This week we looked in depth about audio and the art of the interview. I was surprised to see how much we discussed about interviewing, as I did not originally think that would be an element of this studio, but the further we dived in, the examples of documentary styles became more interesting than the usual sit down, formal interview. Thinking about these formal interviews in the same way we think about mise-en-scène in film was really interesting, and something I never really put much thought into.

So when we were given the task of filming an interview of someone in our group reading their favourite observation, all of us were very considerate of what we placed in the scene, we created a small set for Harriet to be interviewed in, and I was very impressed in the quality of shot we were able to achieve. We also had to be very considerate of the sound for the interview, as that was going to be the basis of our next assignment, although we did not know it at the time. The room we filmed in was definitely considered more for its aesthetic visual qualities than its audio quality. While not a bad room acoustically per se, its glass walls, loud automatic doors, and lack of isolation from a crowded public place, it wasn’t the perfect place to have a recorded interview and would definitely need to be enhanced in post to get it to an acceptable level.

I was satisfied overall with what we shot and as I begin to use the audio for my individual assignment, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to improve the audio to a high level, which was a big relief. The interview we filmed looks a lot more polished with the small amount of set decoration we made, and in such a short amount of time to film and record it, I was very impressed at the quality we were able to achieve.