In a recent post I talked about shooting interviews on the ‘shop floor’. In other words, in the middle of where the story was happening. If done well, these can be very effective but managing the lighting and sound become even more critical, compared to shooting in a studio or quiet office.
Sound
Getting the sound right is one of the areas that can be quite difficult to manage in a less than ideal situation. An experienced sound recordist is always your best bet, but in most cases for the corporate video producer, the budget doesn’t allow for this luxury.
Here are some tips about recording the audio of an interviewee in a noisy location.
Place a lavalier mic as close as possible to the source of the sound, ie – the interviewees mouth. If you have a lavalier mic with a cardiod pick-up pattern, all the better. (Generally these mics are omnidirectional). Getting the mic close means high on the tie, if your subject is wearing one, or clipped high in the middle of a men’s shirt of ladies blouse. (It’s more difficult to do this with a female interviewee).
Or, use a shotgun mic over the top, to the side or underneath, keeping it just out of frame. One of the considerations is where the ambient or background noise is coming from. If possible, as the shotgun mic points at the interviewee, it should be pointing away from the source of the ambient sound.
What type of sound is in the background? If it’s consistent with no obvious peaks or sharp spikes, things will be a lot easier. If you have someone hammering away in the background or a basketball being bounced close by, you may need to move to a quieter location.
An audience will cope with a consistent level of background noise far better than one that has peaks and spikes.
One thing to keep in mind is that showing the source of the sound in the background of the shot makes it a lot easier for the audience to accept that sound as part of the scene. I recently shot an interview at a school and whilst the sound of a basketball bouncing against a wall was in the background, you could also see them bouncing the ball in the background of the shot.
There are also some great noise reduction filters in digital audio mixers. These allow you to ‘sample’ the background noise and then apply that sample out of phase which can help reduce the sound quite markedly. This is usually a case of trial and error, but these filters can help reduce the background noise by a few db.
Remember that because you are filming the person being interviewed and the viewer can see their lips moving, this visual component will help the viewer to ‘hear’ what they’re saying.
Lighting
To make this work you need to match any lighting on the subject with the lighting in the background. These means in intensity and colour balance.
Unless you need to light the whole scene, foreground and background, all you will generally need is a small ‘fill’ light on your subject. I generally use a camera mounted LED Light Panel. Make sure you can see the light reflected in the subject’s eyes – an eye light.
Adjust the fill so that your subject stands out just slightly above the light level of the background. Make sure you match the colour temperature. If you have time, you may also want to add some backlight to one side so that there is a slight rim light around their hairline and shoulders. This will also help them to stand out from the background.
If you’re shooting with a DSLR, using an f stop below f4.0 will help give you a narrow depth-of-field which will also help with the effect.
With careful attention to both lighting and sound, ‘shop floor’ interviews can really help you tell the story.
