Mastering the Video Interview

I’ve said it many times in this blog — God Stories are extremely important at Sun Valley.  We love to tell the stories of God changing the lives of our friends and family.  The community is made stronger when these life-change stories are told.

The Sequence
First, we have our ministry leaders report to us the stories they think should be used.  For the most part, we coordinate the stories based on the series that we are in.  If there is a way to tie the life-change to the sermon topic, we’ll do it.  It ads more interest to the story.

Actually, it’s not that it just ads more interest; because the sermon topic and the life-change theme aligns, there is better impact.

Secondly, we ask the person or persons in the God Story to write down their story.  Write it chronologically and don’t spare any details.  This helps them organize their story.  We want them to think about their story, maybe more clearly than they have ever thought about it before.

Thirdly, we read the written story and form questions for the interview.  We also determine what B Roll is necessary for the video shoot.

And then there’s the interview.  I have found that the interview is the most important part of the God Story process.  This is where you capture the story and it’s here where you determine the success of the telling of the story.

During the interview, I ask questions in chronological order.  This way, the story is told in sequence and in order.  I have them repeat lines that I feel are great for the story.  I have them say them many times if needed.  I also re-ask questions or narrow a question during the interview in order to clarify small nuances of the story.

This method is also good for the video editor too.  In most cases, he or she can more easily to edit the footage in the sequence it was shot; pulling out the weak parts, leaving the parts that can then be molded into a compelling story.  This is golden.

My philosophy:  Don’t make it any harder than it needs to be.