The Double Reality of Documentary
Chocolate Cake has layers..so should
your Film
You have seen this in
most documentaries..The
film's subject is engrossed in an
activity..and as you are
watching them,
you
begin to hear audio of them
describing this activity and
why they like it.
This
technique uses the
DOUBLE-LAYER of reality
that we have in documentary
filmmaking...the
ability to see our subject
doing something...and as they
are engaged in the action ...you
hear them reflecting
about it.
For example, you are
making a
documentary about a shoe
salesperson..
You have great
footage of the sales
clerk
pulling out
unusual shoes..one after
another....
You like this material...but
people become bored when you
show it to them.
How can you fix this?
The Answer.
Double Layer it.
- Go
back into the
live action of her
showing shoes....after
5-20 seconds...lower her
audio but keep the image
on screen.
- then
add 5-20 seconds AUDIO
ONLY from her sit-down
interview under
this unfolding action in
the store...." the shoes
are so exciting, I can't
stop showing them
off...I guess I am a
shoe Junkie who found
her nirvana."..
-
Then bring back up the
audio of her in the
store....as she
points out the most
expensive pair in the
shop.
-
Done...repeat
as needed.
Below is a
Final Cut Pro Time-line example
of this Double-Layer
Edit.
The
Blue layer is the video
track..
The
green tracks are audio.
The
first audio track is sound from
the video live action
inside the store.
The audio track below it has
sound from her sit-down
interview.
You can see how they mix in the
middle..creating the double
layer effect.
Summary
- Use the
Double Layer of reality...
- Think of
it like a rich,
multi-layered chocolate
cake.
-
Use people's sound bits
under on-going action
to get material into the
viewer's brain without a
boring talking head.
|
|
It's unnatural not to do this
Natural sound is a basic element of
editing. It is
the
audio recorded when you are filming
cutaways. It can be birds
chirping in the background as you
shoot an exterior of a local high
school.
These
cutaways are used to illustrate what
people are saying in your interviews..and
most importantly
they
allow you to condense interviews.
The real difference between an
amateur and a professional
editor... is that the
pro-editor uses natural or "Nat"
sound when placing cutaways into the
edit.
Start to listen to cutaways as you
watch documentaries ...you
will
notice
audio associated with them
( at a low level in
the background).
It
is a good idea to
use your cutaway's sound when
editing it into your time-line.
Final Cut ProTime-line
-
 The
TOP
video track
is where the cutaway is.
- The
BOTTOM video track has
the image from the interview
Please
LOOK AT THE AUDIO TRACKS....Can
you see how the cutaway has audio
linked with it?
At a low sound level, this
audio/natural sound accompanies it's
image on the TOP Video track.
Fade in & out this audio with quick
10-20 frame audio dissolves.
In
Summary,
-
Use natural sound beneath images
that are used to
cover/condense interview
material.
|
More to an Interview than words
An Interview is more than just
content....in todays
media landscape...your
interviews must
 also
have the pacing and cadence of a
thoroubred horse. as
your interviews move thru
time...they can become
static...even if you place
images over the talking heads.
How can you make your interviews
more entertaining and watchable?
One approach is to use what many
editors call" "Sound Pops" to
break-up sit-down interview
segments. This is a
technique where you hard
cut or quickly dissolve to
"Live action / Chill Footage"
after the subject has just made
a quick point in the
sit-down interview.
These can be used as
quick pacing elements between
the interview elements, or as a
slower emotional tug into the
material.
For example, a story
about a mother dying of
cancer...and you break up the
daughter's interview with
footage of her and mother
holding hands, drinking tea,
than driving to the hospital.
This
Live Action / Chill footage
can also be used to contradict
or reveal an element of
character.
Sometimes a person says one
thing...but does another..
...And
you have it on tape
because
you spent time filming this
person in every
day life..you didn't just show
up , do an interview ,
shoot some "high school acting"
of your
subject on the computer &
walking down her hallway.
It is so
important to film your subjects
out in the real world
interacting. You need this
material
for your "sound pops".
Please click here to read
DVworkshops article on chill
footage and it's importance to
the final edit.
Here is a
step-by-step illustration
of
creating a 'Sound Pop/ Live
action Sound -up".
- edit your
interview into your
time-line.
- condense
the interview as much as
possible
- play the
interview segment
- after you
get the basic first point,
pause the edit
- then cut
in Live action / Chill
footage of your subject in
action (this is the "Sound
Pop")
- than use
a SPLIT EDIT to get back
into your interview.
(split edit is when you hear
the subject's voice before
you see their image talking).
Summary
- Try an
experiment with your
interviews
- Break
them up by cutting to Live
Action Footage
- Then
"Split edit" back into the
meat of your interview
|
Video from last month's 6-day
documentary workshop illustrates
these techniques.
Joel Barnett (pictured
below conducting an interview in
our classroom) made a
documentary about the importance
of shopping local.
He used many of these techniques
in his short video...
keeping the viewers interest on
multiple levels..not just
on the content level.
Below is one of his lighting
set-ups...he used the
windows as a background.
Joel hung ND 9 Gel on the
windows so they would not
"blow-out" and become too
bright, which can degrade the
overall quality of the image.
See his interview set-up on
video by clicking here to view
documentary at Youtube.com.
Joel made it in last month's
6-day documentary workshop.
|
Final Cut Pro Training DVD
|
|
|
|
About
Us