How to Produce a Talking Heads Video

[vc_toggle title=”Continue reading” css=”.vc_custom_1509025419066{margin-bottom: 30px !important;}”]One person talking for ages can get dull. So you might want to think about having several people in your video and cutting between them in short clips. If you only have one presenter, there are a couple of things you can do. Firstly, film both a wider shot and a closer shot, so that you can cut between the two shots for a bit of variety. Or alternatively, you could have two cameras set up, so you can cut to the shot from the side.

Another way of making it easier for the presenter is if you use cutaways, or b-roll. These are shots that are filmed around the location or business. So, if for example your presenter makes a mistake, you can simply cut that out, cover the join with shots of other things, and ideally these shots with be supporting what they are saying so they will all add to the story.

Let me give you an idea of what you can do if you haven’t got a lot of time, and perhaps you haven’t got a lot of options for cutaways. One of our clients asked us to make 14 recruitment films, and to film them all in one day. We knew we’d have just enough time to interview each of the people we were going to speak to. What we did was take a second camera with us, and get shots of the crew, so that you could see how the videos were put together. It gives you a sense of behind the scene, and brings the films to life.

Having said all that, these days its really on trend to do what’s called jump-cutting, which means the editor will choose to take out words that he doesn’t really fancy instead of covering the join with cutaways. In this example, you’ll see a video we made for Nottingham Trent University in which we interviewed a number of students, but we decided to make jump-cutting a feature of the edit style. That combined with a colour grading, gave the video a really contemporary look.

These are just a few techniques you can use if you are making your own talking heads video. If you’d like any more help and advice, do get in contact.

VPoint TV Resources: Video Production Tips
‘How to Produce a Talking Heads Video’
Presented by Sally Reynolds[/vc_toggle]