Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I'm packed and waiting to leave for the San Jose Airport for the grueling return trip (12+ hours ground to ground). This week I recorded 15 video interviews over 2 days. The session was, in fact, my first attempt at conducting this volume in such a short time. And it was pretty ambitious (for me at least) because my setup was a 3 camera studio with keylighting. I have it all in one suitcase and one backpack - and that includes my clothes.

When I first took this on, I thought I would just put my Sony HD camera on a tripod and aim it at both myself and the interviewee(s), then use Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 to cut to closeups as appropriate. Then I looked at my 'goodies shelf' and noticed I have 2 Flip Mino HD units that could easily produce decent video (for web publication anyhow). So I packed both Flips and 2 more tripods so that I could aim one Flip at the interviewee and one at me. This is particularly necessary when you're working alone with no camera crew to move position and zoom.

I also didn't know how the lighting would be in the rooms to be set up as 'studio'. Modern video cams do great jobs of compensating for different light levels and different light temperatures. But I didn't want to push the ISO ratings and get the grainy effect that comes with poor lighting. I also thought that adding keylights to each side of the set would help the look. I had a couple ancient tungsten bulbs and tripods complete with metal reflectors, but they would just be too big to pack. I visited our local Lowes and asked about CF flood lights. In fact, these compact fluorescent bulb put out 100 watts equivalent at a 'daylight' color temperature. As a side benefit, they don't put out nearly the heat you get with filament type bulbs. And... they fit easily in my suitcase.

Setup

I spent a bit of time packing and thinking about what parts I might need, and more importantly, what parts and connectors I might forget to bring. That time spent, paid off. I could have used one more USB extension cable that would have let me connect both Flips at the same time for charging (I ran out of charge toward the end of day one, but still got the shots I needed) but had all the other cables I needed.

Setting up was actually quicker than I had expected. I set up all 5 tripods (2 for lights and 3 for cameras) then attached lights and cameras, wired the lights and the Sony, connected the lapel mics, aimed and focused. and started the interviews. So, setup took no more than 15 minutes each day.

Results

So far, I've collected and backed up all the Flip video clips on my laptop and a removable hard drive. I have separate video tapes for each interview, and I've looked at the video produced by the Flips. Everything looks good, but the next step is to load all these into my new video monster desktop and create the 3-cam sequences. I expect I'll have some issues (but don't have any idea what they will be), but also expect I'll get 15 presentable interviews... eventually. 

• How To Choose a Compact Fluorescent Light Bulb (howcast.com)

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