simple 2 shot interviews for sports at my school

So i have been producing, shooting, and editing (with some help from host) some very simple video updates that are interviews with players and coaches at my school. i shot it all on my 7D and sigma 30. I wish I had a better lens but I have access to a 70-200 mkII which i am going to try out for the next video even though at 70mm its much longer than I would like. the other equipment i have access to is a very small 3 point Lowel light kit that has a key, flood, and small fill light. the light kit is in rather rough condition but does an ok job helping me get a clean shot although i have yet to get control of the ambient light spilling in from doors leading into the room from outside. the microphone is a fairly old sennheiser wireless lavalier that has seen better days. unfortunately i have no audio control so sound is currently going straight into camera until they budget money to improve the available gear the school owns.

I am posting mainly for feedback and any suggestions you guys might have to help improve on what i have which is not much to work with. i am going to play with my light setup more as it seems bland to me. i work with bad scheduling of the equipment as the lights and mic are also used by a intro video class so i cant ever get extended use of the equipment so im usually stuck with run and gun shooting.

the athletics department at my school who i am creating this for is in the process of budgeting money for a small 3 point light kit and microphone for the future so I am not struggling with scheduling equipment and eventually when i graduate they would be able to do this on their own after some training.

thank you in advance for all feedback and suggestions. i know these are rough but I think i am managing fairly well with what i have to work with

http://www.youtube.com​/BrianRobertsReel/

most of the admissions and PR and communications people at my school are loving what im doing but i want to try to make it better with what i have through some tweaks or something because i know it can be better even without spending money on equipment.

First and most obvious problem in most of the videos is major audio clipping. What editing program are you using? You need to use some sort of compression plugin in order to level out the two different amplitudes of audio from two different people that are positioned in varying distanced from the Lavalier.

If the mic is attached to person A, when she talks the audio may be too loud and clip, then when person B who is a few feet away talks they sound perfect you need a plugin that can balance these two different amplitudes out, thats where compression comes in.

Im working with final cut express. thanks for the feedback

Wow! I may be in love with Jennifer.

Anyway. Point one, my short term memory is such that I don't need someone to tell me who they are at the beginning of the piece and again 10 seconds later. That sort of annoyed me, assuming I could understand what she was saying.

The sound is truly horrible. Perhaps someone with a 7D can tell you how to deal with this, aside getting a stand alone recorder because the levels are way too high most of the time and there is some really bad background noise there as well. If you had anything other than a 7D, or 1D, loading Magic Lantern would have gone a long way to helping sort that out.

I assume you are going for a News Desk look but it wasn't working for me. The Interviewer and guest look uncomfortable and don't know where to look. They look ill at ease if they look at each other, or at the camera. As it is an interview where the guest is talking too the interviewer I would be inclined to do away with the desk and arrange them at 90 deg to each other, either standing or seated. That way they can look at each other or the camera; as if the camera is another person in a three way conversation.

Jennifer does a great job but try to get guests with some charisma .....or give them a few Red Bulls before hand. It might be because they feel as uncomfortable as they look. Have a laugh with them and get them to relax before you record the final version.

Brian_R wrote in post #13862586
Im working with final cut express. thanks for the feedback

Well I don't use any apple programs, FC Express might already have a generic built in plugin for audio compression, you should research it, I use compression dynamics in pretty much every single video I do.

thanks guys. she is trying to just have extra material for her portfolio since she is trying to be a news talent so part of it she is making decisions on. but i am going to re-arrange her and the guest so its less uncomfortable looking lol. my personal obstacle is not having much time to work with each time we shoot because of availability of lights and mic as well as the guests themselves. but next one i shoot will have them at 90degrees without the table to change the look.

i appreciate the help as my main shooting experience is mostly capturing broll in the field for a travel show and dont do much of this type of interview style.

new updated interviews. transcoded to prores, removed hiss from mic, changed seating setup, shot with a 70-200 mkII

http://youtu.be/pakMvZ​9EQKQ

http://youtu.be/j0JnBT​k2dCs

I'm no audio expert, but that audio is still horrible. I have completely given up on recording audio via the 60D and have gone to an H4n. The lav is a great tool, but I would maybe try a shotgun overhead in between the two people along with it. Audacity is a great free program to work with audio.

I don't know what mic you're using, but I'm thinking that isn't really the problem. I think you have the gain structure set too high on the mic. Your host is totally over blown and the guest is "OK" because they are distant from the mic. And so they're level is lower and not distorted. First, what Sennheiser mic is it, a G2? Your host shouldn't be that overmodulated.

Someone suggested a boom mic over head and just out of the shot between both people, that would work better that what you have now. I doubt any kind of compression software can fix the first glaring issue here. The boom mic would be more even, Of course the best solution would be to have a pair of lav mics one on each person. But that's not in the budget is it?

As far as lighting, it looks pretty good, but I couldn't watch a whole interview because the audio is just so bad. This is the importance of audio. The video is fine, but with out equally good audio people will turn away quickly. Sorry, that is what I do for a living.

You said in your first post that you were having some issues with spill from the lights. I know all too well about Lowel lights. Not the easiest things to work with, but you've done well. Take a look around on the internet for a product called, Black Wrap. It's a heavy, black, aluminium foil that won't burn and can seal those light leaks. One small piece per instrument would help fill those light holes. And it's not that expensive. Take a look at this site for all your grip/lighting needs: http://www.barbizon.co​m/ Barbizon has stores all over the US, there could be one close to you.
Black Wrap is really cool stuff and it can do more creative things as well. Something good to have in the lighting kit.

But lets work on that audio first.

Here is an interview that I worked on for CBS Sports. We used my 7D as a cut away angle from the main camera. Just to use as a edit choice. I ran audio from my sound bag into this camera directly via a pair of female XLRs to a single stereo 3.5mm mini plug. The cameras AGC is still in effect and you'll hear it, but this was only done to help the editor sync it later.

Just fast forward to about 1:08 to get past the horrible shaky practise footage. I had just got this camera a week or so before doing this. But listen to the interview, that's how a 7D should sound when feed proper audio levels. By no means is this the best, the camera still has it's horrible AGC running, but it is better than what you've got going on. There is only one mic being used for this interview. The producer asking the questions is not part of the story, she is never seen on camera, so her questions don't really matter, but you can hear how the camera is trying to open up and gather that audio too. But along with it it also hears all the background noise. AGC really sucks and if Canon would fix this, come up with a firmware update, there would be a lot of happy people out there.

http://www.youtube.com …DskKH17QezzdVzD​yGWC6hAU1N

Brian_R wrote in post #13996202
new updated interviews. transcoded to prores, removed hiss from mic, changed seating setup, shot with a 70-200 mkII

Audio definitely sounds cooked - as Chas mentioned, it probably clipped going into the camera. Though it could happen at two points if you're using a wireless setup.

Check the levels on the transmitter and receiver as you can clip going into the transmitter or coming out of the receiver into the camera. You may have to tweak both.

I'm still waiting for Canon to put a headphone jack on these things...

joeblack2022 wrote in post #14007858
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I'm still waiting for Canon to put a headphone jack on these things...

That could be a long wait... Nice idea, but not worth holding breath or truely waiting for, at least for the lower end DSLR cameras. I think the new 5D3 has it though!