paper and stick them on your
| | 05:58 | mic flag and now your segment is
looking just like the big dogs.
| | 06:02 | So, those are all just some quick tips
that should help you better pull of a man-
| | 06:06 | on-the-street segment with minimal hassle.
| | 06:08 | Half the battle really is
finding people to talk to on camera.
| | 06:12 | But if you go to the right place,
at the right time a day, it's a much
| | 06:15 | smaller battle.
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| Interviewing a subject while performing a demonstration| 00:00 | Now I want to talk a
little about demo interviews.
| | 00:04 | When I say demo interviews I simply mean
any interview situation where a subject
| | 00:08 | is showing and telling you
something at the same time.
| | 00:11 | So, that can be as formal as a
professional chief demonstrating step-by-step how
| | 00:15 | to make a strawberry souffle, or it
could be as casual as a fourth-grader
| | 00:19 | walking you through how they built
their science project in the garage.
| | 00:23 | From the interview side, the main
concern is making sure that things are being
| | 00:27 | explained clearly and in a logical order.
| | 00:29 | Listen out for subjects using expert
terms that might not be familiar to the
| | 00:34 | audience and ask them to explain further.
| | 00:37 | Also, remember your audience only has a
video screen to observe the demonstration.
| | 00:42 | If something particularly strikes
your sense such as auditable texture,
| | 00:46 | smell, taste, or temperature, make
sure the subject or onscreen talent also
| | 00:51 | describes it to the audience.
| | 00:52 | Audio-wise the best way to go for most
demos will be a wireless lav mic that
| | 00:57 | allows your subject and
interviewer to move about freely.
| | 01:00 | (video playing)
| | 01:03 | A shotgun mic on a boom pole is also a
workable solution to cover both people
| | 01:09 | for demo if you have the
luxury of a dedicated boom person.
| | 01:13 | When using a boom pole for a demo, be
careful to avoid boom shadows in the demo
| | 01:17 | area and on your subject's face as they move about.
| | 01:21 | In addition to avoiding boom shadows,
the boom operator also has to find a good
| | 01:25 | position that allows them to
stay out of your wider shots.
| | 01:30 | Some subject matter may be best covered
with both wireless mics and the boom mic
| | 01:35 | to clearly pick up the
detailed sounds of a demonstration.
| | 01:38 | (video playing)
| | 01:42 | While it's always best to shoot demos
with two to three cameras, ideally you'd
| | 01:47 | like to be able to simultaneously
cover the details of the demonstration, the
| | 01:51 | subject's face, and the interaction
between the subject and the interviewer.
| | 01:56 | If you don't have multiple cameras,
you want to make sure you at least shoot
| | 02:00 | some good close-ups of the demo.
| | 02:02 | To do this you will either need to
periodically stop the demo and have your
| | 02:06 | subject repeat certain actions while
you punch in for a close-up, or you may
| | 02:10 | just have to wait until the end
and have them redo the whole process
| | 02:14 | while you shoot only
close-ups and reverse angles.
| | 02:18 | The hardest part with both of these
single-camera methods is accurately matching
| | 02:22 | the continuity of the
original wide shot you need to inner cut.
| | 02:25 | Of course, you can always locate and compare
the original shot on the camera if time allows.
| | 02:31 | But another tip that will help you pull
this off is if you shift to a slightly
| | 02:35 | different angle when you shoot your close shots.
| | 02:38 | The shift in viewpoint will help hide
the fact that your subject's hands or
| | 02:42 | something else in the shot may have actually
been in a different position for the wide shot.
| | 02:46 | (video playing)
| | 02:49 | When shooting with multiple cameras, if
you designate one camera as a handheld
| | 02:53 | camera, it can go a long way to
getting much more dynamic coverage with more
| | 02:58 | shots, perspectives, and motion.
| | 03:01 | Similarly, demos can get pretty static visually,
| | 03:04 | so see if you can pull off a few
well-timed slider or dolly moves and raise the
| | 03:08 | production value a little.
| | 03:10 | Even subtle moves like a gentle pan left,
a slow zoom in, or small tilt up will
| | 03:15 | go a long way to help liven things up on
screen and hold the audience's visual attention.
| | 03:20 | (video playing)
| | 03:23 | If the overall demo or certain parts of
the demo are longer than you have screen
| | 03:26 | time for, you'll need to think about
how you might condense that in editing.
| | 03:32 | Typically, this is done with a
simple dissolve or other shot transition.
| | 03:35 | In addition, many cameras now also
have a time-lapse function, also known as
| | 03:40 | interval recording, that can visually
show the whole process while condensing the
| | 03:44 | overall screen time down
to a fraction of reality.
| | 03:48 | For the sake of time, if you have a
multi-step process such as making a
| | 03:52 | surfboard, it's a standard practice to
ask your subject to have samples of the
| | 03:56 | product at various stages
of production all ready to go.
| | 04:00 | Just because it takes multiple days to
make a surfboard doesn't mean we have
| | 04:04 | to spend multiple days to shoot it.
| | 04:06 | Whether it's a surfboard or making
a strawberry souffle, with a little
| | 04:10 | preplanning, you can not only condense
screen time, but more importantly, you can
| | 04:14 | condense valuable production time.
| | 04:17 | A lot of times, demos are little more
spontaneous and produced in the moment
| | 04:22 | because you don't always know exactly
what a subject is going to want to show
| | 04:24 | you, especially if it's a subject
matter that you are not familiar with.
| | 04:28 | However, one decision you will need to
make ahead of time is exactly when and
| | 04:32 | where you plan to use screen graphics.
| | 04:35 | This is an important decision, because
if are going to use onscreen text or
| | 04:39 | graphic overlays, you have to make sure
your composure your shot accordingly and
| | 04:43 | leave some empty space in
the frame for your graphic.
| | 04:47 | It's also not a bad practice to pop off
a few generic lockdown video shots of a
| | 04:52 | demo material or location that can
later be used as all-purpose backgrounds for
| | 04:57 | any graphic ideas you might
come up with in postproduction.
| | 05:00 | Similarly, a high-quality still photo could
also serve as a good background for graphics.
| | 05:05 | And if you're really in a jam and
editing at 2 in the morning, you may even be
| | 05:11 | able to find an appropriate stock photo online.
| | 05:14 | So, those are all my tips
for shooting demo interviews.
| | 05:17 | Make sure your subject is explaining the
things your audience will want to know.
| | 05:21 | Think about how you can condense time
for longer processes. And whether using one
| | 05:26 | camera or three make sure, you get
solid coverage with enough close-ups and
| | 05:30 | camera moves to keep it
visually varied and interesting.
