Think of your next video as a feature film. Whether your video is for marketing & sales, training or motivation, each character in your video has a role – and that’s a good thing.
When you assign a person a role, you’re giving them parameters. They know what to expect and they know how they fit into the bigger picture.
Imagine your company is producing a video. Your boss comes to you and says, “Sue, you’re going to be in the marketing video for the new widget. We’re shooting at 10AM on Thursday. Be ready!” How would you feel? How would you prepare? What would you prepare?
What if your boss instead said, “Sue, we’re doing a marketing video for the new widget. We’d like to have you speak about the specific benefits for our manufacturing customers. We’re shooting at 10AM on Thursday.” Ah, that’s more like it. You know what your role is and what’s expected from you. You may even have some talking points from a recent sales piece that you can incorporate into your comments.
Many people are anxious about appearing on camera. They’re concerned about their appearance and their performance. Anything you can do to put them at ease will help you when the time comes for their interview.
You don’t want people to be too prepared. Don’t script them, but feel free to share the “big idea” of the video and what you’re hoping they can bring to the project. Don’t get me wrong – I’m going to ask everyone questions that they’re not prepared for. I often get some really interesting soundbites from these “off the cuff” questions. But I know going in that I’m going to get what I need from my interviews and anything else is a bonus.
