Carly Cavagnaro

Mr. Cross & Ms. Brown

Video and Audio Production

24 May 2018

Newly Obtained Skill

For junior year of high school in Video and Audio Production, there can be many things

learned and taught. One thing that stuck out to me for a newly obtained skill is how to conduct an

interview. The final product of an interview consists of many variables until the project is

complete. Through my teachers’ lessons, I have learned all the steps in conducting a professional

interview. Ms. Brown showed me how to setup the camera, lights and microphones. These are

crucial steps because those are the core parts of the video. She taught me about setting up a good

background scene, lighting the subject correctly, and how to have the audio adjusted accordingly.

She also taught me how to edit the end result on Adobe Premiere, where it all comes together.

Mr. Cross helped me develop good interview questions so the end result can have meaningful

answers. I also learned to adjust questions for the subject to get a substantial answer from them.

This was learned over some time and I have seen many changes in my interviews from learning

along the way.

The steps to conducting a professional interview consist of making questions, setting up

the camera, lights and audio. For the interview questions, I model them to the reason of interview

and the subject’s personal experience. A good amount of questions can be from five questions to

twenty. However long or in depth you want the complete project be depends on how long the

subject talks for. For example, when I interviewed my brother on his love for music, I had geared
specific questions about him and music. I asked questions like “when did you start playing

guitar? “When did you realize music was for you?” Or “how has music influenced your life?” I

asked about ten questions for a ten minute video. Asking these guided questions towards him

helped him construct a good answer for me to use in the project. ​https://youtu.be/-j87ltcl2Vw

Next for actually conducting the interview, I make sure I am set up with all my

equipment. I first set up the tripod in front of where the subject will be sitting and adjust its

height accordingly. (1) I then put the camera rig on top the tripod with the battery and SD card

already inside. (2,3) Now you should turn on the audio box and plug in the LAV mic into it. (4)

Next I set up the LED lighting panels and adjust them to the type of lights of the room. (5) I

check back and forth to see how it looks on camera. (6) Now I have my subject sit in the chair in

front of the camera so I can adjust the camera’s settings. (7) This consists of ISO, white balance,

shutter speed, framing and focusing the lense. (8) Once the camera is adjusted, I have the subject

put the LAV mic under their shirt and clip it on. (9) Then we test the audio and adjust the levels

according to their voice. (10) Once everything is all set, I start recording and asking the questions

I prepared. (11) After we finish the interview, I pack up all the equipment as I set it up.
1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9
 10 11

Now either before or after I conduct the interview, I shoot B-roll of the subject. This

relates to the interview’s cause and the subject’s talking points. These videos or photos all

consist of many different creative shots of the person from all angles possible. I want to get as

many shots as possible to fill the time of talking in the interview but also keep the viewer

interested. Once I have at least 45 shots of B-roll, I take the SD card and put all the files on my

computer and start editing all footage together. Editing on Adobe Premiere consists of patience

and organization. I need to keep all my files in line to make sure I can have all the parts of my

interview and B-roll. Editing can be tedious, but once you get a base to work with, it is easy to

layer content on top.

A basic interview will look something like this when in the editing process. The pink represents

B-roll, the blue is interview video, and the green is background music.
 This skill will help me for next year in many ways. In shop we do many projects and live

jobs that consist of interviewing someone for information. Having the knowledge of this will

better prepare me for swiftly conducting interviews in the future. Whether it is an interview with

a teacher or a fellow student, these basic steps will guide my project to success.