Posted by Steve House on 07/21/07 16:05

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:50:23 -0000, "jef_boy@hotmail.com"
<jef_boy@hotmail.com> wrote:

>The documentary I saw was called "maxed out" about credit card debt,
>and its a widely distributed film here in the US, not the best but it
>gets its message across like a good documentary should. If there was
>only one camera man and he zoomed in while the subject was talking,
>then actually there would be no way to edit the footage without taking
>out some of the subject's words. The only way to immediate switch to
>a close up would be to have two camera men, which costs more money.

One way to handle this is to lay in a cutway such as the interviewer's
reaction to the subject's words covering the the zoom as the sound
continues uncut. I'm not totally opposed to an on-screen zoom in all
circumstances but in most cases it's distracting. It calls attention
to the fact that we're seeing a camera's image and destroy's the
illusion we've been transported into an alternate reality. A video of
an interview is usually supposed to be about the subject and not about
filming the subject. Most of the time the camera work should be
invisible.

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