Today the Star-Ledger posted the most ambitious video project we have produced so far. A very talented team with diverse skills (Amy Nutt, Seth Siditsky, Bumper DeJesus, Andre Malok , Kevin Whitmer, John Munson, Matt Rainey and others) helped tell the story both in print and online.
You can watch the video here
I thought I’d write a bit about the behind the scenes aspect of the video.
I shot the whole video on the new Canon 5D Mark 2 still camera with high def video capability. The only exception is the operating room video provided by Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. I only had the camera a few weeks but decided that it would be the best tool to overcome the low light challenges. Much of the video was shot in extremely low light, the opening scene is a good example. Most of the interview scenes with kidney recipient Iyanna McDuffie are lit only by a nearby television.
Audio was the biggest challenge. The best audio was gathered by placing a wireless microphone on the subject. Of course it did not always work out that way. Amy and I had just completed an hour long interview with donor Thomas Leger. I placed a mic on him and lit the interview by his gorgeous apartment windows. Murphy’s Law took over and he said the best line of the day in a dark hallway after I took the mic off him. The tiny but effective Sennheiser MKE-400 did a good job in the hallway.
So the new tools worked out great but it really comes down to great characters telling a compelling story.
Below is a still frame taken directly from the video in Final Cut Pro. The scene is lit only by a television screen.
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