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| Conducting a group interview| 00:01 | Shooting a group interview is a good
and practical technique whenever you want
| | 00:05 | to get different opinions and
viewpoints on the same subject from multiple
| | 00:09 | people, particularly
multiple people from a larger group.
| | 00:13 | So rather than interviewing just one
representative student, customer, or
| | 00:17 | employee, you're interviewing a hand-
picked "random sampling" of the larger group.
| | 00:23 | Although group interviews are more
complex to shoot then solo interviews, they
| | 00:27 | have three very big practical advantages.
| | 00:29 | Number one, you can capture the
opinions and input of a bunch of people for
| | 00:34 | about the same amount of time, setup, and
expense it would take you to interview
| | 00:38 | just one person alone.
| | 00:40 | And number two, group interviews can be
particularly effective if you're dealing
| | 00:45 | with subjects who are
likely to be more camera shy.
| | 00:47 | This is especially true with many
children and young people who find greater
| | 00:51 | confidence and safety in numbers.
| | 00:54 | One good comment begets another and
subjects have more time to gather their own
| | 00:58 | thoughts when waiting for their turn to speak.
| | 01:00 | And the third big advantage is that the
group setting also tends to magnify the
| | 01:06 | energy and emotion of the interview.
| | 01:08 | Whatever type of energy your
questions foster, whether its enthusiasm for
| | 01:12 | product or anger against the public
policy, it will usually be magnified when
| | 01:17 | discussed in a group of people
more so then in solo interviews.
| | 01:22 | One thing I always recommend you try to
do is to have your client produces a many
| | 01:26 | elements of the project
that's possible with your guidance.
| | 01:31 | Specifically, I mean tasks such as
choosing the locations, scheduling, finding
| | 01:36 | the subjects you will need to
interview--anything like that.
| | 01:39 | Nobody knows their company employees or
patrons better than the people in charge
| | 01:43 | and if anyone else does, it's certainly ain't you.
| | 01:45 | So this method of finding subjects is
much more practical than randomly picking
| | 01:50 | or prescreening dozens of people to
find a true representative handful.
| | 01:55 | Having your client's cast the
interviewees will also save you immeasurable time
| | 01:58 | and energy and preproduction.
| | 02:00 | We always want to work smarter not just harder.
| | 02:03 | Lastly, if the people aren't very good
or there is internal political fallout
| | 02:07 | over who was or wasn't chosen for the project,
| | 02:10 | the people who hired you take the heat, not you.
| | 02:14 | Next, let's talk about how you
should light a group interview.
| | 02:17 | In order to adequately light a large
group of people, I recommend using one or
| | 02:22 | more wide, soft, even light sources.
| | 02:25 | And if you really want to go au
natural, a relatively private spot outdoors
| | 02:30 | might also work to save you
time and hassle with the lighting.
| | 02:33 | Of course any time you're shooting
outdoors you still have new potential issues
| | 02:39 | with audio and sunlight, so try to
scout it first and think it through.
| | 02:44 | I strongly recommend using two cameras
with this technique. A two-camera setup--
| | 02:49 | one camera on solo shots and the
other camera on a wider group or partial
| | 02:53 | group shot--allows you to avoid having
to edit in sloppy zoom moves as the main
| | 02:57 | cameraperson hunts to find the person
speaking for the first few seconds of the close-up.
| | 03:02 | Instead, using two cameras you can
always smoothly cut from the wide group shot
| | 03:08 | to the close-up individual
shot once the camera settles.
| | 03:12 | Now, if have access to two cameras but
only have limited manpower, you can always
| | 03:17 | carefully set up your wide shot on an
unmanned camera and just keep a careful eye
| | 03:21 | on the focus and exposure.
| | 03:24 | I strongly recommend two cameras for
group interviews, but if you ain't got two
| | 03:28 | got cameras, then you ain't got two cameras.
| | 03:30 | It doesn't mean that you can't do a
group interview; it just means it'll be a
| | 03:34 | little bit trickier.
| | 03:36 | So to cover a group more
organically with a single camera, you want the
| | 03:40 | cameraperson to keep a steady hand on
the camera, use a fairly loose tripod, and
| | 03:45 | very smoothly adjust the shot,
either zooming in or panning over to each
| | 03:50 | speaker as they begin.
| | 03:52 | You may occasionally have to ask
someone to restart their answer if you weren't on
| | 03:56 | a good shot when they started
speaking or if you botch your camera move.
| | 04:00 | However, by carefully observing body
language in the group, a good camera operator
| | 04:05 | would develop a pretty clear
feel for who will speak and when.
| | 04:09 | Another important consideration of a
group interview is how you will stage a group.
| | 04:14 | In other words, who are going to sit and where?
| | 04:18 | The first step to staging a group
interview is scouting locations ahead of time.
| | 04:22 | You're usually going to make your
staging decisions based on the size of the
| | 04:26 | group, the location seating, lighting
limitations, group diversity, and age, sex,
| | 04:33 | height, race, and the aesthetic color
palette of the group, as dictated by their
| | 04:37 | clothing, hair color, and skin tone.
| | 04:41 | Smaller groups of three to five
people could be staged on a sofa, bench, or
| | 04:45 | chairs lined up in a row, or
semicircle sitting at three positions around a
| | 04:48 | square or round table.
| | 04:51 | For larger groups of 6 to 12 people,
you'll probably need to stage people in
| | 04:55 | rows at different heights in order
to get everyone in the shot at once.
| | 05:00 | Any space with stadium seating such as a
lecture hall or theater is great for this setup,
| | 05:06 | but steps or bleaches can
also work for some projects.
| | 05:09 | Be wise about how you pick your people
and arrange them according to height and
| | 05:13 | color of their clothes so
they look good on screen.
| | 05:16 | You want to find that perfect position
for all the group members so that your
| | 05:20 | frame looks balanced and we
could see everyone's faces clearly.
| | 05:24 | And a final tip on staging: if you
stage a group with just a little physical
| | 05:28 | space between interviewees or frame your
close-up tight enough, you can even cut
| | 05:33 | the finished video to appear as if you
shot several individual interviews and
| | 05:38 | never even reveal to the audience
that those people were shot all at once.
| | 05:43 | Another important part of pulling off a
group interview is deciding how you will
| | 05:47 | cover the audio of multiple
people speaking at the same time.
| | 05:52 | I think the best way to cover a group
interview is with the boom operator, who
| | 05:56 | can quickly move the boom pole into
position to pick up anyone in the group.
| | 06:01 | A shotgun or cardioid mic is a good
choice to mount on the boom. If you don't
| | 06:05 | have a boom operator available, you
could also mount two cardioid mics on boom
| | 06:09 | stands just out of the shot.
| | 06:11 | If you go the route of using unmanned
boom mics for a group interview, avoid
| | 06:15 | shotgun mics and use a mic with a
cardioid pattern instead to ensure that you
| | 06:20 | pick up all the speakers at a more even level.
| | 06:23 | Alternatively, if you have a smaller
group or enough mics, you could even put lav
| | 06:27 | mics on all the participants and run
them into a mixer before feeding them into
| | 06:31 | the two audio channels on your camera.
| | 06:33 | It will sound great, but this
is a lot more setup and work.
| | 06:36 | There are two ways you can go with
conducting a group interview. The first is
| | 06:42 | to just let the conversation
freeflow back and forth, for participants
| | 06:45 | occasionally overlapping or
interrupting each other as enthusiasm and natural
| | 06:49 | reaction to take over the conversation, such as
might happen during a heated political debate.
| | 06:54 | The second approach is to conduct the
interview of a little more formally, so
| | 06:58 | you can get good, clean sound bites
from everyone and preserve the ability to
| | 07:03 | isolate any single person's commentary.
| | 07:06 | If you wish to do this right before the
interview, tell the participants in the
| | 07:10 | group to signal when they wish to speak,
and then pause for just a few seconds
| | 07:15 | before speaking to allow you the time to
reframe your shot and move the boom mic into position.
| | 07:21 | This goes really smoothly if you or the
cameraperson simply gives them a quick
| | 07:25 | hand signal to speak once the
camera is set and focused on the shot.
| | 07:29 | So as you can see, group interviews
definitely have their challenges, but the
| | 07:34 | payoffs are equally as big if
you pull them off successfully.
