Conducting on-camera interviews is always an important part of a corporate video or documentary film. They provide the viewer with context and help to round out the story by providing different perspectives and opinions on a particular topic. However, capturing the polished sound bites one hears in the final video is not an easy task. It takes the right kind of person, asking the right kind of questions, which helps the subject feel comfortable enough to answer while staring into a camera and bright lights.

If you find yourself conducting interviews for your next video project, here are two things to keep in mind, which should help in your next interview setting.

The most important thing is to make your subject feel comfortable. Always tell your subject is that it is okay to mess up. Remind him/her that everything he/she says will be edited. Your subject needs to know that it’s okay if he/she stumbles or loses his/her train of thought. It’s just par for the course. Those things will happen. If your subject understands that he/she will not ruin the entire video will a verbal misstep, it helps increase his/her comfort level and confidence. And that will help your subject appear more natural on camera.

However, as a follow-up to this first point, you should always make sure that the subject regains composure before continuing. This will help you when you are in the edit suite, putting your video together. For example, if the subject flubs a line and starts laughing as a result and then goes back to what he/she was saying while still chuckling, you won’t have a good point on which to edit. Your final video will have a sound bite that (for some reason inexplicable to the viewer) begins with someone laughing. Have your subject regain composure, get settled, and pause for just a moment before continuing.

Observing these two points will really help improve the quality of your interviews, because you will capture clean audio of a subject who is comfortable, natural, and confident.

Coverage is so important when creating a promotional video for your business or non-profit. The word “coverage,” when used in the context of video production, refers to the amount of footage needed to adequately “cover” the scene. So, for example, if you are creating a sales video that describes how your company makes potato chips, you would want the video production company to shoot enough footage to properly communicate what happens at every stage of the process (i.e. Unloading supplies, moving those supplies into the facility, potatoes moving across conveyor belts, potatoes being sliced, etc.).

Neglecting to get adequate coverage during the video shoot means that you cannot properly tell the story when you get everything back to the edit suite. “Well then,” you might ask, “why would anyone neglect to get the coverage they need?”

Most often, in my experience, lack of coverage comes from a lack of time. And a lack of time can be caused by:

-a failure to properly schedule the shoot.

-a failure to stay on schedule due to various circumstances (talent and/or crew arriving late, problems with the location, problems with the gear, multiple takes of a scene that weren’t accounted for, last-second script changes, etc.).

-failure to budget for an adequate amount of crew members.

-failure to invest an amount of money proportional to the size and scope of the project.

The last two points become especially important when creating a promotional video in which the content is documentary in nature. In other words, projects in which everything is dictated by events as they unfold, not by the video producer/director. For some video production projects, you will be able to coordinate all of the action for the camera. You will be able to set up lights, block out the scene, and shoot multiple takes. For other videos, you might only get one chance to shoot the action as it happens.

For the latter situation, you need to make sure that you budget enough to ensure that you have the right amount of crew on location and the right amount of time to shoot everything. Otherwise, you might not get a second chance, and you might find yourself without enough coverage for your video. This is especially true of live events, like trade shows, conferences, seminars, etc. Don’t budget for one camera, when you might need two or three to cover the event. One camera can capture interviews, one camera can capture keynote speakers and breakout sessions, and a third camera can cover the trade show floor. Don’t budget for one-half day, when the conference lasts one or two full days.

The last thing anyone wants (you, your video production crew, your marketing director) is to get into the editing suite only to realize that you have a video full of interviews, but not enough b-roll to flesh out the story. Carefully budget your time and your money and you won’t regret it.

On this blog I have often talked about the importance of good visuals to drive your story. When done properly, an ad or marketing video can convey all necessary information simply through the visuals. Take Google for example. They recently launched a series of short videos to introduce people to their browser, Chrome. The ads are remarkable and they get their point across without any narration or any spokesperson going down through a checklist of benefits. They use a series of attention-grabbing visuals that gradually shift throughout the course of each video, changing your perspective of the scene. They leverage the limitations of two-dimensional space to create some pretty cool optical illusions. And each effect used in the video is practical – no CGI. What do you think?

There are many corporate videos that feel staged, rehearsed… unnatural. Every action seems forced and the blocking predictable. Budgets often prohibit the hiring of professional actors, so sales and marketing videos usually rely on actual employees to communicate a company’s message. Using real-life employees, however, does have its advantages. It gives the company some transparency, allowing viewers to see the people behind the brand. And it can be a necessity. After all, if you’re producing an employee orientation video, wouldn’t you want to feature other employees within the company?

The challenge for the director then is to instruct non-professional talent so that the video seems personable, open, and natural. Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Be clear with the talent regarding the content of the video, what you expect of them, and what you are trying to achieve.
2. If they are to be interviewed, go over the questions with them beforehand. Again, tell them what you’re looking for, but be careful not to lead them. The answers need to come from them, in their own words.
3. Before you start shooting, take some time to get to know your talent. Get them talking about things they are interested in. Being in front of a camera can be intimidating for some people. So you need to help them relax before you start rolling.
4. In some situations, you may find yourself working with children. If so, take some time to joke around with them. Get them laughing. go outside and play with them for a little bit. If they consider you a friend, then they will perform better on camera.
5. Children are very curious, so let them look at your gear. Show them the camera. Let them look through the viewfinder. Get them excited about being in the video.

Each of these suggestions is designed to help your talent feel comfortable. If they feel at ease with you, your crew, and the situation, then their on-camera presence will be incredibly strong.