We're going to be talking about what shots it takes to tell your story and really thinking about both
beforehand and while shooting.
You know what?
What do I need to get to tell my story?
What is critical for me as a video maker to share what I want to share.
And this is both.
Getting your your main interviewer you know this type of stuff to getting the inserts getting the shots
that help tell the story further beyond just seeing someone talking.
So one important thing to think about is your role versus your role.
Your role is really the meat of your story.
It's where you're going to get your narration or your interviewer talking.
It's so the the thing that's going to form your entire story, your B-roll is just as important, though.
These are the shots that you're going to put over your interviewer or over your voiceover.
This is the things that really show and bring to life your character or your subject.
So, for example, we worked on this documentary and we spent the morning getting to talk with a subject,
learning about his life, seeing some things around his house.
But we really just spent the time to talk to him and sort of learn what he was all about.
From there, we did get some shots in the house, but we went out with him into into the world and got
shots with him on the streets, got him doing actions, got different stuff that really helped tell
his story.
What was really helpful, though, was getting this interview first because we knew what type of shots
we needed to get later in the day.
So in this instance, our role was the interview shot.
It's what we got sitting with our subject and talking to him.
Our B-roll then was all the other footage.
It's important to know what is said in the role and then getting the B-roll that matches that feeling
and matches that sentiment.
This can be really critical to telling your story.
B-roll, in a way, brings to life your role.
Whenever I go out on events or I'm shooting with Major Lazer, a lot of the times it's just me shooting.
And so I'll go and I'll think, okay, I need to go get a wide shot of the crowd.
I need to get these specific shots.
And I know before even thinking about the edit really that these are the shots that will help tell this
story.
These are the shots that I want to get to tell this.
And this takes a lot of practice because each show I do, it's something different.
I have a different style, a different idea of how I want to approach it.
Sometimes I only want to use closeups, other times I only want use wide shots.
That being said, having a second camera, having a third camera can make a massive difference because
I can have someone always getting a wide shot, I can have someone getting all the closeups, and I
can myself be getting those magic moments that maybe I would miss because I was getting that other coverage.
So next time you're going into a shoot, maybe do some research, go and look at other videos online
and don't just watch it, don't just enjoy it.
Actually, look at each shot.
Think of, okay, if I'm going into this, I want to get this wide shot and I want to tell it all from
this perspective.
It's something to think about.
And don't get me wrong, there's plenty of times everything changes and what you thought you could do
is radically different, but at least you have some idea of what you want to get going into it.
I think the greatest thing you can do to learn more about what shots you need and what shots you want
to get is just to watch films.
Go see how people cover scenes and really analyze it, look at their wide shots to their mediums, to
their close ups.
And it's a great way to see how other directors have developed this style.
And especially watching their first film to their last film, you can see their take on filmmaking,
and through that you can decide what type of filmmaker you want to be.