Cat towers and remote interviews at DVinfo.net

Andrew Smith · October 4th, 2023, 12:27 AM

During the COVID lockdowns in Australia we had borders that were closed and people outside the state wanted to interview someone who was in Queensland where I live. This was a couple of years ago now and the job came in via referral from an editor friend. So I drove up the coast to do the filming component of interviewing the lady you see in the attached photos.

For this, we did a three way zoom meeting via a laptop which included the journalist and the producer, and the interview was done via this while the on-site camera recorded the footage. (Side note: the cellular phone internet at the location was abysmal despite the suburban location and their household WiFi really saved the day. You can never know what you are going to be up against despite all the advance planning you do. There is always something to learn.)

But what to hold up the laptop with? A 'cat tower' (glorified scratching post) was the ideal solution which gave us almost perfect line of sight with where the journo would typically be, compared with placing it on the coffee table in front of the subject. Best of all, the cat was hiding in another room in the house and wasn't even around to complain. :-)

In the first photo you can see the view back to the camera and the initial laptop placement. Second photo is looking towards the interview subject (and out of frame pooch) from behind both laptop and camera. Third photo is the composition and angle we went with after moving the cat tower (and laptop) to the other side of the camera. Fourth image is from what was used in the finished product.

Worth noting is that (for whatever reason) on the Zoom connection the framing seemed to be coming through to the reporter horizontally flipped, or she assumed it was, and hence the instructions coming back were opposite to what was needed and were actually making things worse. Solution was to take photos with a phone and send them through via SMS. Actually had to 'fix it' with what needed doing and then send through the 'fixed' version photo through and the response was something like "yeah, that's much better" and we went with that. All the fun things you can do behind the scenes, eh?

Andrew

Allan Black · October 4th, 2023, 02:29 AM

Fascinating Andrew. I’m out of the biz now but reading your post and seeing the pages of notes by your talent above, I thought about my tv days when I was involved with auto cue and wondered whether you’ve ever tried it. It would take some instruction for your talent by my experience is, it works, saves time and makes their contrubution look more professional.

Today autocue or teleprompter has progressed to the DIY stage … https://bigvu.tv/create/teleprompter-app

On the same tack, years ago I knew a pretty Sydney media personality who pre-recorded her scripts on her tiny recorder. She learned to narrate 1 second behind the playback, became excellent at it and during the shoot played her tape back through an earpiece hidden behind her hair. She could handle last minute script changes on set, by taking a few minutes to pre-record them as well.

In due course she was booked weeks ahead, did many overseas jobs and made a lot of money. I heard she trained a couple of male and female friends and opened her own company.

All the best. Cheers.

October 4th, 2023, 12:27 AM	#1
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,019	Cat towers and remote interviews During the COVID lockdowns in Australia we had borders that were closed and people outside the state wanted to interview someone who was in Queensland where I live. This was a couple of years ago now and the job came in via referral from an editor friend. So I drove up the coast to do the filming component of interviewing the lady you see in the attached photos. For this, we did a three way zoom meeting via a laptop which included the journalist and the producer, and the interview was done via this while the on-site camera recorded the footage. (Side note: the cellular phone internet at the location was abysmal despite the suburban location and their household WiFi really saved the day. You can never know what you are going to be up against despite all the advance planning you do. There is always something to learn.) But what to hold up the laptop with? A 'cat tower' (glorified scratching post) was the ideal solution which gave us almost perfect line of sight with where the journo would typically be, compared with placing it on the coffee table in front of the subject. Best of all, the cat was hiding in another room in the house and wasn't even around to complain. :-) In the first photo you can see the view back to the camera and the initial laptop placement. Second photo is looking towards the interview subject (and out of frame pooch) from behind both laptop and camera. Third photo is the composition and angle we went with after moving the cat tower (and laptop) to the other side of the camera. Fourth image is from what was used in the finished product. Worth noting is that (for whatever reason) on the Zoom connection the framing seemed to be coming through to the reporter horizontally flipped, or she assumed it was, and hence the instructions coming back were opposite to what was needed and were actually making things worse. Solution was to take photos with a phone and send them through via SMS. Actually had to 'fix it' with what needed doing and then send through the 'fixed' version photo through and the response was something like "yeah, that's much better" and we went with that. All the fun things you can do behind the scenes, eh? Andrew Attached Thumbnails

October 4th, 2023, 02:29 AM	#2
Allan Black Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Sydney. Posts: 2,887	Re: Cat towers and remote interviews Fascinating Andrew. I’m out of the biz now but reading your post and seeing the pages of notes by your talent above, I thought about my tv days when I was involved with auto cue and wondered whether you’ve ever tried it. It would take some instruction for your talent by my experience is, it works, saves time and makes their contrubution look more professional. Today autocue or teleprompter has progressed to the DIY stage … https://bigvu.tv/create/teleprompter-app On the same tack, years ago I knew a pretty Sydney media personality who pre-recorded her scripts on her tiny recorder. She learned to narrate 1 second behind the playback, became excellent at it and during the shoot played her tape back through an earpiece hidden behind her hair. She could handle last minute script changes on set, by taking a few minutes to pre-record them as well. In due course she was booked weeks ahead, did many overseas jobs and made a lot of money. I heard she trained a couple of male and female friends and opened her own company. All the best. Cheers. __________________ Drink more tap water. On admission at Sydney hospitals more than 5% of day patients are de-hydrated. Last edited by Allan Black; October 4th, 2023 at 05:13 PM.