By their very nature, interviews are personal. But an interview captured on film can be absolutely intimate and life-changing because the interviewee’s actual visual and audible emotions and personal expressions have the potential to connect on a one-to-one level with a viewer. After all, the viewer and their experience is where a church’s film or video will either hit or miss the mark.
To drill down on critical interview techniques for film and video, Bill Dewhurst, a Liberty University professor of digital media based in Lynchburg, Virginia, shares about the skills church filmmakers need to capture the ideal interviews in any given environment. His Liberty U colleague, Rashad Gopee, weighed in as well.
As a church filmmaker yourself, consider: in which of these four areas is your church’s team the strongest—and in which do you need the most work?
Composition
“One fault in church filmmaking is that everything is centered,” Dewhurst cautions about shot framing of interview subjects. “This doesn’t tell the eye where things are going. We need to point [interview subjects] in different directions and give them that ‘look’ space—to psychologically point them into a certain direction.”
For Dewhurst, a self-described purist, church filmmakers should follow the time-tested rule-of-thirds in shot composition, where the subject will peer into the empty two-thirds of the shot while speaking.
“I live in the rule-of-thirds,” Dewhurst stresses. “I want [viewers] to feel comfortable—unless I want them to feel uncomfortable.”
A sure way to stir up discomfort is to follow the current trend of breaking the rule-of-thirds in video interviews and having subjects peer from the back third of the shot into unknown space outside the shot. And while it can work well—only in the right, well thought-out circumstances.
Or as Dewhurst notes, “People try to mimic artistic things without understanding the psychological aspect of that.”
For Dewhurst’s colleague at Liberty University, Gopee—who teaches church media, audio production, and screenwriting as well as being a sidekick with Dewhurst during conference presentations on filmmaking—shot composition for the church filmmaker should also be about the basics and the psychology behind them.
While breaking the rule of-thirds can convey emotion and make people feel uncomfortable, Gopee acquiesces, this shot framing selection should not be about simply looking good or artsy. “It’s about the story I’m trying to tell,” he presses.
But for Gopee, one of the chief shot framing issues he sees with church filmmakers has to do with headroom for the interview subjects. “Consider if the person is sitting down or not, and will they talk with their hands,” he advises. Make sure you frame the shot loosely enough that there’s room for subject movement.
In all instances though, the bottom line for a church filmmaker to consider: What does my eyeline down the camera look and feel like to my audience watching?
“I live in the rule-of-thirds. I want [viewers] to feel comfortable—unless I want them to feel uncomfortable.”
Lighting
Can a church filmmaker beat three-point lighting (key, fill, back) in their videos and films? After all, lighting can be so subjective and you can find a lot of creative fodder on YouTube.
When church filmmakers ask themselves how best to light their interviews, Dewhurst says to consistently consider the end goal. “You’re either trying to mimic reality or you’re trying to cause reality,” as he puts it. Which is it on any given project?
From his days in the military as a one-man film team, Dewhurst found consistent success with the basics when it came to lighting, as well. “Three-point lighting, always,” the purist stresses. Only after mastering three-point did he begin to get more creative, shooting with one light, for example, or adding a blue filter to a wall, or sometimes realizing that he could shut down one of the three because it wasn’t needed at all.
But again, just as with the rule-of-thirds in shot composition, “You have to be able to understand the basics before you move from them and go forward,” Dewhurst reiterates.
For Gopee—guess what? “I tell [students] to look through the lens,” he emphasizes.
The face matters, the background matters, everything in the frame matters. And the answers to a church filmmaker’s lighting questions will usually become apparent as they look through the lens and consider what the viewer will see and experience.
“You have to be able to understand the basics before you move from them and go forward."
Audio
To get the best audio in a video interview, Gopee advises church filmmaking students, “Go scout your room first. Check out the environment.” There you will learn things such as, are their ceiling fans? What’s the echo like? Is this a quiet space—yes or no?
“If you know the environment you’ll be in, you can get ahead of it and prepare,” he states.
Dewhurst takes a granular approach to church filmmaking when it comes to audio. “A lot of times we have to make sure we’re keeping the microphone spatial—pointed at the subject’s mid-chest so we get that resonance,” he suggests. “Rarely do we ever hear something at mouth level, when you think about it.”
As always, put yourself in the position of the audience, Dewhurst stresses. “We want to mic people and capture audio in the best way possible, at the best position” in the specific room where a video is being shot. That may lead to a lapel mic, he says as an example—depending upon a shoot’s individual variables and parameters.
Ask yourself, where do you want that sound? How do you want to record it and hear it?
“Consider that, in a lot of cases, you’ll want it live with no processing later on,” Dewhurst adds. “You want to capture the audio as true as possible.”
“A lot of times we have to make sure we’re keeping the microphone spatial—pointed at the subject’s mid-chest so we get that resonance.”
Editing
Editing is about building a story, Dewhurst reminds church filmmaking teams and anyone without prior training in video editing. “It’s not about just grabbing what works and throwing away what doesn’t,” he says.
He often sees beginning editors going through footage scouting for what’s bad, and what they’re going to take out. “But editing is about creating, it’s finding those clips and using them—building that story,” he reiterates.
Another clip of advice he shares is not to edit just to edit—a tip that applies to any kind of editing in any medium, actually.
“Don’t be a slave to the edit,” as Dewhurst puts it. “If there’s no reason to edit it, don’t. But if you do, take advantage of it and show what you’re talking about. Use the double power of the visual and the audible.”
Another editing reminder that Dewhurst shares with church film teams deals with remembering what to shoot to make the editing work. “Shoot inserts. Shoot reactions.” They help cover up edits—including the jarring jump cuts everywhere in YouTube interviews that are like torture for the viewer (and for professional editors to witness).
The insert shots, reactions, and other footage will help draw in the viewer and get a more personal response from them. Dewhurst reminds, “And don’t make everything you choose a wide shot. That six feet of difference makes all the difference in the world.”
Another important thing he teaches film editors in the Liberty U program: the importance of pacing. “I touch on ‘what is pacing?’ Will it be fast-paced or slow-paced, and how will we portray that?” he notes.
“Shoot inserts. Shoot reactions.” They help cover up edits.
Outtake
At the end of the day, Dewhurst circles back to the importance of technique over tools in all areas of creating the most powerful, intimate, and life-changing video interviews.
And if you want to know if your technique was truly sound, Dewhurst dares you: “When it comes to production, don’t show it to somebody who likes you or is related to you. Take it to somebody who’s not afraid to say your baby is ugly.”