Choosing a location for your corporate video is easy. Choosing one that will work well is more difficult. Here are some ideas:
- Video
- Static Background We don't want an (uncontrolled) background distracting from the (intended) subject. An open doorway with people walking by can be bad. A books on a shelf are good.
- Establishing Background Books on a shelf are good if the subject is a librarian. If the subject is a scientist, the interview can take place in a laboratory.
- Large rooms. Nobody is comfortable when a camera is stuck two inches from their face. A camera ten feet away is another matter. Larger rooms also give the Director of Photography to place the camera where at an ideal position. If there is only one place in the room for the camera, that is where it will have to go, even if it does not optimally flatter the subject.
- Audio
- Large rooms. Larger rooms are better not just for video, but for audio as well. Smaller rooms bounce back stronger audio reflections (reverb) making the audio sound like it was recorded in a tin can or cardboard box.
- Carpeted rooms. Another way to avoid unwanted reverb is to have carpeted floors. Harder surfaces (like tile) reflect sound (like in an echoey bathroom.)
- Quiet rooms. We don't want your voice drowned out by a loud conversation from a neighboring table in the cafeteria. Or to ask you to repeat what you said because a loud bus passed by. Quite rooms are probably the biggest consideration for selecting a location for an interview.