Once upon a time, interviews were generally filmed without too much happening in the background. This meant that the audience would not be distracted by either movement or activity behind the person being interviewed, nor would they hear any distracting noise.
Both these principles are still worth considering of course, but for web videos, more and more interviews are being filmed right on the shop floor with lots of activity in the background.
It’s a bit like some TV news services where the newsreaders sit where the fourth wall would be in a newsroom. Behind them the viewer can see that station’s news department is busily beavering away on the news (or supposedly they’re doing that anyway!)
Why this change?
Two reasons:
- Audiences are far more able to deal with what would once have been annoying background movement. They are less likely to be ‘distracted by a distraction’. Visit any coffee shop and you’ll see a whole lot of conversations happening at every table with people able to conduct these without any problem, despite the background noise and movement.
- Cameras and microphones are now more easily able to reduce the level of distraction that movement might otherwise generate. DSLR’s with narrow-depth-of-field and more directional microphones are a key part of this.
So why do it?
Putting an interviewee into context when they are being interviewed is always more interesting. The background can help the audience better understand the interviewee’s point of view and hopefully make the story work better.
It’s a challenge for the camera operator/director also and that’s not a bad thing. Shooting an interview in a quiet room is a lot easier than out on the shop floor, but is it as effective?
Ultimately it’s a decision you need to make based on the options available, the interviewee and their preferences and the story you’re trying to tell.
But it’s well worth considering.
