Hi,

So this friday i have a job to shoot an interview with a japanese artist Akira Shimaya akira shimaya exposeert in Amsterdam (http://akira-shimaya.exposeert.com/)
It will be a 2 person interview in Japanese following the usual question/answer format, the opening we're planning to be an outdoor shot on a nice amsterdam bridge with the interviewer saying 'i'm on my way to meet so and so' and introducing a little about him..

I was really happy to have a chance to use my brand new 7D that arrived last week, however theres a couple of issues:

All my lenses are Nikon and I'm still waiting for my Nikkor adapter that will (i hope!) arrive tomorrow, so i will just have a day to get used to the camera..
Then audio - I'm also waiting for a H4N to arrive and pretty sure it wont arrive in the next days..
Also i've never shot a 2 person interview and i guess it wouldn't be so nice with one camera only..

So, what i thought so far was to use my Canon XM2 (GL2), quite close facing the 2 interviewees and recording sound with the onboard stereo mics, with an over the shoulder towards the artist with the 7d. If it's going to be SD anyway i can also crop the 7d footage for another closer shot of him.

I have no idea how the 7d will combine with the XM2 and also i was hoping to use the 7d for the opening outdoor shots but with onboard audio would not be a good idea i guess..


Is this a bad idea, is there a better solution (extra equipment??) any advice i would greatly appreciate!

Thanks

From an audio standpoint I wouldn't rely on the on-camera mics for either of those cameras. Definitely will want them close miked (probably a lavelier...wired or wireless depending on how far and wide the shot), and without the H4N or another recorder will want to run the audio into the XM2.

I would start there, because with an interview the audio is the most important thing. It sounds like you'll need 2 mics (1 on each subject).

thanks..

yeah i was thinking about it again and thought about just using the xm2 as a recorder, with the 7d i'll shoot the interviewee over the shoulder, and try to get as much footage after by asking the interviewer to repeat the questions and some reaction shots.. I will rethink the outdoor shot and maybe find another solution..

Now to research the mic options..

I would plan on shooting the entire thing with the older camera. There is absolutely no way I would shoot an interview such as this with a new, untested camera. You don't even know if the CF card is going to work properly at this point. So either use the old camera and forget the 7D, or use the 7D as a backup, locked off camera and if it works, great, if not, oh well.

That's living on the edge.

The Canon 7D won't combine well with the GL2, simply because the difference in DoF and color signature is jarring.

Your best bet is to use the GL2 as a fixed video point and audio recorder, (the 7D is good but tricky to operate if you're used to traditional video cameras.) if you can't run out and buy a seperate audio recorder at the corner store. I'd also consider picking up a Canon 50mm 1.8 for $99 (or whatever the Japanese version is) at the local camera shop, just in case the Nikon adapter doesn't get there in time.

The 7D is so finicky, that when I can, I try to record the event with a Canon HG20 backup camera as well.

I agree with Perrone. Having to explain to a client that the day is shot because of faulty equipment is bad enough. I couldn't imagine trying to explain to a client that we had to reshoot something because I didn't fully understand the equipment I was using.

Then again, Manus may have volumes of experience with DSLR's for all I know.

ehh.. not really.. i've been reading my manual though ;)

i do appreciate the feedback but i'm kind of stubbornly set on going with the 7d, i'll take the risk with the potential benefit of having a product that (hopefully) looks better..

i'm pretty sure i know where and how to get the important stuff like iso/shutter/apeture/framerate/white balance etc where i want them, i'll make sure my card does what its supposed to beforehand, and for the rest fingers crossed, if it all goes wrong i'll kick myself and remember your words.

thanks for the tips!

GOOD LUCK! (you may need it... ) :)

Manus, do you know how long the interview will be, will it fit on the 7D? Do you have spare cards? And what about post, can you handle the 7D and will you have to include some of his artwork?

If you can't understand Japanese watch out for syncing audio, nice minefield there.

Think I agree with Perrone and John.

Cheers.

ehh.. not really.. i've been reading my manual though ;)

i do appreciate the feedback but i'm kind of stubbornly set on going with the 7d, i'll take the risk with the potential benefit of having a product that (hopefully) looks better..

i'm pretty sure i know where and how to get the important stuff like iso/shutter/apeture/framerate/white balance etc where i want them, i'll make sure my card does what its supposed to beforehand, and for the rest fingers crossed, if it all goes wrong i'll kick myself and remember your words.

thanks for the tips!

Well, at least do yourself a favor and do at least two practice interview shoots to validate your gear (and YOU). Make the first one a quick-and-dirty using the tripod and record yourself a few minutes doing a sound test, etc. Now check out the video/audio, discovering the awful audio and maybe discovering gotcha's like turning off Image Stabilization to avoid the high-pitch noise in your audio and why you'd never want to use your on-camera mic. On your second test, do a practice shoot of a friend and shoot for at least 30 minutes. Did you remember to restart recording every 12 minutes? Did your buffer overrun? Did your camera overheat? Did you mess-up a setting? This time import the video into your NLE. Did it go smoothly and everything work the way you expected? Where did you go wrong with video, audio, camera work?

Then again, if you feel luck go right ahead with the "BIG BANG" approach - we will be interested to hear your stories!

Good luck, Michael

Manus, I was in the same boat as you 2 weeks ago. I just got my 7D in to shoot a short salvation video for one of my clients. It was something simple for the website where she talked someone through a salvation prayer. Kinda short. She didn't want any camera movement—which helped since I had my shotgun mic on a boom and fed into my Macbook pro recording into Garageband.

I setup the shot and took a few photos for her to see the lighting, then hit record on the 7D and Garageband. I was only able to monitor the audio after framing so I didn't even watch the LCD. It turned out great, if you discount the speaking. Haha.

http://yourvisualimage.com/test/edit-export-01-H.264-3.mov

I think you could pull it off with 1 camera. You are right, though. Either camera, you will have to ask the interviewer to repeat questions and expressions. It just comes down to which camera you want to use and how you are recording the audio.

Where is this intended to be displayed? Web only?

I would plan on shooting the entire thing with the older camera. There is absolutely no way I would shoot an interview such as this with a new, untested camera. You don't even know if the CF card is going to work properly at this point. So either use the old camera and forget the 7D, or use the 7D as a backup, locked off camera and if it works, great, if not, oh well.

That's living on the edge.

what he said.

Maybe use the 7d for some cutaways.

good suggestions re trials, i will do as much as possible tomorrow.. i have one 32gig card, interview will probably last about 15 mins, i'll remember the 12min limit, final output web only, editing on a macpro quad.. i will be shooting plenty of footage of the works as b-roll..

i'll let you know how it goes, now i have to try and find 2 lavs somewhere! (i guess a boom is a bad idea??)

I think using the 7D for cutaway shots is fine, as well as for the reverse angle. You can always soften it in post and tweak the color to make it match the other camera. You can bring a high resolution camera down, but you can't bring the other one up. But as suggested, test it out thoroughly first.

In the past I've had to do two camera shoots with one camera being a high end 2/3" chip camera and the other a low end 1/3" chip camera. I always used the lower resolution camera for closeups and did the wide shots with the better camera. By white balancing both together, I was able to intercut footage with no big problems, as long as the difference in the shots from one camera to the other was great enough. A little gaussian blur and increase in saturation when you edit and you should be able to match things close enough.

thanks guys, i'll have the xm2 anyway so i'll use it for the wide shot and decide later whether to use it..

another question, for the shots of the paintings, does anybody have any suggestions on how to make the cutaways a bit more intersting? i'm wondering whether fixed shots, a kind of manual ken burns slow pan, or what kind of dissolves to use between paintings to hopefully make it look a bit more attractive.. i want to avoid cross dissolves for sure but i'm imagining hard cuts might be a bit too sudden?

thanks guys, i'll have the xm2 anyway so i'll use it for the wide shot and decide later whether to use it..

another question, for the shots of the paintings, does anybody have any suggestions on how to make the cutaways a bit more intersting? i'm wondering whether fixed shots, a kind of manual ken burns slow pan, or what kind of dissolves to use between paintings to hopefully make it look a bit more attractive.. i want to avoid cross dissolves for sure but i'm imagining hard cuts might be a bit too sudden?

Hi Manus,

That's a tough one to answer without making several assumptions. Assuming you're going to intercut during the interview, then the next question would be what is the web screen size, end-user throughput, etc? We find this more of a chicken-and-egg scenario, and when it comes to web-based video, it's more an art than a science. Then again, we don't even know the painting aspect ratio, which would also influene the camerawork and editing decisions.

You're going to be much wiser after going through the shoot, editing the video, and posting it online.

Momma didn't say life would always be easy <wink>

Michael

Why not shoot stills of the paintings and do a Ken Burns. THe rostrum moves will look good.

I'd concentrate on getting the interview down and do the art later. They could be any size format and might not be available on the day. Japanese art has very fine details, the 7D should be good for this with the right light.

He might refer to particular paintings and their details during the interview so you have to sync art to dialogue later. Make an accurate list on the spot and have them check it there and then. If they leave and you're unsure, disaster looms bigtime.

Cheers.

so it went 'ok'!

made some stupid mistakes but ok, i think i can work with it.. in the end i had a little sony icd-sx700 voicerecorder to use so i didnt use the xm2 to shoot at all, with 2 sanken lavs and a beachtek going to the minijack input..

a rough cut for the purposes of subtitling is here This is a password protected video on Vimeo password 'owl'.

mistakaes were a horrible orangish whitebalance! i dont know how i thought it was ok at the time.. here i've done my best to correct it, I'll play with a colours a bit more later.

DOF probably had no need to be so shallow.

Lav cables showing on midshots! I'll try to paint them out in after effects i guess.. And his lav seems to have dissappeared altogether under his shirt, dont know how that happened!

General impressions of the 7d are: great image but that it's a little sharp and unnatural out of the box, I didnt do anything with picture settings.. maybe i need to play around here with sharpness etc.

Moire and Rolling shutter definitely are limitations. I always read people discussing them and thought, it'll be fine i'm sure but yeah, definitely need to keep them in mind..

And generally the camera is capable of very powerfull images and you need to be i guess more sensitive that you are choosing the right 'look' for each shot.

All in all very happy with it. Hopefully going to be doing one of these interviews every month so lots of time for improvements!


Cheers,
Manus

Owl it is! Great stuff and props for first time Manus.

A little constructive criticism. Framing was the thing I noticed, he faces cam right which needed more early 2 shots to emphasis he didn't face her. More early headroom too, cam on him is a tad too low for me. Dof could slightly include his? art on rear wall.

Biggest thing: sounds like his voice is cam left and hers cam right, swap or reverse the left/right audio, certainly help their positioning. Keep this as reference to go back to and compare as you do more. Hope this helps.

Cheers.

thanks!

yes i realised after i didnt shoot enough wide shots, i will try to patch some in before the main cam right section as you mentioned.. he has the Japanese mannerism of looking straight ahead and not at the person hes talking to which could indeed be confusing with the tight shot..

i agree with the angle being too low..

and thanks for the left/right audio info, i had my speakers back to front!

Manus

Huh it's just left and right, not cam left/right as I wrote, sorry.

Manus are you going to include any of his art?

Being close to Asia we used to get a lot of English>Oriental translation and recording work, eventually built up a big stable of artists for this. This was easier (and more profitable) than subtitling the shows, especially when there were many versions to do.

A good trick to use was .. when the client said they were going to subtitle and not do a voice over translation I'd answer, 'what a pity, while they're reading the subtitles they won't be watching the video you spent thousands on' Worked every time lol. Might help you if you ever go English>Asian and the font could be hard to aquire.

Cheers.

i'm planning to put a section in between questions with his art (ken burns) and some music..

right now having some bigger discussions with the interviewee about the overall direction/purpose of this series which was a little unclear before, and pretty important to get straight before deciding on editing style/pace etc

i think we'll take some time to get this one right and the next ones will be easier, i'll keep you posted when it's done

well it took a long time for various reasons but managed to finish the first of the series.. criticism would be welcome!

YouTube - Akira Shimaya Interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzTvX9IP1C0)