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|
|
4. Making People Look GoodUsing lighting and camera position to make people look great| 00:05 | However, that doesn't mean that we
still can't take steps to make anybody,
| | 00:09 | even ourselves, look a little bit better and
correct some common video-appearance issues.
| | 00:14 | Apart from makeup, there are few things
we can do with the lighting and camera
| | 00:17 | angles to show people in
their best light, literally.
| | 00:20 | One of the real keys to making people
look good is knowing how not to make them
| | 00:25 | look bad to begin with.
| | 00:27 | Contrary to popular belief, the camera
doesn't put on 10 pounds; bad camera people do.
| | 00:33 | To make people look slimmer, or better yet,
but to avoid making them look heavier
| | 00:38 | to begin with, there are
three simple things you can do.
| | 00:42 | First, try raising the camera up a
little so you can shoot them from a slightly
| | 00:46 | higher angle than eye level.
| | 00:47 | A slightly higher camera angle will
show less of the area below the chin and
| | 00:52 | psychologically make a subject
appear less large and imposing.
| | 00:55 | Similarly, to slim appearances, you
also want to light your subject from a
| | 01:00 | slightly higher angle and never from below.
| | 01:03 | By raising the light, you're
making the area below the face disappear
| | 01:07 | completely into the shadows.
| | 01:09 | It's like a magic lighting spell.
| | 01:11 | Double chin be gone, alakazam!
| | 01:12 | Only it ain't magic; it's
just filmmaking know-how.
| | 01:16 | Remember, filmmaking skills and knowledge
trump filmmaking tools every single time.
| | 01:22 | Next, you want to make sure your key
light is focused on the side of the face
| | 01:27 | that is turned away from the camera.
| | 01:29 | This is called short lighting and it
allows you to create a shadow on the near
| | 01:34 | side of the face, which helps to
visually slim down the subject's appearance.
| | 01:38 | What you're really trying to do is
actually shape your subjects face using light
| | 01:42 | as your pencil and shadow as your eraser.
| | 01:45 | Whatever we don't want the audience
to see or focus on in our frame is what
| | 01:49 | we're going to erase with shadows.
| | 01:51 | Now conversely, if you ever want to
broaden the face of a thin person, you would
| | 01:55 | aim your key light on the side of their
face that's closest to the camera which
| | 01:59 | is known as broad lighting.
| | 02:02 | Now, let's look at another issue
people are sometime self-conscious about,
| | 02:05 | and that's nose size.
| | 02:06 | If a subject has a prominent nose,
there are two quick and easy steps you
| | 02:11 | can take to perform a little video plastic
surgery free of charge, no anesthesia needed.
| | 02:16 | Even if your subject doesn't have a
big nose, this technique will work to
| | 02:20 | slim down any size nose.
| | 02:22 | The key to shooting a subject with a
large nose in the most flattering light
| | 02:25 | is to avoid shooting them from profile or side
angles and also avoid shooting them from below.
| | 02:31 | Instead, shoot and light these
subjects from a more dead-on angle.
| | 02:35 | This helps to avoid a large nose shadow
and makes the nose look much flatter and
| | 02:40 | less three-dimensional.
| | 02:41 | Now normally, you would avoid dead-on
lighting and angles that flatten out faces,
| | 02:45 | but this is a chase where we break
one filmmaking rule to enforce another:
| | 02:50 | always show your talent in
the most flattering light.
| | 02:54 | Now, another area we want to pay
attention to when it comes to making people
| | 02:57 | look good is skin tone.
| | 02:59 | Now I happen to be blessed with this
beautiful smooth rich mocha complexion, but
| | 03:03 | some of the people that sit before
your camera may be a little more or even a
| | 03:07 | lot more pale than me.
| | 03:08 | Fortunately, pale skin is actually
another pretty quick and easy fix.
| | 03:14 | First, we could add an amber or CTO,
Color Temperature Orange, gel to our key
| | 03:18 | light to warm up our subject's skin tone some.
| | 03:21 | Obviously, the stronger the gel, the
more pronounced the effect will be.
| | 03:25 | Similarly, you could also bounce
artificial or sunlight off of a soft gold
| | 03:31 | reflector to add a
healthy dose of tan skin tone.
| | 03:35 | We could also white balance to a warm card.
| | 03:37 | A warm card, for our purposes, is just any very
pale-blue or very pale-green card or surface.
| | 03:43 | When you white balance on a color
other than white, you get the color wheel
| | 03:47 | opposite of that color.
| | 03:48 | So by white balancing on cool colors
like pale green and blue, we add more warm
| | 03:52 | red and orange tones to our image.
| | 03:54 | Similarly, if your camera allows,
you can also go into the menu and manually
| | 04:00 | dial in a warmer color
temperature to warm up a subject's skin tone.
| | 04:05 | One big thing to keep in mind with these
last two techniques is that anytime you
| | 04:08 | manipulate the white balance,
| | 04:10 | it affects the entire image,
not just your subject's skin tone.
| | 04:14 | So, sometimes the whole shot will work
better warm and others you want to use a
| | 04:18 | technique that just hones in on your subject.
| | 04:20 | Lastly, applying makeup that's a shade
or two darker than your subject's skin tone
| | 04:25 | will also help remedy pale skin.
| | 04:27 | Now occasionally you'll be shooting
some interviews where you'll have a dark-
| | 04:31 | skin subject and a lighter-
skin subject sitting side by side.
| | 04:35 | The problem this presents is that
these two different skin tones call for
| | 04:38 | different levels of light.
| | 04:39 | Simply put, dark-skin
people like me need more light.
| | 04:43 | So when shooting a Caucasian person
sitting next to a black person with the
| | 04:46 | single light source, try using a ND gel,
scrim, or net, on the lighter-skin person
| | 04:52 | so that they will both be better
exposed for the individual complexions.
| | 04:56 | Also, dark skin looks best on
camera with a little bit of a sheen,
| | 05:01 | so don't overdo the powder.
| | 05:02 | A little well-placed ND
gel and there you have it.
| | 05:06 | Remember, it's not the
camera that makes people look bad;
| | 05:09 | it's bad camera people who do.
| | 05:11 | I suggest you commit all of these
techniques to memory and make sure you use
| | 05:15 | your camera lights and filmmaking know-
how to always make people look their
| | 05:19 | very best, because if they don't
look good, you don't look good.
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| Identifying clothing to avoid| 00:01 | Now I just want to talk
quickly about the subject's clothing.
| | 00:04 | If it's appropriate and fitting with
your project, you may want to suggest that
| | 00:08 | the subject wears specific clothing,
such as a military uniform, traditional
| | 00:12 | costume, or certain style or dress
such as business attire or summer casual.
| | 00:16 | If your interview doesn't specifically
called for set clothing, it's not that
| | 00:20 | big a deal what you tell your subjects to wear.
| | 00:23 | However, it's very important that you
tell your subject what type of clothing
| | 00:26 | not to wear when you
speak to them ahead of time.
| | 00:29 | There are a few types of clothing and
accessories that are very un-camera friendly to video.
| | 00:34 | Clothing with logos is obviously a
potential legal issue and may need to be
| | 00:38 | blurred out in post, particularly if
your piece will eventually be broadcast
| | 00:42 | or released theatrically.
| | 00:43 | So, it's best to avoid shirts and hats with
big and obvious third-party logos and brands.
| | 00:48 | However, a much bigger problem to deal
with are certain patterns and colors that
| | 00:53 | can be very problematic for video.
| | 00:55 | Some of these problems are
largely unfixable in post-production.
