(I): The Interviewing Process
Interviews are important because they are one of the ways to engage the audience. It lets the audience learn more about the subject within minutes by asking the most anticipated, interesting questions. A good interview captivates the audience and leaves them wanting to know more about the subject interviewed.
Yet, an interview is really more than just one interviewer and one interviewee in an in-depth conversation or an interviewee answering questions. There are a lot of elements that go behind creating a good interview. In this segment, we compiled a checklist for you to get you started on that successful corporate interview video.
- Purpose
Is it for awareness, explanation or a trend? Identify what the interview is for. This is the first step to be taken before progressing on to film as it defines the direction of the video. It will aid you in organising a structure that can achieve your purpose.
2. Research
This embodies many things. Gather as much knowledge on the subject, interviewee candidates, types of questions. It is to prepare the people on set to be aware of what they are discussing about. When the people are well-prepared, they help to create an extensive discussion, and to rephrase or add on to the leading questions if necessary.
3. Representation
There is no one solution for all and the same goes for people. The people appearing in the video play an important role in achieving the intended effect of the interview so it is important to choose the best fit.
Choose those that are highly relevant for your purpose to increase the credibility of their words. Earning the viewers’ trust is impactful as it draws their attention to the content of the interview after being convinced of your arguments.
Beyond their relevance, consider someone who carries themselves well in front of the camera. The non-verbalised body language is just as important as what they are verbalising and contributes to the interview too. Therefore, it should be a candidate who is confident, well-spoken and charismatic to share your purpose clearly.
4. Questions
The right questions and the right timing goes hand-in-hand for the perfect interview. If either one is missing, the interview will have an awkward flow. Hence, it is important to prepare questions in advance to provide the interviewer guidance.
Also, for a more natural atmosphere, ease into the topic instead of diving straight into it at the start. The audience will also be able to understand what is going on as they are provided with contexts and bite-sized information connecting one after the other.
Ask questions that provide useful information instead of those that have a “yes” or “no” answer. If there is a need for details, ask one that prompts the interviewee to give concrete answers and/or examples. Not to forget, delve deeper into their responses if there is a need to.
5. Be Natural
While having a script offers guidance and a good flow to the interview, following too tightly to it may result in the interviewees sounding robotic.
Sending the interviewees leading questions rather than the exact questions asked. This will prompt the interviewees to think and rephrase their answers to fit the questions. As they take the time to think through, it micmicks a conversation people have in their everyday lives and will boost on-camera performances.
(II): Technicalities
The previous segment focused on how to go about the interviewing process, from start till the end. As we get the right people to do the job, we also cannot forget the filming technicalities that are necessary for a good recording.
The efforts of the excellent interviewer and interviewee will be in vain without a good setup to rely on. In this segment, we share with you what are the technical elements required to perfect the interview.
- Setting
The location of the interview can add or diminish the tone of your video. With a tone in mind, decide on a location that helps set that. It should not be too bland nor too outstanding. One common point is that it should be somewhere with good lighting.
Try to select a location that has relevance to the interviewee and/or the subject, to make a subtle statement about the connection between the two. If it is a studio set, give some thought to what should appear in the frame as the background or decorations and how it might add to the interview.
2. Lighting
For an interview, soft lighting that does not have too much exposure and contrast from the background is suggested. This is to avoid the appearances of people involved on set distracting the audience from the spoken content.
3. Sound
In interviews, the sound made by those speaking is the crux of the video. If it is undermined by excessive background noise, wind or by the rustling of clothes, this could potentially spoil the take.
Therefore, test the audio before and during the interview to ensure that it is of good quality.
Pre-testing would include audio checks with those wearing a mic, and ensuring that the positions of the mics are in a good spot to clearly capture the sound. Also, make sure that the mic has sufficient battery to last through the entire interview, especially if it is going to be a long one.
During the interview, have someone looking out for the audio using headphones. Utilising a good headphone, it will be able to block out the recorded sound from the excessive noise and help the crew determine if it is of good quality.
In the instances of a noisy background or unexpected noises, record room tone in advance to neutralise them. This will aid in your editing process when included under the main audio track.
4. Transitions
One of the ways to have smooth transitions is using b-rolls. It is a term that describes any footage beyond the interview. Materials such as visual aids, texts added onto the screen and product shots, etc transits cut to cut effortlessly. Also, given the use of different visuals, it makes the interview more interesting and can clarify the spoken conversation.
Another way is to record scene by scene, or in this case, question by question. If the interviewees run into a mental block or they make many repetitions of the same point, the breaks between the questions will help them organise their thoughts.
Furthermore, if the directors sense any errors in the information said, it is easier for them to replay and reshoot just one scene. This causes a smaller interruption that is more easily smoothened out as compared to finding errors later during the editing.
5. Editing
This is a playground for the editors to select only the most necessary shoots to make it to the final cut. What you want to achieve is creating a flow from question to question, without any breaks in logic. It should appear as an informative, logical, well-constructed conversation to the audience.
To make this a great interview, do not be afraid to add in other creative elements such as the b-rolls mentioned earlier, music, graphics. Ultimately, what you have included should form a nice picture that is easily understandable and achieves the purpose of the interview.
