-EX1-
For the interview with Liv, we did it at a place where i thought there’s a good combination of several sources of lighting. Though the lighting is mainly from above and left of the camera, it still illuminates the subject’s facial structure clearly.
I decided to go with a medium close up because that’s what i thought an interview should look like. To achieve that I set the focal length at 12 mm and the focus at 1.9m with no ND filter (because we’re indoor and there’s enough lighting) and gain at Low.
The lighting is harsh and direct that comes from the ceiling. I remembered to do the white balance before filming and used the zebra pattern to adjust the iris so it did’t look over exposed.
While exposure was one of the main issues in most of people’s interviews, I noticed that angle was another thing that people didn’t put much thoughts into. Normally for interviews, it would be good to have front on shots with the subject looking into the camera, establishing a bond with the audience. In most of the interviews, the subjects were looking away.
Composition was also something to notice. The rule of thirds is most commonly used while filming interviews. Placing the subject in the center of the frame or on the 1/3 left or right in the frame would appear most visually pleasant.
In conclusion, while framing for an interview, composition, angles and exposure are the three main aspects to consider about.
-EX2-
I love the composition in these two shots. The first one has the depth that attracts your attention to follow the tunnel to the very end of it. It’s very visually dynamic.
The second one also has a good composition as it sort of follows the rule of thirds. The interaction between the lines and patterns of the tunnel and pedestrians’ legs makes it look mechanical and lively at the same time.
I absolutely love the composition in the first shot. It gives out a sense of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.
There’s a triangular composition in the shot and it gives a strong visual unity. The audience’s eyes are guided to go from the bottom of the frame, following the trams to the top of the frame where they disappear. There’s a nice naturally mechanism in the movement of all the transport. There’s also a nice balance in terms of colors as the dark colors are mainly in the left of the frame and on the opposite side the color is relatively brighter.
I think first of all, the exposure is a problem in the two shots above. We could not get the zebra pattern to function normally while we’re filming and it’s hard to make it properly exposed using our bare eyes’ judgements.
In the first shot, the pole is blocking the view, making it look unbalanced and too crowded. To improve at framing, it would be good to show a bit of the side walk and bring the level of the camera lens down a little bit.
The second shot is slightly better framed but it’s not properly leveled with the spirit meter so it’s kind of horizontally tilted. With the focal length being 12mm, there’s not much shown in the frame and to shorten the depth of field, the camera should be moved backwards a little bit.
I like the first one for it’s a tilt wide shot with an interesting juxtaposition between buildings and people. The crowd of people dissect the frame into two parts and also contracts with the color of the two buildings and the man in white outfit that follows behind. Even though it’s just a shot of people walking, i wanted to keep watching for the sense of something interesting might show up.