We’re not talking about butts you want to see. We’re talking about investing significant time in setting up a shot and then sacrificing soundbites because someone’s grandma strolled so slowly through the background, her butt became the star attraction. Butts are just one of several things to consider when choosing a good interview location. Here are six tips on choosing interview locations:
- Pick a visual background. Offices with bookcases or conference rooms with plants are not visual backgrounds.
- Select a visual background related to the topic. A ferris wheel is visual, but it doesn’t relate to an interview about a company creating cool corn dogs.
- Choose a big area to shoot the interview. You need to fit in the space camera equipment, the interviewee, the interviewer, micromanaging executives, their support staff and nosey co-workers who want to make distracting faces behind the camera. And people providing interviews while pressed up against walls is often unattractive.
- Pick a quiet place with little to no background traffic. Too often, a person’s awesome answer to an interview question doesn’t work because an oblivious co-worker slowly strolled into the background, making their butt the star attraction.
- When shooting indoors, avoid locations with lots of outside light streaming indoors. Mixing indoor and outdoor lights can create havoc and harsh shadows.
- Select an indoor location where you can turn off overhead lights. In some office complexes, you can’t easily shut off overhead lighting without also shutting down half the city’s power grid. Overhead lights can create unflattering shadows or hinder attempts at artistic lighting. Several times, we asked people to unscrew light bulbs with no obvious, corresponding light switches. Yes, someone may need to climb a ladder. We’ve also covered unwanted light with heat-absorbent material.