After reviewing the footage from my shoot with Megan, I am beyond excited at the prospect of what this video portrait could turn out to be.I’m very pleased with the overall appearance of my interview set up. Whilst I had booked three LED panels, on the day looking around her studio filled with natural light, I decided to use only one LED panel. A large window behind Megan acted as the back light, glass doors off to the side acted as a fill light and the LED panel was used as a key light. This set up created great contrast on Megan’s face (as seen below).
However in hindsight, I may have framed Megan a little too far to the left. Despite this, I think my composition is saved and balanced out by the chairs in the background(these happen to be pieces of her artwork on display). I quite like the shallow depth of field as it communicates a sense of intimacy which aligns well with her deeply personal style of art.
During the day I do wish I had reiterated slightly stronger to Megan the need to insert my questions into her answers. Occasionally Megan answers a question mid-thought which may prove challenging to edit around. Otherwise I’m glad I made the decision to deviate from the set questions, as some of her most personal accounts came from my improvised questions.
The best decision I made before the shoot was to utilise two camera persons. During the interview I simply asked Dusty to get a few close ups of Megan’s hands and gestures. However Dusty went above and beyond and captured some very interesting and unique shots. One shot in particular was Megan’s reflection in a piece of her artwork that featured a drawing of a spine.
Another favourite shot of mine is a symmetrical wide of Megan sewing. I feel this fits in well with Megan’s artwork as the colonial style often strives for perfection.
Whilst shooting the cutaways and filler shots I allowed a lot of it to be had held. I can stabilise these in post but I do wish I had gotten some more steady shots. However, the hand held shots may fit nicely with the overall aesthetic of the portrait as it demonstrates the rawness of Megan’s art and will work well with my found footage.
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