Some Changes: The interviewer, Marilyn Norry, the founder of Mothership Stories Society, will not be on video and her voice will not be in the final video. Therefore, only 2 Kodak Zi8 video recorders and 1 Sennheiser wireless microphone are required. Also, the Zoom H2 audio recorder will only be gathering voices of everyone; this is to help in editing.
Setting Up: Revisited all 4 shooting areas and roughly identified where to place the 2 Kodak Zi8 video recorders. It was not possible to pre-setup the equipment we do not know who will be at which area. Though, we did set up 2 Kodak Zi8 video recorders and 1 Senniheiser wireless microphone at one of the areas for testing. We also reconfigured the lights: 1 light to be a white light and the other to be yellow light. Sound check (audio level) will have to done on an individual basis.
Framing and Aspect Ratio: The interviewee is to be framed as close to the centre as possible and only showing the head down to the upper chest. It was decided to shoot in wide-screen (i.e., 16:9) instead of the standard format. This is to allow wider range of possibilities in editing (i.e., cropping, etc.).
Ready Set Go: Reset (reformatted) all memory cards on the Kodak Zi8 video recorders and the Zoom H2 audio recorder.
Quiet on the Set: Everyone there has worked in the film industry. Everyone know about the importance of staying quiet during recording. It doesn't and didn't always happen. Second, third, etc. take doesn't mean the interviewer and or the interviewee messed up.
It's a Wrap: The recordings where completed in about 2 hours. 4 interviews were recorded. 52 minutes of raw video footages in 12 files (approximately 5.2 GB). The converted files (Apple Intermediate Codec format for Final Cut Express to use) are about 71.1 GB.
Lessons Learned:
- Scouting out the location before the shoot is a must. It helps identifying gear requirements (i.e., electrical extension cords / power strips, lights, etc.) and challenges (i.e., too much light from the outside, too noisy, etc.).
- Be prepare for uncontrollable noises and interruptions.
- Kodak Zi8 video recorder's battery drains faster than expected. The battery almost emptied out after 25 minutes of shooting. Good thing we have an AC adapter and second a battery.
- Make sure there is a clip or body / fashion tape for the lapel microphone.
- Kodak Zi8's face recognition feature does a fairly good job in keeping track of human faces. Unfortunately some background objects appear to be more focus than the subject in front.
- Fixing the position for each camera is great but it also create a challenge. Whenever the interviewee shifts position dramatically, he/she is no longer where he/she is supposed to be at and potentially clipped by the edges of the frame.
- Framing the subject along the edges of the frame or too close too the edges of the frame has the same challenge as fixing the position of a camera. There is no room for movements.
- Converting raw video footages into Final Cut Express ready format, Apple Intermediate Codec, with Squared 5's Streamclip is time consuming (good thing for batch mode). It took about just as long to do the conversion as the footages themselves. As well, the converted files are about 15 times the size of the original raw video files.
