Editing Interviews

[J. Tad newberry]

looks like you got some great answers already! since B-roll is not an option this time, my favorite cover for jumps cuts is the white flash frame, as someone has already mentioned. it is very acceptable these days, and sometimes helps to feel like it is adding a bit of “energy” to the edit. another option not mentioned yet is to shrink your video down (say to 50-75% or so) and put it on one side of the screen. (also, it would be good to fill the BG here with something snappy, like the company logo, or the dreaded (though non-existent?) B-roll, or a BG from a company like Digital Juice, then flip the direction of the shot and put the next shot on the other side of the screen.

i.e., say your subject was shot looking frame right. aesthetically-speaking, if you shrink this, you should put it on screen left, so the look space is to the right. then when you flip the shot (a 180 degree spin on the y-axis), your subject will be looking to the left, so put them on the right side of the screen…or you could even leave both shots full-screen and just use this major “jump-cut” as part of the edit (or add in the white flash as well).

all in all, there are rules, but knowing how and when to break them is part of the fun. with MTV coming on the scene 20 years ago, the “rules” have totally changed…almost to the point now where there are no rules. as others here have said, and i agree, i still don’t like to see jump cuts, cutting in the middle of a zoom (if there is a zoom at all!) or other camera move, or crossing the axis line. most of these are about as having the wrong filter on your lens (indoor/outdoor), but heck, even that rule is often broken for “asthetic” purposes.

have fun!

[13]

I would say take to cameras to the shoot. One camera doing more of a wide shot, and the other camera doing more of a close up. This way you can always cut to the other.

[Ben Scott]

the guys are right about the b-roll

however maybe a good idea when creating your edit is also to think about sound and how one persons voice may cut into another persons, try using a split edit. one of the easiest way to achieve this is by checkerboarding the sound from person 1 to person 2 across a1/a2 for first person, a3/a4 for second person. then use the option drag on the audio and it will turn off the linking for a moment and you easy create the split edit. also may be a good idea to use the trim edit window to get the people to cut together tighter at the end of the edit, ripple to synch them up well and roll to give them more or less time than the next person.

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[Sean Oneil]

One time I was desperate working with a very low-budget single-camera interview. I used the Motion Tab to zoom in on the subject and created a fake “B Camera” I could cut to without there being any jump cuts. The footage was shot in HD and shown on the internet, so it looked fine.

Sean

[Ron Gilmour]

easiest for editing IMHO, is a second camera on a wider shot of the interviewee and interviewer, or just a different angle (as other people have mentioned close up on face/ skewed shot….)
run this with onboard mic, and keep both cameras running,
if you dont have budget for a good second camera then just use a cheap dv camera. tint it , turn it B&W, add noise etc. in your edit.

you only ‘need’ this shot to cover the jump edits, but can drop it in just to keep ‘interest’.
b roll is best but we all know that there isnt any footage of the new product they’re talking about, they dont have images of the new staff about to join the company or whatever else…

it makes the interviewee more at ease coz they only have to go through the questions correctly the once.
it makes your job easier coz you dont ‘have’ to try and cut two (or more) differently worded takes on the same answer.
the interviewee runs through until they’ve got decent takes for each question (1 or 2 fluffs/takes per answer) then they can go,
next shoot the questions close in on the interviewer.
job done

yes its not the best way but it gets it done, quickly and gives you options.

Ron