Canon 5D Mark II
Marantz 660
Rode NTG2 Shotgun Mic
Sennheiser Wireless Kit
Lowel Tota and Omni Lights
AJ,
A couple of technical things I might add to Michael's review: The interview with the kids sounded different than the mom—the son’s audio was very thin. I liked the look of the interview with the mom—with its dramatic lighting--and wished you had carried it through with the kids. A double interview is tough to pull off if you don't have wireless mics for both subjects.
Strong piece. Opening sequence quickly builds interest, and Kim provides a really strong interview. When she's listing the variations of "if only I had done this ..." she paints a powerful image of the frantic rethinking she seems to have been going through. Thanks for finding and producing this story.
My only suggestion is that I couldn't quite make out the final thing Kim says. If it's the closing scene it probably needs to be clearer.
Thanks everyone. I did go through (in the past couple days) and adjust the audio for the entire piece so hopefully it's a bit better. As far as the audio with the kids, yea I did only have one wireless kit so I did my best to get Patrick's voice with a shotgun. Definitely lesson learned.
I loved this story. It is naturally powerful, a family talking about a husband and father's suicide. But the way this is shot and edited makes it exemplary of any of us doing stories about things that have already happened. The shots of the sile, extremely empty scenes around the family's home proved that the best visual stories are shown, not just told. AJ saw this story as well as edited interviews of people telling it.
A wonderful job. Very haunting.