When you focus on a single person in a documentary, vlog, or nonfiction video, there will be no confusion about the person’s name. But if your subject is a sports team, or some other group, viewers may have trouble figuring out who is who? Luckily, solving the problem is easy. If you dedicate footage to each member of the group, all you need to do is superimpose the person’s name at the start of the individual’s “starring” sequence. This technique for spotlighting individuals is illustrated perfectly in “New York City – CHEF GSF.” In this mini-doc about a group of Italian skateboarders visiting New York, an easy-to-read title gives the name each skateboarder at the beginning of his performance. The same procedure would work equally well when filming a rock band, children at a birthday party, or actors in a stage play.
CHEF is a skateboarding group that creates videos for all sorts of marketing campaigns. In this instance, the moviemakers were demonstrating various film products including Moondog Labs’ anamorphic lens.
CHEF’a co-founder and director René Olivo explained why the group chose to film their New York visit using iPhone 7s: “We normally shoot all of our videos with the classic Sony VX1000 mini DV camera and use a Sony rx100 for b-roll and lifestyle shots. The problem is that it’s a pretty heavy load and for our NYC trip we decided beforehand that we wanted to have a lighter kit so that we could push through the streets more easily and not ruin an awesome feeling by having back pains at the end of the day. We thought about doing it entirely on iPhone so that everyone could shoot something and feel a part of the production.”
You can read the entire interview on the Moondog Labs blog.
The editors of MobileMovieMaking.com have chosen “New York City – Chef GFS” as a Mobile Movie of the Week.