Static and moving cams for interviews

Matt Rozier · December 17, 2019

Just wondering how you guys n girls have gotten on with interview situations where there’s both a fixed camera and a moving camera - have you made or seen many situations where you think this has cut well together? If so, would you care to share a link? Or do you find that there’s an energy drop when cutting to the static cam?
It’s something I’ve thought about a lot and I’m just wondering whether anyone has had similar thoughts or advice. I tend to keep things consistent where poss (ie move both cameras or keep both cams static) but it’d be great to hear how you’ve mixed it up and to see how it’s worked.

Tyler Purcell · December 17, 2019

Depends on what you're after. I've done interviews with sliders on the B camera, slowly gliding the camera left and right, but honestly I still preferred to do that work in post. Shooting it at a larger resolution/wider shot and doing slides, push-in's and pull-out's in post to hit the areas where you need it based on the cut.

Matt Rozier · December 17, 2019

Yeah it's an interesting one, I think I'm always worried that going from a nice organic handheld roving CU to a static mid or wide might feel clunky, but I'd love to see some examples which cut together really well.

Alden Ford · December 17, 2019

I've shot quite a few interview setups like this, and I like using a slider on B (or C, if you have a wide and close straight-on). I find that shooting the moving camera further off-axis helps a lot in the edit, at at least 45 degrees (further if it works with the tone). That way it feels like a narrative choice, and doesn't just feel like a more dynamic version of the A cam shot. Also, being further off-axis helps the A cam shot keep its energy, since it's the most connected with the subject.

Edited to say: I agree, it's harder cutting a handheld shot in than a slider, since I think there's a much bigger energy shift cutting to handheld.

Edited December 17, 2019 by Alden Ford

Robin R Probyn · December 18, 2019

Moving camera on interview .. fortunately went out of fashion 10 years ago.. never a good idea in the first place.. the edit is never held long enough to get to see the movement .. and just why is it needed.. side B cam sure .. but moving .. a fashion that luckily went out of fashion.. it will date your footage badly ..

Matt Rozier · December 18, 2019

Thanks all,

Thanks for your thoughts all - yeah it’s the moving side b cam I’m talking about robin - I love that aesthetic.

Its exactly these sorts of shots I think give the kinds of kinetic energy I’m looking for.

Im not looking to mix slider with static, I’m just wondering really if people have had success mixing a handheld cu cam (perhaps shooting from a variety of angles - moving between questions) with a static mid shot - sometimes I’m working solo - so having two handheld cameras isn’t always possible. If you’ve seen any examples which work great - or even better examples which don’t work so great - it’d be good to see. Great to analyse this stuff to see if there’s any situations where cuts work fine and maybe struggle a little.

Tyler Purcell · December 18, 2019

2 hours ago, Matt Rozier said:

Its exactly these sorts of shots I think give the kinds of kinetic energy I’m looking for.

That look works well, it's as simple as a B camera handheld, nothing crazy.

Webster Colcord · December 18, 2019

Hi Matt,

This is a piece that I did recently which has no actual interview footage at all, it's all voice-over interview but lots of handheld footage around the subject. So in a way, it's all "B" cam, all "subjective". People seem to like the way it turned out: https://vimeo.com/366172826/1beff2df6c

Edited December 18, 2019 by Webster C