Interviews can be incredibly powerful. You can probably think of interviews you’ve seen that have affected you deeply. People who have suffered terrible trauma move us by their experiences. It’s also true that I can remember interviews that have made me cry with laughter. I also remember watching interviews that have made me think that I wanted the lifestyle of the person being interviewed. Watching people tell their own stories is powerful.
[bctt tweet=”Interviews are powerful. Here are ten secrets for getting them right.”]
What I want to do is lay out ten points that will help you to use interviews in your marketing videos. I’ve written before about the power of personal testimonials and I’m not going to repeat that here but I will just give a quick recap.
Interviews allow viewers to see people who have experienced your product or service and hear them talk about it. It engages viewers by allowing them to empathise with and even aspire to be a current customer. Interviews give a sense of honesty and reality that no acted scene can match. Interviews are more powerful than direct addresses to the viewer because the customer who is appearing in your video will be more relaxed, less worried about remembering what to say and therefore they will look and sound like they are telling the truth.
How To Shoot Your Interview
- Create a relaxed atmosphere. Take your time and don’t worry about what happens. If you are stressed that will rub off on your interviewee and that is the last thing you want. Make sure they have a nice cup of tea (or whatever it is they drink) and have a conversation with them. Chat to your subject and let the interview become part of a larger conversation.
- Shoot the rehearsal. Tell your subject that you are going to have a trial run through the questions and not to worry because it won’t be used. If they ask why you are recording tell them it is a lighting test and that you will probably delete that recording after. What I find is that after this the subject is relaxed and talks more freely and honestly than when you tell them you are about to begin for real. After the “rehearsal” I often show them some footage and say that to my surprise it looks really good and ask them if they mind if I keep it so that I can choose between more takes.
- Shoot several times. Don’t worry about talking your time or asking the question several times. start your interview by explaining what you will be doing and as part of that explain that you will ask each question several times over several takes and to get the best version. Don’t ask one question repeatedly. Cycle through all of the questions.
- Use a lapel mic. I wrote a little while ago about the importance of good sound. Use a good mic.
Position your camera correctly. Don’t make your subject look directly at your camera. Position the camera at a three quarter position. This will allow them to relax and be a familiar view to those who will watch your video.
How To Edit Your Interview
- Review everything. Watch all of the footage you shot. You don’t know, until you watch it back, which take is actually the best.
- Take the best bits from every run through of the interview and place them on your video timeline. Then work your way through them until you have the very best statements to make up the running time of your interview. You can even take parts of different sentences and put them together to make a better statement if you need to.
- Review the story. You already know what you want your marketing video to convey and now you have a selection of statements from your interviewee. Take only the statements that will allow you to tell your story.
- Cut the interview to the story. Now re-order the statements you have cut from the interview (or created by splicing) to follow the message you want to convey.
- Cut your video to match the story. Once you have placed your subjects statements in the best order for your marketing video, place your other footage over the top of it. Only occasionally cut back to the interviewee. Your new footage of other scenes you have shot should be cut to match the topic of what the subject is saying and should cover all of the cuts you made to the interview footage.
Follow these steps and you will have interview footage that allows you edit to get your message to potential customers.
