Lighting Workshop - 21/4/21

In this workshop, we played around with the lighting and structured it how we would structure it when we are filming our interview scenes for our production stage of our documentaries. We decided to structure the lighting like it is shown in the pictures below. 

Because our locations are really well lit, we did not see a purpose to have another light for this reason stated. So, we wanted to use, what it is called in the media industry as a key light, to highlight the part of the contributors face that was not being hit by the natural light already provided at the location. According to SC Lannom, who is a screenwriter and director living in Los Angeles, states:

"Positioning your key light in this way is by no means required, but it will allow your less intense fill light to favour the camera which, in turn, will give your image a smoother look that is still well lit." (Lannom, 2020)

This is what we wanted to achieve and will be used throughout the production of our documentary to make the final product more continuous as we are using continuity with the lights so the lights do not change and affect the shoot. SC Lannom says:

"If you take one light source out of your 3-point lighting setup, you won’t receive the full benefits. Think of it like your favourite recipe for cookies; if you leave out one ingredient, the cookies won't be perfect." (Lannom, 2020)

This is an excellent analogy and is another reason why we want continuity in our lighting, because if we don't use the same lighting the shot will not look the same and lack smoothness and will disturb the general flow of the shots.

Bibliography:

Lannom, SC. (2020) Three-Point Video Lighting: Key, Fill, & Backlight Setup Guide. At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/three-point-lighting-setup/#three-point-setup (Accessed on 21/04/2021)

Sequencing & Actuality Workshop - 14/4/21

 

Today was our first day back at the Maidstone TV Studios, and we learned about actuality and how to structure questions for our interviews for our documentary and the best techniques to use when doing interviews. We were taught that there are three different types of interview, these are:

1. Hard Exposure - This type tends to be quite investigative and pushes the interviewee out of their comfort zone and forces them to come up with the answer that the interviewer wants or the company wants to hear to capture the audience's attention about what the interviewee is saying about a particular subject.
2. Informational - This type involves putting the audience in the picture of the interview. This includes making the audience feel like they can relate to the interview or feel like they are in the room when the interview is taking place.
3. Emotional - This type requires engaging with and revealing the subject's emotions about a particular topic. This is great to make the audience feel a certain emotion towards the interviewee, for example if the interviewee is having a rough time and is emotional in the interview, it would make the audience feel sorrow or empathy for the interviewee.

We decided that when we interview Zoe and Karl we are going to use a mixture of both Informational and Emotional. We decided this because we want the audience to relate to Karl and Zoe's stories in a way and we want them to feel inspired by them and their actions that they've gone through throughout this pandemic. We then practiced our questions on each other, with me pretending to be Zoe, filming the interview if we were to be filming the actual interviews, which you can see in the video above. However, it was our first time using the clip microphones and we didn't know what frequency to put the microphone on and when editing the footage and looking back at it, the audio was very pitchy and loud. So, when we film the actual interviews, we will put the microphones on a lower frequency and try angling the clip microphone to be less direct to the interviewee's mouth to make the audio less pitchy.

According to Marie Gardiner, a writer and photographer from North-East England says:

"Turning an omnidirectional lapel mic upside down is a useful trick in a studio environment or ‘dead’ space for reducing popping and sibilance. If you’re ‘in the field’ or somewhere where you’ve got an echo or lots of external noise then you’re better off using a cardioid and having it the right way up, taking into consideration mic placement and proximity to the speaker’s mouth." (Gardiner, 2015)

This technique was also suggested by my cousin who works in the Media industry and he has his experiences with microphones as he was on this course before I was. Since we are filming in a dance studio we will make sure that Zoe's and Zara's, the ex students, clip microphones will be facing downwards. However, we will have to have Karl's microphone facing upwards and we will consider the distance between the microphone and Karl's, Maddie's and Lewie's mouth.

Bibliography:

Gardiner, M (2015) Quick Tip: When to Turn Your Lav Mic Upside Down. At: https://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/quick-tip-when-to-turn-your-lav-mic-upside-down--cms-22408 (Accessed on 14/04/2021)