Ready to go. What's he going to say?
A very popular use of video for companies at the moment is to get clients to provide interviews or referrals which you can then place on your website.
Excellent idea. Problem is, concept and reality don’t always line up so here are a few tips to keep in mind.
People don’t always say what you might want them to. You can ask them what you think is a prefectly simple question with really only one answer but you will be astonished by how different their answer can be compared to the one you had in mind.
Maybe it wasn’t quite as positive as you hoped or they don’t include some of the key points you thought would come rolling off the tongue. Invariably your confident client isn’t quite so collected when a camera is stuck in front of them and they either lose their natural voice or launch off on a much longer and rambling answer than you need for your short and punchy video.
The common problems with interviewees are:
- They don’t like the idea of being on camera. They look the way they do quite happily all day but as soon as you point a camera at them they are suddenly very self conscious.
- They don’t think they will say anything sensible. They know the subject inside out but a camera gets them all flustered and tongue tied
- They speak over the top of the person asking questions. We do it in conversation but when you don’t want the question in the video then it is a headache to edit.
- They say way too much – the answer doesn’t really know where it is going and while they search for the answer they ramble.
Where did it all go so wrong?
In the planning of course! Most of us enjoy being able to converse with people easily all day every day. We ask a question and we get a natural answer and then we ask another question and so on. Our brains can handle the natural interaction of a conversation bur for a video it doesn’t work quite so easily as that and so we need to adapt things a little bit.
It would be wonderful if everyone delivered the perfect soundbite for the camera but unfortunately it doesn’t tend to happen that way unless you have done some preparation.
Don’t just tell the client or staff to come along and get them to answer some questions and hope it will work on the day. You need to think very hard about what questions you are going to ask and how you word the question to ensure you get the answer you want.
Here are Sous Productions top 10 tips for getting the best out of your staff / client interviews on camera.
- Start your planning by establishing the answer you want – write it down.
- Then write the question(s) that will get that answer.
- Write the question slightly differently in case you need to ask it again.
- Time how long it takes to say the answer. Decide if you can get in all the answers within the duration of the video. If not you need to revise 1-3 above.
- Explain to the interviewee what the interview is being used for and its objective.
- Describe the sorts of questions you will be looking to ask and what kind of answers you are looking for including how long they need to be. This is not scripting the answer. They use their own words. Dont let them write them down on paper. It becomes a nightmare!
- Explain they are talking to the interviewer not to the camera – This almost always makes them feel a lot better
- If you don’t want to have the interviewer questions in the video (it keeps the video shorter) then explain to the interviewee to pose the question in their answer. For example Q – What do you feel is the key benefit of the service ….. Answer – I think the key benefit of the service provided is ….. Some find this tricky!
- Ask the interviewee to let the interviewer finish their question before starting to answer it so that you don’t capture an unknown voice in the interview.
- Take control of the interview. If you feel any or all of the above are not working well then it is fine to stop and go through the relevant point again as a reminder before trying again.
Take time to put interviewee at ease
I tend to find that by conversationally going through these points while I am fixing up the mic and checking camera framing etc, it actually helps distract the interviewee’s mind a little and gets a bit of early rapport going.
Hope it helps
Please comment on your experiences.
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