05/22/2026
What makes a good interview?
This photo is from an interview setup that we did on location at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia during a medical convention. We film interviews at corporate events quite a lot, and it makes sense. Conferences are some of the few times that experts or high-ranking executives from across the country are all in one place at the same time. It's the ideal situation for capturing those soundbites and social content. But where do you start?
There are a lot of factors that go into filming an interview on location. Here is our checklist for creating the perfect interview setup:
🔊 Sound - this is the top priority. The purpose of a video interview is to hear all the nuggets wisdom the speaker has to offer. If your audio is poor quality, your audience won't be able to understand (or focus on) the message. I always try to setup the interview station far away from the main action, somewhere that is quiet and ideally in it's own room.
💡Lights - the more control, the better. I always bring my own lighting setup for interviews. You want to make sure that the subject is well lit. That means not too bright where it's unflattering, not too dark where it's hard to see, and no sharp shadows that are distracting. Ideally, I try to choose a location without any windows. As much as I hate to admit it, I can't control the sun. I want a location that I can light primarily with my own lights.
🖼️ Background - busy but not distracting. A plain white wall gives you a very flat, boring video. Not only that, but it also doesn't provide any context to the interview. This could be happening at any place, with any person, about any topic. That's not versatile, it's empty. On the flip side, you don't want something overly cluttered. A wall full of picture frames can be distracting because your eye wants to look at all the different pictures. The ideal background has things in it (bookshelf, some art, etc), but doesn't draw your attention away from the subject. A good trick is placing the subject closer to the camera and farther away from the background so that you can make the background just a little blurry. That helps tell the eye where to look.
What kind of on-location interviews you've seen that really stood out to you?
