Video Production Tips

• If you are just starting out, it is recommended that you come up with and write down your questions ahead of time.
• You always want to ask open-ended questions (questions that don’t yield a yes or no answer).
• If you don’t have a narrator, your interview subject(s) need to tell the whole story so you should ask them to include your questions in their answer. Example: Q: “Tell us your favorite thing about Davidson College.” A: “My favorite thing about Davidson College is…”
• As you are listening to the interview subject’s answers, make sure the interviewee is providing you with some transitional lines. Example: “In addition to Alternative Spring Break, I am also involved with the rugby club…”
• Given time constraints, if someone takes 45 seconds to convey a single thought, ask your interview subject to answer again more succinctly. Give them an example of what you are looking for.
• If you aren’t using a narrator, make sure that at least one of your interview subjects gives you something you can use as an opening statement and a closing remark.
• You might want to have your interview subjects introduce themselves on camera, but if there are multiple voices in the piece, introductions throughout might bog down the video.

• Ideally, the interviewer will have a second person with them to operate the camera and assist in monitoring recorded audio with headphones. The interviewer should sit or stand slightly to the left or right of the camera (out of frame), and the interview subject should look at the interviewer. If the person being interviewed looks straight into the camera, you may get a sort of “deer in headlights” look. For some people it is more uncomfortable to look directly at the camera than it is to look directly at the interviewer. Watch a television news story and you’ll see interview subjects always look either camera right or camera left across the video frame.
• If you have two interview subjects in the piece, one should look left and one should look right, so when you have back-to-back video shots, they look like they are looking at each other.
• Audio should be captured using a separate microphone whenever possible to ensure quality. Cameras come with built-in microphones, but it is best to use a wired or wireless mic for your interview subject (handheld or lavaliere). It is also a good idea to mic your interview subject when you shoot b-roll so you can pick up natural sound.
• Take the time to learn how to record good audio. People will watch a poorly recorded video with good audio, they are less likely to watch a good video with bad audio quality that they cannot hear or understand. Be aware of background sounds and room noise. Whenever possible choose a quiet location for shooting your interviews and always monitor you audio through headphones. There is nothing worse than recording an interview only to realize you cannot hear the interview subject.
• Make sure your subject is lit properly. Doing your interview in a studio setting with studio lighting, inside with a light kit, or outside, is preferred. Always be aware of back lighting (lighting behind your interview subject). Your interview subject may not be viewable when shooting against a bright window or strong backlight.
• If you don’t have the necessary equipment to produce a video yourself, contact the Davidson College Digital Learning staff to inquire about borrowing cameras, microphones and lighting equipment. Academic courses have top priority, so plan far in advance when making your video equipment requests.

• It is generally good practice to have all your interview subjects sign written video releases. If you are going to be shooting in a classroom, you need to clear it with the professor first. If you are going to be shooting athletics practice footage, clear it with the coach. If you are in a situation where someone in a class or event indicates they don’t want to appear in film, ask them to sit in the back of the class or otherwise out of the view of the camera’s lens.
• If your video features children under 18, you need to get written permission from their parents. College Communications can supply you with a form.

We can provide more details about each of these things, but here are just some general things you want to keep in mind:

• Always white balance (show the camera what “true white” is when you change shooting situations [rooms/inside-outside]). You don’t want blue video or yellow video.
• Avoid extreme camera angles and excessive zooming.
• In general, you don’t want to overdo effects within one video. What looks cool the first time might not look so cool the fifth time we see it in a video. That goes for shots as well.
• For editing purposes, you need to shoot wide, medium, and close-up shots of your video subject/action that you will match in a sequence.
• A jump cut is what happens when the subject appears to “jump” – when, for example, your subject who is on the left side of the screen, suddenly goes to the right, and the type of shot is the same, e.g. a head and shoulders shot.
• Think of your favorite television program or commercial. The opening sequence of CSI starts out with a wide shot of the crime scene with an investigator on the side of the screen. The second shot is of our investigator head-on looking through a magnifying glass. The third shot might be a close-up of what that investigator is seeing through the magnifying glass. The shots aren’t jarring because they lead from one thought to the other, and both the angles and types of shots (wide or establishing shot, medium, close, extreme close) are varied.
• Look for opportunities to shoot match sequences: a wide shot of a professor teaching from the back of the room (wide) goes to a shot of a student’s face close-up (close), to a side profile shot of the teacher from the front of the room where we also see a couple of students (medium). This may require having your subject repeat a movement.