The strength of an organization like NECA depends on the strength of the membership.

And the strength of an interview driven video depends on the strength of the interviewees.

I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it many times again – a good video starts with good preparation. A key piece of that prep is determining who will be interviewed and identifying which pieces of the story that individual can best illustrate. It’s like putting together a puzzle, or designing a building, or inventing a new product – each piece should complement the piece next to it to create a stronger, better, more interesting and more effective whole.

Here’s a couple of quick tips for deciding whom to interview in your next video:

1) Diversity is key to a great story. This can be physical diversity, such as race or gender, diversity of roles within the company or organization, diversity of experience or point of view, or diversity of client types. The more colors you add to your story the more vivid a picture you can create.

2) Interview subjects should reflect your audience. We love great actors because we can see something in them that we also see in ourselves. Corporate video can engage in that same way and help you attract more of the types of people you’d like to surround your business or organization with.

3) Interview subjects should be natural advocates of your story. This seems pretty intuitive, but we have been on set and found ourselves coaxing answers out of a reluctant interview subject. If someone genuinely does not buy in to your story, they won’t make for a good interview. On the other hand, if they do buy in and are truly advocates of your business or organization, a good director can capture a great interview even with people who are not used to being on camera. Authenticity is more important than on camera or speaking experience.

4) It never hurts to have a sense of fun. When the production has been well prepped out, the day or days of filming should be a great experience. Your interview subjects are already expert at what they do, and a good production crew is expert as well. Have fun, joke, smile, relax. It not only makes for a better day, it makes a much better video (and creates much better results!)

Want to learn more? Give us a call . . .