How to choose the best location for a video interview
In an ideal world, your filming location perfectly matches your subject, like a circus master inside the Big Top or a marine biologist on their boat. In reality you’re often stuck with a bland meeting room or tiny office. You can’t always pick a dream location, but you must get a few key things right so your audience listens to what your interviewee is saying, rather than being distracted by where they’re standing. Here’s what to consider when choosing your filming location.
Recce your video interview location
Step away from your desk and go and look at your possible interview locations in advance. Take photos or video to check how they look on camera. Make sure you visit at the same time of day that you’re planning on filming to see how busy and noisy they are.
Inside vs outside filming
If your video has an obvious filming location eg. you’re interviewing an artist and you know you’ll want to film them in a studio, great. If not, you’ll need to decide whether to film your interviews outside or inside, and the key things to consider are sound and light. Outside filming locations can look more interesting. However, when you’re inside you have more control over background noise and your light is less likely to change as the sun goes in and out on a cloudy day. If you choose an outside location, listen before you record. Distracting sounds can ruin your video. I used to do a lot of filming in West London, directly under the Heathrow flightpath. Stopping every six minutes for planes to fly over is guaranteed to ruin your interview.
Beware of filming in offices
If you plan to film inside, interviewees will often suggest you film in an office or a boardroom. Proceed with caution. Most office rooms are small, badly lit and contain ugly furniture. Boardrooms have the benefit of being larger but are usually empty apart from a large table which takes up most of the space. If you can, move the furniture around. Ideally your subject would have plenty of space behind them to give you a good depth of field. If you do need to film in a boardroom, dress the space. A nice lamp or flowers next to the person you’re interviewing will make the location less stark. And a good videographer will be able to light the space to make it look more interesting.
Consider communal spaces
Atriums or communal spaces are often a lot more visually interesting. However, on the downside it can be hard to stop people walking through these spaces and interrupting. If this is your best option, film first thing in the morning when the space is quiet and post people at the door to stop anyone interrupting.
Control your environment
Turn off any harsh overhead lights. If you’re filming in a lab or anywhere that has machinery running, ask if you can turn it off while you record. The same goes for music if you’re filming in a cafe. Check the shot for anything distracting in the background eg. unusual objects on a bookshelf or something outside the window. Check your interviewee. Do they have a lanyard you might want to remove? Have they had a chance to check their hair and face? I once recorded a brilliant piece to camera with a reporter, only to discover when I watched it back that their flies were undone. We couldn’t use it. If interviewees are nervous about how they look, I’ll often take a quick snap to show how they appear in the shot. Good to go? Press record.
