How to sound professional in an interview video
In most situations, you should aim to sound professional in an interview video. When either you or your interviewee sound unfocused and unorganized, your video loses its authority and overall appeal. Your goal is to have everyone looking great when they’re appearing on camera. As specialists in video production Raleigh trusts for incredible film content, we are here with another round of Blueforest video production quick tips. You’ve got questions, and you better believe we’ve got your answers. So, let’s dive right into it.
Structure your interview (before you even meet up)
When you research your interviewee, the goal should be to learn what answers you really need from the person. You should give your interview direction, but you should not over plan or under plan your questions. One mistake many interviewers can make is to plan out the entire interview as if it were a question-answer session. Don’t memorize your questions. You’re going to get extremely rigid answers down this route.
The best option is to just have a conversation with your subject. Just make sure you have rough topics and a few key questions as bumpers for your chat. To take it even further, build your questions to inspire storytelling answers. This results in more natural and engaging answers while helping your interviewee appear more focused.
During the interview
Get the conversation started before rolling. The worst way to start is with a camera-shy subject. Don’t fault them for it! It’s perfectly natural for people to get a little nervous or anxious when all the attention is on them. Overcome this by chatting up the person before you begin. Get the conversation feeling a little loose so when you start, they’ll feel less like they’re being probed for information.
Keep your conversation going with follow up questions. You’re going to want to keep your subject away from feeling too structured. You’ll also want to stay far from one-word answers, so ask more open-ended questions. When you ask questions in response to their answers, you’re leaning towards a more spontaneous conversation. Shaking people out of routine creates a talk that feels way more genuine, which also makes the interviewer sound far more experienced.
Ask questions from a deeply curious place. When you ask questions just because you feel you should, you’re losing the touch that professional interviewers pride themselves on. A great professional video interview is driven by questions that even the viewer might not even expect. Avoid treading familiar territory and ask interview questions that get a person excited to answer.
Relax and amplify your speech. You don’t want to sound mechanical and scripted. That’s a shortcut to boring your audience to sleep. Ignore all the people in the shadows, and take it easy! After all, it is just a conversation. Don’t overthink it and don’t forget to be confident in your voice.
Accept that you don’t know it all. You are interviewing to learn, so approach the interview like a student. Unprofessional interviewers assume they already know all about their subject. This creates an arrogance that’s hard to listen to. Do better than this. You can get your subject to contribute if you ask them to tell you anything you may not have brought up. If you rephrase questions (while maintaining curiosity) you may find unexpected answers.
Consult with a team that loves learning someone’s “why”
Sometimes, you may need to bring aboard a team that’s experienced in the interviewing process. At Blueforest Studios, we love to get to the bottom of “why” people do the things they love. We start with the “why” to truly uncover the valuable story, and we use the most professional means of doing it. Schedule a chat with us and we can connect you with the best resources to create a phenomenal interview video.