Why most video interviews fall flat: 10 tips to fix it
The interview is where a video lives or dies.
Not the camera, not the edit.
If the person across from you is stiff, rehearsed, or reading talking points, no amount of b-roll saves it.
On episode 8 of Lights, Camera, Communicate, Amer Tadayon and I talked with Rocky Walls, co-founder of 12 Stars Media, about how to have a real conversation with someone on camera. Rocky has spent almost 20 years doing this, from employee spotlights to documentary films.
Here's what he does, pulled straight from the conversation.
1. Make it a conversation, and make yourself the thing they focus on
The interviewee can't ignore the camera. So stop asking them to.
Rocky's job before a single question is to get every distraction out of the way, then put his full attention on the person. If someone else can run the camera and sound, let them, so you can stay locked on the interviewee. If it's just you, set everything up so it's handled and forgotten.
Then say it out loud. "I am here because I wanna have a great conversation with you." He also gives people an explicit out: "You don't owe me anything in this interview." That permission lowers the stakes before they've said a word.
2. Run a pre-interview. It does most of the work.
Almost everything good in an interview was set up before the camera arrived.
Rocky does a pre-interview call with nearly everyone he films. It's basically a rehearsal of the real conversation. He walks through most of the questions he'll ask on camera, and by the end the person realizes they already know the answers. The nerves drop. So does the request for a script.
If a call isn't possible, do the next best thing over email. The point is to let them picture what the room will feel like before they're in it.
3. When someone asks for talking points, hear what they're really saying
Every communicator has had an executive or subject ask for bullet points, talking points, or a full script. The instinct is to get cynical about it. Don't.
They're not asking for a script. They're asking to feel prepared, and a script is the only tool they know to ask for. Rocky's reference point is the Henry Ford line: ask people what they want and they'll say a faster horse. Your job is to give them the real answer, which is the pre-interview, not the page of bullets.
4. Clear everyone non-essential out of the room
Anyone who doesn't need to be there is hurting your interview.
Rocky was in Madrid filming seven people back to back, and the program director wanted all seven in the room to hear each other. He said no. He could see people's eyes darting around, reading whether their peers approved of an answer. The irony: when it was the director's turn, she got rattled by someone else in the room and snapped at them. Point made.
Keep it to the essential crew. They stay invisible. Everyone else is an audience, and an audience changes how people answer.
5. Listen for three things: choices, emotion, and uncertainty
This is the move that separates a real interview from reading your question list.
While the person talks, Rocky listens hard for three signals, and follows every one of them:
Choices or decisions. When someone mentions a choice they made, ask why. It hands the story back to them.
Emotion words. "Excited," "frustrated," anything with feeling behind it. Answer it with "tell me more about that."
Uncertainty. Goals, deadlines, ambitions, unknowns. Dig in, and tie it to emotion: "What happens if you don't make it? How will you feel?"
His reasoning: emotion, uncertainty, and decisions are what every movie we love is built on. They're what make a story worth watching, so they're what you chase in an interview.
6. "Tell me more" works. Don't lean on it.
The best follow-ups aren't on your question list. They come from actually listening, and "tell me more" is the simplest one.
But say it three times in a row and it's obvious you've checked out. Rocky calls that lazy interviewing. Use it to open a door the person already cracked, not as a reflex.
7. Never ask someone to "say it again"
Sometimes you need a cleaner take, a corrected name, a tighter version of a great answer. The worst way to get it is asking them to repeat what they said. The first thing out of their mouth will be "there's no way I can say it like I just did."
Rocky's fix: give them permission to start fresh. He tells people to pretend he has short-term memory loss and completely forgot what they said. Don't try to match it word for word. Just talk about it again. They relax, and you get a clean version.
8. Decide whether video is even the right medium
Video is expensive, slow, and hard. So before you make one, be sure it's doing something only video can do.
Rocky uses one purpose statement for every project, including feature films:
My audience will [do, know, or feel] ______ after watching this, because ______.
Fill in the blanks honestly. If your answer is "my audience will know about the new policy," and an email would do that just as well, make the email and save everyone the trouble. If your answer is "feel proud, because we show an employee who's also a patient using our medicine," that's a video.
A talking-head clip that exists only to deliver information is usually the wrong call. Unless the visual genuinely matters (a new leader, an M&A moment that needs a face), the message probably belongs in writing.
9. B-roll can come first, but it's not a shortcut for rapport
A common production question: when do you shoot b-roll, before or after the interview?
Rocky used to shoot it after, because the interview gave him the ideas. Now that he does heavy pre-production, he'll happily shoot b-roll well before the interview. Shooting it first can even build some comfort with the crew.
What it can't do is replace the pre-interview conversation. Those are two different environments and they get you two different things. A documentary filmmaker he respects put it well: he never turns the camera on the first time he meets a subject. They just get coffee and talk.
10. If you can't treat the subject with respect, don't make the video
Rocky was once asked by a client to make testimonial videos featuring employees praising the exact things a feedback survey had flagged as problems. Find people who'll say the vacation policy is great, specifically because the survey said it wasn't.
His response: "So you want us to gaslight your employees?" He passed on the project.
Here’s the test he offers. If you can't run the pre-interviews, can't honor the person's experience, can't make sure they'll be comfortable and respected, that's a real signal you shouldn't be making the video at all. Feeding the content beast isn't a good enough reason to steamroll a person.
The short version
Prepare people through conversation, not scripts. Listen for the choices, emotion, and uncertainty in their answers. Make yourself the thing they focus on, not the lens. And before any of it, be honest about whether the story even needs video. Do that, and the interview stops being the scary part.
Watch the full episode of Lights, Camera, Communicate for the rest, including Rocky's bakery, his goldfish-and-orange-soda art, and the running argument about Old Bay Goldfish.
FAQ
How do you get a nervous person to relax on camera? Take the pressure off before you start. Set up all the equipment so it's out of the way, give the person your full attention, and tell them plainly that they don't owe you anything and can hold back whatever they want. Most of the work happens in a pre-interview conversation that lets them picture the experience before they're in it.
Should you send interview questions ahead of time? Yes, but in a conversation, not as a script. Rocky runs a pre-interview that walks through most of the real questions. By the end, people realize they can answer everything without notes, which removes the urge to memorize talking points.
When should you capture b-roll, before or after the interview? Either works. Shooting b-roll first can build rapport with the crew. It doesn't replace a pre-interview conversation, which does the real work of putting someone at ease.
How do you know if something should be a video at all? Use the purpose statement: my audience will do, know, or feel something after watching, because of what's in it. If a written email or a graphic would land the same way, use that instead. Save video for messages that need emotion or a visual to work.
What should you never say in a video interview? "Ignore the camera" or "pretend the camera isn't there." Nobody can, and saying it just reminds them the camera exists. Focus them on you, the interviewer, instead.
Written by Chuck Gose, founder of ICology.