Tips for Great Customer Testimonial Video Production

Looking for tips for a great customer testimonial production? You’ve come to the right place! Testimonial videos have the potential to bring your brand in front of more customers and to show them that your brand is worth trusting. We’re showing you how to produce great customer testimonial videos so that you can begin building a stronger sense of trust in your brand. Follow along, and we’ll help you with testimonial video production.

1. Don’t Skip Pre-Production

Just because it’s a testimonial and won’t have a long and drawn out script, this does not mean that you should skip pre-production altogether. A great testimonial video will begin in the steps that you take to plan. Spend 10-15 minutes before the production, interviewing the customer to get a feel for what they intend to talk about. This way, you will have an understanding of which areas of the interview you should emphasize and where you can let the video do the work.

2. Choose an Appropriate Location

Make sure you are prepared for the interview location too. All too often, a client will say there’s plenty of room for an interview, and the camera crew arrives to find that there simply is not enough room for the production to take place. Take steps to scout the area where you intend to hold the interview so that you are adequately prepared.

3. Relax Your Interviewee

If your interviewee has never been in front of a camera or lights before, there’s a good chance he or she will get very nervous once the camera starts rolling. But you can take steps beforehand to reduce this fear by helping him or her to know what to expect. Discuss the process with the interviewee beforehand so that they are more comfortable when the camera starts rolling. Make sure that you explain where you want the interviewee to look and how you would like him or her to sit. There’s nothing more uncomfortable than wondering if you’re sitting correctly or looking in the right direction of the camera.

4. Remind Interviewee to Answer a Question with the Question

Remind the interviewee that when the film footage is cut, and the final testimonial is rendered, the questions that the interviewer asks will not be included. Help them to answer your questions with a question so that the footage will make sense when the interviewer’s voice is removed. The more detailed the individual can be when answering the questions and speaking on camera, the better the final customer testimonial footage will be. The editor will certainly thank you for speaking in full, defined sentences rather than short answers.

5. Shoot with Two Cameras

There are several reasons to use two cameras. One is so that if there is anything that possibly goes wrong with the footage from one, you always have a back. The other is because this will provide two angled views to work within editing, which can make for a more interesting testimonial. Another reason for multiple camera setups is because this will allow for numerous audio setups as well, which means there will be plenty of footage to work with in editing.

6. Shoot the Interview then the B-Roll

Some like to capture b-roll before the interview, but we prefer to shoot the interview first. This way, you can capture planned shots and important conversations as you go. Shooting the interview one day and b-roll the next will allow you to supplement b-roll footage for any shots that you may have missed or that you feel would be useful alongside the interview. It’s a win-win when focusing on great customer testimonial video production.