Advice on filming training session

TheDuke

Hi guys,

My wife needs to make a 'trainnig' video for a job interview and I've comitted to doing the directors job (and producer and camer man and sound man and gaffer and script writer and .... you get the idea ).

My idea was that to get continuity I would use two cameras (MiniDV):
a) one pointed at the teacher with a mutli-direcional mic attached to it
b) one free camera with a uni-directional mic to pick up closeup and peoples reaction

So I should end up with two 30 mins takes that I can cut and dice.

I have never done this before so my question is:
a) would it be better to use only one camera stop people to give me time to turn it - what concers me about this approach is that the video/peoples responces will probably look staged/unnatrual.
b) if I do use two how can I ensure it isn;t noticable (i.e. picture and sound quality) - any suggestions
c) what sort of light and sound checks should I run before starting the shoot (so as to avoid nasty surprises - allot of organising went into getting the room and people together so it's got to work first time)

Any advice on this would be great - tnx.

The Duke

Lump

Well, I would suggest that for one thing, Sound is key. A training video needs the viewer to be able to hear what is being thought.

1. Go for the locked off camera on the teacher. Keep it as a medium shot, is the teacher standing or sitting.

2. If they are going to be at a desk, I suggest getting a decent vocal mic and putting it on the desk. I would suggest a clip mic, but I don't know your budget.

3. Use the other camera to get reaction shots, as you suggested. I would use a second mic to get ambient sound.... keep the levels low, it'll sound odd if you get a loud second vocal track. Keep the second mic away from the teacher, but have it running into the locked off camera on the second channel.

4. Do the whole thing live, you need to get real reactions, and get the flow properly. Do a couple of practise runs.... you need to make people comfortable with the camera.

5. With regards to picture and sound quality, the sound is fine.... once you level it and ensure when you are doing this the teacher is speaking the way they will when doing the actual training. People will lower their voice when doing a "Test"

6. Lighting.... there's a few things you can do,

i) Dont light at all... shoot in a white/light coloured room, that has plenty of natural light.

ii) Light by bouncing light.... this is a great way to get shadow-less light... pump 1600 watts (2 red heads) in the room, bounced off the ceiling.... job done. Problems with this: The image will look very very flat... defination will be lost.

iii) Do a proper Key, fill and back light set up. Key light (800 Watt) to light the teacher, Diffuse the light and stick an orange gel on it. Introduce a 400 Watt lamp behind the teacher, this will add depth to the image. You can probably ignore the fill light. Do the same for the "Audience"

7. Tests to carry out are simple.... do a test record... ensure you're getting picture and audio levels. Play back and check how it looks. Think of the editing, you'll always hav the safety shot of the teacher to cut to, so it's not a massive issue. When doing the reaction shots, hold them for 15-20 seconds, the longer the better, it'll give you something to cut in/out of.

8. The most important thing.... White balance the camera before placing the gels on the lamps, set up the lights, switch on, white balance, then put the gels on.... doing this will give the picture a nice warm glow.

**This is a very complex way to do it, but the best.... if you want to get the job... it's the best thing to do, you can do a good job using natural lighting.**

John

Lump

Here's a fairly ****ty diagram of the setup....

http://members.boards.ie/lump/Dia.jpg

SantaHoe

So I take it you're not just making coffee at the beeb John
Respek'

Lump

I do make an effort to do other "Stuff".... I don't want anyone to think otherwise... I am primarily a tea boy.

John

SantaHoe

Made tea for anyone famous?
C'mon dish the dirt

Lump

No, I see the odd "Famous" person. Girls Aloud, Louis Walsh, Ian Wright, The dude from Buzzcocks.

John

TheDuke

EXCELLENT !!!

