Interviews are just a fact of life for those of us who shoot video. At some point, we’ll either choose to or find ourselves talked into shooting one at some point. Or, perhaps it’s your goal. Maybe you want to learn how to film interviews or you’re already doing it but feel you could get a bit more out of them and want to step up your game a little? Well, have a watch of this video from Jono and Jason. In the video, Jason walks us through the process of shooting a more cinematic style of interview, from picking your shooting location, through composition and lighting to getting the best audio. They’re a small channel just starting out, but if they keep putting out content like this, I think they’ll do quite well.
In each step of the video, we’re presented with not only the choices made but the reasons behind those choices, which provides some insight into how you can adapt the advice offered to your particular needs and interview goals. Each section contains a bunch of different little mini tips including a few that you might not even have considered – like not forcing yourself to use tech or techniques you’re not completely comfortable with. It’s usually much better to take the “safe” approach than to try to overcomplicate things you haven’t practised!
If you want to skip to specific steps, here are the timestamps…
0:40 STEP 1: Location1:36 STEP 2: Composition2:58 STEP 3: Camera Settings3:34 STEP 4: Lighting4:55 STEP 5: Audio
Whether you’re new to shooting interviews or you’ve been doing it for a while, and even if you’re not particularly looking to shoot a cinematic style, the video’s well worth a watch to pick up a few extra tips that you might not have considered before that you can apply to the kinds of interviews you do want to shoot. For some more interview shooting tips, have a watch of this. Do you shoot interviews? What’s your top tip?
