Conducting an interview is generally a really nerve-racking and scary experience. You have got a large responsibility to conduct a professional interview and to make sure you receive the best response, for example, asking appropriate questions. Interviewing can be quite challenging to get right, specially if you have a subject quite reluctant to open up. Without some professionalism, a bit of engagement along with the ability to set your subject at ease, then your interview may not go as well as predicted. In this blog, I have summarized some tips that I recently found in a how to conduct an interview video blog, which was created by a video production company.
A simple question often helps the subject to relax. You don't have to use it in the final edit, but the most important thing to come from this, is ease throughout the interview. Even if they get the question wrong then it means that you can all have a laugh and a joke about it, in general just creating a more comfortable environment so that the interview can benefit as a whole. As well as this, it is important to let the subject go through their stuff a couple of times, to allow them to warm up. Then from the point of view of the camera operator it is always worth shooting more than one run so that there is enough material to go through.
The set-up of the interview is a simple yet crucial thing to keep in mind. It's a good idea to have someone sat next to the camera, either from your team or, preferably someone the subject knows, asking a few questions so that the subject isn't having to deal with the pressure of looking directly at the camera. This also means that they do not need to freak out talking to the camera, talking to someone else is much easier. This way they can also imagine that they are having an informal question and answer session rather than an interview, also making it easier for the subject to keep eye contact with the interviewer.
By keeping answers short and in context, this enables a lot more flexibility and ease in putting it all together in regards to the final edit. In particular if you have got more than one camera rolling. When I say 'in context', I mean getting the subject to use company names instead of 'we' and perhaps even asking them to begin an answer with the question - that is if you don't want your own interviewing voice incorporated in the video - that way it is always clear what's being discussed about.
Conducting an interview is never going to be an easy task, there is a lot of expectation that comes with it, but I have mentioned some very useful tips to hopefully make the process easier, in my personal opinion I think making sure the subject being interviewed is at ease and comfortable is perhaps the most important. Simply because this is a feature which will effect the whole atmosphere and the mood of the interview throughout, making the interviewers job much harder.
A simple question often helps the subject to relax. You don't have to use it in the final edit, but the most important thing to come from this, is ease throughout the interview. Even if they get the question wrong then it means that you can all have a laugh and a joke about it, in general just creating a more comfortable environment so that the interview can benefit as a whole. As well as this, it is important to let the subject go through their stuff a couple of times, to allow them to warm up. Then from the point of view of the camera operator it is always worth shooting more than one run so that there is enough material to go through.
The set-up of the interview is a simple yet crucial thing to keep in mind. It's a good idea to have someone sat next to the camera, either from your team or, preferably someone the subject knows, asking a few questions so that the subject isn't having to deal with the pressure of looking directly at the camera. This also means that they do not need to freak out talking to the camera, talking to someone else is much easier. This way they can also imagine that they are having an informal question and answer session rather than an interview, also making it easier for the subject to keep eye contact with the interviewer.
By keeping answers short and in context, this enables a lot more flexibility and ease in putting it all together in regards to the final edit. In particular if you have got more than one camera rolling. When I say 'in context', I mean getting the subject to use company names instead of 'we' and perhaps even asking them to begin an answer with the question - that is if you don't want your own interviewing voice incorporated in the video - that way it is always clear what's being discussed about.
Conducting an interview is never going to be an easy task, there is a lot of expectation that comes with it, but I have mentioned some very useful tips to hopefully make the process easier, in my personal opinion I think making sure the subject being interviewed is at ease and comfortable is perhaps the most important. Simply because this is a feature which will effect the whole atmosphere and the mood of the interview throughout, making the interviewers job much harder.
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This article was from Lambda Films, Video Production Norwich, then visit Norfolk's Takeover daysite to see how these young videographers learn their interview skills.
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