Setup For Major Newbie

[Ben Griffin]

I'm trying to get setup to film a marketing video for my company. So far, I have a camera, decent audio setup and 3-point lighting system. I'm wanting to go with a black backdrop and the area I'm wanting to work in is 8 feet wide. I'm not wanting anything fancy or experimental. I just need a decent quality video.

 

A few questions:

 

1. Is 8 feet wide enough for a one-person interview type shoot?

 

2. My wife seems to think it's not good to zoom the camera and instead the camera should be setup so that the shot is perfect without correcting with zoom. Is this right?

 

3. Is it necessary for the camera to be perfectly level? I tend to look better when a camera is pointed slightly down at me. Would this be a good or bad idea?

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

[Brian Drysdale]

8 ft should be wide enough for the typical MCU shot (chest and head) common in interviews.

 

Zooms get used to frame interviews all the time and are used to make slight adjustments (also for reframing, since physically moving the camera can be disturbing for interviewees, they're not actors), although getting the camera subject distance more or less for using the desired focal length is part of the basic set up.

 

Having the camera set up roughly on the subject's eye line is the usual position, but it can vary. Having the camera higher than the subject can make them seem less dominate or below the eye line more more powerful.It really depends on the interviewee, I recently shot an interview with the camera below the eye line height because I knew this persons head tended to lean forward (he's an elderly man).

Edited January 17, 2015 by Brian Drysdale

[Ben Griffin]

Brian,

 

Sorry for the delayed reply. I never got a notification that I had received a reply. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Your input is very helpful!