| | 00:59 | So whenever possible, they should be avoided.
| | 01:02 | Let's look at the usual suspects.
| | 01:04 | First up, herringbone and paisley
patterns and thin stripes are all very
| | 01:09 | problematic for video.
| | 01:10 | All of these patterns in clothing
result in the video phenomenon known as a
| | 01:14 | moire effect or moiring that causes
funky vibrating rainbow patterns that
| | 01:19 | can't be fixed in pot.
| | 01:21 | This is a particular problem to look
out for with neckties, jackets, and sweaters.
| | 01:27 | Even if the clothing does not have a
printed pattern per se, sometimes a
| | 01:31 | surface texture on something like a rib
sweater actually appears on camera as thin stripes.
| | 01:36 | So, be careful.
| | 01:38 | Certain solid-colored fabrics and
knits can also cause a moire effect.
| | 01:42 | This is more likely to happen on
wider shots, since the wider the shot, the
| | 01:46 | thinner any stripes will appear in the frame.
| | 01:50 | The next big thing to avoid is the color red.
| | 01:53 | Red tends to bleed or glow on
camera, especially on lower-end cameras.
| | 01:58 | But even if you shoot on a higher-end
cameras with great resolutions and big
| | 02:01 | imaging chips, they're still a very
good likelihood that your finished video
| | 02:05 | will automatically be seen by an
audience only after it's been compressed to
| | 02:09 | DVD or into a smaller streaming video format.
| | 02:13 | This is important to note because
red also bleeds much more after a video
| | 02:18 | has been compressed.
| | 02:19 | So, a little saturation in the reds of
your raw footage can easily become a big
| | 02:23 | ugly red glow in the final product
once it's been edited and uploaded.
| | 02:28 | Another type of clothing that can
be an issue is bright white clothing.
| | 02:33 | If your subject is wearing a bright
white shirt or their whole outfit is white
| | 02:36 | on white with white stripes, then you
may have to worry about their outfit
| | 02:40 | blowing out on camera.
| | 02:41 | This is a particularly tricky exposure
issue if you have a darker-skin subject
| | 02:45 | in all white clothing.
| | 02:47 | It just becomes very difficult to
expose for the subject's face without
| | 02:51 | overexposing the subject's clothing.
| | 02:53 | If changing clothing isn't an option,
try using an ND gel on the part of the
| | 02:58 | light hitting their white clothing or
just frame up a tighter shot so there
| | 03:01 | would be less of an
overexposed area in your shot.
| | 03:05 | Now, all black clothing can also
be an issue for the opposite reason.
| | 03:08 | The clothing is too dark and crucial
visual details are lost to underexposure.
| | 03:13 | So, it becomes difficult for the
audience to make out things such as ripples,
| | 03:17 | pockets, fabric texture, and body shape.
| | 03:20 | Again, you could put more light on just
the dark clothing or you could open your
| | 03:24 | iris up to expose for the dark clothing,
then use an ND gel to bring down just
| | 03:29 | the light on your subject's face.
| | 03:33 | Now let's talk about green screen.
| | 03:35 | If you're shooting anything on a green-
screen background, it's very important
| | 03:39 | that you instruct your subject not
to wear anything with the color green.
| | 03:43 | And the last clothing item
I want to mention are hats.
| | 03:46 | The obvious problem that hats
can cause the face to be in shadow.
| | 03:50 | And of course, the face and eyes are
the most important things we need to see.
| | 03:54 | The easiest solution is to just have
your subject take off the hat, but that may
| | 03:58 | not be the best solution for a good interview.
| | 04:01 | Wearing a hat on camera may be a
fashion choice, but it may also be that the
| | 04:05 | person is self-conscious without
the hat, because the old hairline is
| | 04:08 | starting to creep back or maybe they just
didn't get their hair done at the salon that day.
| | 04:12 | If they showed up to be on camera wearing a
hat, my guess is it's probably for a reason.
| | 04:17 | For some people, the hat is just part of the
personalities so it would be non-negotiable.
| | 04:21 | We want our subjects to always be
as comfortable as possible on camera.
| | 04:24 | So when possible, if someone prefers
to wear a hat, we may need to adjust our
| | 04:29 | lighting a little lower than normal or
add an extra light to make sure we're
| | 04:32 | getting enough light up
under the brim of that hat.
| | 04:35 | Remember, we're primarily concerned with
the color and pattern of people's tops:
| | 04:40 | shirts, jackets, sweaters and things like that.
| | 04:42 | Pants, skirts and the bottom half of
the outfit aren't usually onscreen that
| | 04:47 | much, so bottoms usually aren't that much worry.
| | 04:50 | Finally, I suggest that you always tell
your subjects to bring three different
| | 04:54 | tops that they like so that you'll
have easy options if one doesn't work out.
| | 04:58 | Remember, if you take the time
beforehand to tell your subjects and onscreen
| | 05:02 | talent what not to wear, you can
almost always avoid the most common
| | 05:06 | clothing issues.
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|
|
5. Preparing and Conducting the InterviewCrafting interview questions| 00:01 | Okay, we've gone over a lot of
technical and logistical issues, but now I'm
| | 00:05 | going to get to the real heart of the
interview process: your questions and
| | 00:09 | conversation with your subject.
| | 00:11 | Everything you've done up to this
point--lighting, setting mics, framing and
| | 00:15 | all of that stuff--will all have been
for not if you don't craft and ask your
| | 00:20 | questions properly.
| | 00:21 | It's now all up to you and you
alone to elicit your subject's funniest
| | 00:25 | anecdotes, most painful memories,
long-held secrets, mind-blowing theories, and
| | 00:29 | candid opinions in a way that your
audience will find compelling. Whether the
| | 00:34 | topic is a personal tale of
triumph or the history of accounting,
| | 00:37 | you need to make sure that your
onscreen conversation is coherent, engaging, and
| | 00:42 | accomplishes the main goal of your interview.
| | 00:45 | Now, even if you have a charming and
vivacious personality like me, you still
| | 00:49 | don't want to just wing itt
the day of your interview.
| | 00:52 | Not only do you need to come up with a
good list of questions, you also need to
| | 00:56 | write them out in a logical order.
| | 00:58 | I recommend brainstorming and writing
down every question that anyone might
| | 01:02 | possibly want to know about the
topic at hand and then go back and edit this
| | 01:06 | list down by identifying the question that
most pertain to the goal of your interview.
| | 01:11 | Once you've identified the best
questions on your list, put them in a logical
| | 01:16 | order that will help your subject
narrate the story so that it has a clear
| | 01:20 | beginning, middle, and end.
| | 01:25 | People often ask me how
many questions they should ask.
| | 01:27 | Of course, the exact number always
depends, but the number of questions should be
| | 01:32 | determined by the length of time you
have with your subject, anticipated the
| | 01:36 | amount of screen time in the final
project, and how in depth you want to get.
| | 01:39 | I also recommend starting off with a
few softball questions that don't require
| | 01:45 | much thought so that
you'll get to subject warmed up.
| | 01:48 | (So, let's start off with, where did you grow up?)
| | 01:51 | (Male speaker: I grew up in San Diego, California, which makes
sense for the surfing because it's the biggest surf city.)
| | 01:58 | Remember, you're trying to get to
your subject to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end.
| | 02:02 | Make sure your questions logically lead them
through each part and build to the main issue.
| | 02:07 | At the end, get your subject to reflect on
what they've just told you and sum it all up.
| | 02:12 | The type of questions you ask will largely
determine the quality and depth of your interview,
| | 02:18 | so avoid asking leading questions or
questions that can be answered with simple yes or no.
| | 02:23 | Remember, you want your subject to
paint the picture in their words, not just
| | 02:27 | coloring your preconceived lines.
| | 02:29 | So, questions that begin with words such
as How, Why, Where, and What will elicit
| | 02:34 | stronger, more in-depth
answers from your subject.
| | 02:37 | Whereas questions that begin with words
such as Did, Are, Will, and Was are much
| | 02:42 | more likely to get you short,
general one- and two-word answers.
| | 02:47 | Another way to avoid short answers from
your subject is to pause a beat or two.
| | 02:51 | (So, what makes for a good surfboard?)
