Tactics of Shooting and Lighting

Matt Gross

Blog Post 3 – Lighting and Shooting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dkfk2d_kq4. Kelly Slater

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suhh5BKlj94. A Football Life – Baltimore Ravens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3uWqki4Tyg. Jarvis Landry

As I looked for examples of visual journalism that use effective camera shots and lighting, what first came to my mind was Kelly Slater. Yes, a bit a bit random if you’re someone who has no idea who Kelly Slater is; however, I felt that any journalism that involved him would incorporate the outside environment in such a way that it is necessary to implement creative lighting and shooting. And what do you know, the very first piece of visual journalism I found of him was fantastic.

For those who are still wondering who Kelly Slater is, he’s a world-renowned surfer, and claimed by many, to be the best in the world. The video I have included of him includes some seriously creative camera shooting that does a great job complementing the story. Although the opening shot is very important part, it’s the producers unique use of lighting and camera angles/cutaways that really caught my eye. The setting of the interview takes place under a shady spot under the trees. The sun is slightly peeking through just enough to create a great balance between shade and sunlight. The spot under the trees almost acts as cover under which the three participants hold the entirety of the interview. They didn’t shoot it in the water, they didn’t shoot it out in the sand, and they didn’t shoot it indoors. Instead, they found a great spot outdoors in which the lighting struck a great balance. From this main setting, the video smoothly transitions from jump cut to jump cut; something which I myself need to improve on. The smooth transition included cutaways to B-roll of subjects that Kelly Slater was talking about. At one point, Slater was talking about his own clothing line; there was then a cutaway shot of Slater wearing those very clothes. This is something I also need to work on; incorporating b-roll of what the speaker is actually talking about. It’s a tactic that really helps the audience follow along, and understand the story more clearly. The camera work of this video is very creative as well. Throughout the video the camera isn’t quite steady, and it’s obvious there wasn’t a tripod involved. It almost had a ‘flowing’ feel to it; kind of like the flowing wave sounds in the background. The video also includes shots at various angles, above the subject, to the side of the subject, and even below him. I think this actually added a great feel to the video as it felt more interactive, and more like the audience was there on the beach too.

The second video I’ve included involves a film produced by NFL Films about the Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl Winning season. In this video, the establishing shot actually stood out to me as very unique. The narrator is describing Joe Flacco (QB of the Ravens) as the video rolls, while suddenly the video pauses. What’s being presented stops, but the narrator continues to speak. The video then made a smooth cutaway to different scene. It’ something that seems small and isn’t used often, but certainly caught my attention. The interviews with each subject are creative as well; each subject looks directly into the camera when talking. The lighting is dim on the borders of the screen, but gets brighter and brighter as it reaches the focal point of the interviewee. I thought this created a great feeling of intimacy with each subject, and felt like they were talking to you, not the actual interviewer. The cutaway shots involved both videos and still photos. I thought it was pretty creative and added to the emotion and storytelling. It’s something I would love to incorporate into my future projects. The closing shots of the video showed each subject of the interview, and then a cutaway to a screenshot of a quick written summary of what ended up happening to each person. This too, is something I’ve always liked in videos or movies, and is something I may one day try to implement as well. The simplicity of the interviews caught my attention, and opened up my eyes to a whole new way of performing interviews.

The third and final video I’ve included is about NFL superstar receiver Jarvis Landry. The establishing shot was fantastic! It involved up-tempo, fast paced shots and cuts of Jarvis Landry game film, childhood photos, him with his child, and him working out. It did a great job grabbing the audience’s attention right at the start. The video then shows an extra wide shot of Landry on the beach looking out onto the horizon. This established that this is about him, and his life; drawing complete attention to the subject. As his mother describes his early upbringing, b-roll was shown of his poverty-stricken hometown. The gloomy, cloudy sky, reflects the struggles he went through early on. As far as specific camera shots, when the video would cut back to the one-on-one interview with Landry, there were close-up shots, mid-shots, and extra close-up shots. The producers did a great job switching gup the camera angels, making the video more interesting, and not stagnant in one position. The closing shot of this video was very similar to the establishing shot, showing Landry on the beach by himself. It contributed to the story telling, and was a great way to wrap up the video.

Analyzing each of these videos opened me up to a whole new world of camera shot and lighting techniques. Taking notes form each of these very well put together videos, I plan on incorporating a lot of these techniques into my future work.