8 Ways to Make Your Corporate Video Interviews Better

Corporate video interviews can be a really great way of telling people about you and your business. They give you more time to talk about the key messages you want to get across. You can also use them to indirectly raise – and overcome – potential objections that you know exist when people are looking at your company as a supplier they might want to engage with.

Well-produced, well-shot, and well-edited corporate interviews can also add personality to your business. A great-looking video can build engagement and give clients – both new and old – a different perspective and insight into who you are and what you do.

“So what?” you might well ask.

The point of a corporate video is to help to build trust. In you. In your staff. In your company. And in what you do.

In a day and age when reviews can be left anywhere (by anyone) and research into you and your company can be done at the touch of a button, this is a great opportunity to tell people a bit more about who you are and what you do, while showing them the whites of your eyes at the same time.

But what can you do to make your interviews more interesting? Here are a few ideas from us

1. Make sure the interviewee includes the question in their response. Cut the interviewer out of it entirely and then you can use the soundbites from the person talking as stand-alone pieces of content.
2. Make sure the interviewee looks at the person asking the questions, not straight to the camera. This feels more natural and – in our opinion – authentic. It makes the viewer feel like they’re observing an honest and genuine conversation, rather than being talked at directly, as can be the case when the subject looks straight down the lens.
3. Use more than one camera. Not only does this make editing the interview easier, but it gives it some variety and makes it more interesting to watch. We will often have the second camera on a motorised slider as it helps to add some very slow movement to that second shot, and frame both shots differently to provide some variety for the viewers.
4. Keep rolling. If at all possible, start the cameras recording before the interview subject sits down. You may need to get them to sit down to help you get the framing and sound levels right, but then ask them to get up, leave the room and walk in again. Very often some of the shots you get while they’re coming in and sitting down are great as B-roll or as part of your intro. Additionally, some of the content you get (especially when things like detailed explanations are required) when the subject thinks you’re just chatting rather than recording flows much better when people don’t realise they’re being recorded!
5. Use B-roll (and make it pretty). Just watching an interview made up entirely of the same person on camera is boring. The viewer will switch off.  You need to vary the content and this is done by adding what is called ‘B Roll’ footage. This is ‘cutaway’ footage which can be used to illustrate the points being made in the interview – shots of the offices, the team or your product. When you place the voiceover audio over the top, it brings the video to life, and also hides footage of the speaker that needs to be edited.
6. Think about taping over the red light on the front. As we mentioned above, some people don’t give the best content when they feel under pressure, and seeing a big red light can cause panic in the calmest of people! If you cover the light up, the speaker automatically feels more at ease.  It all helps!
7. Try and use a boom mic instead of a lapel one. Sometimes the environment you’re filming in means this isn’t possible, but not having a mic in the shot (even a well-hidden lapel one) just makes the shot nicer looking in our opinion.
8. Don’t script the answers. We usually start by working out with our clients what the key messages are that they want to convey.  We then write questions that will enable these points to come out in the answers naturally so that the speaker appears truly authentic.

If you have any questions about what to include in your next corporate video, we’d love to hear from you so please get in touch with us at hello@allyandmo.com. And if you’re looking for inspiration for what video content to shoot yourself, take a look at our guide.