The Art of the Video Interview
Often, it's necessary or desirable to feature someone, a VOICE ON-CAMERA, to help tell your story. This person could be an employee of your company, a professional actor, a volunteer in your organization, or a satisfied client. In any case, it's vitally important that person look great, sound great and their content be delivered accurately and credibly.
In creating the VOC interview,
I want to achieve four things...
Good shot composition, clear and crisp audio, artful lighting, and focused, meaningful content that moves the viewer toward the video's goal. The image of that spokesperson - sight, sound and content - reflects upon, or even becomes the image of your entire organization - for better or for worse.
Therefore, content is critical ...
And there are three methods typically used to capture content in the Voice On-Camera Interview. (1) We can partner to create a script that the VOC would deliver; a teleprompter can make that job much easier. Or (2) we can allow the VOC to wing it - a method I avoid unless your VOC really has their act together or you want the edgy, spontaneous look.
Or (3), my preferred way I refer to as the “directed method”...
And I've used it successfully for many years. In the directed method, we partner to determine the talking points and ideas we want the VOC to communicate to the viewer. I then take that list and craft questions that will allow the VOC to answer those questions during the actual recorded interview in a natural, organic fashion. Quite simply, it works every time. I recently produced an awards video for a new client and I proposed the directed approach. The only challenge? The client had made a list of 13 people to be interviewed a la VOC to share their unique perspectives of the award winner. Regardless, I was convinced the directed approach was the way to go; they were not so convinced but they relented. Once the project was complete and the big awards gala was done, they said:
The video turned out very well and captures Joe's personality perfectly. ...
What you helped to deliver was born in a thoughtful, journalistic approach to the video construct. That allowed for comments from participants to be funneled in a way that made the video session POP more than they would have if the shoots took place without knowing a bit of the back story for each person. I'm most appreciative of a job well done!
