Folks:
In hopes of getting some more helicopter students to fly at East Coast Aero Club, I’ve done a video interview with our most recent student. Please let me know whether you think it is effective and what additional questions I should have asked.
Thanks.
The interview (the questions asked and the answers) seem fine to be, but I found the framed photographed behind Joe’s head to be really distracting. You would never have photographed Joe like that, and you shouldn’t have shot a video like that (having a framed photograph sticking out behind Joe’s head).
Otherwise, the interview seems good to me.
You are a wizard of uhs. The camera was jiggling the whole time. It would have been better if there was multiple camera positions such as both people, you, and the student. You might have also shown other pictures as things were discussed such as the helicopter, the student with the instructor, hangar, Boston, the airport, etc. It needs to be more of a production with some video editing. It is a bit long and boring in its present format. The questions were good if you could stay awake.
Peter: We started with venetian blinds in the conference room behind him but the dark shadows under his eyes were worse. I wished that I’d had an on-camera fill light, but I didn’t.
Tom: I guess I should bring a small tripod for my Flip adventures. What’s “uhs” stand for? My whole goal in producing video now is to avoid editing. I have a Sony HDV camera, but I find that the hassle of capturing the video to hard drive and then editing on the computer means that I’m unlikely to finish a project. If I can get it in one take with the Flip it can go right to the Web.
A tripod is a must. You say “uh” throughout the video. The other famous wizard of uhs was Ted Kennedy particularly when he was not reading a speech.
Thanks, Tom. I need to be like Barack Obama and never speak without a teleprompter!
So, this is reasonably good for appealing to a potential student’s logical side. But I mean, from that angle, I already want to fly with you. (Sadly, its much cheaper to use the flight school 10 minutes away from me in Wi.)
But why not get some pathos in there? Use a reasonably attractive smart, 20 or 30-something female student. Also, why not conduct the interview in a setting that smacks more of aviation? You have a hangar with a few reasonably impressive aircraft , right? Do the interview in the hangar and use aircraft as the backdrop. Maybe try the tarmac at dusk when the sky amazing. I know this means potentially editing, and lighting, but you said this was to attract people, right? I kinda thought you’d have people for that too.
I know your products and services are different than this, but I’m a fan of the approach this site uses: http://www.aircombatusa.com/
Hope this is somehow useful.
–>I kinda thought you’d have people for that too.
To clarify: Don’t you have a video intern or a couple groupies with an underused Red One and some hot lights in their closet?
JP: We tried out a videographer intern, a kid with three years of Emerson College behind him. He almost destroyed the camcorder on his first shoot (by putting hot lights behind it). He missed every deadline. He never produced even one minute of publishable footage. Taxpayers invested about $250,000 in his primary and secondary education; his parents had kicked in another $150,000 or so for Emerson. The result was a worker that had zero economic value to us.
I can appreciate the idea of doing it in one shot, thus you actually get the content out there. Video is 10x more difficult to post process that still.
Definitely the setting can be improved. I’d do this with the heli set down in some place that captures my imagination (i.e. where I cannot go in fixed wing). Student sitting sideways in the seat with the door open.
The way to get rid of “uh’s” is to rehearse and have a helper count your uh’s. You’ll think you’ve just done 3 minutes of nice interviewing and he’ll say “Okay Phil, that was 23.” If you keep rehearsing and being counted, the subconscious stops you from saying “uh.”
Tripod is simple and a given.
Another technique I can think of that we be compelling video… Get a “sticky pod” (google it). This is a small tripod on a aluminum base with 3 suction cups. Stick it on the inside of the bubble with the camera pointing at student/instructor. You’d need a camera with a mic input that you can patch into your comm system. Now do your interview while you are flying along!
With a bit of bravery you can even put the stickypod on the outside of the heli and fly around! I have done this with a (modern) super cub.
Philip: In regard to the obtrusive photograph sticking out from behind his head, you would have just needed to temporarily remove the photo from the wall while videotaping the interview. No need to find another location for the shoot.