The Videographers Guide To Not Falling On Your New Media Face | Chapter 10 – Tangible Interview Tips

Pulling off an effective interview isn’t as easy as you may think.  It is often the most challenging part of the production and usually makes or breaks your piece.  In the past 5 years I’ve probably done as many interviews as anyone in New Media and I still learn new things every time.  Here are 5 tips that can help you out.

1. Audio:

As mentioned in Chapter 2 – “Nothing screams amateur like shoddy sound.  It’s the easiest thing to take for granted, and the hardest thing to fix in post.  If you are using a DSLR camera at the minimum buy an external mic.  Some clients are so picky that you are probably better off budgeting for a sound guy.”

2. Location:

Choose a location with an interesting background.  Consider the subjects distance from the wall.  If you want a more intimate feel place your subject close to the wall.  If you want to emote something more grand, move your subject away from the wall.  And when outdoors please don’t shoot with the sun behind the subject.

3. Eyeline:

Whether the subject looks into the camera or not determines the directness of the message.  Staring directly into the camera is more jarring and takes on a more dramatic tone.  Looking off camera feels more conversational and also gives you more to work with in terms of different camera angles and 2 camera shots.

4. Interview to Output ratio:

My interview to output ratio is about 10 to 1 meaning for every minute of soundbytes I plan to use I schedule 10 minutes of interview time.  Due to time considerations on the editing side, the output ratio often goes down, rarely goes up.

5. Rapport and how not to ruin it:

This is probably the most important element of your interview and also the most intangible.  It is why some photographers and videographers have “it” and some don’t.  How one manages the energy between the subject and the camera is hard to define and I won’t try here (I will cover that next week), what I will do is make suggestions on things to avoid.

• Don’t be late to an interview. We had an old adage on film sets, “early is on-time, on-time is late, and late is unheard of.”  If you’ve ever worked on a film set everyone is early.  I worked on sets for over 10 years and was about 5 minutes late twice.  I got reamed both times and one time I would’ve gotten fired if I wasn’t needed to drive the truck to set.  My counterparts in new media haven’t seemed to grasp this one yet. (Note: L.A. doesn’t count they are much more laid back about time.)
• Don’t interview for over 30 minutes without a break.  I learned this one the hard way when after 30 minutes of not getting what I needed on a recent interview, the subject got restless but I persisted because I thought I was finally making headway.  Well after pushing the subject he became openly hostile to me and the client and pretty much threw us out of his loft before we could get the b-roll we needed for the video.  Live and learn.
• Keep your questions short: Subjects usually know where your going with your questions, no need to overexplain.
• Don’t let the client step on your questions.  Remind the client to pause between your question and their answer.  This one is for the editors.
• Write down your questions.  Even if you don’t know exactly who you will be interviewing, you should know beforehand what the angle of your video is and what kind of questions to ask.
• At the end of the interview, allow the subject to add anything that you may have missed during your questioning.

Next Friday: The Intangible Interview Tips.

Thanks

Trevor “Trevz” Bayack is a Brooklyn-born filmmaker who approaches his web pieces as mini documentaries. Recognized as a member of the 2008 URB magazine Next 100 for pioneering the “video blog” Trevz continually makes his pieces shorter, sharper and ever more shareable”   Follow thenewpop twitter feed for more.