| THE STUDIO
My Inexpensive Studio Space
The living room of my large two bedroom triplex has been converted into The Interview Studio. At first I did this so I could shoot my own interviews without the need to rent a stage each time I had an interview to shoot. Now I've opened it up to doing interviews for others and because it is in my home I can offer substantial savings over shooting on a sound stage or on location.
A Distraction-Free Background
I use a white or black background for most of my videos. I think that white or black offers a clean look that focuses attention on the interviewee as well as allows for a wider range of shirt color options. However, a variety of color backgrounds are available from Samy's Camera and you can choose from paper or muslin backgrounds for an extra charge.
Ample Lighting For Web Videos
Web videos look their best when a lot of light is used throughout the scene. This is because the video encoding process removes detail in dark areas and because web video players don't handle shadow areas well. Therefore, you'll see that I use a lot of light in all my web videos. I recommend the same for your web videos as well.
Crystal Clear Sound
To ensure the best possible audio from the interviewee I have placed acoustical foam throughout my studio so that there will be virtually no background noise and no echo for a crystal clear voice. An easy-to-understand voice helps viewers pay attention to what's being said and therefore a desire to watch the video until it's over.
Sometimes A Stage Is Warranted
For projects that have a lot of content to deliver it may be best to work on a sound stage. For my natural living video series I rented a full size stage and we shot non-stop for three days. Stage rentals range from $750 to $1,250 a day.
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