Pre-Production: Professional Practice Interviews

During the summer, I was lucky enough to be asked to take part in a work experience programme being offered to by production company 'Bareska'. In this, myself and three others were given free rein of a professional client project. I was the Co-Producer/Director/editor. I agree to do this project as it was ad-hoc- so a project I was able to work around uni and work and was also a fantastic opportunity for me to practice for my third-year major project, even if I didn't end up doing a documentary. This was fantastic practice in pre-production, directing and just speaking with contributors about a secretive subject.

The Symbolism Behind the Chair

I wanted to make the chair the focal point t of this piece. I feel it adds story watching Ben walk into frame and the wide shot makes it seem as though he feels alone now he doesn't have his brother, The sun is beaming in which is very atmospheric and quite angelic. 

With my roles for the major project, I am going to use my experience here as practice. There were elements of the shoot that I was disappointed with. Either way, it was a great learning curve and has inspired the way I want to shoot the interview for our third-year documentary and DoP. 

Waking into frame and sitting down as a wide is a bold statement and makes the filming of the interview seem less artificial. It leaves the Tone of sitting down and opening up. The background surrounding him is also something very impactful as it shows he is almost alone now. Siblings play a big part in your life and Ben hasn't only lost his brother, he has lost his best friend. 

This is further represented in the close-up interview shot where I have stuck with the Rule of Thirds Convention unlike 'Reported Missing'.

The room to the right I left open to give background but I also wanted to fade in and out some images of his brother, this again highlights he is now absent and was intended to really resonate with the audience. Having the two side by side shows their distinct similarities where it is quite clear they are brothers.

Location- Classroom was because it's his school and his brother Sams school. It was a relevant place. However, I feel the environment made it perhaps seem amateurish. I was very pleased with the interview setup and this is something I will take inspiration from. From the setup here, there was a tungsten light used as fill lighting and an LED Panel with a slightly orange tone for Key Lighting. The rest was all down to the natural lighting. This was filmed on a Cannon C300, a camera I have considered and researched (see blog on camera research). However, with the cinematic look, I want to have the background field move slightly using the Rhino motorized slider; this camera would be too big and heavy for this.

The exposure in the wide shot may have been a bit too strong but that was down to natural lighting. This could've been prevented but at the time I thought it was atmospheric and a deliborate choice because it was on a small screen. To prevent this from happening when shooting interviews for 'Evidence Withheld' I would consider havign a larger monitor connected to the camera so myself and Jack (direcotr) can see what the shot is like more clearly. 

Overall I was very satisfied with this shoot and I think it was a great learning curve form meand I have learned a lot in how I could film Evidence Withheld and the setup. With just one camera I was able to get some effective shots. It was more time consuming and limiting for the actual interview hower and is something I would still like to advance on with a multi-camera setup. 

Below is the final video outcome: