hi gang,

hope i am in the right section.

got called for a project..interviewing clients.

this would be the first time i do such a project, and i guess, i could need some advice, input.

outdoor event, 2 pm, interviewing theater clients, my client needs that material on dvd for a found raiser.

have lav and/ or, wired mic system, plan to shoot of tripot. interviewer is from the theater. (xl1-s)

should i bring on board lighting
how about 3 point light set up
how about release forms
how about a shoot log?
should i use lav mic or handheld wireless?

what did i miss?

thanks for your input

greetings

Karl. If the situation is such that you are walking around interviewing people then the wireless mic is your best option (do you have a sound guy?), if you are doing a sit down interview then if you have enough lav mics then you should use them...if not give the lav to the guest.

As for lighting if it's outdoors your light should be ok, if you have the resource of having someone with a reflector then do it but if you don't then don't worry.

If its a live event (which i am gathering from your post it is ....not sure) then you will not get a shoot log cause you'll be busy fimming everything unless you have an assistant that's on top of things

Andy..

Some quick tips that have helped me along the way...

Practice before you go on friends or family. Nothing says professional more than someone who knows (or looks like they know) what their doing.

Speaking of practice. I'd test each sound set-up on an available friend and see which one works best. The variables are way to many to narrow down. Try it and see for yourself.

Always light your talent/subject. The sun is never enough. Use reflectors or use lights that are the same color temperature as the sun. Otherwise you'll never get the color correction right. Three point lighting is a very good place to start.

If you're doing this out of doors then you'll want to put your talent/subjects in the shade or bring your own shade (aka a butterfly).

Release forms are always a good idea. In a pinch, if you can start the interviews by getting them to say their name and the fact that they know what this video will be used for and that they give their permission, all the better.

Choose an interesting background but nothing that's too busy because that will be distracting. If you can find something that's being lit or has the sun lighting it in the deep background, and looks good; consider it a gift and use it.

Make them feel at ease. Bring and offer them bottled water.

If you pray, pray nobody wears white. If they do wear white you might want to throw a gelled light on them from the collar down.

Make them feel special, welcome and at ease. A trick I learned is to have them turn their head and smile 3/4's of the way to the left and right. Then tell them they don't have a 'bad' side. Cheesy but effective.

Have fun and good luck with it.

Always light your talent/subject. The sun is never enough.

Agreed if you have a contrlolled environment, since it is a live fund raiser i imagine he will be walking around ENG style without the benefit of lights so the only other option is a reflector and if he doesn't even have that its not a disaster.If it's bright use your ND filter, infact use it anyway because it opens the iris up which is a good thing.

Andy.

Definately get some sort of release, if nothing else it makes you look like a professional and more importantly makes your (and your clients) life alot easier if you end up releasing something one of the subjects find embarassing (even if it's just unbecoming footage).

As said before, have each subject state their name (spelling if it's unclear) and title/role/etc. if appropriate. This beats taking proper notes (which you should anyway if you can) and also gives you a backup plan in the event something happens to your notes. Here's another place where having signed releases comes in handy because most of them include full names, contact information, etc.

Bring headphones to monitor your audio and try to get some time in listening to "room noise". Notice if there is any constant background sounds (typical examples are refrigerators, A/C units, etc.). If possible get rid of these sounds or try to get away from them when you pick your interview spot or else you'll just be trying to scrub them out later.

Like everyone else recommended, practice, alot. The most certain way to find your camera's "sweet spot" for light, sound, etc. is to log time behind the lens. If possible try to practice under the same conditions that you'll be shooting under and you'll pick up some tricks that nobody could have came up with.

The good news is that you can get good results even if things go wrong and there's alot you can do in post as long as you get lots of coverage and good sound. For interviews, bad sound is a killer and at least for us one of the hardest things to recover afterwards.

so here it is.

the project went well.

lighting...outside sunshine
audio...cable mic of my ma-200
theater had several people who took care of the guest, talent release, name taking, keeping them in line, interview prep
interviewer was a professional
5 questions per guest
stand up interview
shot was taken out of the audience seating area, background the stage
there was a little time pressure, because the guest had to get the shuttle (theater is in the hills)
14 monitor for producer

hired me again for an other interview session on tuesday


thanks for all your input