(Male speaker: There are a lot of different things.)
| | 03:00 | Don't rush to fill in every moment of silence.
| | 03:03 | Your subject will naturally want to fill in
the gaps by elaborating more on the answer.
| | 03:08 | Regardless of who you're interviewing,
you also want to always be mindful of the
| | 03:12 | pacing and length of your interview.
| | 03:14 | Know when to move on to a new
question and be particularly vigilant if your
| | 03:18 | subject appears to be
losing energy and getting tired.
| | 03:22 | Now, even with a great set of
well-thought-out questions, you're inevitably
| | 03:26 | leading the conversation from your perspective.
| | 03:29 | Your subject will probably still have
at least one or two things she'd like
| | 03:32 | to say that she thinks is important or may
have been missed in the earlier conversation.
| | 03:36 | And ultimately, the subject's
prospective is the one you really want to capture.
| | 03:40 | That's where what I'd like to
call the soapbox question comes in.
| | 03:43 | (And my last question for you is simply this:
Is there anything that I have not asked you about
| | 03:47 | This is your subject's chance to get on
their soapbox and deliver an opinion or
| | 03:51 | (your surf shop or surfing or anything at all that you
want to say to the audience about this topic?)
| | 03:56 | (Female speaker: Certainly. I would that if you have not tried surfing,
it is one of the best ways to connect your to nature...)
| | 04:12 | commentary about any
aspect of the topic they'd like.
| | 04:16 | I have found that the soapbox question
is often the most passionate part of the
| | 04:20 | interview, with the best quotes.
| | 04:22 | It's also not unusual that even after
all of my well-thought-out questions, the
| | 04:26 | only soundbite that actually makes my
final project is the subject's answer to
| | 04:30 | the soapbox question.
| | 04:32 | So, the soapbox question provides
an opportunity for your subject to
| | 04:36 | further explain any answer that
was given earlier that she feels was
| | 04:40 | unclear or incomplete.
| | 04:43 | In closing, a good interview, like any other
filmmaking project, starts with preparation,
| | 04:48 | coming in with the right
questions in the right order.
| | 04:51 | So, don't just wing it the day of the interview.
| | 04:54 | If you take the proper time to think
through your narrative and carefully edit
| | 04:57 | and craft the arc of your questions
on paper, you will have a much greater
| | 05:01 | chance of capturing your story on
screen and accomplishing your interview goal.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Handling subjects during the interview| 00:01 | Now here's an important concept that I
want to make sure you get from this course.
| | 00:05 | Ultimately, your questions are just
a guideline to keep you focused on
| | 00:09 | your interview goal.
| | 00:11 | Don't make the novice mistake of just
going straight down your list of questions
| | 00:15 | one after another without regard to
your subject's specific answers and demeanor.
| | 00:20 | You have to pay careful attention
and read between the lines of what your
| | 00:24 | subject is telling you verbally and
physically, because it may be necessary to
| | 00:28 | change, jump ahead, or skip some of
your questions as the conversation dictates.
| | 00:34 | Listening and responding in the
moment is what makes a difference between
| | 00:38 | your subject feeling like they are having
an engaging conversation versus an on-
| | 00:42 | camera interrogation.
| | 00:44 | If you subject mentions something
that's relevant to your goal but isn't
| | 00:47 | part of your list to prepared questions, you
need to follow up and explore that avenue.
| | 00:52 | So there's the spontaneity for
those of you that like to wing it.
| | 00:55 | And let me be clear here: prepping
questions does not take away your spontaneity.
| | 01:00 | It actually allows you to be more
spontaneous without getting off track.
| | 01:05 | It's very important the people feel that
you are actually listening, so you want
| | 01:09 | to give them verbal and nonverbal
feedback to let them know you're paying
| | 01:13 | attention, encourage them, or
elicit a stronger emotional response.
| | 01:18 | Obviously, your verbal feedback should
be geared towards your subject's previous
| | 01:21 | comments, but there are a variety of
common gestures, expressions, and brief
| | 01:25 | comments that you can use to encourage
your subjects and get them to explain
| | 01:29 | more and do so with more passion and detail.
| | 01:33 | If you want to get a stronger narrative
on more in-depth explanation from your
| | 01:37 | subject, try slightly embellishing
your feedback or challenging their answer.
| | 01:40 | (Male speaker: They like to feel like they're on the water.)
| | 01:43 | (Anthony: Are you serious? Really,
when you were six? Serious? That's amazing!)
| | 01:50 | If you amplify your feedback, your
subject will naturally amplify his answer.
| | 01:55 | Applying these everyday phrases and
social behaviors as conscious interview
| | 01:59 | techniques will help turn a
perceived interrogation into a real and lively
| | 02:04 | two-way conversation.
| | 02:05 | See how that word keeps coming out?
| | 02:08 | Another aspect of the interview
you'll have to manage is time.
| | 02:12 | Always be respectful of your subject's
time constraints, particularly when it
| | 02:16 | comes to any VIP interviews.
| | 02:19 | If your subject is a high-profile
person, such as a CEO, major entertainer, or
| | 02:24 | government official, chances
are their time is very limited,
| | 02:27 | so these types of interviews
are generally more condensed.
| | 02:31 | It's not unusual but you might only be
granted 10 to 20 minutes with a VIP.
| | 02:35 | If that's the case, ask one or two
primary questions, then get right to your point.
| | 02:40 | Most people who are used to giving
public statements and being oncamera don't
| | 02:44 | need that much warm-up.
| | 02:46 | Regardless of who you are interviewing,
you also want to always be mindful
| | 02:50 | of the pacing and length of your
interview. Know when to move on to a new
| | 02:54 | question and be particularly vigilant
if your subject appears to be losing
| | 02:58 | energy and getting tired.
| | 02:59 | Under the bright lights and stress of
answering questions, people who aren't
| | 03:03 | used to being on camera can
expire much quicker than usual.
| | 03:06 | It's always better to end on a strong
point rather than to beat the topic and
| | 03:11 | your subject into the ground.
| | 03:12 | So we've already established the
importance of crafting the proper questions,
| | 03:17 | but even more important than your
questions is your ability to be able to listen
| | 03:21 | to your subject and respond
accordingly in the moment.
| | 03:25 | Then and only then will you actually
be able to capture on camera a real and
| | 03:30 | engaging conversation.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Identifying common interview problems| 00:01 | Sooner or later, you'll encounter
any number of common interview hazards.
| | 00:06 | Never be afraid to momentarily
stop the interview and address any
| | 00:10 | serious technical problems.
| | 00:11 | That great story they are telling or
that emotional moment you have carefully
| | 00:15 | led them to could be completely
unusable if all we hear is a loud mic
| | 00:19 | brushing against the scarf or all we
see is a blinding reflection of the
| | 00:23 | lights in their glasses.
