Composition and Interview Technique Questions...?

G

grantw

Well-known member
I'm going to be shooting testimonials for a cosmetic company over the next few months. Haven't done alot of interview style stuff. This was my first test and wondering what people think of the composition. I think I have a tendency to cut the top of people's heads off when in a Medium CU. And that plant might be distracting.

How do you usually shooting a small interview. I'm going for sound bites so I guess just one set up will do. But if you where going to try to edit the footage together (b-roll will help I know), do you also try to have the person say everything again but get a CU shot so you can edit between those?

Most of these will be done in this room which as a huge window to the left. That is the only light source for these shots. I'm thinking all I need is a bounce card or just a diffused light on the other side to fill in the right side of the face a little more? Or does it look fine how it is?

Do you carry around different objects that would be good to place in the background? Any certain types of fake plants that go out of focus well or other things to do to try to get a better background? Their office is kinda of bland right now with not much in it.

And last, how would you compose 10+ interviews? Frame people on different sides of the screens? Mix between close ups. Stay the same? I don't wanna shoot them all one way then realize I should've done it differently. Just wondered what people do in the situation that they have a lot of interview's that will be edited together.

Test Shots:
Medium CU Shot

Close Up Shot

Thanks alot,
TW
 
I'm no expert. But I know where you can get expert opinion -- magazine ads. Pick up a copy of Oprah for example, and look through the cosmetic ads. All the women are lit fairly flat. This minimizes wrinkles and pores and makes the skin look smoother and softer. If you are doing this for a cosmetics company, you might want to consider a similar approach.

As to the medium closeup, I do find the cropping of the top of the head somewhat distracting. I would pull up a bit -- put her eyes near the upper 1/3 line. But perhaps that's just me.
 
They look pretty good to me.

I would probably pull the MCU back just a tad. Keep the bottom frame where it is and include more of the top of her head. That would also provide a bit more distinction between the two shots when you cut back and forth.

Can you turn the actress around and have her face the opposite direction? Seems like the windows would make for better front-lighting than side/back-lighting. As is, I don't think a reflector will provide enough light. Her eyes are pretty dark in both shots.

If you can't turn her around...

I think you'll need another light source on her face. Also, I'd probably move your camera to the left a bit, keeping her head in about the same position in the frame (rotating the camera around her head about 10 degrees). That would get that china-cabinet-thing out from directly behind your actress (it's not quite growing out of her head but it's close) and it would also bring in that window on the right a bit, which could add some interest to the shot. You'd have to be sure the plant doesn't grow out of her head but you can shift that easily if necessary.

You could also add some interest by splashing another light onto that back wall. Poke holes in black wrap, styrofoam or use a cookie.

Finally, unless the actress is going to talk to the camera, have her rotate her shoulders a bit so they're not quite so straight-on to the camera. Even a few degrees will help. Her head can still look just off-camera but she'll appear thinner -- not that she needs it -- but thinner is more flattering to nearly everyone. If you rotate the cam a bit, you may not have to move the actress much at all. Her shoulders would already be angled slightly while she could turn her head toward the cam a bit.

Sorry...this probably isn't making any sense.

As for interviewing 10+ people, that's a tough one. It'll be extremely boring and awkward if you keep them all in the same position unless you can get some good b-roll (eg. holding photos, walking around, laughing, smiling, standing in front of the window while gazing out of it, product close-ups, etc). But I *think* you also want to avoid them looking like talking heads (as if they were having a conversation with each other).

It might help to understand the interview topic. It's related to cosmetics but what information are they supposed to convey?

Sorry for the book.
 
I think your your job is caught between Portrait and Product Photography/Videography. So you really need to identify that priority so that you can identify the style of lighting you need. Simply said, you're shooting a product that happens to be on the face of a person. So making the cosmetics look as good as possible is what you must do. The models/people are making a testimonial about how good the product is and the viewer will be looking at the product first because they are interested in that product.
Gary
 
Thanks alots guys. coddida good stuff.

