Interview Style Shoot - Mini Project

TDCat

TDCat

Member
Hi,

I've just finished a mini-project where I interviewed (while also operating the camera and everything else...you know how it goes) a friend of mine about his first steps into wedding photography.

https://youtu.be/_f2kr3gYjac

It was shot on the DVX200 in v-log and recorded externally on an Atomos recorder. It was then graded in Davinci Resolve and edited in Premiere Pro. A fairly standard workflow I suppose. I always really like the results from the DVX200 even 2-3 years down the line. It's always quite cumbersome due to it's size but it's so nice to operate because of that.

It was great fun to do and edit. Sorry for the promotion but I'd welcome any constructive criticism.

Thanks,

Torsten.
 
Nice video. I follow your channel and enjoy your tuts. I'm just starting out, so take my comment with a grain of salt.

One thing about this interview that I felt was off was that his gaze was quite a ways off camera. I would like to have seen him looking a little closer to the camera so it was less profile. Does that make sense?
 
Overall very nice. To be honest, I am not a fan of the super close ups. I do not think it added or the piece was calling for it. As a viewer I thought the next step was going to be just his eye in the frame! :)

I would have preferred a wider shot maybe showing the surroundings if possible. Maybe a light or stand etc... in stead of the super close up. It is a longer clip so yes, breaking it up is important as you have done.
 
With very few exceptions, the depth is more flattering when shooting into the shadow side of your subject than the key side. It's also how it's typically done.

If you look at his key side, the light looks very flat and then with no transition, there is a shadow side. When you shoot into the shadow side, you can create much more subtle variance of key/fill to give more depth.
 
ozmorphasis said:
With very few exceptions, the depth is more flattering when shooting into the shadow side of your subject than the key side. It's also how it's typically done.

If you look at his key side, the light looks very flat and then with no transition, there is a shadow side. When you shoot into the shadow side, you can create much more subtle variance of key/fill to give more depth.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I would have done. Key light on the other side, a light fill on the shadow side and some nice backlighting, possibly tungsten filtered. Skin tones seemed a bit blueish as if the white balance was off. Even with a cheap-ish LED light that casts a pinkish hue, by white balancing you can sort out the skin tones and it's even more crucial in log. Also, in your mid-close up, your subject's head is cut off which would be fine if the shot was tighter. Rule of thumb I stick to is that eyes should be a third of the way down in the frame. Not wanting to criticize so much as we're all learning all the time, but that's how I would have done it. Sound is deep, rich and generally outstanding. I'm bookmarking this to watch the whole thing when I have time. What he's saying is really interesting. All in all, good work, always nice to see someone else working with the DVX. I'm constantly backing and forthing about upgrading to an FS5 or something with a more super 35 look (as even people who know nothing about filmmaking are requesting "out of focus backgrounds" or "film look"). But as long as I can keep getting good stuff out of the DVX, I'll just keep shooting with it.
 
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Maybe it was an artistic choice, but having the key light in line with his frames and nearly perpendicular to the front of his face to put a shadow directly on his eye seems counter-intuitive.
 
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