INDIV_EX_2_REFLECTION

Prior to filming my piece, I was under the assumption that interviews had to be held with a person of some extraordinary standing. Thank goodness I was corrected and made to realise that an informal interview could see the subject being anyone, so long as it broke the boundaries of the ’60 Minutes’ style. With this in mind, I chose to film my boyfriend, Drilon.

I didn’t inform him well on what I’d be doing, merely telling him where he should be and at what time. I had no concrete questions planned and the aim was really to just have a chat. He was a little shy at first, but once I made him focus on me instead of the camera, the conversation got rolling. I ended up with seven minutes of footage regarding his explanation of a high concept film that he wants to produce someday, which I cut down to a small snippet at the beginning. The remainder of the footage is some small talk that we engage in. I chose to splice these two types of footage together because in the first, I feel as though he is acting animatedly, aware of the camera’s presence and of the fact that he wants to appear ‘interesting.’ The second group of clips is a contrast to that – he’s smoking and just doing whatever he pleases. The audience can also hear my voice, which I chose to include since my relationship with the subject is an important aspect.

The decision to also film outside helped the informality since we had a lot of distractions that a controlled environment wouldn’t. Apart from the sound of the heavy machinery, pedestrians kept walking past that would steal our attention.

I’m not at all happy with the way that the footage turned out colour wise and Drlion isn’t in focus – horror of horrors (Despite it looking great in the monitor…. Rooky mistake.) The picture quality looks hazy and as though I’ve added a glow effect in post, which is most likely a repercussion of the lack of focus. The change of brightness between the footage is also due to a van blocking the sun during the end of shooting, which I should’ve been conscious of but only realised later. The composition is quite solid, though I would have liked to have my feet poking into the frame, which I didn’t do only because it obscured Drilon’s face and made for a rubbish shot.

We used the lapel mic and the boom for filming, though I’m pretty sure I only used the boom in post. Either way, Drilon’s voice can be heard clearly but also mine, which comes from off-screen.

All in all, my approach to this interview was effective but the actual execution needs a lot of work.