How to film a video interview for your company: questions, light, sound and phone

Before you turn the camera on: what it has to say, and who says it

Most company interviews fail before the shoot, when nobody has decided what they're for. «An interview with the director» isn't a goal. «A client who doesn't know us understands in one minute why we do this» is.

Once the goal is clear, you pick the person. It doesn't have to be the most senior one, but whoever explains it best and believes most in what they say. Sometimes that's the managing director; often it's someone on the team.

One of ours: for Qilimanjaro, which builds quantum computers in Barcelona, we filmed Dídac, the lab manager, talking about his work in the lab. The piece runs one minute and twelve seconds and works for culture and for attracting talent. Nobody explains how the work gets done better than someone who's there every day.

There are three common formats: the leadership interview, which explains where the company is going; the team story, which shows what it's like to work there; and the case study, where a client speaks. For that last one we have a separate guide on how to film testimonial videos that feel authentic.

The questions: few, open, and ones that make people tell stories

Eight to twelve questions are enough for a one or two-minute video. More questions don't give you more good material: they give you a tired person.

Keep them open and ask for examples. «What do you do in the lab?» gets a definition. «Tell me about the last time something didn't go the way you expected» gets a story, and stories are what survive the edit.

A few rules we use on every shoot. Send the topic beforehand, not the answers: if people memorise a text, it sounds read. Ask them to repeat the question inside their answer, because in the edit the interviewer's voice disappears and the sentence has to make sense on its own. Start with two easy questions so they loosen up, and always end with the same one: «Is there anything I haven't asked that you'd like to say?». That's often where the best line comes out.

And the person asking matters as much as the person answering. They need to listen, nod without making noise and follow up when something sounds like a brochure. If the person gets nervous, our guide to speaking to camera naturally will help them prepare.

Where to look, framing, light and sound

It's the most common question: should they look at the camera? In an interview, no. They look at the interviewer, who sits right next to the lens, at eye level. That way the eyeline sits slightly to one side and it feels like a conversation. Looking into the lens is for something else: a presentation or a message from leadership spoken straight to the viewer.

In the frame, leave space on the side the person is looking towards, and move them away from the wall so the background falls out of focus and adds depth. The background should say something. We filmed Dídac in the lab, with the machines behind him: the place explains what the company does without a word.

With two cameras, one wide and one tighter from another angle, you can cut without jumps. The main light comes from one side, from a window or a soft lamp, and a weaker one fills the shadow.

But sound comes first. Average picture is forgiven; a voice with echo or the air conditioning humming behind it isn't. Always a lavalier mic, and before you roll, a quiet room, phones away and the coffee machine off.

Can you film it on a phone? And which app to use

Yes. A recent phone is more than enough for LinkedIn or the website, as long as you look after three things: sound, light and keeping it still.

The basics: the phone on a tripod at eye level, the person facing a window or with light from the side, and a wireless lavalier mic connected to the phone. Before you roll, airplane mode, so a call doesn't kill the take, and focus and exposure locked on the face.

Decide beforehand whether you want it horizontal or vertical. If it's for the website and YouTube, horizontal; if it's only for Reels or TikTok, vertical. If you need both, shoot horizontal and leave room on the sides to crop later.

As for the app, the phone's own camera does the job. If you want more control, there are free apps with manual settings, such as Blackmagic Camera. If the interview is remote, a recorded video call falls short on quality; you're better off with a system that records each person on their own computer, as we explain in how to record a podcast remotely.

The phone hits its limit when you need two angles, the room is noisy or the piece is going into an investor presentation.

The edit, and how we do it at Bostak

An hour of interview becomes one or two minutes. The edit's job is to choose the lines that stand on their own and put them in an order that tells a story with a beginning and an end.

So it isn't a talking head the whole time, you cover it with B-roll: the person at work, the product, the place. That's why it pays to shoot that footage the same day, while the light and the clothes are the same. Then subtitles, because on social media almost everything is watched with the sound off, and a vertical version with the best moments.

That's how we work with Qilimanjaro: we're their audiovisual partner and have made more than fifteen corporate videos, including team interviews, product pieces, events and mini documentaries. You can see them in the Qilimanjaro project.

At Bostak Films we film in your office, your factory or our studio in Viladecans, which has a two-armchair set for interviews. We prepare the questions with you, direct the person on camera and deliver versions for each channel. If you've got a leadership or team interview in mind, see how we approach corporate video or book a free diagnostic call and we'll tell you how we'd plan it.

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