| | 00:24 | It's much better to interrupt the
flow and get it right than to capture
| | 00:27 | something that's unusable.
| | 00:29 | Make sure you communicate to your
sound and camera person that they should
| | 00:33 | notify you if any technical issue
occurs that might make a shot unusable, even
| | 00:38 | if it means interrupting the interview.
| | 00:40 | This is particularly important if you
don't have a monitor or aren't wearing
| | 00:44 | headphones yourself.
| | 00:45 | These issues will usually reveal
themselves in the first few minutes of shooting,
| | 00:49 | so the impact of an
interruption will often be minimal.
| | 00:53 | It may be frustrating to be
interrupted when you are on a roll, but it's
| | 00:57 | infuriating to discover a technical
issue that's now unfixable in the editing
| | 01:01 | room long after the fact.
| | 01:03 | If you and your crew agreed
beforehand on a simple set of hand signals for
| | 01:07 | routine things like pull out, push in,
focus, or raise a boom, it will help keep
| | 01:12 | the flow of your interview with the
minimal interruptions in the conversation.
| | 01:16 | I highly recommend that directors use both
a monitor and headphones whenever possible.
| | 01:21 | Any television hooked up to your camera is
fine to use as an impromptu monitor in a pinch.
| | 01:27 | Remember to only glance at
the monitor periodically.
| | 01:30 | You want to maintain good eye contact
with the subject and definitely keep the
| | 01:34 | monitor out of your subject's
view once the interview gets rolling.
| | 01:37 | Your sound person should always have
earphones, but whenever possible, you
| | 01:42 | should don a pair as well to make
sure that you pick up on the myriad of
| | 01:45 | potential sound issues that go
unnoticed by the naked ear but can still
| | 01:49 | easily ruin an interview.
| | 01:50 | Once the interview has begun, you need
to be mindful of a few possible issues
| | 01:55 | that can still crop up.
| | 01:57 | It's common, especially during long
interviews, that a camera or sound person
| | 02:01 | may just get tired and zone out for a
few moments or even become so captivated
| | 02:05 | by what's being said that they miss some
technical issue that occurs during shooting.
| | 02:08 | So I'm going to quickly run over a few
common things to watch out for and talk
| | 02:14 | about how you can deal with each.
| | 02:16 | One of the things you want to
be aware of is a moving subject.
| | 02:19 | It's not unusual for people to
unconsciously twist or shift positions when
| | 02:23 | sitting in a chair for a period of time.
The potential problems with this are threefold:
| | 02:28 | they could move out of the light,
throw out the composition of the shot, or just
| | 02:32 | become soft focused.
| | 02:34 | If your subject is shifting a lot or
it's really distracting on camera, you can
| | 02:38 | gently let them know they're shifting.
| | 02:40 | (video playing)
| | 02:46 | If it's not too bad, you can make some
simple corrections on your side of the
| | 02:50 | camera by adjusting your framing and
lighting to cover a wider area and having
| | 02:54 | the camera person more critically watch focus.
| | 02:57 | If your camera has it, the peaking feature is
great for detecting subtle shifts and focus.
| | 03:03 | And lastly, the camera operator could
keep a slightly loose tripod and just
| | 03:08 | shift the frame on the fly as the
subject moves a little to the left or right.
| | 03:13 | Along the same lines, sometimes the
camera operator may not balance the camera
| | 03:17 | well or tighten the tripod enough and
the camera may start to slowly tilt up or
| | 03:21 | down gradually throwing off the composition.
| | 03:24 | It helps to make mental notes of visual
markers for the edge of your frame, so
| | 03:28 | you can easily tell if a
shot starts to drift too much.
| | 03:31 | Of course, everyone is familiar with
the old boom pole dipping into the shot.
| | 03:35 | If you can't signal your boom out,
don't forget that the camera person always
| | 03:39 | has the most immediate fix: tighten a
shot or tilt down to crop the mic out.
| | 03:45 | Occasionally, subjects may hit the
mic when they make a certain gesture or
| | 03:49 | touch their clothing.
| | 03:50 | These are the situation where using
a backup boom mic really pays off.
| | 03:53 | (video playing)
| | 04:04 | You can always ask your subject to
watch the mic, but remember, we want to
| | 04:08 | minimize giving our subjects extra
instruction and things to worry about.
| | 04:13 | Lastly, you want to always make sure
someone is monitoring the visual audio
| | 04:17 | levels on the camera and listening on
the headphones for any background noise
| | 04:21 | that's too distracting.
| | 04:23 | Don't be afraid to call cut,
because if the audio isn't good, the
| | 04:27 | interview isn't good.
| | 04:28 | So, after you do all that prep and
start capturing a great conversation on
| | 04:32 | video, don't let your victory be ruined
by technical issues at the finish line.
| | 04:37 | Stay vigilant, listen, look, and
quickly address any technical issues onset.
| | 04:43 | Half the secret of
professionalism is attention to the details.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Wrapping the interview| 00:01 | Now the last step of production is a wrap out.
| | 00:04 | This is where you pack up everything
and make sure you tie up any loose ends.
| | 00:09 | Before you officially instruct your crew
to wrap, you want to make sure that you
| | 00:13 | got all the coverage you need to edit.
| | 00:15 | Do you need any reaction shots?
| | 00:17 | How about an establishing shot of the location?
| | 00:20 | Did something come up in the interview
that suggests a particular cutaway or
| | 00:23 | B-roll shot that you don't have yet?
| | 00:26 | Going in prepared with the shot list
and production checklist and marking off
| | 00:30 | items as you go is the best way to
keep track of all of these things.
| | 00:34 | Check your shot list and notes and take
a moment to think it through before you
| | 00:38 | give the okay to wrap.
| | 00:39 | Once your confident you've you got
everything, you should profusely thank your
| | 00:44 | subject for the interview.
| | 00:45 | Subjects always want to know when the
piece will be posted online or screen and
| | 00:50 | whether they'll get a
copy of the finished video.
| | 00:52 | You should have these answers at the ready
for them or contact them as soon as you do know.
| | 00:57 | If they don't already have one, you should
leave them your contact info or business card.
| | 01:01 | If you're going to be interviewing a
lot of people for a particular show or
| | 01:05 | project, a smart move would be to
create a simple business card with relevant
| | 01:09 | program information, a web address or
broadcast time, in addition to your own
| | 01:13 | contact information.
| | 01:14 | This will save you from having to keep
repeating the same information for every
| | 01:18 | interviewee, especially if you are
doing a lot of man-on-the-street segments.
| | 01:23 | Also important, if it's someone other
than the subject, thank the location owner
| | 01:27 | profusely for helping you make your project.
| | 01:30 | We want everyone involved to walk away from
our shoot with a good taste in their mouth.
| | 01:35 | If you wrap out right and do all the
things I'm telling you here, the end of
| | 01:39 | every day of shooting is
going to feel minty fresh.
| | 01:42 | Next, make sure your crew is careful
and pays attention to details as they pack up.
| | 01:48 | This is one of those times when it's
easier to let your guard down, because
| | 01:51 | you're exhausted and ecstatic
that you pulled off the shoot.
| | 01:54 | You all start patting each other on the
back and hauling loads a gear into the
| | 01:58 | car; meanwhile some vital accessory a
piece of equipment is left behind or the
| | 02:01 | location is not properly restored.
| | 02:04 | You still have to account for and pack
all of your equipment and restore the
| | 02:07 | location to the same or better
condition than you entered it.
