INTERVIEW TIP FOR BEGINNERS

We’ve been shooting NON-STOP lately.  Between I AM BIG BIRD, which we’re trying to wrap shooting on by the end of February, WE MUST GO and various freelance work, we’ve interviewed quite an array of people over the last few months.  And though the topics change, the techniques remain the same.  Every interviewer is different, but we thought we’d share a few tips we picked up for those of you just starting out in the doc world.

DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO MAKE YOUR SUBJECT COMFORTABLE

Some people, like Caroll Spinney, are born to be on camera.  They’ve spent thousands of hours talking about their lives and careers in front of a sprawling crew.  But for others who’ve never been on camera, the prospect of sitting down in front of strangers with bright lights blinding them is terrifying.  We found this especially true of working with children.

So, how do you make them comfortable?  With most people, we’ve found that the more we can talk to them prior to an interview, the better it goes.  Instead of going in with a print-out of questions we want to ask (which we certainly do), we can go into the interview as though we’re revisiting a past conversation.  The result is a natural flow of information that doesn’t feel prompted.  In extreme cases, like working with kids, we’ve had to be more creative.  ForBROWNSTONES TO RED DIRT, we allowed children to draw while they talked to us.  We found the distraction was just enough to let them escape the intimidation of a camera crew, but not enough to make them lose focus on the topic at hand.  We also let two kids do an interview together, which helped them open up because they felt the focus wasn’t just on them.

RUN WITH A SKELETON CREW

An important part of making your subject feel comfortable is not just establishing your own rapport with them, but also making sure that your crew can interact on a personal level with the subject.  The smaller the crew, the easier this is to maintain.  When shooting interviews, we only have essential personnel on set.  It helps create an intimacy which benefits the shoot.

MAINTAIN ENGAGED EYE CONTACT

This tip seems like a no-brainer, but in the past few weeks, multiple people have asked me where I look during an interview.  The answer is simple: directly in a person’s eyes.  When doing an interview, you may become painfully aware of the fact that prolonged eye contact doesn’t happen that often on a daily basis.  But if you lock eyes with your subject, it helps them zone out and forget about the crew and cameras pointed at them.  It’s also important to react to what they’re saying—again, this may be basic knowledge, but you don’t want to be a blank slate when they are telling you a story.  Make it clear that you are interested and engaged in what they’re saying.

BE HONEST WITH YOUR SUBJECT

You’re talking to an interview subject with a motive in mind.  What is that motive?  Are you trying to get background?  An opinion?  How do you plan on using that subject in your film?  While you don’t want to influence what your subject says, you need to be straightforward with them.  Craft your questions and conversations in a straightforward manner.  Not only will the subject appreciate it, but you’ll get better responses.  You’re expecting openness and honesty from your subject—they should be able to expect the same from you.

THE DAUNTING WORLD OF FIRMWARE UPDATES

For anyone that is new to using cameras that need Firmware updates (like I was), updating your firmware can be a daunting/foreign task.  The first time I had to do it, the email I got from Panasonic saying there was an update for our AF100 sat in my inbox for more than 6 months!!!  I had no idea what to do; it seemed so complicated: Go to this website, download this file… get it to the camera somehow… ah, forget it.  I’ll do it later.  Well, it turned out it wasn’t complicated at all.  Here’s all you have to do (NOTE: ALL STEPS BELOW ARE FOR AF100):

1.) Format your SDHC card in your camera (MENU>CARD FUNCTIONS>CARD FORMAT>SELECT SLOT1>YES)

2.) Download the Firmware update from Panasonic - you’ll get a Zip file on your desktop.  Double click it to unzip.

3.) Either using a card reader, inserting the card directly into your computer or using your AF100 camera, connect your card to your computer so it shows up on your desktop.

4.) Drag the PRIVATE folder from your Panasonic download to your SDHC card.  It will ask you to overwrite the Private folder that is already there – overwrite that sucker!

5.) Eject your card from your computer and put it back in your AF100 (if you weren’t using the AF100 to connect to your computer that is)

6.) VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you are using your AC Adaptor to power your AF100.  The camera will not update if you are using battery power!

