How to Get the Best out of Zoom for a Video Interview

At this point in quarantine lockdown, you are probably feeling a serious creative itch; especially if you’re a content creator. Somewhere between week four and week five, the sameness of every day and total lack of human contact made me feel like my creative spark was being suffocated by mouldy, wet towels. And if that awful metaphor isn’t proof enough, I’ve learned that if I don’t keep adding to my creative fire, it’s just going to go out (like when I try to build a real fire).

But good news everyone! Okay, maybe it’s not good news for everyone, but content creators can rejoice: turns out you can record pretty decent virtual interviews using Zoom Video Conferencing. I’ve done my homework (or rather my buddy/terrific DP Steven Field did his homework and I stole it) and I’ve found it to be a solid tool. We’ve tested out a couple different softwares and tweaked the Zoom settings to get the most out of this platform for interview-based content.

We want to share what we’ve learned, so y’all can keep those creative fires stoked and get back to making great content! 

Why Zoom?

Beyond the argument “if it’s good enough for Marc Maron, it’s good enough for me”, Steven and I decided on Zoom because it had the biggest advantage over other tools at our disposal. It gave us the most traditional interview feel for the profilee, allowed the client to join the interview, was the simplest tool for our profilee to access, is the least prone to bugs, and I could control/save the recording (as opposed to risking our profilee capturing the footage).

BUT I am the first to admit, it’s not perfect. With the added pressure on Zoom’s bandwidth right now, you can’t record HD (your output will be closer to 720p). So, if you’ve found a better tool and want to share your trade secrets with me, I’m all ears and I’ll owe you a beer.

In the meantime, here are a couple of tested and proven adjustments you can make to your Zoom settings to get the most out of an interview:

• Splurge on the professional account. You pay month-month and can cancel whenever. It’s worth it for the privacy, the extra time and the HD functionality (whenever that comes back)

• If you computer doesn’t have a tonne of space like mine, set your video output to go on an external hard drive (to give you a sense of size, my hour-long interview was about 4GBs). You can do this in your settings: head to the top left-hand corner under “zoom.us”, then “preferences” and then “recording”

• Set your audio to record separately (your editor will thank you when you get to audio mixing). Also select “optimize for 3rd party video editor”. You’ll find both in the same spot under “recording”

• Have your interviewee set their camera to HD. Walk them through it by sharing your screen, or have them share their screen while they do it. You can find this under “preferences” and then “video”

• Get them to turn off the auto touch-up. It will make their footage look soft. You’ll find this in the same spot as HD settings

• Before you hit record on your end, put your settings to “speaker view” (top left-hand corner) and go full screen. Minimize the screen that shows your own video and drop it into the black bar at the bottom of your screen. If you have a client joining the call, have them mute themselves, and then check in with them periodically throughout the interview

• Any good producer knows to zip it when your profilee is speaking, but Zoom recording will require you to be extra vigilant so that you don’t appear on-screen halfway through their answer. I didn’t find I needed to mute myself, but if you have a noisy background, I would definitely recommend it

• If you notice the footage starting to pixelate, you may need to make a note of the responses given during that time period (it happened to me twice in a 1.5-hour time period, and then cleared up after about 10 minutes both times) and re-ask. Your footage is recording the image exactly how you see it, which means you will see the pixelation in the recording output too

• If you can, use a secondary recorder as a backup. If your subject has a Mac then Quicktime or Photobooth make for great, easy-to-use, pre-installed options. Have them record at the same time as you record, and then send the file after your interview via Google Drive, Dropbox, We Transfer (etc)

Here’s a nerdy video I made with Steven to help you find those sneaky preferences, in case you’re having trouble:

The biggest hurdle is to accept that it’s not going to be the same quality or experience as an in-person interview. The video quality is confined to the camera and tech that your interviewee has in their home, locations can be lacking, audio might be dicey and strong wifi on both ends is a must.

But now that I have conducted a few quarantine video interviews, I’ve discovered there are actually some positives to capturing content this way:

1)    Chill Interviewee

Because a crew of people and a Dodge van of gear hasn’t just arrived at their doorstep, your interviewee is likely going to be way more relaxed and at ease – especially if it’s their first-time doing an on-camera interview. This gives you the opportunity to get more authentic answers, ask more personal questions and tell more sensitive stories.

2)    Go Remote

When filming in-person, you were likely limited by budget of where you could travel to capture your interviews. Now that everything is going to be done virtually anyway, it gives you the opportunity chase stories anywhere in the world. Instead of picking subjects that were best for your budget, you can now pick subjects that are best for your story.

3)    Pressure’s Off

For many profiles I’ve filmed in the past, I’ve had a day or two max to capture everything: interview, broll, pickups, voice over, etc. But now that the expense is so minor to capture content, you can start thinking creatively about how to better support the story you are trying to tell. If you didn’t get the perfect interview soundbite during the first recording, it’s as simple as having your interviewee throw on the same clothes for a pickup. Or if you need a second support interview, you can actually take the time after your lead interview to pinpoint the content you want.

Don’t let quarantine crush your creative spark. Instead, let it fuel you. Use this time to tell stories you normally wouldn’t (or couldn’t), using whatever you have at your disposal.

The risk has never been lower, and the reward has never been greater. Now get “out there” and get your creativity on!