Zoom during editing
 

Morning everyone. I'm just wondering how feasible this is. I only have one camera at my disposal right now, so when shooting an upcoming interview (multiple people), I thought I would leave it on a wide shot for fear of missing something. Then, during the edit process, I would crop to a tight shot when needed. I've never used FCP before, so I don't know what this will look like in the final product. Is this doable?

Thanks.
Vicky

Re: Zoom during editing
 

I do it in CS5 all the time if I'm just using it on the web and it's shot in 1080. Not sure about FCP or where your final delivery will be. If it's going to broadcast or the big screen probably not the best option.

Re: Zoom during editing
 

This advice is valid for FCPX as well as any other editing program.

If your final delivery is DVD then zooming can be very useful, if it's HD you are more limited. If you have a 1080 HD camera then you can edit in 720 HD and get at least a clean 10% zoom in. After that you can zoom in another 10% without looking horrible depending on the shot and the quality of the camera. If you are editing in SD then you can zoom in a lot more and it will look fine. If you are shooting in 720 and want to stay in HD you are very limited and I would recommend not zooming in post.

As long as you have modest confidence in your ability in manipulating your camera and tripod don't worry about missing anything just get on the speaker as quickly as you can. That's where you use editing later on. Also I would avoid having more than three people involved in a single camera interview for a number of reasons (shot, sound, etc.).

Re: Zoom during editing
 

The normal way of managing an interview with a single camera is to do multiple takes. You intercut the interviewers nodding head etc. Go through the questions & answers several times with different framing &/or camera positioning then assemble the best of each for the final edit.