Need to shoot an interview. Advice please.

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Steelmagnet

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Hi all

A client of mine wants me to shoot some video interviews in a selection of pubs (tough job...).
I'd like some advice on what kit to use please.

I want to shoot HD and I'm happy to buy either a camcorder or another DSLR for the job. As a Nikon user I'm tempted to use the opportunity to buy a consumer level body, and with a budget of £400-£500 I guess a D3100/3200/5100 is where I'm at. (I have a D700 already, plus a 50mm f1.4, 24-70mm f2.8 and another sports lens which I wouldn't consider using).

The interviews will require no zooming, or indeed autofocus, so I can see little if any advantage in buying a camcorder. However, advice on this decision would be appreciated.

I'll also want to use an external microphone and probably grab a light to use (in a very diffused way). Help with this would also be appreciated.

So that's the situation, many thanks for any advice.
 
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any of those Nikons would do the job and coupled with the 50mm would give a nice shallow dof look to the interview with the pub interior as backdrop. Also will help you with lighting as you can rely a bit more on the natural ambient light + window lighting etc.

Audio wise if its just the subject's audio you need then a lavalier mic is what you need. A decent cheap but good wired mic is the audio technica atr 3350:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Technica-AT...1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341866104&sr=8-1-fkmr0
 
Agree with kman, his suggestion of a lapel mic is spot on. One of my first shoots was 20 years ago, as a student I did a series of interviews in pubs and the one thing that got us out of a lot of difficult audio situations was the use of a lapel mic.
 
Lav mic, two £40 led panels (one for key, one for some rim / fill) on cheaply light stands, tripod, and you probably to be just to the side of the camera asking the questions - unless the video is an appeal for help or something in which case, staring directly into the camera can work well if used sparingly.
You and your subject and crew should where possible put your phones into flight mode, especially if using cheapish
Lag mics - the cables can sometimes not be screened too well and pick up mobile phone noise - and of course with no headphone socket on dslrs, you won't know until it's too late. If possible, record into a zoom h1 or similar recorder, and monitor with headphones.

Personally, I'd probably go for your 24-70 at around 4-8, depending on what balance of crazy low light, and how much depth of field I wanted. Try not to fall into the "f1.4 everything!" trap!

Don't be afraid to pause and restart asking a question if something really loud happens in the background

Asking the questions itself really takes some experience for getting what you want out of the subject - most people will answer questions directly rather than saying phrases that are actually useful when cutting them together - that or, waffle, making them unusable.

Ask your friend about what he wants the video to be and feel like. Don't ask subject to repeat an answer to a question, as it rarely looks right. Start chatting to them beside the camera before you actually get into the questions - gets them to relax into the situation. Have a list of key points that you want to cover in the interview, but don't worry toooo much if you get off tangent a bit - bit don't be afraid to bring it sharply back to point.

Set up with a friend /standin while you set up and test the camera / lighting - for someone who isn't used to it, being filmed is often more intimidating even than having a portrait taken - so you don't want to increase this by fading about with lights etc while they're sitting there awkwardly.

Think carefully about your backgrounds, even if you are going to knock them way out of focus - where are the bright spots, are they clipping / overly distracting / leading your eye away from the frame, etc. make sure to give yourself enough depth of field - people sway slightly when they talk!

Think about whether you want to have cutaways of the pubs etc - if you do, this can give you more options in the edit to cut sections out of sentences, eg where they've waffled on or something.
 
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Actually, in specific reply to itsdave, you've covered many of the questions I've already asked the client, so it's encouraging to know I asked the right things.

We want to end up with a bunch of informal soundbites and getting the interviewee relaxed and chatty is my plan.

I do have a TV background, but in post-production not shooting, so I'm not inexperienced in the field.

The finished video will be on Youtube for the client, so I'll post a link here when it's done.

Cheers
 
Steelmagnet said:
Actually, in specific reply to itsdave, you've covered many of the questions I've already asked the client, so it's encouraging to know I asked the right things.

We want to end up with a bunch of informal soundbites and getting the interviewee relaxed and chatty is my plan.

I do have a TV background, but in post-production not shooting, so I'm not inexperienced in the field.

The finished video will be on Youtube for the client, so I'll post a link here when it's done.

Cheers
Click to expand...

ah ok, you probably already know all of the annoying things that us camera guys do that drives editors bonkers then! :bonk: Sorry if any part of that was teaching you how to suck eggs :P hopefully useful for others though I guess, talking heads are a pretty common staple in video.

Have fun with the shoots :)
 
Hi,

When doing your interviews think firstly about your eyeline from lens to subject eye.

For a nice interview look, pop the camera a foot or so beside you and point it at the subject's face.

In terms of getting the best response possible, try recording but tell the interviewee that your camera isn't on but you're going to have a practice run. That way they will feel more relaxed!

If you don't get the response you're looking for, ask the same question in a different way...you don't want to repeat yourself or tell them they got it wrong because that won't help to relax them.

Lastly from me, make sure to.grab cutaway shots so you can use to cut cleanly in post, things like DOF pulls of glasses, soft focus of customers, a shot of him talking from the side (soft focus so you can't see what he's actually saying).
 
^ good stuff, all worth getting in the bag to make life way easier in post.
 
Yes, thanks again. Rest assured I know all about cutaways, GV's, noddys and all of the other shots I should grab.

My worry continues to be getting decent sound and light equipment, along with a shiny new DSLR bought from some of the profits :-)

Cheers
 
On the camera front, don't get a 3100 no mic input and doesn't shoot at 25 fps.
 
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