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The official podcast of Shoemaker Films. Every week we share content related to digital marketing, video production, and brand building; and frequently meet with local creatives, entrepreneurs, and business owners for in-depth conversations. Get to know local heavy hitters and influencers in the Greater Philadelphia region while picking up some tactical advice and tips on starting and running a business, being productive, creating content, and everything in between.
Welcome to Shoemaker Lab. I'm Dane Schumacher. This is the official podcast of Shoemaker Films. On this podcast, what we do is share marketing tips for business owners. We often interview local entrepreneurs and creatives in the Greater Philadelphia area as well as, beyond.
Dane Shoemaker:We often share thoughts and experiences on our own entrepreneurial journey as well. So if that's something that's interesting to you or valuable, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Make sure you also follow us on Instagram, shoemaker.films. So today's podcast, what we're doing is talking about, really it's a continuation from last week, which was around interview tips for people being interviewed by a company like us. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:So that might be some video that we send to people that we might be interviewing for brand story, maybe a documentary, maybe social media content. Right? Today, we're gonna be talking about tips for interviewers. So if you are a video producer or a filmmaker, or you're, you know, maybe you're a marketing person at your company and you wanna interview stakeholders at your business, these are some tips that we've picked up along the way, in interviewing hundreds of people for, you know, either our clients or even guests for this podcast. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:We're gonna go through them. There's 9 tips that we're gonna be talking about. So let's jump in. So the first one is really to have a goal or direction in mind. Obviously, if you've gotten to the point where you're sitting down to interview someone, you know, you already have a a a video that you're doing this for, right, or a film or a documentary.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So by that point, there should be a goal in mind with identifying who you are interviewing. Right? What are the stakeholders? So let's say for a brand video for a company, you know, we would usually interview the the owners or owners.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? Presidents. Right? Key leadership. We might also be interviewing specific department heads.
Dane Shoemaker:Maybe there's just, you know, somebody at the company that's really enthusiastic about working there, and they have a great story about how they started working there, and we wanna interview that person. Oftentimes, there's gonna be a lot of customer testimonials as well, so we bring in a customer. Maybe they have a great story about working with a company that we wanna capture on video. Right? So really think about who you're who is the you know, who are the people that we're interviewing?
Dane Shoemaker:Why are we interviewing them? And then from there, you wanna do a lot of research. Right? What's their role? What do they care about?
Dane Shoemaker:What's their story? Typically, having a pre interview is is a really good idea. So whether that's the production company is actually doing the a pre interview with somebody or maybe it's the the contact of the company we're working with, like, the marketing team will often kind of vet people. What we will have already decided on the questions on the day of the interview. So typically a couple weeks in advance, we're trading emails around, hey.
Dane Shoemaker:What are the 10 ish questions that we're gonna be interview asking this person? And those are already vetted. And they're kind of they're not generic. Right? They're very specific to that person's role, their story, and it's meant to kind of elicit kind of the key things that we wanna get out of that interview.
Dane Shoemaker:What are some good sound bites? You know, what what are some things that we're expecting to get from this interview? So research, do a pre interview, and have a goal in mind, right, for this person. You know, when you actually sit down with the person that interviewing, it can be very uncomfortable. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:And we talked a little bit about this, last week's podcast. But for someone being interviewed, there's a there's a couple cameras. Right? There's lights. There's a microphone.
Dane Shoemaker:You might have, half a dozen people standing behind you while you're being interviewed. That can be very intimidating. It's not natural. It's it might be very uncomfortable for them. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:So your job as the interviewer really is to make them feel comfortable. Right? So you wanna have just a couple couple tips here. So what we like to do, this is something that I've picked up over the years, is after that person is sitting you know, they're starting to sit down, you might want to kinda show them around a little bit. Hey.
Dane Shoemaker:Here's the main camera, but you're gonna be looking at me, so don't worry about the camera. Maybe show them, you know, a little bit, hey. Here's the setup. Here's a light here. Kinda have a conversation with them.
