How to make a family documentary

Digital video production has significantly entered the mainstream. Thousands of budding filmmakers, parents, high school kids, and just about anyone who can get their hands on a video camcorder are shooting and editing their own mini-movies. One service that we offer that is growing in popularity is the biography video. These family documentaries are entertaining and informative and make a great family heirloom. The videos we produce naturally have high production values and are on par with what you'd see on A&E. But, what if you just want to do a short, entertaining family documentary to for a relative's birthday. Or something quick and fun to play this Thanksgiving. Well, then perhaps this primer can get you started on the right foot.

A PRIMER ON VIDEO INTERVIEWS
The information below is taken from the instructions we give clients whenever they need to conduct a video interview themselves for a biography video they've hired us to produce.

• Use a TRIPOD—always, always, always used a tripod.

• Rule of Thirds—you never want to frame a subject directly in the center of the viewfinder. Position the subject so that the center of his/her face is towards the left or right at a slight angle to the camera. Using two imaginary vertical lines to split the frame in three equal columns, and two imaginary horizontal lines to split the frame into three equal rows, the eyes should be centered over one of the two top points where the lines cross at the top. (See sample figure for example).
• Head Room—do not leave too much empty space between the top of the subject’s head and the top of the frame. Using the “rule of thirds” should help with that.
• Eye line—DO NOT have the subject look directly into the camera when answering questions. Have an “interviewer” sit or stand next to the camera, about a foot away, with his/her head at the level of the camera’s lens. Then have the interviewee talk to the interviewer. In the frame, it will look like the interviewee is talking to someone off camera. (Think about Barbara Walters interviews. The celebrities never look directly into the camera). The only time it is okay to have the interviewee look into the camera is if they are addressing the intended audience directly. So if a bride or groom, friend or family member, is giving a message to the person who will be watching the video, then he/she can look directly into the camera to give that message.
• When to use close-ups—for the most part, if the subject is sitting, frame him/her from the torso up. If the subject is standing, frame him/her from the waist or torso up. Save close up shots for when the subject talks about topics that are more emotional or sentimental in nature. For your close up shot, frame the subject from the shoulder up. Always be mindful of headroom and the “rule of the thirds” as you zoom in. Don’t zoom or move the camera while the person is talking. If you need to adjust camera angle, have the subject stop first.
• Mistakes and Retakes—it is okay if the subject makes a mistake, garbles his/her words, or for some other reason, wants to repeat something said. Let the camera roll a few seconds before repeating, then have the subject repeat what was said.
• Cutaways—after conducting the interview, if there is time, get a few shots of the surrounding environment (e.g. furniture, pets, clocks ticking on the wall, family photos, etc). These make for great “cutaways” during the interview to keep it visually interesting.
• Focus—keep an eye on focus. Most consumer camcorders are set to auto focus, so if that’s the case, be mindful of people or objects getting in between the camera and the subject. This may cause the camera to focus on the object instead of the subject.  If you have and know how to use the manual focus, zoom all the way in on the subject’s face, focus, then slowly zoom out to where you want to frame the subject for the interview.
• The 180 Degree Rule—if you want to film two people talking to one another so that when edited it will look like they are having a conversation, keep the 180 degree rule in mind. Draw an imaginary line that passes straight through both subjects. As you film each subject separately, keep the camera on the same side of that line. Don’t cross it! That way, one person will appear to be speaking from left to right, and the other will appear to be speaking from right to left. If you cross that line, both subjects will appear to be speaking in the same direction, and that will be disorienting to the audience.

LIGHTING

• Indoors—when filming indoors, if you are not using a professional lighting set-up, try to pick a location that is bright, but does not have a harsh, overhead light. That will cause pockets of shadows in the subject’s eyes, under the chin, nose, etc. Avoid fluorescent lights whenever possible. Also, beware of backlighting. DO NOT videotape indoors with a strong light source behind the subject (e.g. window). This is known as backlighting, and it will cause the subject to be too dark as the camera tries to adjust to the harsh light coming from behind.
• Outdoors—DO NOT have the subject in direct sunlight. Again, this can cause shadows  or “hot” spots on the face. Look for an area where the light is more even. If it’s not too dark, even a nice shaded area can work.
• White Balance—most consumer camcorders have auto white balance. This affects how the camera looks at the color white. If the camera is not properly white balanced, everything may look blue or orange (depending if you are shooting inside or outside). Your camera may also have pre-set white balance settings for indoors and outdoors. Read the camera instructions to learn how to properly set white balance. But if you look on the view screen and everything appears blue or orange, you know that your white balance is off.

