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Filming kids
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Thank you for your very detailed response. Much appreciated.
Well I have £12,000 of kit and have produced some very good work I’m the past, so confident I can get a good interview.
I’ve also had a lot of practice at interviews and people feel relaxed, but obviously the most important part is getting the story to flow. Normally I would direct people to answer the question as though they were simply telling someone about it, rather then respond directly to the question. That way the viewer is led seamlessly into the answer without needing to know the question.
I presume you don’t hear the interviewers question off camera? Or is it set-up as an interview? Although I only have 1 EX1, I could look to take some close ups of hands and some near focused shots with the client out focus in the background. I can take these after and meld them into the production to make it more engaging. I wish I had two cameras.
Olly Lawer
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Our oral history documentation operation has two modes: in-studio, where we do the 3-camera live switch, as described, and in the field, we do a 2-camera version, where both cameras are trained on the subject and locked off, one medium, one tight. We run a clapper at the beginning to create a synch point, then roll without stopping. The two angles are to give a future editor maximum flexibility in the edit, as well as for the security of a back-up recording. The interviewer is mic’d, but never seen usually. The A camera keeps the two mics split on individual channels, the B camera takes a mix of the A camera’s two mics, and the second channel of the B camera stays on the on-board shotgun as a backup and ambiance source.
The field interview, of say, one of our centennial farmers, consists of the 2-camera sit-down segment, generally an hour, though sometimes two, and a “walk-and-talk” tour, shot single-camera. We hang a wireless on the farmer and a hardwired stick mic for the interviewer, who stays close by the camera at all times and out of shot. We follow the farmer on his tour and he describes details of certain aspects of the operation that might relate back to the sit-down interview. It may be equipment, or a process, or actual livestock. The walk and talk is usually 30 minutes to an hour.
I’m not saying this is how you need to do it for your version. Just that this is what we find works well for us and our specific purpose.
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Really useful info. It’s sounds facinating.
So do you hear the interviewers questions on the end product?
Olly Lawer
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On ours, yes. The studio 3- cam shoot includes short shots of the interviewer, but few as possible. For your version, if you ask the questions right, you could cut the questions out and the guest’s narrative self-assembles into a cohesive story on its own. Or you can leave it all in, it won’t hurt.
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Great. Thanks.
And where would you target?
Olly Lawer
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Depends on which market you want to work. On the high end, work thru the people involved with the peerage and all that, to find the folks that want to document the family history in a peerage context.
On the lower end, get the word out thru outreach to historical societies, preservation groups, honor societies, football clubs, reach out to military support organizations. You know your market better than I can.
“Oh, you wanted to RECORD that?”
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Here, the parent or guardian just has to sign a release. I don’t know in the UK. It’s as easy as asking you lawyer though. He may wanna draw one up for you for an hour’s worth of billing but you can write your own or just grab a template after a quick google search and reword as needed.
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