UIB

Dep. of Information science and Media

Studies

Television News Production Course

For

MEVI 162
Spring 2008

By

Z.Fahmy
Lighting Cameraman

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 Elements of the course

News Interview Structure

The interviewer (the reporter)
The guest (who’s talking?)
The viewer is a silent observer

This creates a three-way interaction. A successful interview will include all three groups in
the correct mix.

How do you set up your interview?

• Standing
• Seated
• In car
• Walking
• Working
• On phones
• Vox pop

How do you shoot your reporter?

(Piece to camera) or (stand up) a reporter’s appearance in a TV news story
Usually a head and shoulders shot (medium shot)which features the reporter talking into a
microphone which often has the logo of the TV station at the scene of the news event, often
used as a transition, or at the beginning or ending.

You can also call it (Sound bit) the videotaped quote in television news

• Static
• Walk and talk
• Intro
• Bridge- A transition between segments of audio or video

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 • Sign- off

Interviewing one person 1+1

Framing
Before you press the rec button and start shooting, do compose your frame
You must consider framing and if you will be hand-holding the camera or using a tripod.

Static Framing
The 2/3 rule
The triangle rule
Balance
One centre of interest
The depth of the frame
Composing with the lens – wide and tele
Colour harmony

The eye line

Remember the eye direction; ask the programme leader to sit in such a way that the object
will be looking at near camera (us the viewers).

Looking camera right or camera left

Looking up or down

Headroom and Nose room

Leave the proper amount of nose room and headroom in front of and above the person you're
shooting.

For example, don't have a shot where there's excessive empty space above a person's head.
That's just dead space. There should be just a little room above a person's head in a shot.

And if the person is looking to the side, add space in the direction in which the person is
looking.

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Background Interference
Avoid objects in the background which can distract from the person you are filming.
Have you ever recorded shots where trees seem to grow out of people's heads or telephone
wires appear to run through their ears?

Interviewing two people

If you will be interviewing 2 people, try to let them sit next to each other either on a sofa or 2
chairs or around a table, and remember different heights.

Maybe you will begin with 2 shots and then zoom in to one shot, you must find the right time
to pan between person A and person B.

Do not let person A and B look at each other the whole time, you must therefore stand so
close to the camera that they can communicate with you.

It is clever of the programme leader to call the guests by their names, it helps the
photographer to find a starting point and gives time for a new frame.

Walking and talking interview

Another technique of interviewing is the walking interview in which the interviewer and guest
stroll side-by-side toward the camera. The camera operator walks backwards maintaining a
constant distance. Obviously this must be well planned. The camera operator should have
someone to act as a guide, most of the time the sound person will be the guide as well as
holding the microphone, the usual routine is for the guide to place their hand in the middle of
the operator's back and walk with them.

(he needs to keep turning his head backwards and forwards to do both jobs)

Dynamic Framing for walking interview

Good camera work begins with a good composition and ends
with one
Framing through camera movement
Tilt-up or down
Tracking forward or Back
Framing the movement in side the frame

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VOX POP
Vox pop means asking a few people the same questions and then gathering all the answers
into one fast sequence.

Choose a busy area (e.g. the market square/shopping centre), and make the object come to
you, rather than running after him/her.

When you are out on location, try to find a light source, so that you have some exposure on
the interview object.

Try to find alternately where the object is standing against camera left or camera right, if you
would like to give the impression of something controversial.

When you interview a person who is standing up, hold the camera in such a way that you still
have room for the journalist interviewing the person.

Avoid shooting persons against a white background and open sky.

Sound in field interview

Sound quality is especially important in interviews.

The 5 Ws & H
Talking about sounds do remember the 5 Ws &H
The primary questions a news story answers --Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Recording Sound for Interviews

Sound quality is especially important in interviews. The audience will be concentrating more
on what the guest is saying than how they look. Without crystal clear sound your interview
will be irritating to viewers.

Most in-camera microphones do a pretty good job of picking up general sounds during
recording. But please try not to use the on camera mic, it is not that good after all.
Avoid showing the microphone in the shot.

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The first decision is which type of microphone best suits your situation.

Hand-Held Mics

Hand-held mics are versatile and relatively easy to use. They are well-suited to mobile
interviews, and to situations where the interviewer needs to direct the talking (people can only
speak when the interviewer points the mic at them).

Lapel Mics

Lapel mics (mig) create high quality, consistent sound. Each person has their own mic, the
mics are (theoretically) always in the correct position and unwanted noise is rejected well.
The disadvantage is that they are slower and more difficult to set up, especially if there are a
number of guests coming in and out of the IV setting. Also, if the mic position does happen to
go awry, you have tointerrupt the interview to fix it.

Radio Mics

Any type of microphone can be plugged into a small battery-powered radio transmitter and
sent to a receiver at the recording end. This frees the interviewer and guest from the restraints
of audio cables. It also means the participants can be a long way from the camera (which
would obviously be on a long zoom).

Head phone

If you are on your own, use headphones to adjust the best audio level and monitoring the
sound

Recording your interview

Before you start shooting the interview, roll your new tape for 60 seconds color bar combined
with the 1000 Hertz at the beginning of your tape and 30 sec with the lens cap on.

This will avoid having any crinkles at the start of the tape appearing in the video you want to
shoot (if you are using an old camera)and it will give time to adjust the sound level at the
editing disc.

Do not stop or move the camera before you know that you are showing something new or
different.

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When camera is recording, do not zoom in and out all the time and constantly pan from side
to side, this irritates the viewer, it is best to use the zoom to focus if you have enough
batteries.
When you are on location and many things happen at the same time, the photographer must
have one eye on the view-finder and one eye on what to shoot next.

Label your tapes

When you are doing long interviews that require more than one tape, be sure to label each
tape at the scene. And pick a label that will make it easy to identify later.

There's nothing more frustrating than starting to edit and not knowing which tape is of which
shot or what is on each tape.

Cover-up
Since you very often must make a shoot quickly without having a precise script, it is better to
film too much rather than too little.

Inserts
In addition to cover the main theme, do some extra shooting (cut aways) in the area around
you, or a (reaction shot) of the reporter so that the editing person can use the extra material to
cover the reportage or the programme.

Noddies
"Noddy" is the term given to a shot of the interviewer reacting to the guest. The interviewer
may be nodding, smiling, frowning, looking concerned, etc.

Noddies perform two functions.

• To include the interviewer and show their reactions.

• To provide edit points.

Overlay
A sequence of few shots which are laid over an interview, usually showing the interviewee
recorded at another time in another place.

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Lighting the interview
• Where are you shooting
o Int or Ext
• What do you need?
o A lighting ‘toolkit’ which?
o Modern lighting equipment and the use of colour.
• Existing light sources
o Sealing light
o Window light

Use of reflective materials

• Grip equipments
• Basic portraiture and interviews
o 3 point lighting
o 2 lights
o 1 light

• Dealing with mixed daylight and artificial lighting

• Colour temperature correction
• safety on location
• Using camera light

Thank you and good luck

Z.Fahmy

Jan 2008