2. A-roll footage – interviews with people
important to the subject
-Filmed with camera on a tripod so it is a steady shot
-Framed using the rule of thirds
-Interviewer doesn’t feature;
questions are edited out
-Subject doesn’t look at the camera
they look at the interviewer
-Subjects face is lit from the front
not from behind – never in front of
a window
-Different interviews are filmed using
different shot sizes and framing to
provide variety
-Background mise en scene is organised to reflect the topic or personality of the subject
-Chroma-key (blue screen) may be used to put relevant images behind the subject
-Graphics showing the names of the subjects and other relevant information are positioned at
the bottom of the screen.
3. B-roll footage - used to supplement the main
interview footage, edited together between
interviews sometimes in a creative montage
-Cutaway shots are inserted into interview footage to illustrate what the subject is talking about
-Establishing shots may be used to identify locations where people live or where events are taking
place.
-Archive footage may be used to illustrate historical facts
-Still photographs may be used to illustrate what is being spoken about – the camera might pan or zoom
in/out on still photographs
-Vox pops – soundbites of interviews with ordinary people, sometimes filmed with a hand-held camera
-A presenter who speaks to he camera and/or voice-over narration delivering a carefully written
script, this anchors the meaning of the visual iamges and guides the viewer’s understanding of the
topic
-Presenter/voice-over usually speaks with an authoritative voice
-A non-diegetic musical soundtrack may be used behind the voice-over, and may rise in volume when
there is no voice-over.
