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Figure 5.63 Cutaway shots (the middle frame) allow editors to return to a previous shot without producing a jump cut.

Figure 5.64 Establishing shots give viewers a sense of place.

Figure 5.65 Room tone added to a sequence.

Collecting ambient sound. Ambient sound can greatly harm your shot. Street noise, loud machinery, and people talking can all ruin your footage. But ambient noise can be very powerful for drawing your sources into your scene. It can also be vital for sound editing later.

Before your leave any location, identify the noises and sounds that are unique to that environment. If you are shooting at a construction site, be sure to get high-quality recordings of hammers, saws, and other ambient noise spe- cific to that environment. If you are at the ocean, be sure to record sounds

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of waves hitting the shore. These recordings should be isolated sounds—no talking or other ambient noise. Even if you are in a seemingly silent room, be sure to record a few minutes of room tone. This room tone can be used later to layer under audio edits.

Q&A with the Experts: Jason Mojica, Editor-in-Chief, VICE News

Figure 5.66 Jason Mojica, Editor-in-Chief, Vice Photo : Zach Goldbaum

How did you get started in video?

I studied film for about a year as a freshman in college before dropping out. When I went back to school 12 years later, it was to study political science. Ironically, it was studying politics and international affairs that drove me back to film and video because I began to understand the importance of sto- rytelling and mass media in how things play out on the world stage. In 2006,

I took an internship at a Washington, DC-based non-profit that was making a reality show designed to bridge the gap between the U.S. and the Arab world and I became more and more convinced that I could have a greater impact on the world through video than by being a policy wonk. At the time, I was struggling to understand why everyone seemed to agree that something had to be done about the crisis in Darfur, yet nobody seemed to be doing anything about it. While drunk at a bar with a couple of friends, we joked that

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we should just hop on a plane and go there and figure it out and make a film about the process. That’s what we did, and that experience forever altered my life. I remember thinking, “Imagine if I could get paid to do this!”

What kinds of stories work best for video?

The best stories for video are stories that are happening right now . . . stories that are unfolding right in front of your camera. This sounds like a no-brainer, but I mean this in contrast to stories that have happened in the past that people are trying to convey with words. I like stories that are kinetic, where things are happening, where I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be there to witness them and share them with an audience.

What three tips would you give videographers in terms of finding and reporting video-worthy stories?

1. Pick stories that have a beginning, middle, and end.

2. Pick stories about people, not issues.

3. If you find a strong character, stick with them, even if it means scrapping everything else you had planned.

How do you get someone to open up to you on camera? How do you get them to “forget” that the camera is there?

You have to give as much as you’re asking of people. You have to show that you’re invested, if you’re asking people to share their deepest, darkest secrets, you better be willing to share a few of your own. You get people to forget the camera is there by always having it with you, and always having it rolling.

What are your best three interviewing tricks?

1. Ask dumb questions. Don’t try to show how smart you are—that only puts people on guard and makes them careful about what they say. Ask the simple questions that most people (i.e., your audience) are afraid to ask because they think they’re already supposed to know the answer.

2. I don’t know if it’s a trick as much as how my mind works, but I tend to interview in a very non-linear fashion. I will ask a follow-up to my first question as, say, my sixth question . . . I keep going back to things that the interviewee thinks we’ve moved on from. It’s very organic, in an all-over-the-place sort of way.

3. Listen. Don’t think about the camera, the lighting, the shot, the background noise. Your job is to listen as much as it is to interrogate. People can tell when you’re listening. If you aren’t, they wonder why they’re bothering to tell you anything.

When you are in the field, what is in your gear bags? What gear do you guys use at Vice news?

Varies from shoot to shoot, but most of the time it’s a Canon C300, a 5D, and an XF 105; several GoPros and mounts, first aid kit, beef jerky, Emergen-C, and baby wipes.

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How do you organize your material in post-production?

We rarely transcribe our material unless it’s a lengthy interview. Translation on the other hand, there’s tons and tons of that. We rely on having strong field notes to help our editors know what’s worth digging into and what they shouldn’t waste their time on.

You have produced a lot of video. What works for Web video in general?

Pieces where the audience feels some sort of connection not only with the subjects but with the makers. If it lacks a feeling of authorship, if it just feels like some sort of “product,” people feel less invested in watching it.

What overall advice would you give to new video producers?

If you think that the films you’ve made aren’t as good as they could have been, you’re on the right track. Don’t get too comfortable.

CHAPTER 6

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