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Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 6: The shots tell the story in a video interview

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Making a Mini-documentary, Ep 6: The shots tell the story in a video interview

SUBJECTS:  Arts

YEARS:  3–4, 5–6


You don't want your video interview to be just a 'talking head'.

What shots can you take to make your story more interesting? Benj Binks from ABC Open has some ideas on what you might do and how to do it.

This clip is one of eight on making a mini-documentary.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Archive footage is existing video footage or 'still images', such as old photos, that you might use in your video. Overlay is when you use audio from an interview while showing footage of something else. This footage is used as an example or to show what the interviewee is talking about. Have you ever seen examples of either of these things?
  2. 2.Benj talks about the two most common ways of 'visualising' your story, that is, including footage other than the interview itself. What examples does he give for the archival footage and overlay he is going to use for his video? What are some of the types of shots Benj is taking at the beach? How do you use the camera for each of these shots and why might you use them? What does Benj say it's good for an overlay to have?
  3. 3.Make notes on the different types of shots and their use. Watch the clip. Can you see any of these shots being used? Where? Is overlay being used? Watch some interviews. Look out for archival footage and overlays. How do they help tell the story? Do the overlays have a beginning, a middle and an end? Do you recognise any of the shots being used?
  4. 4.Experiment with the different camera shots discussed in the clip. Imagine you are making a video about yourself and your favourite activity. Write a short script. Do you have any archival images or footage you could use? What overlay footage could you shoot to help tell the story? What beginning, middle and end would it have?



Date of broadcast: 2012


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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