Here are some simple best practices I have learned from years of conducting these interviews. Hopefully these will help you with your next interview, whichever side of the camera you are on.
- EASE THEM INTO IT: Always start with a few questions to put your subject at ease. We always have our subject say and spell their name for accuracy. For longer interviews, we'll often ask a question or two we know will be a throw away, just to get therm talking. If they express a concern, reassure them about that concern specifically. I frequently have an exchange with interview subjects where they ask if they look alright, and I assure them that if something were amiss we would tell them. "It's my job to make you look good," I tell them, I've got your back.
- STOP IF SOMETHING IS WRONG: All kinds of things can go wrong during an interview. The talent runs their hand through their hair and gets a lock out of place, the mic or a piece of clothing slips an introduces mic noise, background noise kicks in, the talent moves out of good framing or out of the plane of focus. When this happens, you aren't doing yourself any favors by continuing to roll on footage that is not usable. For on-location interviews, especially, it can be difficult to ask someone to go back and repeat a thought or phrase they just expressed clearly. When something occurs that will mean you footage is not usable, stop immediately and politely inform the subject that they have not done anything wrong, it's just a simple fix that needs to be made before they continue.
- GIVE CLEAR DIRECTION: Chances are your interview subject isn't going to know where to sit, stand, put their hand, where to look, or what to say. They will need direction on all of these things, and may feel uncomfortable if you aren't offering it. That doesn't mean you should just rattle off a list of instructions. I try to make direction casual and clear. Think of the way a good nurse can put you to ease asking you to undress. They don't just order you to do so - they simply and casually let you know that "what is going to happen next is..." Interview subjects can be just as uncertain stepping in front of cameras and lights - giving clear direction will put them at ease.
- LISTEN: Interview subjects, especially those who aren't used to being on camera, will sometimes talk in circles and repeat themselves. It is important to listen to what your interview subject has expressed, so you can adapt questions either to cover information that hasn't been made clear or to avoid repeated information. If someone answers a question clearly before I get to it, I can skip it, or rephrase it to get at deeper or different information. If a subject is responding very literally and briefly to open-ended questions, I may have to elaborate more in the way I ask it, to help them open the question up.
- OFFER ALTERNATIVES: The key to a good interview is getting good information, and that means the subject has to be clear about what they are saying. Sometimes a question just doesn't connect with the subject, and they don't have an "in" for how they will approach responding. Make an effort to understand why a question is being asked, and what the editor or producer will need in order to make use of the footage you are creating. For example, one of the questions we ask in the RAW interviews is "where do you want to see your work take you?" For most people, this is a clear question, and something they have thought about a great deal. Some subjects, though, don't know how to respond because the question seems too large, or too vague. When people struggle with this response, the alternative we use is "where would you like to be in 5 years with this career?" This alternative reduces the scope of the question, but provides the same general content (hopes/aspirations) for the editor to include in the final edit.
- TREAT THEM LIKE TALENT: When the day gets long and I have already conducted dozens of interviews, the last thing I want to do is deal with prima donna tactics and people who are v-e-r-y i-m-p-o-r-t-a-n-t. Unless you're paying someone to be on camera, they are either volunteering their time for your client, or they are your client. Either way, it is probably a good idea to make sure they feel like they are the most important thing happening in the room at the time, regardless of what else might be on your mind or how you may feel about it. If you are paying them for their time then they work for you, and it is just as imperative to let them know that they matter. People need to feel like they matter, and in a business that requires ambition and self-reliance you have to make room for a certain amount of self-importance in the people you are dealing with.
- COMPLIMENT THEM: (See number 6) Having a camera pointed at you can be embarrassing and awkward, or it can be elating and empowering. A big part of what colors that experience for people is how the other people around them are relating to the situation. We always make an effort to communicate to the person on the other side of the lens "you are great. we are here to witness how great you are."
For people who are not actors or otherwise used to being in front of the camera talking to a camera is hard. They are worried about how they look, how they sound, if they are saying intelligent things. Being on camera is not easy. That's why people get paid to do it professionally. There is a skill set required that all people simply do not have naturally. But we live in a time when on camera presentation is becoming commonplace for everyone. Establishing a presence, knowing how to come across clearly and pleasantly isn't something that only actors and TV personalities need to do. It's something we ask of business owners, artists, craftspeople, and customers and employees of businesses.
As a producer, one of my most important jobs is to set the tone of the interaction. In the Playback Theater work I used to do, we called this "holding the vessel." In a business setting it's more akin to corporate or organizational culture. On larger shoots, there is someone there whose entire job is just that, setting the tone. When you're shooting with a small team, though, more often than not the person shooting is also doing the interview and interacting with the other parties involved with the shoot. In that situation, they are the producer, responsible not just for getting their shot, but also for coloring the experience of all involved. What people need most of all is an ally who is working with them to make sure they put their best foot forward.
