Professional Practice: Filming Days

I turned up early on day one so I would have extra time to set up my interview location. Upon my arrival I was informed of a small schedule change, so I immediately updated my filming timetable and shared it with my contributors.

The new timetable

The interviews for this film are very important so I wanted the location to look good. I started by clearing out the meeting room I was provided with. I then put a chair in place for my interviewees. It was important I did that first, as everything would be built around the chair placement. I decided to put the chair by the window so I could use the natural light as a key light, a decision made because I only had two lights. Next I dressed the background behind the chair as it was just a plain white wall, and it needed to relate to the subject more. As it was a school, I found some education related items, like dictionaries and books, and a nice plant, and arranged them behind the chair. Eventually I ended up with something that didn't look too bad.

Once I had sorted the room out, I set the camera up as it would help me to see the final image whilst lighting. I placed the camera a good distance away from the chair so I could achieve the desired blurred background. I then leveled the camera so it matched the eyeline of the interviewee. I used myself as the subject to do this. I will frame the camera once I have lit the room.

To light the room I started with the backlight, placing it behind the chair and off camera. I used the camera's viewfinder to see how the light was affecting the scene. Once I was happy with it, I marked it's position so I easily put it back in place on my other filming days. Next I set the key light up, placing it next to the camera, and bringing it down to eyeline level. By doing this, I should achieve an eye light. Once I was happy with it, I marked its position. Finally, I asked a receptionist to stand it for me so I could frame the camera. I framed my subject in the left side of the screen so they were looking away from the window, not into it. I ensured the headroom was good, and I left space at the bottom of the screen for lower thirds.

The final interview set up

The final interview set up

Whilst I still had the receptionist I set the on camera mic, and the clip mic up so I could test sound levels. I had already done a bit of this at home prior to this day, so it only took a bit of minor tweaking to get it right. Once I had set everything up, I put markers down so I could set up quickly on my other filming days. I also requested that the school not let anyone else use the room during my filming week so my background would not be moved.

Framing the shot

Setting the sound levels

Because I spent time setting all of this up, when my first interviewee arrived, they didn't have to wait for me to prepare for them. They came in, sat down, and we got on with it. I started by asking them to say and spell out their name so I could get the information on the lower thirds correct. I then followed my list of questions, rewording, and expanding on them when required. I followed the same process for every interview I shot during the week.

In the afternoon of day one I had to shoot some actuality. I decided to film this handheld as I felt this was the most practical way to shoot actuality. I also felt the camera movement would make the footage more visually interesting. To shoot the handheld footage I used a PMW mounted on a shoulder rig to reduce strain on my arms and back. I also decided to use a second camera, on which I would get a static wide shot of the actuality that I could cut into during the edit when I reframe on the handheld shot. To get this shots I used a Canon EOS M1 on a tripod.

I turned up to the location early so I could set up the cameras, and mic up the teacher before the students arrived and the lesson started.

I followed the same process across my other four days filming interviews and actuality of lessons.