GH1 for talking head interviews: advice for newbie

C

CherryHintonBlue

New member
I'm an absolute newbie to movies with my PAL (UK) GH1, and would really appreciate some advice for a specific job I have, namely interviews in a corporate environment. I'll be making these in offices, and would hugely prefer not to use any additional lighting (so yes, it may be the fluorescent office tubes!) because I want to make my subjects ignore the camera. The ultimate destination for these movies will be online. I have the stock 14-140 lens and it would be really useful if I could do what little editing will need to be done in iMovie. I've bought myself a little Sennheiser mic to go on the top of the camera, and in my test runs I've positioned the camera about 2m away from the subject, which seems to be the best compromise between keeping the camera unobtrusive and getting close enough for decent sound quality.

So my big question is, what recommendations do you more experienced folks have concerning the recording mode, quality, aperture/shutter settings, etc.?
 
Okay - these might not be the recommendations you are after -but...

I understand you want the camera to be discreet. In my experience of using this camera for interviews it works very well. Mostly because it is so small and people barely notice it. So that's great.

My advice would be firstly to get a Canon FD adapter off of Ebay followed by a 50mm 1.4/1.8 FD lens. You can pick them up cheap. If you don't want to use lights, you will probably come unstuck with the stock lens as it's pretty slow. The 50mm will be great in low light and you can still keep 2m away.

Second bit of advice - get the mic as close as you can or buy/hire a clip mic. There is no point being discreet if the audio is no good. Trust me, trying to record interviews with an on-camera mic is a bad idea and the one thing people notice more than anything is bad sound on taking heads.

In terms of shooting modes - go with Full manual. Make sure you set the white balance. Shoot at 1080 to get the highest quality image. Since it's an interview, there won't be any movement and you'll be fine. Set the aperture on the lens quite open to throw the background out of focus - but try to avoid being to wide open as that could make focusing harder if they move around.
 
That the camera won't change exposure willy nilly for changes in the image unrelated to light - like somebody walking past the camera or your subject removing a dark jacket and wearing a white shirt under. Or you actually fixing with lighting, like adding a flag to make a background wall darker. Auto-exposure is really only good for uncontrolled news footage where such changes are accepted in the context of 'getting the shoot'.
 
Set the GH1 on full manual, shutter at 1/50 (PAL & NTSC 1080p) - 1/60 (NTSC 720p), attach a adapter, use a manual lens with aperture ring and it basically behaves very much like a film camera. But with real-time feedback, histogram and instant playback. So if you begin with a book on basic cinematography you'll get the hang of it fast. Another good resource is American Cinematographer magazine where you can read about how the movie you looked at last night was shot. Even if the big guys have hordes of people and lighting at their disposal the basic principles of cinematography is the same and the thought processes behind it.

For specifics on using GH1 you have already found the best place. Poke around in this forum, lots and lots of stuff has been covered in detail already. Here's a review which is just as much a primer on shooting with it:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/gh1.shtml

Here are some other good tips.

http://www.hotrodcameras.com/2009/06/06/17-tips-for-shooting-with-the-panasonic-lumix-dmc-gh1/
 
Agree completely with Martti - and he's shot some great stuff with the GH1. Would also add a very simple - just shoot stuff. You will learn very quickly what works and what doesn't. Before you doing anything important or paid, make sure you have tried a dry run.

Any other questions, ask them here. Lot's of people using this camera.
 
As a slight modification to jshaw's superb recommendations, I would suggest getting a lens wider than 50mm. 35mm or even 28mm might work better. I've been using a similar set-up, with a shotgun mounted on the camera rig (usually connected to a Zoom H4N), and I have found that if the subject speaks softly, I have to move the camera closer than the 50mm will comfortable allow. The 50 ends up cutting off the subject. I primarily use a 28mm Nikon for this. Even the Lumix 20mm might work, especially if you need to interview more than one person at the same time.
 
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