A times, a well scripted, dramatised and creative video can help you get the intended message to an audience better. On other occasions, it is better to offer your target audience a talking-head video if you want to get you message across better. As digital marketing evolves, video will likely continue to play a key role; for example, many digital marketing jobs in London will involve the use of video to get the intended message across. In most instances, interviews given through the talking-head method are produced better by scripting the video through the ‘prompted interview’ technique. This technique can result in a simple yet highly effective video which shows one person talking to another. As social beings, we are more likely to grasp a message passed across this way.
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A Guide On How To Prepare For A Prompted Interview
If you are a newbie when it comes to taking part in a video interview, you may not understand how to bring out your best during filming. Below are some tips to help you bring out your A-game during the filming process.
Do Not Rehearse On Your Talking Points
Intuition may tell you to prepare on what you are going to tell your audience but you should resist the urge. Often, the best speakers are the ones who have an urge to prepare before going before an audience. It is true that preparing before speaking to people is sometimes productive but when it comes to video interviews, preparation is counterproductive. Preparing for queries to be asked during an interview often lead to stiff and wooden results. A speaker who has rehearsed usually sounds unconvincing to the audience. Most audiences are usually prepared to receive authentic answers and preparation can make you sound false in front of a camera.
Avoid Dressing In Certain Types Of Clothing
Audiences sometimes perceive the speaker according to what they are wearing. Below are some types of clothing to avoid.
- You should avoid adorning clothes that have random logos and slogans as they can confuse the audience. The confusion may be amplified if the slogans on the clothes do not match or are not related to the message being carried in the video.
- You should also avoid clothes with busy patterns, checks, stripes and spots. Clothes with too many detailed patterns can cause the moiré effect. This is when the camera produces images that have strange patterns on clothes.
- Do not go on camera with jewellery. Jewellery can be very noisy. During normal conversations we may fail to notice the noise caused by jewellery. However, microphones are designed to capture even the smallest sounds. Jewellery can destroy the sound quality of a video due to the sensitivity of microphones.
Trust The Person Conducting The Interview
If the interview is being conducted by a highly skilled interviewer, the talk is likely to flow like a conversation. This usually translates into answers that seem unscripted, truthful and natural. For a successful interview, trust the interviewer and follow their prompts. Even when the questions turn out to be the opposite of what you expect, just answer them as they come and go with the flow.
Go With The Flow And Do Not Be Too Guarded
Though interviews that follow a script or a line of question are expected to go smoothly, sometimes, there are insights, anecdotes and issues that can arise that could not have been planned during the pre-production process. These emerging issues in video production can make your video distinctive, unique, moving, persuasive and more original. They are also likely to be more memorable to the target audience.
Do No Rush When Answering Questions; Take Your Time
The pressure of performing in front of an audience can make a person become frightened. Fright can make a person speak faster or pause more frequently. This can make the audience view the speaker as a person who cannot perform under pressure or one who is at a loss on what to say. Speaking slowly and coherently on the other hand has been proven to create a good impression on listeners and viewers.
Ensure That You Smile During The Interview
Smiling can make you more relatable to the audience. Smiling can also make the video more engaging to the intended audience. Research done in many countries all over the world has shown that people trust people who smile more. Smiling can therefore make you more believable to your audience.
Ensure That You Show Some Emotion During The Interview
In most cases, interviewees tend to relax and open up more at the end of an interview when they feel that they have achieved their goals. Speaking from the heart can be helpful during an interview. What most interviewees see as too much expression of emotion on camera is usually more subdued than it feels. Showing emotion and genuine passion actually makes one look more human to the audience. This makes an interviewee more relatable, engaging and believable to the audience.