How to get good catchlights in interviews - BBC News Package Breakdown

#documentary #cinematography #interviewlighting
Fantastic shooting in this news package, if you know who was on it, leave it in the comments below. Reporter: Fergal Keane
In this breakdown we focus on cinematic shooting and specifically catch lights in our interview shots, what they are and how they are best achieved.
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[@dannyabull]

I love a well shot interview. What are your best techniques to get this effect?

[@sasha6594]

Really well done analysis of the piece! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Although i feel its a tint too heavy on coloring, its greatly shot and well lit 💪

[@dannyabull]

Thanks Aleksandar, happy someone gets a kick out of these as well! I know what you mean by coloring at times. I think it’s always a balance of shooting editing and coloring and most importantly getting the piece on air for deadlines. News is all about time pressure. It’s great to keep the muscle memory fresh!

[@Hosu223]

This was great Danny, curious on how angled it needs to be for the eye lights to catch, I've noticed they've really hit it on the side like almost 90 degrees. Also, I think they have a nice soft box-y filter on the lights? just nice a diffused, soft but bright...unliked my harsh lights, which creates harsh shadows...

[@dannyabull]

I definitely know what you’re talking Hosu. I think from what I’ve seen most to get those big catch lights it’s about having a big soft box. Bigger box = better catch light. The diffusion is also like you say great for soft shadows. I’ve been working on these a lot in recent interviews. Let’s get our group chat going again and share some shots with each other

[@dustmote3020]

Hey Danny, great analysis as always. I noticed something interesting in the projection on the brick wall that you talked about at 3:55 - I don't know if it was deliberate or not, but when the voice over talks about the murder of someone by sectarians, the projected video has kind of an orange cast to it....a colour that might provoke a certain kind of feeling with a Republican audience....do you think that was a deliberate choice?