Transforming a conversation about foster care with Action for Children social workers into video content.
We took a trip to Manchester to meet the some of the team from Action for Children. We met Lise and Adrienne who are both social workers and we interviewed them in a conversation about foster caring!
We opted for a 2-camera set up where we ran two cameras simultaneously: one mid shot and another more of a close up. This can mean that cutting to a closer angle at certain points will continue to engage the viewer and also allow for a more personal and intimate feel at times in the interview.
To light the set, we used a couple soft box lights, to illuminate each lovely interviewee and used multiple overhead flags to block unwanted lights, this gave us more control and range to both hide and cast light in the right places. In the background we also added a spotlight for the same effect, giving the frame that little lift!
We produced a total of 10 videos, 5 each for Lise and Adrienne. We then also reframed the content into two extra aspect ratios. The standard is 16x9 which is a widescreen aspect, but then we also delivered in a 1x1 format, which fits into the trademark square design of Instagram. Then 9x16 is the portrait format for viewing media on your smart device like a mobile phone.
These small aspect ratio changes can really have an impact and effect how your video translates online, as people are more likely to engage with these, as it makes the content read better if it is catered to the specific platform. The wrong ratio for a platform could mean your video being cropped or it feeling awkward to watch, and that’s not what you want the viewer engaging with.
We also include subtitles with all of our media, as it’s not only inclusive, but most consumers of video-based media on social media platforms will watch without using sound on their devices!
