Is this Mic Live? Compelling Interview Video Production

Capturing interview videos to tell a story or drive an initiative

As Austin video producers, we get to meet a lot of interesting people from all walks of life. Sometimes we meet the actual movers and shakers in our awesome city. Such was the case for a recent project that had us moving around town to capture eleven compelling interview videos.

Many parts of the community, businesses and city government are working together to train and "up skill" the Austin area workforce in key areas: medical, IT, manufacturing, and skilled trades. As our city grows (and grows and grows), we'll need a skilled workforce to keep up with demand and fill these crucial "middle skill" jobs.

Use testimonial and interview videos to speak to the "heart" of the matter

For this interview video production project, we talked to Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, the CEO of Workforce Solutions, the president of Goodwill Industries Central Texas, the president of Austin Community College, and many other community workforce training leaders as they come together for this initiative.

Some of the interview spaces were big and enabled us to set up and light the scene like a TV interview. But some spaces were fairly cramped and we had to be minimalist in our approach to the scene.

The interview videos from each unique perspective were the most important element in telling the collective story. The same three questions yielded very different answers from our eleven on-camera subjects.

Our two-camera approach gave us an option of a medium shot or a close-up. The seamless cutting between soundbites crafted the overall message.

The collective initiative to educate, train, and place workers yielded three separate programs that featured the community leader testimonial videos. The final results were shown on the big screen at a local movie theater during a gala event celebrating the first year of the initiative.

Video is a perfect way to train your workforce and spread your mission to your stakeholders

Best results always come from a professional, but low-key vibe on-set. We accomplished that by getting to each location early and pre-lighting the scene. The subjects could sit down, get mic'ed up and GO. Our preparation made the process simple.