Speaking On Camera Guide

Set Up the Shot

1. Put tape on the floor to mark where you each want to stand. If one of you is larger, try to make sure that person is equal distance to the camera or slightly farther away if you want to use foreshortening. If they are closer to the camera, they will look like a giant! Stay on your mark when you’re speaking.
2. Do not stand with your back to a window during daylight
3. Try to avoid areas with a lot of ambient noise, especially noise that changes a lot.
4. Ideally…have an assistant. Having someone to start and stop the camera, remind you of positioning and questions, and troubleshoot issues with sound and focus is much, much easier than doing it yourself.

Camera Detail

1. Do a test shot with you in position and speaking and watch it all the way through before you start.
   Look for
2. Focus—is the subject(s) in focus (zoom in be sure),
3. sound evenness and quality—can everyone be heard clearly, is the audio distorted or crackly, is the sound cut out when louder
4. lighting—not too dark, not too bright, no weird shadows
5. Deleting bad shots can save hours of labor.

Being On Camera

1. Talking with your hands is great! Use open gestures that look natural, but don't overdo it.
2. Try to avoid the fig leaf: holding your hands together in front of your groin. Tough to avoid this one!
3. Also, avoid crossed arms, hands behind the back, or in pockets
4. Watch a couple of interviews for ideas of what to do with your hands and arms when another person is talking.
5. Speak deliberately and take your time. Don’t be afraid of pauses to think of answers, or how you want to say things. You can start and stop each section with a pause if you like. If you do pause in the middle, however, try to freeze in position while you think, so the cut is as seamless as possible.
6. Try repeating the question in your answer: Example: What is your favorite color? “My favorite color is blue.” Not just “blue.”
7. Try not to look off camera or into the distance too much. Smile (as long as it feels natural).
8. If multiple people are on camera, aim to feel like you’re having a conversation, and one of the people involved is the camera. Split your gaze between the other people on camera and the camera.
9. If you mess up a word or phrase, and need to repeat it, try to freeze and repeat it with your head and body in roughly the same position.

Content

1. You can leave voice notes for the editor (with a pause before and after so they’re easy to cut) Examples: “cut that answer, I’m going to try it again.” Overcommunication is appreciated.
2. Shoot a couple of openers, and also shoot a couple of closers! Closer example: “Thanks for having a conversation with me today, Bob." If there are several of these, the editor has plenty to choose from.
3. If doing an interview, [prepare a list of questions and a rough idea of the answers. We want it to sound natural, but also be efficient and organized. People are more likely to stick around for videos that are shorter and more efficient.
4. Break it up! Start shooting, ask a question, answer the question, pause, stop shooting, and get your notes for the next one. Try to keep your questions and answers focused and to the point. You should be able to ask or answer a question in a couple of minutes if you’re staying completely on topic. If you feel like you didn’t answer well, pause, say “I’m gonna try that again”, and answer again.
5. It’s also fine to do a more conversational back-and-forth style that isn’t confined to the question-answer format if the content calls for it. Whatever works best for you.
6. Run-on sentences (talking for several minutes without ever ending a sentence) can cause you to lose focus on the subject at hand. Breaking the thought into manageable sections that end declaratively (the downward tone that indicates finality) means that any one of the sentences can be cut without needing to lose the others. If you end a sentence with an upward tone and jump right into talking about another subject, there is little your editor can do.

‍