From small acorns...
My first ever interview, back in 2011.
My then-employer, SIT, sent me to film an interview with Paul Steiner, CEO of KAPRO, a metals company, to gather a video testimonial.
I left Tel Aviv at 6am driving a white, stick-shift van loaded with camera equipment to a nondescript factory close to the Lebanese border. The cameraman, a film student, slept in the back.
We had absolutely no idea.
I wore a crappy t-shirt and wandered aimlessly around the factory for a good hour. Although I sat across from Paul, asking well-prepared questions, in the final cut we edited me out.
Later on I learned that my - visible - role in interviews is critical; when I'm present in film, the viewer can identify with me as 'the voice of the audience'.
When you see an interviewer raise his eyebrow, when he asks questions that may be on your mind, you find yourself rooting for this 'mascot', someone who sticks up for you in the face of a personal or corporate promotion.
None of us likes to be relentlessly sold to by a talking head.
My presence on camera diffuses that natural suspicion, forces the interviewee to respond, and hopefully show some humanity. While I do interrupt their sales-patter, my appearance in the video ultimately helps the interviewee: challenged and forced to respond, they seem far more believable.
We didn't know any of that back at KAPRO in 2011.
I hope you'll agree this video seems wooden and one-sided compared with interviews that feature me as an interviewer at Spot On.