In early November I spent the day with Taiye Lambo of eFortresses, a data and information security training and certification company. To a non-corporate person like myself that’s a mouthful but if you live in the corporate world and your job intersects with data then you are likely to know and call on someone like Taiye.
eFortresses is partnering with Marlabs of Piscataway, NJ, to bring Taiye’s HISP program (Holistic Information Security Practitioner) to the northeast. My job was to create a video announcing the program, emphasize eFortresses holistic approach, and keep it interesting so that it is not just a one-shot of a talking head.
This was done on a tight budget with a limited crew (myself & one assistant.) Since it was a one-camera setup we filmed Taiye’s primary script with additional takes from a second angle. This gave us footage to cut to to keep it interesting visually.
Taiye’s diagram work at the board meshed beautifully with his voiceover helping to support the words with images. These latter clips were filmed with the camera on a monopod to introduce a bit of movement and to counter the locked-down-on-a-tripod interview segments.
Other b-roll includes the course materials. These are shot with a Kessler 3′ slider – the motion helps give a sense of the breadth of the course materials, their organization, and overall quality. The slider move, like the monopod for the diagrams, adds some visual variety to the piece.
The last b-roll comes from working in Marlabs’ server room. When brainstorming about potential b-roll and how to efficiently show data on the move, the server room was a perfect fit.
In terms of lighting I have three 1×1 Litepanels in my kit along with two Lowel Omni lights. We took the existing tungsten light in the boardroom as a given. Its color temperature was read via a color meter and the 1×1’s filtered to match. They provided the key, fill, and rim light on Taiye. The rim light also help spark up the row of chairs behind Taiye.
The two Omni lights did not need filtration since they are already tungsten. One provided fill in the back and the other was blasting the chair on the far right. That chair, for whatever reason, sucked up light like a black hole and needed anything I could throw at it.
Most of the b-roll was shot available light except for the course materials. They were shot with one 1×1.