How to Film Customer Insights: Camera Operator

Kevin Wong
Mar 10, 2009
posted by Kevin Wong
 

Digital still and motion imaging has come a long way. As technology continues to grant us the luxury of shooting in the dark, record events unseen like a ninja and render them with emotive qualities, it’s becoming easier for researchers to share stories from the field and stir the emotional pot. As one of our Design Directors point out, Ken Fry, video is a compelling outlet to get the emotional draw we need as part of our research goals. Below I’m going to share a few quick thoughts on what we’ve learned so far as we get deeper in all this video business.

artefact_cameraoperator

This is going to be a 3 part series on how you can film participants as part of a customer insights deliverable.  This is a specific type of output that does 3 things for us:

1. Greater client engagement by selling high level insights from the participant themselves
2. Greater audience immersion (designers and clients) in the research without the paperwork
3. Greater distribution and communication because of its sharable format

I will cover this in 3 parts because there are key roles that need to be filled in order to do this smoothly.  Having an individual for each role would be ideal, but I understand that constraints due to resourcing can be a challenge. I advice that you get at least 2 people on the team because there are a lot of variable to track and you need someone to pay attention before things go wrong. Next, clarify who is in charge of each role and how the responsibilities are divided. Let me repeat, make it clear like oil and water that everyone knows their role.  The first of this as you can read is the Camera Operator (CO). Following this post I will focus on the Producer and then the Researcher role. The CO seems like the most unique role in terms of a traditional research study, so I will dive into that first.

Responsibilities

Generally the camera operator is in charge of all things related to the image and sound of the capture. It’s rather vague, I know, but I will go into a little more detail about how these two things can make or break a final reel. To learn more about shooting film, check out the resources below. What might be more interesting is how those practices impact the research output.

Composition

Framing can be an artistic exploration, but for our purposes, we wish to follow a documentary style. There are 3 simple ways to talk about it:

  • Establishing your scene
  • Providing perspective
  • Showing emotion

An establishing shot is a wide angle shot that captures the context that you are filming. If you’re filming an in store shopping experience, show the entire store from the outside and also show the person you’re talking to surrounded by their environment. This tells the viewer where the person is and what to expect from the video. You will always need an establishing shot any time you introduce a new context. It makes it a lot clearer to the viewer what is going on and makes it easier for them to enjoy the video. Viewers are smart people, they can connect dots really quickly.

B-Reel/Roll

Sitting and watching a talking head is only marginally interesting. Instead, you may consider capturing extra footage on other things that are relevant to the scene itself. For instance, if a person is talking about how much text messaging they do in a day, it would be good to not only note that, but to also take some footage of them holding and gesturing their phone. You can then cut that bit into your video with a voice over of them speaking to it. These cut scenes keep the video interesting and engaging. More importantly, you want to incorporate the artifacts that make up the person’s experience and tells a more holistic story. You can capture B-reel footage during the study with a second camera or you can capture it before/after the study has completed. If you do the latter, take note of what was interesting during the study and use that as a shortlist when you’re ready.

Another way to think about it is considering it as a field visit. It’s not uncommon to visit a location to understand environments potential users experience. You look at the same things such as technology availability, activity flow and key interactions (software and human to human). By capturing these different observable things, you essentially have your B-Reel footage halfway captured!

Lighting

If you can help it, rent a lighting kit. They’re cheap ($25 for a day) and it makes life so much easier. Otherwise, find a location that gets a lot of light. The more light you have, the cleaner your video will be. Increasing gain, or sensitivity, on our camera to compensate for the low levels of light should only be used as a last resort. Doing so will make the footage noisy and you will end up losing details that make an image feel sharp.

This is also something you can do and monitor while doing your initial field visit. As you shoot the B-Reel, you will visually see how well the lighting looks and how that impacts the quality. Take note of where the good spots are and where you will run into complications. For our Snowbird project, we spent a day hanging out at Snowboard Connection with our cameras shooting people shopping, buying stuff and racks full of merchandise. We were able to see where we can bring people in to get enough lighting, as well as capture some of the B-Reel that tell the viewer what the environment is like as part of the experience.

Sound

Here’s the funny thing: You can have poor video quality and great audio and still have a good story. On the other hand, you cannot have great video quality and poor audio and still have a good story. The clarity of the sound trumps the visual part of video. Plain and simple. You would be doing justice to your deliverable by ensuring the audio you record is clean and noise free. This requires that you purchase a decent lavaliere and you control everything in the area that makes noise.

Untethering audio

I recommend a lavaliere because you can find wireless sets for a good price and they will always record at a consistent level no matter where you are with the camera. Using other devices like a boom mic will result in excellent audio as well as eliminating the mic being clipped onto the person’s shirt. However, using it means you need another person who is responsible for holding it and moving it as the person moves. Not very unobtrusive. A shotgun mic might also be an affordable solution, but if there is a lot of movement in a run and gun situation where the person will change distance from the camera then you end up with inconsistent levels. So really, stick with a wireless lavaliere for now unless you can guarantee more resources.

The location you choose to shoot might have noise coming from different places. It’s important to take the time to eliminate them before shooting. If you’re in a person’s home doing an in situ recording, ask to unplug the fridge or air conditioner if it poses a potential problem. At work, we tend to have music playing. Take a moment to remind people that a session will be running and to keep music low with signs around the area. These simple things will make a big difference. Not to mention, you only get one shot at it with a participant who only has 60 minutes available to you.

General Tips

  • Get a decent video tripod or a monopod
  • Take time to learn the ins and outs of your camera. Once you do, turn off the auto settings
  • Bring extra batteries on hand
  • Bring extra tapes on hand
  • Coordinate with the researcher on what shots to expect in relation to the discussion guide
  • Take at least 30 minutes between each session to break, review notes and adapt

Resources