Dane Shoemaker:And almost you might even wanna pretend like you're tweaking things and kinda go like, hey. This is looking great. By the way, how you know, how's your day going so far? You know, try and, you know, maybe crack some jokes. You know, you wanna be professional, but you also want to make them feel at ease.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So a good way to do that is to kinda do like a a almost like a fake check on the on the cameras. Right? Looking at things, you know, okay. That the things are looking real good right now.
Dane Shoemaker:And then you sit down. Right? You you're gonna sit down, maybe start just kinda asking questions. So how's your day going so far? What are your plans for later?
Dane Shoemaker:Things like that. Maybe maybe just a nice comment. Oh, I like that shirt, by the way. That's that's nice. Or your earrings are nice or whatever.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So, just something nice to kinda make them feel at ease. Right? You might also wanna introduce them to the team. So, you know, if I'm I'm if I'm gonna be the one interviewing, I'm gonna be, hey.
Dane Shoemaker:My name is Dane. Right? Oh, by the way, there's, there's John behind me. There's Susie. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:There's Bob. Right? Just kinda introducing the team. Make them feel comfortable. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:We're all humans here. Sitting down to be interviewed is not a normal thing. So do your best to just be a human. Right? Introduce people, Ask them how their day is going.
Dane Shoemaker:By that point, the camera is already rolling. Right? And you wanna get into your questioning at that point. Right? So, again, you know, the key here, make them feel comfortable.
Dane Shoemaker:You know, if we go to standard, you know, best practices around questioning, it it's kind of like a funnel. Right? So you at the top, you're gonna be asking questions more open ended. Right? So, you know, we'll call open questions.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? So question is designed to get them, you know, talking. You know, you might wanna start off with a couple easy question. Hey. What's your name?
Dane Shoemaker:What's your role at the company? Simple things to get them rolling, but then get you know, ask those big questions to and kinda say, so tell me about your role at this company. What's your, what is your thoughts on this topic that the video is about, right? Really get them to to to talk, and then from there, you kinda 0 in. You go to open ended questions.
Dane Shoemaker:You go to probing questions, and then you go to the closed questions where it's really a yes or no question at that point. Right? After you kinda get them talking a little bit more, they're they're comfortable. They're they're they're talking about, you know, kinda openly about what their whatever the topic of the video is. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:Then you wanna get into some more probing questions. Right? You wanna 0 in on stuff. Right? Follow-up.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? Don't just ask a question and then just move on to the next questions. You really gotta zero in on stuff. Now granted, it depends on how much time you have with this individual. You might have a a tight timeline.
Dane Shoemaker:If you get the song bites, hopefully, the director is behind you or producer, and they're saying like, okay. We got what we need here. But, you know, don't don't be afraid to ask follow-up questions. Can you, you know, clarify that a little bit more or tell me more about that? Or if you're the interviewer, you might wanna summarize something.
Dane Shoemaker:Did I get that right? You know, just kind of, you know, clarify, you know, oh, so, you know, what criteria did you get to get to that point? Or how did that make you feel? Right? Or tell me why you did that.
Dane Shoemaker:Just ask questions and kinda get them talking a little bit more. Then we get to the closed questions. So if you're looking at this funnel again, right, open ended questions, probing questions, and then closed questions. Closed questions really are essentially yes or no questions. Now in a documentary or a brand film, that's not really you don't want you don't need footage of people saying yes or no.
Dane Shoemaker:That's not gonna do anything to drive the story forward. But, if you can ask them a question that says where they can agree with that, yes, that is, you know so for example, a closed question would be, do you like working here? Yes. The answer is yes. Okay.
Dane Shoemaker:Well, they need to repeat that as a sentence. Right? So, you know, you basically have to feed them the answer. Hey. I love working at this company.
Dane Shoemaker:And just get them to repeat that. Right? I love working at this company. And then you've gotten to the point where that's a closed question. It's really just a a sentence at that point.
Dane Shoemaker:The next thing is really more why questions. Right? Just kind of underline the importance of asking more why questions. Right? Essentially, you know, if we're telling a story, you know, it's a documentary.
Dane Shoemaker:We we want people to feel something when they're watching the video. Right? So just being a a journalist, right, what, who, when, how is not really gonna drive the story forward. You need to be asking more why questions. Why did you do that?
Dane Shoemaker:Why did you feel that way? Why do you feel this way about the company? You know, how does this make you feel when you're working here? Right? We really wanna dive into more probing, but really just the why behind some of these answers.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? Another tip. So dead air chicken. If you're familiar with this, it's actually you know, this is something that we would practice in sales, you know, years ago. I mean, basically, you might ask a question and then the interviewee gives you an answer, then that's it.
Dane Shoemaker:So instead of that instead of you asking the next question or even asking a probing question, you know, it might just be you just shut up. You just don't talk. You ask a question, they give a response, acknowledge it, and then they might that it might incur them to keep talking. It's just a tactic. You don't wanna abuse that.
Dane Shoemaker:Obviously, you know, we have a we have a job to do. Right? We have a goal to hit. You don't wanna be sitting there in dead silence making it awkward. But oftentimes, if you are quiet, they will keep talking.
Dane Shoemaker:You don't want it to be an interrogation. Kinda you know, we kinda brought this up already, but, you know, ask follow-up questions, acknowledge. Right? So when they say something, be like, oh, that's really interesting. Okay.
Dane Shoemaker:Can you tell me more about that? Right? You're having a conversation. This isn't an interrogation. Right?
Dane Shoemaker:They're not in trouble. You're not sitting there, just asking question after question after question. Sometimes it can feel like that, and I'm definitely at fault of doing that in the past. But, again, it it's gotta be a conversation between 2 human beings. Active listening is very important.
Dane Shoemaker:So that's the next thing. So basically you wanna be acknowledging. Right? I just mentioned that. You wanna be acknowledging the responses, nodding your head, smiling, you know, commentary when it makes sense.
Dane Shoemaker:Oh, that's really interesting. Oh, that's that's amazing. Wow. That's great. You know, be authentic.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? You wanna be energetic. Don't just be sitting back like you're, you know, like it's a job. Right? It's boring.
Dane Shoemaker:You know, you wanna be genuinely engaged, generally interested. Right? Leaning forward, nodding, smiling. Right? You know, again, you're having a conversation.
Dane Shoemaker:You wanna make them feel like, you know, you're being listened to. And that's really important. The more comfortable they feel, the more they feel like you are listening, the more they're gonna share, about, you know, whatever the the film is about. Right? The last tip is is keep the camera rolling.
Dane Shoemaker:Right? You actually wanna, you know, get the camera recording before they even sit down and you wanna keep the camera recording long after the the the interview is officially over. Right? Because oftentimes what will happen okay. That's a wrap.
Dane Shoemaker:You let the the camera rolling, then they might actually share something else. Like, maybe something a little off the cuff or, you know, someone else behind, you know, the interviewer might start asking questions or they start, you know, recording as soon as the interview is done. Let it roll for a little bit until recording as soon as the interview is done. Let it roll for a little bit until they're up out of their seat and out of the room. So that's really important.
Dane Shoemaker:Hopefully, this was, some helpful tips for, for interviewing, individuals for a documentary or a brand story or, you know, any type of video. Right? So, 9 tips, we'll summarize them here. And, again, if you have any questions, for Shoemaker Films, if you wanna work with us, please make sure to get in touch, shoemakerfilms.com. Please make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for future episodes.
Dane Shoemaker:Thanks a lot. Thanks for listening today. Shoemaker Lab is an original production by Shoemaker Films LLC. If you enjoyed today's content, please consider subscribing on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your content. Follow us on Instagram at shoemaker.films.
Dane Shoemaker:If you're a business that's either interested in our video production services or would like to be a guest on the show, get in touch by using the contact form on our website, shoemakerfilms.com.