From the course: Corporate Video

Choosing a simple backdrop for the interview

From the course: Corporate Video

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Choosing a simple backdrop for the interview

- Hey there, I'm Robbie Carman. - And I'm Rich Harrignton. - And Rich, this week we're going to talk about kind of building and setting up a small, mobile kit that you can use for things like interviews. - Yeah, I find that a lot of times I have to jump on an airplane, or if I'm traveling to conferences on behalf of a client or an internal client, all the time they're like "Can you get an interview?" And I'm ending up setting up in a ballroom, or someone's small office, or in a hotel room. - Yeah, and there's hardly boring backgrounds, there's a lot going on in the background, there's all sort of problems with it. So this week we're going to actually start out by talking about the backgrounds, but then we're going to move on to a little bit about lighting and then actually setting up the camera and the settings to consider and go over, including shooting vertically. - And we're going to focus on things that would fit into carry on bags or into one checked bag. So for those of you who are on tight budget for travel, you can keep your equipment down so you don't have to choose, do I bring gear? Or do I bring clothes and a toothbrush? This way you can have your two checked bags, one for equipment, one for your personal stuff. - Alright, so let's start off by talking about some backgrounds. We have two of them, I'll step out of the way just a little bit here. Tell us a little bit about this. - Well it's very similar, and this is one of the things I want to point out is that this particular one is black on one side, white on the other, this one is just black but we can get different pieces of fabric. A simple, monochromatic backdrop is excellent when you have tight production schedules, because it means you can shoot in 20 different locations, but they look consistent. - Yeah, and I would really, really, really try to avoid the idea of doing mobile green screen if you can save it. Even though the idea of using a green screen or blue screen background is tempting because you can put anything back there. - [Rich] That's a lot of light you got to carry. - You got to carry a lot of light, and the fact is is that there are so many variables that can go wrong that can make your post production lights very hectic and difficult, so I agree with you. Kind of the classic black background, or a classic white background often times is the way to go. - Now what we have here in both cases is the fabric is fairly absorbent of light. So it's nice, this is sort of a crushed valuer. - [Robbie] They don't show wrinkles. They just seem to soak up the light. - Well that's actually a really good point. This is not something you want to set up and three minutes later you want to record. While they are wrinkle resistant, stretch out the background for a little while, let it sit for a half an hour to an hour or so so it kind of gets some of those wrinkles out of it. - So it really depends on how you want it to setup. This particular one is a lot like a pop up Flexfill reflector, but you're going to need to attach it to something. Now in this case, this one is attached to a C stand, maybe you don't have access to this. You can attach it to a doorway, you might have some other stands. I've seen people go as far as just getting a shower curtain and put it between a doorway or some tension with a tension rod, put that into place. That's going to work. I like this because it folds up pretty small and it's reversible. This one though is the X-drop system from Westcott. It's just basically a frame, and it's self contained here. So it's a little bit tight fit, but you see it's kind of like a tripod system with these arms, but when you fold this up it fits into a really small case. About the size of a compact photo tripod. - If you can build a tent, you can handle this. Actually, this is a little easier. - Yeah. And what's nice here is that they do actually make a green screen piece of fabric. I've got why they have different patterns that you can buy, and you can fit a couple of those fabric backdrops with the frame into one kit, and this thing weight about three pounds. - Yeah, there's a couple other things you can do with these backgrounds to make your life a little easier. Make sure that you're in a room that offers a little bit of separation between your subject and your background. That way you're not going to notice some imperfections back there. Even though it's tempting in a one man band to kind of shoot with something that is a relatively high aperture, like a 5.6 or something like that. Stepping down or opening up the glass a little bit so you have a little bit of tiny background diffusion will help you as well. - Yeah. So now that you have an idea on some of these ultra portable backdrops, and again, keep it simple, monochromatic if possible. We are ready to move on to talk about portable lighting. Again the goal here is to have a kit that fits into a carry on bag or a checked bag so it's a one bag solution if you have to travel to conferences or events, or even just get around town quickly.

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