AUDIO

If at all possible, use a microphone connected to the camera to get clear, crisp sound. But if you cannot, keep these guidelines in mind:

• Indoors—be mindful of room noises. Make sure the heater and air conditioner are off. If you are in or near the kitchen, make sure the refrigerator is temporarily turned off so as not to pick up humming. The same goes for computers or any other household or office appliance that hums.
• Room Tone—once you have conducted the interview, record the room for about sixty seconds with no one talking. This is called room tone, and can be used during editing to help even out sound when cutting to different shots.  Before recording room tone, have someone say “room tone” in front of the camera to mark the spot.
• Outdoors—try to stay as far away from traffic as possible, especially if you won’t be using a microphone.  Most consumer video camcorders do not have wind guards, so if it’s a windy day, try to avoid interviewing outside if at all possible. If you must, try to find an area where the wind will be blocked.

TIME CODE

• Avoid the temptation to stop the tape, rewind it, and watch what you’ve shot. When attempting to fast forward the tape back to where you left off, you will most likely go beyond the exact point where you actually stopped. This will cause the camera to reset the time code to zero, giving that tape TWO zero markers. A computer editing system uses the time code on the camera, so it must be unbroken. Broken time code significantly increases the difficulty of capturing the footage to computer and forces it to be done manually (which is longer and less precise).

DATE AND TIME STAMPS
Please make sure that you are NOT recording date and time stamps. Read your camera’s instruction on how to ensure those elements are not recorded. Nothing looks more amateurish than a video that has the date and time in the bottom right-hand corner.

EDITING YOUR DOCUMENTARY
Now that you have your interview "in the can," it's time to do the editing.  I won't go into any details regarding editing systems. There are too many. Unless you're a pro, you'll most like use Movie Maker on a PC or iMovie on a Mac. In any case, the concepts are the same.

• Capture all of your footage to the computer.
• If you have the ability to categorize and separate your footage, do so by creating general topics (e.g. childhood, college life, career, family, etc.)
• As you watch and listen to the interview footage, set aside the takes that are the most "meaty." These are the part of the interviews that say the most in the least time, are the most emotionally powerful, most funny, etc.
• Whittle the interviews done to the best takes and reveal the essence of the story you want to tell.
• Order all the takes based on how you want to tell your story. For instance, do you want to start with childhood then go through marriage. Or is the video just about the subject's family life, so you'll start with their wedding and go through the birth of their latest child.
• As much as possible, add photos to spice up the video. A talking head can be boring. Zoom in and out of the photos to give them movement. This is often called the "Ken Burns Effect," named after the technique used in the famous historical documentarian's many films.
• Add music and sound effects to round out the video. Try to time the music crescendos and beats to fit with the interviews so they complement each other.
• Make your DVD, pop it in the player, then sit back and enjoy.

This is obviously a very simplistic overview.  You could take a class for a whole semester on making these kind of films. Below is the intro to a biography we produced and edited about a hilarious 86 year old woman who is going on 40! It was shot by acclaimed documentarian Pam Walton. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

To see more samples of our biography videos, visit the Cinematic Studios Theater.

This post was inspired by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net who is running another group writing project. Check his blog for the details...and submit by this Thursday.

technorati tags: biography_videos, biographies, Ken_Burns

Comments

[MamaDuck]

This is just a great, easy-to-follow tutorial! Our list is up as well if you'd like to check it out!!

[Jersey Girl]

I love the tip about the eye line! Great job

[Brad Shorr]

Great topic idea! I have a couple home video fanatics in my family who will eat this up. Excellent detail and well written--thanks!

[Whimspiration]

Very informative. I have added you to my top 5. I'd love to know whay tou think of my entry. *smile*