November 23, 2015 \ Geoff Birmingham
Location, Part 2: Tips for Filming Indoors

This is a short sequel to our Tips for Filming Outdoors post from last month.

Rachel:

Last time, I talked about filming interviews outdoors.

One of the most important things to consider when selecting an indoor location is the size of the space. A bigger space gives a better sense of location.

Generally, a shot with a little depth behind the subject makes for a prettier shot – you see a little bit of the background behind the person but it’s a little out of focus, which gives a nicer, softer look.

Long and short: when you’re considering an indoor location, bigger is usually better.

Filming indoors usually doesn’t pose the same sound challenges as filming outside does. But I do want to share two quick tips.

First, it is really easy to overlook, but heating and air conditioning noise can definitely interfere. Usually during editing, we are able to pull air hum out from footage, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. See if you can turn heating or air conditioning off in the room during filming.

And secondly, you also want to watch out for echoey audio.

Most likely, you won’t be filming in a cavernous gym space but you should just know that spaces like this lead to echoes. SO you might want to avoid filming in big warehouses, empty sports arenas or baroque era ballrooms.