Colleagues on Camera

If you’re involved in producing films for your organisation, then the time will come when you need to put your colleagues in front of a video camera. Reluctant colleagues aren’t necessarily going to be your best ambassadors. The thought of talking to a camera or being interviewed in front of one brings many people out in a cold sweat. In contrast, you may be faced with having to include colleagues who are unaware that their public performance leaves a lot to be desired. In this article, I’m going to look at what you can do to prepare yourself or your colleagues to appear on camera.

Be selective

If you have control over who will appear in your film, then choose carefully. These colleagues are going to be representing your brand. If you’re selecting from across your organisation, are you showing the full breadth of your talent? Do you need to give emphasis to any particular groups or individuals? 

Keeping this in mind, you then need to look for your ‘performers’. They don’t have to be all-singing, all-dancing (and sometimes it’s best to avoid those people who are), but they do need to appear genuine, engaging and confident. This is where things can get tricky - seniority doesn’t automatically confer good communication skills. You need to first and foremost include the best spokespeople, and this won’t always be your directors. Without bruising egos, you need to champion the voices you know will be best for the organisation as a whole.

Communicate

Colleagues are most likely to be uncooperative if they feel thrust into the spotlight without warning. Speak to the people involved as far in advance as possible. Explain to them what the purpose of the film is, and what you intend it to look and sound like. Share any examples you have of previous or similar films. The more people understand what you’re trying to achieve, the more secure they’re likely to feel about taking part. If possible, get colleagues to actively contribute to planning - they may have ideas for their involvement that you won’t have thought of. The more empowered they feel, the more confident they’re likely to be about appearing on camera. It’s always worth reminding contributors that no one is trying to catch them out; if they make a mistake on camera, they can always have another go.

Work closely with the production team

Before any shoot, we make sure that we’ve had detailed conversations with the client about every contributor that we’re going to film. That way, we know exactly what our client ideally wants each person to do or say as well as who they are and what their role in the company is. You should attend the shoot wherever possible; keep talking throughout with the director to make sure that they know exactly what you need to achieve. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to go back and repeat filming on another day. If something isn’t quite right, raise it during filming when there’s still scope for adapting and improving things.

Rehearse, then relax

If you’ve got a specific script or key messages that you need to get across, try to find time to rehearse with your contributors, particularly if you’re not going to have an autocue during filming. Rehearsals won’t always be possible, but the more prepared your contributors are, the more confident they’re likely to appear. During filming, resist the temptation to interrupt every time someone goes off script - it’s the quickest way to knock their confidence. Instead, make a note of which sections need repeating and bring these up at a suitable moment. Don’t be too dogmatic - sometimes deviations from the script can turn out to be the best content!

Caveat: if your film is unscripted and you don't have a key message that you need to convey, don't rehearse! You'll get a much more natural-sounding response if you haven't given your interviewee your questions in advance.

AutoCue

These are always an option but they do add to the cost of a project and the logistics of any set-up. You also do end up losing the spontaneity and emotion of a delivery by using one. However, in the right situation they can be invaluable, especially for long, detailed and technical scripts. In our experience, unless the person using the autocue is a professional with experience, you will always get a more honest and believable delivery by not using one.

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Common Challenge A - the nervous contributor

You may have to include someone who would rather be anywhere than in front of the camera. Humour and encouragement go a long way towards putting nervous contributors at their ease. Make light of the situation (assuming it’s appropriate to do so). Without being patronising, praise them for what they do well. People can get into cycles of mistakes - they get progressively more self-conscious, more nervous and therefore repeat the same mistakes. If this happens, take a break, or move on and come back to the stumbling block later.

Common challenge B - the poor communicator

You may have to include someone who communicates badly. This can take many forms - from mumbling to fidgeting to verbal tics (for example saying ‘like’ or ‘um’ constantly). If you can foresee this, limit this contributor’s content where possible and discuss this with the production team. We shoot many interviews either with two cameras, or with a single high-resolution camera that allows us to zoom into the image in the edit. Both approaches provide different shots that allow us to cut between two images - and crucially cut out poor interview content. If a poor contributor has to take a central role, consider rehearsing with them beforehand; some subtly-worded suggestions about how they might improve their delivery may be needed to save them and you.

Common challenge C - not enough time

Before booking any contributor’s time it’s worth chatting to the production team to see how long they require to set-up at the location, and also with the contributor. Always be realistic with any contributor’s time as it can make for a very awkward situation when time is cut short and the contributor tries to rush through a script. Keeping a calm and relaxed environment will always result in a better delivery and end result.

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What’s been your experience of preparing colleagues to appear on camera? What further advice might you give someone having to arrange this for the first time? I would love to hear your suggestions in the comments section below.