Presented by Blackshell Films: Film in China Handbook - Remote Directing

Dear friends and colleagues,

Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all well and safe.

We are so glad to hear about the great news regarding the vaccines, that means the era of hopeless is about to end. During this pandemic period, Blackshell FIlms has found out several ways to work with the clients remotely. We are about to share our experience with all of you today. Let’s get started!

During the pandemic, we have done several cases which the clients who can’t come to China, but we act as their proxy to get the shoot done for them, while they are directing remotely. This happened a lot with the interview shoot. From our experience, there are two main ways of remote directing for the interviews.

1. Interviewees need to look directly into the camera

We use a teleprompter added on to the camera to show director’s zoom interface, in this way, the interviewee will look directly to the camera while he/she speaks to the director. Also, we output a signal from the camera to the computer’s zoom using a HDMI cable or the equivalent, so that the director will see exactly the what camera is seeing at live. In the picture shown above, we use a different way. If you don’t have a HDMI cable or the equivalent to connect the camera and the computer, then you can output the signal to a monitor, and zoom the monitor to director using a mobile phone.

2. Interviewees don’t need to look directly into the camera

For this case, as shown in the picture, we just simply output the signals from two cameras to the computer, and using zoom to share the signals with the director remotely, while the interviewees communicate directly with the director via the zoom at the same time.

For mobile shooting, we would recommend to use the second options, to let the director see what the camera is seeing, so that the director can direct remotely with the local crew.

If your have a project that you are considering filming remotely in China, feel free to shoot us an email at contact@blackshellfilms.com for more information. We would be happy to assist with your needs.

Also don’t forget to subscribe to our email list (www.blackshellfilms.com) so that you won’t miss any useful information.

Stay safe and happy! See you all on next Wednesday.

Regards,

Pan

Nov 11th, 2020

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Co-founder of Blackshell Films

Website: www.blackshellfilms.com

Email: contact@blackshellfilms.com

WhatsApp: +86 18607190503