Case Study: Producing IBM’s Corporate Conference

Capturing corporate conference and interviews have a unique set challenges compared to other productions. It’s important to be in when it comes to lighting, shooting, audio and conducting them — and with our guide, you’ll understand the A-Zs of a successful corporate interview shoot.

Last month, we had to plan for a corporate interview shoot across 5 days as part of IBM’s corporate conference coverage. The project scope includes multi-cam interviews and daily conference coverage to be filmed every day. We start by understanding our client’s main objective and goals before deciding what is required for multi-day interviews, and plan the equipment and gear accordingly. There is much to consider, such as venue size, lighting, sound, and camera positioning – therefore, a location recce must be carried out.

The equipment checklist for a corporate conference shoot

One of the fundamentals of achieving the highest level of production quality comes down to the equipment. Here is the breakdown of our considerations and gear essentials that made this shoot a great success.

1. Camera

When it comes to high quality corporate interviews, in our books, the Canon C300 Mark II is the gold standard. The C300 Mark II just works. It doesn’t put up a fuss. The menu system is easy to understand while being highly versatile. It also shoots in 4K.

2. Lenses

Using the Canon 70-200mm and 24-105mm zoom lenses. By using the zoom lens, we can frame a wider shot by setting the lens to 70mm/24mm. Then, moving to a closeup shot with a simple adjustment by moving to 200mm/105mm. This option is not only a time saver, but for corporate interviews, a zoom lens like the 70-200mm looks fantastic.

3. Tripod

This is a no brainer! But we can’t stress this enough. Even though some recent cameras have very good in-body stabilisation, there should be no reason to shoot an interview handheld. We choose a solid tripod that would keep the camera completely still and made sure it’s tall enough, at least eye level.

4. Audio

Audio is one of the most underrated tools when it comes to film-making. This is especially important for any corporate interview shoot, where audio is a key element. You can have the best video shot on the most expensive camera, but without proper audio, it will ruin the entire project. It’s best to shoot interviews with a wireless lavalier and a boom microphone.

5. Lights

The filming of the interview happened indoors. We used a combination of lite panels and kino-flos. With any kind of interview setup, we always go for at least three lights. A soft source is best for your subject, a second light for the background, and a third for either fill light, hair light, or a side light.

6. Batteries and Media Cards

There’s no way to know exactly how long an interview may run. We do not want to risk it with the limitations of batteries or memory that could cut an interview shoot short. We packed pack plenty of both – extra batteries and media cards so that we would always have adequate power and storage.

We give our clients the highest level of production quality for multi-camera interviews. It’s important to have the right crew, equipment, and camera configurations to streamline a multi-camera production, from set-up and recording to delivery. This is why clients like IBM trust us to manage their corporate filming and content from start to end.