Shooting Videography Projects & Interviews with Celebrity Talent

Anytime you have a camera in front of a celebrity, the pressure increases.

There is the lucklihood that time is even more of a factor, or a tenuous personal favour is the reason why they have given their time & energy towards being filmed.

For whichever reason it may be, the videographer / cinematographer in charge has even more of a need to be diligent and effective in shooting the celebrity talent.

Here a few event photography & event videography tips to make your celebrity shoot go smoothly.

1. Get the Context of your celebrity talent's appearence How the celebrity is linked to the event is very important. Are they a patron of the invite, amongst other stars? Or are they a paid brand ambassador who has a vested financial interest in co-operating with you?

Understanding this nature, you'll be able to work out how tenuous of a link the celebrity has to the interview. The stronger the link it is, generally, the more latitude you will have with time for quality & creativity.

When I was tasked with filming Shane Warne's movie review at the movie premiere of Angry Dad's Documentary "Fuck Off Mitchell : The Angry Dad Story", it was clear it was a short window to film him. There was no pre-planned moment. We had one shot and one shot only, and needed to time it as he exited the audience. This meant that we needed to shoot with little light, and have the focus razor sharp, ready to go as Shane had another engagement to dash off to.

Understanding this ahead of time, allowed me to relax & prioritise Shane over the other patrons.

2. How will the footage be published? When Tayla Harris won the Australian Female Middleweight Title against Margarite Butcher, I was tasked with capturing a moment behind closed doors with the belt she won on her lap.

This was a moment that was highly contingent on her winning the belt. As my client Team Ellis Promotions were her boxing promoters, it was easy enough to ask how it would be published. The use case was for social media to showcase her winning result.

Knowing this gave the team a small window of opportunity, where a few chairs, a quiet background & filming lights were set up, in order to capture a high quality, low key shot of Tayla Harris with her belt showcased. The end result fit the brief.

Be Prepared! Effective Planning Guide for Event Videography

The worst thing that can happen to an event, is to have a poor quality video due to a lack of planning & communication.

Events can leave you time poor

We understand, after all, we shot hundreds of events as working Melbourne event videographers ourselves over the years and know our clients issues well, as we see it with our own eyes.

Every industry, be it music, corporate, weddings, birthdays has it's own particular set of challenges & last minute issues that can blindside you.

Luckily, with a bit of extra preparation, you can avoid major event videography issues before they pop up. And best of all, your event videographer can handle these for you.

1 - Recording High Quality Event Audio

A poor image can be fixed, but bad audio cannot be. If your event has keynote speakers, special songs, performances, speeches or interviews, it is super important to understand how to approach this.

Your event videography needs to have...

• Shotgun microphone for interviews / ambient sound
• Lapel mic for interviews / speeches
• Audio recorder with inputs for speeches / music
• Ability to work with the PA system

Without the above tool kit, the audio cannot be captured in a useful manner that blends into the video well.

Furthermore, what is crucial, is understanding which staff, have what audio equipment like...

• Your DJ
• MC / Wedding Celebrant
• In-House Venue

It is super important for the videographer to get as much information about the above as possible

We recommend sending your Venue / DJ / MC / Wedding Celebrants information to your chosen event videographer, so that they can assess the system and work a plan to capture the sound correctly.

Also important is understanding audio hazards. Your videographer will have far better audio, if they know in advance how to remedy them, as they can affect the quality of the sound recorded for your event video.

Questions to be asked about audio hazards include...

• Does the venue have a noisy background from a fridge, gate, air conditioner etc?
• Is the venue near a helipad, noisy highway or airport?
• Will there be another major event in the nearby vicinity?

2 - Getting an Effective Event Videography Brief

Everybody’s events are different, which is why no event should be a one sized fits all brief.

To make an effective brief, the core principles need to be ascertained.

• What kind of event needs to be filmed?

• What is the overall goal that this video is working towards?

• Who is your intended audience?

• Where will it be seen?

These criteria then determine…

• Run time (is it a 30 minute, long form seminar video or a 30 second highlight video for social media?

• Types of cameras used (cinema cameras, DSLR’s, GoPros, mobiles)

• Crew that are needed (2nd shooter, drone shooter, jib operator)

• The moments that crucially need to be captured (VIP’s, ribbon cutting, performances)

• Style of editing (face paced, slow paced)

• Tonality (high colour saturation, monochrome)

• Lighting

For the most part, every videography company has a different questionnaire that they need filled in. After getting this key event information, a brief will then be created which lists the overall steps, important decisions & information that are made before filming the event.

It is super important to be transparent & accurate with this information, otherwise the event videography company that you have selected, may not provide with what you and your audience need!

3 - On the Day of Your Event