Tnx for the outstandnig response - good to know I wasn't a million miles off.

re 2 - can you give me an example of what you think is a good mic - I got a mono Sony conference mic 25E (looks like a large black pill) which i intend to connect to the teacher camera

re2 - I am slow to get a clip mic as I'm will not always cut to the person that is talking (so as to film reaction from the teacher)

re3 - now this is interresting as this is the bit I strugle with -
my oringial plan was to have one sound take and have the main camera pic it up but then I got concerned arround getting the lip sinc right so I decided to take the sound and pic off of the one shot (It should be allot easier to cut to gether then - or am I missing a key point here?)

Re lighting - tnx a mill for the plan - that give me a great idea - given that the shoot is tomorrow and I don;t have time to play with it I think I'll go for natural for the time being.

Talk to you,

The Duke

TheDuke

just took a closer look at your setup -

the camera I am using is mid range home MiniDV stuff so I only have one mic socket (can't run two out from it).

For the editing I intend to use Pinacle Studio 9 for the editing so I can cut out any unwanted sound.

I kinda' get the impression that the one sound track is what you're adivisng me to go with (makes the sound recording allot simpler).

How do you advise to lip sinc the second recording with the sound?

tnx,

Phillip (aka The Duke)

Lump

It should be easy enough to sync the sound, you can try get a clapper board. Of something that will visually indicate a sound spike... a crude way would be banging two books together in view of both cameras.

The mic you plan using looks good. Getting a clip mic for the teacher will get great sound from them. If you can get someone to help you they can "boom swing", ie using the second mic to point it at the person who is talking.... it's all very complex, budgets, how many people you have helping, the length of time you have... etc etc.

If the camera only has one mini input well then the idea of running the two mics into the camera is nackered.

I could talk for hours about different setups... You need to make a decision on the best method to use, given the time restraints etc.


John

TheDuke

I reviewed the sound stuff with a mate of mine who's an active musician managed to knock be out of my mental block.

As per your advise I went and bought a clip on mic.

I can now get my head arround it logically -

I will have two picture threads and two sound threads (and I could even creat a third running into my laptop for backup - this could be the 'boom' mic).

Since I am running all these at the same time the clap idea is spot on cause that way I can very easity syncronise pic and sound and then just fade the sound sections I don;t want - they'll both run the 30 mins anyhow.

As for bodies - I got me, and thanksfully myself who's a very helpfull chap and not to forget the ever willing I .... ...

I would love to talk for hours on the topic so when Stephen comes looking for me to take over from him I'll be ready ... nothing like good healthy confidence hey :rolleyes:

As for the clapper I got the builders in the house so I'll find a few bits of 2 x 4's to do the trick.

Tomorrow's the big day - I'll let you know how I got on and thanks again for the help.

Phillip

Lump

NP

John

TheDuke

Hi John.... I just learned my first lesson in movie making.... EVERYTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG WILL GO WRONG!!!!

The meeting and slip on condenser mic cracked and fuzzed like mad (although they are Sony - low cost mind u - would have thought they were reliable ?!?!?)

Two key lights in the room were broken !?!?! and it was a dull and rainy day... managed to solve that by turning the tables, etc to face the other way

I had the second camera but never got to use it cause I needed to move the main one to move with the teacher from right to left.....

However, the place was in a u shape so I removed the lower table and place the camera there making it seem as if I was 'in the crowd' -

Before we kicked off I made sure that my wife went to the table top when talking to people so that I could get a diagonal shot of their involvemnt (which worked like a marvelous treat) - not to mention making the post procution ALLOT earier.

The camera was fixed on a pod angled at a slight down angle so I could catch the desk (and people taking notes) with on the the horisontal being movable so I could swing left right - my wife was framed leaving space for 'two bodies' letf and right which gave me enough reaction time to move in the right direction.

I avoided zooming (cause it makes people naucious) and unless it is preplanned never hits the spot.

What did I learn -
a) spend good money on audio equipment!!!
b) bring 2 soft light defuser to avoid dark/schodwy faces from top light

So all in all, the sypnopsis is that it was really interresting, that I learned sh!t loads and I can't wait to get it into Pinacle Studio to give it the finishing touches.... and move on to my next project... :cool:

Tnx again!

Phillip