Creative Video Interview Technique

Grab Audience Attention

We make films that stop viewers in their tracks and take notice.

This may be through creative cutaway shots or the use of mixed media to bring elements of animation into our videos.

We’ll take you through some creative techniques to incorporate into your next interview video.

Using Animation

We have a passion for pushing creative boundaries and usually bring a wide array of ideas to meet a brief. Here are three examples of videos in which we used attention-grabbing animation to bring to life a talking head interview.

The use of Motion Graphics text / kinetic typography and animated iconography to help to underline what the interviewee is discussing has several advantages:

 

  • It creates a distinct visual look to tie a series together.
  • Graphics help to highlight the most salient points that we want the audience to remember.
  • It has a modern, fresh, dynamic feel to it, which will bring the material to life.
  • It works particularly well to create short teaser content with thought provoking statements to be shared on social media.
  • 65% of people are visual learners so giving them something more interesting than a standard talking head interview allows them to take onboard the information in a method that suits them best.
  • Graphics add visual flair, without having to capture B-roll or use expensive stock footage.

Cinematic Filming

By adding higher production values, your video will be elevated beyond a simple talking-heads interview. A cinematic interview will communicate your message beautifully, staying with viewers long after it has finished playing. Because of the high quality lighting and lenses, we’ve found that cinematic videos are often more widely viewed because they’re pleasing to look at. 

Using interesting locations

Whether it’s a vista of Canary Wharf for a Financial Edge Training video or using a church for Leqture, we try to find a location that matches your subject matter tonally.

Talking directly to the audience

 

In this film the subject was very confident and felt comfortable talking to the camera, rather than talking to an interviewer who’s just off camera.

Traditionally interviewees look just off camera to the right or left of the lens. This is because having the person talk directly to the audience down the barrel of the lens can feel intense for the audience. Sometimes the subject matter doesn’t call for a direct approach.

In this interview, however, it worked really well because Aparicio is a natural presenter and felt at ease talking directly to the audience. Because he introduces himself at the beginning of the film it doesn’t feel odd that he’s talking at us, rather than to an interviewer.

Creative B-roll

B-roll are the shots that you use to cut away to during a talking head interview.  They are normally used to illustrate what the person is talking about.
B-roll can be used entirely instead of talking head interviews. For example, in this film series for Pandora and Stylist we filmed the interviews but only used the audio. Instead we thought that it was unnecessary to see the person talking because it was clear from the B-roll who the subject of the film is, so this allowed us plenty of time to tell a story with the visuals.  In this series we see three professional experts going about their daily activities and the B-roll gives a glimpse of their lives.
We used a stop-motion style of filming to make creative B-roll shots for this interview. Hyperlapse and moving time-lapse photography were techniques employed in this video for the Money Advice Service.

Mixing animation and live action

Creative transitions in between shots

Storytelling

Structuring the interview material so we start with an opening to hook the audience in. The opening may not be the start of the story and it may not make sense out of context but it’s a creative way to warm the audience into the story and give them an access point that hooks them in.  This is often used on Netflix documentaries and is known as a ‘warm open.’

Use of humour

This film tells the story of why the Chelsea Pensioners home is an important institution but it does it in a lighthearted way that rewards the audience for watching with a few laughs.

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