Video is a great medium for sharing human stories. Capturing the heart of those stories, however, requires more than sitting somebody in front of a camera and asking them to start talking. A video interview's success depends upon the direction the interviewer provides. The goal should not be merely to extract facts; rather, the objective should be to draw a story out of the interviewee. Below are five keys to creating compelling video interviews.

The Pre-Interview

A pre-interview is an informal conversation that takes place a week or more prior to the actual "on-camera" interview, and it can be conducted in person or over the phone.

Pre-interviewing provides two benefits: it establishes the interviewee's storyline and it assures the interviewer that the story aligns with the objectives of the video. A pre-interview should reveal the highlights of a story but not all of the details. A disadvantage of pre-interviewing is that it can diffuse on-camera spontaneity, causing an interview to seem ...