(Page 2 of 2 pages for this article  <  1 2)

Filed under: Business •Production •Web Video •

Compelling Storytelling with a Short Video

The Interviewing Process

When the day of the interview shoot came, we got to their house in the morning and selected the best location with the most available natural lighting and positioned three cameras around and a chair for me to interview them from, wired them up with lapel mics and got them comfortable. They were a bit nervous and had way too much stuff memorized already, which actually got in the way in the beginning. I had to keep stopping them and getting them to just relax and STOP LOOKING AT THE CAMERAS! I asked some simple casual questions about their relationship - how they met and things that would take them back and just talk to me. Once I felt that they had relaxed a bit I would ask them some questions about the projects. What inspired them? What was their initial motivation for their subject matter? How did it make them feel?

Yes, I was playing therapist.. and it worked! Before I knew it we were running out of time and had to swap P2 cards and take a break. They couldn’t wait to continue telling me stories that all supported the contents of the project. After the interviewing was completed we had them take us on a tour of their home/gallery/museum and then out to their artists studio where we captured them working on a couple of their current projects. I knew this would make for some great B-roll if nothing else. I also wanted to get some shots of them walking around their property as well, since it is such a beautiful setting. By the time we were done shooting we had about five hours of footage from the three cameras and they handed me a disc with hi-res scans of all the artwork used in the book.

The Editing Process

I came back and started living with the footage for about a week… cutting it up into conversational segments in FCP and spreading it all along the Timeline like a big mess that my desk usually is! I then started carving out smaller segments and clips that were meaningful and had some impact. It was very much a shuffling game for me to decide how it would all flow and what could really be said in the five-minute time frame we had for the project. It was like working on one of those 3000 pc puzzles on the kitchen table. There was just SOOO much material it was hard to leave anything out, but I surely didn’t want to present that problem to the client as we would end up with a half-hour video in the end!

I did my initial cut, using only the interview footage and black layers with text stating inserts and B-roll over the dialog where I saw it appropriate. The client liked what they saw/heard and suggested a few “ums & uhs” to eliminate and we were on our way. Once I started adding in images and secondary camera angles it really evolved. I ended up swapping some elements and moving footage around to better tell the story both aurally and visually. I didn’t just want a snapshot of the cover of their book, so I took the book cover artwork they gave me on disc and created a 3D model in Photoshop CS4 and did a slight animated turn on it. (I can’t help it - it’s in my nature to animate stuff!) Another local musician provided a piano soundtrack that I worked into the project where appropriate and the final video was well received by the client. We posted it on YouTube and it’s taken off quite well. Great responses from viewers and the book sales have been brisk. The publisher has re-ordered in just one month, and they’re getting calls to appear on talk shows and do personal speaking events.

Here’s the finished video:

Now I can’t take credit for the book sales or even the amount of traffic the video has received - after all, I simply got the clients to talk - share their stories and show some emotion about what their project is about. But one thing that has happened for me as a result of this simple project, is I am now approached by other artists, photographers, writers, etc. wanting a similar project done for them. I have to be cautious however, as the success of the project is really dependent on the contents you can put into it. Is their story compelling? Who are they trying to reach? Are they presentable? Are they unique? Why would anyone care to watch their video? Is there a call to action expected as a result of the video?

No, not everyone should run out and be a video producer… thanks to YouTube, that has already been made quite evident. But if you have a creative mind, an ambitious spirit and the desire to help someone tell their story, then its all just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

(Page 2 of 2 pages for this article  <  1 2)

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: