President Jenn opened the club meeting at 7.30pm on Thursday 3 October with 16 members present.
The focus was on a one-person crew filming a multi-camera interview.
The session was led by David F who began by showing a 17 .26 minute YouTube presentation by Jackson Kingsley entitled “How to shoot an interview as a ‘one man band’”. Of course, if it were a woman operating the camera there would be no need for a YouTube video because… well, let’s not get into that discussion.
It’s not simply a matter of turning up, sitting the interviewee down and asking questions. You have to correctly set up audio, lighting, set dressing and camera placement.
Here are the tips…
Camera placement: Place camera back from the subject so that you can have shallow depth of field which will make the background out of focus or soft and not distracting.
The interviewee should have their eyeline level with camera and camera operator/interviewer
If using a second camera, use the ‘180 degree’ rule so that the cameras are on the same side.
Lighting – use key light, fill light, back light and ideally use egg crate to diffuse lighting for a soft look.
Aperture is very important – a good sweet spot for an interview is around F2.8
Framing : use the 'rule of thirds' so that there isn’t too much or too little headroom
Exposure - use waveform if available and you are comfortable with it because it is better than zebra
Shutter speed should be twice your frame rate – frame rate 50 fps equals shutter speed of 1/100
ISO – ideally, set your camera to its native ISO.
Neutral density filter gives you greater control over your exposure.
Set the white balance as close as possible to your subject's face. For optimum result, politely put the white balance card in front of their face or ask them to hold it up.
To ensure the subject is in focus, use ‘peaking’ where possible
Audio – use a lapel mic and shotgun mic. Place lapel mic middle of the chest with the receiver in front pocket for best signal to camera and away from mobile phones. Aim the shotgun mic overhead at 45 degree angle pointed below the mouth, not at the mouth in case the subject leans forward and goes 'off mic'.
Check audio levels before starting the interview.
Interviewing technique: When interviewing, try to get the interviewee to repeat the question in the answer as it gives a complete and usable answer.
Leave a silence after interviewee speaks, don’t interrupt the interviewee’s answer, and don’t mumble any ums or ahs, just use non-verbal cues such as a head nod to engage in the conversation without speaking.
Following the very informative and instructive video, David F set up an interview studio in the club room with multiple lights and cameras including a primary camera, side camera, barrel camera on a floor mounted gorilla pod and a mobile phone for extra options.
Jenn was co-opted to conduct incisive interviews with a number of willing club members – Murray, Nigel, Peter and Don.
Much was learned from this theoretical and practical experience.
To wind up the night, Glenn reminded members of our shoot at the Celtic festival on Sunday 13 October. The location is the Celtic Stones Monument in Moorlands Park, 503 Coronation Drive, Auchenflower from 9.30am to 4.00pm, but we are gathering from 8.30am. The main march will be around 12.30pm. Anyone who can help please contact Glenn. Parking is very limited, so best to take public transport (bus or ferry) to the venue. For more details go to https://www.ccaq.org.au/brisbane-celtic-festival-2024
For those interested, there is a very interesting article in the Sunday Mail (6 October) on the Scots in Brisbane. Did you know that for a brief time Brisbane was called Edenglassie, a mash up of Edenborough and Glasgow, but ultimately was named after Governor Sir Thomas Brisbane who ,of course, was a Scot.
The meeting wrapped up at 9.30pm
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