Filming the perfect Interview

Filming an interview can be one of the most amazing and fun things in the world, that’s, if you ACTUALLY KNOW what you are doing.

Most amateurs have everything that’s essential for filming an interview—passion, dedication, great interest, ability to put in long hours etc. What they lack is the knowledge of various small techniques and “tricks of the trade” that enable you to film the perfect interview. And believe me, these techniques and tricks are no rocket science, so anyone who has an interest in filming interviews can very easily learn them and voila! A perfect interview.

This article will give you some hints and tips about filming an interview in the most perfect manner. It will also focus on the various techniques and, as mentioned above, tricks of the interview filming trade that let you film the perfect on-screen interview.

Sound Quality
Most amateurs make the mistake of not giving due importance to sound quality and, consequently, end up with a recorded interview that would have been perfect if it weren’t for terrible sound. A lot of amateurs make the mistake of not spending enough money on sound equipment and merely focusing on video quality. Awful sound is bound to ruin the whole interview, so it’s utterly necessary that you use good quality microphones for filming an interview.

It’s best to use radio or clip-on microphones for filming an interview. These microphones not only reduce chances of unwanted sounds being recorded, but also help you to conduct the interview in a much more relaxed and natural manner.

Framing Shots
Properly framing your shots is the key to filming a perfect interview. Most amateurs do not realize the importance of properly framing their shots, probably because they know that the audience often doesn’t notice the difference between a “nicely” framed shot and a “superbly” framed one and can’t tell one from the other, so most amateurs don’t pay much attention to shot framing. What they don’t realize and consider is that the audience can most definitely tell the difference between a nicely framed shot and a badly framed one. Thus, it’s essential to pay close attention to framing your shots. A very good and fairly easy technique to properly frame your shots is to use the “rule of thirds.”

In the rule of thirds, you divide your frame into nine equal sections by drawing two horizontal and two vertical imaginary lines (imaginary being the operative word) across the frame. You get a frame that’s divided into thirds both vertically and horizontally. Now, you can very easily place the various subjects in the frame where they suit the most by using these thirds. It’s always advisable not to place subjects right in the middle of the frame. It’s also prudent to have the horizon either two thirds from the top of the frame or two thirds from the bottom of the frame.

Another very important thing to bear in mind is to give your interviewee looking room. For instance, if your interviewee is looking over to the right of the frame, you should move him/her further to the left of the frame. This is done to give your interviewee room for moving his/her head while talking and to prevent him/her from entirely disappearing from the frame while doing so. The same is true for the interviewer if he/she is to be shown in the shots.

Number of Cameras
It’s always better to use more than one camera for filming an interview. You can either use two or three cameras for this purpose. But this does not mean that you can’t film an interview with a single camera at all. Desperate times ask for desperate measures, and you can film an interview with a single camera in desperate times. We are talking about the ideal situation here. It’s better to use two cameras for filming an interview—one for filming at a wide angle and the other to take close ups of the interviewee. In case the interviewer is also being shown in the shots, it’s preferable to use three cameras—first one for the wide angle shot, second one for the interviewee’s close ups and the third one for the close ups of the interviewer.

Uniform Camera Image Quality
An essential thing in filming an interview is to keep the camera image quality consistent and uniform. Not only should all shots taken by any particular camera be similar to one another in image quality, but if you are using more than one camera, all shots taken by all the cameras should have uniform image quality.

This could be achieved by manually setting white balance, focus, light exposure, etc. in the camera or cameras. Doing so will greatly help in keeping the image quality of all shots of the interview as uniform as possible.
The tips, tricks and techniques discussed above can greatly help you in filming an interview in the best possible way.