7.) Select MENU>OTHER FUNCTIONS>UPDATE, then select YES.

Don’t be scared if the your LCD screen goes black for a minute or two.  The red light between CAM and PB will start blinking and eventually a message on your LCD screen will pop up saying UPDATING SYSTEM PLEASE WAIT…After a few minutes the screen will again go black.  Give it a few more minutes and your LCD will go back to normal and (drum roll please…) your AF100′s Firmware is updated!!!

It is just that easy!

FAIR USE IN DOCUMENTARIES

A few weeks back, we wrote about what DocNYC taught us about sales agents.  Today, we revisit that day of endless knowledge to share what we learned about fair use.

DocNYC brought in fair use experts Peter Jaszi (Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, American University Washington College of Law) and Julie Ahrens (Center for Internet & Society, Stanford Law School) for a fantastic panel moderated by Dan Satorius that gave some hope to doc filmmakers with great ideas and limited resources.

They started off by defining fair use.   I jotted this down in my notes, but, for a better explanation of what fair use is, let’s turn to Stanford Law School, which writes: “Fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and ‘transformative’ purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work.”  The Center for Internet & Society at Stanford Law School goes further, discussing what fair use allows filmmakers to do: “Fair use doctrine… makes it possible for documentary filmmakers to take on subjects that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to discuss.”  Why might you need to rely on this doctrine?  Any number of reasons.  Perhaps you need to use material from a classic, copyrighted film, but the studio’s licensing fees are triple your budget.  Or maybe you are using copyrighted material which the owner refuses to release for the film, no matter the licensing fees.  In both situations, you could potentially turn to fair use to clear the material you need.

Before going any further, I should state that, while the panel dropped a ton of knowledge on the crowd about how to determine if you have material that may be usable under fair use, it was made abundantly clear that you shouldn’t just turn to your friend who’s, say, an employment lawyer, to make this determination.  Even if you have access to an attorney who’s practiced fair use law in the past, they recommended hiring one who is currently practicing in this field.  Were they trying to drum up business?  Perhaps.  But in a field that is constantly changing, it’s not a bad idea to heed this advice.

So, how is fair use determined?  I’m glad you asked.  There are four questions you need to answer:

1.  Is the use primarily commercial or non-commercial?

If the answer is non-commercial, then you have a good case for fair use.  If it’s primarily commercial, don’t instantly think you can’t have a fair use ruling in your favor.  The panel unanimously agreed that this distinction has grown less important over the years.

2.  Is the original work primarily creative or non-creative?

This question seems to favor docs: if you’re making a factual, historical piece and you need to use copyrighted material to illustrate your story, you’re in good shape.

3.  How much material are you taking from the original?

In general, they stated that the less you use, the better off you’re going to be.  This question shouldn’t just be answered in terms of the quantitative amount you take, but also the qualitative.  In other words, are you taking the heart of the work?  They used the example of taking the hook from a song potentially being problematic because you’re taking the most recognizable part of the work.  Of course, they didn’t say this would result in a ruling against you, but your argument for fair use would have to be stronger in other areas.

4.  Is it transformative?

This question was uniformly agreed upon as being the most important one to answer.  Are you using the copyrighted material in such a way that you’re adding value to the original?  Are you repurposing it for a new use?  If you’re using the copyrighted material to replace the original in the marketplace, you’re in trouble.  But if you’re using it in a new way, you have a good case for fair use.  They kept hammering home how important the transformative nature was, saying that if it’s transformative and the amount you use is appropriate, the economic impact is irrelevant.

One point they kept making was that the story of why you want to use certain copyrighted material is very important. If you have compelling reasons behind your use of copyrighted material, reasons that depict the transformative nature of your use, you’ll have a strong case.

There is obviously much, much more to know about fair use and there are plenty of resources out there that explain it much better than I can.  What I took away from this, however, is that there is hope for doc filmmakers when it comes to clearing copyrighted material that seems impossible to get the rights to.  If you’re looking for more information, I’d encourage you to stop by a few sites that have become very important to us:

Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School

Center for Social Media

One final thought: if you want to work with a fair use attorney, but don’t have the money, the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School does pro bono work.  Check out their site above to learn more.