STEP 4 - Recording the video

Children really enjoy pretending to be a news gathering crew. Show them how to conduct an 'over the shoulder' interview. The camera is ideally positioned on a tripod. The interviewer sits or stands to the left of the camera (out of shot) and the interviewees are framed within the shot. This ensures reasonable sound quality. If there is a lot of extraneous noise then use a tie clip mike or a boom mike if you have one. Put a set of headphones on the back of the camera so that the sound quality can be monitored. Make sure that the interviewees speak up and look at the camera!

Rotate the roles of camera person, interviewer and interviewees so that everybody gets a go at doing everything. Try and get some action shots with a hand held camera, so that you can cut from interviews to action when editing. Before leaving the playground check that you have recorded some video and that the sound quality is okay.