The Single Best Interview Technique
A 60-Second Tip to Capture Dramatically Better Videos
I got the following text from a friend and former client the other day:
![Hello Seth... sorry to pester you again.... do you remember when you shot footage of [Redacted] for us a couple of years ago? If so, after the main event you had a tactic where I think you were firing off either words or topics and just trying to capture immediate responses... any chance you remember that and if so, could you outline what you did... we are going to try to capture some talking points from [Redacted] and I remember us capturing a ton of great content from that technique.](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc11bfc06-4d89-4f34-bcf7-46e4654c118f_1076x1274.png "Hello Seth... sorry to pester you again.... do you remember when you shot footage of [Redacted] for us a couple of years ago? If so, after the main event you had a tactic where I think you were firing off either words or topics and just trying to capture immediate responses... any chance you remember that and if so, could you outline what you did... we are going to try to capture some talking points from [Redacted] and I remember us capturing a ton of great content from that technique.")
What he was asking about was a super simple interview technique I use called “One Liners” that consistently generates the best, most edit-friendly, soundbites.
Here’s the email I sent him back, outlining exactly how it works…
Welcome to the Wonderful World of “One Liners”
The interview technique you texted me about is called “One Liners”. The idea is, at the end of an interview, after someone is warmed up and comfortable, you tell them:
We’re going to play a quick game called “One Liners.” I’m going to start a sentence and you repeat what I say and then finish the sentence however you’d like.
The idea is to get more abbreviated versions of the questions you’ve already asked, as well as get strong starts to sentences you can use in editing, in case their earlier answers were strong, but potentially didn’t start clearly with context.
Some examples of One Liners I’ve used in the past:
“[Organization name] is…”
“I love [Organization name] because…”
“One thing that surprised me about [Organization name] is…”
“The moment I realized [Organization name] was different was…”
Obviously, make sure to develop One Liners specific to your interview topic as well. So, for example, if you were interviewing someone about how AI is going to transform student learning you might distill that to something like “When it comes to student learning, AI will…”
The key is to do the one liners a bit rapid fire so that way the interviewee just naturally answers without the time to pause and think. That will usually get more upbeat, casual soundbites that can then be edited with the slower, more thoughtful responses from earlier in the interview.
Hope that helps!
Best of Luck On Your Next Production
That’s it! It’s a simple, straight-forward technique that captures great, succinct soundbites that your editor will love.
After shooting off that email, I realized it was a little nugget that may just be valuable to a few more folks, so wanted to share. I hope it helps you on your next production!
About The Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based performance marketing agency on a mission to build a better agency for organizations building a better world.
You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.