In his book detailing the birth of Pixar Animation Studios called “Creativity, Inc.”, Ed Catmull says, “Story is king.” While this little nugget of wisdom may sound simple and obvious, it is something that can easily be overlooked.
Working in video production at a church whose name is Lives Changed By Christ, my team produces a lot of life-change interviews. Over the years, we have learned a few things about what works and does not work when planning, shooting, and editing these stories.
Start with the story
We have a baptism weekend every quarter, and as part of that, baptism candidates write out their story of life change. When we are in need of a story, we often review these written stories to find the ones that we feel will translate well to video interviews. We also have an all-staff meeting each Tuesday morning where stories are shared from across all of our campuses and ministries. When a particularly interesting story is shared, our video staff follows up to get more details. Who is the person or people? How long have they been involved at the church? Would they potentially be a good interview? Is their life-change developed enough to share it with a wider audience? This process gives us an advantage because there are several levels of research going on to make sure this is a person we would want representing the ministry. With the baptism stories, we need to do a little more work to find someone in a leadership position to vet the person. This vetting process is not just to protect the ministry but also to protect the individual. If they are new in their faith or are actively in the midst of life-change, we do not want to open them up to increased scrutiny or other attacks when they are vulnerable.
Where can you gather your stories? Do you have a way to develop them? Can you create a way?
Conduct a pre-interview
Give simple instructions to the interviewee at the beginning of the shoot.
Once you have the right story and feel that the person involved is in a position to be presented on video, conduct a phone pre-interview. This step offers you the chance to flesh out the details of the story in a non-threatening environment for the interviewee. They may be less nervous and therefore, inclined to share more.
During the shoot, you then have that information to ask the right questions. It also allows you to determine whether or not the person speaks fluently enough to give a good on-camera interview.
For that reason, never promise that you are going to be shooting an interview with them before the pre-interview. Simply let them know that you are interested in their story and are calling for more information. If the pre-interview goes well, schedule the video interview. If not, thank them for their time.
For many years, I felt that talking through the story with someone before the actual interview shoot would ruin the spontaneity of the interview and make it feel rehearsed, but I have found that the benefits have certainly outweighed my concerns. If you are also worried about loosing the spontaneity, then have someone else conduct the pre-interview. You will have the information necessary, but when the actual interview comes around it will be a fresh conversation.
Shoot the interview
While “Story is king,” we must always be on the lookout for things that may detract or distract from the story. We want the audience to be paying attention to what the interviewee is saying, not how they are saying it, how they look, or what is in the background. Choose a location that is quiet and free from distractions. If the person has a nervous habit, you need to address it. Often if someone is tapping their foot or scratching their leg, they may not realize they are doing it or that is it obvious. It is much easier to stop it during the shoot than trying to fix it in post-production. Never give an interviewee a swivel chair: that's just asking for trouble. Be on the lookout for chewing gum, noisy bracelets, and foam coffee cups. If their skin is too shiny, offer some simple makeup.
Keep the instructions to the interviewee simple at the beginning of the shoot. “The audience won't hear me ask the question, so try to incorporate the question into your answer. Ignore the cameras, and just look at me. This is just a conversation between you and me.” You may need to remind certain people of these two instructions throughout the interview. You do not want to be forced to put the question up in text on the screen because you have an amazing answer with no question. And some people cannot keep their eyes off of the camera lens.
Ask for the “elevator speech”
People's lives are messy, and their stories are complex. Undoubtedly, you will end up with much more content than you can possibly use. Something that has helped us recently is at the end of an interview asking the person to give us the “elevator speech” version of their story. We ask them to imagine that we are in the elevator of a tall building, and they need to tell us a shortened version of the story in the time we have on the elevator. This can sometimes give you concise transitions to and from different parts of their story to use in the editing process.
Find the storyline
The majority of the interviews we conduct are edited down to around 90 seconds. That is not a lot of time to tell a potentially complex story. Cut a story down to its essence. You cannot possibly keep all of the details nor tell the entire story, so pick a storyline and tell that one part of the story in your video interview. This can be an incredibly difficult process. It can be helpful to have someone else watch a longer cut to help you hone in on what is the most compelling storyline. It can also be helpful to walk away from an edit for a day or so and then come back with fresh eyes.
Occasionally, it is just impossible to cut someone's story down to 90 seconds, and in those instances, we will save an interview for an occasion when a longer video is appropriate.
In the end, the story is still king, and whatever amount of time the interview fills must tell a story worth telling.
