Video Vox Pop: “Trump Rallies” from Daniel Carter on Vimeo.
For this production I had chosen the topic of American politics, more specifically the recent trump election and the rallies that followed in England. For this I took to the streets of York to ask members of the public what they thought of the recent York rally.
Using a Canon 70D DSLR with a zoom lens for my cutaway shots and also for the flexibility of framing, I also had my subjects stand to a side and talk across the camera, switching sides for each new interviewee to keep the shot style varied and therefore more interesting to watch (BBC Academy Online). For audio capture I had used a TASCAM DR100 with a DR60D mixer recorder to better control the Decibel (dB) level and to keep the level at around -15dB which is optimal for speech, a few problems occurred when trying to abide by this rule as heavy background noise, from buskers to the general public, interfered because the area was quite busy and as a result quite noisy. This was a result of our original location (shambles market) not being busy enough to get the amount of responses we wanted therefore the decision was made to relocate to our secondary location in the main square of York. A risk assessment was carried out for all the possible locations we may have taken the camera, one for the shambles, one for the main square and another for the minster. Risk that are deemed legally important by (HSE England) are outlined and prepared for before any equipment can be loaned out.
In terms of editing I had decided on including graphics in my post production accompanied by a short royalty free piece of music from Bensound to achieve a more professional quality product. Unfortunately I had come across some technical difficulties when recording these interviews as the sound recording equipment would cut out halfway through, to tackle this next time I will have to check regularly on the condition of the recording equipment and prepare back up batteries for use when necessary. Not wanting to waste the footage I had gathered, I decided to use the silent recordings as part of my introductory sequence. Being partnered with another crew member made it smoother to film as one could control audio gain on the sound equipment and maintain framing and focus on the subject, whilst the other could ask the questions and maintain eye contact and control the interviewee’s position. The fact that we were in a pair instead of a self-shoot meant that more footage would likely be gathered as the crew appears more ready and looks more enticing to the general public, many of our interviews were on people who were too happy to answer our questions.