Interviews - staring at vs off camera

[James B.]

Hi
About to start work on a personal piece, combination interview and some documentary style footage. Undecided whether to have the talent staring directly into the lens or off camera.
Is there any general rule to follow when filming interviews, in regards to where the talent should look?
In this case there is no interviewer, the talent is simply answering prescripted questions.

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Hi
About to start work on a personal piece, combination interview and some documentary style footage. Undecided whether to have the talent staring directly into the lens or off camera.
Is there any general rule to follow when filming interviews, in regards to where the talent should look?
In this case there is no interviewer, the talent is simply answering prescripted questions.

You have to pick a style that suits your project.

The more the speaker looks at the camera the more they form a "connection" with the viewer.

For most documentaries, its best to have the "look off" style that keeps things a bit more objective. Watch news programs and documentaries.

One style is to have the bulk of interviews be "look off" and to have the host look right at the lens. Of course, you may not even have a host.

So, I'd say watch a lot of shows that are similar in terms of how you want the viewer to "connect" with your material. Your documentary may be about astronauts, but the style you want to emulate may be on a bass fishing show. So watch a lot of stuff.

 

[Kevin Wild]

James, as Alexander said, you have to make your decision on the style you want. MOST of the times, people choose to not break the wall and have the person looking off-camera. However, there are many examples where the interviewee looks directly at the camera. One famous one you should watch is "The Fog of War."

We are actually doing a shoot for Duke University this and next week that uses an Interrotron setup like they used. We have a feel of the INTERVIEWER going into a teleprompter so that the talent is looking at the interviewer when they are talking. Keep in mind, that someone not used to interviews may have a hard time talking directly into a lens. That is something to consider.

If you go direct in, I would recommend doing the prompter setup like we're doing. Makes the talent MUCH more comfortable.

 

[James B.]

Thanks. Yes, HUGE Errol Morris fan. Just finished watching 'Cinematography Style ' where all the talent were 'looking off'. And last night, the behind the scenes interviews for The Social Network where it was 'looking on'.
Both I would say offered similar subject matter....I preferred the former in terms of 'looking off'.
Need to look at more material before I form my own opinion since both strategies can obviously work.

 

[David Rasberry]

Eye contact implies a more personal and emotional connection with your audience. So I would say it depends on what kind of impact yous want the interview have on your viewers. It might even vary with different interviews in the same project. An example from my own industrial work might be interviewing engineers for information about their projects (look off), vs a CEO say giving a pep talk to company employees (look to camera).

 

[Martin Weiss]

Also take into account the comfort level of the interviewee - telling an emotional story, opening yourself up while being filmed is demand enough - having a human being that you can look into the face will easen up the situation. Unless you have a very camera experienced subject, or have time to get him/her used to talking straight into the lens, I would not recommend this.

In "Fog of War" (which probably has the best documentary sound track ever), the direct contact between Robert S. McNamara and us the audience works for me because his life and actions have affected so many people. On a documentary about a non-public figure talking about very personal things, I would be very, very uncomfortable to have the subject looking straight at me.

 

[Mike Dunn]

Also take into account the comfort level of the interviewee - telling an emotional story, opening yourself up while being filmed is demand enough - having a human being that you can look into the face will easen up the situation.

I second that. I had a project I did some time ago where i was doing a similar thing and didn't take this into account. It ended up being very difficult because of it.

 

[Ryan Richardson]

This is really good thread.

Although I haven't shot a long doc yet (about to start shooting my first feature in June), I watch a lot of them and find that when the subject is constantly looking directly into the lens it makes me feel uneasy. On average in a normal casual one-on-one conversation we make direct eye contact only 30% of the time, and the rest we are looking in their general direction between their shoulders to their noses. Just observe this the next time you talk to a friend or co-worker. If you stare at them after about a minute they will either ask you whats up, try to cut the conversation short, or (depending on the crowd you hang with) punch you.

On the other hand I'm not a fan of extreme 45-90 degree shots either, where you only get the profile of exactly one side of the face and body. Those (to me) seem impersonal, and don't inspire confidence in the subject's credibility.

