Expert Tips on Creative Talking Head Video Interview Shoots

Video is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that can be used across virtually any vertical and for all industries. The talking head video has been proven to increase conversions, boost audience trust, and increase reach for businesses and brands. These expert tips on Creative Talking Head Video interview shoots provide everything you need to understand in order to achieve success with a talking head video.

At Beverly Boy Productions we realize the power of producing talking head videos in which the subject is the absolute center of attention. While these videos might initially come across as relatively simple to produce, it’s important to know that they are incredibly complex and that there is so much more that goes into producing a talking head video beyond simple point-n-shoot tactics. If you’re interested in producing expert talking head videos that showcase your subject matter experts, CEO, or other key people of importance in relation to your brand, give us a call.

Meanwhile, we’ve put together the following tips on lighting, camera framing, location planning and video planning to assist you in the process of producing Creative Talking Head Video concepts that are in line with those that our expert team produces on a daily basis.

Talking Head Video Planning Tips

Before you decide to shoot a talking head video, planning is going to be an essential step. Creative Talking Head Video interview production is largely about the planning that goes into the video ahead of time. As you’re planning your video, consider the following important tips to ensure a Creative Talking Head Video outcome:

• Choose a subject that will appear confident on camera.
• Provide your subject with topic details, or a list of questions so that they can think about their responses ahead of time, but encourage them not to rehearse their responses fully.
• Avoid the use of a script for your interview. Ideally, the interview should appear more natural and unrehearsed.
• Make sure that you have thought about how your video is going to help you reach your target goals and objectives.
• Consider the tone of the video carefully. It should match the goals and underlying objectives of the interview.

By planning first, you’re going to find that producing a Creative Talking Head Video interview comes about more confidently and that your video turns out more professional in the long run.

Set Ground Rules on Set Before Filming

It doesn’t matter how creative your talking head video is, if you don’t set ground rules on set before you begin filming, you’re guaranteed to come across a number of snags along the way. What kind of ground rules are we talking about? Consider the following:

• Make sure all members of the set turn off their cell phones ahead of the shoot.
• Explain to your subject how the talking head video interview will work, that you will ask the question once, and then that they should repeat your question in their answer.
• Make it clear that some things, such as “ums” “ands” or similar dialect can be removed in post-production editing. Let your subject know that it’s okay to take a moment to speak, too.

Plan 2-3 Camera Placement

Ideally, you’re going to have at least two cameras on set if you’re producing a Creative Talking Head Video interview. The first camera, your primary camera, will be positioned so that it captures the subject either in close-up format or from a distance. You’ll have to decide ahead of time which visual is more appropriate for your interview so that you can plan placement of the other camera, or cameras accordingly.

Depending on how many cameras you have, you’ll want the following shots:

• A close up shot of your subject.
• An alternate eye line shot of your interviewer.
• A classic off-camera eye line shot of your subject.

Make sure that the eye line shots of your subject are in line with one another regardless of where you position your cameras and that all cameras shooting your subject are on the same side of the 180-degree line.

Choose a Film Location

One of the things that will make a Creative Talking Head Video interview so exciting to watch is the location that it is filmed at. If you’re aiming for absolute creativity, make sure that you choose a film location that is easily coordinated with the topic of the interview, but avoid things like green screening or filming in a location that is going to have  a lot of distractions.

Creative film locations are great, as long as they don’t take away from the value of your shot or your interview. If you can’t get real creative with your filming location, you can get creative with your questions, your lighting and audio, and your post-production effects.

Incorporate Creative Elements

The most Creative Talking Head Video interview shoots are those that incorporate creative animated text features, post-production features, and similar elements such as sound and audio clips or b-roll.

Before you film your video, think about how creative you can get with your b-roll and any other features that you’ll include so that you can have a planned approach of attack.