Shot this morning and got a little closer to what I'm gonna use as a set up. Couldn't rig up a light with daylight bulbs so just went with sunlight. Definitely underestimated how much the sun moves within 4 hours though (test day vs shoot day). Oh well.
 
So I've shot a few interviews. Right now I'm using a large window as the Key and I brought in a 100w Daylight CFL light bulb. It actually gave off a lot more light then I thought when place 2'-3' away from person.

Here are clips of the last two interviews. Any suggestions?
(Only the first two woman, the last girl wasn't this set up)


I shot some with light coming through the back window, but in these kept a board behind it cause thought it looked less distracting.

Has anyone found and good things to bring along to stick in the background? The office is pretty bare and that plant is really all they have around. I don't want them all to be set up this way but also am limited as far as what to put behind them. Any creative framing ideas or footage to make something out of nothing?
 
On the second woman, I'd have put up a net or something to bring down the highlights on her white shirt. From the video you still have detail so you might be able to bring it down in post. It's just a bit distracting for me.
 
My suggestion is just to keep all the interviews as similar as possible. It looks sloppy when you cut back and forth between two people talking and you've used a different lens and you're a different distance away from the subject.

In all the things I've worked on, we always measure out the distance to the subject, and we'll run two cameras with different focal lengths, so we always have a close up and a wider shot. We will switch them back and forth though in which side of the frame their on and which way their looking, just to give some sort of variety.

With all this said, you totally can change your focal lengths and the distance as much as you want, you just should be doing it for a reason, and not because the other method is too much work.
 
PhilJackson said:
On the second woman, I'd have put up a net or something to bring down the highlights on her white shirt. From the video you still have detail so you might be able to bring it down in post. It's just a bit distracting for me.
Click to expand...

Ya I didn't even notice it while shooting. I'm starting to see that sometimes colors seem a bit off with the camera. I might just not be taking my time though.

Ryan thanks. Right now I've been shooting everything with my 50mm and that probably won't change. I usually get 4 takes of the Medium shot and then will just get 1 or 2 of a close up. Most of this stuff is under a minute and is testimonials so I'm just looking for sound bites.

However when I change for the close up shot I haven't been changing focal lengths because my 135mm prime was too close. Is this why it looks funny to cut to close up? Sometimes it just look likes its zooming in and not really cutting to another camera. Maybe I'll try my 4.5 tele and see.
 
Well on the close ups, just make sure you are moving the camera off axis from the original shot. So that the two don't look like they are from the same position.
 
on the first photos id give it more head room. don't crop a persons head. its bad, especialy in interviews, and beauty work.


in the test footage, her eye line is too far off camera. try keeping in such a way where they look like they are looking "just off screen" not 3 feet off the screen.
 
Anyone else feel like the camera is just a bit too low? Like we're looking slightly up at the subjects? Particularly in the stills in the first post and the woman with the white sweater in the video. Occasionally, for dramatic purposes this sort of thing is exactly what we want but the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about cosmetics is "beauty." Looking slightly down (only a couple of degrees) on a subject is generally a more flattering angle.

And I second keeping the eyeline much closer to the camera.

As for getting coverage, 2 cameras, as Ryan mentioned, is one good option. Another way to make this work is in how you ask your questions. One producer I shoot for has this great way of asking the same question twice without the subject realizing it. It's like getting 2 takes of one response without obviously making the subject repeat themselves. Of course, I've done a lot of work where we were lucky to get an answer once, so you've got to change your shot between questions, take advantage when your subject pauses for more than a second, thinks for a while, hold for sound, etc, etc. When shooting interviews with one camera, a good zoom lens is invaluable. If you're stuck with only a 50mm and just one camera, you're limited in what you can do. Asking for second takes seems like the only way.

Good luck!
 
in the videos, I'd raise the camera on all of them so as not to accentuate the chin and neck area which can be unflattering if they are women, I'd also slow down the key on the second woamn with a double net, cutting it just below her face. In the third shot, the skin tone of the girl and the bg are of the same tonal range, I would find a different BG to shoot her against and try not to have the light be so much from overhead as it makes her eyes go dark.
 
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