My completely untested hypothesis is for a formal sit-down interview to have the subject look just off-camera, but if its an unplanned or improv Q&A between the cameraperson and subject then moderate and natural eye(lens) contact would be just what the doctor ordered. But of coarse regarding anything in filmmaking, every project has its own unique needs and styles to better tell the story. (thats my release of liability)

My concern with constant direct eye contact is that the afterwards the audience will have felt that it just had a 90 minute staring contest... unless that is what you want to do. Also with the subject looking off into the horizon being that there is no interviewer to look at, sub-consciously we would pick up that they are looking a mile or whatever out... We unconsciously pick-up where people are looking depending on how crossed their eyes are. Fun tid-bit: There are some studies that sugest that we can even tell where people are looking by just observing the back of their heads. Also their eyes would track all over the place since there is nothing to lock onto.

I'm going to try out some different shot/angle interview techniques once I get time to see how they make me feel :blushing:. I'll post it here and hopefully get some feedback and maybe give you some ideas too.

Are you shooting AND interviewing or do you have a separate cameraperson?

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

Another way to look at this is how you'd shoot the interviewees dialog in a narrative. For the most part you shoot it like a clean OTS.

McNamara in Fog of War (mentioned above) is a good counterpoint because frankly you are supposed to feel uncomfortable and you are supposed to feel abnormally connected to the interviewee.

A simple style is to have the interviewer and interviewee sit in chairs facing each other, then shoot over the right shoulder of the interviewer, as if the camera were a person seated next to the interviewer.I generally set the lens about the level of the interviewees mouth with a medium lens with a very subtle tilt up.

 

[Richard Foster]

I agree with Alexander, but with a slightly different camera angle. I like a slight tilt down or level shot from the OTS position from about eye level. We all have slightly different approaches for various reasons. Just in general I don't like to look up into the nose too much :–)

 

[Keith Nealy]

All great comments. I would add that keeping the interviewer's eye-line as close to the camera axis as possible keeps the viewer better connected. The steeper the angle, the more remote the interviewer seems.

Also, as a director, in preparation, I always build up to more important questions as the tension of the interviewee relaxes saving the more important questions for after you have built a rapport. Even though you may have a prepared list of questions, don't be afraid to go off list and follow the energy and your instinct. Often that's where the real story is. I find that documentaries have a life all their own and my film gets better the more I listen to what it's trying to tell me.
good luck.

 

[Mike McEntire]

I like both but with deeper questions I prefer them looking more into the camera as I think it brings out the intensity a lot more. Another great tip is showing up with a 6 pack and having a beer with the victim to loosen things up a bit before the games begin.

 

[Ryan Richardson]

All great comments. I would add that keeping the interviewer's eye-line as close to the camera axis as possible keeps the viewer better connected. The steeper the angle, the more remote the interviewer seems.

Also, as a director, in preparation, I always build up to more important questions as the tension of the interviewee relaxes saving the more important questions for after you have built a rapport. Even though you may have a prepared list of questions, don't be afraid to go off list and follow the energy and your instinct. Often that's where the real story is. I find that documentaries have a life all their own and my film gets better the more I listen to what it's trying to tell me.
good luck.

Awesome advice! Thanks! How long do you find an interview can go before the interviewee starts to get burnt out?

 

[Keith Nealy]

That's a judgement call you just have to make at the time. It all depends on the person and how engaged they are in their own story-telling. You'll be able to tell by the energy level and when the well is about to become dry.
Also, don't be afraid of raw emotion when asking about sensitive topics. Let the camera run. You always have the option to use it or not in the edit. If you get too concerned about your interviewee and their display of emotion (ie crying) you may miss the reveal of the essence of the conversation. Been there-done that - and learned my lesson early. On the other side of breakdown is breakthrough - and that's often where the essence lies.
Follow your instincts.

 

[Keith Nealy]

Whatever you do to make them feel more relaxed. I strongly recommend you don't let them smoke pot. It may make them relaxed and talkative but their eyes will look like "road maps" and there is nothing you can do about that in the edit.