A Live Interview with Mario Draghi at the Bank of Italy
- The interviewer never left California. The conversation ran live between Rome and the United States.
- Eye contact down the lens, on the principle of an Interrotron: the video call went into the prompter instead of a script.
- The room changed 45 minutes before air, at the subject's request, and the whole set moved with it.
- On air five minutes late, after rebuilding the lighting and the frame in a room nobody had prepared.
- One camera operator, a Sony FX30 with Samyang primes, my own Godox and Nanlite lights.
- 2024, Bank of Italy, Rome. Booked through 8Feet Fixer.
How It Was Made
The Job
In 2024 I filmed a live interview with Mario Draghi inside the Bank of Italy in Rome, for an American production speaking to an audience of students. Francesca Pacchiano of 8Feet Fixer brought me in. The interviewer took part from California, so the only people in the room were the subject and me.
My Role
Camera, lighting, audio and the streaming link were mine to run, alone. I arrived hours before the call time and walked the building with a phone, sending photographs of every possible room into a WhatsApp group with the production in the United States and with Francesca. They chose from those pictures, and I spent the rest of the morning persuading the people who look after the rooms to let us have the one they had picked.
The Production
A Sony FX30 with Samyang prime lenses, my own Godox and Nanlite lights, a boom microphone overhead and a teleprompter in front of the lens. The call ran from a laptop on a flight case, through an HDMI capture device, with a field monitor beside it so I could watch what Rome was sending out. Instead of a script, the prompter glass carried the interviewer's face, which is the whole trick: Draghi looked into the lens and saw a person looking back.
The Challenge
Forty-five minutes before we went live, Draghi came to say hello and asked to shoot somewhere else. The room chosen from my photographs was a formal one, and he judged it too grand for a conversation with American students. He wanted the small media room, the one we had ruled out immediately that morning.
So we ran. Down the long corridors of the Bank of Italy, carrying lighting stands with the heads still mounted and everything else half rigged, into a room nobody had prepared. I found a frame against a bare wall, rebuilt the light and set the prompter again. We went on air five minutes late.
He was right about the room. The plain wall suited the conversation better than the good furniture ever would have.
Behind the Scenes
The room we ended up in, the set built around it, and the link that carried the interview to California.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you film an interview in Italy with the interviewer in the United States?
Yes. In 2024 I filmed a live interview with Mario Draghi at the Bank of Italy in Rome while the interviewer was in California. The camera and audio went into a video call from a laptop on set, and the interviewer's picture came back into a prompter mounted in front of the lens. Nobody flew to Italy except the subject, who was already there.
How do you make someone look into the lens during a remote interview?
You put the interviewer's face on the optical axis of the camera, which is the principle behind the Interrotron. On the Draghi interview I fed the video call from my laptop into the teleprompter, so instead of a scrolling script the glass in front of the lens showed the person asking the questions. The subject looks at a face and the camera reads it as eye contact. A monitor beside the camera does not do the same thing: the eyeline lands next to the lens rather than down it.
What happens when the location changes just before a live broadcast?
You move, and the schedule does not move with you. Forty-five minutes before a live interview at the Bank of Italy the subject asked to shoot in a small media room we had ruled out, because the room we had chosen was too grand for a conversation with American students. We carried lighting stands down the corridors fully rigged, found a frame against a bare wall and rebuilt the set from scratch. We went on air five minutes late.
How do you choose a location for a shoot when the client is abroad?
You go early and you scout with a phone. At the Bank of Italy I arrived hours ahead, walked the building and sent photographs of every option into a WhatsApp group with the production in the United States and the Italian production company, so the decision was made by the people paying for it while I was still standing in the room. It costs one morning and it removes every argument about what the location actually looked like.
Need someone filmed in Italy without flying over?
If your interviewer is in another country and the subject is here, I can put the two of them in the same conversation. More on interview filming.
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