I am looking forward to getting the ball rolling on your video project! One thing to note is that we are happy to coordinate as much of the logistics as is feasible. Just let us know how we can best help.

I would also like to remind you of the importance that we be included in the visioning an planning decisions for this project. Remember that we are here as your expert to collaborate with. The planning stage is critical to the outcome of the final video, so we wish to be part of that process in order to provide you with the best product possible.

Moving forward, these are a few important considerations:

Interviews

For most projects, interviews play a key role. Finding the right person (or people) to interview can make or break the video so it’s important to give it some serious consideration as early in the planning process as possible.  First and foremost, they should have an interesting story to tell that serves to make the point you’re trying to communicate to the audience?  The person must also be comfortable opening up about the topic on camera.

Besides finding the right person, some thought must also be given to finding the best place to film the interview.  The space needs to be quiet and free of distractions during the interview.  It should be a fairly large room.  Small offices are difficult to film an interview in.  Finally, we want an aesthetically pleasing space with an interesting background.  Bare white walls do not make for a great video backdrop.

To help ensure that both the person and location will work well for the video, we will often visit the location and person ahead of time.

We strongly encourage that one person be interviewed at a time. Interviewing multiple people at once complicates things considerably, increasing the cost and set-up time. Usually Matt or another Mustard Seed Cinema team member will be the one to conduct the interview. Let us know if you would prefer that someone from your organization conduct the interview. If you are on set for the interview, we always open it up at the end of the interview to see if the client or the team has any additional questions. Usually in the planning stage we will create a shared list of questions to base the interview on so we’re clear about what we want to cover. We have found that sharing this list with the interviewee ahead of time can cause them to create a script in their mind and then come off less natural and honest in the interview. For this reason, we prefer to just give them the general topics and parts of their story that we’ll be discussing but not specific questions, emphasizing that it’s just a conversation. Vary rarely is the interviewer and their questions used in the edited video.

Scheduling Considerations

As we create the shooting schedule, we must consider the natural light.  The time of day is very important for lighting purposes when filming outside.  The best time to film is the first couple of hours after sunrise and the last couple of hours before sunset.  Therefore, it’s best to plan on filming outside at the beginning and end of the day and move indoors during the middle of the day when possible.

Interviews usually take 20 to 40 minutes once started.  We must also allow one hour to set up for the interview and about 30 minutes to tear down.  For this reason, it can save time to cluster multiple interviews around the same time and space so less time is spent setting up and tearing down gear, leaving more time for filming.

Besides interviews, the other part of the filming process is capturing B-roll, or supplemental footage (usually without audio) to help us tell the story visually. This is often seen while hearing someone speak in the final video. During the planning stage, we will likely brainstorm some ideas for activities and locations to film B-roll. Most of our filming days will be a combination of both interviews and B-roll.

The filming dates need to be scheduled and confirmed a MINIMUM of one week ahead of time.

Let us know if you have any questions.

-Matt Linderman