5 Tips to a Great Interview

There are many components that make up a good interview.  Throughout my years of convergence, I have found these five points crucial to improving the overall look and sound of an interview: good lighting,  prompting your interviewee with proper response etiquette, rule of thirds, shot composition,  and location of the interview.

Good lighting is essential to making the look of the interview more professional.  If your interview is well lit, then the overall quality of your interview will improve exponentially.  The best lighting is when you find a natural source of light and set up your interviewee so they are looking into the light.  This prevents the interviewees face from being shadowed and makes their face well lit and bright, bringing the attention of the audience to the subject.

To get the best answers from your interviewee you need to inform them of proper interview etiquette. Remind your interviewee to restate the questions you ask and to not look directly into the camera, but instead look at the person who is asking the questions (this person should be off to the side, not directly behind the camera).  Also, if there is available time, give your interviewee the questions you have written to ask them so they can look over them and feel more prepared with their answers before you ask the questions.  This also makes the interviewee more comfortable and confident throughout their answers, increasing your chance of getting better clips from them.

When you are setting up your shot before your interviewee arrives, it is important to remember the rule of thirds.  You want to set up your shot so that your subject is not directly in the center, but on one of the lines in the rule of thirds.  The rule of thirds splits up every shot into three sections horizontally and vertically, and  you should always position your subject on those imaginary lines.


Have your interviewee sit down in a chair, this will make them more natural and prevent them from swaying back and forth.  Make sure you set up your interview so that your interviewee is looking off the side where there is more space in the shot.  So if you set your interviewee up on the left of the shot have them looking to the right.  It is important to make these shots rather tight on your subject in order to create a more sleek look.  Make sure that you do not leave ample space above your subject's head, cutting off a little bit of the top of a subject's head is ok.

It is important to determine the location of the interview that is pertinent to the story line.  For example, when I did my package over boys on the drill team, I interviewed their coach while the band and drill team was practicing, providing a relevant background.  If you capture your interview
in an interesting setting it will make your package better.