Deciding which microphone to use for recording audio can be a bit daunting. There's so many mics out there. Well, we recently been experimenting with a mic called Yeti made by Blue. It's awesome and it's reasonably priced.
Deciding which microphone to use for recording audio can be a bit daunting. There's so many mics out there. Well, we recently been experimenting with a mic called Yeti made by Blue. It's awesome and it's reasonably priced.
If you've filmed movies on your iPhone you'll know how tricky it is to keep the shot steady. So we came up with our own DIY iPhone tripod. We used a type of a C-Clamp, mini tripod & our iPhone.
Here's the final image.
C-Clamp
Tighten screw to hold phone firmly, but not too tight
Here are some tips on conducting interviews for your documentary:
1. What is the main message/story of your documentary? It's important to know what the focus of your documentary is before you develop questions for the interview, especially if you are interviewing multiple people. For example if I'm doing a PSA on water and interviewing someone from the community I need to make a list of the things I know I want answered by the person I am interviewing. What are the key points I want them to hit? Doing this will help you develop questions easier and will save you interviewing time.
Now that you know what the focus of your documentary is you can develop questions around the main idea for the interviewee. For example, in the PSA example from above I know I wanted to focus on 3 questions.
1.) What is the issue? (the water crisis in the central valley)
2.) How does it affect us? (Can he give us some facts?)
3.) What can I do? (What is the call to action)
As you can see above those are the three questions I want to ask but in parenthesis I have what I want from that question.
TIP: If the interviewee doesn't answer my question clearly, ask a follow up question.
3. Make them comfortable Before the interview, if possible, talk to the person you are interviewing over the phone or meet them in person. You want to make sure they are comfortable with you.
TIP: People like to be directed, without being aggressive, because it takes stress off of them. Be clear with your interviewee, what do you want from them?
Also, during the interview while the crew is setting up the shot, sit with your interviewee. Start with an informal conversation to make them comfortable and then lead into how the interview.
TIP: Never leave your interviewee sitting alone while everyone is setting up for the interview. This usually makes them more nervous.
To see some extra tips on recording your interview visit this link on our wiki.
education+ingenuity+multimedia+communication
Recent Comments