By Stanley Meytin
Filming a corporate interview may seem like a simple project that a single videographer can accomplish. So why then, do professional producers recommend using two cameras to film such a ‘simple’ video format?
A subtle difference between good video and great video is the pacing of dialogue. Great Hollywood actors and directors get the pacing of their work timed perfectly. Each break in dialogue, whether a pause in a monologue or the moment between the end of one character’s line and the beginning of another’s, is precisely the right length. Too long a break and the scene becomes awkward, too short and the acting takes on an amateurish feel.
The fundamentals of commercial and corporate video are no different. Poorly paced corporate videos make for bad content. For a corporate interview video, adding a second camera helps tremendously with maintaining an engaging pace.
There will be times when the interviewee takes a long break between sentences, but what they’ve said is excellent. Having two cameras on set allows your post-production team to gap that break with a change of camera angle. If you’re only using one camera, bridging that gap becomes a lot more difficult.
One camera means one camera angle. So unless the interviewee kept their head in the same position, and their facial expression the same, then an edit of that gap in dialogue will be evident to the viewer. You could always redo the entire take, which is a common fix with single camera interviews, but then you run into the issue of the second take sounding rehearsed.
It’s not easy to be confident in front of a camera. It takes years of practice to become comfortable and loose when the spotlight is shining on you. If the interviewee isn’t familiar with being in front a camera (and few are), then it’s likely they’ll make mistakes and blips while speaking.
With one camera it’s challenging to edit out mistakes while maintaining the right pace, sometimes even impossible. Worse than a gap in dialogue, a mistake means the interviewee must either reset to the exact physical position they were in before they strayed, live with an amateur looking edit, or begin all-over again. You can include an awkward pause in your video, but you absolutely cannot have stuttering or other common on-camera speech faults.
Two cameras solve this issue with the magic of a camera angle shift. Interviewees can start the sentence over again, then in post-production cut the footage from one angle to the other creating one smooth scene.
With more room for error, there are very few breaks in action when filming with 2 cameras. As a result, interviewees speak more naturally, and it takes less time to get quality footage. On a video production set time is money.
Interviews, at their core, are simple projects relative to other corporate video production options. There’s not much action happening in an interview. With one camera, you only get one camera angle, and therefore you’re further limiting the action. A second camera allows you to change up the viewer’s perspective and keep their eyes engaged as well as their ears.
A second camera allows your production team to be more creative in post-production. Your team can shift camera angles to create suspense while you’re building up your story, or empathy during a particularly powerful sound bite.
By Stanley Meytin
Filming a corporate interview may seem like a simple project that a single videographer can accomplish. So why then, do professional producers recommend using two cameras to film such a ‘simple’ video format?
A subtle difference between good video and great video is the pacing of dialogue. Great Hollywood actors and directors get the pacing of their work timed perfectly. Each break in dialogue, whether a pause in a monologue or the moment between the end of one character’s line and the beginning of another’s, is precisely the right length. Too long a break and the scene becomes awkward, too short and the acting takes on an amateurish feel.
The fundamentals of commercial and corporate video are no different. Poorly paced corporate videos make for bad content. For a corporate interview video, adding a second camera helps tremendously with maintaining an engaging pace.
There will be times when the interviewee takes a long break between sentences, but what they’ve said is excellent. Having two cameras on set allows your post-production team to gap that break with a change of camera angle. If you’re only using one camera, bridging that gap becomes a lot more difficult.
One camera means one camera angle. So unless the interviewee kept their head in the same position, and their facial expression the same, then an edit of that gap in dialogue will be evident to the viewer. You could always redo the entire take, which is a common fix with single camera interviews, but then you run into the issue of the second take sounding rehearsed.
It’s not easy to be confident in front of a camera. It takes years of practice to become comfortable and loose when the spotlight is shining on you. If the interviewee isn’t familiar with being in front a camera (and few are), then it’s likely they’ll make mistakes and blips while speaking.
With one camera it’s challenging to edit out mistakes while maintaining the right pace, sometimes even impossible. Worse than a gap in dialogue, a mistake means the interviewee must either reset to the exact physical position they were in before they strayed, live with an amateur looking edit, or begin all-over again. You can include an awkward pause in your video, but you absolutely cannot have stuttering or other common on-camera speech faults.
Two cameras solve this issue with the magic of a camera angle shift. Interviewees can start the sentence over again, then in post-production cut the footage from one angle to the other creating one smooth scene.
With more room for error, there are very few breaks in action when filming with 2 cameras. As a result, interviewees speak more naturally, and it takes less time to get quality footage. On a video production set time is money.
Interviews, at their core, are simple projects relative to other corporate video production options. There’s not much action happening in an interview. With one camera, you only get one camera angle, and therefore you’re further limiting the action. A second camera allows you to change up the viewer’s perspective and keep their eyes engaged as well as their ears.
A second camera allows your production team to be more creative in post-production. Your team can shift camera angles to create suspense while you’re building up your story, or empathy during a particularly powerful sound bite.
Whether you want to launch an idea, spark a movement or simply get people talking about what you do, you have one shot
at delivering your message in a way that matters. Let’s make sure you do it right.
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