| | 02:11 | So the shoot is almost done after
the last shot, but it ain't done yet.
| | 02:15 | Check your pack equipment against your
original list from the rental house or
| | 02:19 | your own personal equipment list.
| | 02:21 | Be extra careful removing tape, and
place all furniture and props, plants,
| | 02:25 | picture frames, and everything
else back where you found them.
| | 02:29 | It's always a good practice to pop off a
few still photos on your smartphone or
| | 02:33 | digital camera before you start
rearranging your location so you'll have an easy
| | 02:37 | reference to put everything back at the end.
| | 02:40 | Lastly don't forget to thank your crew,
again profusely, especially if they're
| | 02:45 | working for free, cheap, or just long hours.
| | 02:48 | These are the people that make a break
your project as much as the people in front of the camera.
| | 02:53 | Now let's talk about releases.
| | 02:55 | If you didn't already, it's important
that you get a signed talent release from
| | 02:59 | your interview subject as
soon as you finish the interview.
| | 03:03 | These forms give you legal permission
to use a person's physical likeness and
| | 03:06 | voice for your project.
| | 03:07 | When possible, it's always a smart practice
to get releases signed before the interview.
| | 03:13 | Doing so will ensure that you don't
forget and the subject won't get cold feet
| | 03:17 | and deny permission after the interview.
| | 03:20 | This is especially important if you
have a project that you think could
| | 03:23 | ultimately get festival,
broadcast, or theatrical screening.
| | 03:27 | You should probably consult an
entertainment attorney to draft a talent release
| | 03:31 | form to fit your specific needs.
| | 03:34 | There are also some websites online where
you can buy pre-made legal forms like releases.
| | 03:39 | This may save you the
trouble of hiring an attorney.
| | 03:41 | So, what should be on a release?
| | 03:44 | The most important element of the
release form is a line for your subject's
| | 03:48 | signature giving permission and the
lines for them to fill in their contact
| | 03:52 | information, including email and phone number.
| | 03:54 | You may need to follow up with these
people later on to get more information,
| | 03:57 | so make sure you know how to
find them if HBO does come calling.
| | 04:02 | Other information that could be on a
release is your production company name,
| | 04:06 | contact info. A line for parental
consent for minors under the age of 18 should
| | 04:10 | also be standard on your releases.
| | 04:14 | This gives you an idea of what will be
on a good release form, but again, don't
| | 04:18 | try to draft these up yourself.
| | 04:19 | It's best to get these forms
written by a legal professional.
| | 04:23 | Make sure that it's clear exactly
what subjects are consenting to, how the
| | 04:27 | interview is going to be used, and the
title of the project or projects that
| | 04:30 | they may appear in.
| | 04:32 | Whenever possible, give them a copy or
send them a copy of the release later.
| | 04:36 | The easiest thing is to have them fill out
a duplicate release and have them keep one.
| | 04:42 | If you have a tablet or smartphone,
there are some apps that will allow you to
| | 04:45 | do entirely digital
releases, including signatures.
| | 04:49 | You can then easily email
copies of the release as necessary.
| | 04:53 | Now, sometimes you'll be fortunate
enough to score a big interview on the spot
| | 04:56 | with a major celebrity or important figure.
| | 04:59 | In this case, you may have to wait and
contact your subject for release after
| | 05:03 | the fact, as such celebrities aren't
keen on signing anything apart from an
| | 05:07 | autograph on the spot.
| | 05:08 | They have agents, managers, assistants,
lawyers--otherwise known as "their people"--
| | 05:13 | that screen and handle this type of paperwork.
| | 05:15 | If you don't already know, casually
ask that celebrity who you should forward
| | 05:19 | the release form to, so
that you can use the interview.
| | 05:22 | If there are amenable to signing it
then, they'll do so or they'll tell you who
| | 05:25 | to contact later on.
| | 05:27 | They may want to see a copy before
they give final consent. So, that's it.
| | 05:32 | Make a list, check it twice, put
everything back where you got it, sprinkle a
| | 05:36 | little professional production dust
over the location, and make it look better
| | 05:40 | than it did before you got there.
| | 05:42 | Pack it up, wrap it up, thank
everybody profusely, get that signed release, and
| | 05:48 | you're out of there, baby!
| | Collapse this transcript |
|
|
6. Editing PreparationOrganizing transcripts and paper edits| 00:00 | As I've said before, the biggest
challenge to shooting documentary and
| | 00:05 | reality-based projects is capturing
and engaging conversation on video and
| | 00:09 | shooting it in a way that's also
visually interesting and complimentary.
| | 00:13 | However the next biggest challenge
you'll soon discover is figuring out how to
| | 00:17 | sort through all the material.
| | 00:20 | With an average short video project
featuring conversations with anywhere from
| | 00:24 | four to eight people, it's not at all
unusual to end up with two to four hours
| | 00:29 | of raw footage just for a typical
3-10 minute video project. And if you're
| | 00:33 | talking about a full-length television
or feature-length documentary, you can
| | 00:37 | easily have dozens of hours
of material to comb through.
| | 00:41 | It's always good to look at all your
raw material once over and take notes the
| | 00:45 | very first time you view it, write
down any suggested visuals, notable sound
| | 00:50 | bites that you know you'll want to use,
and any ideas that occur to you for how
| | 00:54 | to structure and arrange a story.
| | 00:55 | This is easy to do for a single interview
or two, but you'll probably still find
| | 01:00 | it overwhelming to get any real handle
on the full project from just a list of
| | 01:04 | notes on each interview.
| | 01:05 | An easier and much more efficient way
to tackle a large block of interview
| | 01:10 | material, especially if you have a
tight deadline, is to get written transcripts
| | 01:15 | of all your interviews, then use those
transcripts to quickly identify sound
| | 01:19 | bites and make what we call a paper edit.
| | 01:21 | So there are two ways to go about getting
transcripts: the hard way and the easy way.
| | 01:26 | The hard way is to put on a pair of
headphones and just play listen, rewind, and
| | 01:31 | type your way through each interview
until you have every word down on paper.
| | 01:36 | The problem with this is that it's incredibly
tedious if you aren't already a fast typist.
| | 01:41 | However, doing your own
transcript does have two big advantages.
| | 01:45 | Number one, you will be intimately
familiar with an interview by the time you
| | 01:49 | complete the transcript yourself
and number two, it costs you no money.
| | 01:53 | Of course the easiest way to get a
transcript is to pay a professional
| | 01:57 | transcription service to give you a
fully typed printout and file of the
| | 02:01 | contents and timecode of
each and every interview.
| | 02:05 | The advantages of this route is
that it saves you time and energy.
| | 02:08 | The only disadvantage is the cost.
| | 02:10 | Transcription rates vary widely by
provider, quality, and level of detail offered,
| | 02:16 | so shop around and ask, but you
should expect to pay at least a dollar per
| | 02:20 | minute for a transcript in most US markets.
| | 02:24 | Prices will vary by how soon you will
need the transcript turned around and how
| | 02:27 | detailed and accurate it needs to be.
| | 02:29 | For example, if you want the transcriber
to include every umm, ah, and background
| | 02:34 | noise, it would take longer and cost you more.
| | 02:37 | One important addition you want to
ask for is that the transcriber mark the
| | 02:41 | timecode or runtime two to three
times on each page of the transcript.
| | 02:45 | This may cost you a little extra, but
it will make the transcript a much easier
| | 02:49 | tool in the edit room.
