Lessons
Class Introduction
03:43 2Interview Preparation
19:27 3Conducting an Interview
42:44 4Conducting an Interview - Demo
08:30 5Location Scouting
04:35 6Camera Placement and Gear Overview
16:19 7Common Framing Mistakes
03:39 8Interview Subject Placement
02:29Lesson Info
Class Introduction
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My background is in video production, writing and directing and producing and editing. I guess you have to be a person of many skills but I have about 30 years experience doing all of these and a lot of interviewing was required over that time. Some of my clients have included the Associated Press, they go out and do lots of interviews. NASCAR, Univision, Major League Baseball and I've interviewed a variety of people everything from the Secretary of Defense and music stars to people on the street and corporate executives and everything in between. So I've had all the nightmares that probably everybody out here has experienced or are afraid they will experience. And over the next few hours we're going to address some of those issues, and hopefully solve some of the problems that you might be worried about. So let me tell you a little bit about the construction of this course. We have some prerecorded items that we're going to watch later becaus...
e we didn't want to be running around the studio and wasting your time so we actually did an interview. I walk around, I look at some gear, I explain what some of that gear is and how I use it, and this isn't that $40,000 gear. It's stuff that is affordable, it's stuff that you might have. If you're a photographer, you probably already have this gear. As a matter of fact, I know a lot of the people who are watching this are photographers that have migrated to video but they're not really sure how to conduct an interview because it's more than one frame long. So hopefully we will address that. So we're going to look at some video, we're going to actually look at how I did an interview on a set. And we're also going to have an interview live here to discuss some of the strategies that I would use when conducting an interview so you can get a better interview. Here we are. How to shoot and edit an interview. So we'll talk about interview preparation, okay? What you need to do in advance to really get the job done. How to connect with your subject and how to conduct that interview. We also will look at scouting the location. That's one of the roles that we'll be doing, what I would do if I walked into a space and the problems I might have or how I might attack that space for the best way to position my camera and the talent. Other things we'll be looking at is framing issues. How do you position the person for video versus still image, okay? Where do you put the camera? Where do you have them look? When recording it, what are some of the things you should do in addition to just getting the interview? Are there other things to record when you're on set? And we'll talk about that. That's things like B-Roll and room tone and what not. And also additional filler, things like reaction shots so you have something to cut away if you are seeing the person who is doing the interview and then we'll wrap that up with how you would organize the media and put it into folders to prepare yourself to do editing. And then we'll have some more Q & A. The other thing I want to point out is we do have a Facebook group. It's called Abba Shapiro Creative Live, kind of tricky but Abba Shapiro Creative Live and when you join, everybody gets to join, it's a closed group so you have to ask to join but we accept everybody. And the other thing you need to be aware of is that it's for all the classes that I teach here at Creative Live so you'll see people talking about Final Cut Pro 10. You'll see people talking about Premiere Pro, and of course, this course. And the nice thing is, it's a community where you can ask a lot of different questions. Most of the time you might be the person who does the interview and the person who has to do the edit so it's beneficial for everybody to talk to each other.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Jess Connor
At first, I felt like the class was difficult to get into during the "live" instruction but quickly found after the first few classes that the information was extremely valuable. Maybe it was just me- maybe it just wasn't my style at first. I absolutely would recommend this class to anyone interested in learning interview or basic film skills. It's brilliant!
artmaltman
I found this course very helpful and I recommend it. I picked up a lot of tips, and frankly this course made me realize that putting more preparation into client interactions AND using a more sophisticated production pays off in higher quality video. I wish he had gone into more detail on microphones and camera gear but I can pick that up on review sites.
Geo Wright
Abba was great at explaining why you would do a specific thing in an interview and also the editing as well. Well worth watching.