Pre-Interviewing For Video Testimonies

Many churches use video testimonies in their services to tell powerful stories of redemption and restoration, stories of God at work. The pre-interview is an important step in capturing these stories. The pre interview is a chance to ask your questions before the day of the recording.

This gives you a clear sense of the story. The last thing you want is to have a vague notion of the testimony only to find out the day of the shoot it is completely different. It also reveals new narrative threads to possibly pull at. In the end, the pre-interview verifies that the story you want is the story you’ll get. Schedule a free consultation session with me if you want coaching on video storytelling. I would love to help you succeed. Below are ten best practices to nail the pre-interview. 

1. Start With Story - What is the story you want to capture and convey? You need to know this before you move forward with any additional work, because the story dictates everything. Now when I say you need to know the story I am talking about the big picture. Not all the details, just the 30,000 foot view. You need to be able to express what you are trying to capture in four basic sentences. A solid structure for these sentences is background, problem, solution, and resolution. If you are looking to grow in this skill then here is your homework assignment: condense a popular two hour film to these four sentences. Then use those sentences to explain the film to a friend and see if they know which one you’re describing.
2. Get Alignment On Story - Alignment needs to happen between three parties to verify everyone is on the same page. Client, subject and producer. Client, the one requesting the story. Subject, the one telling the story. And the producer, the one crafting the story. A simple email to the client and subject with the four sentence description of the story will suffice. Once you have alignment across these three parties you can move forward in the process. If you don’t have alignment you are throwing darts in the dark. You are hoping to stumble upon a story that everyone is pleased with. Which rarely happens without alignment.
3. Develop Your Questions - This process involves a little bit of reverse engineering. You have identified where you want to go, story. Now you need to identify how to get there, questions. I usually write down the types of answers I am looking for from the subject. Then I craft a question that will elicit that response. Side note: your questions should be short and open ended. Keeping them short allows the subject to retain their train of thought. Asking open ended questions avoids the dreaded one word response.
4. Get Feedback On Questions - Get the client to sign off on the questions and potential answers. This step helps you keep alignment. You might also want to get feedback from another trusted storyteller. Someone who could add a little polish to your questions before you ask them. As an advanced step you might want to develop alternative versions of your questions. Sometimes a phrase or sentence structure can hang up or freeze the subject. When this happens you can just pull out your alternative version which gets them back on track. An example might be “tell me your testimony”. Your subject might not be familiar with the word “testimony” and have no idea what you mean. At this point you can pull out your alternative and say “tell me how God has changed you”.
5. Type Out Answers - This might be one of those obvious steps but I feel inclined to include it because I’ve skipped it in the past, and have suffered the consequences. So when you are conducting your pre-interview don’t forget to type out the answers to the questions. I would also encourage you to type over the phone instead of in person. Typing out answers to personal questions in person can be off-putting. The subject can feel like they are dictating a legal deposition. If they do, their answers become stiff. If you quietly type over the phone, they are unaware and the answers become natural. Typing out the answers allows you to pass on your work to another producer if needed. It also allows you to present the answers to the client.
6. Don’t Give Out The Questions - After you finish the pre interview the subject often asks for a copy of the questions. They will want to look over the questions to prep before the day of the shoot. Do not do this. Do not email the questions to the subject. If you do, they will try to memorize their answers. And this will take all the spontaneity and authenticity out of their responses.
7. Discuss Logistics - Another thing to do at the end of the pre interview is discuss logistics. Logistics like wardrobe, shooting date, time and location. Location is key to discuss because you want a place that visually tells the story and is emotionally safe for the subject. So if it’s a story about a financial guru blowing the whistle on misappropriation of funds, then shooting in front of the stock exchange would visually tell the story. But the subject might not feel comfortable conducting this sensitive interview outdoors on Wall Street. So you have to balance a location that visually tells the story and is emotionally safe.
8. Discuss B-Roll - B-roll is supplemental footage or photos inserted as a cutaway to help visually tell the story. Let’s go back to our stockbroker as an example. If we interview him in front of the stock exchange, we need to get b-roll of the iconic bronze bull statue. Also ask the subject for personal footage or photos that tell the story. The stockbroker may talk about a keen understanding of numbers from an early age. They may have glowing report cards from elementary school that you can capture as b-roll for this moment. Capture and collect as much b-roll that helps to tell the story.
9. State Shareability - This testimony video will be shown in your service, but you’ll also want to share it online to reach as many people as possible. So you need to let the subject know that you are going to share their powerful story in service and online. Stating this upfront avoids the shock of the story living beyond Sunday. If the subject is unwilling to share their story beyond Sunday then we should be unwilling to capture it. Video testimonies involve a lot of resources and should be produced only if they have the fullest range of distribution. But I have found that if you start with this step, it can scare away potential stories. If you wait until after the pre-interview has finished to state shareability you get buy-in. This is because you didn’t have anything salacious in the pre-interview. You didn’t use any got-ya questions or tabloid journalism. Instead you demonstrated a sensitivity to the subject and a care for their story in the way you have framed the questions.
10. Get Alignment On Answers - Sharing your typed out answers allows the client one last check-in before you go to the shoot. This check-in verifies that the story you are going to capture is the one in your client’s mind. If there is a disconnect, you need to identify it before the day of the shoot. Because after you hit record, your ability to craft the story becomes radically reduced. You can still shape the story when you edit, but at this point it is minimal. Getting alignment on answers also allows the client to highlight any particular answer or phrase that is key to capture for the story.

So those are my ten best practices to nail the pre interview. Send an email to benstapley@gmail.com and let me know what steps I missed. I would love to hear from you and learn from you. And schedule a free consultation session with me if you want video storytelling coaching. I would love to help you succeed. In the end we want to tell powerful stories of redemption and restoration – stories of God at work. So hopefully these steps will give you a clearer sense of the story that God is calling you to tell.