Video Production Set Up

We arrived at Carlisle & Company, Thursday the 16th at 9:00 am. The video shoot would be the start of their Video Production Marketing Strategy. The first task our Skillman Video Group production team had, after unloading all the equipment out of the car, was finding the right room to shoot in. We had five different interviews to shoot for their video, and wanted to make sure we had a room that could be transformed to give each shot a different background. It is important to make each scene of your video different. It can be very repetitive to watch 5 different people talk in the same spot. A video becomes more interesting if you are able to switch up the background and allow the viewers focus to change. Once we made it to the office they had given us for the shoot, it was time to set up. For all of the different shots we used the 3-point lighting setup, which is best for interviews. Video Production Services makes sure to find what is best for your shoot, and make the best of what you have to use. Check out how we turned one office into five different shots!

Thought Leadership Interview #1

For the first shot, we worked with the original setup of the office. We had the interviewee chair placed right next to the edge of the desk. We thought it would look nice if the interviewee wanted to put their arm up on the table, but not have too much of the bulky desk shown. We had to shift around some of the background items to create an appealing look. Due to the fact that Carlisle and Co. is part of the automotive industry, we did our best to add as many vehicles as we could. The four cars in a line on the back desk made a nice prop to make it clear what industry they were speaking about. For this shot we also had to switch out some of the pictures so they would look more natural in the shot. The blue poster was switched in to replace a white one that was not as long, and looked weird in the shot. Outside the weather was cloudy to start the day so we used the back light, to make a nice light as if the sun were shining through. This helped bring better light to the background of the shot.

Thought Leadership Interview #2

The second shot, we only made slight adjustments to the lights and where the chair was placed. Our main focus was changing up the background of the room. We moved the chair about 2 feet away from the desk, so we could work with the posters on the side wall. There was a line of catalogs that we removed from the side desk, and replaced with the red car. The picture frames were moved slightly to put them at a better angle for the camera. One of the pictures was taken off the desk because it was a headshot that stood out too much behind the interviewee. The picture frames were switched back, so we did not have the same in two shots. The last thing we moved was the podium. In the earlier shot, we had moved it out of the shot completely. Whereas, in this second shot it was moved back to take away from the white of the walls. The sun started to come out at this point of the morning, so we used the back light to lessen the light from the window by facing it more toward the window.

Thought Leadership Interview #3

After lunch it was time to move onto the third interview of the day. We decided we would try to get more of the desk in this next shot. The chair was moved back toward the desk, and placed in front of it. We did not have to change any of the posters on the wall, because we had not seen this angle before. It was just moving stuff around on the desk to make it a more appealing background. We did not want the desk to look too packed or busy behind the interviewee. There was a big printer on the desk that was just a big block in the back of the shot. It was simple to pull the printer out and keep it on the ground for this shot. We made sure to tuck the cord back into the desk, so they wouldn’t show up. Other than that, it was mostly little things on the desk that we had to move around. The computer was slide over to be more in the shot and take away from white walls. There were two construction trucks that we placed on the desk to fit the theme of what he would be talking about. The sun had once again gone behind the clouds, so the light streaking across the wall and posters came from our back light.

Thought Leadership Interview #4

The fourth shot was more difficult to make different. We had used a lot of that one side of the room, but we were going to get one more. We slid the chair about two feet in the opposite direction we did for the second shot. We wanted to use the wall art and table from this angle. There was this stand with three levels, where the cars we placed in the first shot came from. Putting the cars back on that stand made for a cool aspect of the background. We also slightly adjusted the cars that we had on the desk from the third shoot to make sure they would be seen. In Addition, the cars helped block some of the wires from the computer. The posters on this wall had also not been in a shot yet, which made it easier that we did not have to switch them out. Small things on the desk were slid around; such as the computer, a few mugs, and a cup of markers. The back light was placed to face the posters and wall behind the interviewee because the light from the window was not shining in.

Thought Leadership Interview #5

By the time we were ready to setup for the last interview, we had used up as much of the one side of the room as we could. We decided to flip the chair so that it was facing the other way. The reason we had not done this sooner, was due to the big cabinet in the back filled with binders. It was not the best look, so we had to use some things to spruce it up. Instead of using the stand of cars like in the last shot, we used a chair to take out some of the white wall space. We worked to cover some of the binders by using hub cap that was in the office. The conference table was pushed further from the wall so that only a small part of it would be in the shot. We did not want it to be taking up too much room and look bulky. Because it was a different side of the room, there wasn’t anything that we had to switch on the wall. The last thing we added was a nice plant to bring a better vibe to the shot. We had not used any plants yet, so this was a good addition. The back light made the perfect streak against the wall to make it seem like sunlight was coming through.

It is very important to work with what you have around you. In a situation like this video, when you have multiple interviews, you want to make sure that it isn’t very similar and has some change throughout it. A video could be more boring it is the same scene with a different person in the chair. It is an important part of the shoot for Video Production Company to keep track of the little things to make everything perfect. The smallest change can make the biggest difference. We made the best of our room by creating five different shots in the same office.

Skillman Videography Group LLC specializes in Boston video marketing. Call us anytime at 1-800-784-0140.