It’s All About The Look
It’s All About The Look
When is a talking head not just a talking head? A bit of Bruizer lateral-thinking and the ‘bog-standard’ becomes more than that.
The interview is the backbone of many types of content, whether it’s a corporate case study, a piece of internal comms or a milestone film. As a viewer, an interview is our opportunity to hear from real people, listening to their own words or delivering a carefully considered script that crafts the narrative.

But what’s sometimes underestimated is that the mood and feel of a film can be massively impacted by how an interview is staged. Every company has its own character and ethos, just as every interviewee is individual, so why would you confine them to four-walls that could be any business, anywhere?
Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of Bruizer lateral-thinking and the bog-standard becomes more than that…
The Go-Getter

Get your interviewees out of the chair and in their natural habitat. How better to drive your recruitment campaign than with real employees doing their real jobs? By keeping your interviewee in their working environment, the viewer can really get a sense of what goes on in their working world and what makes them tick.
Not all of us are blessed to be naturally comfortable in front of the camera, but familiar surroundings can bring out a remarkably relaxed performance and capture people at their best. When we spoke to Water Field Technician, Steve, about his career in the utilities sector, he was busy at work. It’s undeniable that the rhythm and hands-on feel of this memorable film is characterised by the on-site hero interview.
The Trend-Setter
Sometimes it’s all about location. A trendy background or stylish set-piece can add a little extra pizzazz. If you got multiple interviewees from different departments or backgrounds talking on the same subject, it can be a neat way of uniting them visually. It can also help establish a distinctive mood or character, using pops of brand colour or particular style of furniture, like this snazzy velvet armchair we sourced for BUUK, who wanted to foster a welcoming feeling in the company and strip back the austere job title with ‘Meet the Director’ interviews.

We put the company’s directors in the hotseat to find out a bit more about them: their inspiration, their first job and their most recent fancy-dress outfit. A combination of zingy brand colours and the distinctive winged-back chair create a light-hearted atmosphere and perfectly sets them up for the inspiring and characterful responses that give us a peek at the real people behind the job title.
The Real-Worlder

The truth is that there’s no replacement for the real thing. Get your interviewees out and about and capture them in an actual place. A real-world location can really bring home the relevance of your message by situating it in context. Set out your environmental strategy from a scenic landscape or engage your workforce with internal comms that tour company landmarks.
The truth is that there’s no replacement for the real thing. Get your interviewees out and about and capture them in an actual place. A real-world location can really bring home the relevance of your message by situating it in context. Set out your environmental strategy from a scenic landscape or engage your workforce with internal comms that tour company landmarks.
The Sitter
Okay, we won’t deny it, there’s sometimes call for the simple and clean sit-down interview. Used thoughtfully, this approach can create a softer or impactful narrative core. With full focus on the interviewee, their account of real and lived experiences has the spotlight

The cost of living and energy crisis are increasingly pertinent topics in the UK, so when British Gas Energy Trust commissioned a film with the funded organisations on the frontline, we knew it was the end users who would provide the emotive heart of this narrative. Stark backgrounds and tighter framing keeps all our focus on the interviewees, allowing them full expression of their emotive stories to create impactful narrative.
The Messenger

We’ll always extol the virtues of an out-and-about setting, however we realise it’s not always possible to mobilise your interviewees. Security complications or limited availability might dictate the location, but that’s no reason to settle for a plain talking head. Make your message pop with animated elements, or text on screen to engage your audience and bring home your key pointers.
Working with AWE, manufacturers of the UK’s nuclear deterrent, we’re often faced with security limitations that need a bit of creative thinking. Capturing employee experiences, we diversified the ordinary background by pulling quotes from their responses, highlighting core messages and catchy soundbites with a memorable freeze-frame style.
The Voice of God
Show don’t tell. Sometimes you don’t even need an interview. Why put screentime towards a talking head when you could devote every second to the action. In the right edit, an interview can boil down to quality audio steering the narrative, so you can dedicate attention to the visuals for a fully immersive experience. If you’re trying to sell a job role, or place to work, you shouldn’t always feel the need to cut to a contrived interview setting. Instead, ensconce the viewer in atmosphere and don’t break the effect.
That’s just the approach Harwich Haven Authority went for when they needed punchy social media-facing content to promote their apprenticeship programmes. Action-packed and visually tactile, the viewer is pulled into the apprentices’ experience for a real taste of what the programme offers. The voiceover approach offers a grittiness that matches perfectly and builds to the stirring call-to-action.
So, next time you’re booking out space in your workplace for filming, stop, consider. What do you want to say? What atmosphere do you want to create? Set your interviewees free of four-walls and see the new possibilities for your content.