Editing Interviews

[Shane Ross]

This is what B-ROLL is for. To cover when you chop up interviews. Sitting on a talking head is boring anyway…you need compelling visuals to accentuate what the interviewee is talking about.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Brian Pitt]

Oh how I wish I had some b-roll…

Part of my problem is that the schedule for when we shoot the interviews is completely out of my hands. They are usually shot with MINIMAL edit time. And I know nothing of the content in advance. It makes things tough…

[Bill Kelly]

Ya, I would definitely try to grab some b-roll if you can. Perhaps the company has a corporate video they can giving you showing the building(s) everyone works in, interior and exterior shots, and you can capture that. If they don’t have one, maybe you can arrange a quick shoot to gather the shots you need. In fact, that may be better because now that you have the interviews and know what the BOD is talking about, you could tailor your shoot around their topics of conversation.

[Shane Ross]

Then try a 10 frame dissolve. It’ll look odd, but less jarring than a straight cut.

Next time, if you don’t have time to shoot B-Roll…shoot CUs of the the persons hands, a CU of part of their face. Their tie…hand on the table. Diplomas or other things on their wall. Name plate if they have one. Logo on their shirt if they are wearing one. This is stuff the camera guy can grab while you are asking questions before they answer, or while waiting around for something. Or just have them sit still while you do this and chat about the weather. Get SOMETHING to cut away to.

Shane

Littlefrog Post
http://www.lfhd.net

[Rocco Rocco]

I’d go with stills if you can’t shoot more. There are tons of stock photo sites out there. If you get nice hi-rez (10MP) you can have more fun with wipes and zooms and such. You can also split-screen the talking heads, and play with composition etc.

Perhaps graphics might work? You can lay out moving swirls or solid shapes moving around and use them to hide the “bad” edits.

If b-roll, graphics and still are still not an option, then I’d probably stick with the classic dip to black or dissolve.

Good luck.

[Raymond Tuquero]

Also, are you going for an Answer only interview?

Because, If you were going back and forth, you can also shoot with two cameras (over the shoulder shots) and cut between the interviewee and interviewer.

Other than that…Yeah I find when I cut an interview down the middle, that a dip to color works well.

[David Roth weiss]

[brian pitt] “when I cut from one take to the other, it appears that there is a very sudden jolt of the talents head maybe 2-3 inches to the side. There is usually some small change in the shot that makes it noticeable to the audience”

Brian,

That’s called a “jump cut” for good reason.

As Shane says, cutting away to b-roll is the number one solution. In fact, in most truly “watchable” docos or corp. videos, most of what you see on-screen is b-roll, with only an occasional cut to the on-camera interviewee, usually just to establish or reestablish the person, to reinforce an important point, or perhaps to see into their souls through their eyes.

When shooting material like this, a good rule of thumb is to do a bit of math beforehand to determine what you really need to acquire out in field before returning to base. Estimate that you will need to cover the entire projected running-length of the finished project with 4-second cuts of b-roll. I know that sounds like a whole lot of b-roll, but that’s just about what you’ll end up with when your editing is all said and done. So, if you just plan on it from the start, it will make your shooting and editing a whole lot more efficient.

In the meantime, if you have to cut the talking head end to end for some reason, just drop in those white flashes and be sure to make the people sound like geniuses.

David

“No job is worth doing more than once…”

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Post-production Supervisor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

[Rennie Klymyk]

[brian pitt] ” We really didn’t change the crop much, so when I cut from one take to the other, it appears that there is a very sudden jolt of the talents head maybe 2-3 inches to the side. There is usually some small change in the shot that makes it noticeable to the audience. “

FWIW this is reffered to as a “jump cut” in the industry. They have been the irk of many professionals over the years. I see some creative editors using them purposely back to back in close succession as a kind of creative “look”. I myself will never be able to accept them as creative though but it’s something you can try along with the other suggestions.

[brian pitt] ” I have done SO MANY interviews in the past few years, but I face the same challenge EVERY TIME!!!
“

Next time try this: instruct the talent that you will be recording several takes and if they realize they make a mistake or fumble some words they must just keep on going until they reach the end. Record 2 or 3 takes or more of the whole thing BUT with different camera angles and framing, ie: head and shoulders; half shot with the hands in; side angle shot and give them something to look at so they look focused. If they constantly trip up at one particular spot record a few takes of just 2 or 3 lines including the problem spot until you have it.
You now have enough material to edit the interview rhythmically into a smooth flowing piece even without typical b roll type stuff like audience shots etc. (if you can get b-roll too, all the better).
Remember: anytime you edit 2 – head and shoulders shots of the same subject together you get a jump cut. Any time you edit 2 – 1/2 length shots of the same subject together you get a jump cut. Any time you edit 2 – full length shots of the same subject together you get a jump cut. and so on and so on…

“everything is broken”

[Brian Pitt]

Thank you all for your input. I love the cow!

I failed to mention that these interviews will be shown ONE time, projected onto a big screen at a convention.

I agree that b-roll is the way to go. It is always a battle to get a script or anything similar before hand on these types of projects. This makes it difficult to do anything before the actual shoot.

[Chris Babbitt]

Brian,

I have read all the replies, and here is an alternate solution which is not always feasable, but if it works within your format, it is a viable option: Simply cut back and forth between your subjects. In-other-words, start with subject A, then cut to subject B, then to C, then back to A, then back to C, etc. As long as you have continuity in the subject matter and the answers, this can work nicely while allowing you to eliminate the mistakes.