On a Wednesday afternoon, my friend Alvin Phang and I visited Nishant
at his Katong office.

Nishant Kasibhatla has earned titles of International Master of Memory
and a World Record holder in the field of Human Memory. He also happens
to be an up-and-coming Internet Marketer

In this interview, Nishant reveals 3 really practical and simple tips on
memory retention. Enjoy!

In terms Video Techniques, I think I did pretty well planning for this
interview. After prior attempts at capturing an interview, I have taken
some lessons, and applied them on this video.

1) Seating Plan

We looked around for a nice spot for filming. Some general tips apply.
looked for as uncluttered a background as possible. However, I generally
like a background that has good depth, and tells something about the
interviewee or the area of interview.

I tried to get Alvin and Nishant to sit in a V-shape.

2) Reaction Shots / Close Ups

How in the world do they do it on TV?

I started wondering when watching documentaries or interviews on TV,
and wonder how in the world does the camera crew (usually 1 person)
manages to go all over the place and still manage to get shots of everything
that is happening.

Then I tried playing around with camera angles and editing. Voila!

But does it necessarily mean I have to ask the Interviewee and Interviewer
to do a few takes of the same thing? I figured out the puzzle. Get the
Interviewer to talk to the Interviewee to prepare him for the shoot.

That was what Alvin did. Before we were officially rolling, I managed to
capture a few pick ups from various angles, which I finally edited into the video.

3) Bloopers

a) Plan the background properly

If you notice, behind Nishant are a few packet drinks. I had thought
that it was unnecessary to move the drinks away. I was wrong!

b) Irritating Ambient sounds

I am using a shotgun mic, which was already much better than the
built in mic on the XM2, but still picked up some ambient sounds.

There is a low hum in the background, and some shouts from the
building. Can’t seem to filter them away.