Introduction
Whilst continuing to research Mockumentaries in terms of their filming styles, I've decided that I want to change in terms of camera style the way interviews are filmed. Whilst still aiming to include a live background, and/or a background that helps to set the scene, I am aiming to use a more cinematic camera which will be used for interviews.
Despite the Sony being a remarkable camera, I feel that using them for interviews creates this flat approach - it doesn't quite seem as cinematic and effective compared to DSLR or mirrorless cameras. The difference can be seen clearly when looking at the cinematic style of People Just do Nothing and The Office (US). Looking at the images below, you can see that People Just do Nothing has quite an effective depth of field that clearly blurs the background image and focuses primarily on the characters. This differs to The Office, where the exposure isn't as emphasised, making it look flatter and less cinematic compared to People Just do Nothing.
So, I decided to conduct a test shoot using a mirrorless camera and using a variety of lenses to see which lens looks the most effective.
Test Shoot
As this is focusing predominantly on the depth of field and exposure of a shot, I didn't focus on a plot/idea as i simply just wanted to see what the best type of lens would be. Nonetheless, I asked Kate and another class mate, Mark, to stand a bit apart from one another so that I can experiment with the focal length of each lens.
The camera used for this test shoot is my Panasonic Lumix GH4. As having a vast amount of experience with my camera and knowing what it is capable of, i knew this would be a reliable camera to use to experiment with different lenses.
The lenses which I used were (shown in the image below, starting from left to right):
Canon EF 24-105mm
Sigma 70-300mm
Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm
Canon EF 50mm Prime
As you can see, this is a vast variety of different kinds of lenses - I've included a prime lens, a lens with high zoom range (the Sigma lens), and one which covers both a small and larger focal length (Panasonic Lumix lens). Nonetheless, because I will be using a Canon EF adapter (as my Panasonic uses MFT lenses, so needs an adapter to use EF lenses), these EF lenses can not be used to their maximum potential - the adapter doesn't enable electronic configuration to work (i.e. adjusting exposure and image stabilisation) and the lenses won't be at their correct crop factor due to MFT cameras not being full frame (for this a Metabones Speedbooster is needed that helps to increase the crop factor/apearture stop, however they are expensive to buy!)
Moving on, below are some print screens taken from the videos of each of these lenses:
Panasonic Lumix MFT 14-140mm Lens.
As I have used this lens a numerous amount of times, I know that the lens is generally reasonably effective. Due to it having a large range of focal length, this lens works effectively in both short and long focal lengths in terms of it's exposure and depth of field, which you can see in the images above.
Canon EF 50mm Prime
Knowing that this lens works incredibly well at short distances, I knew that this would prove successful, which you can see in the images above. There is a clear depth of field which works effectively in blurring the background - this being an example of what I am hoping to use for some interviews during our shoot.
Canon EF 24 - 105mm
With comparison to the previous canon lens, it is clear that this lens has a shallower depth of field, which however was expected. All in all the lens proved to be effective to provide a decent depth of field however this lens seems much more effective for focusing on two people in one frame (whom are sitting next to each other) rather than the test which I have done here. Nonetheless, this could be helpful for some of my interviews, due to there being a couple that has more than one person in frame.
Sigma 70 - 300mm
Likewise to the Canon 24 -105mm lens, this test shoot doesn't enable this lens to be used to it's full potential, due to this Sigma lens being advantageous at much longer distances. Nonetheless, this still provided a nice depth of field and could be useful for the scene where we see Chantelle spying on Jordan.
Conclusion
All in all, this lens test has been very beneficial for myself as I now know what the full potentials of these lenses are. At the moment, I feel that all of these lenses can be used in a way to maximise some of my interviews. Below are some ideas on which lenses could be used for which interview:
Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm: Due to this lens being an MFT mount, this lens would be best in low lighting situations, plus to be used in an interview with two or more people whom are situated close to the camera (due to the lens being able to stop down to 14mm). This means this lens would work well with Ruby and Jamie's interview in the lighting box : lighting conditions will be dark and the room is small, enabling the camera to make sure both will be in shot.
Canon EF 50mm Prime: This lens however will be most suited in a lighter condition area, where the interview can have the interviewee at some distance. This will enable a very clear depth of field, meaning if I were to have a live background, the lens should hopefully blur whomever is in the background with ease. This could be used for Jordan's interview, or maybe Alex's in the party scene.
Canon 24-105mm: Due to this lens having the ability to maintain a nice depth of field at both short an long distances, this lens could be used for Chantelle's interview in Scene 3. The lens will hopefully enable a focus on Chantelle and then pull focusing to Jordan as she turns around to see what he's doing.
Sigma 70-200m: Likewise to the Canon 24-105mm, this lens too would be more suited for this scene, due to it having a large focal range. Nonetheless, it may be difficult to pull focus from Chantelle if she is standing too close, therefore the previous Canon may work better as it has a shorter range compared to the Sigma.
All in all, this proved to be very beneficial and I should now be able to provide a variety of different looking interviews, helping to give our production a more unique and edgy look.
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