Shotgun placement for interview

[WpgCameraMan]

I'm going to be shooting a series of 'testimonials' at a fund raiser next month, the idea is come into the next room and tell us why you are supporting this cause.

These are formal events, with serious big money involved, I need help deciding on my audio setup.

I've got 2 shotguns, a Rode Video Mic (unbalanced) and an Azden SGM-PDII. My choice of Lav mics include a G2 wireless, and other clip-on types.

I'm assuming these folks will be dressed to the 9's and won't want me to run a Lav down the shirt/dress, this is more of a spontaneous participation anyways.

So with that, I'm wondering which of those shotguns would do a better job, or use both in a stereo pattern ? I'll be in a sound-controlled environment, framing will be chest-up, not sure yet if they will be looking at or off camera. I would have enough time to adjust for heights.

I've never shot with an off-camera shotgun for an interview before.. always been Lav, so not sure how to approach this.

Shooting with a Panasonic HMC-150.

 

[naavt]

I'll be in a sound-controlled environment, framing will be chest-up, not sure yet if they will be looking at or off camera. I would have enough time to adjust for heights.

Are you going to record those statements in a controlled environment besides the sound? (without people passing for instance?).

Are you a "one man band"?

If the answer is yes to both I probably would opt for a mic stand off screen and place the mic it over the talking heads pointing their mouthes. Then you could sit next to camera and talk to your talents. They will look at you and not the camera and you won't need any more people to assist you on that.

 

[WpgCameraMan]

Are you going to record those statements in a controlled environment besides the sound? (without people passing for instance?).

Are you a "one man band"?

If the answer is yes to both I probably would opt for a mic stand off screen and place the mic it over the talking heads pointing their mouthes. Then you could sit next to camera and talk to your talents. They will look at you and not the camera and you won't need any more people to assist you on that.

Above or below the face, what are the pro's and cons there?

Yes, it's just me as technical, I've got a producer off to the side who can coax the words out from the guests. One guest at a time (though I guess I should be ready for a 2 shot or more.. crap... so much for my idea of seating them). I'll be shooting tight with one camera, and loose with a fixed.

We're on another floor, away from any noise or foot traffic issues.

 

[KnoxHotch]

Make sure to use your headphones for this kind of setup, people tend to move around and get off axis from the mic and you won't know until you're in post, so listen carefully.

 

[Steve House]

...
So with that, I'm wondering which of those shotguns would do a better job, or use both in a stereo pattern ? I'll be in a sound-controlled environment, framing will be chest-up, not sure yet if they will be looking at or off camera. I would have enough time to adjust for heights.

....

....

We're on another floor, away from any noise or foot traffic issues.

"Sound Controlled" does not just mean you're away from the thundering herd ... when it comes to using shotguns, it means you're working in an acoustically treated space like a radio/TV studio, an announce or recording studio, or a sound stage. Is your shooting location such a place?

I'd get a mic stand with a boom arm and fly the mic just above and toward the camera from the subject so it's just out of frame, about 18 inches from the subject's face, and pointed directly at their mouth. It should be close enough to the subject that they could reach out and touch it without having to change their position. There's no point at all trying to cobble the two together into a stereo arrangement - the timbres of the two mics you have are sufficiently different that they'd sound pretty strange as a stereo pair and there's no point to stereo for dialog/interviews anyway.

 

[WpgCameraMan]

Many thanks for that info. Just a big room, will be unused otherwise and has some very interesting places to stage the set. I've been in it before, I think I can get good sound in there.

I shot a doc with that Rode mic on my GS400 DV camera, and I was pretty impressed with how good it sounded. Unfortunately its bulky and doesn't mate to my HMC-150 in a reasonable manner.

I'll still deploy two mics, use one as a backup... can't hurt.

 

[Erik Olson]

We use these in a century stand to position the KTek over the talent. It's a solid mount that you can get at almost any store that sells fishing supplies.

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[smithy]

I shot above using a boom but I've found success using a short mike stand and attaching a hyper shotgun on a table and covering it up using some props so it can't be seen. I then ran xlr cables to a mixer then into the camera in dual mono's with one channel a little louder than the other. So in turn I have two mono recordings and then I can choose in post which one to use.