TIP OF THE WEEK: Darren Durlach (Boston Globe) — "Audio Variety" скачать в хорошем качестве

TIP OF THE WEEK: Darren Durlach (Boston Globe) — "Audio Variety"

If you consistently shoot steady sequences with great shot variety, you're probably one of the top photogs at your shop. Truth is, it's not that hard. Creativity in your shot selection is a plus, but not required. Hold a shot for 5 seconds wide, hold a shot for 5 seconds tight, match a little action, get the obligatory foreground in-focus shot with your subject out of focus in the background. This is all it takes if you want to be solid. If you'd like to jump from photog to photojournalist, you need to view audio variety the same way you do shot variety. This is where it gets a little trickier. This is where you add -journalist to the end of your title of photojournalist. This is where you go from being your station's top knuckle-dragging button pusher to maybe a top photojournalist in your market, or more. When I say audio variety, I don't mean every hammer and buzz saw sound at the construction site scene. Although, that's part of it. I mean getting your hands dirty. Working with a reporter, but also getting sound yourself when the opportunity requires it. At WBFF I worked with great reporters, but if I needed to I could grab quick sound on my own and double our coverage as a result. If I was at breaking news, and my partner was somewhere else looking for info and a great person came strolling by, I don't wait, I jump on the opportunity. I get quick off-the-shoulder soundbytes. Or that person may become our lead character and I do more. Later, of course, I try to to get one or two well composed interviews at different focal lengths to clean up my look. Some might say that you should always use a lav mic and never use a stick mic. I use a detachable shotgun mic as a stick mic constantly. The trick is to use it only for quick reaction sound, in-the-moment sound, or when you just need a soundbyte quick before someone gets away, and you always keep it out of the shot. BUT I try to balance out the look of my story by sprinkling in nice looking interviews. I try to shoot sound a variety of different ways. I might put a mic on someone and tell them that I'll be across the street and to just forget about me. I might do an "official" interview but then just leave the mic attached to get some natural interactions. During my interviews I move the camera around 3 or 4 times to get a different angle. And one thing I try to do as much as possible is to shoot my interview in a way that looks like b-roll. Some might call this an active interview. Interviewing the farmer while he's surveying his farm, instead of doing it in an unnatural place for a farmer, like an office. I do the same thing with nat sound. I might have my camera close to the register closing to get that nice pop sound, but then I'll lay the wireless next to it and shoot it from a distance. I might catch flack for saying this because I work at a newspaper with talented photographers, but pictures don't always tell the full story. Sound does. I would take great, compelling sound with average photography far more often than the other way around. A picture of a sad face is strong, but knowing why that face is sad, is powerful. We learn through sound. And reporters, help your photographer get the best sound they can. Below is a story I did with Kathleen Cairns at WBFF. I've never worked with a reporter who was so good at getting my mic on people in creative and awesome ways. She flys through this scene texting me to keep in contact and getting the mic all over the place.