What to Ask a Manager: Interview Preparation Video & Your Body Language

Managers can help with a lot of the ins and outs of preparing for a video interview, whether it’s an expert interview, client interview, or something entirely different. One of the key areas of focus that many mangers speak on in terms of preparing for a video interview is to think carefully about how you portray yourself on camera. Specifically, if you’re been selected for an interview, it pays to know what to ask a manager. Interview preparation for video content can take some time.

If you’re not focused on how your body language is responding to interviewer questions, you could make visible, nonverbal cues that will tell the interviewer and your audience, that you’re thinking or feeling something entirely different than what you might be saying or admitting to.

To help you understand when to ask a manager for Interview Preparation Video support, we’ve put together a list of some of the most important things that you should consider before you attend a video interview shoot. Primarily, you need to focus on your body language and how it tells your story.

Look At the Interviewer Directly

Most of the time, your video interview is going to be filmed with the interviewer sitting either right next to the camera or just barely offset from it. This way, you can look directly at the interviewer, and you’ll also be looking at the camera. The idea is, for your interview to come across as if it was you speaking directly to the audience on the other side of the camera itself.

If you look away, look around, or have a tendency to look away from the interviewer, you’re also going to be looking away from the camera. The result is going to be a video interview that appears more like you’re disengaged and uninterested in what you’re sharing which will make your audience less engaged, too.

Let Your Posture Show Your Confidence

You probably don’t need anyone to tell you that confidence is important in an interview, but if you ask a manager, an Interview Preparation Video is going to almost always focus on visibly recording the subject and his or her posture will be key. You won’t look confident if you’re not sitting up straight, looking at the camera, and showing signs that you are alert, engaged, and interested.

This means you shouldn’t be slouching your shoulders,  you should not be sitting back in your seat, and you definitely want to be sure not to be acting like you’re not concerned with the speaker in front of you. Leaning towards the interviewer is a great way to show further interest.

Minimize Hand Gestures

Body language can say a lot, but when it comes to filming a video interview, we want to keep your hand and body gestures to a minimum. Instead of using your hands to talk, you should focus on using your language. If you feel like you need to be bolder or bigger, speak more robustly and powerfully. Instead of a monotone voice, aim for more of a monotone body while your voice does the heavy lifting.

Hand gestures can get mixed up in the translation of your video interview so it’s best to keep them out. However, the occasional hand movement or gesture is perfectly fine. In fact, if you didn’t move at all, it would look weird!

Keep Your Arms & Legs Down Naturally

You can ask a manager, Interview Preparation Video posture is largely about keeping your arms and legs naturally to your side or down. You don’t want to have your arms crossed looking like you’re mad, and you don’t want to cross your legs because when you uncross them it’s going to shift the framing of the camera. Instead, ask the manager or film director what they want. They might provide you with a box or a target to place your feet at so that you can feel comfortable knowing exactly where they want you to be.

At Beverly Boy Productions we produce hundreds of video interviews and work with clients to understand the importance of their body language and how it impacts the results of their filmed interviews. To learn more, give us a call!