A level preparation: Filmmaking Interview

On June 7th of this year i conducted the interview with Horatiu Sermesan (TV reporter/director) a previous post with my initial plans for the interview can be seen here: A level preparation: Technical/Filmmaking Interview Questions (alexandru-danielch.wixsite.com)

I set down with Horatiu on my homes terrace where the interview was conducted. I initially envisioned the interview as vary structured however as we talked i realized that a large number of my questions that i had originally set up had heavily overlapping elements. Realizing this in addition to the fact that there might be information that i hadn't even thought about asking i decided for the interview to be a bit less formal and a unstructured instead of the clearly defined questions i had.

The following were the topics of discussion and what Horatiu said in relation to them.

Q: "What is the difference between shooting with a larger or a smaller budget?"

A: When you have a larger budget you have the ability to allocate a lot more of the work and to use much higher standard of equipment. As someone who works alone is required to be script writer, director, camera man, editor, interviewer, researcher, sound designer, etc. While in a proper TV network funded production there are typically dozens of people involved.

Q:"How should i conduct the filming process?"

A: First of all you need to at least be working with 3 types of shots. Wide, Medium, and Close ups. Additionally in a documentary it is important to get a surplus of angles and different types of shots so that you have more than enough material for the editing process. I recommend to film at least three times more footage than the length of the film you're making.

Q: "What are some tips for the editing part of the project?"

A: The editing should serve to help express the message of the film. In a nature documentary it is important to have clips on screen that perfectly tie into the narration in that particular moment. Furthermore you should not change the camera angle immediately in a drastic way, as this may feel jarring and take the viewer out of the film and thus reduce its impact. For example whenever you have a close up you should not immediately transition into a wide shot in the same scene because this dramatic change in perspective may compromise the previously discussed viewer experience.

Q: "What should i do about the sound design?"

A: The sound design in a nature documentary should not be the focus and in tern should elevate the narration and visuals. You should be able to choose background music from an internet database/catalogue of free unlicensed background music, or one can always make their own music to use. However in a documentary such as this it is also possible to not have traditional music and instead to let the natural background noise of a particular recording or clip carry the scene. But sound design is vary important.

Q: "Any other tips or advice would you like to share?"

A: In a nature documentary it is often easy to want to cram as much information into it as someone can. However it is also important to have the audience be engaged and preferably even remember the contents of the film they've seen. So be careful to make the film in a way where the audience remains invested. And don't be scared to cut out boring or unimportant stuff like a statistic for example. The most important part is the message and the story you want to tell with your film.

We talked about other things too like journalistic integrity and the differences between working for state sponsored TV networks and private networks but this has been the important parts of the discussion.