| | 02:51 | In order to have a transcript made by
a service, you're going to need to give
| | 02:55 | them a video or audio copy of your interview.
| | 02:57 | You can physically deliver a hard copy,
but the easiest way is to use a file
| | 03:01 | transfer service like Dropbox or WeTransfer
and upload a digital file of your interview.
| | 03:07 | Even more convenient, many
transcription services now have interfaces that let
| | 03:12 | you upload your files directly to their website.
| | 03:14 | I recommend you export and send an
audio file instead of a video file when
| | 03:19 | practical, because it's a smaller file
and it's always wise to keep a tight rein
| | 03:23 | on digital copies of your raw footage.
| | 03:26 | Whenever you do send a video file for
transcription, you should export it with
| | 03:30 | the timecode burned in.
| | 03:32 | This will make your footage less likely
to be stolen and used elsewhere, and it
| | 03:36 | will also make it much easier for the
transcriber to note the exact timecode at
| | 03:40 | various points in the video.
| | 03:42 | It's important to remember that how
something reads on paper can still be very
| | 03:46 | different than how it actually plays on video,
| | 03:48 | so you still have to watch your raw
footage before you can make any final
| | 03:52 | decisions for editing.
| | 03:54 | But with the transcript in hand, you
now have an accurate roadmap to easily
| | 03:58 | locate, label, and arrange, and rearrange
your footage in a precise and logical manner.
| | 04:04 | The bottom line is that transcripts
are an invaluable tool to help you get a
| | 04:08 | handle on your video interview project.
| | Collapse this transcript |
| Building a stringout| 00:01 | As you continue preparing your
material for the editor, the next step after
| | 00:04 | you've got your transcripts in hand
is to go through the transcripts and
| | 00:08 | highlight all the best soundbites.
| | 00:10 | In order to make this an accurate
roadmap to our material, we need to post a few
| | 00:15 | signss as we go in the form of topic edits.
| | 00:17 | So as you read through each question
and answer, take a moment to add a bold
| | 00:21 | title above each section
listing the topic discussed below it.
| | 00:25 | For the first past, you can do this
analog on paper with highlighters, but
| | 00:29 | ultimately, I recommend that you do it
digitally by opening your transcript in a
| | 00:34 | program like MS Word or Pages.
| | 00:36 | Now you can easily change and
rearrange your selections or share your paper
| | 00:40 | selections with an editor,
client, or other collaborator.
| | 00:43 | So read it through once and highlight all
the statements that most stand out to you.
| | 00:48 | If you find that you've highlighted
50% of the transcript, go back with a
| | 00:52 | more critical eye and unhighlight some
of your selections, until you have only
| | 00:55 | the very strongest and most clear and
relevant statements left highlighted for each topic.
| | 01:01 | If your transcript contains more than
one interviewee, you should color-code the
| | 01:05 | highlighted clips so each
interviewee has their own unique color.
| | 01:09 | Now it's super easy to identify
exactly who the speaker is at a glance, even
| | 01:14 | after you start to cut and paste the
soundbites into a paper edit later.
| | 01:18 | Next, I recommend pulling all the
soundbites you just highlighted and editing
| | 01:22 | them into one long clip with a
second or two of black between each.
| | 01:27 | This is called a stringout.
| | 01:29 | You may also wish to add simple
titles to identify each topic.
| | 01:33 | The stringout allows you to see exactly
how each soundbite plays onscreen and
| | 01:37 | whether it's really as
good as it seemed on paper.
| | 01:40 | Things you can't really tell from
just reading, such as body language,
| | 01:44 | emotion, humor, and sarcasm, are all
made crystal clear when you view a
| | 01:48 | stringout of all the best clips.
| | 01:51 | So the stringout is a very useful tool for
making editing decisions, but it's not vital.
| | 01:56 | When pressed for time, you can always
skip the stringout and go straight to
| | 02:00 | making a paper edit from
your highlighted transcripts.
| | 02:02 | So now that you've identified all the
best soundbites for each topic, you're
| | 02:07 | ready to start to assemble a paper edit,
which will be the basis for your first rough cut.
| | 02:12 | Again, you can do this analog with
scissors and paper if you are old school,
| | 02:16 | or you can do it digitally by copying,
pasting, and moving clips around in a
| | 02:20 | new digital document.
| | 02:22 | Now that everything is labeled by topic,
decide the order you want to present
| | 02:27 | each topic and start to rearrange the
soundbites from your various interviewees
| | 02:31 | so that they now flow freely
to tell you a story on paper.
| | 02:35 | As you start to lay out your final
story in words, you will find that some
| | 02:39 | soundbites are redundant to
something already said and can be eliminated.
| | 02:43 | Other times you may find that you
don't really have enough good material to
| | 02:46 | cover a certain topic as you had planned.
| | 02:49 | Either way, you can always better and
faster plan, lay out, and experiment with the
| | 02:54 | story in a paper format before
you start any actual editing.
| | 02:57 | If you are working with an editor for
hire, doing a paper edit beforehand will
| | 03:02 | save you a considerable
amount of time and money.
| | 03:05 | And even if you're not hiring an editor,
you should still always get into the
| | 03:10 | habit of making a paper edit so that
your video edits will all go that much
| | 03:14 | faster and smoother.
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ConclusionAdditional resources| 00:01 | In most lynda.com courses, the exercise
files are projects that you can download
| | 00:06 | to help you follow along.
| | 00:07 | However, since our subject is hands-on
filmmaking of interviews, no specific
| | 00:12 | files were necessary to follow this course.
| | 00:14 | However I have included some
additional learning and reference resources, such
| | 00:19 | as descriptions of the best mics to use
in specific situations, some interview
| | 00:23 | lighting diagrams you can print
out to help you on set, and a few other
| | 00:27 | downloadable items.
| | 00:28 | These documents are just some extra
resources to build upon this course
| | 00:31 | offline, and they contain some
useful information and suggestions for
| | 00:35 | additional learning resources that you
may find helpful as you start planning
| | 00:39 | to shoot interviews on your own projects.
| | 00:41 | With that said, that's everything I
want to share with you about conducting and
| | 00:46 | shooting interviews.
| | 00:47 | Keep in mind this video
course is interview-specific.
| | 00:50 | If you haven't already, make sure you
view my course Fundamentals of Video:
| | 00:54 | Cameras and Shooting for a full and
comprehensive instruction on the technical
| | 00:58 | and practical aspects of
cameras, lighting, and audio.
| | 01:02 | Also check out my books the Shut Up and
Shoot Documentary Guide and the Shut Up
| | 01:06 | and Shoot Freelance Video Guide, as well
as my Indie Film Bootcamp DVD set, which
| | 01:11 | all contain even more detailed
information on the process of filmmaking and
| | 01:15 | shooting interviews.
| | 01:16 | You can find all of them, along with
my filmmaking blog and podcast, at my
| | 01:20 | website downanddirtydv.com.
| | 01:23 | And of course when it comes time to
edit, lynda.com has an entire arsenal of
| | 01:27 | useful courses on every major
editing system and many courses on specific
| | 01:32 | post-production techniques.
| | 01:34 | And that's it for this course. I hope
you feel better prepared to go out there
| | 01:39 | and capture compelling
interviews and stories on video.
| | 01:41 | Remember, the only thing that really
matters at the end of the day is what's in
| | 01:45 | your heart and what's on the monitor.
| | 01:47 | Until next time, this is Anthony Q. Artis,
wishing you all peace, love, and video baby!
| | 01:54 | I am out.
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