With the floor plans we had made yesterday we knew where we wanted to place the camera and Ralph in the first sequence. Despite the planning it still took some time for us to get the right framing and positioning as we wanted to include some other elements in the frame such as the photos and clock, and exclude the TV behind the chair we had moved. We couldn't decide whether to film the whole sequence in the wide to include these elements or closer where the framing was less awkward and more intimate. As a result, we opted for a two-camera setup for this as well, setting the 5D up right next to the XF305 with a longer lens - Alex and Saul operating one each.
Luckily, it was a much brighter day than our last visit and so neither the reflector nor the room lights were needed. However, the light shining through the curtains became an issue later in the day as it spilled on to Ralph sitting on the sofa. As a result we had to shut the curtains whilst filming, which made the image very orange and will need to be corrected during editing.
After the cameras were setup, I sat on the sofa as close to them as possible. Jamie put the lapel mic on Ralph and we did a sound check as he adjusted the mixer. We then started the interview and I read the questions from my notebook, asking Ralph to try and answer in full sentences before we began.
As we had planned I first asked about Ralph's early life, where he told us about growing up, school and his first job before going into the army. I asked more questions in response to what he was saying to try and prompt a particular memory, as he often just relayed factual information or repeated what he had said. For example, as he described his first job as a dye sinker I asked him whether the job was dangerous, and he told us about some accidents that happened whilst he was there.
Similar to when I was interviewing my granddad, I asked him about any interests he had before going into the army, or if he had anything he wanted to do as a career. However his response to this was quite short and just reiterated what he did beforehand. As we continued I tried to ask more open ended questions such as how his experience was like in the army, and what his wife's experience moving to Sheffield was like. As we were essentially trying to find the story during the interview, I asked about some of the more interesting stories he described such as his wife's hair changing colour due to injury, and the difficulty living with his mother due to her dislike of Germans.
The interview lasted between 30-50 minutes and thankfully Ralph seemed quite relaxed throughout. The main difficulty was that he would often change to another story whilst talking or repeat what he had just said, but we should be able to edit the details together afterwards and form a coherent story. Another challenge was that he'd often mention the names of family members who we did not know about during his answers, so we will have to consider editing around this as well.
Following the rough schedule, we had a break after the first interview where we filmed Ralph in the kitchen. We took this time to recharge the camera batteries and copy files on to my hard drive, as the 5D was almost full. Unfortunately this process took much longer than we had anticipated, and whilst we were able to set up the cameras ready to film the next sequence, we had to wait a long time for the transferring to complete. However, whilst we were waiting we continued to speak to Ralph and record him, and going round the room he talked about some of the objects and photos. I took this time to ask Ralph to fill in the contributor release form I had prepared too, explaining the terms of the agreement.
Due to time constraints, we chose to cut short the sequence where he's talking about individual photos to ask him the questions we had prepared. It was crucial for us to ask these questions so as to keep the focus of the film on the idea of photographs and memories, and they arguably got the best response from Ralph.
At the end of the session, we quickly filmed cutaways of objects around the house, wide shots in the different rooms and the garden. Alex took still photos of many of the things we couldn't reach on a tripod, and also the photo albums. We finished at around 3pm and headed back to transfer files and discuss the next steps. However, I felt that due to having to rush the second sequence we may have to return to ask some follow-up questions and get more cutaways. I explained this to Ralph and mentioned that I'd contact him if we needed to come round the following week.
Upon transferring and reviewing the footage, I would argue strongly that we need to do another day of filming. The still photographs of the photo albums are not of high enough quality for us to pan and zoom across them as is our intention, so we will have to think of an alternative. Also, the amount of editing required to convey Ralph's stories in a coherent way will require more cutaways around the house than we managed to obtain, and it would be preferable if we could speak to him in another environment - perhaps the kitchen.
As we were finding out about Ralph's story as we were there, I'd like to ask some more questions specifically regarding some of the comments he made and memories which he hinted at but didn't fully explain. Transcribing the audio will be key in this process as we can then target which topics we want to talk about again and also which parts of the story we might need him to reiterate and make clearer. The structure for the film should also be identifiable at this stage too.
No comments:
Post a Comment