On-the-go studio setup for interviews
Here’s my on-the-go ‘studio’ setup for customer testimonial shoots.
If you’ve worked with corporate clients, you know they’re big on customer testimonials…
It’s not a bad thing. These short videos really help in their marketing.
And it also allows us to get better at interviews: asking questions, building a short narrative, and dialing in our approach.
But what’s the best way to go about setting these up? How can you make something look like a studio without a studio?
The Setup: White Backdrop + Three Lights & Two Cams
Here’s the gear list for this setup:
Manfrotto panoramic background (13’ white)
Two cams (FX6 and FX3)
Three lights (key, hair, and fill) - using Nanlite 500, Nanlite 300, and Aputure Nova P300
Boom audio into the FX6
If you want a neutral white, clean look, then this is the way to go. For me, it’s better than beige walls or going somewhere else in a conference center that could introduce more audio noise. You can set this up in any room tucked away from people.
The Manfrotto panoramic background is easy to set up. I’ve been using it for the last four years or so. It’s three rectangles of supports that are easy to pop into place and then lock to each other. Then you stretch the white fabric over the frame and it clips into place. At that point, it’s self-standing and doesn’t require any other support. Easy.
Because the fabric is stretched and pulled tight it reduces wrinkles and provides a cleaner backdrop appearance.
Now, I actually don’t own the backdrop it because I only have to use it a few times per year and I don’t feel like paying $800 for something I won’t use often. So I just rent it from Lensrentals.
Lighting This Setup
You can certainly get away with two lights, depending on the look you’re wanting to achieve. I’ve done this with just a key and a hair/fill from the side.
But recently I like using my Aputure Nova P300 to splash more light up onto the backdrop to give it some more separation behind the participant.
Again, it just depends on how much contrast you want across your image and what your client is looking for.
Luckily, the white provides a lot of room for adjustment in post so you can mask it and make it brighter or lower the contrast, depending on what you want.
It’s wonderful because it brings a studio look to any space you have available to you.
Take a look at this quick reference from this latest shoot:
The Quick Corporate Look
Of course, any time we have a beautiful looking space or can do some set design (even in an Airbnb) I prefer to go that route for a more authentic look, but this is what I call the “quick corporate look.”
It’s clean. No distractions. Puts more emphasis on what the customer is saying.
Again, it’s important to clear this with your client before you just go for this look.
But hey, it also leaves negative space for adding graphics treatment or anything else you might want to splash on screen.
In the end, this retainer client enjoys this look for their testimonials so that’s why we’ve done it for the last four years and haven’t changed this approach.
I hope that brings some clarity on how you can set up a quick studio look without having to rent a studio.
Cheers,
-Trent
(PS. this retainer client pays us $108,000/year to create content like this on an ongoing basis. And they’re not the only ones. I’ve built a $600K+ business now because of these video production retainers.)
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