Posts Tagged ‘filming’

New River Exlclusive | Professional Interview Techniques

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

If you wish to film an interview in a professional manner, there are a few points that you need to focus on to make you video worth watching. Screen composition is a major part of all good interviews. Quality questions also contribute to expert videos, as well as the interviewee’s knowledge of their lines. Another important point to focus on is the interviewee’s position relative to the camera frame. These details all come into play when filming an interview, and they must be mastered to create skillful interviews.

The composition of your interview should include a hand full of major points. The most important tip to remember is the rule of thirds. To tell where to place the objects in the shot, draw a mental 3×3 grid on the shot. Humans eyes are naturally drawn to the cross points of those lines, so your focus point should be centered on one of those cross points. Another important one is the background. The interview should be filmed in a location with relevance to your topic. If you film an interview for biking in McDonalds, it would be confusing. Another important part of the scenery is to choose somewhere quiet. If there is major traffic or a roaring river in the background, the interview would have too much distracting noise.

The interviewees body positioning is important as well. The talker should be facing the open space in the screen; this gives the shot a friendly appearance, and makes the shot more interesting. The final tip you should follow is the foot positioning of the interviewee. They should have the foot closest to the camera at a parallel line with the camera angle. The rear foot should be perpendicular angle to the front foot. This foot positioning make the talker stand still, keeping them from accidently swaying out of the scene. It also helps their legs from falling asleep.

Your questions should be well thought out and concise. If you choose questions that are too wordy, then your interviewee will have a hard time remembering what to say, and, in turn, will take more time to get the right shot and waste more film. The questions you ask should be relevant to your video’s topic as well. Having questions that veer off topic will make the interview feel rambling and uninteresting. Unique questions help to make the interview stand out from others. Your questions need to be worth listening to.

Follow these tips and you are on your way to creating a professional interview. Perfect your scene composition. Make sure that your interviewee positioned correctly, and ask the right questions. If you develop these skills, you will be making professional quality interviews in no time.

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

this should be what you are picturing in your mind to create your shot

SRT Training at The New River Academy Kayak School

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Yesterday, we had SRT training at the rapid where Garbarator is located. The video class students were filming us for their production of the training.  When I wasn’t in their shots I was able to get some nice photos of everything going on. All of the action was a lot of fun to shoot. In general I think everyone had a fun time doing the training.
Here are some of the shots I took of them:
Stephen getting into place for the next shot.

Stephen getting into place for the next shot.

Matt filming Stephen for the video.

Matt filming Stephen for the video.

Clay throwing a rope to a swimmer.

Clay throwing a rope to a swimmer.

Matt in place for another shot.

Matt in place for another shot.

Clay throwing an end for his cartwheel.

Clay throwing an end for his cartwheel.

Alex excited to have finished all the filming.

Alex excited to have finished all the filming.

New River Academy
Rt. 2 Box 245
Fayetteville, WV 25484
(304)- 574-0403
Fax: (304) 513-2247
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