Check out these ten tips for shooting interviews

Even the most interesting subjects can result in boring video. You need to draw out the emotion and allow your talent to make a connection with your audience. Church Production put together this excellent list of tips for shooting interviews.

Church Production by Phil Cooke

THE 10 KEYS TO SHOOTING A GREAT VIDEO INTERVIEW

Most video interviews are boring and lacking emotion. Rule #1: Be as lean and mean as possible.

Some marketing experts are calling this year “The Year of Online Video.” It’s becoming one of the most popular and effective ways to tell the story of products, organizations, and ideas. Two to four minute videos can be powerfully compelling ways to tell a story, but in many cases, when they involve interviewing people, they fall flat. Interviews with fascinating people can be the key to many successful video presentations, but most video interviews are boring, without emotion, and pointless. Here are 10 keys to shooting more effective interviews – the kind of interviews that get a response from viewers:

1. Be as lean and mean as possible. The bigger the set-up, the more nervous an interviewee becomes. Director and DP Brad Knull once shot an interview with a very nervous grandmother. He walked in, realized the light from the window was sufficient, so just sat the camera on his lap and started rolling. She never realized the TV interview was happening, and as a result, she was comfortable, enjoyed it, and was brilliant. Don’t let your great production capability get in the way of a fantastic story. 2. If possible, do a pre-interview. Pre-interviews help make sure you’re getting the best and most articulate interview subjects. You’ll discover that very often, the most intelligent, talented, or famous people don’t make good interview subjects. A simple pre-interview on the phone can keep you from wasting money shooting a terrible segment. read more...