Planning Stage

“Let’s just go capture it and see what we get.” is a terrible idea! Being flexible is great, but as the saying goes – if you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail. Knowing this will also dictate the rest of the planning.

When planning out the shoot a good amount of time to block off is 1-2 hours it normally does take the whole time and everyone is normally excited to have the extra time back when you wrap up early.

Time Break down

15 minutes – Set up

30 minutes – Per Interview

30 minutes – Broll

For typical Testimonials, we like answering 5 questions before reaching out:

1. Define the purpose: Determine why you want to create a client testimonial video. Is it to showcase your product or service, build credibility, or attract new customers?
2. Identify the target audience: Understand who your video is intended for. This will help you tailor the content and messaging to resonate with the right viewers.
3. The Right Client: Choose clients who have positive experiences and are willing to provide testimonials. Seek a diverse range of clients to highlight different perspectives and use cases.
4. Prepare questions: Draft a list of open-ended questions that will create a conversation not just interrogate your customer with questions about your company.  who are you and what do you do? why did you get into your industry? once you build some rapport then you can focus on their challenges, the solutions your product/service provided, and the results they achieved.

Check out the two min below about getting people feeling comfortable while being interviewed. I’ve Shot 1,000+ interviews and these are my top 5 takeaways.

1. Get them Comfortable ( start with
2. Give Directions ( they don’t know what they don’t know)
3. Avoid yes or no questions
4. Try not to talk while they are talking
5. Have them put the question in their answer

Shoot Day!

Alright, it’s shoot day, where to you start? Start off with the interview, This is really key to informing yourself on what broll shots might arise as your conversation goes on. Many times you figure out pieces of the story that you couldn’t have known otherwise.

Record multiple takes: Encourage your clients to answer questions thoughtfully and authentically. Record multiple takes if necessary to capture their best responses. Ensure they speak clearly and emphasize key points.

Choose a spot that is quiet and out of the way for your interviews. this will get you better audio and normally the person in front of the camera will feel more comfortable because they won’t feel like there are a ton of eyes on them.

Check out the video below where I dive into the technical of how to actually set up and film an interview. I go into more depth in the TMT video but here is the TLDR version.

1. Do one interview at a time
2. locations
3. Camera Setting (24fps / 4K)
4. Framing
5. Nose Room
6. Where to look (they look at you, not the camera)
7. Eye line ( Even with the Camera)
8. Having card space & battery

here are three more helpful two-minute tips that might be helpful for you on the technical parts of shooting video.

Always Shoot B-roll… Always

B-roll is really going to help tell and shape your story and make it a heck of a lot more watchable. Since you shot the interview first you have a better understanding of what they talked about and what would be great to show. If applicable, visually demonstrate the results your clients achieved through your product or service. For example, if your software increased productivity, capture shots of your clients working efficiently.

For broll shots, the best camera settings to use is 4k / 60 FPS unless it’s a very dark space then 30 FPS will be the best.

While these are ideas for shooting broll in the office I think a lot of the ideas can be applied or give inspiration to whatever situation that you are in.

Watching the video will give a better idea of how the visuals should look.

1. Walking into work
2. working at their desk
3. Talking on the phone
4. Office details
5. Getting Coffee
6. collaboration
7. Huddle room meeting
8. Whiteboarding
9. Writing in a notebook
10. Portrait

Bonus ideas specifically for testimonials

1. Showing the product or service being used
2. Product Demo
3. Someone scrolling through the Site
4. Outside the office showing signage

You Got this!

The good news is that you have the entire VidLoft editing team in your corner. Just be sure to capture plenty of clips, and we’ll make something awesome for you.

As always, if you have any questions, or just want a sounding board for ideas or inspiration, just reach out to the VidLoft team on your slack channel. We love retreat videos, and we’re always happy to share ideas.