3. Video Interviews & Natural Light

Use natural light in filming video interviews carefully, keeping the interviewee looking good. Learn to use natural light filming video interviews from an experienced interviewer in this free film production video.

In most cases, you're going to be working with some sort of natural lighting, no matter what. Either you'll be outside where all your lighting will be natural, or you'll be indoors where there are windows open, and light will be coming through the windows and effecting the lighting situation in the room. So one way or the other, you have to deal with a natural light. Now, if you're in a room that has really big windows, and lots of natural light pouring in, you should put on the filter on your camera. Most cameras have some sort of ND filter, and that will block out the light that makes everything look blue in the room. To compensate for all the light coming in if you're dealing with that natural lighting, you want to have your own lights pushing back to make sure that your subject is lit up. So, if you seat someone in front of a window, and the light's coming in, you want to make sure that you have enough light going back onto the person that they don't look like they're lit up from behind and they're just in shadow. Generally, you would be using a three-point lighting kit to do this, though in certain situations you may not have a lighting kit, then you can improvise. It helps to bring all the lights on wherever you are. Often times if you're doing an interview in a place like a restaurant, the owner is going to be expecting to have the lights low like they always do, but in fact if you just lift up the dimmers, you can make the room look a lot brighter. And even though in real life it may seem too bright, when you're actually taping, it'll look just right. Be mindful of the fact that when you're dealing with natural lighting, the lighting is going to change as time goes by. You should be checking lighting constantly to make sure that your lighting is staying consistent. You may set up a shot that you really like, start rolling, and then forget about the fact that slowly the sun is going down and your subject is getting darker and darker and darker.