Interview
Being an interviewer #1
This was my first interview and first time videoed with people. I interviewed Grahams. I had t think about the interview questions based on what he answered. The most interesting thing was to edit the interview. I learned to cut the question parts and add the b roll. I originally thought b roll was just to add the clip inside the original roll. However, b roll is actually another separated roll that could be used to cover the cuts. This trick made my editing easier. For one of my b roll, I added a trailer of a movie Grahams mentioned, which looked really interesting.
Being interviewed #1
Film D.P. #1
Being interviewed in front of a camera is a little weird at first, but as soon as we started, I kind of forgot the existence of camera. However, there was sometime I didn't know how to answer the question, which looked a little awkward. I could give myself more time to think about the answer since the editor could cut off the thinking part and get a better video.
Being the cameramen required a lot of work, I first set up the angle of camera then the light. I had to make sure the light looked natural and good on the face. When shooting, I learned to follow the rule of thirds, which created the best structure of the video. I also learned how to use the mic to make sure the video could be heard clearly. Since Caseys and Grahams were laughing at a point, I stopped the video and started another one, but actually I could keep shooting and let the editor cut it.
Being interviewer #2
Being interviewed # 2
Film D.P. #2
The second time being interviewer was more fun. I became more relaxing although I asked some similar questions. But I still got pretty different answers that worth editing. I felt I cut the question part more quickly. There was one part that I could not cut--- when somebody accidentally walk into our video and said something. Except that, others were good. The b rolls looked nice and smooth.
For the second time being an interviewee, I felt I became more at ease when answering the question. When I was at the first interview, my eyes would look around(maybe because I didn't know how to answer the questions perfectly:)), but now I could look straight to the interviewer and answer the questions. I also found that different people has different style of interviewing. So the atmosphere of the Q&A would look pretty different too.
This time I didn't have Mary direct me on filming and angles. I felt I didn't do well on finding the angles. There was a part of the interview you could only see Alex's head and there were too much space left on the top of the scenes. But I did find out this problem during the shooting, I changed the angle later. Besides, by seeing how this video was edited, I was inspired by the great combination of music and the video. Every b roll looks so smooth and connected.
Documentary Review
Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a documentary directed by David Gelb that records how Jiro Ono makes the greatest sushi and how his life looks like. The documentary starts with the Food writer Yamamoto having meal in Jiro’s sushi and commenting on it. Then the documentary focuses on the behind scenes of making sushi such as how Jiro and his apprentice cook the rice and how they choose the most fresh tuna.
Besides these cooking and shopping scenes, there are also a lot of interview scenes are showed alternately. These different interview scenes brought up my attention. The first interview scene is Yamamoto sitting behind a table. Gelb doesn’t use a close shot to interview Yamamoto. The distance between his face and the camera provides a impression of Yamamoto’s occupation for the audience. The lightning looks natural since Yamamoto is sitting in front of a window. The angle of the second interview scene seems more relaxing--Jiro and his eldest son Yoshikazu sits on on the table of their restaurant; the shot is now closer to the faces but it still follows the rule of thirds. I feel this reduces the feeling of distance between the character and the audience. The lightning is darker comparing to Yamamoto’s interview. I’m not sure if they used any artificial light here since I could not see lightning on Jiro’s face except a beam of light from the side window. Since this is a documentary rather than a normal interview, several interview scenes happen outside or seems pretty natural--interviews when Yoshikazu is toasting the seaweed, interviews of fishmonger when Yoshikazu goes to the fishing market , and so on. However, once Gelb is interviewing only one person, he usually choose to use close shots.
The part I like the most about this documentary is the part Gelb filmed how Jiro makes sushi in front of the guests. With that, Gelb also edited and added the part Yamamoto described the sushi making process. Yamamoto compares this process with sonata, so the editor put a piece of sonata along with Jiro making sushi. Gelb used close shot for every dish of sushi. The lightning is slightly yellow; with these lights and music, the whole process seems like a artwork. Gelb definitely does a great job on seducing people’s appetite for sushi and then starts to get interested in the process and culture of making sushi. Besides the part of making sushi, this documentary reveals a lot of core values of Jiro and all Japanese: hardworking, tolerance and meticulosity. The documentary does not only lead people to get familiar with Jiro and his sushi, but also deliver values and cultures. That is what I believe a good documentary should have.
I would highly recommend this documentary for anyone who loves sushi or interested in Japanese culture. You will find out that sushi is not simply a combination of rice and seafood, it contains the ingenuity and persistence of the chef. For cinema person, you could learn a lot about how to shot with human and food. For people who is learning editing like me, would enjoy or be inspired by the perfect combination of music and interview.